Local wife watches husband shot to death in Haiti

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – The wedding band that represented Yvenia Cleophat’s marriage is now gone — stolen just like the life of her dear husband.

Every year the couple planned an out-of-town trip. This year, Yvenia said her husband wanted to visit his mother in Haiti. They took the trip last month but only Yvenia returned.

The couple had just got to Haiti and was trying to get local currency when they were attacked at gunpoint by two men who demanded money.

“We hear a bunch of noise. ‘Stop! Stop! Freeze!’ There was a guy point a gun in my face and then one on my husband. My husband kept telling them the wallet is right there,” Yvenia said.

Yvenia said the men also took her wedding ring, but didn’t stop there. She watched helplessly as they raised a gun then pulled the trigger, sending the lethal bullet through his skull.

“After they took the wallet, I was standing right there when they give him last shot,” she said sobbing. “They shot him right in his forehead. I stand up right there. There’s nothing I can do to help him. There’s nothing.”

Yvenia was also shot but survived her injuries. She returned to Cape Coral to her two children. Her young son Marcus is crushed by the loss of his father.

He stood somberly by his mother and the coach of his youth football team — speechless and silently tearful.

His football team is trying to raise money to pay for Marcel’s funeral.