Remembering Candance Boley: Seeking Justice and Transparency
On July 11, 2023, we commemorate the 12th anniversary of our daughter, Candance Boley's tragic murder. This event has deeply impacted our lives, prompting us to demand transparency from the Killeen Police Department (KPD) and the Bell County District Attorney's (DA) office.
We share our story to raise concerns and advocate for a thorough investigation into our daughter's case, as well as the conduct of a specific individual within the KPD and the DA's office.
After Candance's murder, we faced a distressing silence from the KPD, no call was ever made to us. We learned of our daughter's murder by reading the Killeen Daily Herald on 7/13/2011. Candance was found murdered on July 11, 2011. Detective Karl Ortiz took six days to establish communication. Ortiz demonstrated a lack of compassion and empathy, compounding our frustration.
Ortiz resorted to intimidation tactics, threatening to have us arrested coercing our silence about the details of Candance's murder. He manipulated the investigation to fit a drug-related shooting narrative, concealing the brutal nature of the crime and misleading the public. 2021 we learned Killeen had not seen a murder this horrific in decades. This lie of Candance being shot he would also submit to the FBI on the UCR report.
We discovered Ortiz inserted himself in the case of Candance's friend, Shayna Waller. Shayna's case was not under KPD jurisdiction but with the Bell County Sheriff's office. Shayna's case remains unsolved. Ortiz falsely claimed that he did not know Candance, and claimed Candance's phone couldn't be accessed, we later found out it was opened and his work and cell phone numbers were discovered on her phone under a fake name. We questioned his involvement in our daughter's case and raised concerns about his integrity and motives. His refusal to follow any leads given to him, his failure to send multiple items to the TXDPS crime lab, including the rape kit and the multiple lies he would tell us throughout the 8 hellish months we endured dealing with him. Our calls of complaints and requests to have Ortiz removed from our daughter's case were ignored by the Chief of police. 2012 Ortiz retired from KPD and began working for the District Attorney.
Ortiz's questionable actions extended beyond the investigation, as cases he couldn't solve at KPD were solved by another detective then later assigned to him at the DA's office. We expressed concerns about this conflict of interest but faced rejection when the DA's office said, “Ortiz will get the cases he worked on from KPD because he is familiar with them”. We found out that Ortiz tampered with DNA evidence on Candance's case on two occasions after retiring from KPD.
Despite providing information about Ortiz to the DA's office and the KPD Internal Affairs Office, our requests for investigation were refused. Ortiz subsequently retired from both departments, and our complaints were disregarded by the KPD Internal Affairs Office.
We realize there are exceptional men and women detectives at KPD, unfortunately there are some poorly equipped to hold such a emotionally and physically demanding position.
We are committed to exposing potential mishandling of cases and plan to launch a transparency page to document the experiences of families who have lost loved ones to murder in Killeen, TX.
We invite others to join us in advocating for a more just and equitable system.
Together, let us strive for a future characterized by integrity, trust, and the unwavering pursuit of justice. Join us on MurderedInKilleen.com and complete a Get In Touch form.
Thank you for your support.
Gene and Terrie
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