Woman Kidnapped By Ex-Husband Returns To Friends Amid Investigation
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Sarah Marie Allen returned to the Homestead neighborhood store Thursday where she was known to hang out. That's the spot where her ex-husband kidnapped her a day before.
Francis Dufore found her Wednesday night and snatched her. Authorities said Dufore kidnapped Allen and put her in the trunk of a stolen car he had driven from Louisiana.
After being choked and beaten, Allen was somehow able to call police to let them know what happened. That's when officers traced the call to a wooded area near a Southwest Miami-Dade retirement community at SW 355 Street and SW 180th Avenue.
When officers caught up to the car, they found it abandoned but Dufore and Allen were in the woods. A deadly confrontation ensued.
Investigators said Dufore came out of the woods with a shotgun.
"The subject confronted one of our K9 officers, pointed a shotgun towards the officer forcing the officer to shoot him. The subject, unfortunately, was pronounced deceased on the scene," Miami-Dade police spokesperson Jennifer Capote explained.
Dufore has history of arrests for assault and domestic violence. His ex-wife feared him, friends told CBS4's Gary Nelson.
"She was running for her life. She was running for her life," said Gloria Smith.
Allen has a troubled past herself. The Department of Children & Families (DCF) had taken the four children she had in common with Dufore.
She had an arrest this year for prostitution.
"I'm glad that she's alive and that she made it out of there and it's sad that he took it to that extent. She was trying to get her life together. She had just got out the homeless shelter," said her friend Irene Martinez.
She was lucky to be alive after being kidnapped at gunpoint, beaten and choked unconscious before police rescued her in the dark woods after shooting and killing her husband.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating the police involved shooting. That officer has been identified as a 23-year veteran of the Miami-Dade force.
