A woman murdered her mother and dismembered her body with a chainsaw and then burned it on a barbecue grill in the backyard.
Candace Craig, 46, was found guilty on Friday of murdering her 71-year-old mother Margaret Craig after an eight-day trial.
Margaret had confronted Candace for credit card fraud last year and threatened to report her to police. In May 2023, Candace suffocated her mom with a trash bag in the victim’s bedroom in Hyattsville, Maryland.
That was not the end of the grisly criminal act.
Candace enlisted one of her children, Salia Hardy, 19, to get rid of Margaret’s corpse.
Hardy, who pleaded guilty to her role and testified against her mother, said Margaret’s body was stuffed in a plastic container.
The granddaughter said she assisted Candace in using a chainsaw to dismember Margaret and burn some of her body parts on a barbecue grill in the backyard.
More than a week after Margaret was murdered, cops responding to a welfare check called in by neighbors who noticed her absence found the rotting remains.
Candace allowed cops into the home and basement which reeked of decomposition. They observed what looked like brain matter, mutilated human remains, a chainsaw covered in remains, cutting tools and white trash bags splattered with blood, WUSA reported.
A jury found Candace guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, disposing of a body in an unauthorized place and tampering with evidence.
‘We consider (Margaret) Craig to be a special victim who was killed by her own daughter,’ stated Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy afterBraveboy after the conviction.
‘Killed, dismembered, her body burned, her body grilled, it was insulting for this 71-year-old woman who was a hardworking woman collecting social security, collecting a pension, she was someone who worked hard all her life.
‘She was providing for her grown daughter who was living with her, her grandchildren, and she even allowed her daughter’s boyfriend to live in the home.’
Candace was found guilty about a week after a Kentucky woman was charged with dismembering her mother’s body and cooking some of the parts in a pot that was still hot to the touch at home.
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