FORT WORTH, Texas — A Dallas woman who was shot and killed in Fort Worth Tuesday night found a tracking device attached to her automobile about two weeks before her death, according to the woman’s family as well as her own social media post following the discovery. Police have made an arrest in the case, authorities said.
When officers of the Fort Worth Police Department responded to a vehicle collision on Amon Carter Boulevard just south of Highway 183, they made a different discovery altogether. They found Abigail Saldana suffered a single gunshot wound that proved fatal, NBCDFW reported.
The 22-year-old homicide victim posted a video on Instagram less than two weeks before her death that she found a tracking device attached to her car.
“This was literally on my car like this,” Saldana said, showing the item. “This is why you have to be careful. I don’t know what to do moving forward with this. But this definitely looks like a tracker to me.”
Although tracking devices are easy to rent or buy, using them to secretly track another person without their knowledge is a crime.
Police confirm it’s part of the murder investigation.
“There is a tracker on this vehicle that we have identified,” Fort Worth police officer Tracy Carter said. “We don’t know how long that tracker has been on. That’s something our detectives are looking into.”
FWPD detectives made an arrest in the case. Stanley Szeliga, 54, was taken into custody and booked on the charge of murder at the Tarrant County Jail.
Police have not immediately released further details or a motive.
“I don’t know the connection between those two, but apparently he had been following her,” said Jessica Contreras, the murder victim’s mother.
Contreras says at some point Saldaña had taken photos of Szeliga’s vehicle and sent them to a friend after she found the tracking device, KDFW reported.
Records show Szeliga has a recent address in Irving and a prior criminal history in California that includes domestic violence.
“When I got the phone call about the arrest this morning, with all the hurt you get a little bit of peace,” said Contreras.
Contreras said she’s never heard of Szeliga before now and is uncertain if her daughter knew the man, according to NBCDFW.
“He can’t hurt anyone and he’s going to have to answer to me why he took my daughter,” she said. “And I’m not going to stop. I will fight and I will fight. He took my pride. He took my joy.”
Saldana is a single mother of a 5-year-old boy. She moved from Wichita Falls to Dallas about two years ago. She worked two jobs styling eyebrows and at a bar. Her mother says at least one of those jobs was somewhere in Fort Worth, KDFW reported.
“Abby was the middle child,” Contreras said. “She was my only girl.”
Szeliga is being held on a $250,000 bond.
