Charlie Ely, Suspect in Brutal Seath Jackson Murder, Says She Was Forced at Gunpoint to Participate
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| Charlie Ely says she was forced to take part in Seath Jackson's brutal murder. |
So far, police can point only to a twisted plan of revenge as motive. Riptide posted messages from Jackson's Facebook wall showing that Jackson had recently broken up with 15-year-old Amber Wright and that she had possibly begun dating Bargo.
News 13 says Bargo wanted to get revenge on Jackson for allegedly hitting Wright. It's believed Bargo ordered Wright to lure Jackson to the house by sending him a text saying she wanted to rekindle their relationship. When he arrived, he was greeted with a .22-caliber rifle and shot several times. The perpetrators then broke his legs, stuffed him into a sleeping bag, and then burned his body in a prelit fire in the back yard.
Bargo, Wright, her 16-year-old brother Kyle Hooper, 20-year-old Justin Soto, and 18-year-old Charlie Ely have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. All five could face the death penalty, and Wright and Hooper are expected to be tried as adults. Thirty-seven-year-old James Haven, Wright and Hooper's stepfather, was also arrested as an accessory to the crime.
Ely's motivation to take part in the murder has remained unclear, and so far she is the only suspect to talk to the media.
"They said that I'd be killed and it wasn't just a threat," Ely told journalists during a tearful jailhouse interview.
"It was a gun pointed in my face and everything."
The suspect says she was in a separate room, possibly with Wright, while most of the violence occurred in another room of the house.
Ely said she's "really not a bad person" and that she feels sorry for Jackson and his family, adding that she had met Jackson only twice before the incident.
Ely also said she's never been behind bars and has been to jail only to visit her father, husband, and uncle.
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