PALATKA, Fla. — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Caylen Deller, the Putnam County woman accused of killing her boyfriend in 2024 and burying his body in a shallow grave in a Hastings potato field.
Action News Jax spoke with Chad Mullen’s daughter, Holli Mullen, who said she plans to attend the trial every day as she seeks justice for her father.
Mullen described the last two years as a nightmare, beginning with her father’s disappearance and ending with the discovery of his body near his girlfriend’s former horse business in Hastings.
As jurors were selected Monday, Mullen reflected on the father she says was taken too soon.
“He was the most loving. He never failed to make me feel like the most beautiful loved girl in the world. And I just, I don’t have that anymore because of somebody that took him away,” Mullen said.
Mullen said she remembers her father as someone who was always smiling and making others laugh.
Chad Mullen’s body was discovered Oct. 28, 2024, buried under a pile of dirt at a farm in Hastings after he had been reported missing for more than a month.
“This is the person who taught me how to tie my shoes and ride a bike, and just to know that he was left to rot there like a piece of trash, like he was nothing. How could someone do that? No one deserves that,” Mullen said.
Investigators found Chad Mullen’s body near a horse business belonging to his girlfriend, Caylen Deller.
Deller faces charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, tampering with evidence and failure to report a death.
Deller’s co-defendant, Tina Lee-Ellis, is accused of helping hide Mullen’s body and is charged with accessory to murder after the fact.
“We’ve been living in this nightmare for two years,” Mullen said.
She said the loss of her father has been especially difficult because of the milestones he will miss in her life.
“He’ll never walk me down the aisle, have my first dance, meet my children, meet my future husband. I mean, she took someone that had so much life left to live, and he won’t get to watch me grow up,” Mullen said.
As the case moves forward, Mullen said she plans to be in court every day awaiting what she hopes will be justice for her father.
“She needs to pay for what she did. My dad isn’t able to experience any of his life because of her,” Mullen said.
Opening statements in Deller’s trial are scheduled to begin Tuesday.
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