On August 15, 2013, Johana Nunez, 35, was shot to death inside her Golden Gate home at 3032 50th St. S.W. Her 18-year-old son, Joseph Suazo, was found dead there as well; both suffered multiple gunshot wounds from a revolver. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office investigated and identified Johana’s husband and Joseph’s father, 48-year-old Jose Suazo, as the suspect. He was stopped on Interstate 75 in Lee County and taken into custody shortly after the killings.

Investigators documented a history of domestic violence in the family; Jose Suazo had been arrested in 2007 on a domestic battery charge. Witnesses on the day of the murders reported that Jose Suazo approached them and confessed to the shootings, expressing remorse and asking for forgiveness. He was charged initially with two counts of second-degree murder and later indicted for premeditated first-degree murder.

Jose Suazo was held in Lee County Jail pending trial but was transferred to Avow Hospice Center in Naples because he was terminally ill and died there in June 2014 while under guard.