Memorial for Lehigh Acres homicide victim disappears

A Lehigh Acres homicide victim’s family is distraught after a memorial for their loved one disappeared.

Isaiah Robles was 21 when he was killed in a drive-by shooting earlier this year at Beth Stacey Boulevard and Woodward Court in Lehigh Acres. A memorial of flowers, photos, and a cross sat well kept for months – until this week. It marked the day – Feb. 19 – that Missy Caple Robles lost her son.

“We go to his burial and we go to the spot where it happened because that’s the landmark that we have left,” she said.

“It was heartbreaking. Especially for a mother to lose her son like that. Me having kids of my own, I can only imagine, that’s a heartbreak I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” said neighbor Ana Pardo.

With only one way into the neighborhood, you couldn’t miss the memorial.

“When this happened, that neighborhood came together for me,” Robles said.

“My heart fell out of me. There are no words to explain. That’s his memorial. His grandfather made that and everybody has signed that cross, and now it’s gone too.”

All that remains is a patch of grass.

“It hurts. It’s like how can somebody touch your son’s memorial? Or anybody’s memorial at that?”

Or why? The family said they kept the memorial looking nice, but someone apparently didn’t like the constant reminder.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I know some people did, but me, I never saw anything wrong with it,” Pardo said.

Robles is begging for it to return.

“It would mean the world,” she said.

A Lee County spokesperson said no one with the county removed the memorial.

Two men were arrested for the killing of Isaiah Robles, who left behind a baby son and a girlfriend. Suspects Ricky Gaspar Ruiz and Victor Jimmy Colon Jr. are currently in the Lee County Jail.