Shanon Demar Ryan (pictured in mugshot) was charged with two counts of lying to federal agents
An Alabama man who is a self-proclaimed ‘witch’ has been arrested in connection to the disappearance of a mother whose two-year-old son was found alone in a Florida parking lot.
Shanon Demar Ryan, 38, of Muscles Shoals, was arrested by federal agents on Saturday and charged with two counts of lying to federal agents.
As of Monday, he has not yet been charged with kidnapping or harming 21-year-old Leila Cavett, who was last seen on July 26 after traveling from Georgia to Florida.
Her two-year-old son, Kamdyn Cavett Arnold, was found wandering alone in a parking lot in Miramar.
FBI surveillance footage showed the Cavett at RaceTrac gas station, but she has not been seen or heard for four weeks.
Cavett was last seen driving a mid-to-late 90s white Chevy Silverado 3500, with a red tailgate and a Baby on Board sign on the passenger window.
Ryan is currently being held without bail at the Broward County jail, The Sun Sentinel reports.
Authorities have not disclosed the specific link between Ryan and Cavett, but he shared a number of recent social media that appeared directly or potentially about the case.
Two-year-old Kamdyn Cavett Arnold (pictured) was discovered near the 1860 block of SW 68th Avenue in Miramar on the morning of July 27. His mother, Leila Cavett (right), 21, is still missing
On Facebook, Ryan declared that he is a spiritual adviser, CEO, a teacher and a witch.
‘Stop thinking like muggles,’ he wrote in one post. ‘A witch putting a hex on someone does not mean that person is going to die or be killed. Why would a Witch kill anyone they want to suffer?
‘There is no suffering in death, only the living suffer. You need flesh, bones and a beating heart in order to feel pain.’
‘A Witch is not a spiritual assassin. We do not take death contracts. Death has already contracted us all, unless you got an extension,’ he added.
In a 51-minute video shared August 9, titled ‘Who is Leila Cavett and What is My Connection to her Disappearance,’ he directly references the case and claims to be the last person to have seen her before she vanished.
In a 51-minute Facebook video, Ryan contended that he was not involved in Cavett’s disappearance and that he’s given ‘everything’ he knows to authorities
‘Why is it you have a missing woman, and the last person that’s seen her, which is me, who talked to the police, you ain’t heard nothing about me,’ he said, WSVN reports.
‘We have a missing woman, and I gave the police everything that I know,’ he added.
Ryan said he’s known Cavett for around a year, and even claimed to have taken in her and her son in at one point when they did not have housing.
He claimed to have been visiting a sick student in Hollywood, Florida, just 25 west from Miramar, and connected with Cavett.
Cavett allegedly told Ryan that she purchased a truck.
‘I said, “Let me buy that truck from you,”‘he said in the video. ‘I’m not selling my truck.’ I’m like, “Leila, come on, sell me the truck.’”
Ryan claimed the Cavett (right), pictured with Kamdyn Cavett Arnold (left), drove down to Florida to give him a truck
Ryan claimed that the two came to an agreement and she would drive the truck down to Florida.
The two reportedly met up on July 25 at the parking lot of a Walmart.
‘She got in the car with me — boom — and we pulled off, just like I told the police department,’ Ryan said.
Ryan then claimed to have paid Cavett $3,000 for the truck and that they visited a RaceTrac gas station nearby.
Surveillance footage shared by the FBI confirmed the Cavett was at the gas station that day.
Ryan said they spent the rest of the day together before returning to the RaceTrac gas station.
‘It’s some guys in a car that she talking to. Leila got her and her son and got in the car with those guys,’ Ryan claimed in the video.
As of Thursday evening, authorities have yet to locate Cavett (right), who was last seen with her son on July 26. Surveillance footage shows the young mother holding Kamdyn while walking into a Race Trac gas station (left)
He said he tried to stop her from leaving with the men, but she left anyway. Ryan allegedly waited in his car for Cavett, but she did not return.
Then, Ryan said he was approached by police officers who searched his truck.
‘Police everywhere, they jumped out ‘Hey, what are you doing? Hey, freeze!’ he said.
Two photos shared on August 6 appeared to show two plainclothes officers searching a silver Lexus sedan. In one photo, a truck matching the description of Cavett’s vehicle is seen in the background.
On August 15, he shared a photo of him in front of the Southland Shopping Center in Fort Lauderdale and appeared to goad authorities.
‘Still waiting…. Anybody else think guilty or on the run? Because obviously the FBI and the police don’t. Please go play somewhere, I’m busy,’ he wrote.
‘I got Witch s*** to do. Now back to business. I got spiritual guidance session to hold. Had to take today off, but now I’m good. Point proven.’
Pictured: a photo shared to Ryan’s Facebook that appeared to show plainclothes officers searching his vehicle while truck matching the descriptions of Cavett’s vehicle is seen
In one Facebook post, Ryan appeared to goad federal agents while still in Florida
Ryan: ‘Now that was weeks ago I told Mimar police department the same thing. If they were really looking for Lelia, why they just release those pictures to you all’
One the same day, he added, ‘I apologize class for having disrupt our lessons again, but the FBI is in some bulls***. They been had those pictures of Leila. Those the same cameras I mentioned in my video when I told them to go back and look at videos camera.
‘Now that was weeks ago I told Miramar police department the same thing. If they were really looking for Lelia, why they just release those pictures to you all.
‘The FBI is investigating and I’m investigating them.’
Authorities found Cavett’s unattended Chevy in Hollywood on July 28. Hollywood police then took over the case and launched a missing person investigation.
Cavett’s family members said they last talked to her on July 17 and have no idea why she would’ve traveled to Florida.
The FBI asked the public for help with locating the mother of a toddler who was found wandering around a Florida neighborhood last month after he and his mom traveled there from Georgia
According to her Facebook page, Cavett lives in Atlanta, Georgia, but is originally from Alabama.
‘I FaceTimed her on July 17. We were on the phone for about an hour and she was fine,’ one of her sisters told reporters a few weeks ago.
‘She didn’t have any plans to come to Florida, so we’re very confused right now.’
Authorities said Cavett is about 5 feet 3 inches tall with shoulder length hair. She has a fish tattoo on her right wrist and another tattoo that says Kamdyn on her right arm.
The toddler is now in the custody of Child Protective Services as police continue their investigation.