PALATKA, Fla. — New details emerged in the murder 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.
During testimony, jurors heard from Ken Waddell, the father of Deller’s daughter, who said Deller called him and asked if he could pick up their child.
Waddell testified that he drove from Illinois to Florida a few days later and got a hotel room. It was there, he said, that Deller told him she had shot Chad Mullen.
According to Waddell, Deller claimed she killed Mullen because she believed he had molested their daughter.
Waddell testified that he did not learn all of the details at once, but instead received information from Deller over several conversations spanning multiple days.
He said that after the two got into an argument and Deller refused to turn over their daughter, he contacted law enforcement with the information.
During testimony, Waddell recounted what he said Deller told him about the shooting.
“She shot him. The gun jammed. It took a minute for her to get it unjammed. And during that minute, it’s like he was. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t alive. And he had this painful stare. She said that will haunt her till the day she dies. And then she figured out the gun and shot the second time,” Waddell testified.
During cross-examination, the defense brought up Waddell’s prior convictions for making false statements under oath.
Deller is facing charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
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