Source: Ashley Cooper / Getty
Candace Craig, 44, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a suspect in her mother’s murder and allegedly instructed her daughter, Salia Hardy, 19, to be an accomplice.
The victim is assumed to be 71-year-old matriarch Margaret Craig. The office of the area’s local Chief Medical Examiner has yet to confirm the remains as the grandmother’s body. However, Salia allegedly waived her rights and informed the authorities about her mother’s possible motive, according to WUSA9.
The teenager claimed to have heard her mother’s fight with Margaret about who racked up fraud charges on one of the trio’s credit cards.
Other disturbing and highly gruesome details about the grandmother’s death were shared in a press release by the local police department’s homicide unit on June 3.
After the mother-daughter duo dismembered their elderly family member, they allegedly put the human remains on a grill. The suspected goal was to burn the body to dispose of the evidence.
Patrol officers of Landover, Maryland’s Division III station, conducted a wellness check on Margaret June 2 at a home on the 200 block of Hill Road.
A worried 911 caller alerted the authorities after he hadn’t heard from the grandmother in several days.
Officers tipped off local homicide and evidence units after they immediately smelled the decomposition of human remains in the basement. The press release detailed that Candace was the one who allowed the authorities into the residence.
Once inside the family’s home, officers also found dismembered body parts, blood and seemingly brain matter in three white trash bags, WUSA9 detailed. A forensic investigator confirmed the matter in the bags as a person’s remains.
The outlet’s chilling report of the charging documents against the mother-daughter suspects noted that the authorities also found a chainsaw, cleaning products and cutting tools scattered throughout the basement. The pieces of the deceased’s human remains were reportedly still clinging to the chainsaw.
An alleged witness claimed to have seen the suspects as they reportedly burned Margaret’s dismembered remains behind their residence on a grill May 27.
Based on their investigation, authorities believe Candace killed her mother May 23. It’s believed that the 44-year-old and her daughter tried to dispose of Margaret’s remains the next day after Salia found a blue bin with her grandmother’s dead body in her bedroom.
Both Candace and Salia are in the custody of the Department of Corrections in Prince George’s County. The 44-year-old suspect is charged with first and second-degree murder. Her daughter, Salia, is charged as an accessory to the murder.
“The detectives of the Homicide Unit will ensure a thorough investigation is conducted and that both suspects are held accountable for their cruel and criminal behavior,” said Commander David Blazer of Prince George’s Major Crimes Division.
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