SEABECK, Wash. — Opening statements were made Monday and Tuesday in the trial of three men accused of killing four members of a Kitsap County family in 2017.
Investigators say the suspected murders were linked to drugs and money. It was years before investigators were able to make an arrest.
In January 2017, investigators found the bodies of Christale Careaga, 37; her son Jonathon Higgins, 16; and stepson Hunter Schapp, 16; in a burned-out home near Seabeck.
Two 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.
In January 2020, Kitsap County Sheriff's Office detectives linked the homicides to the notorious Bandidos Motorcycle Club and said members were directly involved in the killings.
Suspects Danie Kelly, Jr. and Robert Watson III were Bandido members, according to investigators. A third suspect, Watson’s younger brother, Johnny Watson, was not affiliated with the club.
According to investigators, John Careaga was selling cocaine. Some of his customers were Bandido members.
Kelly, according to investigators, was an entry-level member of the motorcycle club. Entry-level members are known as "hang arounds." However, Kelly was promoted to "prospect" after the killings, according to investigators.
Watson III was vice president of the Bremerton Bandidos in 2017, according to investigators.
Investigators said information from Bandido members suggested Watson III changed his story when club members asked if he had been involved in the killings.
During the state's opening statement on Monday, prosecutors said it was Hunter's actions that kept the home from burning all the way down.
"The evidence will show you that this house would have burned all the way down - all the way down - but for Hunter. Hunter's 911 call interrupted their whole process."
On Tuesday, two of the three defense attorneys delivered opening statements.
The attorney representing one of the three suspects spent time questioning the credibility of one of the witnesses expected to testify.
“The time doesn’t work. The geography doesn’t work, and the math just doesn’t work,” said defense attorney Tom Weaver, who is representing suspect Danie Kelly.
Weaver went on to cast doubt on testimony the jury is expected to hear from a witness who came forward more than a year after the 2017 shooting and reported hearing 11 rounds fired from a single weapon.
“The murder weapon is either a .38 special or a .357 magnum, it’s a revolver - they hold between five or six bullets at a time. And we also know based upon the scene that a total of eight bullets were fired by the murders.”