Candace Hiltz /// Part 1 /// 140 | Forensic Files

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oh 17-year-old Candace hiltz was found dead August 15th 2006 she was shot seven times total six in the head and one in
the chest three guns might have been used to kill Candace hilts a shotgun a small caliber gun and a bullet from a
medium caliber gun the paths of the bullets are steeply downward back to front and left to right
the autopsy does not present evidence that the guns were fired at close range or the order she was shot Candice was
shot in the head once with a shotgun and then five times in the back with a gun of a small caliber she was also shot
once in the chest from the front with a gun of a medium caliber someone had broken into the home
of Candace hilts and murdered her that afternoon with the gun evidence was it one person using three
guns or two killers or possibly more this is just the first of many strange twist in the murder of
17-year-old Candace Hills and this is true crime [Music] garage [Music] Candace hiltz was born on December 22nd
1988 in Canon City Colorado Candace was born into a large family she was the only girl and the youngest child she had
nine older brothers unfortunately Candace was only 5 years old when her father passed away at a very early age
it was obvious that Candace was extremely intelligent Dolores hiltz is Candace's mother and she describes her
daughter as candy was a gift and noted that Candace was doing calculus at the age of 11 Candace's sister-in-law this
is Heather hiltz said the two were close growing up and grew even closer when she
married into the family and saying Candice was outspoken smart funny and would readily tell you what she thought
even if you didn't like what she was saying mhm sounds like somebody I know yeah sounds like somebody I'm sitting
next to uh sitting next to yourself she grew up to be a strong young lady who could give
her nine older brothers a dressing down if she thought they needed it now we mentioned that Candace was very smart uh
this is how smart she was when most kids her age were in high school she was enrolled at Brigham Young University
when Candace was 16 she was halfway done with college but then she got pregnant and then gave birth to a baby girl and
named her Paige this is in September of 2005 Paige was born with an illness this
is a hydris uh which is basically fluids uh or buildup of fluids on the brain or in
the brain this meant that Paige would not likely live a very long life Candice questioned her mother about how she
could afford to continue to go to college and also care for her ill daughter Dolores and Candace decided
that they would figure out something and Candace's mom never told her that she should drop out of school and just get a
job and tend to the baby no Dolores told her daughter that college was you know her daughter's dream and that they would
figure something out so by the age of 17 Candace was a mom and still a college student but now taking classes online
through BYU she was looking to fulfill another goal after BYU she had just received an acceptance letter to
Stanford law school so by by the age of 18 she was going to graduate from BYU and then go on to Stanford law school
her dream was to be a Supreme Court Justice on August 10th 2006 the sheriff department is going to show up at the
hilts home and they have questions because they're looking for Candace's brother yeah and this is uh officer
Robert Dodd from the local sheriff's department he's at the hilts home now we have to set this up a bit before we get
into this stuff so the hilts home is located in Fremont County in Colorado which is policed by the Fremont County
Sheriff's Department M Candace and her daughter Paige lived at Dolores hilts home remember this is Candace's mother
I've read several newspaper accounts of this and I'm still a bit fuzzy on who was all living at the home for reasons
that will become clear as we go but according to the newspaper accounts they are quoting Candace's mother Dolores uh
Candace and Paige lived at her home along with with a couple of her older brothers of those older brothers is
James hiltz who is a very big part of our story James suffered from some pretty severe mental illness his mother
describes this as he is very delusional and fearful of interaction with other people and this fear or phobia of other
people extended to his own family James's mother says that at this time in August of 2006 James was living in a
tent in the woods behind the hilts home now this is a very rural area so to be a
little bit more clear James was living deep in the woods behind their house so maybe something a little bit deeper than
just anxiety mhm maybe some sort of schizophrenia possibly that's what I would believe and the reports I read it
sounds like they would often not see James for days uh Dolores said James would rarely interact with anyone in the
hilts family he didn't have any close close friends because he had this fear of interacting or being around other
people theor said James believed that some other woman was his actual mother and this of course only distanced him
further from the family it sounds like this was a pretty long-term condition that they had been dealing with for a
long time uh because it's often reported that Candice stood up for her older brother uh because unfortunately a lot
of times people can be mean so anyway back to the Sheriff's Department mhm officer Robert Dodd was sent to the
hilts home he was there to question James uh the reports are for trespassing and stealing some items James entered
somebody's home and took some of their property well of course James is not there for officer Dodd to question him
because he's living in the woods um so officer Dodd talks to Dolores and Candice FYI I should throw this out
there we would only end up with one version of this story this would later come from Dolores for some reason
Candice becomes upset with the officer there could be a multitude of reasons for her becoming upset with him uh maybe
she didn't like the questions maybe it was possible things that were said about her brother that she didn't like yeah
and while she's also pretty young and even though she's doing these more adult activities by going to college and stuff
doesn't mean that she is mature for her age mhm or or what I you know what I think is probably most likely Captain if
this story is in fact true MH it's probably the way the officer was treating Candace's mother Dolores that's
my guess yeah you know the officer when told why Dolores could not produce her son James for questioning you know I
can't tell you where James is except he's living in a tent somewhere in the woods you know probably sounds strange
and weird to the officer almost like he's she's hiding her son or she's lying mhm uh so anyway Candace gets loud with
the officer there is there's now a l a loud argument going on between Candis in officer Dodd well and sometimes you
become pretty protective of individuals that are very protective of you mhm so that could be apparently at some point
Dodd threatens to arrest Candice and she for what well you know how these things
probably go down when an officer is not getting the answers that they want I I can just kind of picture this thing
working out in my head right he shows up he's looking for James he questions the
mother I can't tell you where he is except for he's living in the woods sounds like a madeup story the officer
gets upset with the mother probably threatens her with some kind of obstruction of justice situation then we
have Candace stepping in to defend the mother and I'm guessing he probably thre that obstruction of justice idea out to
Candace well apparently Candace kind of threatened him back cuz she's basically telling him yeah go ahead and arrest me
this is a tactic that they get with their handbooks right I I hope not no they do it's a the handbook is called uh
cops with small dicks handbook and when they feel threatened by you know 16 17year old female uh they have to pull
out these you're obstructing justice I'm going to arrest you yeah I mean I mean I
usually have the police backs but this situation sounds to me like a bully tactic you like I've run out of I've run
out my brain is small so I've run out of ideas now I'm just going to throw this well I'm going to arrest you idea out
there yeah no no I look I love cops I love anybody that is willing to sign up to protect and serve but again that
those those two words are not happening here who's he protecting MH he's not protecting Candice or the mother and
he's not serving the the public by threatening people that he's questioning well here's an idea if you really want
to find James okay yes he's he's thought to have broken into some homes and stolen some pretty small items that are
not extremely valuable if you really want to catch James isn't your best bet befriending the mother and family
members of this guy who's potentially living in the woods rather than going in there and disrupting the whole situation
and upsetting everybody well and I also think you know you you have to show respect to get respect and so I think a
lot of these times you know that you know they I think a lot of times people of authority will come in not just cops
but well they'll come in with the attitude that you I deserve respect it's like well look show them some respect
show them that you actually care look this isn't so much about your son breaking into somebody's home cuz that's
bad but these little items that they stole we can replace those but what's going to happen when your when your son
that has some mental illness breaks into a home with a with a gun owner and then
the gun owner protects their their property and protects himself and rightfully so and then your son ends up
dead because of this and if I think if you approach it in that manner then you're going to get some answers right
right and and maybe we need to just keep it as we'd like to talk to your son we don't know if he's guilty of anything at
all but again that goes back to Serve and Protect because then you're trying to explain to them hey we're trying to
serve the community but we're also trying to protect your son in the process here's the thing when DOD gets
threatened back by Candice she basically tells him to go ahead and arrest her because according to Dolores Candace
says that she tells DOD that she had seen him on several occasions accepting envelopes from known drug dealers and
she would gladly tell others at the Sheriff's Office what she had witnessed once he brings her in on this
arrest very very uh interesting play yeah Candace should should be should have been a poker player um officer do
she was ared in law so there's there's possibility too that you know she saw on law enforcement and she's like Brin it
I've been studying this my whole life MH officer Dodd eventually leaves the hilts
home that evening he never ends up speaking to James uh and he arrests no one that night MH now with within a few
days of this incident with officer Dodd the hilts family dog goes missing of course as we said this is a rural area
and that means you know there's about a 50-50 shot that this dog was an outside dog you know lived outside right uh I
have several friends that live out in the country without outdo dogs and well sometimes outside dogs take off on a
little adventure for a day or so and I know my friends don't really become alarmed until the dog is gone for like
three or more days okay uh so this it's hard to say if this set off any alarms or any red flags with the family okay we
had to take a little bit of a break there Captain apparently there chopping down forest around the garage so if you
hear some noise in the background that is not me feeding the captain into a wood chipper uh that's just that's just
some people taking care of say something so the people know that you're still here I'm here all right he's here I'm
one Lim short but no they're chopping down a tree or something and they're going to toss it into the grinder but we
don't have time to waste that's right so now of course Captain there are cases that we have a he said she said
situation this case well this case is a he said she said they said she said and oh yeah nobody's talking about this so
with all of that it makes it extremely tough to piece together this story but we're going to sift through this thing
together my friends throw it all into the mix stir up the pot and see what we're left with so with that in mind we
continue and I want to throw out here that some reports state that the family was alarmed that and concerned about the
missing family dog while other reports simply state that the family believed it's the country we've lived in the
country for a long time this was not a concern okay so let's recap real quick on August 10th while the sheriff's
department was looking for James hilts officer Dodd gets into an argument with Candace at her mother's home in front of
her mother then a couple days later the hilts notice that their dog is missing there is one News newspaper report
stating that Candice went to the Sheriff's Department It is believed this would be to file some sort of comp
complaint the report does not state where this information came from if a report was actually filed or by whom uh
they got this information so we cannot verify that and then there is August 15th this is just 5 days after the
argument with officer do Dolores is out running an erand and at home are her daughter Candice and granddaughter baby
Paige Dolores says that she left the home around noon she returned to the home a little after 3:30 p.m. that same
day when she arrived she does not see Candice instead she sees an obvious sign of a struggle she hears her
granddaughter crying and she makes her way through the house Dolores notices blood she gets to her daughter's her
granddaughter's room and Paige is in her crib crying there is a bed in this room
and the bed appears to have been propped up there's something underneath of it Dolores investigates it's a large
comforter stuffed under the bed and she pulls and tugs on the comforter pulling it from out under the bed as she pulls
on it it starts to unravel inside the comforter she discovers the lifeless body of her 17-year-old daughter the lus
knows that it is Candice but due to the injury she she sustained in her death Candice is
unrecognizable her face and head are a bloody mess at some point the authorities are called the Fremont
County Sheriff's authorities responded more than one hour later it took him a whole hour well what's confusing here is
what time was the call placed okay um because Dolores says that when she found her daughter that she you know she was
stricken by grief you know shocked at at the discovery and she she basically fell
to the floor and laid there holding uh Candace's hand for some time uh I'm unclear as to who called
911 um and and at what time that PL that call was placed but the reports that we
can see state that sometime about an hour to a little more than an hour after Dolores returned home is when the
sheriff's department arrived on the scene we have uh we have deputies Brisco and Dodd the Fremont County coroner this
is Dr Dorothy twillman uh followed shortly behind this was an obvious homicide from from the get-go the first
report to come out in the newspapers had little real information and was wrong uh
it it simply stated a girl's body was found dumped in a remote area of the county even though there's a lot of
reasons to speculate and question a lot of things in this case I don't find this
as anything of importance uh more than more than likely what happened is the sheriff's department offered little in
the way of information and the paper just ran with the story right they just went with speculation instead of facts
yeah the reporter was probably just told that they had found an unidentified girl
who had been murdered um the next reports were accurate with no you know with with again no real detail simply
stating Candace hiltz 17 died of multiple gunshot wounds on August 15 2006 in the family home in Copper Gulch
uh Area 25 mil Southwest of Canon City well you're telling me earlier too that a lot of reports uh reported Candice as
16 yeah like they couldn't even get the age right yeah there's several reports that say she's 16 and some saying she's
17 mhm years later Candace hilts mother Dolores hiltz discussed with the Daily Record about her daughter's murder
describing how she was the one who had found her daughter and that it was something she will never forget stating
that she had found her wrapped in a blanket underneath of the bed mhm it it was after Candace hiltz was found that
authorities began searching the area and they found the family dog um unfortunately the author the authorities
found the dog tied up to a tree in a place that quote you wouldn't have seen him uh the dog was tied to a tree and
killed with possibly an axe or some kind of hatchet now detectives are working on
a new Theory after having found the family dog tied up to this tree in the woods behind the house that someone had
either targeted the hilts house for a possible burglary or targeted Candice for murder the killer or Killers who had
done this took the dog and killed it a day or a couple days before forcing their way into the home and killing
Candice premeditated okay yeah they they also yeah premeditated break-in or premeditated murder they had also found
that someone had forced their way into the home using a crowbar or pry bar on a door forcing it open to gain entry into
the Residence at some point detective uh Bruce Brisco told Dolores that authorities believed her son James hiltz
was a person of interest in the case and they mounted a search to find him uh I have a newspaper report saying that he
was 28 and again some saying he's 29 not a big deal but it seems to be a common um you know Common occurrence in this
case yeah errors uh but anyway he's in his late 20s and at this time and he's over 10 years older than Candice at the
time of her murder the family is ordered out of the home this whole place is a crime scene Dolores is brought to the
Sheriff's Department for questioning during a 4-Hour interview Dolores hiltz said she was repeatedly asked who her
son was hanging out with she answered of course no one he won't even talk to his brothers it was then
discovered by the authorities that James was suffering from a psychotic episode or psychotic episodes and he had been
released early from a mental health facility and was living off the land apparently he was getting like you you
know how mothers are um even even when well you have a mother and you you are a guy that claims to know a lot of mothers
so we're going to bring that up again again yeah so you are an expert I don't need to tell you this but you know how
mothers are the best and here's why mother most of the time no matter what you do yeah maybe there might be some
distance between the two of you but they'll still try to help you out any way that they can and here's a good
example of that I don't I don't think you've met my mother apparent apparently uh James was getting food and water from
a camper outside of the hilts home that his mother was stalking she was keeping it stocked with food and water for him
okay so he would go and retrieve these items take it back to this show is sponsored by better help do you look
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today wherever he was camping in the woods and she wouldn't have to worry about him starving to death out there
right and then should also know if he took the food yeah that he still that's that's smart I didn't even think about
that uh she told detectives that James uh didn't come to the house wouldn't come to the house wouldn't talk to
anybody in the family also telling them that uh he's delusional and he thinks that Dolores is not his mother and some
other woman has replaced her so Within any mental break one could assume that almost anything is possible mhm but uh
what doesn't add up here is okay one how is he get in this crowbar to break into
the house and wouldn't he know a better way to get into the house and then also where is he coming up with these three
guns M do we have any evidence that he has through guns there's a lot of questions here uh and we can get back
into this right after this quick beer [Music] break [Music] [Music] all right we're back and I think they
stopped cutting that tree down all right so we are hunting for James hilts the Fremont County Sheriff's Office
announced that they were searching for James hilts stating deputies and additional law enforcement search teams
were searching for James calling him a person of interest in the death of Candace hiltz deputies and other law
enforcement Searchers were looking for James hilts in the area of deer mountain in Copper Gulch they described him as 5'
10 in tall 155 lbs with blonde hair and blue eyes he was believed to be in possession of at least two Firearms he
was of course considered to be armed and dangerous they had not filed any murder
charges against James at this time however and a couple of officers off the Record stated that they did believe that
James had murdered his sister well they found him on Friday just a couple days later and the well back up a little bit
because I mean you know again what was there proof that he had guns well if if they're calling him a
person of interest in this Murder She was obviously killed uh by way of gun um so they're assuming he has guns correct
but I think you know what I'm getting at is that law enforcement obviously has the responsibility of protecting the
public but also by saying that this individual that has guns that we have no evidence he has guns and he's mentally
ill you might be setting him up for a situation where somebody runs into him and they don't catch him alive is what
I'm saying and then if and if they don't catch him alive well then we can just pin this on him and move about our day
well yeah and you're right they do have they certainly most certainly have that obligation we have this situation here
where they're looking for the the older brother of a murder victim somebody that
they were already looking for on unrelated charges days before her murder MH and now you have a situation where if
you think he is a suspect and they they never call him to my knowledge they never call him a suspect just a person
of interest um if you have a Person of Interest Who you believe may have committed this crime but at the same
time you also believe that they have committed you know unrelated break-ins wow you have to find this guy
very quickly because if this is something he's escalated to we have a whole bunch of people that are in a
considerable amount of danger now well and I don't mean to throw law enforcement under the bus here because
they might have more knowledge of his priors because I don't have any knowledge of his priors other than these
you know AC accusations of him breaking and entering people's houses but no accusations or no um charges on violence
you're exactly right he had several run-ins with the law all of them were nonviolent offenses all of them were
pretty Petty crimes um but I'm just saying that law enforcement in a small town also might know of you know oh he
got in a fist fight here or there they might know about some things that we aren't aware of his family when they
were looking for him were they were saying you know from the get-go we don't we don't believe he did this for several
reasons but one of those being he had no previous History of Violence uh even toward the family you know sometimes
things happen within a family and it's not always reported to the authorities but they're saying he was not a violent
man but the problem is at the same time when you're telling me that your son is not a violent you're also telling me
that he might not even know who he is anymore um if if what you're telling me is the truth and and Dolores and family
you believe that to be the truth he doesn't believe you are his mother this guy is not what I would what I would
call delusional this is what I would call he's had some kind of break with reality uh he might be in his own isn't
that what a delusion is yes yeah probably is but but I I mean I don't think delusional is a big enough word
for what I think this kid is experiencing um I think he's had a break with reality I don't think he fully
knows what's going on or who the people around him may be um this could present a problem because if you have a person
who has become afraid for reasons we might not be able to comprehend he could become a dangerous person and now if
he's capable of breaking into other homes like I said we have a huge problem on our hand thankfully thankfully he is
located and they found him on that Friday in the rugged copper Gulch Iron Mountain Area this is south west of
Canon City just 3 days after the sheriff's deputies found Candace hiltz dead at her mother's home now after his
arrest I I want everybody to Let's listen carefully to the charges of okay if you weren't listening before start
listening now that's right everybody listen carefully okay James hiltz has been charged with first
and second degree burglary and criminal trespassing no all of these are considered felonies he is also being
charged with theft and criminal mischief authorities say that he broke into a home and stole hatchets and flashlights
Sheriff Jeff Beaker said searches have been conducted at the hilts home and people are being interviewed in
connection of the homicide James hiltz was scheduled to appear in the Fremont County court on August 31st he remained
at the Fremont County Jail on $500,000 BM until that time well okay let me just wrap my head around all this mess right
M so he's charged with all these felonies mhm right and what did he steal flashlights and hatchets yes that's
what's reported and we could assume that he's stealing these items for survival correct flashlights hatchets and uh we
know that he's mentally ill and we place a bond on him for 500,000 half a on a mentally ill person and I
understand that maybe he's a person of interest in a murder mhm but this is no justice at all this is a mentally ill
individual and you're charging him with these crimes where he was not attacking anybody he was not violent towards
anybody mhm and he was stealing stuff surviv you know trying to survive while he's going through this delusional state
or possible mental break like you called it mhm where's the Justice there well Captain I'm afraid am I have to disagree
with you if if you're saying what I think you're saying um I I I sympathize with what you're saying and I sympathize
with his condition as a as a citizen you know if I were living in the area or if
he were in my area and this went down here's the way I got to look at it he's arrested he's picked up on a Friday uh
they he probably didn't get any type of court hearing until the following Monday
uh so that Bond I'm guessing of 500,000 is set just 6 days after the murder of his sister now I understand that these
are lower level crimes that he's being held on however I do want to remind you some of those are considered to be
felonies and one thing that would be presented to the judge at the time is he is involved in a homicide
investigation uh we are talking to him about this we're talking to his family about this seeking information MH um and
furthermore um he could be a Flight Risk and what I mean by that is oh defin no I'm not look I'm not arguing with the
idea you know look the set a bail I get it but what I'm saying is the the initial charges are kind of ridiculous
anyways I understand that he committed that crime I'm I understand that he might possibly admit to that crime but I
think there needs to be a better system system in place to you know you're going
to take a mentally uh unstable individual and then put them in the system for breaking and entering so they
could survive mhm in a delusional State I mean that's what I have it more of an issue with and the reason why I say he's
a Flight Risk is he's living in the woods he's he's some kind of survivalist right he's been on they caught him in
Flight right um you know and when they did catch him I do want to say that uh they caught him he surrendered without
incident you know he didn't attack any of the people that were arresting him he didn't have any guns on him at the time
of course he didn't he he he had some kind of knife the newspapers reference a knife I don't know that that means that
he was a violent person I think no that means you're living in the woods if I were living in the woods I would do full
like Davey Crockett mode and I would have I would have knives and the [ __ ] skin cap and everything else going on
okay um actually actually you know what Captain I think I'm going to do you just
like dressing up I'm getting a lot of a lot of phone calls to my to my cell phone lately that that I don't want I'm
thinking about using this story here to update my voicemail greeting saying I'm sorry missed your call I'm now living in
the woods like Davey Crockett that's right so here's the thing I I think I think
it's reasonable the $500,000 Bond just because this is where my heads at no no that's fine but what I'm saying is you
know once the bond is done and stuff you're possibly putting somebody into a system that they're not going to be able
to get out of not going to be able to get uh adequate care for with their mental illness I I think they're look I
think we we have the justice system and I think we have to have an another system in place when it when we're
dealing with the mentally ill and I agree with that but I I agree with the $500,000 Bond because my opinion is
let's set this this thing a little high so we can hold him for a certain amount of time until we get this straightened
out maybe he's not our guy but I'm with you maybe maybe sitting in a jail cell or sitting in a jail amongst other
people waiting for trial is not the best location for this young man to be housed
while we're waiting to get to the bottom of this so anyway James was charged with
unrelated burglary charges uh he was never charged with the homicide uh we have to do some fast forward ing here
but eventually James was found not guilty on the burglary charges but this was by reason of insanity uh he was
eventually committed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in 2008 okay so I go on this whole rant and they
basically did the right thing yeah I think he ended up in the right place but I'm with you maybe jail especially with
his Affliction well they probably put him in a Cell by himself I hope so yeah but the the problem there is you know he
wasn't under any treatment so at least they said look we're going to drop these charges we know he's mentally ill let's
put him in a hospital and let's get him the treatment that he needs or try to get him the treatment that he needs mhm
and I did mention that they had no he had no firearms in his possession when he was arrested of course it was
suspected that he could have had one or two with him presumably guns that he would have used to uh in his sister's
murder I would like to know if they did the test to see if he fired a gun that's
good question and because we could assume that he's not taking showers well we have you know we have some listeners
that are involved in forensics and things like that I would love to hear and see on the blog if anybody could
clear this up because he was he wasn't captured until 3 days after her after her murder is this enough time I don't
know I don't know the uh the ins and outs of this whole situation but I imagine it washes off at some point yeah
I heard it's anywhere between like 24 and 48 hours okay but again I would wonder you know how how much does it
stay on the body depending on how much you wash you know if you fire a gun can you can you wash yourself uh two or
three times and get rid of this residue mhm um we'll get back to James situation
as far as whether he makes a good suspect or not because I think there's a lot to talk about there um after the
arrest of of James the remaining members of the HS family was now allowed back in
their home uh but when Dolores hiltz returned home she was shocked when she did Dolores has maintained for years
that the investigators botch this investigation Dolores hiltz has discussed with media how the
investigators did not take all the evidence with them uh that bullet casings were left behind as well as the
blanket her daughter was wrapped in she said that they left evidence in there for 3 Days adding that the Sheriff's
Office investigators didn't even tape off the house so so Captain they didn't they could have had anybody could have
got in there they didn't secure the home um they left evidence uncollected and they left a door wide open when that
right but now is there evidence of this or is this just she said he said stuff um I mean there is evidence of
this because she's collecting the evidence and then and then sending it back to them MH so that would be the
evidence of it okay yeah so here here's my thought on the door being left wide open okay I don't think this was like a
oh some you know born in a barn situation forgot to close the door I think this was probably the door that
whomever accessed to enter the home to break into the home it was probably busted up enough that it couldn't be
just closed and locked simply closed and locked but they could have boarded it up
in some fashion so that people couldn't enter the home while there's nobody there while they've told the family to
to vacate right but in law enforcement's defense I mean it could have been one of
those things where oh I pulled it shut and it seemed like it was going to stay shut mhm um but then wind open up the
door so it could be that case I mean my front door is the same way like if you go outside and you shut the door behind
you if you don't lock it it has a possibility of blowing open just from the wind mhm uh Dolores hiltz went to
the Fremont County Sheriff's Office and asked to speak with the uh Chief uh or the deputies that were on the scene this
is Dodd and Brisco um she was told that all of them all three of them were too busy and she insisted on staying there
until someone talked to her she said finally a young officer came out and she told him about her concerns now her
concerns are she's gone home the place was unsecured and there's evidence still there that's what she's trying to report
to them in person and she's she's getting nowhere with this she tells the young officer her concerns and nothing
happens so when no one called or no one came out to the house well Dolores hiltz
and her son this is her son Jonathan they went to a store to buy plastic bags and bagged up bullet casings themselves
to eventually take them to the officers she said in those 3 days the investigators that were there searching
the home they only took about 15 things uh in two envelopes and a they took a piece of paneling and a piece of carpet
and she said that's it now Jonathan hiltz this is her other son had taken forensic crime classes so the two of
them they put on protective booties and and gloves and they methodically photographed and bagged all of the
evidence that was left and placed it in a plastic container uh with an Evidence log that they they you know so they
whatever they didn't take yeah you know here's what they didn't take there was a
white computer speaker with blood on it that had been used to prop up the bed this was the bed she was found
underneath the uh the blanket that Candace was found in where her body was found uh was still at the home there was
a shotgun casing in the baby's cradle uh all the evidence they found as I said was tagged and bagged and it was put in
a container mhm later Brisco showed up with a search warrant and asked where the container of
evidence was and Dolores gave it to him okay now the Dolores has a very good quote uh when asked about this by the
media she said I'm I'm thinking seasoned cops don't leave evidence and these are
not rookie officers um that statement's very true right so but what is she implying by that what
she's implying is that it it looks like her and her son were able to find more evidence than what the the police left
with yeah no no I think that but I think there's maybe they left this on purpose
right right right I'm sorry that's that's exactly what I believe she's trying to tell all of us is that she
would have expected some you know some do good boy scout cop to maybe show up and not know what he's doing and
Overlook some of these things to do good boy scout always be prepared he would have collected the evidence that's right
sorry about that I apologize throw the whole uh wee blow Scouts under the bus I'm a rude person yeah you feed me into
the wood chipper you yeah I already lost the limb it's now your turn my friend uh
but I think I think you're right on your spot on there Captain she's she's pointing out these guys have been around
the block too long they've been on the job too long uh it almost seems like they weren't willing to take this stuff
with them for whatever reason who knows right so that kind of goes with the whole conspiracy theory about this case
though is that you're if you're looking for this individual that's breaking in and entering into houses and steing
these little you know flashlights and whatnot MH then uh this young girl kind of runs her mouth to this cop and then
the cop decides hey you know what I'm going to teach this young girl lesson and that lesson is then we're going to
murder you M for whatever reason and I think maybe that it wasn't just her running her mouth but did did what
Candace said to that officer did it strike a nerve now point this out so if she said okay well well I know that
you're taking money from drug dealers or I've seen this or I could prove this and
I have other eyewitnesses and then let's say there's more than one cop involved in this then that cop has to tell his
buddy cop and he tells another buddy cop and then they show up and they go okay we're going to get rid of her and guess
what we got an easy person to pin this on her crazy brother mhm and so when we get to the scene oh well there's this
evidence we don't really want to have that all collected because this this evidence is going to start pointing you
know you you can't hide certain facts just like you know there was three guns used in this murder mhm so how did that
happen if it was just one individual right you know it becomes a you know it doesn't make a lot of sense so you got
to connect the dots mhm and so by not collecting that evidence it goes more towards that conspiracy theory that
maybe the cops were involved well and one thing that is very telling so you bring up an interesting topic here
because one of the big reasons why Dolores will point out amongst other several other details why her son James
should not be a suspect right is that he he had no friends he had no people that
he interacted with he didn't run around around with anybody and like you said this this case well like I said earlier
this case is very strange because you have two almost completely different stories you have the the story of the
sheriff's department and you have the story of the hilts family the one place where they do match up is it seems to be
that the sheriff's department and the hilts family both can agree that two or more people committed this crime
committed this murder and the and verification of that is the sheriff's department asking Dolores who does your
son hang out with she's not you know it's not just where is your son it's who does your son hang out with because they
know early in the get-go this thing was committed by at least two people well Dolores on the other end will say that's
why he's not a good suspect because he had no friends he didn't hang out with anybody he was afraid he had a phobia of
being around other people of having relationships with people people it's that that is an interesting
point where they actually match up in their beliefs right well part of the police right you know what I mean so I I
think that's where it gets odd there and and yeah it is it two or three people I
don't know it certainly doesn't look like one um and here's one of the other things that Dolores would point out when
they're they're worried about her son James um remember the the house was broken into the hilts home was broken
into somebody used a breaker bar a pry bar crowbar whatever you want to call it to break into this door and then gets
into the home James hiltz when he did come in the house uh which apparently he did go back into the house on occasion
but this would only be when nobody was at the home right supplies there was a butter knife that was hidden underneath
a the front step step uh to the home and he would use this butter knife to pop open the front door yeah so he had no
reason to you know basically bust his way into that door yeah that doesn't exclude him though just because again if
he is in some manic state or some delusional State you know he might not even understand what he's breaking into
mhm so it wouldn't be like oh well I have no clue what's happening oh I remember there's a butter knife here he
could be so far gone that you know he thinks he's breaking into a you know a castle or something and that's exactly
right those are the questions that come into my mind and these are reasons why I
cannot exclude James as a good suspect I I think he's I think he's right up there
I think he's right up there there's there's questionable things going on in this family there's questionable things
going on in this household and I don't know that any of us have a clue what's going on with James um here's here's the
question I I I want to talk about okay we already talk about that he he may not have had to have Breo breaken into the
home MH now he he he's already went into other people's homes and he's stolen some items now we said that the dog
appeared to have been killed with an axe or a hatchet well one of the items or believed that he had stolen from these
other homes was in fact a hatchet it's actually in one report states that he had stolen more than one Hatchet um so
he has the means uh to do this uh regarding the dog yeah um and it's a it's a very strange thing to do for for
anyone to do an act like that but horrible act horrible act if he did in fact have a hatchet was he stealing it
for more than one reason um or you know it it to me it looks like he had the means to kill the dog the problem well
the other problem too with the break-ins is you report that hatchet right mhm but what if you have a illegal
weapon normally when somebody breaks into your house and then let's say you had a a shotgun that wasn't registered
to you mhm and somebody steals it you normally don't repeat you don't report that to the cops right so so that's the
other issue too then then you go okay well he has these hatchets well that kind of puts him in the more likely that
maybe he killed this dog scenario mhm and then well how did he get the guns well if he's breaking into houses
and stealing guns and I I'd wonder if any of those individuals would come forward and say well I actually did have
a shotgun or I did have a 22 and that yeah and that's why I questioned the statement that he did not have access to
Firearms it when you're busting into people's homes and taking things you have access to a lot of things that you
normally don't have access to uh the big question for me on those on those other
burglary charges I would love to know how he gained access access into those homes right because here's the thing it
we can say all day long that he would not have broken into his own home that he would not have busted open this door
and went in there we can't say that if that is exactly how he was gaining access into these other homes my
suspicion is that my suspicion Captain is that he was not breaking into these homes and the reason why I say that is
when I look at the charges he's charged with first and second degree burglary but charged with criminal trespassing
meaning that he was in an area that he shouldn't be for reasons that that were no good right and but you would expect
to see a breaking and entering charge with with James which we do not see so I'm wondering with this being a rural
area is this just a simple situation of people leaving their doors unlocked he knows nobody's home and he lives in the
woods he can creep up on your house whenever he feels like it check the doors and walk around your home and
collect items that he believes he needs for whatever Survival game he's playing in the woods yeah that's a very good
point and also too I mean look if anybody knows the credit card trick depending on where that your door
latches like you can take a credit card or or a butter knife or anything and just pop that door open and maybe that's
what he was doing and then you wouldn't know if the door was locked or unlocked anyways right so he obviously knows this
little trick um and also you know once this trick became more popular they started making sure that all the locks
kind of go one way um so but it's interesting it's it's definitely interesting and so if they're not
reporting that he broke in then again what else did he take that they're not reporting the other thing too is when
when he's picked up when they find him there's no report of them saying Oh we found a bloody hatchet with the guy
right you know um there was not what I would call any damning evidence against him other than he's misunderstood we we
don't really know what kind of Lifestyle he's living or what state of mind he is
in at the time of that his sister is killed yeah and I would say that with his mental state he has to be a suspect
the one thing I can't get over is then how did this individual have three guns and then when they decided to you know
Murder their sister they decided to use three different guns on this on this individual and there is some speculation
that some of the gunshot wounds happen at the same time yes there is speculation of that um it is it would be
possible for one person to use two or three guns on the same victim the reason why Captain I can't rule him out I is I
got to paint a picture for you okay we have we have a man um that that is in need of some help in need of have some
support he's living in the woods we do not know what's going through his mind if if I try to put myself in his
situation we know that he doesn't believe that his mother is his mother can you imagine where you're waking up
every day in the woods you're sleeping in the dark Forest every night and you're waking up every day going you
know what there's this house that's not too far from here and it's full of these
people that I've never met that I don't know who they are and they keep telling me that they're my family that this is
my mother my sister my brothers um it it's it's a it's I could see somebody panicking and doing
something very strange in that situation it's almost it's almost like being you know he's had a breakup with reality and
he's thrown into a world that he cannot understand right therefore I don't know that we can understand or put limits on
what we think he is capable of or what he's not capable of right so you're you're basically stating that your
opinion is that the family's like he's not a violent individual so therefore he couldn't have done this mhm you know
close case on him let's throw a little other Theory out there no I'm saying I believe in this but just go with me on
this right okay so this person that is not capable this person that is not violent has a mental break with reality
and you normally would see certain types of breaks of reality with the same individual right like somebody that
you're caring for somebody that is in your family that has mental illness right they have a normal set the the way
they break with that reality is normally the same but what if this time was different right mhm and then the family
comes we got an hour window from the time that they supposedly see the body mhm and call the
cops mhm what takes place in that hour and then on top of that remember how all this evidence that
the police didn't collect mhm that they then collected and then then gave to was
this created even after they left H you see what I'm saying right like it starts
creating some answers for some of these things that these questions arise and so
your thought would be okay what if you knew that he murdered her and then now you're you have two options your your
daughter's already dead mhm and and what is going to happen to him what is going
to happen to your mentally ill son and what's an easy way to cover this up if she is shot by multiple guns then
they're going to assume that she was killed by multiple people and guess what he doesn't have multiple people in his
life or multiple friends mhm so look it's not a theory I believe in I'm just saying it does answer some of the weird
questions that we do do have yeah I thought I was steering the ship in a in a unpopular Direction by saying I would
still consider him a suspect and man you drove it right into the right into the iceberg there saying this is not this is
not what I this is not what I believe saying not only could he be still a suspect but possibility of the family
covering his tracks for him very interesting stuff and there's a lot more there's a lot more strange twists and
turns and icebergs along the way in this case yeah and let's just be clear that's
is not what I think I'm just putting out the possibilities and I think when you're trying to get to the answers
right you're trying to funnel everything down to get to the answers you have to look at every possible thing and where
does the evidence point you know you so I I I think that's that's all I'm doing and I think people should exercise that
right and exercise themselves in doing that more often with these cases you know to funnel into the truth no you're
you're exactly right because this is a case that requires everyone to put on their thinking cap and you need a really
big tall thinking cap for this this case because there's so many possibilities and so many just weird stuff um it's
going to get pretty he I can't really explain it any more than weird stuff so for more weird stuff we'll be back in
the garage tomorrow and hopefully there's no wood chipper [Music] all right thank you guys so much for
listening and we'll see you tomorrow back in the garage until then be good be kind and don't
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Candace Hiltz /// Part 1 /// 140

Part 1 of 2

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Candace Hiltz, 17, was murdered on August 15, 2006. She was described at the time as a teen mother who had an 11-month-old daughter. Candace's family, said Candace had an altercation of some sort with an officer at the sheriff's office about a week before she was killed. Just days before her death the family's dog went missing. James Hiltz, Candace's older brother, was a person of interest in the murder but never was charged. Multiple family members who have spoken out all say James Hiltz was not the murderer and that he wouldn't have hurt his younger sister. Many suspect someone in law enforcement killed Candace. Candace's family continues to fight for justice.

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Brief Summary

Candace Hiltz was murdered in 2006; her brother James, a person of interest, had a history of mental illness and police mishandled the investigation.

Key points

The Tragic Murder of Candace Hiltz. 17-year-old Candace Hiltz was found dead, shot multiple times in her home.
Candace's Academic Brilliance. Despite personal struggles, Candace excelled academically and was accepted to Stanford Law.
A Family's Grief. Dolores Hiltz discovers her daughter's lifeless body after returning home.
Family Dog Found Dead. Authorities discover the family dog tied to a tree, raising suspicions about the murder.
James Hiltz Becomes Person of Interest. James Hiltz is identified as a person of interest in his sister's murder.
James Hiltz's Arrest. James is arrested days after his sister's murder, facing multiple charges.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Candace was a gift.

Dolores Hiltz describes her daughter Candace.

6:04WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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