This morning John William Tolbert was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison for one count of Second-Degree Murder with a Firearm. It is a 30-year minimum/mandatory sentence so he must serve the full 30 years in prison.
Assistant State Attorney Andreas Gardiner, of the State Attorney’s Office Homicide Unit, prosecuted the case.
On or about April 6, 2024, the defendant made an unannounced visit, from his home in New Mexico, to the home of his brother, the victim, in Northwest Cape Coral, and began staying with him. He had been estranged from the family for years.
On April 16, 2024, the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a report of a disturbance at the home and found the victim, who died minutes later from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
The defendant shot and killed his brother then fled the state. He changed license plates on the car he was driving in an effort to elude law enforcement. He was ultimately located and apprehended in Pennsylvania.
Samantha Syoen – State Attorney’s Office Communications Director