Shakeira Rucker was found dead in a Florida storage unit after she had been missing for a week. Her estranged husband, Cory Hill, is facing murder charges in her death. (Cory Hill: Orange County Jail, Rucker: Winter Springs Police Department)
Prosecutors in Florida will pursue capital punishment for a 51-year-old man accused of killing his estranged wife last year, gunning her down in a storage unit before hiding her body under a mound of old tires.
The Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit on Friday formally filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Cory Hill just days after he was indicted on first-degree murder and other charges in the slaying of Shakeira Rucker, court records obtained by Law&Crime show.
A few hours after killing Rucker, authorities say Hill traveled to his girlfriend’s home and shot at her and several of her family members. He was also indicted on four additional counts of attempted murder as well as burglary, shooting into a building, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and violation of a domestic violence injunction by threatening violence.
According to the document, prosecutors claim they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt at least three of the aggravating factors that can make a crime eligible for capital punishment.
The aggravating factors mentioned in the filing include that the alleged murder “was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification” and that it was “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.” Additionally, the state points out that Hill was previously convicted of a felony involving “the use or threat of violence to a person,” which constitutes an aggravating factor.
Hill was previously convicted of second-degree murder for the 1992 killing of a man in Suffolk County, Virginia. A then-20-year-old Hill fatally shot an 18-year-old man whom he believed had stolen his 1988 Ford Tempo with his daughter still. Hill went to the teen’s home and shot him several times after an argument. A jury convicted Hill the following year, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
As reported by Law&Crime, Rucker was last seen on Nov. 11 and wasn’t found until a week later, on Nov. 18, when a “distinct odor of human decomposition” was emanating from the storage locker in Apopka, a suburb of Orlando, a probable cause affidavit said. Detectives found four spent cartridge casings, including one in her hair, and blood on the walls and floor.
Rucker left her Winter Springs home with Hill on Nov. 11, and they were seen on surveillance video later that day about 50 miles away at a retail store and restaurant in Davenport. Video surveillance later showed a car with two people inside fitting the descriptions of Hill and Rucker driving into a storage facility and Hill punching in his code to enter his unit shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 12.
Hill left the facility alone about 20 minutes later. Rucker’s family contacted him to ask about her whereabouts, but Hill said he was not with her. Her family also received a text message around 6:45 a.m. that she was on her way home, the affidavit said.
Detectives wrote that Rucker had recently found out that Hill had been in a romantic relationship with another woman. Neither woman had been aware of the other, investigators said. The ex-girlfriend ended the relationship after she learned Hill was married, investigators said.
Hill’s ex-girlfriend told Orange County Sheriff’s deputies she was standing outside her Kissimmee home on Nov. 12 with her cousin and her two children when she noticed Hill’s vehicle. Hill got out of his car and started shooting at them, the affidavit states. She and her family ran into the home, and she heard what she believed was a “bullet fly closely by her ear.”
Once inside the home, the ex-girlfriend hid in a bathroom while her cousin hid in another room with the children. Hill allegedly broke a kitchen window to get inside and started screaming her name. Hill then broke down the bedroom door where the cousin and children were hiding and said to one of them, “take me to your mommy,” while holding the gun at his side, the affidavit said. The woman said she dated Hill for about two months, but he became upset when she called a woman who was later identified as his wife. Hill said she would “regret it,” according to the affidavit.
Deputies found four bullets in the home, and surveillance video showed Hill inside with a gun, detectives wrote.
Shakeira Rucker was survived by four children, ages 7, 9, 16 and 18. The family has started a GoFundMe account for her kids, which has raised a little over $35,000.
“She was a loving mother to four beautiful children and a victim of senseless violence,” Debra Rucker, Shakeira Rucker’s sister, wrote on the fundraising page.
Law&Crime’s David Harris contributed to this report.
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