According to investigators and the officer’s former coworkers, a Florida police officer who seemed to have committed herself last week was really shot and killed by her husband.
On Monday, October 14, deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that initially seemed to be a suicide. Days later, the sheriff’s office said that they had discovered 39-year-old Lt. Eloilda “Ellie” Shea dead in the Rio Pinar neighborhood of Orlando.
However, after conducting a death investigation, Orange County homicide detectives concluded that Shea was murdered by her estranged husband, Anthony Shea, a former sergeant at the same sheriff’s office.
According to a local news station, investigators think Anthony Shea attempted to make his wife’s death appear to be a suicide by using her phone to send texts to his own phone and deceiving deputies who came to look into it.
Anthony Shea, 49, was taken into custody by authorities on first-degree murder charges related to his wife’s shooting death. The sheriff said he was being held in the Orange County jail on Friday without bond.
Earlier this year, Anthony Shea, who began working for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in 2006, resigned from his sergeant post. Although the specifics of the accusations were not disclosed, the office stated that he was being investigated at the time for charges that would have led to his firing.
“We are grateful to our homicide detectives, who had the extraordinarily difficult job of investigating a colleague’s murder, for their diligence in ensuring justice for Ellie,” the sheriff’s office stated.
In a separate statement, the office noted that its employees were grieving Ellie Shea’s passing and finding it difficult to deal with “a devastating loss” while lauding the lieutenant’s amiable manner and diligent work ethic, for which he was “beloved.”
“Lt. Shea, just 39 years old, joined the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in 2011, quickly making her mark as a compassionate law enforcement officer, rising star and friend to so many she worked alongside,” according to the statement. “She lit up every room she entered with her infectiously bubbly personality, beautiful spirit and kind smile.”
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According to Shea’s coworkers, she was “a mentor, teacher, advocate, protector, cheerleader, and an inspiration to women aspiring to be leaders.” In addition, she was the mother of two young children, two-year-old Raquel and seven-year-old Lana. Their father is Anthony Shea.
To help the kids through a “difficult road ahead of them,” the sheriff’s office requested the public to think about contributing to a GoFundMe campaign. As of Tuesday morning, the fundraiser had raised over $38,000 of its $100,000 target.
