Breaking Bad Star's Fiancée Excluded From Memorial Service

Hundreds of people packed an arts center in Brownsville, Texas, on Friday to honor Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte with tears and stories. Yet one person was missing from the room. Kennedy Suarez, his fiancée, did not attend, even though the service was open to everyone. Sources told the Daily Mail she was simply not invited. Every single one of the 216 white chairs was filled. About 100 more people stood in the back where an overflow area had been set up. A camera livestreamed the memorial for those unable to be there.

During the two-hour service, family and friends spoke about his struggles with cerebral palsy, his advocacy for the disabled, and his role on Breaking Bad. But Kennedy Suarez was not mentioned in any of the eulogies. She did not appear in the slideshow played before the ceremony either. 'It's like they were never together,' said mourner Donna LaBrie, who described herself as an old friend of the actor.

Two sources close to the family claimed the relationship between Suarez and the Mittes had become so fractured that it was unclear whether the couple were still together when Mitte died. The shock of his death comes only a year after the actor got engaged to Kennedy Suarez. He proposed on her 30th birthday last October at a fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy in Carlsbad, California.

Mitte, 34, died by suicide on Monday at the home he once shared with Suarez. This news shocked not only his family but fans around the world who knew him for his breakout role as Walter White's son. One family source admitted that Kennedy wasn't invited because they did not know if she was going to just show up. They said if she had arrived, they would not have caused a scene. But she was not going to sit with the family anyway. She would have sat with everyone else instead.

Friends who attended the memorial and know Suarez also described the tension in their relationship. 'Near the end [it was] on again, off again,' one friend said. 'I don't know if it was on or off [when he died].' They added that there were talks for a long time about ending it, though no one in the family knows exactly what happened. Problems in the relationship began to create tension between families too. If he came to see anyone in his family, there was always a reason why she didn't come.

Mitte's mother, Dyna, revealed that she found her son's body. Speakers portrayed him as a man who was deeply religious, loved his family, and wanted to make a difference in the world. They pushed back against claims made by some Mitte family members and suggested there was more to the story. The Daily Mail was then redirected to a Facebook post shared by Suarez's mother, Heather Suarez, late on Friday. She spoke about her family's unsurpassable grief and heartbreak after his death.

He was family, the post reads. Our daughter and our entire family loved him as our own and we will forever wish we could have protected him from the cruelty of this world. She revealed the family held a private candlelit celebration to honor Mitte's life instead. The absence of Kennedy Suarez from the public memorial raises questions about the true state of their bond before his tragic end.

RJ is gone. We will forever love you and cherish the memories we shared. We promise to strive to be better because you were part of our lives. Your impact will never be forgotten, and your legacy lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved you. That was the message from a grieving mother.

TMZ reported earlier this week that Suarez asked Mitte to choose between her and his family. His mother, Dyna Mitte, confirmed there were issues to NBC News. She did not sugarcoat it. I will tell you there was some of that going on. That was part of the struggle. I'm not going to lie about that. We are a very tight, close-knit family, and that was weighing on him heavy. She said she had always told her son he was free to marry and live his life. There was no decision to be made at that point, but he might have felt torn inside.

Inside the center – part of the cultural district his philanthropic family's foundation built in the heart of Brownsville – the focus remained firmly on Mitte's life. Speakers portrayed him as a man who was deeply religious, loved his family and wanted to make a difference in the world. His grandmother, Anita Dianne Carriere, recalled the day the family drove to Jackson, Mississippi, to bring him home after Dyna adopted him as a baby. I rode in the back seat, that was before we had to have car seats and I rode and held him in the back seat of the car til we got back to Austin, Texas. From the very beginning, I had the opportunity to be part of his life... we felt like RJ was one of our children.

His younger sister, Lacianne Carriere, delivered the most heartbreaking tribute. She sobbed as she remembered the brother who had helped raise her. RJ Mitte was my older brother but I not only just lost a brother, I lost my father. My mom was a single mother and when I was two weeks old, she was in an accident that paralyzed her from the waist down for the first few years of my life. And my brother immediately took on the father role. Every part of me is RJ. Every type of music I listen to, everything I watch, every game I play, our mannerisms. I just really miss my brother.

Then, through tears, she prompted laughter from the room. And I want to say to RJ: I'm not going to sell that nasty truck. It's mine now! After his mother was partially paralyzed and lost her job, Mitte, then just a boy, mowed lawns and did odd jobs to support them. I have devoted my life to my mom and my sister, he once said.

Mitte was well known in the Texas border town for both his acting career and his family's longstanding ties to the community. The foundation set up by his grandfather Roy Mitte, a successful insurance and real estate businessman, supports the Mitte Center, the Gladys Porter Zoo and the Children's Museum of Brownsville. Dyna said she had encouraged her son to go to therapy for months before his passing. Mitte told friends about his struggle to find work after Breaking Bad.

After Breaking Bad ended in 2013, Mitte moved to the city permanently and became president of its board. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at three, he played Walter White Jr, son of Bryan Cranston's chemistry teacher turned meth drug lord, for five seasons. The role made him one of Hollywood's most recognizable actors with a disability and a vocal advocate for inclusion. Cranston did not attend Friday's service.

Sources close to Mitte described a man who was heartbroken and still trying to process his recent loss this week. Dyna told NBC News that he spent the weekend before his death with her, along with his sister, while keeping regular contact with both his grandmother and friends. She noted she did not worry when he failed to answer calls on Monday morning because he often stayed up late and slept until noon anyway. It was in the afternoon during a lunch visit that Dyna discovered his body, though no suicide note was left behind. For three months straight, she had urged him to seek therapy, hoping for change before it was too late. Following Friday's service, mourners lingered over finger sandwiches and punch while speaking quietly and consoling one another in the wake of such a tragedy. In the receiving line, Dyna appeared overwhelmed yet remained gracious as she faced well-wishers. When asked by the Daily Mail about her state, she simply said I'm doing OK and added that she is taking it just one day at a time while thanking everyone for coming to pay their respects. If you or someone you know is struggling right now, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US or dial Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK immediately.