Inside the Summerfield Teenage Murder That Shocked Florida | Seath Jackson

A 15-year-old boy lured by his ex-girlfriend, a group of teens waiting in the shadows, and a murder so brutal that even seasoned investigators called it one of the most cold and calculated crimes they had ever seen.

This week we’re covering the murder of Seath Jackson—a Florida teenager whose toxic breakup spiraled into jealousy, manipulation, and a plan that ended with fire, bullets, and betrayal.

How did a Facebook feud turn into a deadly conspiracy? And why were so many young people willing to carry it out?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now part of the dark Cast Network. Welcome to indie
podcasts with a dark Side. On April eighteenth, twenty twenty one,
Sonya Jackson called a Marion County Sheriff's office to report
her son, Seth Jackson missing. Seth hadn't come home the
night before, and by morning his family knew something was wrong.

(00:23):
Sonya told dispatchers that the last time anyone saw him,
he was going to meet his ex girlfriend, Amber Wright.
She also said that it was completely out of character
for Seth to stay away overnight without telling anyone. Welcome Lambs.
Welcome to Love and Murder, Heartbreak to Homicide, your weekly

(00:43):
true crime podcast where I tell you stories of relationships
that turn deadly, always with the victim in mind, and
sometimes you might hear some ranting. I'm Kai and today
I'm going to tell you about the murder of Seth Jackson.
But before we get started, don't forget. This podcast is
listener funded, and that means you. By joining us on Patreon,

(01:05):
you help us to continue to be the voice of
the victims, and you get access to exclusive content you
can't hear anywhere else. Patreon dot com afford slash a
Love and Murder The last bonus episode that I just
released is part of our serial Killer Corner series. It
was the case of David Brian Pierce. Imagine this. Young

(01:27):
women lured to a man's house in Los Angeles promised parties, drugs,
or modeling opportunities, only to end up in life or
death situations. One witness recalled the words of David Brian
Pierce to police quote dead girls don't talk. If you
want to hear the full case and all the disturbing details,

(01:49):
join us on Patreon starting at just three dollars a
month at patreon dot com, afford Slash Love and Murder.
But this case is actually part of our very exclusive
tier that's ten dollars a month and above. At that
tier you get two bonus episodes a month and the
monthly Deadly Duo series and so much more. Patreon dot

(02:10):
com forward Slash A Love and Murder. And also with
this episode, I'm going to do a little behind the
scenes because I gotta talk to my lambs about my
life right now. So if you want some of that,
that's also some of the extras that you get into Patreon.
So if you're already into Patreon, just listen to the
nn We're gonna have a conversation now without further ado,
Grab your butts, grab your glass of apple juice, and

(02:32):
let's get into today's case of love and murder. Now,
before we actually get into the case, to understand this
entire messy story, I'm gonna tell you the names of
everyone who was involved in some form or fashion. So
the first person is Seth Tyler Jackson, who was just
fifteen years old. He was born in January nineteen ninety six.

(02:53):
He lived in Bellevue, Florida, and dreamed of one day
becoming a UFC fighter. Friends and family describe him as
a kind hearted animal lover who liked four wheeling and
hanging out with his friends, But like most teenagers, he
got caught up in a messy relationship that turned toxic.
Amber Elizabeth Wright was also fifteen and was Seth's ex girlfriend.

(03:17):
They started dating in December twenty ten and broke up
about three months later in March twenty eleven, after Seth
Amber started dating eighteen year old Michael Shane Bargo Junior,
He carried a gun, already had a record for theft,
and had developed an intense hatred for Seth. Charlie k

(03:37):
Ealy was eighteen at the time and a friend of Ambers.
She lived in a mobile home in Summerfield. Kyle Hooper
was Amber's sixteen year old brother and he lived at
Charlie's place with Michael and another friend. Kyle had his
own issues with Seth, especially after walking in on him
with a girl Kyle liked. Justin Soto, who everyone called Roach,

(04:01):
was twenty years old and was also living at Charlie's house.
And finally there was James Young Havens, the third Amber,
and Kyle's thirty seven year old stepfather. Okay, so those
are the people in this case. I mentioned it first
because there's a lot of people involved, So now let's
get back into the case. During the nine one one call,

(04:24):
Sonia mentioned threatening messages Seth had exchanged with Michael Bargo.
Police first treated Seth's disappearance as a possible runaway case,
which is standard for teenagers, but with the information Sonia gave,
combined with the tension between Seth and Michael, this push
detectives to dig a little deeper. They started an interviewing

(04:46):
family and friends, collecting Seth's belongings and trace in his
last known movements. The tension between Seth, Amber and Michael
had been simmering for weeks before it finally exploded. After
Seth and Amber broke up in March twenty eleven, the
hostility between them spilled out onto Facebook. Seth accused her
of cheating and called her a quote slut. Amber shot

(05:09):
back with quote, you continuously write about me, to which
Seth said quote, I said I was done with you
and you should be done with me. Things only got
uglier from there, with Seth even accusing Amber of using meth.
Michael fed off this drama and took it further. He
believed that Seth had abused Amber, and his hatred grew

(05:30):
even more. Side note Seth had never abused Amber. Seth's
mother once overheard Michael telling her son, quote, I have
a bullet with your name on it. In early April,
Michael had even fired shots at Seth and a friend
outside Charlie's house, supposedly to scare them off. During the
search for Seth, investigators checked hospitals, jails, and even issued

(05:55):
a BOLO alert with Seth's description, search teams canvas places
he was known to frequent. Then everything changed. On April nineteen,
Kyle's mother called police after her son told her something
about Seth. That single call turned the investigation from a
missing person case into a homicide. Kyle had told his

(06:20):
mother about a murder at Charlie's house. Accompanied by his mother,
Kyle told Marion County Sheriff's Office detectives that quote, he
his sister and friends had planned a crime and lured
Seth to his death. He also said they planned this
at Charlie's house. On the Sunday of the murder. He
admitted to hidden Seth with a stick and telling him

(06:41):
to quote get the bleep out of the house. Then
he said he witnessed Michael shoot Seth eight times. After
the murder, Kyle helped Amber and Charlie clean up the
house with bleach and watched them burn Seth's body in
the backyard fire pit until the early hours of the morning.
So with that information, investigators focused their search on Charlie's

(07:06):
trailer and also an abandoned Lime Rock quarry, where Kyle
had said Seth's remains might be. In the meantime, they
also arrested Kyle, Amber and Charlie and put them in
a hole in cell. They couldn't find Michael at the time,
During the search of Charlie's trailer, they found partial remains

(07:27):
in a burn pit. Forensic anthropologists from the University of
Florida uncovered bone fragments and burnt human tissue in the pit.
They also found a twenty two caliber murder weapon and
ammunition that had been hidden in the trailer. Ballistic experts
confirmed that bullets found at the scene matched those that

(07:48):
would have been fired from the recovered weapon. Charlie's DNA
was found in a blood mixture in the bathroom, and
Kyle's DNA in the living room was mixed with Set's
blood and Michael's DNA on the kitchen ceiling, further implicated
the group. Then, on April twentieth, in the Lime rock
pit in Ocalla, the dive team found three five gallon

(08:13):
paint buckets which contained Seth's remains. Two of these containers
were found with cinderblocks tied to them at the bottom
of the quarry cinderblocks. Michael, who had fled with thirty
seven year old James young Haven the third to Stark, Florida,
was arrested the next day. Secondly, he had proudly blabbed

(08:37):
about the murder in graphic detail to four separate family members,
and a neighbor, even bragging about breaking Seth's knees. Now,
those who have been with me since day one, what
do we always say about if you're going to commit
a crime, if you've committed a crime, or if you're
in the process of committing a crime, tell everybody you

(08:59):
know and everybody you don't. Make sure you have as
much evidence as possible on your person or around your person.
That's what we're saying this show, and that's what Michael
was doing. Amberwright, Michael Bargo, Kyle Hooper, Justin Soto, and
Charlie Ely were arrested and charged with first degree murder.

(09:21):
James was charged as an accessory. He wasn't directly involved
in the killing, but he was arrested because he'd help
Michael get out of town and get rid of Seth's remains.
Charlie's trials started in September twenty eleven, and this is
where we're going to hear the entire story. She said
that by mid April, the hostility between Michael and Seth

(09:43):
had reached a break in point. On April seventeen, twenty eleven,
Michael pulled in Kyle, Justin Charlie and Amber to help
him with his plan. Amber was the one who would
reach out to Seth and get him to show up
that night. Amber's text to Seth suddenly took on a
song aftertone. Instead of the insults and fighting they'd grown

(10:03):
used to, she told him she wanted to work things
out and maybe get back together. One of her messages
read quote, I swear you're not Seth. I could never
do that to you. I just want me and you back.
This was in response to seth texan quote, Amber, if
you have me jumped, I will never give you the
time of day. So if I get jumped, say goodbye,

(10:25):
all right, miss Pretty. But Amber's reassurances eventually wore him down.
By the time he decided to go, the others were
already waiting at Charlie's home. On the night of April seventeenth,
twenty eleven, at approximately nine thirty pm, Seth walked into
Charlie's house. The mobile home was chosen because Charlie had

(10:45):
inherited it from her grandparents. It was in a rural
area with barely any nearby neighbors, and offered the privacy
they needed. Before he'd gotten there, the group had removed
the furniture and laid down plaid stick seethin. Then they
prepared a fire pit outside. If this isn't premeditated murder,

(11:06):
I don't know what is. As soon as Seth stepped inside,
Michael started the attack, with Justin and Kyle right behind him.
Seth was struck in the head and shot multiple times,
but he fought back, trying desperately to escape. Wounded and terrified,
he made it outside, but the group caught him and

(11:28):
dragged him back in. Inside, he was shot again and
dumped in the bathtub, where his attackers thought he might
finally die, but Seth was still alive, so Michael shot
him again to make sure he was dead. They then
broke his knees to force his body into a sleeping bag,
carried him out back, and burned him in a fire pit.

(11:51):
Once his body was reduced to ashes, they scooped the
remains into paint buckets and dumped them in the nearby quarry.
During his testimony, Charlie said that she only helped lure
Seth to the house because Michael had threatened her life,
claiming it was a gun pointed at her face. However,
what she didn't know was that while her Kyle and

(12:13):
Amber were in the hold in cell, police were recording
everything they talked about. They played this recording in court.
During this conversation, Kyle said that Seth deserved to die.
He also asked Amber why when she said, quote, you
know how many people are going to f and hate
us for this as the f and fifteen year old

(12:34):
kid murdered because of us. Prosecutors also played a video
recording of Charlie's interrogation by Detective Donald Bowie. In it,
she admitted to know and Seth wasn't going to leave
her house alive. On September twenty third, twenty eleven, the
jury found Charlie guilty of first degree murder and she
was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. She

(12:57):
received the life sentence primarily because as the murder happened
at her house, prosecutors argued that she was an active participant,
claiming she helped clean up afterwards, although evidence of her
direct involvement to the kilan remained minimal. At nineteen, Charlie
was the youngest female ever sentenced to life without parole

(13:19):
in Florida. Next was Justin Soto, who on May thirtieth,
twenty twelve, The then twenty one year old pleaded guilty
to first degree murder to avoid a potential death penalty.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Amber and Kyle's joint trial started in June and ended

(13:40):
in August. They were both tried as adults for first
degree murder. Even though their cases were heard at the
same time, each had their own six person jury. Prosecutors
argued that Amber was just as responsible as the ones
who physically attacked Seth because without her manipulation, he would
never have walked into that house. Jurors heard their taped

(14:03):
confessions along with their recording from the hold in cell.
On August twenty second, twenty twelve, Judge David Edy handed
down life sentences without parole to both Amber and Kyle,
calling it quote the single most cold, calculated, premeditated case
of murder he had ever seen in court. Sonia turned

(14:27):
to Amber and said, quote, Amber, we hope that guilt
each you inside and out, knowing that you cause this.
Seth would have never been at that house without your manipulation.
Michael Bargo was the last to stand trial, which started
on August thirteenth, twenty thirteen and ended in December. Prosecutor

(14:47):
Amy Byrne identified that Michael was the ringleader and mastermind
of the entire murder. She said that he wanted Seth
dead and described the brutality in detail, from the twenty
foot flat of the fire pit to Michael using pliers
to pull Seth's teeth from his skull. The state pushed

(15:07):
hard for the death penalty. Now, remember when I said
that he blabbed about the murder. Well, he told an
out of town girlfriend, her brother, her father, her father's girlfriend,
and even her father's neighbor. Then two inmates reported that
Michael had also confessed to them while he was in jail.

(15:29):
This dude is telling everybody what he did. He is
so proud of what he did, no remorse whatsoever. One
of the inmates, William Faulkler, testified that Michael had described
the crime in detail while they shared a hold in cell.

(15:52):
According to William, Michael admitted to hidden Seth with a
two by four, taunting him, then shooting him three times
before burning the body behind the house. So basically sounds
consistent to what we've been hearing. Another witness testified that
Michael had come to her house on April eighteen, twenty eleven,

(16:12):
and admitted to the murder. Initially, she thought he was joking,
but when Michael described beating Seth with a board, shooting
him eight times, and disposing of his body in a
sleeping bag before burning and mutilating it, she realized he
was telling the truth. The medical examiner, doctor Kyle Shaw,
determined the cause of death was a combination of gunshot

(16:35):
wounds and blunt force trauma, basically aligning with the confessions
and physical evidence collected by investigators. Michael took the stand
in his own defense, but prosecutor Burnt Quote eviscerated him
on cross examination. Oh he thought he was smart, and
she showed him that he wasn't smarter than a fifth grader.

(16:57):
On August twenty seven, twenty thirteen, the jury came back
with a ten to two vote recommending death. By December
twenty thirteen, Michael was officially sentenced to death, making him
the youngest person on Florida's death row at just twenty
one years old. Now, the legal battles for Seth's killers

(17:18):
didn't end with their original convictions. Amber's case was overturned
because investigators hadn't properly read her her miranda rights, what
the loopholes and intricacies of the law. She had confessed twice,
but the court ruled her second confession couldn't be used

(17:38):
since it came right after an improperly obtained first one.
What the so she was released? That's crazy? But she
was retried in early twenty sixteen, and on January fifteen,
the jury took just two hours to convict her again
of first degree murder. She showed no emotion when the

(17:59):
verdict was read. On February twenty third, twenty sixteen, she
was sentenced back to life in prison, but this time
with the possibility of parole after twenty five years. As
of now, she's still incarcerated at Homestead Correctional Institution and
should be eligible for paroles starting in twenty forty one.

(18:20):
I don't understand that you had her confession. She said
she did it, But then y'all were like, well, you
know you didn't read her miranda is that's complete bull crap.
Kyle's sentence was also thrown out on June second, twenty fourteen,
after the US Supreme Court ruled mandatory life without parole
for juveniles was unconstitutional. He was later re sentenced to

(18:44):
life with parole possible after twenty five years, and should
be eligible for paroles starting in twenty thirty nine. He's
serving his time at Sumter Correctional Institute. Then, in June
twenty twenty, Charlie's fate changed when a federal judge ruled
her trial attorney had been ineffective. Her defense said that

(19:06):
investigators questioned her for hours without legal representation, present Her
statements during the interrogation became critical evidence, but did she
fully understand her rights? Then, multiple witnesses offered conflicting accounts
when it came to Charlie's role in the murder. Some
co defendants claim she actively participated, but others suggested that

(19:29):
she was uninvolved in planning or execute in the murder.
Throughout her case, Charlie maintained that she neither participated in
nor witnessed the murder. She said that she was threatened
by the perpetrator, who warned her that she would be
killed if she didn't keep her mouth shut. The federal
court recognized that quote uncontroverted evidence demonstrated that she was

(19:51):
not the one who lured Seth to the House. The
court ended up acknowledging that the state failed to prove
Charlie took any act that is insisted in the murder.
So in June twenty twenty, she was granted a new
trial after nine years behind bars, but instead of going
through it, she accepted a plea deal guilty to second

(20:12):
degree murder with a ten year sentence. Before accepting this plea,
she informed circuit Judge Anthony Tatty that she had been
treated for bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety. So none of
that leads you to becoming a murderer or assistant in murder,
or helping clean up after a murder, or becoming an
accessory to murder, or witnessing a murder without telling somebody,

(20:37):
or knowing about a murder without reporting it. So I
don't know why she told him that, since she had
already served more than nine years, plus earned additional credit
for good behavior, she qualified for immediate release. To me,
that doesn't seem like she was remorseful about either helping
in it, witnessing it, witnessing it and not telling anybody

(20:57):
about it, or knowing it and still not telling anybody
about it. So it's just like even if you didn't
do it, even if you didn't witness it, there's still
other factors to go into. And it still doesn't sound
like she's remorseful because she's like, wait, before I accept
this plea deal, I just want you to know that
I'm bipolar, depressive and have anxiety like so anyway. She

(21:22):
was released on June seventeenth, twenty twenty, at twenty seven
years old. Her attorney, jose Beez called it a bittersweet day,
claiming the fact showed that she was innocent. I hear you,
but she's not innocent in the fact that she didn't
run to the police as soon as this happened and
tell them. But then I guess you could argue that

(21:44):
Michael put a gun to her face and said if
you said anything, so she could have been fearful. After
the hearing, Charlie's mother declined comment, but Seth's mother said
that she was quote stunned and saddened by the development,
requiring time to process the news before making additional statements.
Charlie said that despite her happiness about going home, there

(22:06):
was quote really nothing to celebrate. She acknowledged a tragedy
for the Jackson family through her attorney quote, this case
is a perfect example of be careful who you hang
around with. Charlie was mixed up with the wrong group
of people. Her crime was being present at the scene.
She is just a victim of being present. After her release,

(22:28):
Charlie has kept a low profile and later married Joseph
David Burham. James and Amber were found incompetent to stand
trial incompetent to stand trial in twenty twelve, but was
later ruled competent in twenty seventeen. What the okay, Well,
they didn't go much into James, so I don't know, okay.
I was gonna say something like, what could he possibly

(22:51):
be incompetent for? But they never went really into him,
so I don't know much about him. On March twentieth,
twenty eighteen, he pled guilty to accessory atter to the
fact for helping dispose of Seth's remains. It's unclear if
he ever served time. As for Michael Bargo, his death
sentence went through years of appeals. The US Supreme Court

(23:13):
required a new penalty phase because his first jury vote
wasn't unanimous. In April twenty nineteen, his second jury unanimously
recommended death gave him the middle finger, and then the
judge officially reimposed the sentence in September, they didn't give
him the middle finger. In twenty twenty one, the Supreme

(23:35):
Court upheld it. He remains on death row at Union
Correctional Institution. The murder of Seth Jackson is a case
that shows the deadly consequences of teenage anger spiraling out
of control. But take note that this is unchecked, unsupervised
teenage anger. In my opinion, teenagers still needs supervision. I

(23:58):
know there are some people out there who think you
are your teenagers, so you know what's right, and you
know right from wrong, and you need to start living
as an adult. They're still children. They still need supervision,
not just going out to adults home at all times
of the day and night and living alone and going
out and hanging with all kind of adults and stuff
like that. Teenagers have raging hormones and rage and emotions.

(24:23):
Back in the day, they were getting married at fifteen sixteen.
That was back in the day when they were adults
and had jobs and had children. And that's different from today.
With all these raging hormones and raging emotions. These are
the times that it's critical that they need to learn
how to control themselves as everyone else needs to learn.

(24:45):
My question is how do we teach this lesson? That's
my question to you. So let me know your ideas
in the comments below. Also tell me what you thought
about this case. Below you can also put You can
also post your thoughts in the Patreon community. You can
also post your thoughts in the Patreon community. You could
sign up for free to post your comments. And also

(25:07):
I've posted video of the interrogations for this case in
the Patreon, so go ahead and join. And the video
of the interrogations, Oh my god, you don't want to
miss it. It's like an hour and some and it's
the interrogation from everybody involved in this case. It's really
intense and the narrator also talks about the psychology behind
everything that's going on. I really like this video. You

(25:30):
get that as part as the extras at the three
dollars tear and above, So if you just sign up
for three dollars, you can see this interrogation video. It's
the interrogation of Charlie and Michael of all of them
patreon dot com Ford Slash Love and Murder and Remember
this show is completely listener funded. That means your support

(25:50):
keeps these stories alive. Head over to patreon dot com
Forward Slash Love and Murder and join the Lambfam. Starting
at just three dollars a month. You'll unlock at freep
episode's early release, episode, bonus cases, case extras, and more
like our serial killer corner where we just covered the
case of David Brian Pearce Patreon dot com Ford Slash

(26:12):
Love and Murder. Now, I did tell you in the
beginning that I was going to talk about some behind
the scenes stuff with me and this is just for
the LAMB Famine Patreon. So I know y'all saw Friday's
episode went out late on Friday, and some of my
episodes are going out late. Oh my god, my daughter
is now in college. How does it feel like I'm
in college? I have not had sleep. I am so tired.

(26:37):
I am too old for this. I already did college.
I already did college. Oh my god. She doesn't drive yet,
so I'm the one taking her to and from her
classes and her class schedule this semester. This is the
first semester, and it's crazy. So since when don't they
let you pick your class schedule anymore, they just give
it to you. Is that the new college thing? Look,

(26:59):
I went to college long time ago, so I don't
know how it is now, But is that the new thing?
Like the people who are younger than me? Is that
what happened to you? Because her schedule is all over
the place and I have to drive her to and
from the campus. And also she was homeschooled for high school.
So I'm so not used to this waking up at

(27:20):
six o'clock in the morning anywhere, cause I usually work
well into the night. So it's like now me going
from a night schedule to a day's schedule. Ah, So
what happened was basically, my body just gave up on me.
And when I went to post a Friday episode, I

(27:40):
literally literally fell asleep in the middle of just doing
a task. I just passed out. So that's why I
woke up, and I was like, where am I? Who
is this? What's going on? And then I posted the
Friday episode, so I was like, I'm so late, Oh
my god. But yeah, I h college life is not

(28:01):
for the fainthearted. I did it already. I loved it
when I did it, but I didn't know as a
parent you go through college again when your children go
through college. Did not know. Ah, So anyway, that's the rat.
I just need to get that off my chest. I
hay to talk to somebody, and y'all are my friends,
so I just wanted to share that. Let me know
if you have any children that are going through college

(28:22):
or have gone through college, let me know if they
was like this for you. Please let me know that
I'm not the only one, or maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Maybe if you have any tips and tricks or just suggestions,
just something, let me know. Please. I'm looking forward to
hearing from you. And that's all I have for you today.

(28:44):
Thank you for listening all the way to the end.
Thank you for your support. And as I end each
full episode, I want to remind you that it's say
it with me now, all love and no murder, y'all,
and I'll see you in the next episode. Fie