CAPE CORAL

13-year-old arrested in Cape Coral stabbing death

MICHAEL BRAUN, and KINFAY MOROTI
news-press.com
Yoel Munoz was arrested and charged with Burglary while Armed and 2nd Degree Murder.

Nearly a quarter-mile off the road, Thomas J. Bergstrom, 51, built a 20-foot-by-20-foot compound of pallets and bright blue tarps.

A transient, that's where he hooked up a TV and watched it from his scruffy recliner near 100 NE Pine Island Road.

Anthony Cashdollar found him Saturday morning, stretched out on the ground, blood congealing on his arm and mouth, just feet from the recliner.

"I was so shocked, I just sat my hand on his back," Cashdollar, 18, said Sunday night, adding that he called "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. ... Then it hit me that Tommy was dead."

Sgt. Dana Coston of the Cape Coral Police Department said 13-year-old city resident Yoel Munoz was arrested at home Sunday, charged with second-degree murder and burglary in Bergstrom's death. He was being held Sunday night and bond had not been set. His first court hearing was expected this morning.

Munoz's father, Osmin, does not speak English and, through an interpreter, declined to comment about his son or the slaying.

Coston said Bergstrom was a transient and had been stabbed multiple times.

The crime was discovered at 11:48 a.m. Saturday when Cape police responded to a report of a deceased person at the camp.

"Its one of the worst things I've ever seen," said Anthony Cashdollar of finding his friend Thomas Bergstrom dead on Saturday at a homeless camp located off Pine Island Road in Cape Coral. Cashdollar returned to the camp on Sunday  to reflect.

Cashdollar said he had gone to visit Bergstrom to show him his new dirt bike. He peeked into a makeshift room, seeing a blood-soaked recliner. And then I looked around, and there Tommy was. He was dead."

Based on evidence recovered from and near the scene, Cape detectives identified Munoz as a suspect, Coston said.

Burglary charges can stem from someone entering an area like the camp with an intent to commit a crime, Coston said, and added that murder investigation is ongoing.

In July, Cape police had issued a missing persons report for Munoz, saying he had been reported missing June 30 between 9 and 10 p.m. and was suspected of heading to East Fort Myers. At 10:45 a.m. July 1, Cape police reported Munoz had been found "safe and sound."

At the first appearance of Munoz in Lee County juvenile court Monday morning, Munoz was given three weeks of secure detention and will be in court on Aug.21.

Munoz is being represented by a public defender.

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