#‘Witch’ charged with missing Georgia mom Leila Cavett’s kidnapping

Enlarge Image

Leila Cavett (left) and Shannon Demar Ryan
Facebook; Broward County Jail

A self-professed witch has been charged with kidnapping in the case of missing Georgia mom Leila Cavett, nearly a month after she disappeared in Florida and her son was found wandering alone the next day, court documents show.

Shanon Demar Ryan, a 38-year-old who refers to himself as “the witch” and a “master of the occult arts” on his Facebook profile, was charged Monday with kidnapping with the intent to collect a ransom weeks after Cavett, 21, was last seen in Hollywood, Florida, on July 25.

Her 2-year-old son, Kamdyn, was found alone the following day about two miles away in Miramar, court documents obtained by WPLG show.

Ryan told investigators he’s known Cavett since January 2019 and that she recently traveled to South Florida to sell him her pickup truck for $3,000, a criminal complaint shows.

Ryan said Cavett and her son met him at a RaceTrac gas station in Hollywood before going to the beach in his gold Lexus. The trio later returned to the gas station, where Cavett and her son got into a dark-color sedan with several males early on July 26, Ryan told investigators.

“She grabbed her kid and got into the car with those guys,” Ryan has said on Facebook, according to the station.

But video surveillance at the gas station doesn’t show the Dawsonville, Georgia, mom and her son getting into a sedan, nor does it show Ryan’s car where he claimed, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

Ryan, who was arrested Saturday on two counts of lying to a federal officer, has not been charged in Cavett’s disappearance, but he bought bleach, duct tape and carpet deodorizer using the woman’s debit card at Walmart on July 26, FBI investigators said.

Ryan also purchased extra-large trash bags and duct tape not long after Cavett’s son was abandoned, investigators said.

A review of Ryan’s phone also revealed he had searched about “commercial garbage pickup” in Hollywood, as well as another query if “bleach and alcohol” makes chloroform, the newspaper reports.

Ryan, who appeared in federal court Monday, did not indicate his profession but said he was self-employed, according to the newspaper.

Ryan’s mother, meanwhile, said he travels between South Florida and Alabama to give psychic readings. She declined to be identified while insisting her son was innocent.

“My son would not hurt a flea or a fly,” Ryan’s mother told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “There’s no way I believe he would do anything to anybody. He’s not that kind of person.”

The search for Cavett continues, while her son remains in state custody in Alabama, WPLG reports. A criminal complaint makes no mention of where Cavett may be or whether she’s alive, NBC News reports.