Once she found the tracking device, she shared a video on social media and also informed the cops about it.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on November 4, 2021. It has since been updated.
Trigger warning: This story discusses stalking and murder that may be disturbing to readers.
Abigail Saldana, 22, of Fort Worth was a young mom who worked as an exotic dancer at Rick's Cabaret, Texas. Her life came to an abrupt end when she was shot to death by her stalker. What's shocking is the fact that just two weeks prior to her death, she had found a tracking device in her car, reports PEOPLE.
Not only did she lodge a complaint with the cops, but she also documented it and shared it on her private Instagram handle. She captioned her video, “Check under your cars ladies! This is no joke and sometimes you think it will never be you!”
In the clip, she removes a small black box from the underside of her vehicle. Since it has magnets, nothing has to be done except simply snap it onto the metal body of the vehicle, which is exactly what her stalker did.
She comments that she doesn’t know what it is, but that it looks to her like a tracker of some kind. Her doubts were confirmed when she took it home and opened it to check it. “This is so crazy, you guys; so crazy. Who would do this?” Saldana says. She goes on to tell her viewers, “This is why you’ve got to be careful.”
On October 26, 2021, two weeks after finding the tracking device, police in Fort Worth responded to a 911 call about an accident on Highway 183 and found a woman shot to death in her car. The person who called 911 about the accident said she saw a silver Hyundai sedan speed off an exit ramp and onto a grassy area before it hit a sign, say police. "Upon arrival officers located a female victim inside of her vehicle with apparent gunshot wounds to her torso," police say in the statement.
The woman was identified as Saldana.
Police documents confirm murdered 22-year old was an exotic dancer at a local adult entertainment club; arrested suspect was a customer who had been harassing her. @fortwortpd #AbigailSaldaña #StanleySzeliga pic.twitter.com/S3OFQOuO4S
— Dionne Anglin (@DAnglinFox4) November 1, 2021
During a subsequent investigation, police learned that Saldana had been "having issues recently with the suspect," identified as Stanley Szeliga, 54, of Irving. Apparently, it was open knowledge to everyone at Rick's Cabaret that the woman was scared of him “because he was stalking and harassing her.”
A SWAT team reportedly forced their way into Szeliga’s apartment on October 27, where police found him out on his balcony. According to reports, Szeliga had “several self-inflicted cut wounds on various parts of his body.” He was then arrested and charged with murder. Online records show that Szeliga is being held on a $250,000 bond at the Tarrant County Lon Evans Correction Center in Fort Worth.
While the investigation is ongoing, friends and family of the deceased are trying to come to terms with the loss. "She had a lot of love," Jessica Contreras told WFAA about her daughter.
Contreras vows to seek justice for Abigail. "He took her away from me," she said. "I'm gonna make sure every time he has a court date, he will see my face there. He's gonna see that Abby was never alone."
References:
https://people.com/crime/dancer-found-tracking-device-car-police-allege-stalker-killed-her/
https://www.instagram.com/xabigailsaldana/
Cover Image Source: YouTube | FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth (Man arrested for murder of Dallas woman who may have been stalked)
