ACCORDING TO MANY JUVENILE EXPERTS, A 16-YEAR-OLD IS NOT CAPABLE OF BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS/HER CRIMINALITY

Georgia teen originally thought dead in fire charged with murder, arson, cops say

By Joe Kovac Jr.

The Macon Telegraph
February 28, 2020

A Monroe County girl was charged with murder and arson after she was pulled over by police Thursday afternoon in western Kentucky, some 12 hours after her brother and an as-yet-unidentified woman were found dead in a house fire southwest of Forsyth.

Candace Walton, 16, was awaiting extradition to Georgia on Friday where she faces two counts of felony murder, one count of arson and another of theft by taking, Monroe Sheriff Brad Freeman said.

Walton’s 21-year-old brother, Gerald Walton, died in the fire, and investigators are still trying to determine the identity of the other victim, Freeman said.

Authorities have been unable to locate the Waltons’ mother, Tasha Vandiver, 46, and in the hours after the blaze they began searching for Vandiver’s car, a 2007 Chevy Malibu.

A nationwide lookout for the car led police in Kentucky to pull over Candace Walton, who was spotted driving the car, Freeman said.

Cops near Paducah, Kentucky, pulled her over about 4 p.m. Thursday, Freeman said.

Candace Walton, who attends Mary Persons High School, told officers that she was bound for Oregon, Freeman said. “We believe she’s got a boyfriend in Oregon.”

The sheriff said officers searched the car she was in and “located some incriminating things.”

Monroe sheriff’s investigators traveled through the night Thursday to Kentucky and spoke to Candace Walton, Freeman said. “I can’t say what kind of statement she made.”

Shortly before 3:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters were dispatched to a blaze near the intersection of Old Zebulon Road and Ga. 83, about seven miles southwest of Forsyth.

One of the two burned bodies found in the charred house was at first thought to have been Candace Walton’s. Further investigation, however, revealed it was not her.