Catherine Rusoff
Florida police say they have found a body they believe belongs to a woman who was allegedly kidnapped earlier this week alongside her daughter, according to WTSP, CBS News affiliate.
Sylvia Pagan, 34, was last seen in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning, WTSP reported. O Tampa Police Department issued a “Missing and Endangered Alert” for Pagan, describing her as a 5’3 female weighing about 155 pounds.
At 1 a.m. local time Monday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an Amber Alert for Pagan’s 9-year-old daughter, Briana.
Tampa Police said in a press release that they believed Briana “may also have been accompanied” by Pagan and Jovanni Caceres Steffani, 38, who Tampa police called a “person of interest.”
WTSP reported that investigators believe Steffani and Pagan spent the night together at Pagan’s Tampa home before leaving the next morning. Investigators found no evidence that anyone was injured in the home, WTSP reported, and there were no reports of domestic violence calls to the address.
Tampa/X Police Department
At around 2 a.m. local time, about an hour after the Amber Alert was issued, police say Steffani was found dead from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” in Suwannee County, which is about 200 miles south. north of Tampa. Deputies confronted him at a hotel, WTSP reported.
Briana was found safe at the scene, having been released from the hotel before Steffani’s death, WTSP reported.
Pagan remained missing even after the Amber Alert for Briana was lifted. Police said they were “deeply concerned for his general welfare”.
Police have not said where they found the body believed to be Pagan’s, nor have they released any information about the cause of death. A volunteer in the search for Pagan told WTSP that searchers found what is believed to be Pagan’s body in a roadside ditch covered by a blue kiddie pool. The clothes and shoes on the body matched the description provided by Pagan’s family, the volunteer told WTSP.
WTSP reported that the medical examiner’s office is working to confirm the identity of the remains and determine the cause of death.
“This is not the outcome anyone wanted,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement sent to WTSP. “We send our condolences to Sylvia’s loved ones, but especially to her daughter Briana during this unimaginable loss.”
