According to CBS News station WTSP, police in Florida discovered a body they believe belongs to a mother who was reported to have been taken along with her daughter earlier this week.
Sylvia Pagan, 34, last appeared in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning, according to WTSP. The Tampa Police Department issued a “Missing and Endangered Alert” for Pagan, identifying her as a 5’3″ lady weighing around 155 pounds.
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At 1 a.m. local time on Monday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an Amber Alert for Pagan’s 9-year-old daughter, Briana.
Tampa police said in a news release that they believed Briana “may have also been accompanied” by Pagan and Jovanni Caceres Steffani, 38, whom they described as a “person of interest.”
WTSP stated that authorities suspect Steffani and Pagan spent the night together at Pagan’s Tampa home before departing the next morning. Investigators found no evidence of harm at the property and no record of domestic violence calls to the address, according to WTSP.
Authorities said they discovered Steffani dead with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” in Suwannee County, roughly 200 miles north of Tampa, around 2 a.m. local time, about an hour after issuing the Amber Alert. WTSP said that deputies confronted him at a hotel.
Before Steffani’s murder, WTSP claimed to have freed Briana from the hotel and found her safe at the scene.
Even after the withdrawal of Briana’s Amber Alert, Pagan remained unaccounted for. The police stated that they are “deeply concerned for her overall well-being.”
Police did not reveal where they discovered the body, which they suspect to be Pagan’s, or provide any information regarding the cause of death. A participant in the search for Pagan informed WTSP that searchers discovered what they believe to be Pagan’s body in a roadside ditch, covered in a blue child’s pool. The volunteer informed WTSP that the clothing and shoes on Pagan’s body matched the description his relatives provided.
WTSP stated that the medical examiner’s office is attempting to confirm the identification of the remains and determine the cause of death.
“This is not the outcome that anyone wanted,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw stated in a statement to WTSP. “We send our condolences to Sylvia’s loved ones, but most importantly, to her daughter Briana during this unimaginable loss.”
