The Collier County Sheriff's Office is investigating the homicide of 45-year-old Suzanne Marie Bishop at Naples Keep Condominiums in North Naples Tuesday. One male was transported to NCH North Collier Hospital and is now in the custody of deputies while the investigation continues. Michel Fortier/Staff
Suzanne Bishop didn’t have a lot, but according to her daughters what she had she would give.
Now, Bishop’s three children only have those memories of their mother to last them.
She wasn’t perfect either, they said, but she was still a great mom.
Collier County sheriff’s deputies found Bishop’s body in a North Naples apartment on Tuesday morning, the victim of what is being investigated as a homicide.
Christopher Serna, 34, of 152 Cypress Way E. Apt. 4, was arrested later in the morning and faces a second degree murder charge in connection with her death.
According to Collier County Sheriff’s Office reports, before deputies arrived, Serna phoned his father and asked him to call 911. When his father got to the apartment and attempted to unlock the front door, Serna prevented him from entering.
Deputies got to the ground-level condo in the Naples Keep complex at Palm River Estates shortly after 4 a.m. in response to a possible assault. There, they found Serna covered in blood, with numerous cuts on his hands, reports said.
Deputies then discovered Bishop, 45, dead inside the apartment with “obviously non self-inflicted traumatic injuries,” according to reports.
The nature of those injuries and the cause of death have not been made public, and no further details of what happened to Bishop were released.
Neighbors said they saw Bishop in Serna’s apartment complex over the weekend, and again Monday afternoon in her car near the building.
It is unclear what the connection is between Serna and Bishop. However, she was arrested last week on a battery charge following an altercation with her boyfriend, Alexander Amador. In May, Serna was interviewed by the Daily News as he visited the North Naples grave of his grandfather, Cecilio Amador, as part of Memorial Day activities.
Neither law enforcement nor Serna’s privately hired lawyer have confirmed how Serna knew Bishop, or if Serna and Alexander Amador are related.
Bishop’s family said they did not know who Serna was or why their mother was at his apartment.
Serna’s arrest history in Collier County includes misdemeanor DUI and drug charges in 2002 and 2003.
Though Bishop had hit a few rough patches in life, her death stunned family, friends and co-,workers. They described her as spirited and loving, with a sense of humor and quirkiness that made a lasting impression.
“She was caring, loving. She was my best friend,” said her daughter, Jennifer Hunter, 23.
Bishop gushed about her children — two daughters and a son, all in their early 20s — in Facebook posts.
“I can’t really say that she was perfect all of the time,” said her daughter Samantha Hunter, 21. “She was a fun-loving person. She was always a great mother.”
Bishop had a few run-ins with law enforcement, including a domestic violence charge a week before her death following an altercation with Alexander Amador. They were living together in Golden Gate Estates when a fight turned physical. Bishop was arrested.
Alexander Amador, who was at the home Tuesday afternoon, declined to comment on Bishop’s death.
After Bishop was released from jail last week, she called friend Curtis Vaught and asked to stay with him, Vaught said. She had no place to go, she told him.
Vaught agreed to let her sleep on the sofa in his Naples home for a few weeks. The handyman had known Bishop since he first hired her to work cleaning homes eight years ago, and they had kept in touch.
He was trying to help her find work since her job at a North Naples bakery was only seasonal. On Monday, Vaught lent her money for gas to look for work or go to interviews, but Bishop told him instead she was headed to meet a friend on Marco Island, he said.
He wasn’t surprised when he woke up on Tuesday morning and saw the couch empty. She had been in and out of the home a lot in the few days she spent there, he said.
“She always had some kind of crisis,” Vaught said. “She had the greatest heart in the world. She just couldn’t get her life together.”
