ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida woman was found dead Saturday in a storage unit registered to her estranged husband a week after she was first reported missing, authorities say.
Police were first notified about Shakeira Rucker, 37, by her family after she was last spotted leaving her home in Winter Springs, a city about 10 miles northeast of Orlando, on Nov. 11. The weeklong search had many “twists and turns” and took investigators through four counties across central Florida, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference Sunday.
“We were all hoping for a different outcome,” Mina said.
Deputies found Rucker’s body inside a storage facility in Apopka, a city about a dozen miles west of Winter Springs, after someone called 911 about a smell coming from one of the units, Mina said. Rucker, a mother of four, died of apparent gunshot wounds.
The storage unit is registered in the name of Cory Hill, Rucker’s estranged husband and the “prime suspect” in the case. Hill has been held without bond in the Orange County Jail since Nov. 12 on four counts of attempted homicide after he allegedly shot at his ex-girlfriend and her family. He will be charged with Rucker’s death, the sheriff said.
“We have plenty of time to continue collecting evidence and testing to build our case to charge Cory Hill with Shakeira Rucker’s murder,” said Mina. “We’re not looking for anyone else.”
What happened to Shakeira Rucker?
Rucker was last seen leaving her home in Winter Springs on the night of Nov. 11, according to a missing persons flyer from the Winter Springs Police Department.
Matthew Tracht, the chief of the Winter Springs Police Department, said at a news conference Sunday that Rucker “had left with Mr. Hill and went down to the Davenport area of Polk County.”
The timeline from when Rucker was last seen to the discovery of her body remains unclear.
Mina told reporters the main crime scene is the storage unit because that’s where investigators believe the shooting occurred. Her time of death has not yet been determined and released publicly.
The sheriff said Hill was not cooperative in the investigation.
“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 weeklong nightmare. The storage unit was registered to him; he had to have know that we would have found her in there.”
Husband arrested after shooting at ex-girlfriend, deputies say
Hill, 51, was arrested just before midnight on Nov. 12 after police say he tried to kill his ex-girlfriend, according to records filed in Orange County Circuit Court.
Orange County deputies said Hill went to the house of his ex-girlfriend – who he had previously lived with for two months – and shot at her and her cousin while they were sitting outside, according to an arrest affidavit. The woman and her cousin ran into the house. She locked herself in a bathroom, and he went to protect his cousin’s two children, including a 1-year-old, court records say.
Hill kicked in the kitchen window, entered the house and called for his ex-girlfriend. After unsuccessfully looking for the woman, Hill left.
Speaking with investigators, the woman told police she had recently “called a female who was later identified as Cory’s wife, and that’s when he became upset and told her that she would regret it,” according to an arrest affidavit.
Officials have not said whether the Nov. 12 shooting is related to Rucker’s murder. The Orange county Public Defender’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Christopher Cann is a breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him via email at ccann@usatoday.com or follow him on X @ChrisCannFL.
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