Regan hoped she wasn’t overtalking, but Lucas seemed interested in her comments. He then said, “I am hoping that A Concerned Sister will call in—or email again—with the answers to these questions. Regan, what if someone didn’t come forward during the initial investigation, would they get in trouble now if they did speak up?”
“Most likely, no,” Regan said. “First, many people didn’t even know Candace had been missing, not until her body was found. Second, the police would have questioned those most likely to have answers—the people who last saw her at the party, her roommate who reported her missing, other sorority members, her boyfriends. They would have interviewed the staff at the golf course, and then after collecting and analyzing evidence, if that led them anywhere, they would have expanded the interviews.
“But no one is going to get in trouble because they might not have known they had information. If you’re a clerk in a store, and the police come in and ask if you saw someone, show you a picture, and you hadn’t see them, you’re not going to get in trouble even if they were there. Maybe they were hiding their face. Maybe they didn’t stand out in a long line of customers. But if you saw them and lied, and the police found out that you lied, they’re going to want to know why. Were you paid to lie? Did you lie because you didn’t like the cop asking the questions? Did you have something to do with her disappearance? But if the victim had been there but you were never questioned by the police, you might not even know you had information they needed.
“This is a roundabout way of saying that the evidence is only as good as the questions the police ask—and who they ask. I would suggest your listeners look at their calendars, schedules, social-media posts from the week of April 12 three years ago. It’s easy to check your memories, see what you posted, who you were with. What were you doing? Do you recall seeing Candace? If so, when and where? In the age of social media where people document their lives online, it’s likely someone saw Candace and just didn’t think anything of it.”
Lucas asked, “In your experience, knowing what you know about this case—that Candace didn’t go to classes, that no one in the sorority saw her, that she left her phone and her car behind—would she be able to avoid detection?”
“In the short term? Yes. Is eight days short-term? I would say probably yes. In the case of a private citizen, not wanted by law enforcement, it’s easier to disappear for a few days. Human beings are complex, but they are also predictable. Most people can’t go completely off the grid for longer than a week. People need people. They also need shelter, food. It’s possible to disappear, but it’s rare for both psychological and practical reasons.”
Lucas said, “Two people have come forward to say that they saw Candace after she left the party. Two people who were not interviewed by the police, so the police were unable to fully trace her steps and—maybe—find out what happened to her.”
Regan replied, “People lie to the police all the time for a variety of reasons. Sometimes lack of trust in authorities, sometimes because they’re hiding something. But unless someone lied to police, if they know something, they should come forward now with confidence that they won’t get in trouble. Someone killed Candace Swain. Her family deserves to know what happened.”
“Someone killed Candace,” Lucas repeated. “And someone also moved her body.”
He let that sit there for a moment, then said, “As I reported on the first two podcast episodes, Candace Swain was strangled, but her cause of death was by drowning. She was found in Hope Springs Lake on the Hope Centennial Golf Course.
“The autopsy was thorough, and full toxicology screens were taken. This means Candace’s body was tested for both legal and illegal drugs, the contents of her stomach were analyzed, as was the water in her lungs. The water she drowned in was highly chlorinated. The golf maintenance staff told me that the lake is not chlorinated. My theory is that Candace drowned in a swimming pool, and her body was dumped in the lake to destroy evidence.”
Regan didn’t say anything. Lucas motioned to Lizzy through the window, then said, “Chrissy Swain wants to know what happened to her sister.”
Chrissy’s voice came through the speakers. “The police told me that Candace drowned. They said her body may have been moved to the lake, and they were investigating all possible scenarios. Then silence. Nothing. I called at first every week and then monthly and…well, it just got to be so frustrating to hear they had no new information. Her boyfriends were cleared, they had alibis, and the police believed that a homeless man killed her, panicked, and just…just threw her body in the lake. He disappeared, and they have been looking for him. But after nearly three years, they haven’t found him? It makes no sense.”