Body found buried on Hastings farm is missing dad who feared ex-girlfriend: ‘I’m so angry,’ mother says

A body found buried on a ramshackle Hastings farm Tuesday is the man who went missing last month after an ugly breakup with his troubled girlfriend, The Citizen has learned.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that they received a tip related to the disappearance of Chad Mullen, 52, who was last seen on September 9 in San Mateo and reported missing on September 15.

Mullen’s mother, Willette Arnett, told The Citizen Tuesday night that a detective confirmed to her that the body belonged to her son.

“I’m so angry,” she said with a quivering voice. “I’m so angry. How can this happen?”

Arnette said her son, a father of two, was anxious to leave town because he feared the vindictive wrath of his ex-girlfriend, Caylen Deller.

“He told me once that he woke up and she had a knife at his throat,” she said. “He wanted to leave, he was truly afraid of this woman.”

Mullen planned to go to his brother’s wedding in El Paso on September 21, but never made the trip.

“For a long time until he went missing we talked all the time,” she said from her home in New Mexico. “He wanted to escape.”

Along with forensic investigators from the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, deputies began searching a property at 852 Federal Point Road in Hastings just over the county line.

Putnam officials said investigators noted that dirt had been moved around in the area, and the search began. A body was eventually uncovered.

The last ping from Mullen’s phone came near a now defunct horse rental business owned by Deller, Stormy’s Stables. It registered during a call with his teenage daugher, Holli.

Arnette said her son dated Deller, 30, for roughly six months, and that she moved into his home with her young daughter.

But the union soon soured, and the relationship quickly became volatile.

“I need to get out of here, it’s too ugly,” she recalled him saying after the split. “She has a long rap sheet, and he began to learn more about her, hearing things.”

Since his phone was last detected at Deller’s stable, police executed a search warrant at the property on September 20, five days after he was reported missing. The device wasn’t located and police found no sign of the missing father.

But Deller was arrested on an unrelated case for stealing a cow, according to police.

She eventually made bail, but her young daughter was removed from her custody after the arrest, and Deller has yet to recover the girl.

Arnett told The Citizen that Mullen had become close with the child, and told her Deller was a neglectful parent.

Despite the swirl of suspicion around her, Deller has continued to post on her horse stable Facebook page since Mullen’s disappearance, and has ignored questions about his whereabouts.

She did not respond to a request for comment from The Citizen Tuesday.

Hours after learning of her son’s death, Arnett said she couldn’t help but think back to scenes from his childhood.

“He was such a talented carpenter,” she said. “He would make these custom chairs that were just beautiful. I held out hope for that he would turn up. There’s always hope. But not anymore.”