Man indicted for 2015 Lehigh Acres murder, armed burglary

State Attorney Amira Fox and Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced the indictment of a man accused in the death of a man in Lehigh Acres in 2015.

Sheriff Carmine Marceno and State Attorney Amira Fox announcing the grand jury indictment of 28-year-old Christopher Perez. He was indicted on first-degree felony murder and armed burglary.

Fox said Perez broke into the Lehigh Acres home where 68-year-old Hemchand Bhagwandin and his wife were babysitting their 4-month-old granddaughter on March 15, 2015.

The state attorney said Bhagwandin and his wife were separated into different rooms, bound with zip ties, and beaten. As a result of the beating, Hemchand Bhagwandin had a heart attack and died.

“They attacked my father and ran after my mother and threw her in the bathroom, beat her, stomped her head, back and forth, back and forth,” said Sharda Bisram, daughter of Hemchand Bhagwandin.

WINK News first spoke with Bisram in 2015. Her parents were violently beaten while the suspects apparently demanded to know where they kept their money and gold.
And during the attack, her father was killed.

“Mr. Bhagwandin had a heart attack while he was being beaten and died of cardiac arrest and blunt force trauma,” said State Attorney Amira Fox.

Fox says that’s the reason why Perez is charged with first-degree murder for his involvement in the crime.

WINK News spoke with Bisram again after a grand jury indicted Perez. “This is the first step to closure. This actually is a relief from eight years ago to now. That we can actually say we have a suspect and, you know, that charges for this crime is moving forward.”

She says the years since the violent attack and murder have been difficult and filled with sadness, but she’s ready to finally have justice for what was done to her parents.

“We are all going to see this case from where we started to the end. We want to, like I said, make sure everyone who’s involved in this crime, you know, gets punished to the maximum,” said Bisram.

Fox did not take any questions during the announcement, so we don’t know what evidence points to Perez being involved.

Sheriff Marceno thanked the state attorney and the State Attorney’s Office for their work with the sheriff’s office in making this indictment possible.

Fox said that there is still an active investigation into the other person or people involved in the burglary.

You can watch the press conference in the player below or by clicking here.