Lehigh Acres homicide, robbery suspect held without bail

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Ricky Ligonde – Photo courtesy of Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

A 20-year-old man arrested in connection with a weekend homicide will be held without bail Thursday.

Ricky Ligonde of Lehigh Acres is accused of participating in the crime and faces charges of homicide and robbery with a firearm, according to a sheriff’s office booking sheet.

Ligonde received a $50,000 bail for the robbery charge.

“It appears that you did have a confession, or at least according to the narrative that you knew the robbery was going to occur,” said Lee County Judge Devin S. George.

Ligonde was also on probation in Collier County for marijuana possession.

Deputies responded Saturday to a crash at the intersection of 31st Street West and Ruth Avenue in Lehigh Acres and found a deceased man who suffered several gunshot wounds inside a silver Dodge Caravan.

The man, later identified as Hinso Estreplit, was a self-employed taxi driver who was “simply a hard worker providing for his family,” said Undersheriff Carmine Marceno.

The investigation later revealed this stemmed from a robbery and undercover detectives arrested Ligonde at a house off 26th Street Southwest.

Marceno announced the details of the weekend crime at a press conference Thursday morning on 14750 Six Mile Cypress Parkway. The investigation later revealed this stemmed from a robbery.

Marceno added the victim appeared to be “set up for this crime and then brutally and senselessly murdered.”

This was an isolated incident not related to the other homicides that happened over the course of this week in Lee County, according to Marceno.

Resident Phil Casey said he hasn’t seen something like this in his neighborhood before, but will be more cautious moving forward.

“Actually a shock to this community because we’ve never had anything like this here,” Casey said. “The bottom line is it’s going to have us open our eyes a little bit more in the community.”

It’s unclear what led up to the shooting and why Ligonde had access to a gun when he was on probation. The active investigation is ongoing.

Ligonde’s next court appearance will take place at 8:30 a.m. on May 14 at the Lee County Clerk of Court on 1700 Monroe St. in Fort Myers.

MORE: Deputies investigate crash, homicide that left one dead Saturday morning

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