Moorpark man, 71, sentenced for 2020 shooting of relative in U-Haul truck
A Moorpark man who admitted to shooting his brother-in-law while the man sat in the driver's seat of a U-Haul truck in 2020 was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison Thursday.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Anthony Sabo sentenced Elsworth Cadle, 71, to two consecutive terms: 15 years to life for second-degree murder and 10 years to life on a special allegation involving the use of a firearm.
The prison term includes 1,630 days that Cadle has served in county jail since his arrest, Sabo said. That works out to about four and a half-years.
Sabo noted that the victim — Mark Milton, 64, of Moorpark — was vulnerable as he sat in the U-Haul, where the defendant found him and killed him, citing one of the factors for the special allegation. Special allegations bring heavier sentences if a defendant is convicted.
Cadle received the maximum sentence, said Melissa Suttner, a supervising attorney with the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, after the hearing. He will become eligible for parole 25 years from the start of his sentence, which would be in 2045, she said.
Cadle initially pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge. In February, a jury failed to reach a verdict. Sabo had approved the prosecution's request for a new trial slated for September, but on May 14, Cadle pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Thursday's brief hearing took place in a mostly empty Ventura courtroom with court staff and lawyers. A sheriff's deputy gently pushed Cadle, who was in a wheelchair and dressed in a blue jail uniform, to the defense table.
Defense and prosecution attorneys told the judge they had no additional arguments.
Sabo, after issuing the sentence, told Cadle, "Good luck to you."
In a soft voice, the defendant replied, "Thank you."
At last month's hearing, when Cadle entered a guilty plea, three members of Milton's family presented victim impact statements, said Suttner, the prosecutor.
There were no additional impact statements Thursday. No one from either man's family was present.
"His pleading guilty and being held accountable for what he did allows the family to finally heal," Suttner said after the judge announced the consecutive terms.
2020 killing launched massive search
Milton had been found dead in the driver's seat of a rented U-Haul truck on the afternoon of Jan. 3, 2020, at Public Storage in Moorpark at 875 Los Angeles Ave. He had been shot in the head, authorities said.
Late that night, Cadle was arrested after an extensive search that included a helicopter, K-9 police dog and drone. Ventura County Sheriff's authorities secured a warrant to search an apartment complex. A SWAT team was deployed at the complex, but Cadle was ultimately found driving near Moorpark College, where deputies pulled him over.
Prosecutors say in 2019, leading up to the shooting, Cadle's estranged wife and daughter were living with his sister and brother-in-law. The wife and daughter began moving into their own apartment by early January. They had rented the U-Haul to pick up belongings from Cadle's apartment and from the storage unit rented by Milton and his wife, the DA's office said in a news release.
On the day of the shooting, Cadle drove by the storage unit and saw Milton. Cadle then rented a car, got his gun and returned to the facility. He shot Milton once in the left side of the head before fleeing, according to the prosecution's account.
Cadle remains housed at the Todd Road Jail facility outside Santa Paula and will later be transported to Wasco State Prison, jail and court records show.
Breaking News Editor Gretchen Wenner contributed to this report.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Moorpark man sentenced for 2020 shooting of in-law in U-Haul
