By Calvin Palmer
The missing woman found dead in a ditch in northwest Harris County on Sunday was shot and her purse remains missing, investigators said today.
Sabrina Pina’s clothed body was found on Sunday morning in a ditch along Jack Road near Warren Ranch. She had been fatally shot.
The 27-year-old Spring resident was last seen alive about 2:00 p.m. on Saturday at a Kohl’s store at Texas 249 and Spring Cypress.
“We think she was abducted there,” said Sgt. Wayne Kuhlman, of the Harris County sheriff’s homicide division.
Kuhlman is hoping other shoppers in the Kohl’s parking lot may have seen the apparent abduction. He declined to say whether anything suspicious was recorded by the store’s security cameras.
“We have her Pina on surveillance camera but I don’t want to go into any more detail,” Kuhlman said.
Pina’s purse has not been found, but detectives said today they are unsure whether the killer intended to rob her.
“We don’t have a clear motive at this time,” Kuhlman said.
Detectives are still checking Pina’s cell phone records to see if she made a call after her disappearance.
There are no indications that Pina’s bank or credit cards have been used since Saturday.
Law enforcement officials said it is too soon to say whether Pina’s abduction is connected to the February 2 kidnapping of Susana De Jesus, a 37-year-old Houston woman taken at gunpoint from a Pearland shopping center, also located in a suburban area near a major freeway.
De Jesus is still missing.
Brazoria County sheriff’s detectives who are investigating De Jesus’ disappearance have been in touch with the Harris County sheriff’s homicide investigators working Pina’s case.
Both agencies will discuss the two cases in the future, said Brazoria County sheriff’s Capt. Chris Kincheloe.
[Based on a report by the Houston Chronicle.]
