A Lehigh Acres woman is dead and her nephew is facing four felony charges after deputies say he attacked her and another family member inside a duplex on Haviland Avenue South, then tried to flee before he was caught nearby. Whycliff Longin, 28, appeared before a Lee County judge last Saturday, where the judge found probable cause for second-degree murder, attempted murder, sexual battery, and occupied burglary with battery.
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded at 2:54 a.m. on August 27 to a domestic disturbance call at a duplex in the 2400 to 2900 block of Haviland Avenue South. A surviving woman, identified by Tampa Free Press as Longin’s cousin, told investigators she woke up to a man on top of her attempting to strangle her before she managed to escape and barricade herself inside a bathroom to call 911. Deputies arrested Longin fleeing a neighboring residence shortly after they arrived, per the sheriff’s office.
Investigators searching the adjacent unit discovered the body of Longin’s aunt, 28-year-old Whycliff Longin’s relative Amadette Longin, dead inside a bedroom from blunt force trauma. The District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office officially ruled her death a homicide, and the sheriff’s office noted that Longin had a domestic relationship with both victims. Longin now faces homicide, attempted homicide, sexual battery, and burglary with battery charges, and he remains held in the Lee County Jail as state prosecutors requested pretrial detention.
A Home Opened to Family, Then Shattered
Relatives told WINK News that Amadette Longin worked as a healthcare worker and mother who had opened her home to provide housing for her nephew after he arrived in the United States. Family members described her as deeply devoted to her family, according to the same report…