Not even 24 hours after the three men were arrested and charged with Seeger’s murder, Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy acknowledged for the first time publicly that Seeger at one time had been a confidential informant.

Detectives took Marrio Williams, 27, of Dunnellon, Lawrence Vickers, 45, of Crystal River and Curtis Wilson, 30, of St. Petersburg into custody on active capital felony warrants for murder in the first degree.

"At one particular time she was a confidential informant but our relationship was was non-existent at the time of this tragic incident," Dawsy said, adding he couldn’t be more specific about the details.

But that’s not enough for the Seeger family attorney, Bill Grant, who claims Seeger was working for the Sheriff’s Office the night of her murder.

That issue came to a head at a news conference at the Emergency Operations Center in Lecanto Thursday night during a press conference held by the Sheriff.

Attorney Grant and Seeger’s mother, along with another relative, walked in and that prompted a tense exchange of words.

That’s when Sheriff Dawsy acknowledged Grant and said, “…wasn’t open to the public or you” to which Grant responded, “OK. So you want us to leave the building? I just want to make sure Sheriff.”

Sheriff Dawsy replied, “You got it.” As Grant and Seeger’s mother, Wendy Moore, walked out, Grant said, “Do you hear that Ms. Moore?”

It is a case that has had tensions running high for the last five months during the Sheriff’s Office investigation that has led to the arrests.

Officials found Seeger shot to death in her car in Crystal River back in July.

Since then, attorney Bill Grant, who Seeger’s family hired after her murder, has always claimed Seeger was a confidential information for the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office.

Grant showed Bay News 9 documentation from 18 cases, he says, that date back to just three months before Seeger’s death in which he claims the documents prove three of those cases, he claimed, included Seeger’s killers.

“I appreciate where the Sheriff is coming from,” said Grant, “but I don’t believe it to be accurate.”

During her final days, Seeger’s mother says her daughter was afraid for her life and receiving death threats. Now, she says, she’s relieved the suspects are behind bars.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Moore said.

As for Sheriff Dawsy, he says everything will eventually come out in court but for now, he stresses, Seeger’s alleged killers, he says, are locked up.

"We were working for our victim,” Sheriff Dawsy said. “The victim only. Nobody else. And that we wanted to make sure we could find the suspects."

So far, the family attorney has filed at least one lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office and says more could be on the way.

As for Sheriff Dawsy, he said he will not let the case be played out in the media, rather in the courts.