A family is pleading for answers after they said their loved one's body was found on the side of the Florida's Turnpike in Broward County on Christmas Eve.
Shakira Shanay Mozie, 34, was reportedly heading to her residence in Tamarac from a holiday party in West Park, but she never made it there.
"I'll never, ever forget that call," Mozie's great aunt Connie Smith-Lindsey told NBC6. "It was just before midnight, just going into Christmas, and I got a call from my brother saying, 'Connie, get to Mama's house. It's really bad. Shakira is dead.'"
Questions remain unanswered about what happened to Mozie between West Park and where she was ultimately found, near Interstate 595, south of Sunrise. Her loved ones said she was being driven in her white SUV, with someone else behind the wheel.
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"While there are speculations, what is important is to gather the facts so that we can get a guilty verdict," Smith-Lindsey said. "Something sinister, evil, devastating, selfish, narcissistic happened between the Christmas party and the Florida Turnpike. I just want to wait on the investigation to do its due diligence, so that we can get the guilty verdict needed to put the person or persons responsible in jail."
NBC6 reached out to the Broward County Sheriff's office, leading this death investigation, but requests for information have been denied. Nearly two weeks since Mozie's death, loved ones said an arrest has not been made.
"Why would you leave?" Smith-Lindsey said. "Why would you implicate yourself in killing someone, in leaving a young, Black mother on the side of the road? What would make you leave her to take her final breath alone? There is nothing anyone could ever say to me that justifies her death or her aloneness in her final breath."
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Mozie is survived by her 10-year-old daughter.
The 34-year-old worked as a teacher assistant at Discovery Elementary School, according to the school's website. But loved ones said that she also worked in security, as a tutor and volunteered as a cheerleading coach.
"She poured into students who would not have passed important tests had it not been for her love of education," Smith-Lindsey said. "We're devastated because not only is a young mother with a 10-year-old gone from us, [but also] this is beyond just one person and a child. This death impacts a generation of students."
Since the news of her death, comments on Mozie's online obituary have poured in, with many writing that it was an honor to know and work with her.
"She has energy for life, and not one thing was enough to keep her busy. She wanted to give, give, give," her great aunt said. "My niece's life and legacy will be more and greater than just what happened to her on the side of the street."
Anyone with information is urged to contact Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
