PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Action News Jax has learned that Caylen Deller, a person of interest in the Chad Mullen homicide case, is in a fierce custody fight with another man.
That man, Ken Waddell, is speaking out saying the court is about to hand his five-year-old over to someone Putnam County deputies want to speak with about the high-profile homicide.
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“I’m getting harassed for not letting Caylen see her daughter when I’ve been advised by state therapists, investigators, and detectives that she should not have anything to do with her mother,” said Waddell.
He said he is petrified for his daughter.
Only Action News Jax’s Shanila Kabir spoke to Waddell who said the family court has ordered him to return their daughter to Deller by this Monday morning. If he does not, he could face jail time for contempt of court.
“I am not going be the one to place Ostara into her hands and then have her run and have something happen to our daughter,” Waddell said.
Action News Jax obtained court documents in the child custody case showing a judge granted a child pick-up order for the petitioner, Caylen Deller, on October 25.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said Deller lost custody of her daughter back in September after her most recent arrest -- theft of a commercial farm animal.
The family court documents show Deller is to regain custody of their daughter Ostara from her father, Waddell, no later than 9 a.m. on November 4.
However, this order was granted several days before Chad Mullen’s body was found buried in a shallow grave in Hastings on October 28. That discovery led the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office to name Deller as a person of interest in the case.
Deller was Mullen’s ex-girlfriend and the last person to see him alive.
“I am basically the one that went to the sheriff in the first place with information that I got firsthand from Caylen,” Waddell said.
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Waddell argues that granting her custody would be a dangerous and negligent move by the family courts in Putnam County.
Waddell adds he just wrote a letter to Judge Rose Marie Preddy making his case. He said there has been no response so far.
Both Caylen Deller and Ken Waddell are expected to be in family court in Putnam County on Monday.
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Ken Waddell told Action News Jax he has no intention of handing over his daughter, knowing what he knows about Deller.
“There will be a warrant issued for my arrest for either contempt of court or kidnapping, whichever the case may be,” Waddell said.
Waddell said with the whole community tuned into the Mullen homicide, he hopes Deller is not granted custody of their daughter.
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