On the cold evening of January 27, 2017, the life of 37-year-old Caucasian female Christale Careaga was violently cut short in her Bremerton, Washington, home. What began as a response to a house fire soon unraveled into a complex and brutal quadruple homicide investigation that would grip the community for years. When firefighters extinguished the blaze at the Careaga residence, they discovered the bodies of Christale, her 16-year-old son, Johnathon Higgins, and her 16-year-old stepson, Hunter
Schaap. All three had been shot. The horror of the scene was amplified by the fact that Hunter Schaap had managed to make a desperate 911 call before he died, pleading for help and stating his family was dead.
Initially, Christale's husband, 43-year-old John "Johnny" Careaga, was missing. The search for him ended two days later when his scorched pickup truck was found on a remote road. Inside were his remains; he too had been shot. The investigation into the slayings of the Careaga family would be a long and arduous one, with investigators believing early on that the killings were not random and that John Careaga was the primary target. The family, who owned a local restaurant called Juanito's Taqueria, appeared to be living a normal life, but the investigation soon uncovered a darker side involving drugs and money. Detectives learned that John Careaga was involved in selling cocaine, a venture that allegedly led to a fatal dispute.
For years, the case saw few public breaks, though investigators identified a person of interest, Danie Kelly Jr., who was associated with the Bandidos motorcycle club. It wasn't until June 2022 that a major breakthrough occurred with the arrests of three men: Danie Kelly Jr., Robert Watson III, and his brother, Johnny Watson. The motive, as outlined by prosecutors, stemmed from a falling out over drug money between John Careaga and Robert Watson, who was identified as a leader in the local Bandidos chapter.
The subsequent trial revealed a chilling narrative of a planned execution. Prosecutors argued that the three men conspired to murder John Careaga over a drug debt and then proceeded to kill the rest of the family to eliminate witnesses. In April 2024, after a lengthy trial, a jury found all three men guilty of multiple counts, including aggravated first-degree murder. The following month, Danie Kelly Jr., Robert Watson III, and Johnny Watson were each sentenced to four life sentences without the possibility of parole, bringing a measure of closure to a case that had haunted the Kitsap Peninsula for over seven years.
