WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – Katherine Guerrero, also known as Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic about five years ago.
The 31-year-old mother’s life as a U.S. Citizen was short and detectives were trying to figure out why she was killed just four days before her 32nd birthday.
“This wasn’t just a random incident,” Seminole County Sheriff Dennis M. Lemma said during a news conference on Friday.
Guerrero, who didn’t have a criminal record in the U.S., drove a white 2017 Dodge Durango from deep south Miami-Dade County to Seminole County on Thursday and vanished.
An important clue: A witness recorded a video showing a carjacking at East Lake Drive and Tuskawilla Road. Shortly after, witnesses reported hearing gunshots and seeing smoke in Osceola County.
Lemma said firefighters found her dead in the burning 2017 Dodge Durango at a construction site.
“The perpetrators knew exactly who they were going after,” Lemma said.
The witness’s video shows a masked gunman getting out of the Acura, threatening her at gunpoint, and jumping into the back of the Dodge Durango with a “For Sale 786-352-0437” sign — while the driver of the Acura continues to follow them.
Records show the phone number on public display on the back window of the Dodge Durango is associated with Miguel Angel Aguasvivas Lizardo, of Florida City.
Before the carjacking, she allegedly called her husband and told him that the driver of a green Acura followed her and was ramming into the back bumper of the Durango.
He told deputies he asked her not to stop anywhere. There was a red light.
“We do feel that the occupants of the green Acura ... knew exactly who they were following,” Lemma said.
Lemma asked the public to help them find the green Acura. He said he doesn’t understand why her husband, who has been “helpful” and doesn’t have a criminal record in the U.S., chose not to call 911 to report his wife was in danger.
Lemma also said her husband said she was visiting family, but they couldn’t contact anyone who was related to her in the area.
“We absolutely have no idea where she was going,” Lemma said.
On Facebook, she celebrated getting married in 2013. She shared a photo holding three children who she wrote she missed terribly in 2014. She reported having lived in New York in 2016. She celebrated having a daughter on Aug. 2, 2018.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this case to call the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.