With Cassie Carli’s cause of death unknown, charges against Marcus Spanevelo dropped

With Cassie Carli’s cause of death unknown, charges against Marcus Spanevelo dropped

Charges against the ex-boyfriend of a Florida woman whose body was found in a shallow grave in Alabama have been dropped.

Marcus Spanevelo was charged with tampering with evidence, giving false information concerning a missing persons investigation and destruction of evidence in Santa Rosa County, but he had not been charged in Florida or Alabama with the death of Cassie Carli.

The tampering charge, authorities said, dealt with Carli’s cell phone.

Florida television stations on Friday reported that prosecutors in Santa Rosa County dismissed their charges against Spanevelo.

Spanevelo was set to go to trial next week on two of the charges in connection with Carli’s disappearance, but WEAR TV said court records on Friday showed the case is closed and the charges have been dropped.

The latest developments were also reported by WALA television station. “In an effort to prosecute the strongest case, and after communicating with law enforcement agencies in both states, the Office of the State Attorney believes that in the interest of justice, the actions of Marcus Spanevelo are most appropriately prosecuted in Alabama,’’ the TV station attributed to a filing in the case. “Spanevelo will be transported by law enforcement to Alabama.”

The Florida dismissals come after authorities earlier this week said the final autopsy report for Carli yielded no definitive answers on how she died.

A Springville, Alabama, barn is where the body of Cassie Carli was found on April 2, 2022. The Florida woman has been missing for one week. (Joe Songer for AL.com)Joe Songer

St. Clair County Coroner Dennis Russell on Monday said the final report of the autopsy for Cassie Carli, conducted by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, ruled Carli’s cause of death undetermined, and the manner of death also undetermined.

Carli disappeared March 27 after meeting Spanevelo in a restaurant parking lot in Navarre, Florida to pick up their daughter following a visit with her father.

On Monday, March 28, Carli’s father reported her missing to Santa Rosa sheriff’s authorities.

The following day, her vehicle was found in the parking lot behind the Juana’s Pagodas restaurant where the pair had met for the child exchange. Her purse and its contents were inside the vehicle.

On Saturday, April 3, Carli’s body was found in a shallow grave in a barn on Highway 11 in Springville. The vacant property was one of two addresses in Springville that authorities had for Spanevelo.

Spanevelo had been living and working in Springville in the months prior to Carli’s disappearance.

Repeated efforts to reach Alabama law enforcement officials about the Carli case have been unsuccessful.