Crime & Safety
Investigators Say Motorcycle Gang Behind 2017 Seabeck Murders
The FBI and the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office released new details on the quadruple homicide, three years after the investigation began.
BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — Nearly four years after they were murdered, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it believes “members and associates” of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were directly involved in the murders of four members of a Seabeck-area family.
UPDATE: Seabeck family murders. As the community of Seabeck approaches the 3rd-year mark of the murder of four members of the Careaga family, Kitsap Cnty Sheriff’s detectives, with the FBI, provide an update on the investigation. Click: https://t.co/iEzlXeWLmD - #125 / #9 pic.twitter.com/qBmCeRNOFt
— Kitsap Sheriff (@KitsapCoSheriff) January 24, 2020
In January 2017, Christale Careaga, 37, and Jonathon Higgins and Hunter Schaap, both 16, were shot in their home which was then set on fire. Two days later, 43-year-old Johnny Careaga was found shot and burned in a truck on a rural tree farm.
Investigators said previously and on Thursday that a “known associate” of the club, Danie Kelly Jr., remains a person of interest in the murders.
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Asked about the evidence to support the claim of Bandidos involvement, sheriff’s office spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson told the Kitsap Sun he could provide no further information.
The Bandidos are planning an upcoming gathering in Bremerton, but Wilson said he could not comment on whether the timing of the statement was meant to coincide with the gathering.