(COLUMBIA, SC) — The body of a young woman was discovered inside a rented house in Columbia, South Carolina, over the weekend, according to a press conference held by Columbia Police Department on Monday.
She was later identified as Logan Federico, a 22-year-old from Waxhaw, North Carolina, police said. Her cause of death was a fatal gunshot wound to the chest, according to Columbia Coroner Naida Rutherford.
The college student was spending the weekend with friends in a rented house in South Carolina when she was “randomly murdered by a career criminal” who was “on a spree of thefts, break-ins and credit card fraud,” the CPD said.
Alexander Dickey, 30, allegedly broke into a neighboring home around 3 a.m. and stole a firearm, credit and debit cards, and keys to a vehicle, the CPD said.
The suspect then allegedly entered the house where Federico was staying, entered her room, and shot her, police said, before fleeing the scene in a stolen vehicle.
Dickey is believed to have used the stolen cards to make purchases across Lexington County before his stolen vehicle broke down, officials said. He had it towed back to a residence in Lexington County, where investigators said they tracked him down.
When law enforcement closed in, Dickey fled into nearby woods, leading to a manhunt in severe weather conditions, police said. He later broke into another home and set it on fire, they added.
Officers were able to extract Dickey through a window and take him into custody, the CPD said.
Federico’s father, Steve Federico, spoke through tears during the press conference.
“I am Logan Haley Federico’s father, better known as ‘Dad,’ or her hero. Unfortunately, that day, I could not be her hero,” he said. “My daughter, I cherished. She was a strong, fun-loving individual who did what she wanted to do and was spicy.”
“My daughter was working hard at school, working two jobs, to become a teacher. She loved and adored kids, children of all ages,” he said. “The message I wanted to send to Dickey, who took my daughter’s life — this is from her: ‘You can’t kill my spirit. You might be able to kill my body … but you cannot kill my love that my family and friends shared with me.'”
“Logan was not an intended target,” Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at the press conference, adding that her death “touches all of us in a way that it’ll never leave us.”
He said that the CPD issued warrants charging Dickey with murder, two counts of first-degree burglary, weapons possession and larceny. The Lexington County sheriff said Dickey was also charged with burglary first degree and arson second degree, and that he was denied bond.
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