WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – A pair of Winter Haven teenagers learned the hard way that construction zones aren’t just for orange cones after a Polk County Deputy spotted them abandoning a stolen car in the middle of a Highway 17 intersection early Tuesday morning.
The incident began around 3:24 a.m. on March 24, 2026, when a deputy stationed at the ongoing construction site at Highway 17 and Cypress Gardens Blvd. watched a 2011 silver Hyundai Sonata come to a dead stop. Two women jumped out of the car and bolted toward the AdventHealth Fieldhouse parking lot.
Winter Haven Police quickly converged on the area, catching 19-year-old Kayla Mary-Ann Krause and 18-year-old Zahira Layrue Shaw after a short foot chase. Both women were wearing masks at the time and refused to tell officers who they were or why they were running. However, the deputy who first saw the car stop was able to positively identify them as the pair who fled the vehicle…