Jewelry

Girlfriend recalls fatal shooting, stealing victim's jewelry - Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH — 

Before Assistant State Attorney Andrew Slater opened the small envelope in court Wednesday, Elissa Buttrey took a deep breath in. As Slater slipped the gold ring out, Buttrey held a tissue to her eyes and tried to stifle her sobs. It was the wedding band she bought her husband, Michael Sears, in 2010. She said he never took it off.

But when Sears’ body was found floating in a retention pond on Sept. 4, 2015, in suburban West Palm Beach, the ring, his necklace and a bracelet were all missing. Investigators said the jewelry was later found in a pair of shorts inside Mike Cadet’s home. Kaitlyn Tucciarone, Cadet’s girlfriend at the time, said in court Thursday he wore the wedding ring after he fatally shot Sears and disposed of his body.

The first-degree murder trial of Cadet continued Thursday before Circuit Judge Laura Johnson after opening statements and several witnesses took the stand Wednesday afternoon. Cadet, 20, is accused of fatally shooting Sears, 31, after an alleged argument over a $10 marijuana debt on Aug. 28, 2015. Investigators said Cadet, who was 17 at the time, and Tucciarone put the body in Sears’ truck, took his jewelry and dumped the body in a retention pond. Cadet’s attorneys argued the shooting was in self-defense.

Tucciarone, who is the daughter of a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy, was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact to murder and tampering with evidence. Investigators said she confessed to her mother about what happened and her mother called authorities. In court, she admitted to suggesting where to dump Sears’s body, taking his jewelry and cleaning down Sears’ truck once she and Cadet abandoned it.

In court Thursday, Assistant Public Defender Harris Printz questioned Tucciarone about a plea she took in 2016 after several months in jail. As part of the plea — which was sealed from the public as part of the agreement — she must testify against Cadet, not violate any conditions of the plea or pick up any new arrests, Printz said. Printz asked her how many times she’s violated the agreement and she said three times, including one arrest for theft. The prosecution did not address why the deal remained.

Tucciarone, 21, answered questions for several hours on the stand Thursday as her father, Jason, watched in his sheriff’s office uniform. Tucciarone said on the day of the shooting, Cadet told her to go inside the home they shared with his mother in the Newton Woods community off Belvedere Road, just east of Jog Road, when Sears arrived at the home. She said once she was inside, she heard several gunshots. She said Cadet came inside, placed a gun on the refrigerator and didn’t answer her when she asked what happened.

She said she walked outside with Cadet and went to the truck to see Sears’ body with a jacket over his head. As she described lifting the jacket and realizing Sears was dead, both she and Buttrey, who sat front row in the courtroom, burst into tears.

On the stand Wednesday, Buttrey said she was married to Sears for five years and had one daughter with him. On Aug. 28, 2015, the couple planned to go to the movies that night. She said she saw him that morning before he went to run errands. When she tried to call him later, she got an automatic text reply. It read: “I’m in a meeting.” she said.

“I was very concerned because that was not like him,” Buttrey said.

She continued to call but got no response. She said she called the sheriff’s office and went with a neighbor searching for Sears that night, but it wasn’t until the next morning when they found his truck parked at a community pool near where they lived off of Jog and Belvedere roads.

Buttrey said she noticed there were items missing from the vehicle as well as blood in the truck, so she called authorities. A missing person’s report was created and Sears’s body was found a week later, investigators said.

When sheriff’s office investigators probed Sears’s phone records, they found a text message to Cadet.

In his opening statements Wednesday, Printz said Sears came over to Cadet’s residence to buy marijuana. Cadet had previously worked for Sears as part of his pressure-washing business, Printz said. He said Sears became upset when Cadet asked him for the $10 Sears owed him and that’s when Cadet shot him in self defense.

“Was he going to risk his life at the hands of Michael Sears? This is what the case boils down to,” Printz told the jury.