Accused stalker arrested in Fort Worth shooting death of woman he tracked, mother says

A 54-year-old Irving man was taken into custody early Thursday in connection with the highway shooting death of a woman he had stalked, her mother and Fort Worth police said.

Jail records identified the suspect as Stanley Szeliga, who was booked into the Fort Worth Jail just before 5 a.m. Thursday.

Szeliga faces a charge of murder in the case, according to jail records.

The victim was Abigail “Abby” Saldana, 22, of Dallas. She was shot and killed Tuesday night as she drove down a Fort Worth highway, less than two weeks after she had found a tracking device on her car.

Jessica Contreras of Wichita Falls said Saldana, who was her daughter, had managed to take down a license plate number of her stalker.

Saldana’s hometown had been listed as Wichita Falls on the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website, but she had moved to Dallas about two years ago, her mother said Thursday in a telephone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“I don’t know where she was going that night,” Contreras said. “We got a text about 6:30 p.m. that night, and the shooting happened about two hours later.”

Fort Worth police have not released a motive for the shooting and they have provided few details.

Contreras also said investigators are actively working the case.

In an Instagram video posted earlier this month, Saldana noted that she had found what appeared to be a tracking device on her car.

“This was on my car like this,” Saldana said as she showed viewers how the device attached to her car. “This is why you have to be careful. I really don’t know what to do moving forward.”

Seconds later, Saldana can be seen on the video taking the tracker apart.

“This is so crazy, you guys!” she said on the video. “So crazy. Who would do this?”

On Tuesday night, Saldana died from gunshot wounds to her right arm and back, and her death has been ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Fort Worth police responded to a report of a major accident shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Texas 183 and Amon Carter Boulevard.

When they arrived, police found the victim, who had been shot inside of a silver sedan that had left the roadway and stopped in a grassy area.

Saldana was pronounced dead at the scene.

A caller reported seeing the sedan speeding on the highway before it suddenly exited the roadway and then went off into the grassy area, according to a police call log.

The caller also said that the rear windshield appeared to have a bullet hole, and no one appeared to be moving in the car.