Woman found dead with gunshot wound in Lehigh Acres home

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Hilario Jose Cruz (Credit: LCSO booking photo)

A man was arrested Friday after deputies say he shot and killed a woman inside a Lehigh Acres home.

Hilario Jose Cruz, 23, faces charges of manslaughter and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

It was not what neighbor Julio Davila expected to wake up to on Christmas morning.

“I got up, and I saw that yellow ribbon that they put around the crime scene, and I said that, ‘This is bad,’” Davila explained.

According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to a home in the 5300 block of Butte Street in response to a shooting and found a woman’s body with a gunshot wound inside the garage.

Davila lives just two houses over from the crime scene and says he can’t believe something like this happened.

He said children live at the home where the victim was found. “This is horrible. Can you imagine those two little babies the rest of their life?”

Investigators cleared the scene just before 4:45 p.m. Friday afternoon.

“My thoughts are with the victim’s family, especially on a day like today,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in an LCSO release. “My top-notch team at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, my family, is dedicated to working to keep our community safe.”

Davila says he hopes Cruz pays the price for taking a life on Christmas morning.

“He could be in jail for life, but he has committed their families to a life of suffering,” Davila said. “I will be praying for that family because oh, lord, no one would like to have an experience like that.”

Cruz remains in custody at the Lee County Jail. A judge on Saturday set bail at $220,000.

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