PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — Closing arguments continued Tuesday in the trial of three men, accused of killing a Seabeck family in 2017. Defense attorneys on Tuesday said the case has been based "purely on speculation."
Seven years after the quadruple murder, the jury is hearing closing arguments and will soon determine if the three men standing trial will be convicted for murder.
In 2017, four people in a Kitsap County family were allegedly murdered by members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, but the lead investigator said the killings were not club-related.
The bodies of Christale Careaga, 37; her son Jonathon Higgins, 16; and stepson Hunter Schapp, 16; were found in a burned-out home near Seabeck. Days later, police found the body of the Careaga’s husband, John Careaga, 43, in a car that had been set on fire in Mason County.
A 911 call made by a teenager inside the Careaga home in 2017 initially led investigators to the scene of the murders.
Suspects Danie Kelly, Jr. and Robert Watson III were Bandido members, according to investigators. The third suspect, Watson’s younger brother, Johnny Watson, was not affiliated with the club.
“There’s no evidence of any robbery, there’s no evidence that anything was taken from the Careaga residence,” said defense attorney Cyr.
Prosecutors said John Careaga, a family man and restaurant owner, was dealing cocaine on the side. They said his problems started when he stopped dealing drugs to club members.
“Robert Watson has absolutely no reason to kill this family. If it was to get more cocaine, why would you kill the one person that has this connection? It doesn’t make any sense,” Cyr said.
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 killers' movements.
“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,” said Phillip Bacus of the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office.
Bacus argued that they planned to destroy the house by arson, "to destroy any evidence that could be left behind,” he said Tuesday.
Closing arguments are expected to continue through Friday. If convicted all three could face life in prison.