Body found in burned car may be connected to 'bold' carjacking in Florida, officials say
A body found in a burned car is believed to be connected to an "incredibly frightening" and "bold" carjacking in the Winter Springs area of unincorporated Seminole County, Florida, officials said.
On Thursday, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office asked the public to be on the lookout for the driver and vehicle that were missing after a possible carjacking at around 6:00 p.m.
A video captured by a witnessed showed an armed suspect in a black hoodie, wearing what appears to be a Halloween mask pointing a weapon at the driver of a white Dodge Durango, before getting in the rear driver’s side door, the sheriff's office said.
Another suspect then drove immediately behind the Durango in the green Acura sedan that the armed suspected exited from.
Police identified that victim in the incident as Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, 31, of Homestead, Florida. On Friday, Sheriff Dennis Lemma said witnesses reported gunshots and smoke from a car that was set on fire at a construction site in Osceola County a few hours after the reported carjacking.
Lemma said both the body and car were badly damaged in the blaze but investigators believe it to be Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas and the Dodge Durango. Police are waiting on forensic confirmation.
He added that officers found 12 shell casings and one projectile at the scene.
Driver was targetted
According to Lemma, about half a mile before she got to the intersection, Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, noticed she was being followed by the green Acura which repeatedly rammed into her bumper.
She called her husband to let him know she was being followed and he told her to not stop and keep driving. Neither she nor her husband called police, Lemma said.
Officials believe she was targetted but it's unclear why.
"This was not a random act of violence, the perpetrators knew exactly who they were going after," Lemma said. "Why they're going after them is something that is a part of our ongoing, continuing investigation."
The sheriff said it appears that the suspect was instructing Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas on where to drive, and detectives suspect he was familiar with the area and led her to the construction site.
"This is a tragic incident," Lemma said. "A horrible, frightening situation."
Anyone with information on the green Acura, which had a partially obscured license plate, that followed Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas is asked to contact the sheriff's office.