Yasmine Hider, 21, is set to plead guilty to murder, robbery and kidnapping over the attack on August 14 on Adam Simjee, 22, and Mikayla Paulus, 20. The tragic shooting unfolded after Hider flagged down the University of Central Florida students, who had been driving through Alabama’s Cheaha State Park looking for waterfalls.
Hider told the couple that her XB Scion had broken down in Talladega National Forrest in Alabama and asked for their help. The caring students followed her to her car and tried to use jumper cables to get it started, as Hider sat in the driver’s seat.
Paulus even called her mechanic dad for advice. However, the couple, from Apopka, Florida, did not know that the Scion had actually broken down weeks earlier, and that this was a ploy to rob them. Hider went on to pulled a gun on the couple and ordered them to “empty their pockets and walk into the woods,” claims her plea agreement.
Simjee reportedly told Hidler “everything we have is in the van, you can have it” before a shot was fired and both Hider herself and Simjee were struck. Simjee lost consciousness as Paulus removed her own shirt to stem the bleeding and started chest compressions before he stopped breathing, reports FOX.
A bystander watched the events unfold and told police she also noticed a second woman, later identified as Krystal Diane Pinkins, standing in the woods nearby observing. She said Hider called out to Ms Pinkins for help, then they had a short conversation before the woman reportedly fled on foot. Ms Paulus tragically performed CPR on her boyfriend while waiting for emergency assistance, however, he died at the scene.
Hider was flown to a hospital for several gunshots to her torso, while her alleged accomplice who fled was later arrested less than a kilometre from the scene. Hider will be required to plead guilty to murder, robbery and kidnapping in Alabama Federal court. A judge still has to approve the agreement.
Investigators tracked alleged accomplice Pinkins to a base camp of tents, and her five-year-old son allegedly ran from the woods wielding a loaded gun, according to court papers. He put the weapon down, and police arrested Pinkins. Her case is still pending.
Shortly before Hider made the deal, Paulus wrote a heart-wrenching tribute to Simjee, 22, on the anniversary of his murder. “This is just the first year of many without him, but I see him everywhere,” she wrote on Facebook. “There is never a moment that goes by where he’s not on my mind. The rest of my life will be a love letter to him. I’ll miss you and love you forever sweet boy.”