Neptune Beach teen accused of grandmother’s murder waives right to extradition hearing, will return to Florida

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Logan Mott, the 15-year-old Neptune Beach boy charged with the murder of his Mayport grandmother, waived his right to an extradition hearing Friday, Dec. 1 in Western New York, where he fled to the previous week, and will return to Florida, according to WIVB-TV’s Angela Christoforos.

Mott’s attorney told WIVB-TV that Florida authorities should be in New York Monday, Dec. 4 to bring him back to Florida, where he will be arraigned on the murder charge.

Mott is accused of killing 53-year-old Kristina French. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) announced on Tuesday, Nov. 28 that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mott for the murder. New York prosecutors said French was killed by gunshot and stab wounds.

Mott and French went missing on Wednesday, Nov. 22. JSO said Mott’s father and his father’s girlfriend returned to Jacksonville from a trip that day and were not picked up at the airport by Mott and French, as previously planned. Upon getting home, they realized that French and Mott, as well as French’s 2015 silver Dodge Dart, were missing. Mott’s father also realized there was damage to his gun safe and that firearms were missing.

Police investigated the Neptune Beach home and announced on Friday, Nov. 24 that evidence of foul play and potential criminal violence had been found inside and that a gravesite with human remains had been located outside in the back of the property. JSO confirmed on Monday, Nov. 27 that the remains belonged to French.

Authorities first issued a warrant for Mott’s arrest on a charge of auto theft and subsequently announced that he was a person of interest in French’s death. Mott was spotted on video surveillance in the Dodge Dart Thursday, Nov. 23 in south central Pennsylvania. He was later detained the evening of Friday, Nov. 24 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after attempting to make a U-turn on the Peace Bridge as he tried to enter Canada from the Buffalo area. New York prosecutors said border patrol officials found guns and a knife in the car, with what appeared to be blood on the knife. The prosecutors said Mott has since been held in a Buffalo area juvenile detention center.

Following the Dec. 1 hearing, Mott’s mother told WIVB-TV, “Logan is a good kid with no previous history of anything, and he’s my son, and I love him. That’s all.”

Mott denies the murder charges.