Authorities believe they’ve found the body of a woman whose carjacking at gunpoint in central Florida was caught on camera, moments after she called her husband to tell him that she was being followed.
Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, 31, was stopped at a red light in Seminole County on Thursday when a gunman forced his way into her white Dodge Durango.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said the gunman had on a black hoodie and a “ski-type of mask” and was carrying what appeared to be an automatic handgun.
Authorities believe the gunman had exited a green Acura that was directly behind De Aguasvivas’ vehicle, Lemma said at a news conference on Friday.
Cellphone footage captured by a witness in another vehicle showed the gunman pointing the weapon at the driver’s side of De Aguasvivas’ car and then getting into the back seat.
When the light turned green, De Aguasvivas made a U-turn and the Acura followed.
“She makes a U-turn at that intersection, probably heading, speculation here, but probably heading in a direction where the suspect does not want them to go and we suspect that he orders her to turn around again and re-approach the intersection,” the sheriff told reporters.
De Aguasvivas then started driving toward a new construction area authorities believe the suspects were familiar with. About an hour and 45 minutes after the incident in the video, deputies were called to the area for a report of a vehicle on fire.
Lemma said there was so much damage to the car that “you could not positively identify the vehicle.” A body was located inside that authorities believe to be De Aguasvivas, he said, noting that DNA and dental records need to confirm the victim’s identity.
Twelve shell casings from a gun were also found at the scene.
It’s not clear when the Acura started following De Aguasvivas, but Lemma told reporters that this was not a random incident and the suspects “knew exactly who they were following.”
“We are again still putting together to try to explain a motive,” he said.
Before the carjacking, De Aguasvivas had called her husband to tell him that someone had rammed the back of her vehicle and was following her, the sheriff said. The husband allegedly told her not to stop anywhere, but neither of them called 911, Lemma said.
“There’s a lot of unknowns, a lot of things that will leave people scratching your head,” he said. “Why did she and her husband not call 911? I don’t know. Why did she stop at the red light? There’s a lot of things that we’ll absolutely never know, but this is a tragic incident nevertheless.”
Investigators believe De Aguasvivas, of Homestead in Miami-Dade County, left South Florida shortly after noon Thursday and arrived in Seminole County around 3:30 p.m. She briefly stopped at a Shell gas station before continuing her drive, the sheriff said.
Her husband said she was in central Florida to visit family, according to Lemma. The sheriff said the husband did not provide the names of the family members and law enforcement did not know of any relatives living in the area.
De Aguasvivas and her husband are associated with two businesses, a barber shop and a beauty salon. The sheriff said neither of them has a criminal history in the United States.
“There’s no clear indicator why somebody would do this, why would they target them,” he said.
Detectives are still searching for the Acura and asked anyone with information to contact the sheriff’s office.