Slain Florida mom's ex threw evidence out window of truck before cops caught up with him, police say
Marcus Spanevelo mugshot images, provided by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office (Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office)
New details in the case of slain Florida mom Cassie Carli shed light on the allegations against the woman’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child, Marcus Spanvelo, including that the man threw evidence out of the window of his truck before cops ultimately caught up with him.
Spanevelo is charged with tampering with and destroying evidence – in connection with his alleged disposal of Carli’s cellphone – and giving false information concerning a missing person investigation related to the woman’s disappearance at the end of March. New details reveal had been served with papers issuing a deadline for him to pay child support just days before Carli disappeared on March 27, according to recently released court papers, which corroborate previously obtained information.
The man made his initial appearance in a Florida court on Tuesday, when First Judicial Circuit Judge Clifton A. Drake ordered him held on $21,000 for the trio of charges and a fourth count: refusing to provide authorities with a DNA sample, according to Santa Rosa County records.
Local affiliate FOX 10 described how Spanevelo, 34, kept mum and appeared "unapologetic" during the bond hearing. Records show his arraignment is scheduled for May 5.
His attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Wednesday.
Spanevelo was booked into the custody of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office around 11:05 p.m. local time on Sunday, 15 days after he was arrested in connection with Carli’s disappearance.
Carli was last seen on the evening of March 27, while meeting Spanevelo, in the parking lot of a beachside restaurant, Juana’s Pagoda, not far from her home in Navarre, Florida. The pair was supposed to meet to exchange custody of their child. Investigators later recovered her vehicle, with her purse inside, and confirmed the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was safe. Carli's disappearance prompted searches by law enforcement and family for nearly a week.
A sign for Juana's Pagodas, the restaurant where Cassie and her child’s father met in the parking lot. (Fox News Digital/Stephanie Pagones)
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said investigators arrested Spanevelo on the morning of April 2 in Lebanon, Tennessee, after having caught up with him days earlier in Birmingham, Alabama.
Johnson said that, hours later, investigators were conducting a search warrant at a property in Alabama when they discovered Carli’s body in a barn in a shallow grave. Johnson told Fox News Digital her body appeared to be intact when they made the discovery, and said there were no obvious signs of trauma.
The results of an autopsy examination remained pending. A sheriff's office spokesperson said Monday that additional charges against Spanevelo would not likely be added until the death investigation was complete.
On Wednesday, Fox News Digital obtained the affidavit of complaint related to Spanevelo’s three initial charges.
The partially-redacted document describes how Spanevelo provided false information to law enforcement "by not disclosing pertinent information about where he stopped along his route of returning home to Panama City Beach with [redacted] later that evening."
He also initially allegedly failed to tell investigators that he threw an item out the window of his truck at some point before police caught up to him. While details surrounding the item were redacted in the report, Sheriff Johnson previously told reporters the charges for tampering and destroying evidence were related to the disposal of Carli’s cell phone.
Cassie Carli seen in this undated photo provided by the family (Photos courtesy Carli family)
Investigators received multiple tips regarding the item being thrown out the window, the document states. In one from March 30, a tipster told cops, "Marcus had spoken to a person and told them he had located [redacted] in his truck and threw it out of the window," the affidavit states.
MISSING FLORIDA MOM CASSIE CARLI FOUND DEAD IN ALABAMA
Marcus allegedly ultimately admitted doing so, telling investigators "he did not care about [redacted] property so he chose to just throw it out of the window."
Another person told investigators on March 31 that Spanevelo said he threw the item out because "he had to get rid of it," the affidavit states.
Flyer seen as gathering site for volunteers who were searching for Cassie Carli in Navarre Beach, Florida, April 2, 2022 (Fox News Digital/Stephanie Pagones)
Last month, Carli’s sister, Raeann, told Fox News Digital Cassie usually tried to meet Spanevelo at public locations – typically a Walmart parking lot – but that he had recently been changing the meet-up spots.
On the night of Carli’s disappearance, her father sent her a series of text messages asking where she was after she never returned home.
"Cassie,I’m trying to call you.What’s going on?" he wrote, in a series of text messages provided to Fox News Digital. His first message was sent at 9:40 p.m. that night. He then sent a second message that stated: "I’m freaking out case call me as soon as you get this message."
A response came shortly thereafter, and stated: "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."
Cassie’s father then went to sleep for the night. After hearing nothing from his daughter the next morning, he contacted Spanevelo, and then the sheriff’s office.
The family later said they did not believe those messages even came from Cassie, with Raeann saying the messages were "not how Cassie would talk or speak."
"We totally do not believe that was Cassie responding in those messages," Carli 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."
Cassie Carli seen in this undated photo provided by the family (Photos courtesy Carli family)
Fox News Digital previously reported how Carli had considered purchasing a gun and obtaining a concealed carry permit out of concern for her safety. And also that Spanevelo was ordered to pay her $5,920 in overdue child support just days before she vanished.
Carli had documented her volatile history with Spanevelo in a GoFundMe page that her sister created to help her pay for legal fees during her ongoing custodial dispute over the couple’s young daughter.
And family members previously told Fox News Digital that Cassie had felt "extremely unsafe" around Marcus, and had warned them to look to him if anything happened to her.
According to the redacted affidavit, investigators first interviewed Spanevelo on March 29, when he described how "there was an altercation" at some point when he met with someone, presumably Carli, on March 27th.
He allegedly would not elaborate to investigators, but went on to describe how someone, whose name was redacted, was acting "hyper" but he agreed to drive them to an unspecified location because it was on his way to his destination. He claimed the person "jumped out" and "he drove away and left [redacted]" and returned to his Panama City Beach, Florida, home.
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But investigators ultimately obtained surveillance footage that showed only Spanevelo in the front of the vehicle, and no one sitting in the passenger seat. And Cassie is not seen leaving or entering the vehicle when Spanevelo makes stops along his trip – including one when he buys a "pay as you go" cell phone at a store, the affidavit states.
"Marcus (sic) information about her being dropped off was not corroborated," investigators said.
Investigators further accuse Spanevelo of lying in saying he never touched one of the vehicles involved in the investigation, citing surveillance footage that showed otherwise.