Putnam County jury convicts Caylen Deller of murder, rejecting self-defense claim

A Putnam County jury on Thursday, Oct. 15, convicted Caylen Deller of first-degree murder in the September 2024 shooting death of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Chad Mullen, rejecting her testimony that she fired in self-defense. Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding her guilty as charged on all counts, and she was sentenced the same day to life in prison, a mandatory sentence, News4JAX reported.

Along with murder, the jury convicted Deller of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in a capital felony investigation and of failing to report a death with intent to conceal it, News4JAX reported. Mullen's body was found buried in a shallow grave on a farm near Hastings more than a month after he was reported missing.

The verdict and sentence

The trial began with jury selection on Monday, Oct. 12, and closing arguments wrapped up just before noon Thursday, Action News Jax reported. The guilty verdict came less than an hour later.

Deller received life in prison on the murder count, five years for evidence tampering and 15 years for failing to report the death, with all sentences running concurrently, First Coast News reported. She received credit for 707 days already served on the two lesser counts. She also pleaded no contest to a separate 2024 third-degree felony charge of grand theft involving animals and aquaculture, the station reported.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza of the 7th Judicial Circuit said in a statement that Deller claimed self-defense, "but the jury wasn't fooled by her lies." He added that Mullen's family will bear the burden of their loss for a lifetime and that justice cannot heal the family's pain. Putnam County Sheriff H.D. "Gator" DeLoach said the verdict sends a message that "we will not stop until you are held accountable," News4JAX reported.

Deller's account on the stand

On Wednesday, Deller took the stand in her own defense and admitted shooting Mullen. She testified that she met him at Stormy Stables on the night of Sept. 9, 2024, after his truck broke down, and that after he fixed a headlight she asked whether he had inappropriately touched her young daughter. She said Mullen became angry, pinned her against the truck and grabbed her by the throat so she could not breathe.

Deller testified that she grabbed a gun from under the driver's seat and pointed it at him, that he backed away, picked up a hammer and came toward her, and that she then fired. "I pulled the trigger of the gun and shot him twice," she told jurors. "I was extremely afraid." She said she did not intend to kill him or lure him to the stable.

The abuse allegation was never substantiated. Police said the child never said or indicated she had been abused when they interviewed her, according to News4JAX.

What happened after the shooting

Much of the trial focused on what Deller did next. She testified that she drove to the home of Tina Marie Lee-Ellis and returned to the stable with her, found Mullen was not breathing, and suggested calling 911, but that Lee-Ellis persuaded her not to because police would not believe her. Deller testified that Lee-Ellis took the gun and spent casings and that the two put Mullen's body in a pond at the stable.

When the body resurfaced, Deller said, she used a four-wheeler to pull it out and a horse trailer to move it to a farm, where she said Lee-Ellis picked the spot and used a skid steer to dig and cover the grave. Prosecutors said in opening statements that the farm, where Lee-Ellis worked, was in St. Johns County near the Putnam County line, and that the body had been tied to a cinder block in an attempt to sink it. Deller also testified that she threw Mullen's phone into a fire the next day because she panicked.

Lee-Ellis is charged with being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and is out on bond, according to News4JAX. Her case has not gone to trial, and she has not been convicted.

The prosecution's case

Assistant State Attorney Mike Willard told jurors that Deller confessed the killing to her ex-boyfriend, who testified that she told him she shot Mullen. Prosecutors argued she lured Mullen to her property, shot him and hid the body. They told jurors Deller had called Mullen more than two dozen times in the week before Sept. 9, 2024, and that phone records showed their phones traveling from his home to her property that night, after which the calls stopped.

Prosecutors also pressed her on why she never called police and why she repeatedly lied to Mullen's family as they searched for him. Text messages shown in court, sent Sept. 15 and 16, 2024, after relatives reported him missing, showed Deller telling the mother of Mullen's daughter that she had not heard from him and would tell him to contact everyone when she did. Asked on cross-examination whether she had lied multiple times about what happened to Mullen, she answered, "Yes sir," News4JAX reported.

A medical examiner testified that Mullen died of two gunshot wounds to the chest, and an FDLE analyst testified that DNA from a rib bone matched a reference sample from Mullen's toothbrush. Months after the killing, in April 2025, a woman cleaning Stormy Stables found Mullen's driver's license and debit card behind a building, according to testimony.

The defense's argument

Defense attorney Brian Smith argued that Deller reasonably believed she faced death or great bodily harm when Mullen choked her and then came at her with a hammer, that she had no duty to retreat, and that the state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt she was not justified in using deadly force. "This trial is not about whether Caylen made every right decision after the shooting, but whether Caylen reasonably believed she had to shoot Chad," Smith told jurors.

Smith acknowledged Deller should have called 911, calling her choices afterward an emotional mistake rather than evidence of guilt. He also attacked the credibility of her ex-boyfriend, citing inconsistencies in his statements and past convictions for crimes involving dishonesty.

Shannon Schott, an attorney with Plata Schott Law who was not involved in the case, told News4JAX that Deller's lies to police and to Mullen's family were likely the deciding factor for jurors.

The family's reaction

Before sentencing, Mullen's daughter gave a victim impact statement describing her father as a goofy, outgoing, creative man who was her best friend growing up. She told Deller, "I'm not ready to forgive you, and I don't know if I ever will be," according to News4JAX. Mullen's family was seen cheering outside the courtroom after the sentence was handed down, Action News Jax reported. Deller's sister told the station that Deller did not lure Mullen and that the family would try to resolve the case another way.

What's next

Deller can appeal her conviction to Florida's appellate courts. The case against Lee-Ellis on the accessory charge remains pending in Putnam County, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.