ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After more than a week of searching for a Winter Springs woman, the family of Shakeira Rucker is getting closure.
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On Saturday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said deputies found her body at a storage facility in Apopka.
The unit was owned by Rucker’s estranged husband Cory Hill, who is now named an official suspect in her murder.
Loved ones gathered in Pine Hills for a vigil Sunday evening to remember the mother of four.
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Since day one of the search, Rucker’s family was determined to hold out hope and do everything they could to find her.
Heartbroken was the word every family member used during the vigil, and Rucker’s mother was too emotional to speak on camera.
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About a dozen of her closest family members went through fields and rode ATVs in hopes of recovering any sign that she was still alive.
“It’s not the outcome we expected,” said Winter Springs Police Chief Matt Tracht. “But there is a little bit of closure for Shakeira’s family.”
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While the case started in Winter Springs, the investigation spanned Polk, Lake, Seminole and Orange counties.
But that search ended with a call to the storage facility on Wiggins Way, where deputies said they found Rucker dead inside a storage unit. Her family said she was found shot and in a prayer position.
“He needs to go down for everything, everything he is,” said Clarence Thorton, Rucker’s brother. “My sister should have never been in that situation. Not in a million years I would have thought my sister (to) ever been in that situation.”
The family is frustrated after they told investigators Friday about the unit, but with no specifics, it took time to find it.
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“There’s hundreds and hundreds of storage unit facilities in (the) Central Florida area,” said Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
Deputies are still investigating the case.
Hill has not been officially charged with Rucker’s murder, but Mina said he is the primary suspect in the case.
State Attorney Andrew Bain, who attended the vigil, said he wants the time to get things right and will prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law.
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“Every single case that we come into our offices like this, that comes with a lesser amount, it’s just a precursor to something that’s gonna happen in the future,” Bain said. “So we need to take it that serious in our community.”
This comes as the Ruckers navigate their grief and spend their first Thanksgiving without her.
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Rucker had two boys and two girls, ranging from seven to 18 years old.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help support them following their mother’s death.
CLICK HERE to read the original article by WFTV.
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