A judge denied bond Tuesday for a Hastings woman accused of killing her former boyfriend, transporting his body with the help of a horse, and burying him in a shallow grave.
Caylen Deller, 31, appeared in Putnam County court where her legal aid attorney asked the judge to release her on her own recognizance while she awaits trial for the first-degree murder of Chad Mullen, according to News4Jax.
But the judge rejected that bid, and Deller will remain behind bars as her capital murder case proceeds.
Deller has been in jail since late last year, when she was arrested following a month-long investigation into Mullen’s disappearance and death.
Prosecutors say she shot the 33-year-old father of two near her former horse farm in Hastings in September 2024.
What followed, authorities allege, was a grisly and bizarre effort to conceal the crime.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Deller enlisted the help of her friend Tina Marie Lee-Ellis.
Investigators say Deller used a horse to drag Mullen’s body from the scene to Lee-Ellis’s SUV. The two then allegedly drove the body to a farm in Federal Point, where they buried it in a shallow grave.
Mullen was reported missing in late September after he failed to return home.
He was last seen near Stormy Stables, the horse property previously operated by Deller. His disappearance quickly drew concern from family and friends, who described the relationship between Deller and Mullen as stormy and at times violent.
Nearly a month after he vanished, on October 28, authorities discovered his remains.
The body had been tied with various types of cordage, including ratchet straps and what investigators identified as a lasso rope.
Before she was arrested, Deller spoke to the St. Johns Citizen outside an unrelated court hearing. In that interview, she calmly denied knowing anything about Mullen’s disappearance, saying only that she hoped his family could find peace.
However, prosecutors later presented witness testimony from Deller’s former boyfriend, Ken Wadell, who told investigators that Deller confessed to killing Mullen.
“He literally told me, there’s too much hate in this world,” Holli Mullen told News4Jax at Tuesday’s hearing. “So the fact he was taken away by that very thing is just so surreal. So, we just want to be here in support, against the bond and the person. He was an amazing person, such a positive guy, and he had so much light, and he just didn’t deserve this at all.”
Wadell claimed she described the act in detail, admitting to using a horse to move the body before placing it into Lee-Ellis’s vehicle.
Deller was arrested shortly after, and charged with first-degree murder. Lee-Ellis has also been charged in connection with the case.
If convicted, Deller could face the death penalty.
