Mother and daughter accused of dismembering, grilling remains of 71

A Hyattsville woman has been charged in the killing of her 71-year-old mother and accused of working with another family member to dismember the victim with a chain saw before trying to incinerate her remains on a grill, according to charging documents.

Investigators described a grisly scene found inside the home in the 200 block of Hill Road in Landover, when officers were called to check on the welfare of Margaret Elizabeth Craig on Friday, according to charging documents filed in Prince George's County District Court.

As officers checked the house, they discovered "blood and tissue on the floor" and three garbage bags that contained human remains believed to belong to Craig, the court files said.

Police later arrested Craig's daughter, 44-year-old Candace Craig, on charges of first- and second-degree murder and charged her granddaughter, 19-year-old Salia Hardy, as an accomplice after the killing. A judge ordered the mother and daughter both held without bond on Monday afternoon.

Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy described the case as "unlike any" she has seen.

"To say it's disturbing is an understatement," Braveboy (D) said at a news conference after the bail review hearing Monday.

Prince George's County police said in a statement that someone, whom prosecutors later described as a family member, called 911 on Friday reporting they had not seen the elder Craig for "several days" and were "worried about her welfare."

When police arrived at around 1:35 p.m. that day, Candace Craig answered. Officers went into the home, and when they got to the basement they "immediately smelled the odor of decomposition," police said.

"Upon conducting a preliminary search of the residence officers also observed a cover to a chain saw, cutting utensils, cleaning materials and blood spatter throughout the basement where the bags of human remains were located," charging documents said.

Investigators later recovered a chain saw with human remains on it, the documents stated.

Police said evidence and interviews indicate the grandmother was killed on May 23, and Hardy later helped try to get rid of the remains the next day.

On May 27, someone saw a fire in the brush near the home on Hill Road and saw Candace Craig and Hardy "in the wood line burning what they believed to be human remains," court documents say.

While speaking to police, Hardy said she had overheard her grandmother threaten to report Candace Craig to police for fraudulent use of her credit card. Candace Craig then attacked the elder Craig, Hardy reported, according to police. Hardy found her grandmother's remains in a blue bin in a bedroom the next day before Hardy and her mother "began in dismember the Decedent with a chain saw and attempted to burn her remains on a grill and a fire to the rear of the residence," according to charging documents.

Candace Craig denied any involvement in her mother's killing, charging documents said.

Defense attorney Chelsea Rinnig argued that Hardy "disputes the accuracy" of her statements made to police. Rinnig also said she is a high school graduate with no prior record.

"She is not the principal in this case; her mother is," Rinnig said.

But prosecutors argued the 19-year old helped her mother with dismembering the body of her grandmother and burning the parts on a grill.

"The facts of this case are absolutely mind-boggling," said prosecutor Jessica Garth, chief of the special victims and family violence unit. Garth said that after a witness saw Craig and Hardy burning a fire to dispose of the body parts, the fire department was called to investigate on May 27 but couldn't locate the fire.

Stanford Fraser, representing Craig, said the mother of three lives in D.C. and has had no prior record either.

Garth, the prosecutor, said it was difficult to think of someone injuring the person who gave birth to them in the manner Candace is alleged to have harmed her mother.

"When you’re talking about your elderly parents as they get older, it's our duty as children to protect our parents," Garth said. "It's certainly our duty to not murder them and then to dispose of them in such a horrible, gruesome way."

Margaret Elizabeth Craig is technically considered a missing person pending a final autopsy report confirming her identity, prosecutors said, though determining the cause of death is difficult because of her injuries and dismemberment.

"Because of someone caring enough to reach out, because our [police] department was doing its job, we uncovered a horrific crime," Braveboy said, noting this was Elder Abuse Awareness month. "Our job now is to ensure that our victim gets justice."