Police found Alana Sims’ body on Monday night lying on a residential street next to her SUV as her year-and-a-half old son slept in the back seat.
This week, a woman was found dead in her SUV in a New Tampa neighbourhood while her toddler slept inside. Her mother said the woman was a 22-year-old Chamberlain High School graduate who was expecting another child.
Shahlevi Sims said that her daughter Alana Sims loved being a mother to her young son and was five months pregnant with a second child.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Sims said, “She no longer went to clubs or bars; she just loved spending time with her son.”
Now, Sims’s family is waiting to hear from the police, who are looking into who killed Sims and why.
Around 10 p.m. on Monday, someone saw a woman lying on the ground in the 10700 block of Pictorial Park Drive in the Easton Park subdivision. They called the police. The body of a woman was found next to her Ford EcoSport by police. In the back seat, her son was asleep in a car seat.
Police said the woman had trauma to her upper body but did not provide more details or release Sims’ name because of Marsy’s Law.
Interim Police Chief Lee Bercaw told the Times on Tuesday, “We don’t think it was random, and we’re following up on a lot of leads right now.” “The crime itself is heartbreaking, and I feel bad for the family, the community, and even the cops who have to go out and answer calls like that.”
Shahlevi Sims said her daughter lived in the Carrollwood area. The family doesn’t know why she was in a neighbourhood several miles away from home or who she might have met there. Sims said that as far as she knew, her daughter wasn’t dating anyone seriously.
Sims said that the day before her daughter was found dead, she talked to her. Alana looked fine, and Sims said that her daughter told her that she would come see Alana the next day.
Alana Sims was born in Tampa and grew up there. She was the middle of three sisters. Her mother said that she was kind, humble, and easy to love. She was also “happy” and “peaceful” and didn’t like to argue.
“She would do anything for you, always going out of her way,” Sims said. “She never said no.”
As Sims spoke, her grandson was nearby, playing with toy cars. He’s fine, she said, too young to understand what’s happening. The boy is staying with his grandmother.
“We just hope for justice and a conclusion,” Sims said. “All we can do now is move forward.”
Tampa police asked anyone with information on the case to call 813-231-6130 or share a tip through TIP411, accessible through the TampaPD mobile app.