Shakeira Rucker missing: Estranged husband’s criminal past includes murder conviction

Criminal past of Shakeira Rucker's husband

Shakeira Rucker's estranged husband has been named a person of interest in her disappearance. Cory Hill has a criminal history, having served time in prison after being convicted of the second-degree murder of a man in Virginia.

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. - FOX 35 News is investigating the disappearance of Shakeira Rucker.

The only person of interest in the case is her estranged husband, Cory Hill. Winter Springs Police said he was the last person to see her, but that he’s refusing to talk with police about it. At the moment, Hill is sitting in the Orange County Jail for a different crime. He is accused of trying to shoot and kill his ex-girlfriend and her cousin.

The lead investigator in Rucker’s disappearance, Captain Doug Seely, said investigators from Winter Springs Police went to the Orange County Jail to ask him questions about Rucker.

"And he's like, ‘I'm not talking,’" recounted Seely.

That refusal to talk, Seely said, is what makes Hill a person of interest. Right now, he is not being accused of a crime as it relates to Rucker going missing. However, he has been involved in other violent crimes.

He was convicted of murdering a man in Virginia decades ago. Court records FOX 35 obtained from Suffolk, Virginia, show that around 7:10 a.m., two days before Christmas in 1992, Hill was talking with 18-year-old Dontwaine Cornelius Everett in the front yard outside his house. The two started arguing. Hill pulled out a gun and opened fire. Everett was pronounced dead ten minutes later.

Hill was sentenced to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder and another two years for using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Photo via Winter Springs Police Department

Court records show Hill found himself back in front of a judge three times in 2009, accused of assault and battery. Now, he’s back in law enforcement’s focus.

"We're trying to get answers, and we're trying to be optimistic," said Seely.

Hill’s court records for the attempted murder in Orange County that he’s accused of show he has two children, but didn’t say what would happen to them.

Investigators are working on search warrants to find out more about Hill’s connection to Shakeira Rucker and what he might know about her disappearance.

"Without him talking to us, we have to list him as a person of interest," explained Captain Seely.

Captain Seely wouldn’t explain what type of warrants they plan to serve; he only said police are using whatever legal means they can to get information from him.