OCKLAWAHA, Fla. — Detectives in Marion County are investigating the deaths of three teens found in multiple locations in the Ocklawaha area.
The investigation began the evening of Thursday, March 30, when sheriff's deputies responded to the area of Forest Lakes Park on Southeast 183rd Avenue Road. There they found a 16-year-old girl, later identified as Layla Silvernail, lying beside the road with a gunshot wound, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
She was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but Sheriff Billy Woods revealed Tuesday that she has passed away, NBC News reports.
The following day, deputies responded to the intersection of Southeast 94th Street and Southeast 188th Court where they found a 17-year-old boy lying beside the road, dead from a gunshot wound, Woods said. This area is just a half-mile from where the teenage girl was found.
Fast forward to Saturday, April 1, deputies received information that the 16-year-old girl's car was partially submerged in a body of water near Malauka Loop and Malauka Loop Trace — nearly 10 miles from where she was found.
After members of the MCSO Major Crimes Unit, Forensic Unit, and Underwater Recovery Team recovered the car, a search warrant was obtained and deputies found a third teen, a 16-year-old girl with a gunshot wound inside the car. She, too, was pronounced dead, the sheriff's office said.
The two other teens' names were not released due to their families' decisions to invoke Marsy's Law.
"My Major Crimes detectives are working around the clock continuing their homicide investigation and diligently following up on every potential lead," Woods said in a statement.
In a video posted to the Marion County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, Woods addressed rumors that he states are untrue. Woods said there was not a fourth victim in the investigation, and there is not a serial killer in the rural community in Marion County.
"That is far from the truth," Woods said. "I have the facts of what we know right now, and I can give you that assurance."
Anyone with information that could help detectives in the investigation is asked to call Detective Ryan Stith at 352-368-3542 or Crime Stoppers of Marion County at 352-368-7867 in reference to case 23-22.
