Suspect allegedly stalked woman using tracking device before murdering her, police say

A Texas woman who discovered a tracking device hidden on her vehicle was fatally shot and her alleged stalker is now charged with murder, police said.

On Oct. 26, police in Fort Worth found the body of 22-year-old Abigail “Abby” Saldaña in her vehicle. She had suffered fatal gunshots wounds to her torso, authorities said.

According to WFAA, police alleged Stanley Frank Szeliga, 54, had been stalking Saldaña in the weeks leading up to her death, including by using the tracking device to follow her movements. Saldaña reported her discovery of the device on the bottom of her car to police just weeks before she died.

While investigators have not confirmed how or if Saldaña and Szeliga knew each other, her mother, Jessica Contreras, told WFAA she believed the suspect “was a customer at a bar” where her daughter worked.

Szeliga reportedly works as a software engineer, the Wichita Falls Times-Record-News reported.

A day after Saldaña's murdered, a SWAT team serving a search warrant on the suspect's Irving home forced their way in and found him suffering multiple self-inflicted cut wounds.

Szelig was treated at an area hospital and police charged him with murder after his release. He was being held at the Tarrant County Correction Center on a $250,000 bond.

“He took her away from me, and I’m gonna make sure every time he has a court date, he will see my face there,” Contreras said. “He’s gonna see that Abby was never alone.”

“She had a lot of love,” she added of her daughter. “She just was a great person. She was a hard worker, very courageous.”

Saldaña was the mother of a young son.