ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Shakeria Yvonne Rucker, the missing mother from Winter Springs, was found dead Saturday inside of a storage unit in Orange County, according to Sheriff John Mina.
After concluding a search around 3 p.m. in an area near the Bob White airfield in Mount Dora, deputies responded just before 5 p.m. to a 911 call from a storage unit facility located at 2400 Wiggins Road “in reference to an odor coming from one of the storage units.”
Deputies were able to make entry and found Rucker’s body inside of the unit, according to Mina.
“So, this now becomes an Orange County homicide investigation and case,” Mina said at a news conference Sunday morning, adding it appeared Rucker died of gunshot wounds inflicted at the storage facility.
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During the conference, Mina revealed that the storage unit where Rucker was found is registered to her estranged husband Cory Hill, the prime suspect in her disappearance and now in her death.
“We’re not looking for anyone else. He will be charged with the murder, eventually, in this case,” Mina said. “...I want to talk about the pain and suffering that Shakeira’s family have been through and really, Cory Hill could have stopped a lot of that pain and suffering by talking to investigators in the very beginning instead of putting them through this week-long nightmare. The storage unit was registered to him, he had to have known that we would eventually find her in there, so it’s very, very disappointing, and again our heart goes out to the family.”
Winter Springs police announced earlier Saturday that officers searched parts of Orange County with the help of deputies. In the end, the search had expanded to four counties in total — including Seminole, Lake and Polk counties — with Mount Dora police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation credited at Sunday’s news conference for providing support.
“I can’t thank them enough, our partner agencies, to come to an outcome. It’s not the outcome we expected, but there’s a little bit of closure for Shakeira’s family,” said Winter Springs Police Chief Matt Tracht. “...A week ago today, essentially, Shakeria was reported missing. We know from evidence that she left with Mr. Hill and went down to Polk County, to the Davenport area. Through the investigation, we were able to track some leads and those leads brought us to Lake County, then those leads brought us back to Orange County, and obviously you’re aware of the outcome here in Orange County. Like I said, it’s not what we expected. We do grieve with Shakeria’s family.”
Rucker was reported missing out of Winter Springs after being last seen on Saturday, Nov. 11.
Her estranged husband Cory Hill was named a person of interest on Tuesday after police obtained security video from Polk County that showed the two together on the day Rucker was last seen.
On Thursday, officials announced a $5,000 reward offered by Crimeline for information about Rucker’s disappearance.
Hill, who is currently in jail on no bond status, declined to answer questions from detectives about Rucker’s disappearance, Mina said.
He was arrested on Monday on charges of burglary, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting at his girlfriend and family on Nov. 12, according to the sheriff’s office.
“We have plenty of time to continue collecting evidence and testing to build our case to charge Cory Hill with Shakeria’s murder,” Mina said.
Watch the news conference again in the video player below:
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