Father details his son's violence

PROVO — Keith Candland didn't panic when his sister Amy didn't turn up to take their father to lunch that Sunday in February.

She had hearing loss in two ears and it wasn't uncommon for her to get sidetracked and fall asleep. He drove to her home, as he'd done numerous times before, saw her truck in the garage and expected he'd find her inside the house that she shared with her nephew, Candland's son. Instead he found an empty home with unlocked doors and cats that were "fixated" on the back door.

As he waited at the house, he began to fear the worst.

"I put the water jugs in front of the door so I could hear if anyone came in because I had my suspicions about my son," Candland said. "At that point I knew something was wrong."

Candland took the stand and testified against his own son Tuesday.

Damien Allister Candland, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder and rape, both first-degree felonies, in the Feb. 21 death of his aunt, Amy Candland. He is also facing a charge of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. Amy Candland's body was found by a hiker in Hobble Creek Canyon, east of Springville, on Feb. 21. Police said she had been beaten, raped and strangled.

Damien Candland was arrested the next day after police say they matched duct tape on the body and footprints at the scene with a roll of tape and shoes found at the house he shared with his aunt.

Keith Candland told police at the time that his son had a "violent relationship" with his aunt and that he believed his son was responsible for her death, a police affidavit states. He further described that relationship in court, stating that in the weeks before his sister's death, he had taken on an intermediary role to try and neutralize the relationship between his sister and son.

They argued over dishes in the sink, boxes in the garage.

"There was a lot of tension," he said. "They couldn't look at each other, walk by each other, see each other without yelling, blaming each other for this and that … minor stuff."

Damien Candland's stepmother, Laurie Watts-Candland, testified that she had a conversation with Damien Candland that alarmed her just a week and a half before Amy Candland's death. She recounted the expletive-laden conversation in which Damien Candland said he couldn't take anymore and wanted to rip his aunt's head off.

"When we had that conversation it made an indelible impression on me simply because there was so much rage," she said. "He was so upset. I was really worried."