Leila Cavett and her son, Kamdyn.Photo: Miramar Police Department/Facebook
An Alabama man and self-described witch has been charged with second-degree murder in the presumed death of a missing mom,Leila Cavett, who was 21 when she was last seen in July.
Those charges were dropped in April, when the state added a charge against Ryan of child neglect without great bodily harm, according toNBC Miami.
Cavett, who was visiting South Florida from Atlanta, was last seen on the day before her toddler turned up. Her body has not been found.
Shanon Demar Ryan.Broward Sheriff’s Office
After the search for Cavett began, Ryan, who gave his address as Muscle Shoals, Ala., posted a50-minute videoon his Facebook page in which he acknowledged that he was a subject of inquiry, but declared his innocence. On that page Ryan said he practices “Witchcraft, Knowledge of Self, Kemetic Kundalini & Chakra meditation, Kemetic Science, Health, wellness, fitness, [and] mentorship.”
He said in the video that he met Cavett in 2019, when Cavett knocked on his door one night after her car broke down seeking a place for her and her son to stay. He said he taught her witchcraft over the next two months.
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He says they returned hours later to the same RaceTrac gas station in Hollywood, where Ryan claims he watched Cavett and her child leave in a car with two men that had pulled up moments before, after someone in that vehicle had asked Cavett if she “partied.”
“Leila got her and her son and got in the car with those guys,” he says in the video.
In an arrest report, police said Ryan was seen on video buying trash bags and carpet cleaner, and they alleged that he had searched Google using the phrase, “does bleach and alcohol make chloroform.”
Surveillance video from July 27 shows Ryan dragging black garbage bags from the truck to a dumpster and throwing away what appeared to be bloody towels, the arrest report states.
Cell phone records also placed Ryan in the apartment complex where Cavett’s son was found.
It took two days for police to identify the toddler. Cavett’s white Chevy pickup truck then turned up July 28 in a Walmart parking lot close to where the municipalities of Miramar and Hollywood share a border.
Ryan is being held in the Broward County jail without bond, according to online jail records, which did not list an attorney who might speak on his behalf.
source: people.com
