DELTONA -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office on June 5 arrested Robert Benjo of Deltona on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his 76-year-old wife.
The 82-yer-old husband was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach, where he was being held without bond.
Sheriff's investigators have recovered the .22-caliber handgun they believe the Robert Benjo used to shoot his wife, Peggy Benjo.
"During questioning, Robert Benjo told investigators that his wife had been ill and in declining health since she underwent a colon operation in December 2007. He said his wife also had been hospitalized sometime in the past week," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
Family members who also were interviewed said that during a visit to the couple's 1691 Rim Ave. home the day before the killing, Robert Benjo told them that he was depressed and felt like shooting himself. Family members, however, thought the handgun was hidden where he couldn't find it. Later that night, Robert Benjo said he and his wife had trouble falling asleep and that she told him that she wanted her pain to end and that she no longer had the will to live, Davidson said. "The couple finally drifted off to sleep, and Benjo said that when he awoke this morning, he decided to shoot his wife. He retrieved the gun from the T.V. cabinet in the living room and fired one bullet into her head while she slept," the sheriff's spokesman said.
Deputies were dispatched at 10:14 a.m. to the home at 1691 Rim Ave., after receiving a call from a family member about a shooting at the residence. "The family member wasn't at the Deltona home at the time of the shooting, but a Sheriff's Office telecommunicator was able to call the residence and convince Robert Benjo to
walk outside," Davidson said. "Deputies arrived at the house three minutes after the call came in, detained Benjo for questioning and then briefly went into the house to confirm that Benjo's wife, Peggy Benjo, was dead."
Benjo waived his right to a trial and pleaded guilty Sept. 24, and faces a sentence of probation to 30 years in prison. By doing so, Benjo avoided an almost-certain 30-year prison sentence, if convicted at trial.