Presser.
3rd March.
Sheriff - Cassie Carli, who's been missing now for about a week, we've discovered her body while executing a search warrant in Alabama. It was in a barn, in a shallow grave. So, it's not the ending that we wanted, obviously, but we're hoping to provide a little closure for the family. And also, as you know, as we reported earlier, the suspect is currently in jail in Maury County Tennessee, on charges of tampering with evidence and giving false info. with reference to a missing person's investigation.
Our major crimes unit, I can tell you this, I've never been more proud of them. They've served multiple search warrants, in multiple states, travelled over 1500 miles in a week searching for evidence in reference to this crime. (
thanks all the Depts. involved for their assistance). That tells you how far out this went, we're just proud that we've got this guy in custody. Obviously, more charges will be pending depending on the autopsy, which will occur tomorrow morning.
Reporter - Do you guys know how she was killed?
Sheriff - No, I don't. The autopsy will reveal that tomorrow, hopefully.
Reporter - Has he been co-operative with this investigation?
Sheriff - Absolutely not. No.
Reporter - What was the tip or what was the information that led you guys to this place in Alabama? Are you guys revealing where she was found, exactly?
Sheriff - No. How we found that location we're not revealing right now. You've got to remember it's an ongoing investigation. So we can just tell you that we had information that led us to that place. We got a search warrant and we discovered the body.
Reporter - You may have said - Her body was found overnight or this morning?
Sheriff - It was found yesterday evening.
Reporter - Is the shed (I think she means barn) connected at all to Mr. Spanevelo?
Sheriff - It is in a round about way, but we can't get into that either, but he does have a connection to the property.
Reporter - Are you able to say if the body was found like - out in the open, or covered or anything like that?
Sheriff - No, a shallow grave.
Reporter - Regarding the previous charges can you at all get into what evidence he tampered with? and what evidence he might have destroyed?
Sheriff - Yeah, it's in reference to the victim's phone. He took her phone and basically got rid of it.
Reporter - Were you guys ever able to locate the phone?
Sheriff - Yes.
Reporter - Where?
Sheriff - We're not going to go into that one.
Reporter - And how did he lie to investigators? What did he lie about?
Sheriff - He lied a couple of times actually, in different scenarios.
LE- (inaudible) clear and convincing evidence that he gave us was materially false, that we were able to confirm.
Reporter - How did police encounter him yesterday? Was this during a traffic stop or...?
Sheriff - Yeah, actually our Detectives went to Tennessee and got with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and TBI and they did surveillance, found him and took him down on his traffic stop and arrested him.
Reporter - Obviously, Thursday when you guys had the other press conference, it was clear that he was a suspect or a person of interest - You guys were keeping tabs on him. Do you feel like he was on the move and a flight risk? Do you think he was trying to leave or hide?
Sheriff - Well, I can't speak for his thought process. I can tell you this, he was totally uncooperative, he never cooperated at all with us. And that goes a long way. I mean you think about it - it's your baby's mother and she's missing and you're not going to cooperative with authorities, that's kind of a tell.
Reporter - At this point, and you may have said it previously, but the child, where is she? I know she's safe, but is she back with family or is she still in custody?
Sheriff - Do yet but we're working on that as we speak. She is being checked on by the Tennessee DCFS and she's safe.
Reporter - I know you said he wasn't cooperative, is he speaking now that her remains have been discovered?
Sheriff - No, all he said was Lawyer. That's all he said.
Reporter - Does he have any known criminal history with this department, or any other department that you're aware of?
Sheriff - Not that I'm aware of, no.
Reporter - In terms of extradition, when can we expect him back here or is he fighting that?
DA's office - Obviously, he's in Tennessee right now. We will know very shortly as to whether he's going to waive extradition. If he does not, we're going to have to submit paperwork to the Governor's office and do a Governor's warrant.
Reporter - That can take up to.. that can be a process?
DA's office - It can be a process, usually we about 30 days to do it. We should know within the next couple of days as to whether or not he's going to fight extradition. So if he's not waiving extradition it'll take a little longer, but It's a pretty routine process going through the Governor's office.
Reporter - And at what point will he...I know you said the charges will obviously be upgraded. Will it be once he gets back here or could it be before then?
DA's office - At this point, as the Sheriff said, the autopsy is likely going to be done tomorrow, which will reveal a great deal more. As soon as we know more we will file the appropriate charges, we've been in consultation with the DA's office in Alabama. As soon as we know more we'll figure out what to charge him, and where to charge it.
Reporter - Do you guys believe he acted alone?
Sheriff - Yes.
Reporter - Was he alone at the time of his arrest yesterday?
Sheriff - Yes he was. And you know, as for extradition, when you say will he waive extradition, you know, since we've been dealing with him, he's been acting like a dirtbag (
yup he really said that). I don't see that changing so I'm sure they'll be an extradition process.
Reporter - Do you have any history of Cassie complaining about him? Or any domestic incident history involving the pair?
Sheriff - I was told by somebody that she had applied for a DVO before, but I don't have specifics.
Reporter - The conditions of Saylor - was she unharmed, completely safe, when you saw her last and does she remain so?
Sheriff - Well we never saw her, but the DCFS were the ones that responded and said she was unharmed, in a safe environment.
Reporter - I know it was asked on Thursday, but do you guys believe that the little girl may have witnessed anything? or possibly could provide information for the investigation?
Sheriff - I mean, she's 4 yrs old, so I don't know that she saw anything. We don't have that information yet. Her being 4 yrs. old I don't know how much info. we can actually get out of her.
Reporter - Did someone from your Sheriff's Dept. notify the family? and if so, how did that go, in person.
Sheriff - Yeah, in person. I did it this morning.
Reporter - How did that go?
Sheriff - Well, as you would expect it to. They're crushed. I mean it gives them some closure that they know where she's at now, but still it's their daughter. I mean daughter, sister it is terrible.
Reporter - Was it difficult for you to do that?
Sheriff - It always is, but I mean she was a citizen of mine so I'm obligated. It's not something you look forward to do as a Detective or a Sheriff. It's horrible.
Reporter - You had said on Thursday when asked about the investigation, that the whole major crimes unit, I believe you said 10 or 11 investigators, that was their sole purpose in finding Cassie. Talk again about that, just the fact that you guys weren't giving up and that you did find her.
Sheriff - Like I said, they went over 1500 miles in this investigation, multiple search warrants on cars, phones, houses, properties. I just cannot speak highly enough about them. Very little sleep, travelling all over the place and we've got them in Tennessee, we got them in Alabama, in Panama City. And they're all working as one team and it came to this conclusion. Which you know, we hated that Cassie has passed away, but it's good to get closure for the family and it's good to keep this dirtbag (
and again) in jail, where he belongs.
Reporter - Since her remains were found in Alabama are all these agencies still going to be with the investigation?
Sheriff - Well yeah. They're still helping us and they've been a great help. Like up in Tennessee where the truck is, they're taking care of forensics up there and they're helping us with that. And of course the FBI and FDLE are great at offering their services as well. So it's kind of a team effort here, but we have definitely got a great case, and I think once the autopsy's done and you see the charges filed, you'll understand. But I think we have a great case, and I think he's either going to spend the rest of his life in prison, or he's going to get the needle. Hopefully the needle.
Reporter - So you said we're not able to know exactly where the child is, is she with DCSF?
Sheriff - No, she's not with DCSF, she's with the family right now but they've checked the family and they checked location and she is safe.
Reporter - Do you expect he'll be charged with murder?
Sheriff - Well, I'm not going to speak for the State Attorney, they're the only ones that can charge somebody with murder, but after looking at what I've seen, evidence wise I think it's....yeah definitely.
Reporter - Tomorrow do you think you guys will have a cause of death?
Sheriff - Yeah, the autopsy's done tomorrow. It's going to be done up in Huntsville, Alabama, and once we get the results, that will be immediately forwarded to the State Attorney's office, and we'll do what we need to do.
Reporter - I'm sorry to be redundant, but just to absolutely confirm - this body has been confirmed as being Cassie's?
Sheriff - When I say that, confirmed. It's been confirmed by a tattoo. So it's not like dental records or fingerprints or anything, but it's a tattoo in a place that normally you don't have a tattoo and the type of tattoo has led us to believe that this is definitely her. That and the property coinciding with the suspect. It kind of all came together.
Reporter - The family - haven't identified her yet, or have they?
Sheriff - No. The family didn't identify her. The detectives on scene identified her via the tattoo and the information the family gave us. So that's how she got identified.
Reporter - It's a pretty unusual situation, of them doing the custody exchange in a public place. Do you have any recommendations for other family members to do the same? or just go to a different location?
Sheriff - Public places are always good, but time of day matters as well. If it's dark, if they're parked in a secluded part of a parking lot or something. When I say - do your exchange in public, I'm thinking 4 in the afternoon in a Walmart parking lot. Broad daylight, that kind of thing. That's what we mean when we say - in public. If you exchange kids, I would say broad daylight, a big parking lot, lots of people. That's public.
Reporter - You said on Thursday that you guys were looking over surveillance videos, some of it was good, some of it was bad. What has that been able to produce with the investigation? Are you guys still combing over that?
Sheriff - We are. And there's other things that keep coming in. We get tips all the time about "hey, he was in this store or he was here", so now we have to go there and review video footage. And so it's ongoing, just because he's in jail it's not over until he goes to prison. Then it's over. So we're still doing a lot of investigating.
