Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

And I'm Britt.

And the story I have for you today is about the senseless murder of a young mother in South

Dakota back in 1980. A murder that would have likely gone unsolved until a bitter divorce

shook loose the lead of a lifetime, along with some uncomfortable truths. This is the story

of Candice Ruff Service.

It's breakfast time on the morning of Saturday, August 3rd in the tiny reservation town of

Kendall South Dakota. And a woman named Alberta Ruff Service is at home with her two-year-old

grandson, Homer. She's got her hands full already, so she's anxious for her daughter Candice,

who everyone just calls Candice, to get home and jump back into mom mode. You see, Candice

had gone out the night before to have some drinks with friends, and Alberta's been watching

Homer for her. And listen, she's happy to help. Like, Candice is a great mom who works hard

to provide for her son. But Alberta knows she's still an 18-year-old who likes to do 18-year-old

things, like heading out for some drinks at the bar with friends.

Wait, at 18?

Yeah, and it's actually on the up and up. According to Brian Bonner's reporting for the

monitor, at least one of the bars in Bowbridge, this one called Joker's Wild, is actually

able to serve low alcohol beer to people as young as 18, so they really like cater to

that market. Anyway, so Candice's plan is to spend the night in this town of Mobridge,

which is about a half an hour from Kennel. But as the day goes on, and Candice still hasn't

come home, Alberta starts to worry. She calls her daughter Clara thinking, you know, if

anyone's gonna know where Candice, it's her. And Clara tells her that she had seen

...