ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A man accused of shooting his estranged wife and hiding her body in a storage unit in Central Florida could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
Cory Hill, 51, was indicted by an Orange County grand jury for first-degree murder in the shooting death of 37-year-old Shakeira Rucker. Just after his formal indictment, the state attorney's office said it filed a notice to seek the death penalty against Hill in this case.
In November 2023, Rucker's family reported her missing out of Winter Springs. A week later, Orange County Sheriff's deputies were called out to a storage unit in Apopka, a city about 20 miles northeast of Orlando, after reports of a smell coming from inside one of the units.
Once deputies were able to open the storage unit, they found the body of a woman believed to be Rucker. Orange County Sheriff John Mina said she died from apparent gunshot wounds.
According to the sheriff, the storage unit was registered to Hill. The 51-year-old was already named a person of interest when Rucker first went missing.
"The storage unit was registered to him, he had to have known we would eventually find her in there," Mina said previously. "So it's very, very disappointing."
Before deputies found Rucker's body, Hill had been in Orange County Jail since Nov. 12 on charges connected to an incident where he allegedly shot at his girlfriend and family. Rucker went missing on Nov. 11.
Hill has since been charged with first-degree murder.
According to the state attorney's office, seeking the death penalty is based on two factors "including the cold, calculating method of the homicide and Mr. Hill's prior violent conviction for second-degree murder."
