House of Horrors: Cops Notice Creepy Tools, Odd Smell - Arrest Daughter for Gruesome Treatment of Mother, 71
A Maryland woman has been accused of killing her 71-year-old mother and then enlisting her teenage daughter — the victim’s granddaughter — to help her dispose of the body in a gruesome fashion.
Candace Craig, 44, and her daughter Salia Hardy, 19, were arrested June 2 after officers came to their home in Largo, just outside of Washington, to check on the welfare of Craig’s 71-year-old mother, Margaret Craig, the Prince George’s County Police Department reported.
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit charged a mother and daughter in connection with a murder inside of the family’s Landover home. The suspects are 44-year-old Candace Craig and 19-year-old Salia Hardy.https://t.co/mOPFIoyYDK pic.twitter.com/ZXeqjFkXBO
— PGPDNEWS (@PGPDNews) June 3, 2023
“A 911 caller advised he had not communicated with Margaret Craig for several days and was worried for her welfare,” the department said in its news release.
“Candace Craig answered the door and allowed patrol officers access to the home to search for Margaret Craig.
“When the officers entered the basement, they immediately smelled the odor of decomposition. The Homicide and Evidence Units were notified and assumed the investigation.”
WARNING: The following account contains graphic details that some may find disturbing.
A report by WJLA-TV quoted court documents as saying, “Upon entering the basement officers immediately recognized the smell of putrefaction and observed blood and tissue on the floor near three white plastic trash bags.”
The detectives reported finding “what appeared to be brain matter” in an open trash bag on the floor.
They also saw a knife on the basement floor, but when they returned to the basement, they said the knife was missing.
“Police also said they found a cover to a chainsaw, cutting utensils, cleaning materials and blood spatter throughout the basement where the remains were found,” WJLA reported.
A mother and daughter in Prince George’s County are accused of murdering their 71yr old mother/grandmother then using a chain saw to dismember her then burn her remains on a charcoal grill. pic.twitter.com/rLX2DYzyx0
— Brad Bell (@Brad7News) June 5, 2023
Investigators said they came to the conclusion that Candace Craig murdered her mother on May 23. The following day, they said, Hardy helped her mother attempt to dispose of the remains.
WTOP-TV quoted Prince George’s County Assistant State’s Attorney Jessica Garth as saying Craig and her daughter “dismembered the body, I believe using a chain saw, and then attempted to dispose of the parts of the body using fire on a grill and in a bonfire.”
State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy told the news station, “To say it’s disturbing is an understatement. It’s horrifying.”
Maj. David Blazer, commander of the police department’s major crimes division, promised that detectives would “ensure a thorough investigation is conducted and that both suspects are held accountable for their cruel and criminal behavior.”
WTOP quoted charging documents as saying Margaret Craig had accused her daughter Candace of credit card fraud, “prompting an argument that led to the elder Craig’s death.”
Craig was charged with first- and second-degree murder, according to the report, while Hardy was charged with accessory after the fact.
Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call detectives at 301-516-2512.
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