WA - Candice “Candy” Rogers, 9, Spokane, 6 March 1959 *suspect died*

[gregjrichards]

I am glad that they managed to identify the monster who did this wicked crime. It is desperately sad and a terrible tragedy how Candy died and according to a post at the start of the thread Candy’s Dad tragically took his own life a few months after she died. I’m sorry he wasn’t charged and convicted whilst he was still alive and that Candy’s Mum sadly died of cancer quite a long time ago.

I am pleased that the Daily Mail article link down below states that Candy’s Cousin Joanne is still alive to see him be identified. I feel extremely sorry for his daughter Cathie it must be extremely distressing to find out that your Father has done an evil crime like this and that he also attacked a woman who thankfully survived. She is a good person for agreeing to provide a dna sample to law enforcement, I am sure that is not an easy thing to do emotionally when you greatly fear what you may be told about your Father.

I have a lot of respect for the law enforcement in Spokane for not giving up in finding out who is responsible for what happened to Candy. You fear after so many years have passed that cases like this one will never be solved and that they are not a priority but it is clear that is not the case. According to the Daily Mail article: “Retired Spokane Police Capt. Richard Olberding, who was one of the officers who found Rogers's body, told the Spokesman-Review that he was glad to see the case closed.

'I thank God that I lived long enough to see the end of this case,' he said.”

62-year-old cold case of who killed 9-year-old Candy Rogers was cracked with DNA evidence | Daily Mail Online

I am so glad that Retired Spokane Police Captain Richard Olberding is still alive to see Candy’s killer be identified. It must have been extremely difficult for all the Officers who found Candy, I am sure it must be a relief to now know who is responsible.

It is incredible the work that @othram does. I can’t imagine what it must be like to know that the work your organisation does makes such a positive impact and can provide answers to families even after 62 years have passed.

Even though the evil perpetrator who killed Candy has been deceased for decades and will never be charged and convicted for what he has done, I still believe it is very important that these monsters are identified and what they have done is publicly revealed. The despicable crimes they have committed should not die with them, with their loved ones never discovering what they have done and who they they really are.

I am pleased that these wicked individuals can no longer die believing they have gotten away with what they have done because they have not been identified, charged and convicted. Now thanks to dna technology, which is likely to advance even further in the future, there is no guarantee for them that they will never be identified even after death.

 

[Sikkim]

Wow. That press conference was fantastic. What a galactic difference in caliber between this version and the one for Walker County Jane Doe, where they couldn't even bother to say Othram correctly, nor have a competent reading of the note from Sherry's family members.

The cases solved in the Pacific Northwest always feature the best presentations. Light years above the ones from the South, in particular. The ideal combo for every case would be for the presser in the Pacific Northwest but the articles written by Texas Monthly.

I appreciated that the detective emphasized late in the presser that the grape gum aspect was mostly nonsense, and really detoured this case. It wasn't grape gum. An early detective made a note that it looked like it might be gum, and he thought it smelled a bit like grape. Somehow that took on a definitive aspect, no doubt later in desperation to link the wrong suspect.

Speaking of wrong suspects I think 2 or 3 people could have been wrongly convicted based on posts in this thread alone, and especially the OP. That's why my approach does not vary, here or elsewhere: I pay attention to every post dealing with case discussion. I ignore any post dealing with a name.

Othram and others supply the names. Everything else is glorified guesswork.

In particular it is detrimental to take a known name and force him as guilty in nearby cases or time frame cases. There are many who make an obsessive career of that in regard to Joseph DeAngelo.

No one is being convicted based on message board posts

 

[Richard]

Candy Rogers, 9 years old, murdered 6 March 1959

LINK:
1959 Murder Of 9-Year-Old Selling Candy, One Of Washington’s Coldest Cases, Finally Solved | Oxygen Official Site

 

[othram]

I am glad that they managed to identify the monster who did this wicked crime. It is desperately sad and a terrible tragedy how Candy died and according to a post at the start of the thread Candy’s Dad tragically took his own life a few months after she died. I’m sorry he wasn’t charged and convicted whilst he was still alive and that Candy’s Mum sadly died of cancer quite a long time ago.

I am pleased that the Daily Mail article link down below states that Candy’s Cousin Joanne is still alive to see him be identified. I feel extremely sorry for his daughter Cathie it must be extremely distressing to find out that your Father has done an evil crime like this and that he also attacked a woman who thankfully survived. She is a good person for agreeing to provide a dna sample to law enforcement, I am sure that is not an easy thing to do emotionally when you greatly fear what you may be told about your Father.

I have a lot of respect for the law enforcement in Spokane for not giving up in finding out who is responsible for what happened to Candy. You fear after so many years have passed that cases like this one will never be solved and that they are not a priority but it is clear that is not the case. According to the Daily Mail article: “Retired Spokane Police Capt. Richard Olberding, who was one of the officers who found Rogers's body, told the Spokesman-Review that he was glad to see the case closed.

'I thank God that I lived long enough to see the end of this case,' he said.”

62-year-old cold case of who killed 9-year-old Candy Rogers was cracked with DNA evidence | Daily Mail Online

I am so glad that Retired Spokane Police Captain Richard Olberding is still alive to see Candy’s killer be identified. It must have been extremely difficult for all the Officers who found Candy, I am sure it must be a relief to now know who is responsible.

It is incredible the work that @othram does. I can’t imagine what it must be like to know that the work your organisation does makes such a positive impact and can provide answers to families even after 62 years have passed.

Even though the evil perpetrator who killed Candy has been deceased for decades and will never be charged and convicted for what he has done, I still believe it is very important that these monsters are identified and what they have done is publicly revealed. The despicable crimes they have committed should not die with them, with their loved ones never discovering what they have done and who they they really are.

I am pleased that these wicked individuals can no longer die believing they have gotten away with what they have done because they have not been identified, charged and convicted. Now thanks to dna technology, which is likely to advance even further in the future, there is no guarantee for them that they will never be identified even after death.

It was truly an honor to assist and this case meant a lot to us.

 

[othram]

Wow. That press conference was fantastic. What a galactic difference in caliber between this version and the one for Walker County Jane Doe, where they couldn't even bother to say Othram correctly, nor have a competent reading of the note from Sherry's family members.

The cases solved in the Pacific Northwest always feature the best presentations. Light years above the ones from the South, in particular. The ideal combo for every case would be for the presser in the Pacific Northwest but the articles written by Texas Monthly.

I appreciated that the detective emphasized late in the presser that the grape gum aspect was mostly nonsense, and really detoured this case. It wasn't grape gum. An early detective made a note that it looked like it might be gum, and he thought it smelled a bit like grape. Somehow that took on a definitive aspect, no doubt later in desperation to link the wrong suspect.

Speaking of wrong suspects I think 2 or 3 people could have been wrongly convicted based on posts in this thread alone, and especially the OP. That's why my approach does not vary, here or elsewhere: I pay attention to every post dealing with case discussion. I ignore any post dealing with a name.

Othram and others supply the names. Everything else is glorified guesswork.

In particular it is detrimental to take a known name and force him as guilty in nearby cases or time frame cases. There are many who make an obsessive career of that in regard to Joseph DeAngelo.

Appreciate the kind words.

 

[Sikkim]

It was truly an honor to assist and this case meant a lot to us.

Keep up the good work!

 

[dotr]

November 24, 2021
How a Texas forensics lab helped solve the Candy Rogers cold case in Spokane | krem.com
''SPOKANE, Wash. — Othram - a Texas-based laboratory that specializes in Forensic-grade Genome Sequencing - played a key role in solving a 62-year-old cold case in Spokane.''

''The case had went more than six decades without being solved. But then, Othram stepped in and performed DNA testing. The process the lab specializes in allows the to test small - and oftentimes, damaged - DNA samples from crime scenes.

"Suffice to say that these are quantities of DNA that are wholly inappropriate for consumer testing, or other kinds of testing you would do in a research or medical setting," said David Mittelman, Othram's CEO. "Not only is it lower quality DNA, but the DNA is really compromised. It's old, it's degraded."

The testing on DNA taken from victims and suspects at crime scenes is all Othram does, allowing them to continuously refine the process and focus on being able to test smaller and smaller samples. Mittleman's team is able to take the DNA, which sometimes is a thousand times or more smaller than a sample used in a medical DNA test, and start building a profile.

The profile is also built by comparing the results to genealogy databases filled with results from people who have agreed to provide their DNA for law enforcement purposes.

"It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. You know where the puzzle piece fits in relation to other pieces, you just don't know where it goes," Mittelman said.''

 

[OEJ]

The case of my childhood nightmares was solved in my lifetime!! Candy's murder sent ripples of pain and fear to the community and beyond for decades. Thank goodness for Othram and the detectives who never gave up.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Police say John Reigh Hoff killed a young girl more than 60 years ago, and now Hoff's daughter is working with that girl's family to make sure she is never forgotten.

The disappearance and death of Candy Rogers was the oldest cold case in the state of Washington. It remained unsolved for more than six decades before Spokane Police announced they'd found her killer in 2021.

Candy went missing on March 6, 1959, while selling Campfire mints in her west Spokane neighborhood. After 16 days of searching, two airmen from Fairchild were hunting off Old Trails Road, northwest of Spokane, and found Rogers' shoes on March 21, 1959.

That same day, her body was found.

Spokane police said they never stopped investigating her death. Ultimately, cutting-edge DNA technology led them to John Reigh Hoff. He was 20 years old at the time of Candy's death and lived less than a mile away from her.

Hoff committed suicide 11 years after Candy's murder, but at the time, no one knew of his involvement in her death.

His daughter, Cathie Baird, was just nine years old at the time.
"I was actually the age of Candy when my dad died," she said. "So I didn't have, you know, like when you grow up, you have your relationship like I have with my mom. I never had that with him."
Baird is the one who helped solve Candy's murder after police approached her asking for a DNA sample and permission to exhume Hoff's body. She was with her own daughter, Nicole Akers, when detectives confirmed the results: her father murdered Candy Rogers.

"I was shocked," Akers said. "I think we hugged each other and cried."

"It's horror and disbelief," Baird added. " That that could be someone you knew, and that you actually even love."
Baird said the last year has been a great reckoning of who her father was, and who he wasn't.

"You still carry a sense of responsibility for all the pain and the hurt that it caused. And you know you have to get to that point where you can heal and you can realize it wasn't me," she said. "I carry great feeling about what he did to that family. That will not change, but I can only offer them and let them know how I feel."

That feeling is why Baird says she is why she is now speaking out with support from Candy's family, including Candy's cousin, Joanne Poss.

'We'll remember her for her': Families impacted by Candy Rogers' murder hope to name Spokane playground in her honor

Cathie Baird, the daughter of the man believed to have killed Candy Rogers in 1959, is speaking out in hopes of naming a West Spokane playground

www.krem.com

 

[CarlaB]

I wonder if they put his DNA in CODIS. Hard to believe someone would do something so violent in a first offense. I hope they are looking where he lived during his life and look at any unsolved cases in those areas.