A judge found probable cause on all four charges against Whycliff Longin at his first appearance, and the Lee County Sheriff's Office has since published a charge list of its own that settles the disagreement this desk left open three days ago

A judge found probable cause on all four charges against Whycliff Longin at his first appearance on Saturday morning, and prosecutors have asked the court to hold him in the Lee County Jail while the case proceeds.

The charges are second-degree murder, attempted murder, sexual battery, and occupied burglary with a battery. They arise from what the Lee County Sheriff's Office says happened inside a duplex on Haviland Avenue South in Lehigh Acres at about 2.54 on Thursday morning.

None of it has been proved. A probable cause finding is a low bar that lets a case move forward. Longin has not been tried and he has not been convicted.

The charge list this desk could not settle on Friday is now settled

When this desk covered the arrest on Friday it published a disagreement instead of an answer. WINK News, reading from booking records, gave one list of charges. Gulf Coast News, covering the same news conference, gave a longer one that included a sexual battery count the other outlet did not carry. The item said plainly that the document which would settle it was a booking record this desk had not been able to read, and it printed both versions with the outlet named against each rather than choosing.

Two authorities have since answered it independently of any newsroom.

In court on Saturday the judge said, according to WINK News, "I do find probable cause for the four charges that you were before the court on today." Four charges, not three.

And the Sheriff's Office has now published its own account on its website, in its own words, under its own name. It lists the charges as bullets: second-degree murder, attempted murder, sexual battery, occupied burglary with a battery. That is the longer list. The sexual battery count is real and it is the agency's.

Two other disagreements closed with it

The second was the geography. WINK had the man fleeing from a home into a neighbouring apartment complex and did not say when he was detained. Gulf Coast News had two sides of one duplex and an arrest at the scene shortly after the call.

The Sheriff's Office account matches the second. It says deputies responded to a duplex on Haviland Avenue South, that they located Longin fleeing from a neighbouring residence, and that they took him into custody. That also explains a line that read oddly at the time. The agency's scene post on Thursday morning said all parties were accounted for, which only makes sense if the man was already in custody when it went out.

The third was which federal agency placed the immigration detainer. WINK named U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Gulf Coast News named Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Sheriff's Office names Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The judge noted on Saturday that Longin has an immigration hold and said it is a separate matter from the criminal case.

The death has been ruled a homicide

On Friday the cause was reported as blunt force trauma determined by investigators. The Sheriff's Office now states that the District 21 Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide.

The woman who died has still not been identified by any agency. Her family identified her to WINK News as Amadette Longin. Her niece, Lutiana Longin, described her as a woman who built her life around family.

The Sheriff's Office continues to describe the case as domestic-related and has not detailed the relationship between the people involved. The shared surname sits in the record without an agency explanation, and this desk is not going to supply one.

What happened at the hearing

Longin appeared on a screen. A Creole interpreter translated the proceedings. The court provisionally appointed the public defender to represent him, and his attorney waived a formal reading of the charges.

The state filed a motion for pretrial detention. That is a request to keep him in custody while the case runs, and it has not been decided. Until it is, he stays in the county jail because the request is pending, which is a different thing from a judge having ruled on it.

The Sheriff's Office says its investigation is continuing, and names the office of State Attorney Amira Fox as the prosecuting authority it is working with.

One thing this desk cannot tell you

The case was scheduled on Saturday to return to court at ten o'clock this morning. The judge said that appearance would be cancelled if prosecutors could get a pretrial detention hearing in front of the assigned felony judge before then.

Ten o'clock has passed. This desk has not established which of those two things happened, has not read the docket, and has found no outlet reporting the outcome. Rather than write the schedule as though it were still ahead, it is stated here as the court set it on Saturday, with the outcome open.