The Seath Jackson murder is a case of teenage drama at it’s worst. A callous group of unsupervised teenagers, drugs, and angst. Every parent’s worst nightmare! Listen to find out how Amber Wright lured Seath Jackson to his death in a dilapidated trailer in Florida.
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TuneInSummerfield Florida March 2011.
Michael Bargo (18), Justin Soto (20), and Kyle Hooper (17) are living in a double-wide “flophouse” rented by Charlie Ely (18). Kyle’s sister, Amber Wright (15) is friends with the group as well. It’s not a secluded area but the sides and behind the house are mainly wooded areas.
**This whole situation is kind of like Shameless… low income, and kids running around without any supervision. Apparently a decent among of drug use (pot, cocaine, and some meth).
It’s hard to say what the “home life” really was for these kids. Charlie was having these guys live with her to help with rent while her husband was in jail. In December of 2010 Amber and Seath Jackson (15) started dating. They dated for around 3 months. There was a lot of fighting and jealously (normal 15 yr old stuff). Apparently, there was some drug use (pot and cocaine) that didn’t really help things.
At the same time, Seath and Michael did not get along. They just didn’t like each other. When Amber and Seath broke up, Seath thinks it is because of Michael so he is mad at Michael. Amber fuels the fire by telling Michael and Kyle that Seath Jackson was physically abusive to her.
It seemed more like Amber is pitting the guys against each other for attention. The 15 yr old instinct to live in a perpetual state of drama.
Amber And Michael Start Sleeping Together
Over the next few weeks, there are a few confrontations between Kyle and Seath and Michael and Seath but nothing physical at this point. Everyone has different versions of what this looked like and who was instigating who. Amber and Michael started sleeping together but according to Amber it was really just to piss Seath off and Michael had another girlfriend at the same time. Michael denies that they were sleeping together. There is also a ton of Facebook back and forth between Amber and Seath Jackson. He accused her of being a meth addict and a slut and she said “it takes a real man to accept being broken up with.”
At some point, Kyle’s girlfriend Alyssa breaks up with him over the phone. He throws a fit and goes over to her place to talk to her. Who does he find in her bed? Seath Jackson. His reaction was to steal Seath’s bike. This happened a few days before the murder.
In Michael’s testimony, he’s talking about when Kyle steals the bike and how he is trying to be his “moral compass.” He said you just don’t do that man, you don’t steal someone’s bike. The irony since he is on trial for murder during this testimony. At this point, he has already been tried and convicted of burglary of a dwelling and grand theft.
This is probably Michael’s least favorite moment of the cross-examination:
Prosecutor – have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Michael – I don’t know if I’ve been convicted. My understanding is that I was adjudicated.
Yes… adjudicated guilty.
Seath Jackson Is Murdered
Amber texts Seath Jackson and says that they have to talk, she just wants them to be together again. He responds that if she has him jumped he’ll never talk to her again and it will be goodbye. She convinces him to come to Charlie Ely’s house.
Charlie opens the door and shows him into the living room. Kyle Hooper and Justin Soto come out from a back room and start beating him in the head with a 2×4 and a wooden ax handle. They continue beating him and then Bargo shoots him twice. Somehow Seath gets away and runs out of the house. Justin tackles him and Michael shoots him again in the back of the head. Kyle and Soto drag him back into the house and take him to the bathtub beating him the whole time. Once in the bathtub, they break both of his knees and Michael shoots him several more times.
They place the body in a sleeping bag (hence the broken knees) and set up a bonfire to burn it. Next, they clean the house with bleach. Once his body is burned they place the remains into 5-gallon paint buckets. They hide the buckets in a dumpster until the next day when they get Kyle and Amber’s stepdad to help them tie the buckets to cinder blocks and throw them into a rock quarry.
A Detective’s Dream Criminal
When Seath Jackson doesn’t return home his mom files a missing person’s report. It starts to show on the local news. Kyle Hooper sees this and tells his mom, “that boy isn’t missing, I saw him be killed.” His mom takes him down to the police station right away with no idea that he helped kill Seath Jackson.
His first version is when Seath Jackson showed up Kyle hit him with a stick and told him to get the *&$# out of the house and all of a sudden Mike starts shooting Seath.
Amber told the detective, Seath came in and Kyle hit him and she and Charlie ran into Charlie’s bathroom and heard gunshots. They fell asleep, stayed until morning, and when they come out the next day the house smelled like bleach.
The detective takes Kyle away to talk to him some more. Kyle appeared to be an easy target. If he already started to tell his mom that Seath Jackson was murdered, he’s already started to tell the story. He was a detective’s dream criminal.
The detective comes back in and starts laying into Amber and calling her out on her lies. Then the police put Charlie, Amber, and Kyle into an interrogation room where they don’t know that they are being filmed. They start to say we’re gonna be in so much trouble and we didn’t even do anything.
The detective comes back in and says “you are each going to be charged with capital murder.”
I’m Not Gonna Be Out Until I’m Like 20!
Charlie Ely was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.. she is currently appealing using the lawyer who represented Casey Anothy – Jose Baez.
Justin Soto took a plea deal for life without parole to avoid the death penalty.
Kyle Hooper received life. He was 17 at the time and is therefore eligible for parole after 40 years.
Amber Wright received life. She was 15 and will be eligible for parole after 40 years. During the interrogation, when the detective leaves them all in the same room Amber says crying “I’m not gonna be out until I’m like 20.”
Michael Bargo was sentenced to death but is being resentenced. At the time it was a 10-2 vote and because of a Florida law that has changed, it must be a unanimous vote.
James Havens plead guilty to accessory after the fact. In his testimony in Michael Bargo’s trial, he stated that not only did he help dispose of the body, but the evening before the murder he had been invited over to “hang out.” The teens were talking about their plan to lure Seath Jackson and kill him. James left because he was “uncomfortable.”
Drugs, Alcohol And Hostility
Don’t let your teenagers hang out/live in a house full of drugs, alcohol, and hostility.
When you hear “firecrackers” and then see a bonfire (or someone putting a huge tarp into the trunk of a car) call the police!
Resources
- Teen Triangle and Facebook Feud Lead to Murder of 15-Year-Old Florida Boy
- New sentence required in brutal Summerfield murder – News
- Death recommended for man convicted of killing, burning remains of Summerfield teen
- Amber Wright guilty of murdering ex Seath Jackson in Florida
- https://www.ocala.com/article/LK/20160112/news/604146956/OS
- Piers Morgan Reveals the Killer Women That Had Even Him Scared | This Morning
- Amber Wright, Kyle Hooper Guilty In Seath Jackson’s Murder After Luring Ex-Boyfriend To His Death
- 6 Arrested In Brutal Murder Of Fla. Boy
- Florida teens allegedly lured friend to his death