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The on-again-off-again girlfriend of a murdered Florida man and her gal pal now face charges that could lead to the death penalty in his slaying.
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Chad Mullen, 53, vanished in Putnam County in mid-September. His body was discovered in late October buried in a shallow grave in a farmer’s field.
Cops say Caylen Deller, 30, and her friend Tina Ellis are now in custody in connection with his slaying.
Deller is charged with first-degree murder with a firearm and Ellis is charged with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. If convicted, Deller could face the death penalty.
Detectives described the investigation as “long and tedious.”
“If either of them are found guilty of first-degree murder, they would be eligible for the death penalty,” said Major Steven Rose, of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
Tina Lee-Ellis surrendered late Thursday evening to the sheriff’s office. She had been arrested for an unrelated crime last month. The earlier arrest was triggered by a search warrant for Mullen.
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Ellis is a convicted felon, and deputies said they found illegal weapons and drugs at her property. She was later released on bond but had an ankle monitor.
Meanwhile, police in Volusia County near Daytona Beach arrested Deller Friday afternoon. She is reported to be Mullen’s ex-girlfriend and was the last person to see him alive.
Investigators are now trying to determine whether there are more accomplices although they said they are confident the two women were the instigators in murdering Mullen and burying his body.
“Our ultimate goal is to provide closure to the family. With that, we hope to have a very solid case when this goes to trial, we will have a definite conclusion for the family,” Rose said.
Mullen’s 18-year-old daughter is still coming to terms with the horrific slaying of her father.
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“I’ve definitely been in shock. I mean I’ve been dealing with this since September,” Holli Mullen told First Coast News. “It’s definitely been a lot for me to process.”
She was one of the last people to speak to her father just before he vanished on Sept. 15. Holli Mullen said she was not surprised by the arrest.
“As of right now I’m very relieved that they got her. I mean that’s what we wanted this whole time,” said Mullen.
“I knew from the second I saw his phone ping at her stables that she was involved in some type of way, she’s definitely capable of hurting, murdering somebody. It’s sick and she needs to get locked up for a long time.”
And she has a message from the heart for Deller.
She said: “I’m going to continue to live the life my dad would want me to live, and I want to make it known who she took away from so many people. This guy was a father, brother and uncle, everybody loved him and I just want to make it known who she took away and what she did.
“I just hope Caylen gets what she deserves. I hope whoever else is involved in this gets what they deserve.”
@HunterTOSun
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