Kitsap sheriff connects motorcycle gang to 2017 murder of Seabeck family

Nearly three years after a family of four were murdered in their Seabeck home, Kitsap County detectives say they believe a motorcycle gang was involved.

On January 27, 2017, Christale Careaga, 37, and Jonathon Higgins and Hunter Schaap, both 16, were shot in their home which was then set on fire. Two days later, 43-year-old Johnny Careaga was found shot and burned in a truck on a rural tree farm.

In an update on the case issued last week, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said it believes “members and associates” of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were directly involved in the murders of four members of a Seebeck-area family.

Investigators named a “known associate” of the club, Danie Jay Kelly Jr., 41, as a person of interest in the murders. They did not elaborate. A driver’s license photo of Kelly shows a burly, bearded man whose neck is encircled in tatoos.

Sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson said Kelly remains a person of interest, but has been cooperative and is not wanted at this time.

The Bandidos are a so-called “outlaw” motorcycle club, founded in Texas, which claims 5,000 members in 90 chapters across the country. Bandidos have been known to kill members of rival clubs, or even their own. Kitsap investigators did not say how they connected the club to the Careaga homicides.

‘Help, I’m dying!’

The murders shocked the rural area near Lake Tahuya.

“Help, I’m dying!” one of the 16-year-old boys, Hunter Schaap, pleaded with the 911 operator. “My family is dead! Come now!”

Only three bodies — those of the woman and two boys — were found in the burning home on Tenino Drive. After a two-day search, the body of Johnny Careaga was found in a burned-out Ford F-150 pickup truck near the gate of a tree farm on Northwest Dewatto Holly Road in north Mason County.

Investigators have found witnesses who saw several vehicles near the farm gate between Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28, and now believe Careaga was probably murdered elsewhere and his body dumped in the truck before it was set afire.

The investigation has been joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sheriff’s spokesman Wilson said.

Unusual plea

The sheriff’s release updating the case included an unusual statement asking witnesses who may be keeping quiet to reconsider.

“Sheriff’s detectives and FBI special agents recognize that personal and social relationships change over time. There are those who may not have understood what they were getting involved with then they were asked to participate in this action.”

“To those persons,” elaborated Lt. Jon VanGesen of the sheriff’s Investigations Division, “investigators advise you are not alone. If you have information about what happened to this family, please contact the task force. Don’t pay for the actions of others.”

Highway signs in the Bremerton area repeat Hunter Schaaf’s dying words and list the FBI tip line: 1-800-225-5324.

Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a cash reward of $20,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case. The crimestoppers number is 1-800-222-TIPS.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:00 AM.