PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — Two members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and another man are facing murder charges for the killing of a family in Seabeck in 2017.
Their alleged target was John Careaga a restaurant owner and father who investigators said was dealing drugs on the side.
"We know that these murders were carefully and thoroughly planned," said Phillips Bacus, an attorney with the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to court documents, when Careaga stopped dealing drugs with members of the motorcycle club the three suspects were accused of killing three members of his family. Careaga was found dead in his truck days later.
“This case is not at all about what was done, it’s about who did it and the evidence shows that these three defendants – Robert Watson, Danny Kelly and Johnny Watson, working together, planned these murders they planned the murder of John Careaga and his family,” Bacus said. "They planned to destroy the house by arson – to destroy any evidence that could be left behind."
Key evidence came from a 911 call made by Hunter Schaap, a teenager who was shot that night and would later die of his injuries. Over the course of the five-month jury trial, the defense worked to cast doubt on the timeline and the cell phone towers used to track the alleged killer's movements.
"The time doesn't work," said defense attorney Tom Weaver in the opening days of the jury trial. "The geography doesn't work, and the math just doesn't work."
Soon the fate of the three men charged in the killing will rest in the hands of the jury. Closing arguments are expected to last until Friday. If convicted all three could face life in prison.