Florida 15-year-old charged with abduction, robbery, and murder of real estate agent

A 15-year-old Florida boy has been arrested and charged as an adult for allegedly kidnapping, robbing, and fatally shooting a real estate agent last month.

What are the details?

On Feb. 1, 37-year-old real estate broker Stefano Barbosa was approaching a quadruplex to get signatures from tenants in Fort Lauderdale when he was approached by an armed suspect who forced him back into his vehicle, the Daily Mail reported.

Police say that the suspect then forced Barbosa to drive to an ATM and take out $1,000 in two separate transactions. The outlet reported that "the suspect then forced Barbosa to drive for two miles more while he sat in the passenger seat before shooting him multiple times in the chest."

Barbosa's vehicle crashed through a fence, stopping short of hitting a home. The homeowner called 911, and when police arrived they found Barbosa dead. An autopsy later ruled the death a homicide.

During the investigation into Barbosa's murder, neighbors and school officials identified 15-year-old Henry Lee Lewis III as the suspect in surveillance footage. The teen's cellphone records also linked him to the crimes.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that records show Lewis "was already in juvenile custody on unrelated charges for burglaries, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer when detectives determined he was their murder suspect."

The outlet noted that Lewis was already well-known to police, reporting:

The teen's arrest record dates back to June 2018 when he was charged with robbery with a firearm at the age of 12. He's been arrested several times since on charges including burglaries; battery on a person 65 or older; battery on a law enforcement officer; aggravated battery on a school employee; interfering with school functions; threatening public servant or family; criminal mischief involving religious articles in a church, synagogue or mosque; gambling for money; obstruction; and driving without a valid license, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Lewis faces life in prison if convicted of the charges of second-degree murder and armed robbery. If he were tried and convicted as a juvenile, he would have been released after three years and kept under supervision until the age of 21, Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor told the Sun Sentinel.

What about the victim?

Barbosa's obituary describes him as a "beloved son and brother." He was born in Brazil and graduated from Miami Palmetto High School before earning two degrees from Penn State.

"Not many people in this world are fortunate enough to love life and live it to the fullest extent the way Stefano did," his loved ones wrote, calling him a "modern-day renaissance man."

Barbosa is survived by his father, mother, sister, brother, "and by many other family members and friends who loved him dearly and whom he touched deeply."