Haitian Immigrant Accused of Killing Woman in Fort Myers Hammer Attack

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A 40-year-old Haitian immigrant has been arrested and charged in the fatal hammer attack of a woman at a Fort Myers gas station, authorities said.
Rolbert Joachim faces charges of second-degree murder and criminal damage to property in the killing of Nilufa Easmin, a gas station clerk and mother of two teenage daughters, who died from her injuries after the assault.
The attack occurred Friday, April 3, in broad daylight at a Chevron station on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Highland Avenue. Investigators say surveillance video captured Joachim smashing the windshield of a vehicle believed to belong to Easmin before confronting her outside the store and striking her multiple times in the head with a hammer.
Friends and community members described Easmin, originally from Bangladesh, as a hardworking woman devoted to her family. Reports indicate she had been praying shortly before hearing a disturbance outside and going out to investigate.
According to accounts attributed to the gas station’s owner, Joachim had entered the station the previous day and attempted to withdraw money from an ATM. After the transaction failed, he allegedly demanded cash from Easmin, who told him the store did not own the machine and could not provide him money. Authorities have not publicly identified a formal motive, but those accounts suggest the earlier dispute may have preceded the attack.
After the assault, the Fort Myers Police Department requested assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in locating Joachim. He was later found on Mango Street and taken into custody, where he has since been held without bond.