Sanjay Patel, a 39-year-old Indian man, was working as a clerk at the Pay Rite Food Store, located within a Citgo gas station on Forbes Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, on the evening of April 6, 2015. At the time, his wife, Bhavana Chavada, was six and a half months pregnant with their first child, a son they had eagerly anticipated after years of trying to conceive.
Known for his kindness in the neighborhood, Patel often gave free candy to children who visited the store.
That night, while Patel was alone in the store, two masked and armed individuals entered with the intent to rob him. During the course of the robbery, a struggle ensued, and Patel was shot multiple times, including three times in the chest and once in the hand. He was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries approximately an hour later. The perpetrators fled with money and a box of cigars.
The New Haven Police Department launched an intensive investigation into the homicide. By May 2015, authorities had identified three suspects: Dwayne Sayles, 22; Jamal Sumler, 24; and Leighton Vanderberg, 22, all residents of New Haven. It was determined that Sayles and Sumler were the two individuals who entered the store and shot Patel, while Vanderberg served as the getaway driver.
The legal proceedings that followed resulted in significant prison sentences for all three men. In November 2017, Jamal Sumler was found guilty of felony murder, murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, and carrying a pistol without a permit; he was subsequently sentenced to 90 years in prison. In June 2018, Dwayne Sayles was convicted of similar charges and received an 80-year prison sentence. Leighton Vanderberg, who cooperated with the authorities and testified against his co-defendants, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Vanderberg was already serving a 40-year sentence for his involvement in the murder of another store clerk in Bridgeport that occurred just days after Patel's death.
