The case of the murder of the girl with the lollipops was solved only after 62 years (8 photos)

Crimes against children are the most terrible component of the criminal world. According to the International Organization for Missing Children (ICMEC), approximately 460,000 minors disappear every year around the world. This girl was found, but the mystery of her death was only revealed 62 years later.





Candace "Candy" Rogers disappeared on March 6, 1959. A 9-year-old girl left her home in Spokane, Washington to sell peppermint candies. This was not the first time she did this - she went around the neighbors and offered them sweets for a symbolic amount. Everyone knew the friendly schoolgirl, so the process took no more than half an hour.



Spokane, Washington

When the daughter did not return home after two hours, the mother became worried and went to look for her. Together with the arriving police, the woman discovered crumpled boxes of candy scattered along the street. It became clear that something terrible had happened.





Candace

The search, which involved many volunteers, caused another tragedy: a helicopter provided by the military crashed. Three of the five crew members were killed.



On the 16th day of the search, Candice's body was found in the forest outside the city. The military came across a girl's shoes. After exploring the area, the body of a schoolgirl was found in this area, carelessly sprinkled with pine needles. The girl was strangled with her own shirt. Before her death, the poor girl was subjected to violence.



Where the body was found

The investigation was complicated by hundreds of calls from people wanting to help who allegedly saw the criminal. But hundreds of searches and interrogations yielded no results. Due to the deposits of material, the lost cause was called “Mount Everest” - a peak that no one has ever been able to conquer.

Only two years ago, Spokane police used the latest research techniques and analyzed biological fluid from the victim’s clothing.



Evidence - a box of chocolates

Comparison with the database of DNA samples led to three brothers who not only had problems with the law, but also similar crimes - violence. But none of them were alive anymore. There was only one child left, and the daughter agreed to give a sample for analysis. It matched, and the court gave permission for the exhumation of John Reich Hoffa's body.

Hoff committed suicide back in 1970. And he rested with his victim in the same cemetery. The sample came into the database after a man attacked a girl and tried to rape her (this was two years after Candace’s death). But she was able to fight back, and the criminal spent six months in prison.



The cases were not connected in any way because in the 60s forensic science did not work the same way as it does today. The girl's parents did not live to see the information made public. The father died in 1963, the mother died in 2006. But other relatives thanked the police for the truth. It took 62 years to uncover.



Hoff

For the killer's children, the story came as a shock and changed their entire lives. The daughter said that it is very difficult to get used to the idea that your relative was a monster. But these people are not to blame for anything. Moreover, Hoff did not even take part in their upbringing.

They offered their condolences to Rogers' relatives and reburied her father's remains in another cemetery to "give Candice's soul peace."