Ex-husband of slain woman sought

33-year-old shot, killed in Oakleaf Plantation on Thursday night

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Deputies in Clay County are looking for the ex-husband of a woman found dead at a home in Oakleaf Plantation late Thursday night.

Adrian Seward, 44, is charged in the killing of his ex-wife, 33-year-old Lashawna Criswell-Seward, at a home on Pondview Drive off Plantation Oaks Boulevard just before 11 p.m. Deputies said the woman went running to her neighbor's house for safety, but before she made it, Seward shot her at the doorstep.

Criswell-Seward was the mother of a 7-year-old daughter. The girl is not the suspect's biological daughter. Deputies said she was not home when her mother was killed, and is now safe with her grandparents.

Seward fled the area after the killing and is still at large, deputies said. A search was underway to locate him. Deputies said Seward is considered armed and dangerous.

They said the suspect vehicle they're looking for is a black, four-door 2002 Hyundai sedan with Florida license plate No. 7955HJ.

Anyone with information on Seward's location should call 911.

"What's frightening about it is that I have children, and these things just explode at any given time," neighbor Thomas Terry said.

Criswell-Seward was a technical engineer and civilian employee at Naval Air Station Jacksonville since 2009.

"It's so close to home. I don't know what to think about it," neighbor Russell Stedt said. "It could happen right next door to me. What's stopping him from coming over to my house?"

Deputies said the killing was domestic in nature. Clay County court records show a dissolution of marriage order between the couple was finalized Monday. They got married April 14, 2010, and had lived in the Clay County home since November 2011.

The petition filed for dissolution of marriage was on June 21. Records appear to show the two agreed on who got what in the settlement. The reason for divorce was listed as "irreconcilable differences."

The home had already been sold, according to neighbors, and documents say profit from sale was being split in half between the two. Neighbors said Criswell-Seward had simply returned to the home to move some stuff out, and deputies said Seward arrived and a confrontation ensued.

"He came home afterwards," Stedt said. "She was moving. She had somebody help her move stuff in there [a storage pod] and he must have got upset or something."

Some neighbors said they heard several gunshots Thursday night.

"I really didn't think it was gunshots at first. It was scary," said neighbor Amber Craven. "I didn't know what it was actually. And then when all the police came I figured that's what it was."

Deputies said the bulk of Seward's criminal history is out of Duval County. They said there were no previous reports of any criminal activity or domestic violence at the couple's current address.

Seward was arrested in 1987 in Duval County for attempted murder, shooting into a dwelling, making threats and car theft. He served five and a half years in prison. In 1996, he was arrest for assault with a dangerous weapon and served eight years.

If you have any information on Seward's whereabouts, call the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 904-264-6512.