The charred remains of a body found Thursday inside a car are believed to be those of a Florida woman who was abducted in her own vehicle at gunpoint in a brazen broad-daylight attack, police said.
Investigators are confident they found Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvias, 31, inside her burning SUV in a rural area south of Orlando, Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said during a news conference on Friday.
The body and the car were so badly damaged that officials couldn’t confirm it was Guerrero De Aguasvias, but Lemma emphasized that the circumstances were too consistent with the bizarre kidnapping to assume they found another victim.
“This is a tragic incident. A horrible, horrible situation,” Lemma said.
The terrifying abduction was caught on camera by another driver who happened to pull up behind Guerrero De Aguasvias and a green Acura, which had been following her for at least half a mile.
Police said the car had rammed into the back of Guerrero De Aguasvias’ Dodge Durango several times, prompting the petrified woman — who was more than three hours from her south Florida home — to call her husband for help.
Guerrero De Aguasvias’s husband instructed her not to stop the car, but she found herself stuck at a stoplight just moments later.
That’s when a man — wearing a Halloween mask — is seen running out of the green car toward Guerrero De Aguasvias’s driver-side window, the video shows.
He then stuck a firearm through the window before climbing into her backseat.
Guerrero De Aguasvias’ car then peeled away from the intersection under the direction of her captor, police said, and toward her certain death.
“I suspect that where they told her to go, is somewhere where they’ve been before, they seemed very familiar with that area down there. I don’t think this is randomly, ‘Hey pull off the road,’” Lemma said.
Police found the SUV burning in a construction area just 17 miles from where Guerrero De Aguasvias was abducted.
A dozen shell casings were found scattered across the scene, consistent with the 10mm handgun Guerrero De Aguasvias’ kidnapper was waving, Lemma said.
While police are emphatic the attack was targeted, they are at a loss for a motive — with Lemma saying there are a “lot of unknowns.”
For starters, police don’t understand why neither Guerrero De Aguasvias nor her husband called 911.
Both immigrated to the US five years ago from the Dominican Republic and are associated with two South Florida businesses, a barbershop and a beauty salon.
“There is no criminal history here for either Katherine or her husband in the United States. There is no clear indicator why somebody would do this, why would they target them,” Lemma said.
Guerrero De Aguasvias’ husband allegedly told investigators that his late wife was traveling through Central Florida to visit family members, but could not provide names or contact information for any individuals.
Police also couldn’t track down any family that lived in the area.
Lemma wouldn’t say whether they were considering Guerrero De Aguasvias’ husband a suspect, but urged the public to keep an eye out for the two people involved in the woman’s abduction and murder.
“Clearly they should be viewed as being armed and dangerous, don’t confront them yourself, contact authorities,” Lemma said.
