WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. — A woman reported missing after an apparent carjacking in Seminole County is believed to be dead Friday after deputies found a body in a burned car about 30 minutes away from where she was last seen.
In a press conference, Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said he believes 31-year-old Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvias, who has been a U.S. citizen for five years, was the dead body in the badly burnt car.
Lemma said the woman left South Florida at about noon Thursday, driving into Seminole County and downtown Orlando.
After some time, Aguasvias stopped at a gas station for 10 minutes at about 3:30 p.m. before heading into Winter Springs northeast of Orlando, authorities said.
Phone video from a driver on East Lake Drive and Tuskawilla Road showed the moment a hooded man wearing a “ninja mask” pointed an automatic handgun toward the driver's side of Aguasvias’ Durango.
Before Aguasvias stopped at the light, she called her husband, who was back home in South Florida, and told him the Acura had been following her and ramming into her bumper. Lemma said her husband is a business owner.
He advised her not to stop. Neither of them called law enforcement, authorities said.
The video shows the man climbing into the backseat of the Durango still holding the handgun. Lemma said he believes Aguasvias was driving “under the dictatorship” of the armed man after she made a U-turn.
Upon further investigation, Lemma said the Durango drove southbound toward the Seminole-Orange County line nearing rush hour and eventually turned into a rural area of Osceola County, where the burned car was found.
Authorities also found a dozen 10mm handgun shells and a “projectile” on the scene, Lemma said in the press conference. They believe the man in the Acura, with an obscured license plate, may have specifically targeted Aguasvias, although they don’t know why he would do so.
Officials have yet to find the man and say he is considered armed and dangerous.
Dental records also have yet to be released proving the identity of the body, authorities said.