Teacher's children found with slain mom after 'disguised' husband kidnapped them: police
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."
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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.
"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.
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Her coworkers reported the email to the police around 6:30 p.m., but the situation had already spiraled out of control.
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.
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.
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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.
As the officers approached, Ray shot himself, Jachles said. "No officers fired any shots or anything. . . . He appeared intent on one thing, and that’s taking his life."
Family, friends, coworkers and students – past and present – penned tributes to the late teacher on social media and her obituary.
A local Facebook group called Slscanner, which emphasized that it doesn't post videos, pictures and tributes without consent, shared this video of Jamie's students surprising their teacher.
Jamie was known for her love of University of Michigan sports and coached basketball, according to her obituary.
"She was genuinely thankful for every kindness she received, she was brilliant but humble (she had absolutely no idea how gifted and beautiful she was)," Monica Jackman wrote on Facebook.
"She was fun and funny and witty and could make me cry with laughter, she was compassionate, she was loyal and dedicated, she was a girl’s girl who lifted up her friends at every opportunity."