Cape woman calls in false suicide of lover, police report
Police arrested a Cape Coral woman early Tuesday morning for giving false information to law enforcement officers after she admitted to detectives that she lied when she reported that her boyfriend jumped off the Caloosahatchee Bridge, according to a Fort Myers police report.
Sara Adkins, 20, called police at about 1 a.m. and originally told officers she was driving Christopher Rehbein, 22, of Cape Coral, to his bondsman to turn himself in on a warrant for violation of probation, reports said. Rehbein reportedly screamed for Adkins to stop the car on the Caloosahatchee Bridge, got out and jumped.
The Coast Guard, Cape Coral Police Department, Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Myers Fire Department were called in to aid the FMPD in the search for Rehbein.
Adkins was then brought in to the Fort Myers Police Station to give a more detailed account to detectives when she admitted her story was a fabrication, FMPD spokesperson Shelly Flynn said.
Adkins told detectives Rehbein was waiting for her in Punta Gorda so they could flee to Tennessee. The story was concocted by the pair so Rehbein could avoid going back to jail, the police report states.
Rehbein was released from the Lee County Jail on Nov. 24 after being incarcerated for more than seven months for firing a weapon into a dwelling in January 2007. He fired at least one shot into a residence on Northwest Eighth Place, according to the 2007 arrest report.
Released about three months early from his 10-month sentence, Rehbein was given four years probation.
On Nov. 30, Rehbein was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge after he threw a plastic ashtray at Adkins, striking her in the forehead, according to the police report.
A warrant was issued for Rehbein’s arrest on Dec. 12 for violation of probation.
Rehbein turned himself in at about 8 a.m. Tuesday to his bondsman and was booked in the Lee County Jail at 9 a.m., Flynn said.