This case is so shocking that it’s difficult to know where to begin. It’s a mix of multiple disordered personalities and vicious actions that exploded into the incomprehensible.
The trouble apparently started when 15-year-old Seath Tyler Jackson of Belleview, Florida, a town of about 4,500 people located 65 miles north of Orlando, broke up with his 15-year-old girlfriend, Amber Wright. The breakup was public, played out in real time on Facebook.
Wright had apparently taken up with a new boyfriend, 18-year-old Michael Shane Bargo. Jackson and Bargo hated each other, and Bargo allegedly wanted to do something about it. Here is what happened, according to media reports that quoted police documents:
On Sunday, April 17, 2011, Wright sent Jackson a text message saying that she wanted to reconcile, and asking him to come to the home of a friend, Charlie Kay Ely, 18 (a female). At first Jackson declined. Wright then barraged him with texts and phone calls, wanting to see him.
Jackson went to the house. When he got there, 16-year-old Kyle Hooper, who is Amber Wright’s brother, and 20-year-old Justin Soto, began hitting him in the head with a piece of wood. Then Mike Bargo shot Jackson several times with a .22-caliber revolver.
Jackson tried to flee, Soto tackled him, and Bargo shot him again. They placed Jackson’s body in a bathtub, intending to break his knees so they could stuff him into a sleeping bag. But Jackson was still alive, so Bargo shot him again. When he died, the young men burned the body and the sleeping bag in the backyard.
Afterwards, with the assistance of James Havens III, 37, they shoveled the ashes into 5-gallon paint buckets and threw them into a dumpster and a lime quarry filled with water.
ABC News covered the story with both video and text. Watch the first two videos, which will be interrupted by a commercial:
Teen triangle and Faceboook feud lead to murder of 15-year-old Florida boy
The combustible elements of the story:
1. Michael Shane Bargo
He, apparently, was the mastermind of the plot. Here’s what the authorities wrote in their reports, according to CBS News:
Authorities said the teen, who has not been publicly identified, told investigators the group plotted the slaying because Bargo hated Seath.
Authorities, as well as family and friends, said Bargo was dating Seath’s ex-girlfriend and had gotten into a fight with him several weeks ago, WKMG reported.
Five of the suspects were gathered at the house Sunday “when Michael Bargo began to speak of his hatred for the victim Seath Jackson,” authorities wrote the 16-year-old boy told them. “The conversation then turned into a plan to lure Seath to the residence so that Michael Bargo could kill him with the assistance of other persons.”
In the ABC News video, two young girls who knew Bargo said, “He’s always wanting to fight people. Always threatening to kill people.”
2. Amber Wright
This 15-year-old girl lured Seath Jackson to the house where he was killed. There isn’t much more in the media about her, except her posts on Facebook (see below).
3. Facebook
In early March, Seath Jackson posted his love for Amber Wright on Facebook. By the end of the month, he announced that he was single, and made posts attacking both Wright and Mike Bargo. By April, Jackson and Wright were in a full Facebook battle.
Read the posts, as replicated by the Miami New Times.
4. The accomplices—Charlie Kay Ely, Justin Soto, Kyle Hooper
Jackson was lured to the home of Charlie Kay Ely. When he arrived, Hooper and Soto hit him with pieces of wood. It appears from a report on Ocala.com that these three people were followers—but they followed Mike Bargo.
See 6 arrested in teen’s murder on Ocala.com. Be sure to watch the video
5. James Havens III
James Havens is the stepfather of Amber Wright and Kyle Hooper. Havens allegedly knew about the plan to kill Seath Jackson, but did nothing to stop it. Afterwards, he helped the others dispose of the remains, and then gave Mike Bargo a ride out of town in an effort to avoid capture.
To see how self-centered this guy is, watch the video on CFN News13com:
Exclusive interview with James Havens
Havens is out on bond. All of the young people are in custody. Seath Taylor Jackson is dead.
Ox Drover
Nice comment, Breckgirl, and so right on. Drugs of any kind dampen down the inhibitions and put a magnet on the moral compass to stop it pointing in the right direction even if they know what that direction should be.
one/joy_step_at_a_time
wow – spathdom hell in all its cracker glory.
the dad is a step dad – which posits the probability that amber and kyle have another spath parent, or other spath relatives. ouu, and such a lifestyle. do you think they figured out on the spot how to dump that boys body? do they watch a lot of CSI, have mad googling skills, or has step daddy had some experience?
and people wonder why i say i would condemn spaths to death.