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Murder of Seath Tyler Jackson

Seath Tyler Jackson was like most teen boys. He wanted a girlfriend, and he was excited to start dating 15-year-old Amber Wright when he was also 15.

Unfortunately, the relationship did not last. In March 2011, after three months of dating, the couple broke up because Jackson thought Wright was messing around with 18-year-old Michael Bargo.

Bargo was a wannabe gangster who wore his hats with a tilt and carried a gun. He thought he was invincible and he developed an intense hatred for Jackson, as he incorrectly believed that Jackson had abused Wright.

As you would expect, the conflict made it’s way to social media, with Jackson exchanging insults with Wright and Bargo.

Eventually, the guys got off social media and started to go after each other in person. In April 2011, Bargo showed up to Jackson’s home. According to Jackson’s mother, Bargo told her son, “I have a bullet with your name on it”.

Soon after that incident, Bargo and Wright’s brother, 16-year-old Kyle Hooper, setup a fight against Jackson and one of Hooper’s friends.

When Jackson and his buddy showed up at the fight location, Bargo took a shot at them. The two teens heard the gunshot and decided to get the heck outta there.

Days after that incident, Bargo started plotting Jackson’s death with four friends. He sat down with Hooper and Wright, as well as 20-year-old Justin Soto and 18-year-old Charlie Ely.

At some point, 37-year old James Havens, an ex-boyfriend of Wright’s mother, learned of the plot. Instead of stopping it, he decided to get involved.

Night of the Murder

They used Wright as bait to lure Jackson to Ely’s trailer. She texted him on April 18th, 2011, and made him believe she wanted to get back together. She also told him not to tell anyone they were meeting.

Jackson was suspicious of a setup and texted Wright, “if you have me jumped I will never give you the time of day.”

Wright told him “I just want me and you back”.

Jackson’s female friend also thought it was a setup, but she accompanied him to the meeting anyway.

Jackson and his friend met Wright outside the trailer, but as soon as they got inside, Bargo and the others attacked.

Within moments, Jackson was hit in the head with a wooden stick by Hooper and shot with .22 caliber gun by Bargo. At the same time, his female friend was dragged into a bedroom.

Jackson escaped the trailer wounded, but they quickly caught him, beat him, and dragged him back inside the trailer.

They put him in the bathtub and continued to beat him and shoot him. Eventually, Bargo shot him in the face and ended his life.

They burned his lifeless body in a fire pit for the next few hours. They later scooped his remains from the fire pit into buckets and drove them to a quarry in Ocala and tossed them in.

Hooper confessed to his mother later that day. Once he spilled the beans, the cops rounded up the others and started gathering evidence.

They found the murder weapon, they recovered the burnt remains from the fire pit, and they got the buckets out of the quarry.

Legal Proceedings

Bargo was sentenced to death and remains on death row in Florida.

Havens pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. Ely, Soto, Wright, and Hooper were all given life sentences.

Ely’s conviction was vacated on appeal in 2020. The prosecution could have retried her, but they offered her time served if she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. She took the deal and was released in 2020 after serving 9 years.