Let’s say you’re a mother with a daughter from a previous relationship. You have a new boyfriend that you end up having another beautiful daughter with. You still love and cherish your first little girl just the same, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t automatically resent her, mistreat her, or force her to live in squalor. You wouldn’t subject her to the things that would lead to her demise, right? Today’s story is about a horrible mother and her bum boyfriend that did just that.
Candace Renee Diaz didn’t have the best upbringing while growing up in Western Kentucky. In 1998, when she was just four years old, her mother, Roina Diaz, left her in the care of her alcoholic grandmother. It was during one of these days with her grandmother that Candace sustained severe burns all over her body during a house fire, which required multiple surgeries to correct. Roina and the grandmother were later arrested and charged with second-degree criminal abuse due to the injuries that the little girl suffered, and they were incarcerated at the Hopkins County Jail in Madisonville, Kentucky.
During her mother’s incarceration, Candace was placed in the custody of a relative and guardian, Cynthia Diaz. In June of 2000, Roina lost parental rights to seven-year-old Candace after Cynthia filed a petition for custody, citing that the mother provided no support and had almost no contact with her daughter in two years. While incarcerated, Roina made a few phone calls to Candace, but eventually, she stopped doing so.
But where was Candace’s father, Timothy Mullins, while all of this was going on? Well, at the time, he too was incarcerated, although the reasons for that incarceration are unclear. Later, he sought to contest the petition for custody filed by Cynthia, but later withdrew his objections. Much like Roina, Timothy did nothing to financially support his little girl for two years after the petition. Although Cynthia adopted Candace, provided for her, and gave her a stable home life, some of the trauma that Candace suffered as a little girl caught up with her, and she went on to follow in her biological mother’s footsteps with regards to poor decision-making.
A New Generation
It should be noted that during the course of our story, Cynthia and Candace uprooted from Kentucky to Michigan. It should also be noted that other creators on YouTube have stated that Candace went on to live with her biological mother, Roina, as an adult. This is false, and we’ll make sure to have our sources linked for you in the show notes.
As an adult, Candace and her boyfriend, Kyle Barrett, stayed in Cynthia’s home after the couple welcomed their first baby, Gabrielle Renee, into the world on July 3, 2013. Friends and family referred to the little girl as Gabby. Unfortunately, like many young couples, their relationship was very short-lived, and Kyle left in 2014 when Gabby was only three or four months old.
In early 2015, when Gabby was 18 months old, Candace met and began a relationship with a man named Brad Edward Fields, who was four years her senior. Soon, Candace would begin spending less time in Cynthia’s home and more time in Brad’s. The couple moved a few times before settling in the Rawsonville Woods Mobile Home Community located in Belleville, Michigan—a town 20 miles southeast of Ann Arbor and 37 miles southwest of Detroit. Gabby was left with Cynthia while her mother was out gallivanting with her new beau, and honestly, Cynthia was a good provider for the little girl. This would have been the more desired outcome. However, when Gabby turned four, Cynthia was unable to enroll her into Pre-K in her school district due to not being her legal guardian. As such, Gabby went to live with Candace and Brad in his trailer.
The Trailer of Squalor
The honeymoon stage with Brad wouldn’t last long. In 2016, Candace called 9-1-1 after running from their shared trailer and seeking refuge in a community clubhouse after Brad allegedly punched her in the face, smashed her cell phone, shot the family dog, shot himself in the leg, and—as she was fleeing to safety—told her, “See if you can outrun these bullets.” It’s unknown if the dog survived.
When police responded to the scene, they noted the extreme uncleanliness of the home. Flies were everywhere, there was a pungent smell due to old garbage that had not been disposed of, decaying foods, stacks of unclean dishes piling up in the sink, dog waste on both the living room floor and in the kids’ bedroom, and a pet rabbit living in a squalid cage that had not been cleaned. In addition to general squalor, there was blood all over the floor.
A search of the trailer yielded a taser, prescription pills, a box containing drug paraphernalia (including scales), a camouflage bag containing an assortment of knives, a .40 caliber Glock handgun with two magazines, a Smith & Wesson .38 Special, and one magazine for a 9-millimeter handgun that was not located in the search. The guns had been hidden in the heater floor grates of both the bathroom and the living room; one of which had its serial number scratched off, and the other was unregistered.
Brad was initially arrested and charged with domestic violence (DV). However, three days later, Candace went down to the police station and requested that these charges be dropped. She claimed that her boyfriend was schizophrenic and had not been taking his medication. Additionally, Candace went on to claim that the two firearms seized from the home were hers. Due to one being unregistered and one having its serial number scratched off, Candace incriminated herself, and she in turn was arrested.
Candace’s poor decision-making didn’t end here. While being searched in booking, a blank prescription pad was found in her possession. Candace was charged and pled guilty to altering firearms and the possession of the prescription pad, receiving two years of probation.
There’s an awful lot to unpack here. Even if Candace decided to drop the domestic charges against Brad, you’d think there would still be other charges he’d have to answer for. Maybe Brad could have gotten disorderly conduct or gotten in trouble for discharging a weapon within the township. Allow me to quote the Van Buren Charter Township, which applies to Wayne County, Michigan:
Chapter 58, Article 7, Division 2, Section 58-338 states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge any firearm or other instrument producing a like effect and noise within the township, except in the lawful defense of his person or property, or as otherwise permitted by law.”
With that in mind, the D.A. could have still easily continued to prosecute Brad on other charges, right? Apparently, this wasn’t the case. It’s unclear why Brad wasn’t charged for firing a gun recklessly in a trailer park where many other people easily heard the gunshots. Beyond the handgun incident, Brad was guilty of animal cruelty for shooting the family dog in addition to the poor condition that the rabbit was kept in, but he wasn’t charged for that either.
The Escalation of Abuse
During this time, Candace had a baby with Brad, a little girl named Zoe. By all accounts, Zoe was loved and well taken care of, but the same could not be said for Gabby.
A lot of the mistreatment of Gabby seemed to center around bathroom accidents that she was having. At the time, Gabby was potty trained; Cynthia saw to that. She was out of diapers at 18 months old, but she’d still have the occasional accident like many toddlers do. However, a lot of her accidents seemed to occur at home. As it was noted by her Pre-K teaching assistant, Gabby didn’t have these types of accidents in the classroom, where the setup allowed her to go to the bathroom on her own.
Sometimes bathroom-related issues in young kids can be a sign there’s mistreatment going on in the home—it’s a stress response, which only gets worse if the parent responds through yelling or physical harm. Rather than lovingly supporting Gabby, Candace and Brad would do the following: repeatedly strike Gabby in the face and other parts of her body, frequently subject her to ice-cold baths, forcefully scratch her back with their nails, force her to ingest unprescribed Adderall despite her suffering from side effects, and finally, shanking her with a fork (which was in Brad’s own words per his admission).
Brad and Candace would force Gabby to wear a garbage bag, take away her pants, strip her of her bedding, force her to sleep in the cold living room, and keep her in soiled diapers. They documented their mistreatment of Gabby via Facebook Messenger, with Brad threatening to drown the little girl with his own bodily waste and forcing her to eat her own excrement. In one such message, Brad sent a video to Candace of him mistreating her daughter by making her wear a trash bag around the home, to which she responded asking Brad if he’d like anything from McDonald’s.
New Year’s Day 2018
On New Year’s Eve of 2017, Brad and Candace shared a picture of themselves holding baby Zoe, wishing everyone a Happy New Year. There was one person missing from the family picture: Little Gabby.
On New Year’s Day 2018, little Gabby Barrett suffered for the final time. The couple filled up the tub with scalding water and placed the toddler inside, essentially boiling her skin off of her body. When she became unresponsive, rather than calling 9-1-1, Candace called her adoptive mother, Cynthia, at 10:05 AM. Cynthia made a 30-minute drive to the couple’s home where she attempted CPR. At 10:41 AM, 9-1-1 was finally called.
During the investigation, Cynthia’s testimony detailed the horrifying scene:
Police: My daughter Candace called you on New Year’s Day. What did she describe to you? Cynthia: The only thing I can tell you is she was crying and she said Gabby wasn’t responding. I said I’m on my way, since I was in Westland. Police: You walk into the trailer, know what happened? Cynthia: Candace met me at the door and opened it, and we went back to the bathroom. Police: What did you observe? Cynthia: My granddaughter on the floor. Police: Did you observe any other adults? Cynthia: Yes, Brad was in there giving her CPR. Police: Did you see her coloring? Cynthia: The coloring looked normal to me. Police: How long did the compressions from Brad go on in the bathroom until you took over? Cynthia: Probably two, three minutes. Police: Did you instruct anybody to make any other phone calls? Cynthia: Yes, I told Candace to call 9-1-1. Police: Did you notice any water in that bathroom at all? Cynthia: No. There was no water in the bathroom at all. Right on the floor, not in the tub, ma’am. Police: And was Gabby wet at all? Was your daughter wet at all? Was Brad wet at all? Cynthia: No. Police: Did you see anything physically wrong with her in the bathroom? Cynthia: All I saw was the red marks behind her calf on each leg and on her backside. On the legs, it was like there was a little bit of the skin, like when you get a blister.
Candace claimed that Gabby had a habit of sneaking off and starting her own baths. She claimed she filled the tub up about halfway with lukewarm water, put the little girl inside, and left her unattended to go make pancakes. According to Candace, when she returned, Gabby was face up in the water, unresponsive.
The Damning Evidence
According to police that responded to the scene, none of the adults were performing CPR on the little girl when they arrived, and there was no water to be found in the bathtub. Aside from Gabby’s hair appearing to be slightly damp, there was no water in the tub or on the floor, and none of the adults appeared to have any water on their clothes—which was extremely suspicious for a suspected drowning.
Paramedics also found damning evidence that contradicted Candace’s version of events. Gabby’s lungs had no water in them. Additionally, Gabby’s fingers lacked pruning, a telltale sign that one has been submerged in water for an extended period of time.
While Candace rode to the hospital in the ambulance, Brad stayed at home with Zoe. The couple texted damning messages to one another. Candace told Brad that she was probably going to jail and to “get rid of everything ASAP.” She inferred that if Gabby lived, she’d probably be taken away because she’d tell mandated reporters about the abuse. Brad responded that the police were trying to search him and Zoe.
Luckily, the police were able to obtain a warrant. A search of the trailer uncovered chunks of skin and clumps of hair in the bathtub drain. A garbage bag with bloody gauze, plastic gloves, an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and boxes of topical ointment were found in the laundry room. DNA belonging to Gabby was found on the hair clumps, while Brad and Gabby’s DNA were found on several pairs of the recovered gloves. There was no bedding whatsoever in Gabby’s bedroom.
Gabrielle Renee Diaz was declared dead at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Her cause of death was listed as septic shock and battered child syndrome, with her manner of death listed as homicide.
The Horrors Unveiled
Gabby suffered from multiple inflicted injuries including blunt force trauma, a fatal burn pattern, thermal and asphyxia injuries, and indications of having been suffocated by a hand placed over her mouth and nose. A toxicology report revealed the presence of caffeine and amphetamines. Her hair was matted and lice-ridden with several contusions to her scalp, indicating her hair had been forcibly pulled out. She was covered in second-degree scalding burns, and tragically, her big toe had completely melted off. She suffered from malnourishment and had severe decay in all of her teeth.
The pathologist noted that there was nothing characteristic of a death by drowning. Gabby was in terrible agony until her very last moments on this earth.
Days later, the couple was arrested in Lowndes County, Georgia. On trial, the pair cited severe mental illnesses. Brad claimed to be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, social anxiety, agoraphobia, and PTSD. Candace cited bipolar disorder, PTSD, depression, and her poor upbringing.
Cynthia, Candace’s adoptive mother, appeared to try and cover for her daughter in court, claiming Gabby was perfectly healthy during Thanksgiving and Christmas, denying noticing any weight loss, dental issues, or hair loss.
Justice Served
Brad Edward Fields was charged with first-degree felony homicide, second-degree homicide, first-degree child abuse, and torture. The messages he sent back and forth with Candace proved his immense guilt. On October 9, 2018, he was found guilty on all charges and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Candace Renee Diaz was charged with the same offenses. On December 5, 2018, she took a plea deal which reduced her charges to second-degree homicide and first-degree child abuse. She was sentenced to 30 to 60 years behind bars.
At sentencing, Judge Vonda Evans delivered a scathing rebuke:
“When a woman gives birth, she’s closer to death than life. Her body opens up to reveal another life. It is one of the most beautiful and fulfilling parts. A mother’s job is to train and nurture her child into adulthood. It’s her gift to humanity… You killed your daughter for the love of a bum named Brad, an unemployed, drug-taking, manipulative loser. You allowed him to put your child in a garbage bag. When she wet herself, to give her drugs… your response was ‘Brad, beat her ass.’ What crime could this precious child commit that would cause such severe punishment? None… You are a female predator who neglected your child for the love of a bum named Brad. Never in my 21 years on the bench have I seen a child sustain the injuries inflicted upon her.”
In the aftermath, Zoe was taken away by the State of Michigan and her whereabouts remain sealed. Gabby’s father, Kyle Barrett, had no idea what conditions were like in the trailer. The last time he’d seen Gabby was just before he turned himself in to authorities on a warrant in September. He was released from jail two days after his daughter’s death. His final memory of Gabby was giving her a hug and a kiss, telling her he loved her. Kyle’s father, Jerry, stated: “We didn’t know. We would have gone and removed her from the home. If I had known, I would have been there in a heartbeat.”
