Bonita Springs man charged in wife's killing

Virender Yadav

A Bonita Springs man was charged with second-degree murder without premeditation after he strangled his wife in a domestic dispute in Bonita Springs late Thursday, according to a report from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office received a medical assistance call at 7:08 p.m. at an apartment in Monterra at Bonita Springs off Bonita Beach Road, just west of Old 41 Road, the report says.

The call was made by Virender Yadav, 51, who told police he had been in an argument with his wife after he learned she had feelings for someone else, according to the report.

Deputies arrived on scene at approximately 7:15 p.m. where they found a woman, later identified as Ghelin Saray Yadav, 42, Virender Yadav’s wife, lying on the floor in the master bedroom while neighbors attempted CPR, the report says.

Deputies took over CPR until Lee County medical services arrived and tried lifesaving measures on Ghelin Saray Yadav. Medical services pronounced Ghelin Saray Yadav dead by 7:48 p.m., according to the report.

Lee County detectives determined Virender Yadav, 51, Ghelin Saray Yadav’s husband, was responsible for his wife’s injuries, according to the sheriff’s report. Virender Yadav was taken into custody, transported to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit and booked in the Lee County Jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

In an interview with Lee County detectives, Yadav said that on Dec. 24 he confronted his wife of 15 years after finding sexually vulgar text messages from an unknown man on her phone, the sheriff’s report says.

Ghelin Saray Yadav told her husband she had feelings for the man who was messaging her and she was considering leaving Virender Yadav, according to the report.

Virender Yadav pleaded for his wife to reconsider and said he didn’t want their family to separate, but Ghelin Saray Yadav told him she needed time to think, the report says.

As days passed, the couple continued to argue, according to the sheriff’s report. During one argument, Ghelin Saray Yadav told her husband she had changed her mind and would not leave him, but Virender Yadav said he noticed his wife continued to text someone. Ghelin Saray Yadav gave her husband the man’s phone number and he texted the man and told him not to break up their family, the report says.

On Thursday, at approximately 2 p.m., the couple began another argument at their work due to a text Ghelin Saray Yadav received from the unknown man, which said he no longer wanted to be with her. She slammed her phone on the ground, shattering the screen, and told her husband if she could not be with the unidentified man then she didn’t want to stay with her husband either, according to the sheriff’s report.

When the couple returned to their home, Ghelin Saray Yadav shut herself in the master bedroom with a bottle of wine. When the couple’s 12-year-old daughter wanted to go to a religious service, Virender Yadav called his 24-year-old stepson to take her to the service and return to their home afterwards, the report says.

After the children left the Bonita Springs apartment, Virender Yadav continued to plead with his wife to not leave their family. Ghelin Saray Yadav told her husband to leave her alone. When her husband continued to plead with her, Ghelin Saray Yadav raised the wine bottle over her head and told her husband to leave her alone or she would hit him, according to the report.

Virender Yadav then backed away from his wife. She set the wine bottle down and attempted to walk away from her husband, telling him she was leaving. Virender Yadav then strangled his wife, the report says.

According to Virender Yadav's Facebook page, Yadav moved from Dallas to Bonita Springs in August. In October, Yadav completed training to become a 7-Eleven franchisee, according to his Facebook page. 

At the Monterra at Bonita Springs apartment complex late Friday morning, crime scene tape wrapped around the building Virender and Ghelin Saray Yadav lived in.

Jennifer Berg, 34, who said she has lived at the Bonita Springs apartment complex for three years, walked her dog alongside the yellow tape late Friday morning. Berg said she didn’t know the couple and had not seen them around the apartment complex.

“I’ve never seen anything like this here,” Berg said. “I just heard the ambulance and later saw it roped off. It’s crazy. It’s so sad.”

David Ramis, 30, moved into his apartment in the complex in November, a building just east of Virender and Ghelin Saray Yadav’s building. Ramis also said he had not met or seen the couple.

“I left work and saw what was going on. I found out this morning,” he said. “It’s the first time since I moved in that anything like this has happened here.”

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