ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Left to right: Charlotte County Cold Case Detectives Mike Vogel, Kurt Mehl and Mike Gandy (Credit: WINK News) With time on their hands and patience on their side, a trio of detectives gave up retirement a decade ago to give fresh eyes to old murders. The dedicated Cold Case Unit at the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, first formed in 2009, is finding success closing decades-old murder cases. In fact, over the past three years, they’ve closed three cases, sending a clear message to criminals. In just the past several months, the team has publicly stepped up calls for the public’s help in two unsolved murders. Sharon Gill was killed in 1990. Christine Flahive disappeared in 1995. The hunt is on for the murderers of these two women, and these detectives have a total of more than a century of investigative experience between them. Sharon Gill, left, and Christine Flahive, right. (Credit: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office) Detective Mike Gandy, who started the unit, has deep roots in the community and more than four decades of experience in law enforcement, mostly at the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. Detective Mike Vogel is a veteran polygrapher who also served as a special agent with the Naval Investigative Service, which is now known as NCIS. He is the evidence guy. “If we’re looking for something in a case,” Vogel said, “I seem to have a unique knack of being able to find things that are missing.” Kurt Mehl, a veteran detective from New Jersey, is the meticulous organizer in the team. They have a system where they take all the case files and turn that into a comprehensive summary. It requires the detective to read every line of tens of thousands of documents. That meticulous attention to detail comes in handy when working cold cases riddled with dead ends. Left to right: Charlotte County Cold Case Detectives Mike Vogel, Kurt Mehl and Mike Gandy (Credit: WINK News) “You have cases where maybe there are numerous suspects and no real evidence,” Mehl said. “You start eliminating suspects and you start closing the doors and it slowly brings you to where you ultimately want to be to the person who is responsible or persons.” That is, finding the killer and closing the case. “A big part of this is analyzing what you already have, what else happened here that they missed because simply, they didn’t have time,” Gandy said. “Over the years many detectives have worked on these cases but detectives are working crimes daily and they would say, ‘When you have time look at this case, this case, and this case – and they’re cold cases — but you don’t ever have that time.'” In that search for clues, teamwork for this team matters. “We work cases together,” Gandy said. “One day we may take two or three statements from a potential defendant and just sit and analyze it together in here and say, ‘Well, why did he say this or why did he say that?’ And we’ll come up sometimes with three different possibilities, and sometimes we’ll come up with one thing that looks definite.” While DNA can make a difference in solving these old cases, Gandy said their success has mainly come from good old-style detective work, which is getting out and knocking on doors. One pivotal piece can lead to justice for the victims and their families, which makes it all worth it to these detectives. The detectives said they are not headed to a life of leisure anytime soon. “Some people are able to walk away from it when they retire from law enforcement and some people just can’t,” Vogel said.