A beloved 8th grade math teacher was kidnapped and shot to death by her estranged husband in a Florida motel parking lot, while their children were forced to watch.
On Friday, Ray Felix, 60, forced his soon-to-be ex-wife, Jamie Felix, 45, into a rental vehicle at gunpoint, while ordering their two boys, ages 10 and 17, to follow behind in their mom's car, police said, according to WTVJ-TV.
The family then drove to a West Palm Beach, Florida, motel, where Jamie was fatally shot several times in the parking lot in front of their kids.
Felix left their children in the parking lot with their dead mother and then drove the rental car back to the car rental facility, where he turned the gun on himself, according to police.
"Now you have a family that is going to be scarred and children who this is going to affect the rest of their lives," Mike Jachles with the West Palm Beach Police Department said, WPBF-TV reported.
The boys were physically unharmed.
"Jamie Felix is a beautiful soul who will live forever in the hearts of those who love her," Jamie's friend, Monica Jackman, said, according to the station. "She loved her children to depths that words can't express, she was incredibly brave and resilient, she had the most amazingly contagious laugh. She was compassionate, she was loyal and dedicated, she was a girl's girl who lifted up her friends at every opportunity."
In October, Jamie filed for divorce and petitioned for a protection order against Felix, citing domestic violence, court records indicated, WFLX-TV reported.
The St. Lucie School District where Jamie worked said it was "deeply saddened" to learn of her death.
