ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (Scripps News West Palm Beach / Court TV) – The estranged husband of a woman whose body was found in a storage unit has been charged in her death, authorities said.
Shakeira Yvonne Rucker, a 37-year-old mother of four, was reported missing by her family on Nov. 11, 2023. (Winter Springs Police Dept.)
Shakeira Yvonne Rucker, a 37-year-old mother of four, was reported missing after her family told the Winter Springs Police Department they last saw her on Nov. 11, Winter Springs Police Dept. shared on social media.
Rucker’s family reported she left her home for “an unknown destination,” possibly with her estranged husband, Cory Hill, police said at the time.
A week later, on Nov. 18, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office provided the tragic update, saying Rucker’s dead body had been found inside an Apopka, Fla. storage unit, which had been registered to Hill. Her body had been found after someone complained about a smell coming from inside the unit, prosecutors said in a statement Friday. When deputies opened the unit, they found a woman, later identified as Rucker, dead from apparent gunshot wounds, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a press conference.
Cory Hill booking photo. (Orange County Jail)
Hill, 51, who was already booked in the Orange County Jail on Nov. 13 for an unrelated shooting incident involving his ex-girlfriend, is now facing an additional charge of second-degree murder with a firearm in Rucker’s death. Hill had been charged with four counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a former girlfriend and her family on Nov. 12, Mina said.
Rucker’s family has set up a GoFundMe page for her four children, ages 7 through 18.
Prosecutors said they plan to seek a first-degree murder indictment in Rucker’s homicide, but due to procedural rules, the State is currently limited to a second-degree murder charge before they have the opportunity to present the case to the Orange County Grand Jury. Until then, Hill is being held without bond at Orange County Jail.
