They didn’t expect to find her like that—folded unnaturally inside a travel bag, her life stolen and her body hidden in the back of a sedan parked outside an otherwise ordinary home. It was a disturbing discovery that began with a call just after 2 p.m. on the 2500 block of Turkey Ridge Road, where local officers arrived expecting a welfare check but instead
uncovered the beginnings of a homicide investigation that would quickly stretch across county lines.The victim was soon identified as 66-year-old Jacqueline Pryber, a woman last seen alive in Plum Borough, Allegheny County. What investigators uncovered in the hours that followed was a chain of events both chilling and methodical.
Detectives say Jacqueline was attacked inside a vehicle on Saltsburg Road, where 62-year-old Shawn Higgins allegedly assaulted her with repeated blows, inflicting injuries severe enough to be fatal. Police believe the attack occurred within the narrow confines of his car—a confined, inescapable space that left Pryber defenseless.
Instead of contacting authorities, Higgins is accused of transporting her body out of Allegheny County and into nearby Westmoreland County, where he left her concealed inside a travel bag in his parked vehicle. That decision—moving a victim across jurisdictions—triggered a multi-agency response involving detectives from both counties, crime scene units, and prosecutors working rapidly to piece together a timeline.
Neighbors on Turkey Ridge Road reported seeing nothing out of the ordinary, underscoring how quietly and abruptly the crime unfolded. Investigators are now reviewing surveillance footage, examining digital evidence, and reconstructing the hours leading up to Pryber’s death to determine motive, opportunity, and whether anyone else played a role.
For Jacqueline’s family, the details are almost impossible to absorb. A woman who should have been safe in her daily routines instead met a violent, hidden end. As the homicide investigation deepens, loved ones now wait for justice while grappling with the horrifying way she was taken from them.
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