Candy Jo Webb

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Speaker 2 A gruesome discovery in a local junkyard upends a small New Mexico town.

Speaker 1 The face was all skeleton. The individual in the toolbox had been deceased for a while.
The pathologist was able to retrieve a small business card inside his shirt pocket. There was their name.

Speaker 4 He was described as a generous man who just kind of kept to himself.

Speaker 2 Investigators zero in on a well-known troublemaker with family ties.

Speaker 1 He was a loose cannon. The reason why we're here, we've got a warrant for your arrest, okay? All right.

Speaker 3 He was always getting into trouble with the law.

Speaker 1 Police, Dr. Martin! Have you ever seen a big

Speaker 1 toolbox around the property? Yeah, there was empty money.

Speaker 2 But the investigation will ultimately expose an unimaginable betrayal even closer to home.

Speaker 3 His health was declining.

Speaker 1 She would help him clean clean and cook.

Speaker 4 She was supposed to be taking care of him.

Speaker 1 I know.

Speaker 1 It looks so delicious and just horrible.

Speaker 1 Do you think you kind of snapped that thing a little bit?

Speaker 5 No, I snapped at things like that.

Speaker 2 Fort Sumner, New Mexico is a high desert town with deep western roots.

Speaker 1 It's where actually Billy the Kid supposedly is buried.

Speaker 1 It's a tom for about maybe a thousand people.

Speaker 1 Small, tight-knit community. Pretty much nothing to do over there unless it's family-oriented.

Speaker 2 On the evening of October 15th, 2020, Chad Abeda, his father Louis, and Chad's young son are poking around a makeshift dump site behind their rental home.

Speaker 1 Only a handful of individuals had access to that trash pit. This town's so little, we didn't have direct access to a dump all the time.
So we kind of had to make a do with what we had.

Speaker 1 They observed a toolbox or tool chest that looked really nice. This type of tool chest normally goes behind a pickup truck.
They were like, oh wow, it's a pretty nice toolbox.

Speaker 1 I mean, I could have used for this.

Speaker 2 When Chad moves to lift the toolbox, it won't budge.

Speaker 1 It was so heavy that he couldn't pull it out himself.

Speaker 1 So they ended up getting some straps and they pulled it out together.

Speaker 1 When they opened it up, there were blankets in there. When they were taking the blankets off, that's when they saw the skull.

Speaker 1 They're all like, man, back up.

Speaker 1 We're dealing with something else here. Let's call 911

Speaker 2 The debaca County Sheriff's Department arrives followed quickly by New Mexico State Police

Speaker 1 Based off the decomposition of the body it looks like the individual in the toolbox had been deceased for a while

Speaker 1 Based off the facial hair the clothing it appeared to be a male

Speaker 1 The skeleton remains had duct tape wrapped around its mouth. It also had duct tape wrapped around its wrists.

Speaker 1 As soon as I saw the tape, I knew at that point in time, we're done with the homicide.

Speaker 2 The medical examiner is called to the scene to collect the remains.

Speaker 4 There wasn't any identification on them, except there was a medical card.

Speaker 1 The pathologist was able to retrieve a small business card for a doctor's office with an appointment inside his his shirt pocket with the name A.J. Harding.

Speaker 1 The toolbox with the body inside was then transported to the office of medical examiner. We did not have a 100% confirmation, but we had a name.
So we're trying to find out who is A.J. Harding.

Speaker 2 Born April 2nd, 1938, A.J. Hardin grew up in Fort Sumner.
After a stint in the Navy, he married the love of his life, Virginia.

Speaker 1 It was your classic 1960s American marriage. They would take good care of each other.
It was very loving.

Speaker 1 A.J. worked in the lumber industry, cutting branches.
And after that, he was a truck driver and he worked across the country. They moved back to Wellington, Texas, where Virginia's family is from.

Speaker 1 They had three children, Shane, Tommy, and Candy. Tragically, Shane passed away in his childhood.

Speaker 1 In the early 2000s, they moved back to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Once they lived in Fort Sumner, they started a hamburger stand.

Speaker 1 AJ, Virginia, and Candy Sr.

Speaker 1 all helped with the hamburger stand.

Speaker 2 Eventually, their children grew up and started families of their own. In 1982, their youngest daughter, Candy, welcomed a son, Aaron, followed by a daughter, Candy Joe.

Speaker 1 Virginia and AJ were thrilled to be grandparents. They loved having their family around them, and Virginia loved having everybody there in her home for every holiday.

Speaker 2 But Candy struggled with motherhood.

Speaker 1 Candy Sr. tried to maintain the relationship with Aaron, Candy Joe's father.

Speaker 1 That didn't work out. He was not involved whatsoever.

Speaker 1 In the 90s, Candy started to also struggle with addiction.

Speaker 1 Candy Sr. had some demons and she really truly didn't know what a healthy relationship was.
Aaron was eight years older than Candy Joe. He pretty much grew up with his grandparents, AJ and Virginia.

Speaker 1 Candy lived with her mother off and on throughout her younger years. And when she wasn't living with her mother, AJ and Virginia provided a roof over their head.

Speaker 2 Candy Joe flourished under the care of her grandparents.

Speaker 1 She was the shining star of the family. Candy Jo, she wanted to play volleyball in college.
She wanted to get a degree.

Speaker 2 Aaron, on the other hand, battled his own demons and he soon left his grandparents' home.

Speaker 1 Aaron always kind of been the wild one.

Speaker 3 Aaron was always getting into trouble with the law.

Speaker 3 He had been caught breaking and entering,

Speaker 3 and it was always a worry to Candy. She never fully trusted him.

Speaker 2 As Erin slipped away, Candy Joe's mother entered recovery and came back into her life.

Speaker 1 Candy Sr. was very proud of Candy Jo.

Speaker 1 She was that bull for eye. She could do no wrong.

Speaker 1 In those pre-teen and teen teen years, Candy Joe and Candy Sr. started developing a relationship, a better relationship than they had when she was a child.

Speaker 2 In 2012, Candy Joe graduated from high school. With her family's support behind her, she was poised for success.

Speaker 1 She had a full ride to the University of the Southwest to play volleyball. She was probably the first family member to go to college.

Speaker 2 But in the middle of her freshman year, Candy Jo's world came crashing down when her mother passed away from a sudden illness.

Speaker 2 She took a break from school and returned to her grandparents' home on Lake Fort Sumner.

Speaker 1 Despite her doing all these correct things and following through, life kept taking things away from her.

Speaker 2 Back in Fort Sumner, Candy Joe caught the eye of 27-year-old Sean Perkins.

Speaker 1 We met at a rodeo there in Fort Sumner. But we kind of developed a relationship through our life goals.

Speaker 1 We didn't know our place in life quite yet, and we kind of strived to figure that out with each other. AJ and Virginia are very kind and generous.
They welcomed me like family.

Speaker 1 Once me and Kenny Joe started dating, it wasn't too long before we moved in with each other. And And Kenny and I learned that we were having a child kind of unexpectedly, and we let family know.

Speaker 1 And AJ and Virginia were very excited.

Speaker 1 So were my parents.

Speaker 2 But what should have been a joyous time soon turned tragic in the spring of 2016.

Speaker 1 Age started creeping up on AJ and Virginia had Crohn's disease and she was a little iller.

Speaker 1 After Candy got pregnant, shortly after Ginger passed, her grandmother was the sole person in the family.

Speaker 1 AJ was heartbroken, but he was very spiritual in that he knew this wasn't going to be the last that he's going to see her.

Speaker 2 Another blow came following the birth of Candy Joe's daughter in 2016. when AJ was diagnosed with cancer.

Speaker 1 Candy Joe would spend the majority of her time taking care of our daughter and her grandfather.

Speaker 2 Eventually, the pressure proved to be too much for the couple.

Speaker 1 Candy started pushing us away.

Speaker 1 She shifted into the party crowd. It felt like her interest wasn't being a mom anymore at the time.
Then the void between us just grew and grew.

Speaker 2 By 2019, the relationship was beyond repair.

Speaker 1 I packed up both me and my daughter. I thought it would be in the best interest for me to get custody due to me being the stable one.
She agreed.

Speaker 2 Sean and his mother moved in together a couple of towns over from Fort Sumner while Candy Joe returned to the home of her grandfather.

Speaker 3 She did mention his health and how it was declining and Candy didn't know how much longer she was going to have with him.

Speaker 1 She would help him clean, cook. AJ was very,

Speaker 1 very happy that she was there.

Speaker 2 But on October 15th, 2020, it appears AJ's end has come sooner than expected when his potential remains are found in a trash pit.

Speaker 2 Given that the body had likely been there for weeks, the chances of finding anything useful slim.

Speaker 4 When you're doing a crime scene, you never really know what is exactly important, so you're taking pictures of everything and you're looking at everything.

Speaker 1 We did see a trailer there, and on that trailer, it had a flat tire. We didn't know whether it has something to do with the investigation or it doesn't.

Speaker 1 We thought, was this the trailer that was used to haul out the tool chest?

Speaker 1 From the minute that we saw the trailer, it just looked like anything else. But at the same time, it was still out of place for us.

Speaker 2 Investigators turned to the family of Chad Abeda, the man who found the body and lives on the property. While Chad did not witness the trailer's arrival, he says his son did.

Speaker 1 Weeks ago, he had observed a white pickup truck. hauling a trailer and they left the trailer there.
He was unsure of whoever was driving the white pickup truck.

Speaker 1 The trash pit was accessible to anyone that knew it was back there, but it was not visible from the road.

Speaker 1 One of the questions that I asked Abeta is, did everybody have access to this mini landfill slash pit?

Speaker 1 And their answer was, if they do have access, they have to get permission from the homeowner.

Speaker 2 The boy's mother chimes in. She tells investigators there is one name that comes to mind.

Speaker 1 Aaron Harden.

Speaker 1 She told us that the owner of the residence would allow Aaron Hardin to go there and be a handyman, per se, clean the property up and allowing him access to the pit at any time.

Speaker 1 After learning about Aaron Harden, Michael talked to one of the deputies who was still on scene and asked him who is Aaron Harden. Turns out that Aaron Harden is, he's a local.

Speaker 1 He does have his run-in with law enforcement every now and then. And that's when he told me A.J.
Harding was Aaron's grandpa.

Speaker 2 Coming up, the search for Aaron Hardin proves difficult.

Speaker 1 Did he decide to take off? Was he fleeing from us?

Speaker 2 And in an unexpected twist, is AJ Hardin actually alive?

Speaker 1 We were completely shocked. Was that AJ inside the tool chest, or was he in a retirement home?

Speaker 2 After finding a toolbox containing human remains in a makeshift dump site, New Mexico authorities believe they may belong to 83-year-old A.J. Harden.

Speaker 1 In the front pocket of the shirt was a doctor's card. Said next day appointment with the name of A.J.
Harden.

Speaker 2 Investigators learned that A.J.'s 38-year-old grandson, Aaron Hardin, is known to use the trash pit.

Speaker 4 Aaron Hardin had dumped trash there previously. He did chores there.

Speaker 1 Is he the one that placed the trailer out there? Is he the one that took the tool chest out there? That was a lead.

Speaker 2 After locating Aaron's last known address, investigators head to his home.

Speaker 1 We met with the man who was the owner of the residence, who lived with Aaron. We were told we were looking for Aaron and he told us that he wasn't there, that he was currently in Arizona.

Speaker 1 Did he decide to take off? Was he fleeing from us?

Speaker 2 In the midst of trying to track Aaron down, they get an update from the autopsy.

Speaker 4 They could not determine the cause of death due to the fact that the body was so deteriorated.

Speaker 2 However, the ME is closer to confirming the victim's identity.

Speaker 1 The doctor did observe a hit replacement. His hit replacement had a serial number on it.

Speaker 2 While awaiting confirmation from medical records, investigators work off the assumption that A.J. Hardin is the victim.

Speaker 1 We decided just to hold that information so we don't jeopardize the integrity of the investigation.

Speaker 2 The day after the autopsy, they reach out to the owner of the rental property where the body was found.

Speaker 4 The residence was actually owned by a lady named Brenda Moyer, but she was renting it out to the Abetas.

Speaker 4 And so investigators went to speak with her.

Speaker 1 I asked Brenda, who's A.J. Hardin? And she said that A.J.
Hardin was a very nice man. He's an older man.
He's the grandpa to Candy Jo Webb and Aaron Hardin.

Speaker 1 Brenda Moyer described Aaron to be a very nice guy. He helps her her out around the house.
He helps her throw out trash into that pit.

Speaker 2 And that's not the only connection she makes for detectives.

Speaker 4 Her son, Sean Perkins, had a daughter with Candy Joe Webb.

Speaker 2 Investigators ask to speak with Sean.

Speaker 2 Sean tells detectives that he and Candy Joe used to live in the home where the body was found and that Aaron often used the dump.

Speaker 1 We all kind of viewed Aaron. He was a loose cannon, if you will.
It wasn't unusual for him to be gone for a period of time.

Speaker 2 When they ask Sean about AJ, he says that he and Candy Joe had a very special relationship.

Speaker 1 AJ unitally loved her and he was very happy that he was around his great-granddaughter.

Speaker 2 Sean reveals that a couple of months prior, in late August, Candy Joe made a difficult decision regarding her grandfather's care.

Speaker 1 Candy texted me asking me, would it be a bad idea for my papa or AJ to go to a home? I told her that it's between you and him. So I texted her one day, asked her, did you send AJ to a home?

Speaker 1 And she told me, yes, I did.

Speaker 1 We were completely shocked. Was that AJ inside the tool chest or was he in a retirement home? Where is he?

Speaker 1 At that point, we wanted to interview Candy.

Speaker 2 Investigators place a call to Candy Jo on the spot.

Speaker 2 She agrees to meet them at Brenda's and arrives shortly after.

Speaker 1 Okay, so do you kind of know why we're here today? Or?

Speaker 3 Um, what they told me was that a body was found.

Speaker 1 We asked her if she knew who the person that was found inside that toolbox was.

Speaker 1 She told us she did not.

Speaker 1 Do you have any idea who would want to drop the body off of there or anything like that?

Speaker 1 I remember the renter saying that my brother had went out there like two or three weeks ago and threw stuff in the pit and didn't tell friendly.

Speaker 4 When asked about her brother Aaron,

Speaker 4 she talks about how he is always in trouble. She doesn't directly say that he's involved with it, but she definitely insinuates that

Speaker 2 candy jo says that she tried to keep her distance from aaron but he continued to come around the lake house it used to be my grandpa's house um the deed is in my name now it has been for years i had a no trespass order against him

Speaker 3 the reason that she said she did the no trespass order is they just weren't getting along and she didn't want him around a property or her daughter she was worried about him taking advantage of AJ and maybe even her.

Speaker 2 Detectives ask Candy Jo about her grandfather.

Speaker 1 Where's AJ at? In the hospital spare.

Speaker 4 I haven't talked to him about a month.

Speaker 1 She stated that she had placed AJ Hardin in a retirement facility just outside Willington, Texas.

Speaker 2 Candy Joe says the facility is about six hours away, but she can't recall the name.

Speaker 1 He can always get it for us right.

Speaker 1 So the fact that she doesn't remember where she dropped them off, big ripple. Big replay.

Speaker 2 As they wait for Candy Joe to find the name of the nursing home, investigators look into the no trespass order she took out on Aaron.

Speaker 3 She was very protective of AJ.

Speaker 3 He was that parental figure that

Speaker 1 she never really got.

Speaker 2 They find body cam footage from multiple visits to the lake house in the months prior,

Speaker 2 including an arrest over the summer for an unrelated charge.

Speaker 1 He was there to serve a simple misdemeanor arrest warrant.

Speaker 1 He knocked on the door.

Speaker 1 Someone opened the door and ended up being Mr. A.G.
Harden. We learned that Aaron was still living there at that time.
Your dogs don't bite me?

Speaker 1 Are you sure?

Speaker 1 Aaron in here?

Speaker 1 Come on up.

Speaker 1 I've got to talk to you right quick.

Speaker 1 Aaron came to the door. How you doing, man? What's up? He was extremely cooperative.
So, the reason why we're here, we've got a warrant for your arrest, okay? All right.

Speaker 1 So, we're going to have to take you in. During the course of arresting Aaron, Lieutenant Ghana asked AJ how he was doing, and AJ disclosed that he was doing good.

Speaker 4 We know for a fact in the summer of 2020 that AJ was alive, and so that was extremely important.

Speaker 2 The footage also provides proof that Aaron and AJ appear to get along.

Speaker 1 I thought you figured we were made

Speaker 1 20 bucks.

Speaker 1 When he was picked up on the arrest warrant, his grandpa even gave him some money before he left.

Speaker 2 On August 21st, Candy Joe took out the no trespass order. But records show that in the following weeks, Aaron continued to show up at AJ's lake house where he was met by police.

Speaker 1 I'll follow you there.

Speaker 1 Still hearted.

Speaker 1 He was trying to make contact with his grandfather. Well, me and my sister don't, uh,

Speaker 1 I'm not allowed out here no more. I haven't been able to get a hold of my granddad, and that's what I'm after.

Speaker 2 In an attempt to mediate, the officer places a call to Candy Joe, but she doesn't back down.

Speaker 1 Don't get pissed off. She goes, well, he has his telephone number.
He can call him when he's good and ready to call him. That's all she would tell me.
She's a bitch, huh?

Speaker 1 When AJ kind of got diagnosed with cancer and it was apparent that the end is coming, he did his house over to Candy Joe because she was kind of the one family member that was probably the most stable.

Speaker 1 We were still trying to make contact with Aaron.

Speaker 1 We know that Candy doesn't want nobody to have access to AJ Hardin, and we're still trying trying to find out the reason why. At this point, both of them are person of interest.

Speaker 2 Coming up, an unexpected twist.

Speaker 1 I could not find a retirement home in Texas called Shady Oaks anywhere. Her story's all over the place.

Speaker 2 A potential suspect hands over a lead.

Speaker 1 That toolbox was at your grandpa's house, correctly?

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Speaker 2 New Mexico authorities have located human remains in a remote trash pit.

Speaker 2 While they suspect they belong to 83-year-old AJ Hardin, his granddaughter claimed that AJ was safe and sound.

Speaker 1 Candy Joe explained to detectives that she had taken her grandfather to a facility in Texas.

Speaker 2 As authorities anticipate a call from Candy Joe with the name of the facility, they also await word from the medical examiner for the body's official ID.

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, Erin Hardin is unaccounted for.

Speaker 1 Investigators know that there's one person they still need to talk to, and that's Aaron. But first, they still needed to confirm whose body was in the toolbox.

Speaker 2 Eager for answers, investigators reach back out to Candy Joe on October 20th.

Speaker 1 And hey, I was just calling about that information that we were requesting.

Speaker 1 Yes, apparently one of my grandmother's sisters, his sister-in-law, took it upon themselves to

Speaker 1 check him out of

Speaker 1 the retirement facility, and now I'm not able to locate my grandpa.

Speaker 1 So do you recall what the name was? Uh,

Speaker 1 hold on.

Speaker 1 Do this call.

Speaker 1 I have it written down right here.

Speaker 4 Shady Oaks Retirement Estate.

Speaker 1 Immediately after hanging out with Candy, I looked up Shady Oaks. Could not find the Shady Oaks anywhere.
So again, that was another red flag for us.

Speaker 1 At this point, Candy Webb's looking like like our suspect.

Speaker 2 With this new discovery, suspicions around Candy Joe are mounting by the second.

Speaker 2 Then, on October 21st, six days into the investigation, officials receive much-awaited news regarding the remains.

Speaker 1 We received a call from the Office of Medical Examiner in Albuquerque.

Speaker 4 They were able to identify him through a serial number from a hip replacement, and they 100% confirmed it was AJ Hardin.

Speaker 1 Her story just completely deteriorated and fell apart.

Speaker 2 Investigators keep the identification to themselves, but use it to obtain a search warrant for the lake house where AJ was last known to live with Candy Joe.

Speaker 1 Hey, please search for it!

Speaker 2 The search turns up no new evidence, but does inspire another phone call from Candy Joe.

Speaker 1 Agent Villarreal received a telephone call from Candy Webb.

Speaker 1 She was inquiring why there was a search warrant. Do you think you can meet us up at the state police building so we could talk about it?

Speaker 1 Is it okay if I get in contact with my lawyer and

Speaker 1 just to have them there with me? That's fine.

Speaker 2 With Candy Joe lawyered up, investigators begin reaching out to those close to her.

Speaker 1 Tron told us that Candy Joe Webb had a new relationship, a new boyfriend of the name of Garrett Bean.

Speaker 1 She didn't want to come in without an attorney to speak. So on the same day, we decided that we were going to locate Garrett Bean.

Speaker 2 On October 22nd, detectives arrive at the Bean residence.

Speaker 1 How you doing, brother? What's your your name again?

Speaker 4 Garrett Bean.

Speaker 1 So you kind of say you know why we're here? Well, that's what I was hoping you guys would tell me more about it because I'm kind of in the gray on this.

Speaker 2 They ask him about AJ, but his response is unexpected.

Speaker 5 Where's your grandpa? Her grandpa? Yeah. He passed.

Speaker 1 How do you know he passed? She had told me.

Speaker 1 Candy Whip had told him that Agent Harden had died in his sleep a couple months back.

Speaker 1 Okay, apparently she has been lying to you.

Speaker 1 We disclosed AJ Hardin did pass away, but it's not the way Candy Webb told him he passed away. AJ Harding's dead in that tool chest.

Speaker 1 I realized this was a lot more serious than I could have imagined, and

Speaker 1 I felt dumb at that point. I was just very blindsided.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 2 Following the interview, investigators investigators release confirmation of AJ's death to the public. And the news reverberates through the small town.

Speaker 1 Both me and my mother were in disbelief of it all. We didn't understand what was going on.

Speaker 2 The news does prompt an unexpected phone call.

Speaker 1 Aaron Harding finally contacts me. Aaron said he was currently in Arizona.
So, I'm pretty sure you know what's going on. Okay, well, I don't.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 This is what I know. Okay.

Speaker 1 That my granddad is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He's cutting away.

Speaker 1 He learned that it was possibly his grandfather. I did tell him, yes, it's true.
Did you have any issues with your granddad? Me and him, we were on good terms. That's the terms we've always been on.

Speaker 1 We've never had no problems.

Speaker 2 He tells investigators that the real reason Candy Joe had the no trespass order issued was because he'd confronted her about stealing from AJ.

Speaker 1 They learned that Aaron and AJ shared a bank account.

Speaker 1 The day that Aaron received a no trespass notice, he had discovered that Candy Joe Webb had been writing hot checks using the joint account that he shared with his grandfather.

Speaker 1 Costing about $1,500

Speaker 1 or $1,400 worth of hot checks.

Speaker 2 Aaron says Candy Joe obtained the no trespass order so he couldn't tell AJ. But investigators now wonder if it was because AJ was already dead.

Speaker 1 Have you ever seen a big toolbox around the property?

Speaker 1 Yeah, there was, it was in the shop, it's mine.

Speaker 1 Toolbox? Was that your grandpa's house? First, the last time I seen it, it was in the metal shed in the fog in the backyard. Okay.

Speaker 1 When we executed the search on the residence days prior, we didn't see a tool chest there. So we were fairly confident that we at least established the origin of where the tool chest came from.

Speaker 1 We just felt like Aaron Harden was not involved. Just based on his interview, based on the way he was explaining the love for his grandpa, how detailed he was.

Speaker 4 There's just more evidence piling up that this was Candy Joe Webb who killed her grandfather.

Speaker 2 Coming up, a concerned source comes forward with a a shocking new claim.

Speaker 1 She told me that he had asked her to do it.

Speaker 2 With her back against a wall, will Candy Joe tell the truth?

Speaker 5 Had a specific

Speaker 5 and I made the joy, but it wasn't. I didn't try it.

Speaker 2 Eight days after discovering the remains of AJ Hardin, detectives have zeroed in on his granddaughter, Candy Joe Webb, as their main suspect.

Speaker 2 The day after his first interview, Candy Joe's boyfriend, Garrett Bean, contacts investigators again.

Speaker 1 Gary wants to give another interview with us to establish that he wasn't involved.

Speaker 2 Garrett and his attorney meet with investigators on October 26th.

Speaker 2 Garrett says that following his first interview with with police, he met with Candy Joe at a local hotel.

Speaker 1 You know, at that point, I didn't know what to believe what was true or what wasn't. You know, now I'm hearing a whole other thing.

Speaker 2 According to Garrett, Candy Joe said that AJ had requested her help in ending his life.

Speaker 1 She told me that he had asked her to do it. She'd given him Xanax and Ambien, and he had passed in his sleep.

Speaker 1 At that point, she ended up putting him in a tool chest and getting rid of him.

Speaker 2 Not only did Candy Joe tell him that she drugged AJ, Garrett now believes Candy Joe called him in late August as she was disposing of the body.

Speaker 1 While she was, you know, disposing of trash, she had FaceTimed me because the tire had blown out on the trailer.

Speaker 1 I had told her, Wait for me and I'll help you, but she was very adamant about just getting it done right then.

Speaker 1 Once Garrett told us that now we knew that she used that trailer to hold a tool chest with AJ's human remains in there to dump it out.

Speaker 2 Investigators believe Garrett.

Speaker 1 Coming forward with the information that he had, at that point, we felt like he wasn't involved. He was part of Candy Webb's lies like everybody else was, and we cleared him.

Speaker 2 With Garrett's statement, authorities have what they need.

Speaker 1 We're now confident that Candy did murder AJ, therefore we set on an arrest warrant for on October 28th.

Speaker 2 But when they attempt to serve it, Candy Joe is nowhere to be found.

Speaker 1 Candy was no longer in the area. At that time, Sergeant Hernandez reached out to the U.S.
Marshals for assistance.

Speaker 2 Investigators seize phone and financial records to reconstruct Candy Joe's movements.

Speaker 1 I was able to get a search warrant for her cell phone and started pinging in different places in Bronxville, Texas. From then, she went to McAllen, Texas, where she sold her grandfather's truck.

Speaker 1 We saw she was using a prepaid debit card at the time, and she bought a gravehound ticket to go to Jacksonville, Florida.

Speaker 2 For seven days, authorities stay one step behind until she arrives in Jacksonville. Through her credit card charges, U.S.
Marshals pinpoint the location where Candy has decided to hold up.

Speaker 1 That radius is around a local criminal element hotel. Is she going to be somewhere in that hotel?

Speaker 2 On November 5th, 2020, less than a month after the discovery of her grandfather's body, U.S. Marshals make their move.

Speaker 1 Candy Webb is coming out of one of those hotel rooms. So they follow her to a nearby convenience store gas station and they arrest her.

Speaker 1 The deputy marshal that arrested her told me that she didn't even ask a single question. She was already expecting it.

Speaker 2 On December 1st, 2020, officers Hernandez and Villa Real interview Candy Joe in the Debaca County Adult Detention Center.

Speaker 5 Why did this happen?

Speaker 5 Why did it happen?

Speaker 5 Ha!

Speaker 5 It was an accident. Everything, everything afterwards? That's f ⁇ ed up what they did, but it was an accident.

Speaker 2 Instead of passing AJ's death off as a mercy killing, Candy Joe now says it was an accident.

Speaker 5 Okay.

Speaker 5 He said his back was hurting.

Speaker 5 Had to ask me sandetts and muscle relaxers and I gave them to him, but it wasn't.

Speaker 5 I didn't drive him and I didn't give him that name.

Speaker 5 Scared you wanted to marry me? I don't know.

Speaker 5 But I came back and he wasn't.

Speaker 5 He wasn't drinking? No.

Speaker 1 When I asked Candy why did she tape AJ's mouth and wrists, she told me because she didn't want to look at his face when she was moving him. And taping his hands was the easiest way to move AJ.

Speaker 2 But investigators aren't buying it.

Speaker 1 Hey, you're minding that name. Do you think you kind of snapped that thing a little bit?

Speaker 5 No, it snapped after his side dead. That's what I snapped.

Speaker 1 It's just too many lies from the start of the investigation.

Speaker 5 I really didn't need to do it.

Speaker 1 And I know it looks so delicious. It's just

Speaker 1 horrible.

Speaker 5 He's like, Papa, I didn't die.

Speaker 1 And he did die.

Speaker 1 And was I relieved? I won't lie, yeah.

Speaker 2 Coming up, Candy Joe hasn't run out of tricks.

Speaker 4 They want to do an insanity defense.

Speaker 2 The callous truth comes out.

Speaker 1 He might have still been breathing, and she probably suffocated him at the time.

Speaker 2 The arrest of 27-year-old Candy Jo Webb for the murder of her grandfather, A.J. Hardin, sent a jolt through the tiny town of Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Speaker 1 We didn't know where she was, what she was going to do, how was she going to act. So when she was caught, there was somewhat of a feeling of closure.

Speaker 2 Sean is in for another shock. Three days after the arrest, he gets a letter from Candy Jo.

Speaker 1 The letter stated that she didn't feel empathy for anyone, that she isn't just a psychopath, and that I need to protect my daughter from people like her.

Speaker 2 He turns the letter over to investigators. Prosecutors believe it's a ploy.

Speaker 4 Often you will see defendants do this because they're trying to

Speaker 4 set themselves up for the ability to have a defense of insanity.

Speaker 2 Confirming their suspicions, Candy Joe's attorneys request a psychological evaluation.

Speaker 4 They want to get her evaluated, and we were too close to trial and they hadn't followed the rules, in my opinion.

Speaker 4 And I argued against it, and the judge agreed with me and said, no, we are going to trial.

Speaker 2 As they prepare for trial, prosecutors work with investigators to formulate what they believe happened when AJ was murdered.

Speaker 2 They determined that no one had seen AJ since Candy filed the no trespass order against Aaron on August 21st.

Speaker 1 The timeline that we built was more or less that August 21st weekend is where she probably killed him.

Speaker 1 Ultimately, she did drug him to the point where

Speaker 1 he passed out.

Speaker 1 She told us she was covering his mouth with duct tape.

Speaker 1 He might have still been breathing, and she probably suffocated him at the time.

Speaker 1 At that point, she needed to get the body out of the residence. So at that point, she ended up taping up AJ's hands

Speaker 1 and she put him inside the tool chest.

Speaker 1 placed it on the trailer, and days later drove him out there and threw him in that pit.

Speaker 2 Tired of caring for her ailing grandfather, Candy Joe was looking for a fresh start. She hoped to get that by selling the lake house.

Speaker 1 Candy had been talking to realtors to try and put the house on the market.

Speaker 1 I think it was prepared to be done for monetary gain because she has a new boyfriend. They're going to have a bank full of money, Agent Harden's money.

Speaker 4 I always thought that was a very sad deal.

Speaker 4 She was supposed to be taking care of him, yet she just got tired of him.

Speaker 4 I was planning on going to trial, first-degree murder, but about a week before

Speaker 4 they approached me about taking a second degree plea.

Speaker 4 And when I talked to the family members that were left, they didn't want her to go to jail at all.

Speaker 4 My understanding was she convinced them that this was an accident and they really believed her.

Speaker 4 So, after talking with the family, and due to the fact that the body was so deteriorated, there was no way to determine whether it was an accident or whether it was intentional.

Speaker 4 So, because of those facts, I decided to go ahead and accept the plea.

Speaker 2 On July 27, 2022, Candy Joe pleads guilty to second-degree murder, fraud, and tampering with evidence.

Speaker 4 So out of the 21 years possible, she received 18 of those.

Speaker 1 With good times, she may be out in 12 years.

Speaker 1 I don't feel that 12 years would be enough for someone that did something so atrocious.

Speaker 2 While the small town of Fort Sumner still reels from from Candy Joe's cold-hearted actions, AJ's memory remains alive.

Speaker 1 AJ was a good, kind-hearted man that experienced 10 lives in his one lifetime. He deserved more than what he got.

Speaker 1 He's lost children, he's lost his wife, he's lost friends, but he maintained a happy and spiritual demeanor, as well as being a great, great-grandfather to my daughter.

Speaker 2 Candy Joe Webb is currently imprisoned at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility. John Perkins has full custody of their daughter.