Caden Speight, Marion County, Florida teen arrested for his own ‘Hispanic men’ abduction hoax after previously stating he had wanted to run away from home.
A Florida teen has been arrested for faking his own abduction last month after texting his mother alleging he’d been kidnapped and shot by four Hispanic men.
Caden Speight, 17, following his arrest on Tuesday was charged with presenting false evidence, shooting into a conveyance, making a false report of a crime and possession of a firearm by a minor according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Speight leading up to the fake abduction texted his mother on September 25 stating that he’d been shot and possibly abducted by four Hispanic men in a van. The sheriff’s office said it was investigating a reported shooting at the same location from which he was reported missing and had located an abandoned vehicle belonging to the teen.
A ‘RUSE’ 🚨 Detectives said they found ChatGPT searches on the teen’s laptop about “collecting his blood without causing pain and Mexican cartels.” https://t.co/yDuHqSyux4
— 10 Tampa Bay (@10TampaBay) October 14, 2025
Marion County, Florida teen concocts elaborate abduction hoax
Despite the teen’s claims of an alleged abduction, investigators concluded that the evidence at the scene was ‘unsupportive’ of the 17 year old’s claims.
‘The initial details that Caden texted to his family were proven to be false. Completely made up,’ Sheriff Billy Woods said in a release last month. ‘We did find evidence of a single gunshot where Caden left his truck. However, his claims that he had been shot and abducted were quickly disproven.’
Investigators said they found the teen’s phone severely damaged, drag marks in the dirt, a bullet hole through the windshield, suspected blood and tire tracks leading away from the truck.
Prior to the alleged incident, Caden according to investigators had stopped at a couple of store, including a Walmart where he purchased a bicycle, tent and sleeping bag.
‘Further investigation and testing revealed that Speight had fired the shot through the windshield, splattered a mixture of blood in the truck, and destroyed his cell phone. Speight then fled the area on a bicycle with camping supplies he purchased at Walmart just before reporting this incident,’ the sheriff’s office said on Tuesday.
Caden Speight previously stated wanting to run away
On September 26, 2025, Williston Police Department (WPD) officers located Speight during a call for service at 727 W Noble Avenue in Williston. Speight was found with a handgun and the bicycle still in his possession.
During questioning, the teen had attempted continuing the ruse, with the 17 year old found to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg, which shattered his femur, requiring medical treatment.
The sheriff’s office said Caden had mentioned running away prior to the incident and had used ChatGPT to search how to collect blood without causing pain and to search about Mexican cartels.
Sheriff’s officials said the teen had also shot himself in the leg to ‘continue the ruse’ prior to him being found safe in Williston.
Caden upon his arrest was transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
