Self-proclaimed witch is charged with murder in Broward missing-mom case, cops say
official duties, the City has terminated the employee for insubordination, effective immediately.”
Court filings show Nicholson’s attorneys predicted her firing, arguing Nicholson already gave her account to her former supervisor and accusing the city of trying to set her up to be dismissed. In a statement Wednesday, David Winker, one of Nicholson’s lawyers, repeated the inspector’s claim that a supervisor told her to destroy photographic evidence of Díaz de la Portilla’s presence at the venue.
“Firing Ms. Nicholson is just another chapter in the city’s unfair treatment of an employee who was just doing her job and was unfortunate to run into Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla at an illegal afterhours club,” Winker said. “The city is sending a clear signal to its employees that they better ‘protect the politicians.’ Ms. Nicholson will have her day in court and I look forward to exposing and punishing the city’s shameful conduct.”
THE ALTERCATION
In early April, Nicholson and her attorney told several media outlets that when she arrived at the unlicensed party, she was taken to Díaz de la Portilla. The venue was missing permits and operating past a midnight COVID-19 curfew, which was still in effect. She was working on a joint task force with police officers to monitor illegal bar activity at night.
Nicholson and Díaz de la Portilla spoke after she arrived at 722 NW 22nd St. What happened during and after is disputed. Nicholson said the commissioner poked her while speaking to her, causing her to step backward awkwardly and roll her ankle. She said she later suffered hip pain and required physical therapy.
The alleged altercation, which is not visible in three separate police body camera videos, grabbed headlines and sparked a defamation lawsuit against Díaz de la Portilla after he said Nicholson was lying and called for her firing. She sued him on April 28.
In a statement, Díaz de la Portilla said “when employees make spurious accusations concerning the content of their official business the city can and must hold them accountable.”
The commissioner has repeatedly called Nicholson a “defamer” who should be fired.
“While, as a commissioner, I take no pride in any employee’s dismissal, I do support the administration’s enforcement of the basic rules on decency and honesty expected of any public servant,” he said.
Joey Flechas: 305-376-3602, @joeflech
An Alabama man who is a self-proclaimed witch has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of 21-year-old mother Leila Cavett, Hollywood police announced late Tuesday.
Her body has not been found.
Shannon Ryan, 39, who was charged last month by Miramar police with child neglect after federal charges were dropped, also faces a charge of tampering with evidence by Hollywood police.
Cavett, who was living in Atlanta and visiting South Florida, went missing July 25. Her 2-year-old son was found wandering alone July 26 in a Miramar apartment complex.
Investigators soon realized that Cavett, who was originally from Jasper, Alabama, had disappeared. In the following days, her truck was found in the parking lot of a Hollywood Walmart.
The FBI stepped in to help with the investigation, and Ryan was arrested on Aug. 16 on a kidnapping charge. Ryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, told investigators at the time that he was going to buy her truck for $3,000 and had arranged to meet Cavett in Florida. He also said he knew Cavett from Alabama.
On Aug. 9, Shannon had posted an hour-long video describing his relationship with Cavett and said she had shown up at his door in Alabama one day and that he invited her in and helped her. On his Facebook page with the name “Magnetic Kundalini,” Ryan wrote that he is devoted to “Witchcraft, Knowledge of Self, Kemetic Kundalini & Chakra meditation, Kemetic Science, Health, wellness, fitness, mentorship.”
The FBI released a timeline of Cavett’s whereabouts at the end of August. The last time she was seen was at a RaceTrac gas station in Hollywood at about 10:30 p.m. on July 25. Ryan told investigators she had left the gas station in a car with two men.
Surveillance cameras only captured Ryan’s Lexus.
In October, the FBI confirmed that they were searching Monarch Hill Landfill, in north Broward, in connection with her disappearance.
In Tuesday’s arrest report, Hollywood police say Ryan was caught on video buying carpet cleaner and trash bags. He also searched Google for “does bleach and alcohol make chloroform.”
The report also details how his cellphone and surveillance placed him in the apartment complex where her son was abandoned.
Ryan’s defense attorney could not be reached Tuesday night.
Hollywood said the FBI is helping with the investigation.
Carli Teproff: 305-376-3587, @cteproff Devoun Cetoute: 305-376-2026, @devoun_cetoute