Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘Daddy Killed Mommy’: 26-Year-Old Stabbed, Dumped in Lake

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Candace Kehoe, a 26-year-old mother of three, was killed in July by her husband as they were going through a bitter divorce and custody battle. A newly released autopsy report shows she was stabbed before sinking inside of a truck that was plunged into a Claremore, Oklahoma lake by her husband, George Dakota Kehoe. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy spoke with Kehoe’s stepmother, Thuresa Hill and the lead detective on the case, John Singer.HOSTS:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberAngenette Levy: https://twitter.com/Angenette5LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. New developments in the death of a young mom at the hands of her ex-husband point to an extremely violent death. We speak with Candice Kehoe's mom about what Candice was like. No, you know, we're not doing this. I want to make sure that my children, my children need to be safe. Lead detective on the case also joins us to discuss what the new autopsy results reveal. Within hours, he's coaxed Candace to his house.

He does terrible things to her resulting in her death. Welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. We are alerting start. new details about the death of a young woman from Oklahoma, Candace Kehoe's body was found next to her ex-husbands in July. Candice was found dead inside of a truck that was sinking in a lake. Her ex, George Kehoe, who also went by Dakota, was also dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. When Candice's body was found, all police said was that she

died from some sort of violent encounter. Now the medical examiner says Candice had multiple stab wounds and signs of asphyxiation. The couple had three young daughters, ages five, seven, and nine. Candice and Dakota had reportedly been dealing with custody issues for years. Joining me to discuss the tragic death of Candace Kehoe is her mother, Therisa Hill and Detective John Singer of the Claremore Police Department. Therisa and Detective Singer, welcome to Sidebar. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Therisa, I'll start with you. First of all, How are you doing right now, given the facts that have come out about your daughter's death? How are you doing? How is your family doing?

We're trying our best. You know, as a mother, I just didn't lose my child. I have to see my other children going through a hard time, especially her baby sister. Our main focus is her children and making sure that they are emotionally okay, you know, through therapy. support through all of us, but it is. It's rough. It's not just rough knowing that my grandchildren are without their mother, but how their mother died. It's very, very tragic. As a mother knowing that your daughter suffered, nothing that you could do about it because you tried, very, very heartbreaking me. And I want to talk about the three little girls. You have three

granddaughters. Where are they? Where are they? Candice's daughters? Where are they? And how are they doing? My son, her brother, has a has guardianship of them, permanent guardianship. They, I get to see them all the time. My 10 year old actually goes to school with them. So we are, we're involved a lot. They are doing the best that they can be. They have their, their day. where they're missing their mommy. They'll tell me, you know, I miss mommy and me tell them stories about mommy or we will talk about mommy. And of course, therapy is, therapy's helping them. We had to find the correct therapist to be able to understand what they've been through and because there's a lot of things that got disclosed. They're forensic interviews and things like that because of

things that they have told their therapist or told my son and daughter-in-law. So, you know, it was, there's a lot more therapy that needs to be done than just their mother's death. There's a lot of trauma that has happened through their little lives. And now we're trying to make sure that no matter what, they are supported and get every bit of therapy that is needed for them. And they have a lot of support. their school's great, they're everything.

And I assume that they may have witnessed abuse. You know, that's typical, sadly, in cases such as this one. They had more abuse, trauma abuse, done to them than what they seen between their parents. They were not the greatest situation at all, living with him. and his family is biological. His mother, they had a stay with his mother, why they were through this custody battle. And he had left my grandchildren with his mother,

why he was out of state working. And there's a lot of trauma stuff that went on in that situation, more than just physical or mental abuse that they've seen their father due to their mom. because they were not present a lot of time when he would be with my daughter or a lot of things like that. But they did see or go through a lot of trauma while they were in her home. So, you know, and it stems for things that happened a few years ago with things that were happening in the home that she had a lot of sexual behavior children. in her home that actually was steeping onto my grandchildren. So like I said, you know, there's more more to this than just what he was doing. Let's face it, after a night of drinks,

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matter the time or occasion. Zbiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Again, remember to head to zbiotics.com slash sidebar. Use that code sidebar at checkout for 15% off. Detective Singer, talk to me a little bit about your role in investigating this case. The facts are really awful. The fact that Candace was in a vehicle, she had been stabbed, and then the vehicle sinks. So talk to me a little bit about your role in this case and what you've found. Well, this wasn't a typical domestic violence homicide where there's lots of abuse that leads up to this terrible thing at the end. This is, this one's somewhat different in that regard.

These, George and Candace weren't necessarily very involved with the criminal police like domestic abuse situations are, and that's because I don't think this relationship developed in the normal way that a domestic violence relationship does that results in death. This one really only occurred because of one of the daughters disclosing sexual abuse at the hands of her father. And that was the spark or the impetus that caused this terrible chain of events to begin. George came to know that his daughter had disclosed what he had done to her. He drove in from out of state overnight. And within hours, he's coaxed Candace to his house. He does terrible things to her resulting in her death. Then he tells some of his family and friends what he's done

and that he's about to commit suicide. So by the time the police came to know that this was underway, George was moments away from death himself. So from my perspective, as a detective, It's merely just gathering evidence of what has already occurred. Not a lot of mysteries in this. How this occurred will always, how this terrible situation, and how this family dealt with so much, that's a mystery.

It's not necessarily for me to solve. But what George did to Candace is terribly unfortunate, but also not real complicated. It's tragic. It's terrible. But I just think about, you know, these three little girls that over the short run and over the long run, over the rest of their life, they're going to know at some point more and more facts will become known to them that in the end, Daddy killed Mommy and they lived most, if not all, their life in a pretty unfortunate circumstance, pretty unhealthy environment. And I can't imagine what the future holds for them. I pray for them and I want the best for them, but what a tough hand for little girls to be dealt. Detective Singer, I want to talk a little bit more about how you said this is not your typical kind of domestic violence homicide case.

And I, you know, I know a lot of them are different, but typically you would see, I mean, obviously you're saying there was abuse going on, but it was George abusing one of the girls and the little girl disclosing this to her mother. and that that lit the spark that led to this. How unusual is that in your experience? Because I could see that happening. Obviously, it happened in this case. But at the same time, it's typically, I feel like, I feel like there's usually some history there between the two spouses. Well, and there's, I don't see any evidence of a healthy relationship between George and Candace in the, in the,

But keep in mind that the really bitter, nasty custody and divorce case has been ongoing for, I think, eight years. And for pretty much the life of all three daughters, mom and dad have been in a pretty ugly custody battle. So these little girls didn't necessarily remember ever living in a home where mama and daddy were living there together, healthy or otherwise. That's not how this family has tracked over the last. bunch of years so the girls have been in in various other homes people some people doing their best some people not but these little girls haven't lived in a home where mommy and daddy are living together obviously George killed Candace there was nothing healthy about their relationship but I don't think that

there was any real evidence of the traditional domestic violence relationship where I as a policeman can can look back at events that kind of foretold what was to come. This one's different. George and Candace have been in an ugly court battle for a bunch of years resulting in death, where the more typical domestic violence is there are lots of allegations by the victim over time

of smaller acts of domestic violence. He beat me up, he hit me, he took my car away, he controls me. This one's a little different in that regard. Teresa, talk to me a little bit about what was going on as far as this custody battle goes. Your daughter, Candace, I'm assuming, wanted to retain custody of her little girls. I mean, she is their mother. So what was going on as far as the custody battle goes and had George ever made threats to Candice?

As far as the custody battle goes, they had accused Candice of, like, throwing a shoe at the oldest daughter over a year ago, and Candice had to live with my youngest daughter for a while just because, you know, she's a single mom. She, you know, her apartment complex was just keep raising rent and things like that. So my youngest daughter let her and the girls move in with her. Well, in this time, that is when they knew, his family knew that the protective order that she had on his mother and her children were coming off. because this was the end of 22, knew it was coming off at the beginning of 23. So she, his mother, like, paid for an attorney

and he was like, I have a home. You know, you're living with your sister. So let's accuse you of this and then put a protective order on you so I can start filing for full custody. And so that's how this court things started coming about because Candace was like, no, you know, we've always had 50-50. I don't want to give you full custody. We're not going to do this. You're not keeping the kids, her kids, his mother's kids away from our daughters.

And there was a lot of things that was going on with these children perping on my grandchildren. So it become a point to where Candace was like, no, you know, we're not doing this. I want to make sure that my children, my children need to be safe. Candace and I can never understand why he never understood that his children need to be safe. We didn't know at the time. me and my family and my children know now coming out with one of them saying that he was hurting them sexually abusing them well no wonder why he didn't care he didn't care about these kids perping on my grandchildren because he was the perpetrator himself he was sexually abusing one of the girls so

Candice never understood. All I wanted was my girls to not be sexually abused, no matter what. Theresa, was there any sign of George, were you ever concerned that he would be violent with Candice? Because, you know, the detective singer is saying this, this wasn't like your typical domestic violence type of homicide where you have somebody who's been abused physically or verbally or what have you for years and things, you know, happen. Were there any signs? Did you see any of this possibly coming?

Because you said that, you know, you work in the social work field. I never seen the fact of I thought that. that he was going to be violent towards her. I knew that he had a very evil hold on her, because for a long time, I tried to get her to meet him at safe places, not trust him, just because he was the children's dad, she would always say, but mom, I understand that,

But if I keep saying that we need to do this or we need to do that, it's going to be harder on me because his mother's going to have, she has money and she's going to come back and there's going to be this long stuff again. She said, Mom, it's like I'm fighting something and all I want is the girls to be safe. she never told me that she thought for her own safety that she was in danger she would say things like he always tells the girls to tell me that I'm a terrible mom or I just need to kill myself and I'm like Candace you cannot have their father talked to them about their mother that way There was something going on mentally with him, no matter if it was just her, that he, I knew that he didn't, he didn't care about her well-being or anything. It's been like that for a long time ever since he started the divorce process, because he started the divorce process when the middle child wasn't even born yet. and then she was born they were legally divorced and then they had the youngest together

even though they were legally divorced and it was like sister you have to come to an understanding that it doesn't matter if you've been with him since you were 14 you guys had a teenage pregnancy then you kept trying to make sure that he he was trying to to be a dad you can't make anybody do that and she would say well I don't I don't think he would ever hurt me physically per se mom this was happening at first and then the protective order came so as far as seeing the signs that he was going to be this abusive to her physically no mentally yes I knew he was I tried I tried and tried and tried and drive report him i think that's important to point out because a lot of times and sometimes and

obviously you never would have imagined in your wildest dreams that he would harm her physically but a lot of times this verbal stuff detective singer verbal abuse like that i mean telling the children your mom's a terrible mom she needs to kill herself things like that i mean that's horrifying to me that you would say that to a child so i know this is kind of like it's not a physically abusive thing, but that's certainly verbally and mentally abusive. No, absolutely. And, you know, domestic courts, judges that hear divorce and custody disputes like this are filled with stories with bad parents doing bad things that harm their kids emotionally and mentally and sometimes physically. And this is an example of that.

The fact that these poor little girls have been exposed to this lifelong dispute for them was never in their best interest even before their mother was murdered. It just couldn't have had a worse ending. If there was an off-ramp, if there was an escape for these little girls to get out of a bad situation, I couldn't invent a worse one. But that kind of, that's not parenting. That's fighting and using little kids as weapons. And I'm afraid that those domestic courts deal with that about every day.

Yeah, but I think it's something that our viewers can look at and take heed of because it's just not normal to speak to children that way. And it is abusive. Therisa, you said the little girls, your sweet little grandchildren, and these three little girls, thank goodness, are getting some help. your son you said has permanent custody what do you want people who are watching this what do you want them to take away from this even if you are bound and determined for your children to have that other parent if that other parent is very toxic and abusive and not behaving and like a parent

should be and thinking about your children it doesn't matter fight for your children, do the best that you possibly can to keep them away from that other parent, no matter what it takes. Because if not, this situation is what can be the ending, the ending title of this, the ending of the story. My daughter actually, actually got murdered for fighting for her children. She knew what the end result was coming to and being swayed and and told that you need to talk to me about the girls and we need to come to an agreement and then finding out that your children are being abused by their father and taking up for them and you get murdered for it in a very, very gruesome death. and we know it was we have the report and know the signs even the little itty-bitty things if your child comes to you and say well mommy or daddy tell me that you're just not a good parent start reading into that start figuring out what's going on get your child in therapy

just get them at that help that they possibly can because in all reality my children my grandchildren are the ones who's suffering right now. They're the ones who have to go the rest of their life knowing what their dad did to them and then knowing what their dad did to their mom, the one who was really trying to protect them and make sure that they were safe. That's all she wanted. That's it. And she ended up getting this end of the deal from it. Therisa Hill, thank you so much for coming on to talk with us. Thank you, Detective Singer. And Theresa, we're so sorry for your loss. And we wish your grandchildren the best and hope that therapy will help them. And again, we are so sorry for the loss of your daughter. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. That's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crime Sidebar. YouTube channel, just remember to hit that subscribe button.

I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and we will see you next time.