Candace Hawkins Death – When Madison Heights firefighters entered into a residence early Wednesday to put out a fire, they discovered two victims with stab wounds. Police believe it was a murder-suicide. Police said the remains belonged to Christopher Spicer, 40, who lived there, and Candace Hawkins, 42, who lived elsewhere in the city and was his ex-girlfriend with whom he maintained contact. Madison Heights Fire Marshal Paul Biliti said that at 9:27 a.m. Wednesday, a neighbor contacted 911 after seeing white smoke rising from the top of the residence at 52 W. Harding Street. The street runs one block south of Lincoln Avenue and immediately west of John R. Road.
She went on to say, “Spicer started the fire to hide a crime.” He claimed Hawkins was wearing pajamas when firefighters discovered her body in a bedroom. She’d been stabbed multiple times. His body, dressed just in shorts, was discovered near the front door of the residence. According to police, the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Officer eventually determined that the fatalities were a murder-suicide. “Preliminary autopsy results showed Hawkins died of a murder and had stab wounds that she did not cause herself,” Police Lt. David Koehler stated. Spicer was discovered to have murdered himself.
In the statement, Koehler stated, “Our condolences go out to those affected by this tragedy.” He stated that Spicer and Hawkins had previously dated, but “they were still in communication.” Biliti stated that Spicer poured gasoline into a closet in the hallway and set it on fire before killing himself.
He went on to say, “You couldn’t even tell there was a fire in the house from the outside.” “We got there before the fire could start.” The smoke rising from the top of Spicer’s one-story house was the sole indication that something was wrong. Spicer, on the other hand, had only a few knife wounds in his chest when the bodies were discovered by firefighters, he claimed.
Biliti stated that when firefighters first entered the residence, they discovered some blood near Spicer’s body and a lot more in the room where Hawking’s body was recovered. “She had many knife wounds on her neck and torso,” he went on to say. A gas can was discovered near the closet in the hallway where the fire originated.
The house is not significantly damaged because the fire was extinguished so fast after it began. As soon as firefighters discovered the remains, they contacted the police to begin an investigation. The Michigan State Police dispatched a mobile crime lab to the house to assist with evidence collection and analysis.
A portion of the residential street was closed off as firefighters and police officers worked. “The DNA, fibers, and fingerprint test results from the state police are still not here,” Biliti said in a statement.
According to Koehler’s statement, the Madison Heights Fire Department determined that the fire was intentionally started. Police are still reviewing the material to see if it is consistent with what the fire department discovered and what the autopsy revealed.
