ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Orange-Osceola state attorney announced Thursday the state is seeking the death penalty against the estranged husband accused of killing a Winter Springs woman who was found dead in a storage unit last year.
State Attorney Andrew Bain said Cory Hill was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge stemming from the November shooting death of Shakeria Rucker.
“I think it really again came down to reviewing evidence, looking at the statutory aggravators that are given in Florida statutes and truthfully, the cold, calculated way that this homicide occurred and obviously somebody that’s already been convicted of a prior homicide plays a big factor into whether we’re going to seek a death penalty,” Bain said on the decision.
Rucker’s family members joined Bain for the news conference Thursday morning, thanking the state attorney’s office for its efforts in the case.
“We stand here vulnerable and open to share that it’s been difficult for our family during this time. It’s been a very emotional roller coaster. We’ve been angry, we’ve been sad, very confused. It’s just an indescribable pain that we feel with what’s going on with what happened to Shakeria Rucker,” said Dedra Rucker, the woman’s older sister.
[WATCH PREVIOUS COVERAGE BELOW]
She thanked the community for search efforts when her sister was first reported missing and for the support their family received.
“We know that our family is moving forward and we know that this decision may not bring my sister back, but it’s going to be a step and justice is going to be a step,” she said.
Detectives believe Hill shot and killed Rucker in the unit and then tried to kill his girlfriend after the two women learned they “had both been deceived by Hill.”
[WATCH PREVIOUS COVERAGE BELOW]
Rucker was found shot to death inside a storage unit that was registered to Hill, who declined to cooperate with law enforcement when the woman was reported missing after being last seen on Nov. 11.
“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,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said during a news conference announcing her body was found.
Victims of domestic violence can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, available 24 hours a day, at 800-799-7233. In Central Florida, the Harbor House offers a 24-hour confidential crisis hotline at 407-886-2856.
Watch the news conference again in the video player below:
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: