Chad Mullen

Chad Mullen became the subject of national attention not for a career or public achievement but because of the way his life ended. He was killed in September 2024, and his body was found buried in a shallow grave, a discovery that set off a criminal investigation into his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Caylen Deller. On October 16, 2026, a jury found Deller, 32, guilty of first-degree murder in his death, closing out a case that had been working its way through the courts for roughly two years.

Little about Mullen's life before his death has been made public in reputable reporting. Search interest in his name touches on places as varied as Ohio, Florida, Illinois and New York, and on subjects ranging from basketball coaching to skating to Habitat for Humanity, but none of those associations have been confirmed in verified news accounts tied to this case, and this page does not assert them as fact. What is documented is narrower and grimmer: Mullen was in a relationship with Deller that was described by investigators and reporters as on-again and off-again, and it was during the course of that relationship, in September 2024, that he was killed.

The case drew the kind of attention that true crime followers and local news audiences pay to domestic homicide prosecutions, in part because of the manner in which Mullen's body was concealed. Prosecutors argued that Deller buried him in a shallow grave after his death, a detail that shaped much of the public narrative around the case even before the trial concluded. Deller was charged with first-degree murder, the most serious homicide charge available under Florida law, reflecting prosecutors' view that the killing was premeditated.

The guilty verdict delivered on October 16, 2026, brought a measure of legal resolution for Mullen's family and friends, even as it could not undo the loss. As is common in cases like this, the verdict itself does not answer every question the public has asked about Mullen, including basic biographical details such as his age, hometown, education and occupation, none of which have yet been confirmed in the reporting available at the time of this writing. This page will be updated as more verified information about Chad Mullen's life, and about sentencing in Caylen Deller's case, becomes available.

For now, Mullen is remembered primarily through the lens of the crime that ended his life, a reality that is itself part of the story. Those who knew him personally have not yet spoken publicly in detail, and no funeral or memorial arrangements have been reported. What is clear is that a jury has held someone accountable for his death, even as much of who Chad Mullen was remains, for public purposes, still to be told.