Weeks after Florida rodeo teen Caden Rex Speight went missing and was found a day later, authorities have arrested the 17-year-old in connection with what investigators said had long alleged: the dramatic disappearance was a fabricated abduction.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office reported this week that Speight was arrested on charges of presenting false evidence, shooting into a conveyance, making a false report of a crime, and possession of a firearm by a minor. The arrest follows a two-week investigation that revealed the dramatic search began with what authorities say was a fabricated crime scene.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies first responded to a report of gunfire along Southwest Highway 484 on September 25. At the scene, they found Speight’s truck abandoned, its windshield shattered by a bullet hole, and apparent blood inside the cab. Witnesses claimed he had been kidnapped by several men in a van, prompting an Amber Alert across Florida, deploying a helicopter overnight to locate the presumed-missing teenager…