Man arrested after woman shot to death in Fort Myers

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A mom of four is dead after a shooting outside of a home along South Street in Fort Myers early Saturday morning.

Friends told NBC2 they were heartbroken after hearing their friend Sade Motley was shot and killed.

“Nothing that is bad to say about her,” longtime friend Robert McClain said. “She is a great chick. I like her, I love her, she was a good woman.”

McClain’s phone rang around 7:30 a.m. Saturday. What he heard on the other end of the call broke his heart.

“Sade Motley had been my friend for about 15 years,” he said. He remembers coaching her boy’s football team.

He and his wife were just working with Motley Friday night.

“That night we had an event where we all were there and we had fun,” he said.

McClain had no idea it would be the last time he would see her.

Saturday just before two in the morning, shots were fired into her car at 3412 South Street, near the Dunbar community.

When EMS responded Motley was dead.

FMPD arrested Willie James Stevenson, 39, that night. Police told NBC2 he is facing unrelated charges of having a gun as a convicted felon. He is known to police and has since bonded out of jail.

Police said they are now searching for a car that was spotted going down South Street at the same time as the shooting. They want to know who was inside.

McClain said Motley’s four children didn’t deserve this.

“So I don’t even know what to say, but I hope the community wraps their arms around them,” he said.

McClain said her death will bring their community together. He hopes they can all help care for her boys now that she is gone.

“Make them feel like she is still here,” he said.

But he just asks for police to find her killer.

“I hope that they really are digging deep as possible to find out who did it to her,” he said.

If you know who killed Motley early Saturday morning, reach out to SWFL Crime Stoppers or to FMPD’s non-emergency number at 239-321-7700.