CO CO - Candace Hiltz, 17, Fremont County, 15 Aug 2006

[Roselvr]

Candace Hiltz 17, found slain in her home in Canyon City on Aug. 15, 2006. Her brother was arrested but not charged in her murder.

I started reading about her death on City-Data years ago when her family made a thread Tragedy in Canyon City. They said police didn't secure the crime scene after it happened, then the evidence went missing. Now there is a story in the news where evidence has turned up in a storage shed that belonged to a cop. Some guy bought it and instead of turning it in he took it home to look at it. Will add more info tomorrow. Surprised there isn't a thread for it yet

Contents sold at auction after deputy failed to pay bill Evidence in Hiltz case found in storage unit

Candace Hiltz was 17 when she was found slain Aug. 15, 2006, in the family home in the Copper Gulch area 25 miles southwest of Canon City. She was the victim of multiple gunshot wounds.

Her brother, James Hiltz, then 29, was listed as a person of interest and was the subject of a three-day manhunt. When he was arrested, he was not charged with his sister’s murder but instead was charged with unrelated burglary counts in connection with a Copper Gulch home break-in.

After several mental health evaluations and court proceedings, Hiltz was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the burglary charges and committed to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo in 2008.

On Dec. 17, Rick Ratzlaff of Canon City bought the contents of two storage units here that came up for auction after their owners failed to pay the rental fees.

“It was snowing, so I let this one sit on the back burner,” Ratzlaff said of storage unit No. 47.

“When I opened it, I knew it was a sheriff’s officer’s because there were uniforms and sirens and lights off of cop cars,” Ratzlaff explained.

What he hadn’t bargained for were the evidence envelopes he found when he started going through the boxes.

“There were manila envelopes that had evidence across them in big black letters and a stamp for a case number, but there was no case number. The big one had a bloody rope; the smaller manila envelope had two female blood-soaked socks; and the medium one had a weapon fall out the bottom of it. It was a chrome ax that also had blood on it,” Ratzlaff said.

Dodd is a lieutenant/detective at the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office. Dodd had rented the storage locker in 2015 but failed to pay the lease fee, Ratzlaff said he was told by the storage unit business owner.

Ratzlaff said he took some of the evidence home to study it, but left much of it in the storage unit.

 

[Mamamerced]

http://www.chieftain.com/mobile/mse...idence-dolores-daughter#.WH2KKBFLagh.facebook

 

[Tulessa]

http://www.chieftain.com/mobile/mse...idence-dolores-daughter#.WH2KKBFLagh.facebook

Uh oh!!!

CANON CITY — Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker said Monday that he has placed sheriff’s Lt. Robert Dodd on administrative leave after it was reported Saturday by The Pueblo Chieftain that evidence in a gruesome decades-old murder case was found in a storage unit formerly rented by Dodd.

Candace Hiltz, 17, died of multiple gunshot wounds Aug. 15, 2006, in the family home in the Copper Gulch area 25 miles southwest of Canon City. No arrests were ever made in the case.

A local citizen, Rick Ratzlaff, recently bought the contents of a storage unit in auction that had been rented by Dodd, but Dodd lost control of the unit’s contents because he failed to pay rental fees.

When he looked inside, Ratzlaff found some of Detective Dodd’s old uniforms with his name badge on it, sirens and lights off of police cars, and several items in envelopes marked, “Evidence.”

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.9news.com/news/crime/fam...iscovery-of-locker-linked-to-murder/386869606

“They came down the hallway, they shot, missed her, she turned and then she was shot in the head and in the back,” Heather Hiltz said, Candace’s sister-in-law.

A decade passed without much movement on the case, until December when a man named Rick Ratzlaff purchased a storage locker in Fremont County...

The family dog was killed days before Candace's death. Hiltz says the ax and rope used to kill the dog was found in the locker. She says her socks and a blanket were also found.

 

[Roselvr]

Who was Candace Hiltz?

Candace Hiltz, 17, who was murdered on Aug. 15, 2006, was described at the time as a teen mother who had an 11-month-old daughter, but little else was shared about the homicide victim.

Dolores Hiltz describes her daughter as someone who was very intelligent.

“Candy was a gift. She was doing calculus at age 11.”

“At 17, she was a third-year college student taking classes (online) through BYU. She had just received an acceptance letter to Stanford Law School,” Dolores Hiltz said.

Candace questioned her mom about how she could ever afford to go to college and care for her terminally ill daughter.

“I told her it is a dream of hers and we would figure out a way to make it happen,” she said.

“By 18, she was going to graduate from BYU and go on to Stanford Law School. Her dream was to be a supreme court justice,” Dolores Hiltz said.

Candace was 5 when her Dolores Hiltz’s husband died, but she grew to be a strong young lady who could give her “nine older brothers a dressing down if she thought they needed it.”

There are photos OF Candace in the article, such a beautiful girl and according to the article, very smart. No doubt someone would be jealous of her. I just can't imagine why someone would take her away from her daughter who was sick. That had to be 2 very, heartless people to kill the dog and murder Candace the way they did. I don't understand why LE would try to pin it on her brother. What a nightmare for the family! My heart really breaks for her mother Dolores and Candace’s sister-in-law Heather.

Non mobile link -

http://www.chieftain.com/mobile/mse...idence-dolores-daughter#.WH2KKBFLagh.facebook

Mother talks about mishandling of her daughter’s murder case By Tracy Harmon - Published: January 16, 2017; Last modified: January 17, 2017 03:44PM

Subsequently, Ratzlaff met the sheriff and another officer at the unit, and the two officers took the evidence — as directed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation — back to the sheriff’s department.

It is unknown why the evidence was taken from the sheriff’s department in the first place. Beicker on Monday only issued a short statement at a press conference and would not take questions from the news media.

Beicker confirmed in his statement that on Dec. 30, he and Commander Jeff Worley “did briefly look at the evidence in the storage locker and immediately contacted CBI regarding the matter. With their consultation, we catalogued, photographed, collected and secured the items, moving them into the Fremont County evidence storage.

“On Jan. 3, the CBI sent two agents to meet me and they took over all the evidence. Because it’s an active investigation, until it is complete I will be unable to give any further information,” Beicker said.

The CBI confirmed over the weekend that it is investigating how the evidence came to be in a storage unit.

Dolores Hiltz turned her attention to caring for Paige, who was born with a terminal illness and required around-the-clock care. She also was caring for two of her sons who remained at home.

When she has time, she stops at the public defender’s office in Salida and reviews its 2,000-page case file, which contains an autopsy report and a report by the public defender’s investigator.

“There were at least two gunmen. She was shot simultaneously from two directions and was dead before she hit the floor.

“She had two shotgun wounds — one to the back of the head and one to the left of the back of her head. She had 8-10 .22(-caliber) gunshot wounds in her left side,” Dolores Hiltz said.

“When they were dragging her body down the hall, I think she had death tremors and her head touched the doorway and left a wavy blood pattern on the door,” she said.

She believes a shooter reloaded the shotgun and shot Candace again in the chest because it was listed as an after-death wound.

The casing ejected from that shot flew 6-8 feet behind the shooter and landed in Paige’s cradle, she explained.

“Some towels and laundry that I had on top of the dryer were used by one of them to clean themselves off. They took the towels in a garbage bag that was found dumped off of 15th Trail and I identified them as mine,” she said.

“DNA on the towels was from an unrelated unknown person. The DNA was not from a relative of mine — no family member,” she explained.

Dolores Hiltz believes her son James was “a scapegoat. He was suicidal and a delusion mess, but he could not have hurt her,” she said.

A blanket recovered by Ratzlaff in the storage unit is familiar to her.

“It is the blanket her body was in — the blanket that myself and Jonathan Hiltz bagged,” she said.

Bloody socks that Ratzlaff recovered, “I do believe were on her feet when I pulled her from under the bed. They would have been taken off with her clothes when she was taken to the autopsy,” she said.

A hatchet recovered by Ratzlaff also is familiar to her because it was one she owned. It was probably laying outside by a woodpile and it is the weapon that was used to kill the family dog, Jackson, which disappeared three days before Candace’s murder.

“The rope he (Ratzlaff) found may have been the one that was used when Jackson died. She was taken to a back hill, tied to a tree and axed. If someone had tried to break in, she (the dog) would have been ballistic,” she said.

“I did everything I needed to do to keep going. Paige died six years, one month and three days after my daughter and I believe they are together again,” she said. “It is still so unreal, like a nightmare that never ends.”

“I felt like I could never say anything because if an officer killed her and they were covering up for him, I can’t lose any more children, and anyone who would do that to a 17-year-old girl has no soul,” she explained.

She also sometimes thinks that perhaps it was a couple of girls who were jealous of Candace and not an officer who killed her daughter because of the after-death shot.

 

[Roselvr]

Candace had a stroke while pregnant, her baby had Hydranencephaly. I can't imagine what kind of monsters could murder Candace when she had a baby that needed her so very much. Such a beautiful little girl, no doubt she was treasured by her grandma.

Wiki - Hydranencephaly or hydrancephaly [1] is a condition in which the brain's cerebral hemispheres are absent to varying degrees and the remaining cranial cavity is filled with cerebrospinal fluid.[2]

Saying goodbye to 'miracle baby,' Paige Hiltz By Carie Canterbury Posted: 12/15/2012 09:49:45 AM MST

Paige Hiltz was not expected to live more than a few days.

However, she lived for seven years, bringing lots of joy and smiles to her family. Her doctor called her a "miracle baby."

"Paige was a special baby," said Bethann Lorusso, Paige's aunt. "When she was born, the doctor said she had hours to maybe a few days to live. She lived to be 7."

Paige was born Sept. 19, 2005, and died Nov. 22, on Thanksgiving Day.

When her mother, Candy Hiltz, was pregnant, she had a stroke that affected Paige, Lorusso said. The baby was diagnosed with hydrencephaly -- an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in cavities of the brain -- when she was born. Doctors put a shunt in her brain when she was an infant.

She couldn't walk or talk but she certainly could smile.

"Every once in a while she would laugh for us if you tickled the right spot," Lorusso said. "I miss her."

Paige was raised by her grandmother, Dolores Hiltz, in Cotopaxi after Candace was murdered in August 2006. Her killer was never found, and Paige never got to celebrate her first birthday with her mother.

 

[rpgman]

just marking my spot

 

[leep]

Is the copper hiding the evidence to save someone if so why hasn't he destroyed it or is it some ghoulish thing he's into like collecting things from big cases he's been involved in I don't know but his actions are very wrong [emoji848]
How would a cold case team solve this case with evidence hidden in this idiots storage unit SMDH.


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[yorick]

Knew I had to head straight to websleuths when I read about this today. Hope this new information somehow brings justice.

Today was the first time I heard about this, from a Daily Mail article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4200058/Sheriff-kept-evidence-cold-murder-case-storage.html

 

[DeeMarie]

Why did a Colorado sheriff’s officer keep bloody evidence from a murder case hidden in storage for years?
Cold Case: Mom says Fremont County sheriff bungled Candace Hiltz murder investigation

The “theft” and hoarding of evidence — including bloody clothing, an ax and a blood-stained rope — in 17-year-old Candace Hiltz’s murder case is so telling, her mother said, that she no longer fears her son will be framed.
“(Dodd) had to steal the evidence from the basement of the sheriff’s office. He did that either to protect himself or someone else,” Hiltz said.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/06/candace-hiltz-colorado-cold-case-murder-evidence-hidden/


Fremont County Sheriff's Office Lt. Det. Robert Dodd put on administrative leave
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com...ont-county-sheriffs-office-lt-det-robert-dodd

 

[DeeMarie]

Is the copper hiding the evidence to save someone if so why hasn't he destroyed it or is it some ghoulish thing he's into like collecting things from big cases he's been involved in I don't know but his actions are very wrong [emoji848]
How would a cold case team solve this case with evidence hidden in this idiots storage unit SMDH.
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Good questions - also they need to investigate County Sheriff's Office Lt. Det. Robert Dodd for all the cases he worked on. What else did he hide or do illegally?

 

[Betty P]

Praise for Mr Ratzlaff who handled this so well. He reported it to CBI and gave the story to the news media so the local police wouldn't be able to cover it up again.

 

[Roselvr]

Praise for Mr Ratzlaff who handled this so well. He reported it to CBI and gave the story to the news media so the local police wouldn't be able to cover it up again.

He only did that after the storage unit was robbed by the officer that went there. I don't think he intended to give the items back
Contents sold at auction after deputy failed to pay bill and a link to the audio of the discussion when the officer came to the storage unit.
LISTEN: Meeting between Rick Ratzlaff & Fremont Co. Sheriff James Beicker - KRDO


Thanks for bumping the thread guys, been trying to get back here to post a few articles. I'm also waiting on another article where her mother commented on it

Candace Hiltz's mother says autopsy report is wrong - Canon City Daily Record By Sarah Matott - Posted: 01/26/2017 09:07:19 PM MST

Candace Hiltz's mother said parts of her daughter's autopsy aren't true.

The autopsy itself was obtained from the Fremont County Coroner after the Daily Record filed a request under the Colorado Open Records Act. Before, the autopsy was not released to the public because the homicide investigation is still technically open.

Candace's mother, Dolores Hiltz, said statements in the autopsy are false. <snip>

In the report, a section labeled "Scene Investigation" states Candace was last seen alive at noon Aug. 15, 2006, and was later found by her boyfriend, who is not named in the report.

"The boyfriend of the deceased had left to go to Cañon City and then drove home," according to the report. Eventually, the report said, he arrived at Candace's house and heard her 1-year-old daughter, Paige, screaming.

"He entered the residence, saw blood and picked up the baby who appeared unharmed. He then went outside with the baby and took her to his wife. He then returned to the deceased's home and found the deceased placed underneath the bed unresponsive," according to the report.

Dolores Hiltz said she was the one who discovered her daughter under the bed. She also said the man in the report was not Candace's boyfriend and added that he was not married.

That man, she said, was her friend's son.

Dolores Hiltz, who said she rarely left Candace and Paige alone at their home in the Copper Gulch area, asked him to check on them because she went with a friend to Cañon City that day.

"When he went to the house to go check on them, that's when he heard Paige screaming," Dolores Hiltz said.

After that, she said, her friend's son went inside the house and found Paige. He then grabbed the infant and took her to the neighbor's house.

Dolores Hiltz said she then returned to her house, where the neighbors and her friend's son were waiting. Together, they all began looking for Candace, and it was Dolores Hiltz who followed the blood in the hallway to her daughter's room, where she saw a bloody blanket sticking out from under the bed.

Other details in the autopsy were incorrect, she said, such as a statement that bullet casings of three calibers were used to shoot Candace. Dolores Hiltz said it was only two &#8212; a shotgun and possibly a .22 mm.

She also said the evidence shows her daughter was shot by two people, in the back and in the front.

According to the autopsy, Candace was shot a total of seven times &#8212; six times in the head and once in the chest.

Fremont County Sheriff's Office denies request for Hiltz 911 transcripts - By Sarah Matott - Posted: 02/01/2017 03:42:43 PM MST

A request for the 911 transcript and recordings from the day Candace Hiltz was found murdered has been denied by the Fremont County Sheriff's Office.

The request, which asked for the 911 call from Aug. 15, 2006, was formally filed by the Daily Record under the Colorado Open Records Act and the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.

Because 911 calls fall under public records, the Daily Record requested the recordings and transcripts to gather more information about the day Hiltz was murdered and the investigation that followed, specifically who called 911 and who responded to the Hiltz residence that day.

"The Sheriff determined that disclosure of the records would contrary to the public interest, as the records are part of criminal justice investigatory files and are actively being reviewed by law enforcement agencies in connection with an investigation," Jackson said in the letter.

The letter did not specify which investigation the 911 recordings are being used in, but Jackson clarified that the only active investigation being conducted at this moment is by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

"Until they have concluded their work, the Sheriff won't be able to make a determination of whether the homicide investigation should be reopened," Jackson said.

In the letter, she also states that the record would possibly become available in the future, when the "pending" investigation is complete.

"A separate determination will be made at the time. At the present time, however, there is an active investigation to which the records are relevant and disclosure will not occur," Jackson said in her letter.

Fremont County Sheriff's Office denies second records request - By Sarah Matott - Posted: 02/03/2017 06:01:48 PM MST

A request for all incident and police reports regarding the Fremont County Sheriff's Office involvement on the day Candace Hiltz was found murdered has been denied.

The request was asking for all reports filed regarding the day Hiltz was found, as well as any arrest affidavits for James Hiltz, Candace Hiltz's brother.

This is the second records request made by the Daily Record to the FCSO under the Colorado Open Records Act and the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.

All records of "official action" fall under public records. These records can include arrest and indictment information, case dispositions and judicial determinations.

The Daily Record requested these records after a previous request was denied for the 911 recordings and transcripts from Aug. 15, 2006, the day Candace Hiltz was found dead.

The Daily Record requested these records to gather more information the day Hiltz was murdered and the investigation that followed.

On Thursday, the FCSO denied the open records request through a letter, sent via email from Fremont County Attorney Brenda Jackson

"The Sheriff determined that disclosure of the records would contrary to the public interest, as the records are part of criminal justice investigatory files and are actively being reviewed by law enforcement agencies in connection with an investigation," Jackson said in the letter.

A second request for any police reports was also sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Susan Medina, public information officer for CBI, said CBI was an assisting agency for the Hiltz case, but all records still would go through the FCSO. Medina also suggested that those records were possibly being reviewed by CBI for their investigation of the FCSO and Lt. Det. Robert Dodd.

CBI's investigation of the FCSO started after Rick Ratzlaff of Cañon City found evidence from the 2006 homicide in a storage unit that once belonged to Dodd.

Evidence included a bloody rope, an ax and boxes of paperwork.

 

[lisette]

...Dolores says that days before her daughter's murder, a cop had visited their family home over accusations that her son James, who has mental issues, had trespassed....
...She says that her daughter had become upset over the deputy's tone and ended up losing her temper and shouting at him. When he threatened to arrest her, she responded by saying she'd seen the officer accepting envelopes from drug dealers.
The officer stormed out the house, Dolores Hiltz said.
Three days later, the family dog was found murdered with an ax and tied to a tree with a blood stained rope - both of which were found in the storage unit....

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-cold-murder-case-storage.html#ixzz4Y9qSDjLC

Wow! Didn't see this in any of the other articles, but Wow! Wonder if the deputy was Dodd?

 

[Heyits_tay04]

All of this is terrible but why the dog??


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Justice for Susan Winters.

 

[Hope32]

All of this is terrible but why the dog??

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Justice for Susan Winters.

REad in one of the articles that the dog may have been territorial and started barking at unfamiliar people

 

[Heyits_tay04]

REad in one of the articles that the dog may have been territorial and started barking at unfamiliar people

I know the reason behind it and the whole thing is sick.


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Justice for Susan Winters.

 

[Roselvr]

All of this is terrible but why the dog??


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Justice for Susan Winters.

Because someone was planning to kill her.
Read over the family post here. There are 79 comments.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-cold-murder-case-storage.html#ixzz4Y9qSDjLC

Wow! Didn't see this in any of the other articles, but Wow! Wonder if the deputy was Dodd?

Her mother is very active on the FB posts -

Canon City Daily Record News February 4 at 11:33am ·

Fremont County Sheriff's Office denies second records request: http://bit.ly/2kzYA1L

 

[SweetCaroline]

The cowards killed the dog because they knew they'd come back to kill Candace and the dog would rip them to shreds defending her person.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Candace Hiltz 17, found slain in her home in Canyon City on Aug. 15, 2006. Her brother was arrested but not charged in her murder.

I started reading about her death on City-Data years ago when her family made a thread Tragedy in Canyon City. They said police didn't secure the crime scene after it happened, then the evidence went missing. Now there is a story in the news where evidence has turned up in a storage shed that belonged to a cop. Some guy bought it and instead of turning it in he took it home to look at it. Will add more info tomorrow. Surprised there isn't a thread for it yet

Contents sold at auction after deputy failed to pay bill Evidence in Hiltz case found in storage unit

Thank you so much for starting this thread, Roselvr. Just finished reading all of the posts, and had chills run down my spine. I hope that those responsible (I am fairly certain there is more than one involved in this) are caught soon and that justice is done swiftly.

I cannot imagine the anguish -and fear- Candace's family must have been living in, and will probably continue to for some time to come. I am really afraid to say too much myself given what I have read about this Sheriff's Office, as well as the prosecutors in the case.