Teen subject of AMBER alert to face charges

[Photo courtesy MCSO]

Caden Speight, the 17-year-old whose disappearance in southwest Marion County on Sept. 25 triggered an AMBER Alert and launched an extensive multi-agency ground and air search, was arrested on Oct.14 for faking his own kidnapping, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the arrest affidavit, Caden was arrested and charged by major crimes detectives with presenting false evidence, shooting into a conveyance (truck), making a false report of a crime and possession of a firearm by a minor. Two offenses are felonies. He was transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

The case involving the kidnapping hoax winds back to the afternoon of Sept. 25 when the teen texted a message to his family that he had been taken from the 12000 block of Southwest County Road 484 by four men in a white van and had been shot in the leg during the abduction.

“I need help… being shot at,” the text message read in part, according to the affidavit.

On Sept. 25, investigators found a bullet hole in the windshield of the truck Caden was driving, which was registered to his father, blood stains and other indications of a possible abduction. Following a check with his family, an AMBER Alert was issued and a search was started.

Caden is home schooled and dual-enrolled with the College of Central Florida. He normally takes an agricultural class at the CF Vintage Farm Campus on Southeast 3rd Avenue on Thursdays and travels west on CR 484 to his Citrus Springs home. In a phone contact with his family shortly before the alleged abduction, he told his family he was headed home.

The teen was eventually found and detained by police in the Williston area, where he tried to sell a bicycle to an employee at an auto parts store.

During the investigation, MCSO Cpl. Jason Williams reviewed a record of Caden’s travels before and after the time of the alleged abduction from a Life 360 App, which his family used to follow his whereabouts. MCSO Intel provided data from the app to the investigator.

The app indicated Caden made visits to Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods prior to the alleged abduction and reportedly had taken cash from his safe at home. The app indicated he went to his CF class and then again visited the two stores. The app later puts him at the scene of the alleged abduction near Southwest 128th Avenue and CR 484.

An eyewitness noticed Caden stopped at the location but stated he appeared to be “alone and he did not appear to be in trouble.”

A check of the surveillance video of a nearby church on CR 484 did not reveal any evidence of a white van, which a text from Caden to his family stated contained four armed men who pursued him.

The arrest affidavit details evidence that indicated Caden purchased items including a bicycle, tent and sleeping bag.

Based upon the investigation, MCSO has stated it is probable that the teen used a mixture of blood and faked the shooting and that the gun shot was “self-inflicted.”

Caden said the handgun in his possession in Williston, which he said he had been shot with, belonged to his father.

After the teen was located in Williston, he “continued the ruse” and was interviewed by MCSO detectives at UF Health Shands on Sept.26.

A family member “advised (a detective) a couple of months ago the suspect stated he wanted to run away,” according to the MCSO affidavit.