Witness testifies about buckets possibly used to dump killing victim's remains

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Witnesses testified in court Thursday about how a Marion County man accused of killing a 15-year-old boy may have dumped the victim's remains.

Michael Bargo is accused of killing Seath Jackson during a dispute over a girl.

On Thursday, an alternate had to step in after one of the jurors had to go to the emergency room overnight. The alternate is now a permanent jury member.

Prosecutors showed jurors a tooth that a forensic crime scene technician recovered at a rock quarry where investigators said Bargo dumped Jackson's remains.

Deputies said in 2011, Bargo and four others lured the teen to a home, beat him, shot him and dismembered his body. Investigators said the group then burned the remains and then put them in paint buckets and dumped them.

"We were informed there were three, 5-gallon buckets that may have been dumped in the water that contained human remains," said Sgt. Billy Padgett of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Prosecutors showed jurors the buckets, along with the wires and bricks that may have been tied to the buckets to help them sink.

"This is the bucket I recovered from the surface that was cracked," said forensic crime scene technician Lisa Berg.

Prosecutors also showed photos of shoe prints and impressions from bucket rings in the sand along the path to the rock quarry.

WFTV