A missing Florida woman was found dead in her ex-husband’s storage unit, authorities said.
Shakeira Yvonne Rucker, 37, was found dead Saturday in a storage unit at Self Storage on Wiggins Road in Apopka, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday on Facebook. The sheriff’s office is investigating Rucker’s case as a homicide.
“This is not the update we wanted to give everyone today,” Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference Sunday, adding that the story has taken many “twists and turns” over the past week and spanned many jurisdictions.
Authorities had just finished searching for Rucker in an area near Bob White Airfield in Mount Dora on Saturday when they received a 911 call from someone at Self Storage reporting «an odor emanating from one of the units,» Mina said.
Orange County sheriff’s deputies found Rucker dead in the unit from apparent gunshot wounds, Mina said. She said a full autopsy is being performed.
Authorities said the storage unit belonged to her ex-husband, Cory Hill, the main suspect, and that he has not cooperated in the investigation.
Rucker was killed in the storage unit, Mina said. No reason was announced.
“He is the suspect. We are not looking for anyone else. He will eventually be charged with the murder in this case,» Mina said.
The public defender’s office representing Hill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mina said Hill is already in the Orange County Jail, charged with four counts of attempted murder, accused of shooting his «girlfriend and family» on Nov. 12. According to Orange County jail records, he was booked on Nov. 13.
Orlando’s News21USA affiliate WESH reported that Hill was shooting an ex-girlfriend and her family in that case. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for clarification Sunday night.
Rucker, who WESH said was a mother of four, was first reported missing after her family said they last saw her on Nov. 11, Winter Springs police said on Facebook. Police said she was last seen leaving her Winter Springs home that day and that her family believed she had been with Hill.
«It’s not the outcome we expected, but there is some closure for Shakeira’s family,» Winter Springs Police Chief Matthew Tracht said Sunday.
Tracht said the team worked 16 to 18 hours a day to find Rucker and worked in four counties: Orange, Seminole, Polk and Lake. He also received help from Mount Dora police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI, she said.
