MARION COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Detectives in a small Florida town are looking for tips after three teenagers were killed.
Marion County deputies said they were called to the area of Forest Lakes Park on Southeast 183rd Avenue Road last Thursday. Deputies found 16-year-old Layla Silvernail lying beside the road with a gunshot wound.
The girl was rushed to a hospital in critical condition but later died due to her injuries.
A day later, deputies were called to Southeast 94th Street and Southeast 188th Court after a 17-year-old boy was found lying beside the road. Deputies said the boy died as a result of a gunshot wound.
On Saturday, officials said Silvernail’s white Chevy Cruz was found partially submerged at the edge of a body of water near Malauka Loop and Malauka Loop Trace.
The sheriff’s office’s Underwater Recovery Team search the vehicle and found the body of a 16-year-old girl. Investigators said she also suffered from a gunshot wound.
On Wednesday, Marion County deputies released a photo of Silvernail’s car. Investigators said the car was spotted in the area of Forest Lake Park around 10:40 p.m. on Thursday, March 30.
It was also found in the area of Malauka Loop Trace around 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 1.
“We want to know if you saw this vehicle around these times,” the sheriff’s office said.
Anyone who may have seen or heard anything suspicious around those times is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Marion County at 352-368-7867 and reference 23-22 in your tip.
“[We need to] put the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can put the people who committed the crime behind bars,” Sheriff Billy Woods told WESH.
Woods said more than a dozen detectives are working leads and chasing tips in the case.
