Authorities say a body found in Florida is believed to be that of Jalajhia, an 18 year old from New Bedford, Massachusetts who had been missing since October.
The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office announced that the body was found around noon on Wednesday in a field off Interstate 95 in Fellsmere, Florida. Officials said an autopsy would be done in Florida to confirm the identity and determine the cause and manner of death, which they believe to be a homicide.
According to police records obtained by NBC10 Boston, Jalajhia was five months pregnant when she disappeared. She was last seen on October 20 getting into a rental car near her mother’s home. Her mother told police she had left to fill a prescription and was gone when she returned. Surveillance video showed her getting into the front passenger seat of a rented Hyundai Elantra, where she stayed for about 20 minutes before the car left. Her phone was later found on Route 140, about five miles away. The Cape Cod Times reported that she turned 18 the day after she vanished. A member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, she attended Barnstable High School, and police said there was no sign she had planned to leave home.
Investigators tracked the rental car through several states. Prosecutors said the driver, identified as Luis Barboza and also known as Luis Zaragoza, drove it to Florida, then Texas, then back to Florida. New Bedford police charged him with kidnapping and motor vehicle larceny, and a warrant was issued on November 5. Authorities said he was killed in an apparent shootout with law enforcement outside a McDonald’s in Crestview, Florida on November 9, as U.S. Marshals worked to take him into custody. The Cape Cod Times reported that Jalajhia had texted a friend before she disappeared that she was meeting a man named Luis.
Baller Alert sends our condolences to her family and loved ones. We will share updates as officials release them.
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