Do you know who murdered Candyce? In the winter of 1987, the life of 38-year-old Candyce Margaret Woodward was brutally cut short in her Tulsa, Oklahoma home. On the morning of January 7th, after taking her son to school, she agreed to look after her neighbor's sick child. Later that day, a knock came at the door. When she answered, a man forced his way inside and viciously attacked her with a hammer, resulting in her death from blunt force trauma.
The young child she was babysitting was left physically unharmed on the couch, where the attacker had instructed the child to stay, warning of 'spiders and snakes'.
Candyce was a devoted stay-at-home mother to her 11-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, an active PTA parent, and a member of her church. Her husband discovered his wife's body when he returned home from work that afternoon. The brutal and seemingly random nature of the crime shocked the community and left her family shattered. The young child who witnessed the attack was understandably traumatized by the event.
Despite the passage of decades, the murder of Candyce Woodward remains an unsolved cold case. No arrests have ever been made, and no suspect has been publicly identified. The investigation suffered a significant setback in the 1990s when DNA evidence collected from the scene was destroyed due to a malfunction in a refrigeration unit. Law enforcement officials and Candyce's children, now adults with their own families, continue to hold out hope that someone will come forward with information that could finally bring her killer to justice. The Tulsa Police Department continues to list her case as a cold case and encourages anyone with information to contact their Cold Case Unit.
