It's been more than 10 years since 17-year-old Candace Hiltz was shot and killed in her home south of Cañon City.
The gruesome murder happened in front of her baby.
“They came down the hallway, they shot, missed her, she turned and then she was shot in the head and in the back,” Heather Hiltz said, Candace’s sister-in-law.
A decade passed without much movement on the case, until December when a man named Rick Ratzlaff purchased a storage locker in Fremont County.
"I couldn't believe it was in the locker and after seeing the items in there it was just kind of horrific, you know? To see blood covered items and know somebody was murdered," he said.
For a long time, Fremont County sheriff's investigators looked into Candace's mentally unstable brother, James. He was ultimately never charged.
“There is no way he would have collaborated with someone else to kill his little sister,” Hiltz said.
The family dog was killed days before Candace's death. Hiltz says the ax and rope used to kill the dog was found in the locker. She says her socks and a blanket were also found.
The locker was once owned by a Fremont Sheriff's department detective.
“It just seems like something was covered up by somebody,” Hiltz said.
The sheriff's office is not commenting right now only saying they've handed the mishandled evidence over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and that the detective has been put on leave.
“My family is hoping whoever was involved in this, whoever did it, they need to pay for what they've done,” Hiltz said.
