PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Holli Mullen told jurors Tuesday that she became alarmed when her father, Chad Mullen, stopped answering her calls in the weeks before his family reported him missing in September 2024. Mullen testified in the trial of Caylen Deller, her father’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, who is accused of killing him. Chad Mullen lived alone in a trailer on Keystone Road in Putnam County, his daughter said. She described their relationship as close and said they spoke by phone weekly and saw each other a couple of times a month. The last time he called her, on Sept. 9, 2024, he asked for the number of a family friend who worked as a mechanic. His truck had broken down, and he said he was pulled over on the side of the road but did not tell her exactly where, she testified. In the days afterward, Mullen tried calling him once or twice a day, though she could not recall the exact number of attempts. He did not answer. As concern spread among relatives and friends, she said, she grew more worried. “I noticed that everyone else was worried he wasn’t answering my texts or calls,” Mullen testified. “And just the growth of concern around everybody who loved him — that’s what worried me.” The family had been planning a trip to New Mexico for the wedding of Chad Mullen’s older brother. His daughter said the trip was becoming a family reunion and that her father was especially excited because they planned to fly out on his birthday. Kelli Stromsoe, Chad Mullen’s former partner and Holli Mullen’s mother, testified that she tried to reach him around Sept. 15. When she could not, she contacted the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office to report him missing. The family also sought information on social media, according to testimony. Stromsoe said she contacted Deller by phone and text. Messages presented in court show Deller responding that she knew people were looking for Chad and had not heard from him. In another exchange, Deller said she was looking and had been speaking with someone named Crystal. Deller was arrested in October 2024 after deputies found Chad Mullen’s body buried in a rural area of St. Johns County, about a mile from the Putnam County line. Tina Marie Lee-Ellis was also charged in the case with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact and is out on bond. Deller is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Testimony in the trial was scheduled to continue Tuesday.