Reward increased to $20,000 in Careaga murder case

Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a $4,000 reward; in addition, a donor has added $16,000

SEABECK — A total of $20,000 is now being offered for information leading to the arrest and charge of the suspect or suspects responsible for the murder of four members of the Careaga family.

Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a $4,000 reward; in addition, an anonymous donor has added a $16,000 cash reward.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office detectives are asking for the public’s help in solving the quadruple homicide. Just before 11:30 p.m. Jan. 27, deputies received a 911 call for help from a residence in Seabeck, near Lake Tahuyeh. When first responders arrived, they found the residence on fire with three bodies inside.

Found dead: Hunter Schaap, 16; Johnathon Higgins, 16; and Higgins’ mom, 37-year-old Christale Careaga. All three had been shot to death.

The following day, in another location, 43-year-old John Careaga — Christale’s husband and Hunter’s stepfather — was found murdered in his burned-out Ford F150 pickup truck on a tree farm on NE Dewatto-Holly Road, just south of Forest Springs Road in Mason County.

Christale and John Careaga owned Juanito’s Taco Shop and Christale’s Java Hut in Bremerton.

Tips can be reported anonymously by calling 800-222-TIPS, using the P3 Tips app, or going to WWW.P3TIPS.con. The case number is Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Case No. 2017-000955.

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