Candie Zito

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In the sweltering Alabama summer, detectives uncover a heinous crime hidden beneath a pile of ashes.

They noticed what appeared to be a leg sticking out.

This is just something you hear on TV, but you don't actually think it's going to happen to you.

As investigators sift through evidence, they will expose a dark underbelly in this small southern town.

Are we speculating then that this was some sort of drug issue?

The report indicates there was a high level of methamphetamines in the victim's body.

And at the heart of this twisted tale is a pair of forbidden lovers living life on the edge and willing to risk it all.

Nobody's gonna mess with Ponnie about Clive coming to handle it.

They refuse to stop and eventually run off the road.

The vehicle crashed into a tree on the side of the road.

The occupants of the vehicle had to be airlifted for life-threatening injuries.

Truth will set you free.

July 5th, 2015, Leeds, Alabama, 6:30 p.m.

In this small southern town just outside of Birmingham, there is a mass wilderness locals refer to as the playground.

There are off-road trails and large clearing areas where people will build bonfires, they'll ride motorcycles and ATVs up and down the hills and through the muddy areas and that kind of thing.

Folks also go out there to shoot firearms frequently.

But the day after the 4th of July, a couple makes a horrific discovery.

Folks at the playground had been out riding four-wheelers.

Mrs.

Woodward had stopped at this site while her husband was continuing to ride and she flags him down.

It appeared that maybe a huge bonfire had taken place.

And as they were there, they realized there was something in the pit.

The witnesses noticed what appeared to be a leg sticking out from underneath the bonfire.

Officers are soon on the scene, including homicide detective Kevin Palmer.

After clearing them of any suspicions, the witnesses are released from the scene and detectives turn their attention to the body.

The victim is laying what appears to be face down on this burn pile with their arms outstretched.

The main part of the torso was almost completely burned away.

You could see bones.

You could see where his torso was almost completely gone.

There was still what appeared to be skin.

on

some of his extremities, but it was charred to the point where you could not tell who this was.

It brings to mind all kinds of possibilities.

Is this, you know, gang-related?

Is it drug-related?

When the coroner arrives to remove the body, investigators make a startling discovery.

We then have to remove the victim from the pile and roll the victim over onto their back.

Once this was done, we realized that the victim's chest cavity was completely open

and upon inspection what I notice is what appears to be two small bullets

those two projectiles were collected as possible evidence of a crime of murder

investigators know that the first step to solving this crime is identifying the victim Once the coroner takes the victim, our job then is sort of a wait and see what happens from the coroner's office.

Our attempt is to hopefully get some sort of identification from the coroner.

While they await the coroner's findings, investigators pick through the ashes of the bonfire.

There are shell casings everywhere.

There are bullets and bullet fragments all around.

This early on in an investigation, it's very difficult when you don't know the context of the crime, which of these things is going to be evidence down the road and which is not.

On July 7th, 2015, two days after the body was discovered, Detective Palmer and his team receive word that the autopsy is complete and the body has been identified through a fingerprint database.

At least one of the hands of the victim was laid outside the fire in such a way that we were able to get fingerprints off the hand.

The identification came back after analysis of the fingerprint to be Anthony Shane Gibson.

I wanted to hit the ground running to find out what happened to Anthony.

Anthony Shane Gibson was born on November 1st, 1994 in Panama City, Florida.

Though Anthony's mother left while he was young, his father Christopher made sure his son was well cared for.

We always had a lot of family around.

Everybody loved him, treated him good, took care of him.

I had a lot of help.

Anthony was a very happy kid growing up.

You know, he always had someone he could come to.

We're all a very closely knit family.

He wasn't a quiet kid.

He

loved to get outdoors and play, make good grades in school.

Anthony matured into a popular teenager with a passion for music.

Once he got into guitar, that was kind of more of his focus.

He liked playing music.

He loved playing in the band and church.

After high school, Anthony joined the family siding company and took classes online in hopes of one day starting his own business.

Anthony had a very strong work ethic.

He'd wake up every morning, go to work.

He'd be out the door 5.30, 6 o'clock in the morning, and sometimes he wouldn't get in until four or five o'clock in the evening, and

then straight in his room doing schoolwork.

While working and studying hard, Anthony found time to play hard as well.

Anthony definitely was, I guess you would call him a ladies' man.

All the ladies liked him.

He was a gorgeous fella.

He had a few girlfriends, you know, just like any teenager would.

Talked a lot about how he'd like to get, get, you know, get married, have a baby.

With friends and family always around him, it didn't take long for people to notice that Anthony was missing on July 2nd when a flurry of phone calls go unanswered.

At first, it was just like, okay, well, Anthony's just doing his thing and he didn't tell nobody.

But he never ignores me, so, you know, I'll give him a call.

You know, maybe surely he'll answer the phone.

I tried tried to contact him several times with no answer, and that's when I'm starting to say, okay, something, maybe something is wrong.

He never didn't come home and not call and tell someone why, what happened, you know, always kept us in the loop.

Now, on July 7th, 2015, four days after being reported missing, A fingerprint pulled from a charred body confirms that Anthony Gibson is in fact deceased.

The family, however, has yet to be notified as investigators work through the rest of the autopsy report.

The autopsy in this case was relatively limited due to the large amount of burning and removal through the fire of internal organs and those kinds of things.

What the coroner can tell detectives is that the bullets recovered from the victim's chest are not the cause of death.

We realize that those were just bullets that were there from people shooting bottles and whatnot.

Considering the fact that the bullet fragments don't appear to be the cause of Anthony's death, the coroner proposes another theory.

The coroner's report that was provided gives us information that the victim had a broken femur and had severe hemorrhaging around that wound.

This indicates to us that this injury could have caused the victim death without medical attention and yet another scenario is suggested when the toxicology report comes in the report indicates there was a high level of methamphetamine and amphetamines in the victim's body

it was described to us by the coroner as a fatal dose we are faced with the possibility of a wound to the leg that could have been fatal if it was not given medical attention and the possibility of an overdose as well.

So we're early on in the investigation and we at this point are unsure if there is even a crime here.

It could have been an accident.

If it was in fact an accident, then how did this man end up underneath a raging bonfire?

Was it possible Anthony died alone?

Or did someone fail to report his tragic death for a reason?

At this point, we are just waiting on the next bit of evidence to come in to see where to go next.

Coming up, police question Anthony's friends and family.

This isn't something that he would do on his own, by his choice.

And phone records shed light on Anthony's disappearance.

A picture is sent and the promise of having possible sex or sexual relations with him.

While those closest to him fear the worst.

I suppose something is not right here.

I just kind of lost it.

On July 7th, 2015, an autopsy reveals that the charred remains found in a remote area of Leeds, Alabama are that of 20-year-old Anthony Gibson.

Detectives hope speaking to the family will help fill in the blanks of what happened to Anthony.

It could have been a fall.

It could have been an overdose.

We are at the point of we just found the needle in a haystack, so we need to figure out how it got there.

Detective Kevin Palmer makes contact with Kathy Lee, Anthony Gibson's grandmother, with whom Anthony and his father were currently living.

I arranged a meeting with Miss Kathy Lee and asked her if there was anybody who may want to harm her grandson.

We sit there and we talked about things with Anthony.

Sitting there and it's like I'm really wondering, I mean, where is this going?

Detective Palmer takes care not to reveal Anthony's fate too soon.

Fearing the reaction may stall efforts to find out what happened to him.

I interviewed Ms.

Lee and asked her if she had any idea where Anthony may have gone to the night he left her house.

Kathy says that on July 2nd, 2015, Anthony seemed busy as usual with no signs indicating anything was wrong.

And at 8 p.m., he asked to borrow her car, a 1998 White Ford escort.

He came into the kitchen and mentioned going to the store to get, you know, something to snack on.

He told me that he would be back in just a little while and he hugged me and he left and that was the last we seen or heard from him.

When Kathy woke up the next morning, she found the driveway empty and Anthony's bed still made.

Waking up the next morning and him not being there ready to go to work was not a normal situation.

I'll check my phone to see if I had had a text message from him or if I'd have had a phone call or anything from him.

And I hadn't, I suppose, something is not right.

Kathy says they tried to file a missing persons report on July 3rd, but the Harpersville Police Department said that Anthony hadn't been missing for long enough.

We have to do something.

If the police aren't going to do anything for X amount of hours, then

we've got to figure something out.

To investigators' surprise, it seems Anthony's family has already started an investigation of their own.

We just all got out and went around asking questions to people that he knew, making phone calls and,

you know, to different people.

We really don't know where he could have been at the time, but we feared the worst just because he wasn't answering anyone.

Anthony's phone was in my name, so we were able to, you know, go on and look at the the phone records.

While still unaware of her grandson's death, Kathy tells police that Anthony had been in contact with two phone numbers the night of his disappearance.

The first call was at 6.30 p.m.

to Anthony's ex-girlfriend, Candy Zito.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't believe that they had spoken to each other for, you know, a few years.

I believe the original relationship with Anthony and Candy was short-lived.

The second call was at 8 p.m.

to Anthony's current girlfriend, Jessica Irwin.

He really liked her.

He enjoyed being around her.

She made him happy.

Jessica was a great kid, a great girl, very nice, kind, considerate, beautiful.

Kathy explains they first called Candy's number, but Candy claimed she had no idea where Anthony was.

She stated that she had not spoken to him in years and that there's no way that that number had contacted him because she had not spoken to him.

Candy hated to hear what was going on.

She hopes that we find him and, you know,

that if there's anything that she could do, you know, to let her know, but that she didn't know anything.

The family then called Jessica.

She said Anthony was in fact supposed to meet her the night of his disappearance, but Anthony never arrived.

She did send me a message telling me though that she's willing to do whatever I need her to do in order to help out.

After hearing the details of Anthony's family's investigation, Detective Palmer breaks the tragic news to Kathy.

After speaking with Miss Lee for quite some time and gathering up some more information from her.

I was able to at that point point, let her know that we had, in fact, identified her grandson, Anthony Gibson, as the victim that was located in Leeds.

Miss Lee was very upset, dropped to her knees in severe emotional pain.

I just kind of lost it.

I just kind of lost it.

This is just something you hear on TV, but you don't actually think it's going to happen to you.

With the family notified, detectives put out a bolo for the missing 1998 White Ford escort that Anthony was last known to be driving.

Next, Detective Palmer turns his attention to the person Anthony was supposed to meet before he disappeared, his girlfriend, Jessica Irwin.

Jessica may have very well been involved in Anthony's disappearance.

I interviewed her at her place of work, and Jessica tells me that they were supposed to meet at a local Walmart.

Jessica says that she got off work around 11 p.m.

and arrived at the Walmart soon afterward.

But Anthony never showed.

My recollection of Jessica's demeanor is one that she's obviously concerned and upset that Anthony has not returned any of her messages or phone calls.

We were able to clear Jessica as a possible suspect in this case with her work records verifying that she was at work the night of Anthony's disappearance.

With Jessica crossed off the list, detectives turn their focus to the other woman Anthony had been in contact with on July 2nd, Candy Zito.

But before they are able to get in touch with Candy, an anonymous tipster comes forward.

He had information that he believed a person by the name of Lane Lowry in the Chelsea area of Alabama may have been involved with Anthony's disappearance.

There was some rift between the two parties and that Lanc may have caused harm to Anthony.

At this point, we believe that it's likely that there was a murder of some sort.

Coming up, detectives discover a dark side to this sleepy rural community.

They got rippers around a little.

Okay, so are we speculating then that this was some sort of drug issue?

But can investigators track down a potential suspect before she disappears for good?

She tells me, oh, you know what that sound is?

That's the sound of me throwing this phone out the window.

And that was the last time I spoke to her.

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On July 9th, 2015, detectives investigating the murder of Anthony Gibson receive a break in the case when an anonymous tipster contacts local authorities.

He had some information that he thought would be valuable to the investigation.

They got records from Alum for manufacturing.

You name it, they got it.

Okay.

So are we speculating then that this this was some sort of drug issue?

I don't really know.

So we're thinking at the time that possibly this is a drug-related issue,

possibly a drug deal going bad.

In addition to that, we had a large amount of methamphetamine that was in Anthony's system by the time of his death.

The informant tells Detective Palmer that to complicate matters, Lane Lowry is in a relationship with Anthony's ex, Candy Zito.

So Lane Lowry and Candy Zito are some sort of item together.

What I've been told.

The informant says he had heard rumors that during a fight between Lane and Candy, Anthony had intervened.

Something he fears may have caused Lane to retaliate.

If Anthony took up for her while if Lane Lowry was there, I would not put it past Lane Lowry.

Lane Lowry was an outstanding criminal in the area, being that a warrant was issued for his arrest for various crimes throughout the jurisdiction.

Using that information, I was able to contact a local U.S.

Marshal office to help locate him.

Investigators next contact Candy Zito, but her reaction is not what Detective Palmer expects.

I can tell that she's either driving or in a car as a passenger, and she tells me, me, oh, you know what that sound is?

That's the sound of me throwing this phone out the window.

And that was the last time I spoke to her.

It became apparent that I was probably dealing with someone who had some involvement in Anthony Gibson's murder.

And immediately, I wanted to attempt to contact her face to face.

As detectives rush to Candy's home, they pull up her social media accounts to get a better sense of of the woman who just became one of their prime suspects.

Looking at profiles of Candy Zito, she was living a very extravagant lifestyle.

Tons of pictures showing that she was traveling abroad, attending social events, just living the life.

Investigators soon arrive at Candy's last known address.

In hopes of arriving there unannounced, we thought that we might locate Candy at the residence, but in fact, she was not actually at the home and her brother, Zane, was on site.

Zane Zito, Candy's younger brother, tells police that the house is actually owned by their parents, who are working abroad in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.

Zane says he's just checking on the house and hasn't been home the last few days.

In speaking with Zane Zito, we learned that Candy has a different lifestyle than she portrays on her social media page.

Candy Zito was born on October 2nd, 1984, into a wealthy Alabama family.

While Candy's parents and siblings were high achievers in school and sports, Candy was different.

Candy was a very free spirit.

I don't think that she quite had her life figured out as far as what she wanted to do.

And because of that, I feel like maybe her parents kind of, you know, looked down on her.

I felt like it brought her into a deep depression because she could not be that star child.

She basically turned towards a different path.

In her 20s, Candy married a man named Bo, but the relationship was short-lived.

Candy and Bo were like fire and gasoline is how Candy described it to me.

She said one night they had an argument.

I received a phone call from Candy.

She was crying, upset.

She says she just got kicked out of her house.

She had nowhere to go.

With no one else to turn to, Candy moved into a house in Leeds that was well known for partying and drugs.

She lost a lot of weight, which, I mean, You can't always describe, you know, a junkie on that, but you could definitely tell the change.

She definitely used drugs.

Candy also developed a taste for younger men, including then 16-year-old Anthony Gibson, who would sometimes come by the house for parties.

Candy told me Anthony was very sweet, very kind-hearted, made sure she had food, clothing, whatever she needed.

Anthony was right there.

Despite their 10-year age gap, Candy and Anthony briefly dated.

But the relationship ran its course when Candy and her parents moved to Bahrain.

Her parents worked in Bahrain in some sort of a communications-type capacity.

Candy described her life out there and overseas, basically Party Central.

It was basically nighttime, all the time, party time.

No worries.

Everything was great.

You know, she was very put together.

She was made up.

Her hair was done.

That was the image that was projected.

Candy's brother Zane tells investigators that his sister's elaborate online life was actually built on a lie.

Her parents had kicked her out of Bahrain months earlier.

They ended up sending her home by herself because

she was causing trouble there for them.

In speaking with Candy's brother Zane, we learned that Candy was not allowed inside the residence at all because of her past behavior and missteps in her adult life.

Candy apparently had been sleeping in a tent in the backyard of her parents' residence.

However, Zane had no idea where she was, but he advised that as soon as he made contact with his sister, he would tell her to give us a call.

As Detective Palmer concludes his interview with Zane and returns to his vehicle, he notices a section of the driveway that has recently been cleaned.

I noticed it's just the one area of the driveway that's clean, just that one spot.

So my deduction is if Anthony was shot at the house, that in an attempt to clean up the blood that was left on the driveway, they used a water hose that was located at the house to wash the blood away.

Now, more than ever, detectives suspect that that Candy is involved in Anthony's death, making it even more crucial that they track her down.

At this point, all of our efforts turn towards looking into Candy Zito and her involvement with the disappearance and murder of Anthony Gibson.

All anybody really wanted to do at the time is just get their hands on her.

Coming up, will law enforcement push Candy into a desperate last stand?

The vehicle, it crashed into a tree on the side of the road at a pretty high speed and was fairly well destroyed.

All I heard were sirens and she said thumb.

On July 10th, 2015, detectives in Leeds, Alabama put out a national bolo alert for Candy Zito, the prime suspect in the killing of Anthony Gibson.

Investigators Investigators are still on the hunt for the vehicle Anthony was last known to be driving.

We thought that Anthony Gibson's Ford escort had been stolen, possibly by Candy Zito.

The next day, hundreds of miles away in Davies County, Indiana, dispatchers receive a 911 call from Candy Zito's grandmother.

Candy's grandmother contacts local police and advises them that Candy is on on site.

She was looking for money or just a place to stay.

Knowing that Candy is being looked for by local law enforcement, she decides not to allow Candy entry into her residence.

But before law enforcement arrives, Candy leaves her grandmother's home in a white Ford escort.

While en route to the call, officers recognize a vehicle matching a description at a local convenience store.

There are are two subjects inside the white fort escort

police truck to make a traffic stop and

at that point the vehicle flees leading police there on a high-speed chase

news of the high-speed chase quickly reaches friends and family back in alabama when i turned on the tv and i saw candy's face All over the noose, my first instinct was to pick up my phone and to get in touch with Candy.

When Candy called me, my heart stopped.

All I heard were sirens, and she said, I'm f ⁇ ed.

I don't know what to do.

And we lost the call.

Minutes later, Indiana law enforcement catches up to Candy.

They refused to stop for 15 miles during this pursuit and eventually run off the road.

The vehicle, it crashed into a tree on the side of the road at a pretty high speed and was fairly well destroyed.

They find in the passenger seat a white female that matches the description of Candy Zito,

and a white male was in the driver's seat.

The occupants of the vehicle had to be extricated by using jaws of life, and both subjects inside the car were airlifted for life-threatening injuries.

At the hospital, investigators determine determine that the driver isn't Lane Lowry, the possible person of interest.

At this point, we were able to determine that Lane Lowry was not involved.

We identified this person as Corey Zito, who happens to be Candy's cousin.

Corey was wanted in other jurisdictions for various crimes that he committed in those states.

Corey Zito was in dire straits.

He remained in the hospital in a coma.

Like her 26-year-old cousin, Candy remains at the hospital and under arrest.

While Candy and Corey recover, detectives seize and search Anthony Gibson's totaled car.

Officers were able to determine that there was a large amount of blood inside the trunk of this vehicle.

We were able to match that through DNA to Anthony Gibson.

Detectives subpoena Candy and Corey's phone records and confirm that hours before his disappearance, Candy had reached out to Anthony.

They'd reconnected and she had asked him to bring her some food.

According to the texts, Anthony had been willing to bring Candy some food as long as he also got something out of the deal.

A picture is sent from Candy to Anthony and the promise of having possible sex or sexual relations with him.

The cell phone records indicated that he traveled from his home in Harpersville to Candy Zito's parents' address.

Records show that hours after Anthony's phone arrived at Candy's house, Candy's phone was on the move.

Cell phone records reveal that Candy Zito was, in fact, very close to the location of Anthony Gibson's body.

It's clear to detectives that Candy is very much involved in Anthony's death, but they still don't know how Corey fits into the equation.

During the investigation, we were able to obtain a search warrant to go through Candy's cell phone.

We found pictures on Candy Zito's SD car that indicated her and her cousin Corey holding what appeared to be an AK-47 style rifle that was all black.

There are other, even more incriminating photos as well.

We discover there are several pictures that possibly implicate that she and her cousin Corey may be involved in a romantic relationship with each other.

In addition to the scandalous photos, investigators ask the medical examiner if Anthony's wounds could be the result of an AK-47 like the one Candy is seen holding.

The medical examiner had informed us that

the wound to the leg was consistent with a high-powered rifle.

On July 16th, 2015, doctors clear Candy to be released to the Davies County Jail.

On August 12th, Detective Palmer arrives in Indiana to put Candy in the hot seat.

She is talking.

She says she wants to be helpful.

When Detective Palmer presses Candy on her past romantic relationship with Anthony Gibson, she is taken aback.

So when you guys first met, he was around 16.

He was 18, I believe.

I don't know how old he was.

He was only 20 when he died.

What?

He was only 20.

Well, I've been lying to you about age then, apparently.

Candy says that while they hadn't seen each other in four years, they had kept in touch.

She claims it wasn't that that strange to ask anthony to bring her food on july 2nd candy says anthony had shown up around 10 p.m and while she ate her food in the backyard he did drugs i'm eating and he's doing dope and then that

what happened

immediately i can tell that there's more behind her eyes than she wants us to believe.

She starts to break down.

When he was trying to be aggressive towards me, sexually rip my pants, I start screaming and my cousin comes out.

She said Corey is there on the scene and comes out and confronts Anthony.

At that point,

she flees into the tent that is in the backyard and alleges to hear a gunshot.

She proclaims to not know what happened to Anthony or his body, only that she heard the car crank and leave and then return sometime later that evening.

When Detective Palmer presses Candy on her taboo relationship with her cousin Corey, her response is cryptic.

I know it's your cousin.

I know you guys have had

more than a cousin relationship.

I know this.

Okay?

I don't judge you for that.

I don't care.

I'm just letting you know that I

don't care.

Nobody with this baby girl, Candy.

Yeah, he's gonna unleash it.

Cause nobody's gonna mess with Bonnie about Clyde coming to handle it.

While Candy's story of self-defense may be plausible, it's her explanation of how she and Corey ended up with Anthony's grandmother's car that is far more suspicious.

When he came back to you, what was he driving?

What light ash for?

Where was Anthony?

I was under the impression that he was in the the hospital.

Based on my conversation with Candy, it was very doubtful that she was telling the truth.

I'm trying to help.

Like, I know you're against me.

I am not against you.

I'm not against Score.

I'm not against anybody.

I have a job to do, which is to find out the truth is.

All I've done is try to assist you.

Well, because the truth is set you free.

Coming up, a former cellmate reveals Candy's not-so-sweet side.

She doesn't have any remorse whatsoever.

Will Corey Zito have his own story to tell?

If he lives, then she's going to go to prison for the rest of her life.

Investigators believe Alabama cousins 30-year-old Candy and 26-year-old Corey Zito are responsible for the murder of Anthony Gibson.

But they need more evidence.

And in August of 2015, with Candy in jail and Corey in a coma, they get their wish.

Information was received that the inmate at Davies County Jail had spoken to Candy Zito several times about the crime of murder against Anthony Gibson.

Investigators set up an interview with the former cellmate of Candy Zito.

While Candy was in custody in Davies County, she was befriended by one of her her cellmates.

Ultimately, one night, they were watching an episode of a television program about a lady who had shot her former lover.

It struck up a conversation between the two of them.

She slipped up and said,

something about the gun and the bullet, and I don't know where my bullet went.

The woman says that when she pressed Candy for more details, Candy admitted that she had lured Anthony to her house on July 2nd.

I guess they were going to have sex, but

her cousin was there hiding, waiting for the guy to get there so they could rob him.

Is that what she told you?

Yeah.

And so she said they were going to rob him for

the drugs and the money that he had.

According to the woman, Candy said that Anthony usually had drugs on him.

And when he arrived, Corey and Candy were waiting.

She relays information to us during the interview that Candy and Corey ambush Anthony once he arrives on scene.

You've got the impression that she also was a shooter.

Yes.

The woman says Candy was vague about the details, but she admitted to helping dispose of Anthony's body and covering up the crime.

She doesn't have any remorse whatsoever, and you can tell like she doesn't,

it doesn't even phase her, like she doesn't feel bad at all.

The woman claims that Candy's only worry is what Corey will say if and when he wakes up from his coma.

She said their stories aren't gonna match up, so she did mention that she hopes that he doesn't live through this, because if he lives then she's going to go to prison for the rest of her life

even though they were never able to recover a gun tied to the crime detectives believe they finally know what happened to anthony on july 2nd 2015.

after they had shot him here in chelsea they stuffed him in the trunk of my mother's car

and just drove around with him everywhere, bleeding out all over the place.

We believe that Anthony ultimately died in the trunk of his grandmother's car,

bled to death from a wound that happened because of the robbery,

that if they had just provided him medical treatment, he likely would have survived.

On September 16th, 2015, Detectives receive word that after months in a coma, Corey Zito has regained consciousness.

When detectives detectives question Corey, it's obvious that the crash has taken its toll.

It becomes evident that he has suffered some sort of brain injury.

He's not able to communicate very well

and really has no recollection of anything that may have occurred from July until September.

On March 13, 2016, Corey is found competent to stand trial.

Still, prosecutors grapple with making murder charges against the Zeto cousins stick.

Due to the fact that evidence showed a high amount of methamphetamine in Anthony's system, and also that there was an injury to his leg, it was unclear exactly what the cause of death to Anthony Gibson was.

There was a very large risk of an outright acquittal from the charges that we had on them.

And we had at this point already been approached by Candy and Corey's attorneys that both of them wanted as good of a deal as they could get.

We talked to the family and the plea agreement that we came up with was a 20-year sentence to the charge of murder.

So by doing that, we guaranteed that they would be off the streets for up to 15 years before their first parole hearing.

Corey and Candy accept the deal.

And on September 7th, 2018, they are both sentenced.

I mean, you know, people get 20 years out here just for stealing a car.

But you kill somebody, you rob them, you desecrate their body, you steal the car, you do all that.

I mean, you know, 20 years, I don't feel like that's even close.

For Candy, Her partying days have been put on hold.

And now, she has nearly two decades to think think about what her love of a good time has cost her and Anthony.

I wish I thought there was some reason behind it other than her selfishness and she wanted some drugs.

You know that 20 years

that's not going to bring Anthony back to us.

I mean nothing nothing that they do is going to bring Anthony back to us but he was 20 years old.

He had a long life ahead of him and a family that loved him dearly.

And we'll never get to see him again.

Candy and Corey Zito are serving their 20-year sentences in the Alabama Department of Corrections.

They will be eligible for parole in 2030.

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