Pal heard homicide confession after furnishings heiress killed in love triangle

The invention of a useless, battered lady off a Florida freeway led investigators to unravel her unconventional way of life and to the homicide convictions of her two lovers of their “throuple” relationship.

Earlier than her physique was recovered on the finish of a cul-de-sac close to Freeway 98 on April 23, 2018, Aileen Seiden had checked into room 15 of the Sportsman’s Lodge Motel in Eastpoint, Florida, alongside along with her boyfriend Zachary Abell and their mutual girlfriend Christina Araujo. 

A health worker testified that Seiden’s accidents have been corresponding to “the sort of factor [he saw] in motorized vehicle crashes,” The Apalachicola Occasions reported. 

Practically all of her ribs have been damaged, and in depth bruising had turned the lady’s face, stomach and higher physique to an offended purple, the outlet reported. 

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Aileen Seiden, 31, was discovered useless off Freeway 98 in Apalachicola, Florida, on April 23, 2018. (Aileen Seiden/Instagram)

Initially, police have been unable to determine Seiden’s physique. Nonetheless, quickly after her physique was discovered, they have been known as to a bloody scene on the Sportsman’s Lodge. 

“As quickly as I got here in, I seen the mattress. I imply, it is — you could not miss it,” lead investigator Ronnie Jones mentioned in a newly launched CBS “48 Hours” documentary in regards to the case, “Who Killed Aileen Seiden in Room 15?”

“I imply, this entire space was lined and had blood stains on it,” he mentioned. “I simply put two and two collectively, and I mechanically put that again to the physique that was discovered the day earlier than. It wasn’t simply any individual reduce [themselves] and bled a bit of bit on the mattress. I imply the quantity of blood… tells me that whoever was right here was most likely deceased.”

Testing in the end indicated that the blood belonged to Seiden. 

Deadly attraction

Seiden was the youngest daughter of Miami businessman Frank M. Seiden, who bought furnishings to luxurious motels, cruise ships and Disney Resorts, based on the Miami Herald. Seiden, Abell and Araujo lived in North Miami.

Mike Picavet, who knew the trio, instructed Fox Information Digital that the love triangle was overcrowded, wrought with jealousy and peppered with hotheaded brawls. 

“Christina and Aileen had their first combat in my kitchen [in 2017],” Picavet mentioned this previous week. “As a result of [Abell] introduced her over, introduced each of them over. Aileen threw it in Christina’s face that she’d already been having intercourse with Zach for a yr already. After which Christina began throwing punches instantly. And it was actually bizarre as a result of Aileen misplaced and acquired again up and she or he, you already know, all the pieces was calmed down, and she or he began saying, Properly, you are fats and ugly, too.”

From then on, Picavet mentioned, Seiden and Araujo would commerce punches typically in fights fueled by alcohol, typically leading to black eyes on one or each of the ladies. These fights have been bookended by intervals of raucous partying and consuming, he mentioned.

Abell and Araujo began courting 5 years earlier than Seiden’s homicide. In the meantime, Seiden and Abell had recognized one another since they have been youngsters and reconnected in 2017.

Picavet, who met Abell and Araujo in a bar a number of years earlier than Seiden got here into the image, mentioned that Abell at all times had a “facet piece” of some kind earlier than the throuple’s relationship started.

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Zach Abell was sentenced to life in jail on second-degree homicide fees in January 2024. Christina Araujo, proper, took a plea deal in April 2023 in Aileen Seiden’s killing. (Broward County Sheriff’s Workplace)

Picavet mentioned he didn’t consider that Abell was abusive. Nonetheless, he mentioned that Araujo was at all times “very controlling and directing” towards each of her lovers. He mentioned that Abell tried a number of occasions to interrupt up with Araujo, however issues have been messy as a result of they have been enterprise companions. 

“He tried so many occasions,” Picavet mentioned. “He simply did not know tips on how to… after which additionally…all of the threats on a regular basis that she may make him disappear… Each time she acquired drunk, she’d say some bizarre issues.”

Seiden and Abell started courting in secret, with Seiden’s finest pal telling documentarians that the person led her to consider that he would go away the opposite lady. 

When Seiden misplaced her job as a property supervisor in 2017, a pal of hers instructed CBS that she began working at Abell and Araujo’s used automotive dealership. Picavet mentioned that she misplaced her condo on the similar time. When Abell lastly tried to interrupt issues off with Araujo, Seiden’s pal mentioned Araujo countered with an unconventional proposal: that the three of them date as a “throuple.”

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On April 21, 2018, two days earlier than Aileen Seiden, left, was murdered, the throuple was noticed on surveillance footage stumbling out of the Purple Pirate in Apalachicola, the place they ate dinner, performed mini-golf and drank closely. (Franklin County Courtroom Clerk)

Family and friends instructed documentarians that Seiden was contemplating breaking off the connection within the weeks earlier than her loss of life. Nonetheless, she shocked them when she moved in along with her lovers in what her finest pal known as “one final probability to make it work.”

On April 7, 2018, Abell and Araujo acquired right into a combat. Seiden picked up Abell and took him away from the home, and the pair went on a street journey.

Araujo despatched greater than 150 offended textual content messages to Seiden and Abell in a 24-hour span, based on the documentary. Nonetheless, after her two lovers had been gone for about 48 hours and had reached Texas, she had a change of coronary heart.

“If you wish to come again dwelling come again. You by no means must query my love,” Araujo wrote, based on the documentary. 

Abell and Seiden then invited Araujo to fly out to satisfy them in Texas. 

Picavet instructed Fox Information Digital that he “thought [Seiden would] find yourself useless there or one thing as a result of [he] did not count on them to return again altogether.”

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Zach Abell and Christina Araujo are pictured in a photograph, snapped by their pal Mike Picavet, after they confessed to Aileen Seiden’s homicide at his dwelling. (Franklin County Courtroom Clerk)

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Ten days into the street journey, Seiden feared for her life and known as her sister.

“I used to be like, ‘Aileen, run to the closest gasoline station,'” Franceasa Seiden recalled, based on the documentary. “I mentioned ‘run, get the — get out of there’ … ‘Go!’ …She’s like, ‘I can not.’

Again in Florida, on their approach dwelling to North Miami, the group headed to the Sportsman’s Lodge Motel, the place they determined that they’d spend another day there and proceed to social gathering. On the morning of April 22, they stocked up on Fireball whiskey and vodka at a liquor retailer, surveillance footage confirmed. 

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Zach Abell and Christina Araujo are pictured on toll sales space surveillance footage after Aileen Seiden’s homicide. (Franklin County Clerk of Courtroom)

That day, Seiden known as her finest pal and crafted an escape plan. She meant to get on a bus again dwelling when the trio reached Tampa, their subsequent vacation spot. The pal purchased Seiden a Greyhound ticket as a result of she had left for the sudden street journey with out her pockets. 

Nonetheless, Seiden’s pal by no means heard from her once more. 

On the night of April 23, Picavet mentioned that Araujo and Abell turned up on his doorstep. 

“I used to be like, ‘OK, the place’s Aileen?’ And instantly, Christina says, ‘Oh, she ran away.’ … And I mentioned, ‘Bull—-,'” Picavet recalled. “I mentioned, ‘The place is she?’ And Zach instantly… began to choke up, and he mentioned, ‘She’s useless.'”

Abell instructed Picavet that Araujo had killed Seiden and satisfied him to not name 911 when he discovered her physique. Likewise, Picavet feared a violent final result if he notified regulation enforcement.

“I used to be frightened for my security then, from Christina,” he instructed Fox Information Digital. “Properly, I can not sleep in my home now. That is loopy. She is aware of. I do know. So, you already know, I may find yourself… she may find yourself killing me.”

Picavet mentioned Araujo described the place she and Abell dumped the physique, and he started trying to find the placement on Google Maps. In the end, he would give police the identical location the place Seiden’s physique was discovered. 

After his buddies had fallen asleep on his sofa, Picavet snapped a photograph. Then, he took to social media to search out Araujo’s father, Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Division Col. Tony Araujo. When he lastly reached him, Picavet despatched him the photograph and instructed him that he had pressing information about his daughter.

They met up at a close-by gasoline station. 

“I went up there … I mentioned, ‘Christina killed any individual.’ And he says, ‘You realize I am a cop, proper?’ And I am like, ‘Sure, sir. I do,'” Picavet mentioned. “He instantly mentioned, ‘Wait proper there.’”

Zach Abell and Christina Araujo had been courting for 4 years when Aileen Seiden joined their relationship in 2017. (Franklin County Clerk of Courtroom)

Araujo introduced Picavet to the police station, the place he made a proper assertion. There, he recognized a photograph of Seiden’s battered physique. 

Police arrested Abell and Araujo and charged them each with first-degree homicide. Nonetheless, they’d not face a jury for six years on account of court docket delays and problems. 

In 2023, Araujo took a plea deal for the lesser cost of second-degree homicide. Abell went to trial in Franklin County in January 2024. As a result of Araujo confessed to beating Seiden, she turned an important witness in his trial. 

Abell’s lawyer, Alex Morris, argued in court docket that Araujo had the motive to kill Seiden – jealousy over Abell’s break up consideration – and that she was the instigator in her loss of life. 

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In the end, the jurors discovered Abell responsible of the lesser cost of second-degree homicide, as they have been unable to determine whether or not he had meant to kill Seiden when he and Araujo beat her. 

At his sentencing, Abell claimed that he meant to depart Araujo and had proposed to Seiden with a Ring Pop on their street journey. 

“Me and Aileen have been gonna go our approach and depart Christina out of it,” he claimed.

Picavet is satisfied that Abell didn’t participate within the beating that price Seiden her life, though he did assist eliminate Seiden’s physique. 

“I do know he did not kill her simply because I do know Zach. And he, you already know, he would have instructed me he is harmless of the homicide. He is silly. Stupidly not harmless for serving to transfer the physique,” Picavet mentioned.

Picavet mentioned he’s dedicated to serving to Abell show his innocence within the homicide and mentioned {that a} hidden digicam in his condo when his buddies returned to his dwelling that night time captured Araujo admitting to being solely liable for the killing and contradicting testimony that she gave in court docket. 

Nonetheless, that small digicam, disguised as an outlet, was taken into proof by the Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement. Picavet claims that investigators have been unable to tug information off it for proof and that he hopes to get the SD card from the gadget again in order that he can acquire the footage that would assist his pal. 

“As soon as that occurs, then Zach’s attraction must be good as a result of there the proof goes to return out, which is new proof that Christina’s entire testimony was bulls—. After which it’s going to be hopefully good for Zach.”