How chilling messages sent from Cassie Carli’s phone helped police crack case as mom’s body found in shallow grave
UNCOVERED texts from the phone of a missing Florida woman have helped to charge her ex-boyfriend for her murder, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators found Cassie Carli's body in a shallow grave on Saturday after arresting her ex-boyfriend Marcus Spanevalo in connection to her disappearance, authorities said.
Before her death, the 37-year-old had last been seen on Sunday, March 27, as she was heading out to the parking lot of a nearby bar where she’d arranged to pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Saylor, in a custody exchange with Spanevelo, her father.
When the search for Cassie started the next day, authorities found her car abandoned in the bar parking lot.
Her purse was left behind in the car, but the mother's phone was nowhere to be found.
"We still are trying to locate Cassie’s cell phone. Her purse was found inside the vehicle, but we still cannot locate the cell phone," Cassie's sister Raeann .
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"The most important thing we’re looking for is her phone. We do know that was not in there."
Raeann also made it clear that she did not believe that her older sister wrote the final text messages sent from her phone.
The last text messages from Cassie's phone were sent in response to her panicked father, who she lived with, after she hadn't returned home from the custody exchange.
"Cassie,I’m trying to call you.What’s going on?" Andrew Carli wrote, in a series of .
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His first message was sent at 9:40pm Sunday. He then sent a second message that stated: "I’m freaking out case call me as soon as you get this message."
The response later said: "I’m sorry, car was acting up, and I broke my phone. Marcus is working on it. I will stay at his place tonight. He is paying me some money to do some stuff around his house."
A later message from Cassie’s phone stated, "Let me see if he can get this fixed and I’ll call you."
"We totally do not believe that was Cassie responding in those messages," Raeann later said.
"She would never, ever take up any offers from him like that – to stay with him or help him or anything, first of all, without telling us or considering with us. So, that’s not like her at all."
When Andrew awoke the next morning to no update from Cassie, he contacted Spanevelo, as well as the sheriff’s office.
Upon reaching out to his granddaughter's father, he was told that Saylor was fine - but that Cassie had been acting erratically.
Spanevelo allegedly told Andrew that Cassie had asked him to "drop her off in the middle of nowhere in Destin" so that she could stay with a friend.
Andrew replied that the friend he was referring to had "moved to Alabama a while ago.
"Cassie would never have you drop her off anywhere."
Cassie's daughter is now safe with her family.
'NOT THE ENDING WE WANTED'
Spanevelo was arrested in Tennessee Saturday on charges of tampering with evidence, giving false information concerning a missing person's investigation, and destruction of evidence.
Hours later, Cassie's remains were found buried in a shallow grave inside a barn in Alabama on Saturday night, according to Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson.
Police said the Alabama property is linked to Spanevelo, who has been living and working in the Birmingham area in recent months.
Carli's body was identified by a tattoo, police said at a press conference Sunday.
“So it’s not the ending we wanted obviously, but we’re hoping it will provide a bit of closure for the family," Johnson said.
UNCOOPERATIVE
Police said that Spanevalo, who has been booked into jail, was "absolutely not" cooperative following his arrest.
"He was totally uncooperative with us and that goes a long way."
"It’s your baby’s mother who's missing and you’re not going to cooperate with authorities. It's kind of telltale."
Johnson said that he expects Spanevalo's charges to grow once the results of Cassie's autopsy, scheduled for Monday, are confirmed.
"It’s good to keep this dirtbag in jail, where he belongs," Johnson said.
"I think we have a great case and I think he’s either going to spend the rest of his life in jail or get the needle.
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"Hopefully the needle."
Spenevelo has not been charged with any crime related to Cassie's tragic death.
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