Dive teams search Punta Gorda lake for clues in 7-Eleven homicide

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- Dive teams are searching a lake near a Punta Gorda 7-Eleven where a clerk was killed.

Kyle Farishian, 18, was found dead in the store near Bal Harbor Boulevard and Aqui Esta Drive after an early morning fire on Nov. 1. The teen had been working the overnight shift alone at the 7-Eleven.

Search teams with the Punta Gorda Police Department, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, and DeSoto County Sheriff’s office arrived at the lake behind the Bal Harbor Plaza around 8 a.m. on Tuesday as part of the ongoing investigation.

“Blocks and blocks, I mean it’s very large so like I said, we have three dive teams that have kind of combined forces and doing a complete grid search of the water,” said Punta Gorda Police Chief Thomas Lewis.

Authorities also recently searched a home on the 2100 block of Deborah Drive in connection with the homicide.

Punta Gorda police released surveillance pictures of a suspect in the store with gas cans before it went up in flames.

“We have had some tips, they’ve not only come in by phone, but they’ve come in by social media and we want to encourage our entire community regardless of how small they think the tip is, to let us know,” said Lewis.

If you have any information, call Punta Gorda police at 941-639-4111 or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 800-780- TIPS (8477). An $11,000 reward is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest in the case.