Police: Missing Easton man thought son was framing him for murder on day he and his wife were last seen

BRIDGEPORT — The son of an Easton couple who hasn’t been seen for a month was arrested and appeared in court Tuesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Kyle Navin, 27, was arrested on a federal firearms charge.

Kyle appear in Bridgeport Federal Court Tuesday afternoon for one charge of possession of a firearm by an individual who is an unlawful user of/addicted to a controlled substance.

His parents, Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin were reported missing August 7 by their sister-in-law. The affidavit for Kyle’s arrest says that Jeffrey didn’t show up for work on August 6 and 7, which his brother, who works with him, said was very unusual and that Jeffrey always made prior arrangements to cover his shift. Both of their phones were also turned off.

The report said that Kyle was the last person to have seen his parents on the morning of Tuesday, August 4. He has not been charged in connection with his parents’ disappearance.

Click here for our full coverage on the disappearance of Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin.

The investigation that led to his arrest was executed over several days:

• On August 7, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies began investigating the disappearance of Navin’s parents, Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin, of Easton. They spoke to Kyle, who said he did see his parents on August 4 when they came to visit him to ask if he wanted to have dinner with them that evening. He declined because he had a back injury.
• On August 9, a pickup truck belonging to 55-year-old Jeanette Navin and 56-year-old Jeffrey Navin was found with a shattered window in a commuter lot off the Merritt Parkway in Westport. That day officers interviewed Kyle at the Easton Police Department. During that interview, he said he last saw his parents on August 4 at work–Kyle works at the family’s garbage truck company, J&J Refuse in Westport. He said he spoke with them on the phone several times throughout the morning that day.
• On August 11 officers again met with Kyle at the police station. During this interview he said he met his mother on the morning of August 4 at the park-and-ride lot near exit 42 on the Merritt Parkway in Westport. He said his mom got into his garbage truck between 9 and 9:30 a.m., and they went on his usual trash collection route. His back began to bother him, so he called his father and they met at a nearby nursery around 10:30 a.m. His mother joined his father, and he left to drive home. He went home, and then left again at 12:30 p.m. and went to his parents’ Easton home to pick up his paycheck. He said he then went home and stayed put for several days due to his injury.
• On August 13 he spoke to police again at the Connecticut State Police barracks, and his interview was recorded. This time, he said that he met his parents at the nursery near exit 42 in Westport around 6:30 a.m. He said his mother left his father’s truck and joined him, and the two went on his route. At 8:30 a.m. he decided he couldn’t work anymore due to his injury, so he asked his mother to finish his route, but he said his mom didn’t know it. He said he and his mother returned to his home in Bridgeport at 9:20 a.m. to get the paperwork that outlined his route for his mom. They then drove back to Westport and met up again with Jeffrey Navin off of Roseville Road. Jeanette joined her husband, and Kyle went back home and arrived around 11 a.m. Just before noon, Kyle says his father called him to tell him his paycheck was at the Easton home, so he went picked it up around 12:30 p.m. He said his uncle called him on August 6 to say that his father hadn’t shown up for work.
• Investigators looked at call, text and cell site location records for all three Navins phone’s. It showed Jeanette last made a call for 2 seconds on August 4 at 8:45 a.m. At 9:20 a.m. her phone was near 2600 Park Ave. in Bridgeport, near her son’s home. Her phone’s location wasn’t picked up again after that. Jeffrey last made a call around 1:23 p.m. on August 4; his phone was near the same cell site by his son’s home. That was the last location his phone was registered in. After the outgoing calls on each of their phones, both Jeanette and Jeffrey received several incoming calls and texts, but both phones were turned off when those messages and calls were made to them.
  • Kyle’s cell site activity does not match up with his statements to law enforcement officials about his whereabouts on August 4. The records show that between 10:20 a.m. and 1:19 p.m. he traveled from Bridgeport to Westport, to Easton, to Westport, to Easton, and then back to Bridgeport, where he stayed until around 3 p.m.
  • A series of text messages between Kyle and his father indicate that they talked about more than work on August 4, which was what Kyle had claimed.
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (11:40 a.m.): What cleanup are you at?
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (11:46 a.m.): Cleanup address? Can you write it?
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:34 p.m.): Where are you?
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:34 p.m.): I’m clicking to answer your call and nothing is there. I can’t hear you.
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:35 p.m.): I left. You were dumping then heading home right?
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:37 p.m.): That’s where I’m headed
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:39 p.m.): I’m not going home till I know mom is okay.
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:43 p.m.): Did you hurt mom?
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:43 p.m.): No absolutely not. Why would you think
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:44 p.m.): I go home and get framed for murder
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:45 p.m.): Oh stop
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:48 p.m.): I’m going to the police first
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:50 p.m.): Ok and reason being?
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:51 p.m.): Dave’s phone is working fine
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:54 p.m.): Ok well mines having issues, moms is and jen was able to text, the calling was messed up
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:54 p.m.): Maybe his is newest
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:54 p.m.): Newer
    • Jeffrey to Kyle (12:57 p.m.) U R setting me up
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (12:58 p.m.): Dad really what are you talking about?
    • Kyle to Jeffrey (1:14 p.m.): I’m home, I left a spot on the road for your truck to fit
• Police got surveillance video from a security camera in Easton that recorded at 3:06 p.m. on August 4. The video showed Jeffrey’s garbage truck being driven toward his home. Kyle Navin’s girlfriend’s car was recorded following closely behind Jeffrey’s truck. About 29 minutes later the security camera showed the girlfriend’s car driving in the opposite direction of the Navin’s Easton home. Law enforcement later found Jeffrey’s truck parked in his driveway.
• Law enforcement officials interviewed Kyle Navin’s girlfriend after viewing her car on the security footage. Jennifer Valiante initially lied and said she was home in Bridgeport all day, but when confronted she said that Kyle asked her to follow him as he drove his father’s truck from their Bridgeport home to the Navin’s Easton home. When they arrived at the Navin’s Easton home, Kyle parked his father’s garbage truck in the driveway, and then Valiante drove the two of them back to Bridgeport in her car. She said she didn’t know how or why Jeffrey’s truck was at her Bridgeport home, or why Kyle needed to drive it back to Easton.
• Based on the information gathered above in the interviews, on August 13 the investigators executed a search warrant on Navin’s Bridgeport home on Aldine Avenue, and seized two firearms and numerous rounds of ammunition from his bedroom. They also found a Home Depot receipt from August 5 at 8:36 p.m. showing that Kyle had purchased germicidal bleach, hair grease drain opener, “Goo Gone” stain remover and contractor cleanup bags.
• On August 19 a second search was conducted on Navin’s home, and officers found and seized items related to substance abuse, including dozens of heroin baggies with residue inside, 15 hypodermic needles,  about two dozen empty superscription bottles for oxycodone and other controlled substances. Officers also found a receipt from a gun range from August 5.
• Investigators also searched Navin’s cell phone, which was part of the warrant, and found numerous texts discussing his use of heroin, oxycodone and Xanax.
• Police interviewed Kyle’s girlfriend, Jennifer Valiante, on August 21. She said that Navin really liked his guns, and often  carried them with him.
• A friend of Kyle’s was interviewed on August 25 due to the fact that the two had exchanged several texts about doing drugs. The friend said that on August 5 he (or she) spoke to Kyle on the phone about purchasing oxycodone, but Kyle said he had family issues going on and it seemed his parents were missing. This is notable because he supposedly didn’t learn about his parents being missing until the next day when Jeffrey didn’t show up for work and his uncle called to tell him.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Jeffrey Navin is president of J&J Refuse in Westport and Jeannette Navin is a school library aide in Weston. State police have searched area landfills for the couple but have found no signs of human remains. Kyle is listed as operations manager at J&J Refuse.

The State Police Major Crimes Division also searched Navin's home on Aldine Avenue in Bridgeport on August 20 in connection to his missing parents.

Neighbors at that time said they hadn’t seen Kyle, his wife or their two dogs for over a week. The garbage truck Kyle Navin usually parked at the house was also gone.

Stay with Fox CT as this story develops.