A Florida man is accused of fatally shooting a 25-year-old woman and having sex with her corpse after she rejected his sexual advances. Christopher Shows, 21, allegedly shot Amanda Gayle Suarez with a .22 rifle to "know what murder felt like," Okeechobee County Undersheriff Noel Stephen toldWPTV at a press conference Monday.
A relative of Suarez found the body on Dec. 7, with authorities later determining that Shows was dating Suarez's cousin. "In his confession it was just he wanted to know what murder was about," Stephen said. "Unfortunately, it was no rhyme, no reason. He just wanted to know what murder felt like."
Shows allegedly exited Suarez's home after his sexual advances were rejected, arming himself with a rifle and fatally shooting the mother of four as she tried to escape through the back door. Shows, detectives said, then had sex with her body before dragging it down a hallway and placing it "in a crucifix position." In an attempt to "cover up the crime," Shows reportedly burned his clothes and attempted to get rid of Suarez's phone. Suarez's 2-year-old son was at home during the attack.
In a statement to WPTV Monday, the Suarez family asked for privacy during this "nightmare" and thanked local authorities for their assistance. "This young monster made a choice to drive nearly twenty miles, after planning this heinous act, and do it just because he could [sic]," the statement reads. "There is no 'back story' to be told, other than the fact that we know Amanda lost her life protecting her two-year-old son, who was a witness to this atrocity. As the oldest child said at his mom's funeral, 'She was a good mom. She never did anything to anybody. Why did someone have to do this to her?'"
A GoFundMe page, the New York Daily Newsreported Wednesday, has been set up to cover the family's housing expenses. At the time of publication, the campaign had raised nearly $9,000 of its $15,000 goal.
