Missing Florida mom found dead in estranged husband's storage unit

A missing Florida woman was found dead in her estranged husband's storage unit, authorities said.

Shakeira Yvonne Rucker, 37, was found dead Saturday in a storage unit at the Self Storage on Wiggins Road in Apopka, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday on Facebook. The sheriff's office is investigating Rucker’s case as a homicide.

“This is not the update we wanted to be giving you all today,” Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference Sunday, adding that the story has had a lot of “twists and turns” over the last week and covered many jurisdictions.

Authorities had just finished searching for Rucker in an area near Bob White Airfield in Mount Dora on Saturday when they got a 911 call from someone at the Self Storage reporting "a smell emanating from one of the units," Mina said.

Orange County sheriff's deputies found Rucker dead in the unit from apparent gunshot wounds, Mina said. He said a full autopsy is underway.

Officials said the storage unit belonged to her estranged husband, Cory Hill, the prime suspect, and that he has not been cooperative in the investigation.

Rucker was killed at the storage unit, Mina said. No motive was announced.

“He is the suspect. We are not looking for anyone else. He will be charged with the murder eventually in this case," Mina said.

The public defender's office representing Hill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mina said Hill is already in the Orange County Jail, charged with four counts of attempted homicide, accused of shooting at his "girlfriend and family" on Nov. 12. According to Orange County jail records, he was booked Nov. 13.

NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando reported that Hill was shooting at a former girlfriend and her family in that case. The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for clarification Sunday night.

Rucker, who WESH reported was a mother of four, was first reported missing after her family said they last saw her on Nov. 11, Winter Springs police said on Facebook. Police said that she was last seen leaving her Winter Springs home that day and that her family believed she had been with Hill.

"It's not the outcome we expected, but there's a little bit of closure for Shakeira's family," Winter Springs Police Chief Matthew Tracht said Sunday.

Tracht said the team worked 16- to 18-hour days to find Rucker and worked across four counties: Orange, Seminole, Polk and Lake. It also got help from Mount Dora police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI, he said.