JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A plea deal may be imminent in the case of a former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office detective and his wife charged in the murder of a convenience store owner in the late 1990s.
According to a new court filing in the case, Melissa Jo Schafer — the ex-wife of retired JSO Det. William “Billy” Baer — is scheduled for a “disposition” Friday. The case had been scheduled for a routine pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, but was moved Tuesday and slated for formal resolution, which is called a “disposition.”
A disposition can also mean prosecutors are dropping charges, unlikely in this high-profile case.
First Coast News contacted Schaefer’s attorney, Public Defender Charlie Cofer. He said he could not comment on the case specifically. Asked if a disposition hearing means a case is slated for is a plea deal, he said “That’s usually what it means. But you have to wait until Friday when all will be revealed.”
Two law-enforcement sources familiar with the case say Schafer will plead guilty and provide testimony against her ex-husband. The two were arrested in the cold case murder in July after a genealogy database linked evidence collected at the crime scene to the DNA of the defendants’ relative.
Saad Kawaf was stabbed to death in his garage at his Deerwood home in May 1999. His wife was duct-taped to a chair. The couple was robbed of $30,000 in cash.
At the time of the crime Kawaf, 39, owned the Forest Discount Store. He was being investigated by the FBI and JSO for making large cash bank deposits — an investigation Baer was part of.
Case investigators believe money was the motive for the crime. Both Baer and Schafer initially pleaded not guilty. Neither has been formally indicted on first-degree murder charges since the grand jury has not been meeting regularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.