Deadly Buccaneer Estates mobile home fire determined to be murder-suicide

Investigators of a deadly mobile home fire in North Fort Myers have determined it to be a murder-suicide Tuesday.

In January, two people were found dead inside a mobile home that was destroyed in a fire at the Buccaneer Estates community.

A 38-page report released by Lee County Sheriff’s Office goes into detail about what detectives and arson investigators believe happened at Buccaneer Estates five months ago.

According to the report, at 1:57 p.m. Jan. 17, Daniel Hibbard called 911, claiming law enforcement surrounded his mobile home, drilled holes into his residence and wanted to kill him. Hibbard admitted he had a gun and pipe bombs.

At 2:06 p.m. deputies arrived and talked with Hibbard through the door of his mobile home at Buccaneer Estates. While the lead deputy concluded Hibbard appeared paranoid, he did not make threatening statements about harming himself or anyone else, so they cleared the scene.

Around 4:58 p.m., neighbors called 911, as a fire began at Hibbard’s home. After dousing the flames, firefighters found Hibbard’s body.

The sheriff’s office investigation confirmed Hibbard shot himself.

Fire investigators said they found a detonated pipe bomb, and the fire burned hotter than usual.

But the sheriff’s office also said, before the fire, Hibbard murdered a woman. Investigators found her body the next day in a closet strangled to death. Her arms and legs were duct taped and ice packs were on her chest.

One detail left out of the report was the name of the woman murdered in that home.

While neighbors told us who she might be, we have not been able to independently confirm her name at this time.