Mom of 4 missing for week found dead in estranged husband’s storage unit, Florida cops say
Officials in Florida are investigating after they say a mother of four was found dead inside of a storage unit one week after she went missing.
Shakeira Rucker was last seen by her children on Saturday, Nov. 11, when she left her home in Winter Springs with her estranged husband, Cory Hill, officials say, WFTV reported.
The two had gone to a restaurant in Polk County the night she was reported missing, WOFL reported.
The last time Rucker’s family heard from her, she told them she had picked up food and was on the way home, WESH reported.
Two days after Rucker was last seen, Hill was arrested on unrelated charges of four counts of attempted murder and was accused of shooting at his girlfriend and family on Nov. 12, officials said at a news conference held Nov. 19 and streamed on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page.
But officials say Hill refused to talk about Rucker’s disappearance, WOFL reported.
On Nov. 18, officials received a call from a storage unit facility in Apopka about a smell coming from one of the storage units, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at the news conference.
When authorities entered the storage unit, they found Rucker dead from gunshot wounds, Mina said.
Mina said the storage unit is registered to Hill. Records did not list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
“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,” Mina said.
Hill is the prime suspect in Rucker’s disappearance and in her death, officials said. Since he is already jailed with no bond, Mina said they have not officially charged him in Rucker’s death yet, but charges will be filed soon.
Hill was convicted of murder in 1993, Mina said at the news conference.
Officials say they have not determined a motive yet and say they believe Rucker was killed at the storage unit where she was found.
Friends and family have taken to social media sharing their grief over Rucker’s death. One person wrote that she was “ripped away from her babies.”
“The memories we share I will cherish them for a lifetime, sleep peacefully beautiful,” another person wrote on Facebook.
Apopka is about 20 miles northwest of Orlando.
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