After five weeks of intensified search, the body of an 18-year-old pregnant teen has been found in a field off a Florida route, nearly 1,400 miles away from her home.
Jalajhia Finklea, of Bedford, Massachusetts, was five months pregnant when she vanished from her home after calling the abductor, Luis Zaragoza, and getting into his rented car wearing slippers.
The 37-year-old would later be gunned down by cops during a standoff after they identified him as a suspect in her disappearance.
“On November 5, US Marshals and an assisting Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy attempted to arrest the suspect at a McDonald’s parking lot in Crestview, Florida,” police said.
“The suspect, who was armed with a handgun, died during a confrontation with police.”
Authorities said that surveillance video showed Zaragoza traveling to Florida, Texas then returning to Florida in the weeks following Finklea’s disappearance, but she didn’t appear in any footage.
“An autopsy will be conducted in Florida to positively identify the deceased and to determine cause and manner of death, which is believed to be a homicide.”
Finklea, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, was strong and caring towards those “in her circle.”
“For the ones that she loved and cared about she would do anything for,” her longtime friend said.
