Colorado : Candace Hiltz
Photo: The Denver Post
Fremont County, Colorado, is a diverse and picturesque region located in the central part of the state. The county is known for its diverse geography, featuring plains, mountains, and the Arkansas River Valley. The Royal Gorge, a deep canyon cut by the Arkansas River, is one of the county's notable natural attractions. Fremont County had a population of around 48,000 people. The economy of Fremont County is influenced by various sectors, including agriculture, tourism, and corrections. The presence of correctional facilities, such as the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility and the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX Florence), contributes to the local economy. The county offers a range of recreational activities, including hiking, fishing, and rafting. Thanks to its diverse natural landscapes, Fremont County has a rich history dating back to the 19th century. It played a significant role during the Colorado Gold Rush in the mid-1800s.
I found a new site that rakes or grades crime stats for each county, and I was shocked by this week’s Fremont county. It is rated an F, and this site crimegrade.org puts Fs in bright red, so it's a bit scary, to say the least. 94% of other counties in America are safer than this one. This is not our most dangerous place, but it's close, that is for sure. The chance of being a victim in some neighborhoods in this area is as high as 1 in 3, which is seriously mindblowing. There are possible reasons for this high crime rate, and it could be because there are fifteen state and federal prisons in this county, including the only supermax prison in the country. These correctional facilities have a notable impact on the local economy, providing employment opportunities for residents. However, they also bring challenges, and the presence of high-security prisons can influence the dynamics of the local community. Additionally, issues related to the criminal justice system and the treatment of inmates may be subjects of community discussion and concern. Many local citizens believe having these facilities in one area makes their towns more dangerous, which is why we are navigating advocacy in Colorado.
Candice Hiltz, a 17-year-old college junior at Brigham Young University, was born in Canon City, Colorado on December 22, 1988. She was recently accepted to attend the prestigious Stanford Law School. Candice had ambitious dreams of becoming a Supreme Court justice. She was a young woman who believed what was right was right and what was wrong was wrong. There was no gray area for her. She was the baby of a large family, and as the youngest of seven children, she didn't let her age define her. She was fiercely loyal, outspoken, intelligent, and funny. She juggled her academic pursuits while caring for her 11-month-old daughter, Paige, who had a medical disorder and required so much extra care. Candice was taking online classes at this point to give her more time and freedom to care for Paige. She was living with her mother, Delores, in a house that backed up to the woods, sort of in the county, but most of this area is pretty rural. Her father had passed away years ago, and this is when Delores moved the family to this area for a fresh start. With Candice being the baby, she was the only one living at home with her mother. She did have an older brother, James, who would occasionally come and go, but because of his mental illness, he mainly lived in the woods behind the property and would only come back to shower or grab essentials. His mental illness was pretty severe, and this once happy-go-lucky man became so depressed he withdrew from the world. He wouldn't or couldn't talk or be around people, including his family.
Candice Hiltz was murdered in her home on August 15, 2006, but a few strange things started happening a few days before her brutal attack, so I am going to start there. An officer from the Fremont Sheriff's Department came to the family's home looking for James. He said he wanted to question him about the trespassing charge, this is when Delores told this officer that James was not there and she didn't know where he was located. According to Delores, the officer started yelling at her and telling her she was lying. Now Candice, being exactly who she was, did not take this officer yelling at her mother well. She then got involved and started yelling back at the officer and told him to leave and that if he didn't, she would expose him to taking bribes from drug dealers. This did not go over well, but the officer left the property at this point.
The family’s beloved dog would go missing a few days after this incident. This was very strange because this dog named Jackson would never leave the property and was a trained guard dog or anything like that, but this dog would bark if anyone came into the yard. At first, Delores thought Jackson just wandered into the woods, so she went to look for her but came up empty-handed and figured she would be back soon. But before anyone would find Jackson, someone would break into the family home and kill Candice.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006, started out like any other for Candice and Delores. Delores had to run some errands in town for a friend, leaving Candice and baby Paige at the house. This wasn't normal; Delores stated she would usually stay with the two because of Paige's medical needs. She didn't feel comfortable leaving all of that to Candice, but this day, she really needed to go out, so she pushed that uncomfortable feeling away and went into town. Delores arrived home around 3:20 in the afternoon, and as soon as she walked through the door, she knew something terrible had happened. The backdoor was opened, and there was blood everywhere. She was yelling out for her daughter, but she couldn't find her at first. She did find Paige in her crib, crying. Delores state, “I see a piece of the blanket sticking out from under her bed. I pulled it out, and it was Candy. Seventy-five percent of her head is gone,” Candice was wrapped in a navy and green comforter and stuffed under a bed. A white computer speaker was used to prop the bed up enough, and all I can think about is, was this used so that she would fit under the bed? And what is the point of putting her under the bed? They would find her quickly based on the amount of blood around the house. So why even take the time to try to hide her body when there was zero chance of her not being found? The whole thing doesn't make sense. Why kill a 17-year-old girl so brutally? We will get into the autopsy in just a bit, but also, why put her under the bed? So many aspects of this case just do not make sense.
Delores calls the police, and they arrive at the scene, and the investigation starts, but right away, this mother can tell authorities sites are set on one person: James Hiltz, Delores's son, and Candice's brother. Delores would say during a 4-hour interview with police that they would bring up James more than anything and who he was hanging out with. She responded by telling them that he doesn't hang out with anyone; he wouldn't even speak to his brothers because of his mental illness. James wouldn't enter the house if anyone was home, and he would get food and water from a camper that she would keep stocked for him. That didnt stop police from believing James was a suspect. The search for him in the woods was intense, so many agencies came out to help the search for James who they assumed was armed and dangerous. They had tracking dogs, helicopters, and many people searching the woods. They would eventually locate James and put him under arrest. James did not have a single weapon on him or in his tent. While they were searching for James, searchers found the family dog dead, tied to a tree. The body was decomposed, and they would find a bullet inside. So, the dog Jackson was murdered as well. Was she taken a few days before Candice's murder so she wouldn't be alerted of people coming onto the property?
This investigation was a mess to begin with. Not only did the police have tunnel vision when it came to James, but they also didn't correctly search and seize evidence from the house. Once the family was let back into the property, they found bloody items, the actual blanket that Candice was wrapped up in, and even a shell casing was found in Paige’s crib. The family would put on gloves and collect these items themselves. The family would request the autopsy many times and be denied, but finally, years later, a local news outlet requested it and actually got a lawyer involved to get it, and finally, something was released; however, Delores believes there are some inaccuracies on it. Candice was shot seven times with three different types of guns. She was shot six times in the head and once in the chest. One shot in the front to the head and then five others from the back with a small caliber gun, and then once in the front in the chest with a medium caliber gun. Shooting someone this many times is absolutely insane. It also makes me think there was more than one shooter. I can't see someone shooting someone let's say, from the front first, then flipping them over to shoot them more in the back. That just doesn't make sense. And why so many times?
Authorities had zero evidence that pointed towards James being the killer, but he would be sent to a mental health hospital before he could face the trespassing charges police accused him of before the murder ever took place. The case goes cold with zero evidence tying James to the murder, no other suspects, and a shotty investigation that is until Dec. 17, 2016. When boxes of evidence were discovered by a man named Rick, he found these boxes of evidence in a storage unit that had belonged to Fremont County Sheriff's deputy Robert Dodd. Rick got this storage until after Robert Dodd did not pay for it, and it was put up for auction, and Rick purchased all of its contents. I can just imagine all of the jaws hitting the floor. Like, what the actual heck? First off, why is there evidence in a person's storage locker of a cop? Second off, why the heck didn't he pay the bill? I have all the questions in the world with this one. Needless to say, Robert Dodd is put on administrative leave while they sort through this cluster. Some items in this storage unit were a bloody ax rope and boxes of paperwork. All just box up along with the personal effects of this officer. It gets worse. On May 18, 2017, more evidence allegedly belonging to Dodd was recovered from the Penrose landfill. This included a computer, an envelope marked ‘evidence’ that contained a DVD, a videotape labeled as having a sexual assault investigation interview, and a tackle box marked “FCSO Crime Scene Unit Forensic Lights.”
In October of 2017, charges were brought against Robert Dodd. Dodd has been charged with two counts of second-degree official misconduct and abuse of public records following one of two investigations conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail. I was shocked when I read that he only got 15 days in jail. According to the original complaint at the end of 2016, Dodd altered a public record, which is why he served that 15 days. It was not released to the public what exactly he changed on what document. And that is where this case stands. No one has been arrested. I don't think there are any suspects, and Candice’s family has been left without answers. Candice’s daughter Paige died at the age of seven due to her medical illness. James is still in the mental hospital; he works as a peer counselor, so he is doing better, and the family still does not know who killed their family dog.
Photo: The Denver Post
