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Beloved teacher kidnapped, fatally shot by estranged husband in front of kids before turning gun on himself: cops
Jamie Felix’s coworkers received a “suspicious email” from her estranged husband, Ray Felix, before the murder-suicide, Florida police said.
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Beloved teacher kidnapped, fatally shot by estranged husband in front of kids before turning gun on himself: cops
By
Chris Eberhart, Fox News
Published April 4, 2024, 8:04 p.m. ET
Originally Published by:
A beloved Florida teacher was kidnapped by her estranged husband and fatally shot in front of their kids before he turned the gun on himself as police closed in.
First responders found Jamie Felix’s 10- and 17-year-old children – unharmed – sitting with their mom, who died at the scene.
Felix was a 45-year-old middle school teacher at Manatee Academy K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, where she was crowned “Teacher of the Year,” according to the school’s social media posts.
“Jamie Bukoski Felix is a beautiful soul who will live forever in the hearts of those who love her. She loved her children to depths that words can’t express,” her friend wrote in a tribute post on Facebook. “She was incredibly brave and resilient. She had the most amazingly contagious laugh, especially when something delighted her.”
Felix and her estranged husband, 60-year-old Ray Felix, were going through a messy divorce that reportedly included previous incidents of domestic violence, before she was killed late Friday evening.
Ray was armed and disguised when he snuck up on Jamie and the kids in a business parking lot in Port St. Lucie around 4 p.m, forced everyone into his rental car and sent a “suspicious email to her coworkers,” Acting Police Chief Richard Del Toro said during a press conference.
Ray Felix killed himself and his estranged wife in front of their kids, according to police. St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office
“The email from what I understand was basically that she had lied about the domestic violence incident, which we know not to be true,” Del Toro said.
Her coworkers reported the email to the police around 6:30 p.m., but the situation had already spiraled out of control.
5 Jamie Felix, a Florida teacher, was murdered by her estranged husband, police said. Monica Jackman / Facebook
By that time, Ray forced his 17-year-old son into his rental car and made him follow his mom’s SUV, which headed south into West Palm Beach.
Jamie drove the SUV with a gun pointed at her head, according to police, while their 10-year-old son was in the back seat.
They finally stopped and pulled into a parking lot near a hotel for “unknown reasons,” West Palm Beach Police spokesman Mike Jachles told local newspaper TCPalm on Saturday.
5 Jamie Felix was a math teacher at Manatee Academy K-8 School in Port St. Lucie, where she was crowned “Teacher of the Year.” Google Maps
Ray and Jamie got out of the SUV, and Ray fired multiple shots at his wife.
The kids watched their mom collapse to the ground, as their dad sped off in the rental car.
That was around 7:30 p.m., when West Palm Beach police were flooded with 911 calls.
Jamie was pronounced dead at the scene, and responding officers found Ray about a quarter-mile from the rental agency after he returned the car.
