The body of murdered Florida mother Cassie Carli was found in a shallow grave in Alabama by authorities on April 2nd, 2022. Her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child Marcus Spanevelo, 34 — who was arrested in connection to Carli’s disappearance — had been ordered to pay her $5,920 in attorney fees by a judge nine days before she vanished on March 27. The fees were related to the couple’s custody battle over their daughter, Saylor, age 4.

Carli’s murder, and many others, could have been prevented. Greyson’s Law, named after 4 year old Greyson Kessler who was murdered by his father in May of 2021, would have updated Florida Family Court processes to better protect children and parents at risk of violence by an estranged spouse or partner. The bill, endorsed by Florida Bar’s Family Court section, would also update the definition of Domestic Violence to include Coercive Control. Unfortunately the bill failed to pass in the 2022 Legislative Session, leaving Floridians like Cassie without recourse when violence is a concern during court ordered custody proceedings. Passing Greyson’s Law would have allowed the Florida judges in Cassie Carli’s case, as well as in thousands of other protective parents’ court cases, to have granted a permanent injunction and protected her and her child from their abuser.

Some examples from the court dockets reviewed in Cassie Carli’s case show the common pattern of coercive control that is employed by many abusers such as:

• Cassie Carli was involved in a “high conflict custody battle” with her ex-boyfriend Marcus Spanevelo. High conflict custody battles are largely defined by attorneys as cases where parents make co-parenting impossible, where there are filings in the court alleging abuse, and where the parents cannot come to an amicable agreement on the custody/time sharing for their children.

• In October of 2018, Cassie Carli was granted a temporary protective order against Marcus Spanevelo by a Florida judge.It is unknown what the contents were, but it was determined sufficient to grant her a temporary injunction until a hearing date of November 9, 2018. Many domestic violence injunctions are denied because of insufficient cause of imminent danger or fear for one’s life. If Cassie was able to get one granted temporarily, there was sufficient cause for it. Saylor was three months old.

• In November of 2018, Cassie Carli’s temporary injunction for a protective order was dismissed and Cassie was denied a permanent protective order against Marcus Spanevelo by a Florida judge.

• Court records reveal several other domestic-related cases between the two that were filed in at least two Northwest Florida counties.

• Per the court’s order, Cassie Carli was required to meet Saylor’s father in a specified public place for their timeshare exchanges, and had told family members she felt "extremely" unsafe around Marcus Spanevelo.

• In at least one instance Marcus Spanevelo never showed up with Saylor and did not return her until two weeks later, after the police had allegedly gotten involved.

• In December 2021, there was a child support hearing because Marcus Spanevelo was delinquent in his child support payments, to the point where his drivers license and passport were suspended.

• March 18, 2022, Marcus Spanevelo was court ordered to pay Cassie Carli’s attorney’s fees.

• Less than 10 days later, during a scheduled custody exchange on March 27th, Cassie Carli went missing. Her dead body was found in a shallow grave 6 days later.

The way Cassie Carli's Family Court case was handled is a stain on Florida. Arrests, mental health, coercive behaviors, and other inputs have to be considered as evidence of danger to the child or mother. Our Courts failed parents like Cassie and children like Greyson, and other child victims of homicide this year such as Baleria and Matias Tovar in Miami Lakes, by an abusive parent in each case.

Florida can and should do better to protect children and victims of domestic violence. In the 2022 session Greyson’s Law passed unanimously through the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee, though it died due to not being scheduled in any further committees.

We ask that legislators take this case and other cases like Greyson’s and Cassie's heavily into consideration when deciding which Bills are to be heard on the committee floor agendas next session. The consideration and passing of Greyson's Law and possibly Cassie's law will also align with our Federal Government's Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to protect children and victims of domestic violence.

We hope our lawmakers will come together across the aisle in the 2023 session to prioritize the passage of such life saving legislation.

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