June 5, 2008
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

HUSBAND ARRESTED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF 76-YEAR-OLD WIFE 

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Robert Benjo of Deltona on a charge of 2nd-degree murder in the shooting death of his 76-year-old wife. He was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach, where he was booked in at 5:10 p.m. and is being held without bond. 

Sheriff’s investigators have recovered the .22-caliber handgun they believe the 82-year-old 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. 

Family members who also were interviewed said that during a visit to the couple’s 1691 Rim Ave. home on Wednesday, Robert Benjo said that he was depressed and felt like shooting himself. Family members, however, thought the handgun was hidden where he couldn’t find it. Wednesday 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. The couple finally drifted off to sleep, and Benjo said that when he awoke Thursday 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.