Opening statements in trial for Careaga quadruple homicide suspects paused for illness

PORT ORCHARD – Opening statements in the trial for three men accused of the killings of four members of the Careaga family in the greater Seabeck area in 2017 began and then promptly ground to a halt in Kitsap County Superior Court over the last week, after an attorney for one of the defendants was reported to be ill. Two opening statements have been completed, and two remain.

Kelly Montgomery, on behalf of the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, presented an opening statement to jurors throughout the day Monday, and Matthew McGowan, one of two attorneys representing Bobby Watson, had been slated to give an opening statement Tuesday. It was reported on Tuesday that he was ill though, and Judge Kevin Hull excused jurors until Thursday after Tom Weaver, one of two attorneys representing Danie Kelly, gave an opening statement. Then on Thursday, Hull reported that McGowan was again unable to proceed and recessed the trial until Monday. Trial activity does not normally occur on Fridays.

Said deputy prosecuting attorney Philip Bacus to Hull on Thursday: “The state’s not happy. We have concerns. This seems very convenient. They’re going to have a week basically to prepare off Ms. Montgomery’s extremely compelling opening statement.”

John Cyr, Bobby Watson’s second attorney, replied: “I take issue with Mr. Bacus’s characterization of ‘conveniently getting sick.’ There’s nothing convenient about Mr. McGowan getting sick. People get sick.”

Hull said that he expected the opening statements for brothers Bobby and Johnny Watson to proceed on Monday and addressed Cyr: “We’re going to be doing your opening on behalf of Mr. Watson, whether it’s you or Mr. McGowan, on Monday morning.”

“Absolutely,” Cyr said.

Johnny Watson’s attorney Craig Kibbe will offer opening remarks on behalf of his client.

Jury selection wrapped up the week before Thanksgiving, and a panel of 18 jurors – six women and 12 men – began hearing opening statements on Monday, Nov. 27.

More: Trial for Careaga quadruple homicide suspects underway in Kitsap County Superior Court

Openings

It was a 911 call placed by Hunter Schaap at about 11:30 p.m. on the night of Jan. 27, 2017, that brought authorities to the Careaga family home on Tenino Drive near Tahuya Lake, the teen’s pleas for help what would touch off a sprawling investigation into the killings of four members of his blended family.

Montgomery told jurors that it took first responders about 12 minutes to get to the family’s rural property following that initial 911 call and noted a motion-activated light at the family’s property that was still on and then turned off as one of the first Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the scene.

“KCSO barely missed the killers,” Montgomery said.

Christale Careaga and two teens, Schaap and Johnathon Higgins, were shot, and their remains were found at the family's home, which was set on fire. John Careaga was also shot, and his remains were found in his burnt truck on a tree farm in Mason County on Jan. 29, 2017. Investigators eventually linked the killings to drugs and money connected to the family.

Montgomery told jurors of the investigation that law enforcement pursued, both immediately following the murders and in the years since then, of the links that investigators made to Kelly, Bobby Watson and Johnny Watson, who were each associates of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

"You're going to hear a lot about the Bandidos in this trial," she said. "But what you're not going to hear, because there is no evidence of it, that these four homicides, the killing of Christale and Johnathon and Hunter and Johnny, these were not sanctioned Bandidos hits. This was personal."

“What the evidence is going to show you is that one thing leads to another thing, leads to another thing and that everything connects,” she added. “Everything connects in this case to show you that Bobby, his brother Johnny and Danie were the ones who planned this murder, they executed this murder by executing the family. And at the end of the evidence, this isn’t a case of whodunnit, this is a case of they did it.”

In his opening statement, Weaver – Kelly’s attorney – told jurors that what happened to the Careaga family was tragic but said that it would be equally tragic “to double down on the tragedy, for an innocent person to be held responsible for what happened.” He laid out for jurors a timeline of Kelly’s activity in the Bremerton area on the night of the murders through cell phone and electronic records and the testimony of a woman who Kelly met for a drug deal that night.

“We know a lot about who was where and when on the night of Jan. 27,” Weaver said. “We know from cell phone records, from internet records, from eyewitnesses, we know a lot. And when you put it all together, the time doesn’t work, the geography doesn’t work, and the math just doesn’t work.”

John Careaga would regularly bring bricks of cocaine from a supplier in California back to Washington and would pass off the drugs to an associate who in turn sold to customers, one of whom was Bobby Watson, Montgomery said. A fallout between John and his friend led John to begin communicating directly with Bobby, Montgomery said.

Weaver conceded that 12 days before the murders, Kelly, who at the time was a “hang-around” with the Bandidos, purchased a burner phone that plays a key role in the case – it was only used for communications with John Careaga – but said jurors would hear that the phone was passed off to Bobby Watson, who at that point was the vice president of the Bremerton chapter of the Bandidos, and said that after that, there was no evidence that Kelly ever saw or had possession of the phone again. Investigators linked that TracFone to Bobby Watson's residence in Bremerton and have said it hit off a cell tower that serviced the Seabeck area on the night of the murders.

One key eyewitness, a neighbor who lived near the Careaga residence, eventually reported that he had seen Kelly driving John Careaga’s truck away from the family home on the night of the murders. Weaver dismissed the identification, noting that the neighbor came forward with the information after investigators had publicly named Kelly as a person of interest.

“He’s making himself into a big shot,” Weaver said.

In her opening statement, Montgomery said that initially, the man had been scared to come forward with the information but eventually came around to disclosing it: “He’s going to tell you that he was scared, that he didn’t know whether he wanted to give up that information and deal with potentially some risk to him and his family. He knew Danie Kelly, knew Danie Kelly was involved with the Bandidos, and he doesn’t want anything to do with it.”

Investigation connected to the murders continued even into this year. Montgomery told jurors of a “reluctant witness” – who she described as Bobby Watson’s “best friend at work” while the two had been employed by Kitsap County Public Works – who came forward earlier this year to report something he said Bobby had done on the Monday after the murders.

When he picked up Watson that day, the man had a small cooler, and as they were driving near Bremerton National Airport, Montgomery said, Bobby put the cooler in his lap, opened a window and began throwing something from the cooler out the window. That information prompted a search over an area of roughly 9 acres earlier this year.

“This was a very difficult search because No. 1, they didn’t really know what they were searching for. Was it pieces of a phone? Was it shell casings? Was it Lego pieces in a cooler?” Montgomery said, noting that jurors would hear from a member of the search party who found "something very, very interesting out on that search."

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Opening statements in trial for Careaga murder suspects delayed