A North Central Florida teenager is in police custody after he allegedly attempted to fake his own kidnapping and shot himself in the leg to keep up the act.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook Tuesday that 17-year-old Caden Speight was arrested for the abduction hoax and booked in the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) on the charges of presenting false evidence, shooting into a conveyance, making a false crime report and possessing a firearm as a minor.
The search for a missing teen who was shot
On the afternoon of Sept. 25, Marion County deputies responded to the area of 12800 SW Hwy 484 in Dunnellon after Speight had texted his family, alleging that he had been shot and the family-sharing app Life360 showed that was where he was last seen. Dunnellon is about 50 miles south of Gainesville.
When deputies arrived at Speight’s last known location, they found his truck. Still, he was nowhere to be found, prompting the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to deploy a “vast amount” of its resources and personnel, along with numerous other law enforcement agencies, to search for Speight and collect evidence at the alleged crime scene.
An elaborate plan to fake everything
According to the sheriff’s office, crime scene technicians found a bullet hole through the windshield, “suspected blood, Speight’s severely damaged cellphone, drag marks in the dirt and bicycle tracks leading away from his truck.”
Further investigation and testing revealed that Speight had allegedly shot his truck’s windshield, splattered a blood mixture and destroyed his own cellphone before he fled the area on his bicycle with camping supplies he bought at Walmart before reporting the incident, the sheriff’s office said. An eyewitness told authorities that he saw Speight leaving the area on his bike.
In the midst of the investigation, detectives learned that Speight had allegedly mentioned running away before and they found ChatGPT searches on his laptop about “collecting his blood without causing pain and Mexican cartels,” the sheriff’s office said.
The next day, Williston Police officers found Speight during a service call at 727 W. Noble Ave. in their city. Williston is about 25 miles north of Dunnellon, roughly halfway between there and Gainesville.
According to the sheriff’s office, Speight was found with a handgun and the bike still in possession, and was found requiring medical treatment for a shattered femur he suffered after allegedly shooting himself in the leg.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for Speight’s arrest, and he was ultimately taken into custody and booked in the FDJJ.
