A 45-year old woman, Candace Craig, who murdered her 71-year-old mom, Margaret Craig and dismembered her corpse has been found guilty of the act and faces death sentence.
The incident happened at Hyattsville, Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States.
She was found guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree murder.
Candiace was also found guilty of tampering with evidence after police discovered she dismembered her mother’s body and disposed it in an unauthorized place.
According to the police, Candiace was involved in credit card fraud in June 2023. Her mother reportedly threatened that she would report her to the police which led her to choke her to death.
Police further said Candiace compelled one of her own children, a 19-year-old daughter Salia Hardy, to dispose of the body. Hardy later testified against her mom in court.
In her testimony before the court, Hardy said Candiace stuffed her grandmother’s body in a blue plastic container in her bedroom in Hyattsville after which she helped her mom butchered the body with a chainsaw, disposing of some of it by grilling body parts on a grill in the backyard.
Following an alarm raised by neighbours after they noticed the absence of the grandma, police stormed the house and during search reportedly found out the grandmother had already been dead for more than a week and found her rotting body in the basement with blood splattered around white plastic trash bags.
Found inside the bags were“what appeared to be brain matter” and her mutilated remains, as well as cutting tools and a chainsaw used in carrying out the murder.
“It was a gruesome crime that really rocked the entire region,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said after the conviction.
He added: “This is a giving, caring, loving, compassionate, and understanding woman, who was killed, who was asphyxiated by her daughter. Make no mistake, Miss Candace Craig absolutely committed this crime, and she is now being held accountable.”
