Manic Summer | 8

Summary

Unicorn Girl – Episode 8: "Manic Summer"

Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Charlie Webster
Produced by: Apple TV+ / Seven Hills

Episode Overview

In “Manic Summer,” journalist Charlie Webster delves into the pivotal summer of 2023, as cracks in Candace Rivera’s unicorn-perfect image finally rupture. Despite her public-facing success—including multi-million dollar ventures and a partnership with Homeland Security—behind-the-scenes chaos, deception, and an increasingly visible unraveling throw her life and nonprofit, Exodus, into chaos. Through first-hand accounts, the web of lies, financial irregularities, and personal betrayals come to light, culminating in a criminal investigation and Candace’s shocking arrest.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Homeland Security Partnership and Growing Suspicion

[00:03–02:28]

• Candace’s rising star: 2023 began on a high, with Exodus (her nonprofit) securing a high-profile partnership with Homeland Security to form an anti-human trafficking task force.
• Charlene Paul, Candace’s only paying client, expresses increasing anxiety after being warned by other stakeholders that Candace is not who she claims to be.

“Can you convince him to please talk to me? ... I need to find out what’s going on.” (Charlene Paul, 01:20)

• Sam Brower, famed private investigator and cult whistleblower, is drawn into the drama as concerns about Candace’s authenticity multiply.

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2. Red Flags: Lies and Manipulation

[02:28–07:27]

• At a Holding Out Help event, Candace’s fabrications escalate—claiming to be a physician, boasting of international exploits, and offering dubious collaborations.
• Sam Brower becomes suspicious after Candace introduces herself as a physician, prompting his own investigation.

“Right then all these red flags are going up.” (Unnamed attendee, 03:10)

• Charlene discovers Candace’s claimed companies aren’t properly licensed, buys the business licenses herself for $22 each, and thwarts Candace’s backdating attempt.

“I own seven of the businesses that she says she owns.” (Charlene Paul, 06:12)

• Sam Brower turns evidence over to the Attorney General; Charlene becomes a victim for the criminal case.

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3. The Manic Summer: Erratic Behavior Intensifies

[09:50–13:18]

• Candace makes extravagant purchases (a vintage Corvette, two Escalades), giving conflicting stories about how she paid for them.
• Money issues and legal troubles surface—bounced checks, confusion over her name, and fear of arrest.

“That was manic summer.” (Unnamed friend, 12:39)

• Starley, who worked on Candace’s branding, quits after a volatile confrontation:

“I have a Candace filter. I only believe about a quarter of what comes out of your mouth, you know, because she was just attacking me.” (Starley, 13:18)

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4. Candace’s Machinations Unravel

[14:38–18:28]

• Candace tries to get ahead of rumors through damage control with associates like Survivor Felicia.
• Assistant Ora, whose paychecks are bouncing, continues to be emotionally manipulated, with Candace invoking illness to avoid paying her.
• Candace instructs Ora on what to say if contacted by a supposed bank investigator, blaming her ex-husband.

“She said, so you might get a phone call. There’s an investigator looking into my bank accounts ... this is what you need to tell him.” (Aura, 19:02)

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5. A Public Good Deed Raises Eyebrows

[20:37–25:57]

• In the midst of turmoil, Candace extends shelter to a grieving family from a book club, arranging a private plane and managing the logistics for their deceased child’s return.
• She shares photos and videos—some unsettling—on social media:

“Candace posted multiple pictures to the for the love group, including candid photos of the family grieving. She also posted a reel to her public Instagram, which had photos and video showing the boy’s dead body, including his face.” (Charlie Webster, 25:57)

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6. Criminal Investigation and Fallout

[26:05–38:06]

• Investigation heats up: Former Exodus member Sarah is contacted by police about forged checks:

“There were six checks that Candice forged Sarah’s signature on ... for a total of $37,500...” (Charlie Webster, 27:37)

• Exodus falls apart: mass resignations, suspicions about misuse of funds and Candace’s nursing credentials, and a growing realization among former confidantes that much of Candace’s narrative was fabricated.
• Assistant Ora learns Candace took out a $17,000+ credit card in her name to buy a car for her son; Ora files a police report.

“I had to go to the police station and file a police report about that purchase, about that car. It wrecked me ...” (Aura, 38:40)

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7. The Birthday Lie and Final Betrayal

[31:55–37:17]

• Candace’s age and birthday become inexplicably murky—her IDs list different birthdates, undermining her narrative further:

“I had never noticed the dates on these IDs before. Like, why would I try and compare the two birthdays? And so that’s when I noticed they were both different.” (Aura, 33:29)

• Stories about her twin daughters’ deaths shift dramatically, another sign of her duplicity.

“She said that she was six months pregnant when they were hit by the drunk driver.” (Kate, 36:10)

• Kim’s realization: “I am pretty sure that I am in bed with a con artist.” (Kim, 37:00)

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8. Confrontation, Collapse, and Arrest

[42:07–51:02]

• Ora brings evidence to Special Agent Pettis; police present her with mountains of forged checks and probe international bank records.
• Kim tries to confront Candace—met first with gifts and emotional manipulation, then anger, then rapid-fire defensive texts.

“I meant to write a card with it, but it’s supposed to say ... you’re stuck with me forever ... She knows.” (Kim, 46:50)

• Final text from Candace, denying wrongdoing and referencing Anna Delvey:

“I’m not your Anna Delvey TV show.” (Candace [read by Kim], 50:20)

• The bombshell: Candace is arrested on more than 30 charges, with a recorded jail call indicating her dramatic fall.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “How does a woman who is running a nonprofit just go out and buy this Corvette?”
  (Kate, 10:17 – on Candace’s ostentatious purchases)

• “I own seven of the businesses that she says that she owns.”
  (Charlene Paul, 06:12 – on outmaneuvering Candace with business licenses)

• “Sometimes you can be wrong, Kim ... I’m not your Anna Delvey TV show.”
  (Candace (via Kim), 50:20 – her last defensive message before arrest)

• “It was like everything stopped and my heart just sunk. And I knew she’s lying and she has probably lied about far more than I can even imagine.”
  (Kim, 37:00 – recognizing Candace’s fabrication about her twins)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:03–02:28 – Candace’s partnership with Homeland Security and first suspicions
• 03:10–07:27 – Red flags at the Holding Out Help event, license investigation
• 09:50–13:18 – Manic summer, erratic behavior, and employee fallout
• 19:02–20:37 – Bank manipulation and Candace attempting to coach assistants
• 20:37–25:57 – Grieving family incident and questionable sharing on social media
• 26:05–27:54 – Police investigation, forged payroll checks
• 31:55–34:43 – The birthday riddle and unraveling lies
• 38:40–42:07 – Credit card fraud against Ora, police report filed
• 42:38–44:03 – Ora’s evidence handover and AG meeting
• 45:06–50:07 – Kim’s confrontation, Candace’s defensive/intimidating tactics
• 51:02–51:33 – Breaking news of Candace’s arrest

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

The episode is fast-paced, candid, and driven by shock, betrayal, and gradual revelation—the hosts and sources employ conversational and at times confessional language. Charlie Webster maintains investigative focus while allowing survivors and former associates to narrate their emotional journeys, spotlighting the blurred boundary between belief and skepticism. The rich firsthand accounts anchor an exposé where glamour, altruism, and deception collide—ending with Candace’s empire collapsed and her freedom gone.

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For listeners who want to know how Candace Rivera went from influencer and humanitarian CEO to a defendant facing a slew of charges, this is the episode to catch.

Transcript

[Charlie Webster]

This is Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills, hosted and executive produced by me, Charlie Webster. After starting 2023 with a huge partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, Candice was riding high. Exodus was now in its fourth year and Candice was finally getting the recognition she felt she deserved. 2023 was going to be big for Candice, whether she knew it or not. Homeland Security was so impressed, they wanted to take their partnership even further by setting up an anti human trafficking task force together. They even signed an official document to formalize the collaboration. At the same time, Arthur and Candice's only paying client, Charlene, was getting nervous. She was on the phone with the founder of the non profit Holding Out Help.

[Charlene Paul]

She said, candace is not who you think she is and Sam Brower wants nothing to do with you because of your association with her. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait. Can you convince him to please talk to me? She said, I don't know. You don't really convince Sam to do anything. I said, please, I need to know what's going on. I'm into this woman thousands and thousands of dollars and I, I owe my publisher for books and I need to find out what's going on.

[Charlie Webster]

If you remember, Sam Brower was Charlene's hero, who she was so excited to meet. Candice had told Charlene she'd known Sam for years and had taken Charlene to the gala to meet him. Sam is a private investigator who dedicated years of his life to bringing down the polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs and putting him behind bars. There's two separate documentaries about it. Prophets Pray and Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey. Sam works closely with Holding Out Help who support people escaping polygamy in Utah.

[Unnamed Holding Out Help attendee]

I was at a Holding Out Help event that was going on in Salt Lake and that was the first time I met Charlene and Candace.

[Charlie Webster]

We were able to track Sambraua down and he agreed to speak with us at his office in Cedar City, about three hours drive from Salt Lake. His office is exactly what you'd expect from a private investigator. There's papers, research and books everywhere. He just received a shipment of at least 20 GPS trackers that were piled up on his desk. One wall was dedicated to his work on Warren Jeff's. Sam arrived in a cap, no cowboy hat this day, chewing on a toothpick.

[Unnamed Holding Out Help attendee]

I was polite. After the event was closing up, Candace came by and just, I mean, she acted like we were long lost friends and giving me hugs and telling me all these things she's doing. I'm going to Ugand and I'm just back from the Middle east and I'm, you know, all this stuff that just sounded so far fetched to me. And then she told me she was a physician and I said, oh, really? You're a physician? And she said, yeah, I am. And I've got to do this in Lebanon and I've got all these different things she's supposedly doing. I said, well, there's a friend of mine over there and his wife's a pediatrician, you should talk to him. And she like changed the subject. And I could tell she got a little bit panicky. And right then all these red flags are going up. Afterwards, I got a call from Candice. She was just dangling a carrot under my nose, wanting me to. She thought I would be, I'd buy it. You know, I've got a film crew that follows me around and we can video you. I do a podcast, will you come do the podcast with me? And all this kind of stuff. And I just kind of shied away, away from all that. And she kept coming up with these things and events and stuff she wanted me to do. I mean, I wasn't rude, I just avoided it, kept it at arm's length. But then Candace would call me, her assistant Ora would call me. I mean, sometimes daily for a while. It was all getting really strange. I decided that I would start checking her out and I started talking to people that had dealt with and I just kept looking and looking and the more I looked, the more I found out.

[Charlie Webster]

Eventually, with a bit of persuasion, some agreed to take a call from Charlene.

[Charlene Paul]

I called him, I told him what had happened. Sam said at the gala, when she introduced herself to me as a physician, there was something wrong. I knew that there was something wrong. So I said, how did you know just in that short a time? I've been doing this for more than 40 years, Charlene. I can smell it. Then from there, I ended up talking to Sam quite a lot. And then I did something that I should have done at the very beginning. I should have checked her business licenses. So I looked up those business licenses and saw that she didn't have any. Even for Exodus, that license had lapsed.

[Charlie Webster]

Despite the fact that Candice said that she ran seven companies turning over eight figures. The only business license she ever had was for her non profit Exodus. And even that license expanded, expired at the end of 2022. Charlene was concerned that if Candace got wind of an investigation, Candace would be able to Buy the licenses, backdate them and try to legitimize her businesses.

[Charlene Paul]

You can backdate a business license because it says beginning date. You could back date it two years. No way was I going to let her legitimize her bastard businesses because there's just no way. So I bought them all. I own seven of the businesses that she says that she owns.

[Charlie Webster]

Do you own CR House and Co?

[Charlene Paul]

I do. I have the licenses in my. Filed in my drawer. I have her tied up because at some point in time, you know, Sam's going to turn over the information to the Attorney General. If the Attorney General takes it and she gets wind of it, she's going to go back and try to legitimize everything. She's not going to be able to. That is one of my proudest moments in this whole thing.

[Charlie Webster]

Charlene bore all seven of Candice's business licenses. They cost $22 each. And Candice did try to buy and backdate her business licenses, but she found Charlene's name attached to all of them. Candice even threatened Charlene with legal action because of it. As for Sam Brower, he did exactly what Charlene thought he would do, went straight to the law.

[Unnamed Holding Out Help attendee]

Candice was never able to get licensed as anything, as a nurse or anything else. So I knew she was a liar. I went to the Attorney General, gave him a call.

[Charlene Paul]

Sam asked if I would mind if he gave them my name when he turned in the stuff to the Attorney General. And I said, I'm fine with that. June 2023, I was walking through Kohl's in Logan and I get this call and it's a phone number I don't recognize. So I just let it go to voicemail. I'm walking down the aisle, I listen to the voicemail. It says, this is Utah Attorney General Special Agent James Pettis looking for Charlene Paul. And I'm thinking, man, somebody has got my number. I'm being scammed again. I texted Sam and said, this is the message I just got is this leg. And sound doesn't always get back with you instantly. This was instant. It's legit with four exclamation points after it. So I called back and it was about 7 o' clock at night. I sat out in the parking lot in my car and I talked to pettis for about 45 minutes, told him what had happened. And he said that they wanted to open a criminal case, but they needed a victim because you can't open a criminal case without a victim. He said, I hate to Call you a victim. I said, you can call me whatever you want. I'm on board with this. And he said, you know, you are probably never going to get a penny of your money back. I already know that. And he said, why would you agree to this if you know that you're never going to get any money back? I said, because I don't want her to do this to somebody else. And I'm sure that she has, and I will do everything that I can to help make sure that she is not allowed to do this to another person.

[Charlie Webster]

Charlene was told by Special Agent James Pettis she couldn't breathe a word to any. Pettis, as everyone calls him, was concerned that if word got back to Candace, it would jeopardize the whole thing. And Charlene didn't know who she could trust or if anyone else was in on it anyway. So as summer of 2023 was starting, Charlene was the only person who knew that the police were opening a criminal investigation into Candace. Although Candace might have caught wind anyway, her behavior was.

[Survivor Felicia]

She was weird.

[Unnamed friend or associate]

Summer was definitely man.

[Charlie Webster]

Alongside her two Escalades, Candice bought a white vintage 1977 Corvette convertible. A classic American sports car. And she wasn't shy about showing it off. She rolled up to philanthropist Mary Kraft's house in her new wheels.

[Kim]

She wanted to take me for a ride.

[Charlene Paul]

And so I'm riding and I'm thinking.

[Kate]

How does a woman who is running a nonprofit just go out and buy this Corvette?

[Kim]

So I asked her, she goes, she.

[Aura]

Says, well, this is my birthday present.

[Kate]

I've been saving for it for 10 years.

[Kim]

And my friend, I knew she was going to sell it and I asked her not to sell it until we.

[Charlene Paul]

Could buy was a beautiful white Corvette with red leather interior and convertible.

[Charlie Webster]

Although the story she told Mary about how she was able to buy it was a little different to what she told Ora.

[Aura]

She said the Corvette was a gift from her ex boyfriend.

[Charlie Webster]

And what she told her mop's bestie, Danielle, was different again.

[Unnamed friend or associate]

She told us that she had a friend that was gonna sell this Corvette cause she's trying to save money to do an adoption. She tells us, like, oh, I can actually help them with an adoption. Like, we're basically gonna trade the car. I'm gonna give her like legal services with my attorneys. We can really help them with an adoption. And so they're gonna trade me the car for my services.

[Charlie Webster]

The Corvette was just the start of strange and erratic behavior for Candice.

[Unnamed friend or associate]

That summer we were taking our dogs for A walk one time. And she said, know it's a felony in Utah if you write a check for over $5,000 and it bounces. I said, no, I didn't know that. Why did you do that? She's like, yeah. And I was like, oh, shit. Like he did. She's like, well, I didn't mean to. Like, I. It was to a vendor that I paid. Like, I. I wrote him a check for eight grand for last fall's gala. He didn't try and cash it until now, and now my money's tied up in the house. I was like, oh, shit. Like, you should probably do something to make it right. I was like, why don't you sell the Corvette?

[Kim]

You know?

[Unnamed friend or associate]

She's like, well, I can't sell the Corvette. It doesn't really run well enough. I was like, okay, then sell your Escalade. She's like, I can't, because that one belongs to Exodus now. I'm like, then get a renter in your basement. No, I can't, because it's a safe house for the girls. Okay, then I can't help you. So there's money trouble, and that's kind of its own little circle. And then it's. I'm in trouble for using my maiden name and not my last name. So everybody's saying I'm a fraud and I'm not legit because I'm using Rivera instead of Liard.

[Kim]

And I'm like, are you kidding me?

[Unnamed friend or associate]

She's like, yeah, that's why I keep telling everybody. But it's apparently a big. Like, everybody's coming after me for it. Like, the AG's office is this, this, this. Like, if I'm arrested, I'm like, what are you talking. She's like, but they might. I don't know, I might get arrested. She starts talking about, they're going to come after me.

[Charlie Webster]

It seemed like Candice was feeling the.

[Unnamed friend or associate]

Heat that was manic summ.

[Charlie Webster]

As the weeks went by, Candice's behavior was getting stranger, and people were starting to talk. They were seeing a different side of Candace. The polished facade she spent years perfecting was starting to crack. Starley, who'd worked on Candice's branding company, Sea Art House and Company, was no longer feeling the Candice magic and decided to quit. She let Candice know, and Candace was not happy about it.

[Starley]

Candice calls and she's furious at me, and she just started yelling. And I usually keep my cool, but I told her on that call, as she was yelling at me, I'm like, You know what? I have a Candace filter. I only believe about a quarter of what comes out of your mouth, you know, because she was just attacking me. And I, you know, I've never had anyone attack me like that. She's like, I have been an amazing friend to you, and how can you betray me like this? And she's like, I bet you didn't even know that my cancer has come back. And I'm just like, girl. And I was just, you know, she was just calling me a bad friend and betrayer. The few hours and day that followed, it's like I was at peace because I'm like, good riddance. Good riddance. It shook me. I was glad she was out of my life and I was no longer, like, associated with that business or anything there. Just kind of disgusted by what she was. And it just kind of confirmed my growing distrust of her.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice seemed to be getting paranoid about something. She was trying to get ahead of the rumors that were flying around. She arranged to meet up with Survivor Felicia. As luck would have it, Phylicia also had something to tell Candace.

[Survivor Felicia]

That day was just kind of weird because we were supposed to meet in the morning, and then she said that her car was acting up, and then she said that I had to meet her at her friend Danielle's house. So we went from trying to meet at 11 o' clock in the morning to almost 5 o' clock at night. And I was like, I really, really have something I need to tell you. I met the most amazing man who'd already been in my life. And so I went to Danielle's house because the Corvette she was driving was acting up. So I picked her up, and then she said she lost her wallet. So I paid for The Slurpees at 7:11 down the street, and we went over to the Gardens. When we sat down, she said, oh.

[Charlie Webster]

My gosh, it's so good to see you.

[Survivor Felicia]

And I hugged her. And I was like, I have the best news to tell you, but what's going on?

[Kim]

Let's catch up first.

[Survivor Felicia]

And she goes, oh, I've just been really busy with meetings and my new businesses. And I'm like, oh, that's awesome. She goes, oh, and by the way, you're gonna hear some things here soon. A lot of people are talking and saying some things about me that are not true, and I just don't want you to get caught up in the drama. And I'm like, candace, I'm not gonna believe anything anybody says about you because you know, I love you. You're like a mom to me. You're my mentor. I said, I know you like I know you. And she was, okay, good. I just don't want you to get, you know, listen to their lies. And there's just a lot going on right now. And I'm like, it's fine. It's gonna be fine.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice's assistant, Aura, was also feeling the manic energy. Six of her paychecks had bounced, and the money she was owed was racking up.

[Aura]

Tuesdays were set aside for our Cadence meetings, and she owed me a lot of money.

[Charlie Webster]

Tuesdays were also the day that Candace had set aside in her calendar for chemotherapy.

[Aura]

So these meetings kept getting canceled because she was so sick from chemo. And so I'd be like, well, I really need to come over and get a paycheck. And then she would start crying because she'd been throwing up. And I'd be like, okay, let's just do it over the phone. I'll come get it later. How can I sit there listening to my friend cry and cry and be so sick and ask for money? So I rarely ask for my paychecks after that because she was so sick. Candace would call me crying, and say, I was up all night with my son because I had to tell him that his aunt was going to raise him when I die. And just devastated that he would have to hear that, that she would have to say that. And how can I schedule meetings right now when you just told your son you were going to die? How can I go after she's been puking all morning and ask for money? Candice told me that she wanted me to get a new Exodus debit card and credit card. She said, we're switching over to Chase Bank. As soon as this new account is set up, your direct deposits will start coming through.

[Charlie Webster]

Aura's one condition when joining Exodus was that she would have nothing to do with the money. Even having an extra's credit card made her feel uncomfortable. But not having a credit card had previously caused problems when trying to rent a car for an operation. Plus, Candice promised her that changing banks would mean the problem that stopped ORA from getting paid would be fixed.

[Aura]

I said, I am okay getting a credit card on the condition that it is just used for rental cars. I was so desperate for my months of paychecks that I said, okay, well, if it's gonna make it so my paychecks are coming through and it's just for rental cars, then I'm okay having a credit card just as Long as for that.

[Charlie Webster]

The credit card was taking a while to set up. So Candice got on a three way phone call with Aura and the bank to get it set up once and for all.

[Aura]

I was in Ikea shopping for my son's birthday. I sit on an Ikea bed and I have a Chase bank employee, Candice and myself on the phone. He said, I have to send Candace the cards because she is the CEO of Exodus. They have to be sent to her, not to you. Is that okay? And I was like, okay, that makes sense. We hang up and then I stay on the phone with Candace for a little bit. She kept thanking me for being such a good assistant. And then she said, so you might get a phone call. There's an investigator looking into my bank accounts. She said, and if he calls you, this is what you need to tell him that my ex husband has emptied out my bank accounts. And so if you get a phone call, this is what you say. And I was like, okay.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice's ex husband Patrick didn't have access to her bank accounts. Candice's summer was getting more manic. Along with everything else, she was busy preparing to be the keynote speaker at the first ever Commonwealth Human Trafficking Summit in Virginia. And there was a Congressman's roundtable coming up in Utah which featured Homeland Security's partnership with Exodus. It might seem a lot, but all this was true and was going on at the same time. Right in the middle of all this, the for the Love book group had an urgent request.

[Kim]

A For the Love sister messaged me yesterday morning. She said, my best friend's sister was life, flighted to Salt Lake with their.

[Aura]

Four year old and he died and she is alone.

[Charlie Webster]

Candace was the only person in the group who was based in Utah. She dropped everything to help.

[Kim]

I immediately texted her and made plans.

[Aura]

To meet her at the hospital.

[Charlie Webster]

Here's Brandy from the book group.

[Kim]

Candace allowed the parents, whom she'd never met, to come and stay with her for a few days while she organized for the body to be flown back to wherever this family lived. And I remember at the time thinking.

[Charlie Webster]

I would have no idea how to do that. I would not have the ability, the.

[Kim]

Finances, the networking to pull that off.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice kept the for the Love women updated with how things were going.

[Aura]

I have the perfect house for anyone needing refuge.

[Kim]

I had two friends come over and we made dinner. Then finally picked her husband up from the airport at about 9pm I have.

[Aura]

Cried so many tears.

[Kim]

Held her tight, brushed her hair, held her hand, and this morning made Them coffee and eggs, cried lots more and.

[Aura]

Just am around when they want to talk.

[Kim]

I told them they can stay at.

[Aura]

My house as long as they need.

[Charlie Webster]

One of the two friends Candace called was non profit leader Kate, who had been part of the NBA operation.

[Kate]

It was a farming accident that happened on their ranch and this mother was grieving alone in Utah with her child and her husband was trying to get to Utah. Candice went to be there with her as she said her goodbyes to her little boy. And then the husband came into town. And these people stayed with Candice as they were grieving and waiting for their son's body to be ready to go back home. Candace knew that I had lost my husband and that I had experienced grief. She related with me with her twin daughters dying. She said her twins died when they were two in a drunk driving accident. Candice called me and just said, hey, you experienced grief. I'm just trying to find people that can be there for this family. When your husband died, you had a community of people that were there for you and we need to find a community to be there for her. I would really love to get a group of us to take them to the airport. She said that she's been able to get a private plane for this family to take the body back and was somehow able to shut down an airport. I don't know how a person can do that. I know I couldn't do that. And so we went over to Candice's house. I introduced myself, we all got in Candice's bed and cuddled up. We were doing whatever we could to be there for this woman in this hard time. This was a matter of days of her son passing. And so after we spent some time and just loved on each other and we were there for each other, we got in our cars and we went to the airport. Candice had gotten the plane. The family was going to get on the plane with her son and fly home to where they lived. Candace said, hey, I'm going to have somebody take pictures. Can you video this? Because this family may want this video as a memory. And I thought that was a little odd, but you know, I didn't know if they had talked and maybe that's what she wanted. And I don't like to judge people when they're in their grief. I was like, okay, so I go out and they're opening up the hearse and in my mind they would be pulling out, you know, the coffin. But they pulled out and it was a gurney with the little boy.

[Kim]

On it.

[Kate]

He was just laying there, and that was so traumatic.

[Charlie Webster]

It was overwhelming for Kate, given her own trauma from the loss of her husband.

[Kate]

I saw the father greet his son for the first time. The last time he saw him, he was alive. And he sees him and he's passed. And then Candace going in the plane hugging the mom. It was a beautiful moment in the sense of like, we were there for that family. They needed that support.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice did arrange a private plane and did shut down one of the runways of a local airport. She did get the boy and his parents back home. Candice posted multiple pictures to the for the love group, including candid photos of the family grieving. She also posted a reel to her public Instagram, which had photos and video showing the boy's dead body, including his face.

[Sarah]

I'm in an apartment building, and the front desk called me and said, there's two police officers here to talk to you.

[Charlie Webster]

The investigation into Candace was well underway, but it was still under the radar. Those who were closest to Candace had no idea what was going on, but that didn't mean other people weren't being questioned. This is Sarah. She was a part of Exetus when it first started, but backed away early on.

[Sarah]

I've lived by myself in this apartment. I just said, I'll come down and meet you. I was shaking, and I had no idea. No idea. And so I walked outside, and there was a little table right outside the door. So we sat there, and he said, so do you know Candice Laird? And my heart dropped. It was one of those moments that just didn't feel real.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice told everyone Sarah was the chief financial officer of Exeters, but she wasn't. She helped Candice set up payroll in the beginning and volunteered for a while, but left after only a year.

[Sarah]

He showed up and pulled out some checks with my name signed on them. They were made out to Candice Laird, my signature. And in the memo line, it said, payroll. And my first reaction was, that is not my signature. So he had me sign some papers. I showed him my license with my signature on was obviously not my signature.

[Charlie Webster]

Were the checks for significant amounts?

[Sarah]

Yeah, I mean, thousands.

[Charlie Webster]

There were six checks that Candice forged Sarah's signature on. Five that Candice wrote to herself as payroll for a total of $37,500, and one for $2,055 for a deposit on the Casino Royale gala.

[Sarah]

I was nervous because he was asking me to do all these things. And then at the end, he said, I just. I want you to know that You're a victim in this. And he made me feel better. And then I do have to say, he did go back to the front desk and say, we just want to.

[Charlene Paul]

Let you know she's in any trouble.

[Sarah]

We were just trying to talk to her about someone else's case.

[Charlie Webster]

Everything in Candice's life was falling apart. The police investigation was going on behind the scenes, and at the same time, Exodus was imploding. Candice's nursing school bestie, Danny Remington, had been getting suspicious of why Candice kept palming her off when she asked about her nursing license. In the end, she decided that she couldn't ignore the red flags any longer. Danny finished off her resignation letter and sent it, citing her concerns over misinformation and misuse of money. Danny's resignation sparked a mass exodus from Exodus psychiatrist Marisha then resigned, along with all of the nurses, the community outreach director, and Jason from the Ukraine operation. Only a few weeks later, Danny got a call from Special Agent James Pettis about the investigation into Candace. As soon as she got off the phone, she called Aura.

[Aura]

I got a call from Danny Remington, and she said, hey, I just got a phone call from the Attorney General's office, and they asked me some questions about Candace. She said, do you know anything about a Corvette and how that was paid for? I know she has a Corvette. She told me that her boyfriend bought it for her. And she's like, well, I don't know. They were just. Just asking me questions. What if, like, it was bought with Exodus's money? And I was like, oh, you know, I don't. I don't think so. But of course, like, my stomach just dropped. Like, what is going on here? And the fact that she was questioned. And then so she's like, I just want to give you a heads up that they have called me. And I think they've called someone else. And so I was super grateful for it. I thought, I'm just going to keep working and be really cautious, and I'm just going to wait for my phone call. So, I mean, she owed me a lot of money. I was still trying to help people, but I was, like, just waiting, waiting for the call from the investigator so that I would know what was going on so that I could make my next move or resign. Candace became super erratic and weird and just crazier and crazier. Always crying anytime I was with her. We weren't ever doing work because it was always her talking about how she was such a good person. And it was just like, why is this Happening to me when I have helped the world so much. I'm such a good person. Why isn't stuff like this happening to my ex husband? Candace would have me power off my phone in her car so she could tell me, people are, like, asking questions about me. Have you gotten a phone call? I knew something was going on and didn't know what. And I was like, okay. Just knowing any day I would get my phone call. And it never came. I never got a call.

[Charlie Webster]

Ora never got a phone call. She wasn't sure what to make of what Danny Remington had told her. Aura was Candice's assistant, but she was also her friend and had been by her side almost every day for years. So things carried on business as usual, at least for those closest to Candace. It was now August, and Candace's birthday was the next thing on the calendar. Kim had the task of organizing Candice's party.

[Kim]

She had told me she was turning 39. Two nights before the birthday party, Ora, Kate and I were invited to go with Candace to an event for a different nonprofit. I was sitting next to Ora, and we're just kind of small talking. And I had sent out a text earlier that day inviting a bunch of people to a sort of surprise birthday party for Candace. Ora leans over and she goes, thank you so much for taking on Candace's birthday. That'll be so nice. I just didn't have the bandwidth this year. I felt so bad, and especially with it being her 40th. And I was like, 40th? It's her 39th. And Ora goes, no, it's her 40th. I'm positive. I've known her a long time. It's her 40th. I was like, it's her 39th. I literally texted her today and wrote it down. And like, I. Cause I was worried about forgetting what it was. It's her 39. She goes, I'm positive it's her 40th.

[Aura]

I was like, no, she's definitely turning 40, because we've been talking about this birthday for years.

[Kim]

We, like, go off to the side. And I was like, I was just planning a small little something, and if it's her 40th, we need to do something much, much bigger. And I only have a day to do.

[Aura]

And I was like, well, I can check. I have her id.

[Charlie Webster]

Ora had a copy of Candice's driver's license and her passport on her phone. So she pulled them both up.

[Aura]

I had never noticed the dates on these IDs before. Like, why would I try and compare the two birthdays? And so that's when I noticed they were both different.

[Kim]

We pull up both of those with the driver's license being 1985, which would make her 38, and then the other one, which was 86, which would make her turning 37. And we look at each other and we go, that's neither of those ages. That's not 39 or 40. What the heck? And then aura and media goes, you know, there's certain things about Candace's life that have just never quite added up. I'm looking at Aura as she's telling me this, and I go, no, no, no, you can't say that. Because the things that I thought didn't add up. I thought you knew how they added up. And now I'm realizing you don't know how they add up. And you've been with her longer. So what does this mean? We're just like, looking at each other, just, I don't know, like, in shock. She tells me about her bounced paychecks, and then we get a call from Candice, where are you guys? It's time to go. So we get in the car with Candace driving.

[Charlie Webster]

Candace drove everyone home from the event, or jumped in the front seat of Candace's champagne colored Escalade while Kate and Kim sat in the back.

[Kim]

And the whole drive home, I'm like, my mind is running a million miles per hour. I'm just like, what alternate universe have I just stepped into? Like, worst case scenarios, but then also trying to, like, balance them out with things like, well, I know she has special clearance at the airport and she worked with the UN and she does all this other stuff. Is it possible that she needs a separate identity to protect herself because of the line of work that she's in? And that's why certain things don't add up. Like, trying to make sense of it suddenly somehow the conversation that they all were having because I clearly was in another world, turns to this story of Candace's twin baby girls. I had learned early on when working with Candace that she had twin baby girls who were 2 years old who passed away when she got in a car accident and was hit by a drunk driver.

[Charlie Webster]

Candice had previously told Kim and Kate the same story, that her twins were 2 years old when they passed away. But now in the car on the way home, Candice said something very different.

[Kate]

She said that she was six months pregnant when they were hit by the drunk driver.

[Charlie Webster]

There was a moment of confused silence in the car as Kate and Kim looked at each other. Six months pregnant. That's almost an entirely different story to losing two year old twin girls.

[Kim]

And I'm thinking in my head, wow, that's a really different detail. No way. No way somebody would lie about that. Wow, that's a really different detail. But no way somebody would. Literally, as the thoughts in my head are thinking that, Kate goes, I said.

[Kate]

Wait, Candace, you were six months pregnant? I thought they were two years old.

[Kim]

It was like everything stopped and my heart just sunk. And I knew she's lying and she has probably lied about far more than I can even imagine.

[Charlie Webster]

Candace wasn't phased by the question at all. She simply palmed it off as if Kate and Kim had mixed it up.

[Kim]

Candace's response was simply just, no, you missed it. No. Just so matter of fact and convincing. I was so consumed, like this somebody who, if we weren't with each other during the day, she would call me on the phone and we'd be talking two to three hours every day. It was like, well, crap, how do I navigate this? I come home that night and I walk into my bedroom and my husband's laying on our bed just like on his phone. And I go, well, I'm pretty sure that I'm in bed with a con artist.

[Charlie Webster]

While Kim was convinced Candace was lying about something, her and Aura had no idea what was really going on. And even though it was coming to the end of the summer, Candice's manic behavior was only ramping up. That same week, Candice bought her son a car, a Toyota 4Runner SUV that she wrapped in a big red bow for his 16th birthday. He just got his driver's license as Candice's son took it for a ride. Aura was getting a phone call. It wasn't from the police, though.

[Aura]

I get a phone call from Chase bank fraud department. And I was on a walk with my brother and sister and Bailey and I just like sat on the sidewalk. And she said, There has been $17,000 charged on a credit card in your name. Do you know anything about this? And instantly I knew it was her. I just knew. And I knew that we had just set up a card. And I was like, I think that was probably my boss. And she's like, are you aware of a car purchased at AC Auto? And I was like, absolutely not. And I was like, I never got a card, said I never signed for a card. I never got one in the mail. I've never gotten a statement. I've never even gotten a phone call from you guys. Verifying these purchases, especially a car. My sons are very close to her sons. I knew that car was bought for her son as a gift. And so I had to go to the police station and file a police report about that purchase, about that car. It wrecked me because, yes, because of what she had done to me. But I thought I was going to destroy her son. He had just gotten this gift from his mom, and. And I sat on the couch, and I couldn't focus on anything. Luckily, my brother and sister were there, and they took my laptop and just started saving everything and just downloading all of my information onto another device. Candace was becoming more and more frantic, and she was showing her gun to everyone. So I was really scared of Candace. And I told Chase bank fraud department, I said, I am scared of this woman. If she finds out about this conversation, I'm afraid she will come after me. And they said, don't worry. Anytime this account is pulled up, there will be basically, like, an alert that they cannot discuss this with anyone. And when she went to the bank, they told her about the phone call. So she texted me, furious. She just kept going on and on and on in the text, teaching me about how a credit card works, basically telling me how stupid I was. Don't you know anything about a business credit card? This is how it works. And then just really pressuring me to reopen the account because I didn't understand business cards. So I refused. And she's like, there's a person here that can help me fix all of this. And she's like, I think I know what to do now. Chase bank called me. They said this account got reopened, and then the charges went up to just under 24,000.

[Kim]

ORA ended up calling me, tells me the whole thing with the Chase credit card, and I could not believe it. And then she's like, I've decided I'm gonna go to the AG's office.

[Charlie Webster]

The credit card fraud was the final straw for Aura. If the police weren't going to call her, she was going to go to them. She reached out to Danny Remington and got the number of the lead investigator, Special Agent James Pettis, and set up a meeting at his office.

[Aura]

And I was terrified because I had no idea what was going on other than she was breaking the law somehow and did that to me. Agent Pettis had me come in a room with him for an interview, and he started asking me questions. He said, we have a lot of gaps that need to be filled. So on his screen, he pulled up images of Exodus checks, loads and loads of Exodus checks that Candace forged to herself. I was stunned because I had no idea she was keeping all the money, all of that money. She was keeping it for herself. And then he said, do you know anything about bank of Baghdad? And he mentioned a few hundred thousand dollars. And I was like, no, I don't. I know she has international connections. I genuinely don't know. And so he started asking me her international connections, countries she had been to, people she was working with. And he just starts telling me stuff that they have found and just asking me a lot of questions, more evidence that they could get from me. And I said, I have a laptop with three years of evidence on it. I can hand it over to you right now. I said, take my phone. I don't care. Take everything I have. Get all the evidence you can.

[Charlie Webster]

Kim went with Aura. She wanted to speak with Agent Pettis, too. But Ora was with him for so long that by the time she finished, there was no time left for Kim.

[Kim]

He ended up not having time to talk to me, which was totally fine. But before Ora and I left, they briefly updated me on some of the things he told Ora, some of which were things I never could have even imagined. I thought it was bad and was prepared for it to possibly be bad. I didn't think it was this bad.

[Charlie Webster]

Since that moment in the car when Kim realized Candice had told her a different story about losing her twin girls, Kim had been trying to speak to Candice about it. She'd finally locked in a time to confront her, and it just so happened to be right after she went with Aura to meet with Agent Pettis, Kim drove straight to Candice's house from the Attorney General's office.

[Kim]

It just so happened to work out that way. I was already nervous to confront Candace. She had joked about, like, slashing my tires if I quit. But after hearing everything I heard, I was like, who knows what this woman is capable of? Is this even safe or smart for me to confront her? But I was so dead set for my own closure. I was, like, shaking. So I get to her house. She has me just come in. She's on the phone with her accountant, no less, trying to get her finances in order. And then she gets off the phone, and she's like, sorry about that. And then she can tell. She's like, you okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm quivering, like, everywhere. I'm like, I'm fine. She's like, you seem nervous or something. It's like, no, I'M good. There's something I want to talk to you about, but it's not a big deal. She's kind of gathering her stuff. She throws on the table this little square box and slides it over to me and I'm like, what's this? And she goes, oh, it's a gift to you to say thank you for my birthday. I opened the box and it's a chain link necklace. She goes, I meant to write a card with it, but it's supposed to say that it's a link necklace because it represents our friendship and how you're stuck with me forever. I was like, she knows. She knows. I just like put the lid back on and kind of stick scooted it off to the side. And she goes, so what do you.

[Charlie Webster]

Want to talk about?

[Kim]

So I'm really nervous, but like, I don't want to make it a big thing. I just love you and care about you and I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. There are a couple things I've been just a little bit concerned about. And she's looking at me, like judging every single word and analyzing every single movement and facial expression of mine. And I can just see her just like waiting for it. She goes, okay, you can tell me anything. What's up? I said, someone and I had a conversation about your birthday and they thought you were turning 40. And she goes, no, of course not. You know, I turned 39. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And I'm like trying to get through this, but she's trying to like, explain as I'm going. I was like, well, anyways, I wanted to make sure you were actually only turning 39 and not 40, so you've given me your driver's license before. And she looks at me just so straight faced, like, just not reacting. And she goes, yeah, well, it's because as I was born on Navajo reservation, what they put on my birth certificate, like they messed up the date on my birth certificate. And I've always asked my mom to change it. Just we never did. I tried to be very calm and collected throughout it. I was like, okay, this part's really uncomfortable. And I want to tread lightly because I know how sensitive this is. But the story about your girls. And I asked her about it and she pretty much just does what she did in the car, which is stands by that she always said that she was six months pregnant and she doesn't know what else to tell me. I must have misheard. And then she goes, so what can we do to fix our relationship? Kim. And I was like, well, okay, here's the thing. Regardless, like, I do need to step back from CR House and Company. And it's been like six months now and I've had no pay for work and just my family's struggling and I need to be able to get paid. And now she's getting more slowly, more aggressive and more angry. And then she keeps going back to like, well, how can we fix this? Because now she realizes that the only way to keep everything I've done for her is to keep me. And then she goes, found her was my idea. She starts crying. It was my idea. It was my passion. It was my baby. You're trying to steal my work. And then she goes, you need to leave. And she points to the door, she goes, go, you need to leave now. And I was like, okay, I'll leave. It's like, I really am sorry and I really do hope you can make the right choices for you and your family. And I walk out the door and she's standing at the door as I'm leaving. I, like turn around one more time and I'm shaking and I'm like, I am sorry. And she goes, so am I. And she shut the door.

[Charlie Webster]

Then Kim's phone started blowing up. Candace was bombarding her with hundreds of essay long messages. Kim sat and read us the last text that she got from Candice.

[Kim]

This is the last text. If you truly didn't want to leave on a bad note, you would have allowed me to address all the things you said behind my back and the dishonesty you have had with me the last couple of weeks. Sometimes you can be wrong, Kim and your witch hunt and need to make something malicious turns out not to be. I'm not your Anna Delvey TV show. This is September 14th. She sends this text message at 4:13pm Unbeknownst to any of us the following day.

[Charlene Paul]

Developing tonight the CEO of a Utah nonprofit group dedicated to helping the victims.

[Aura]

Of human traff trafficking.

[Charlene Paul]

Arrested on more than 30 charges.

[Unnamed friend or associate]

Matt called me. He's like, hey, it's about Candace.

[Sarah]

It's code red.

[Charlie Webster]

Hello.

[Aura]

This is a free call from Candice Laird, an incarcerated individual at Utah County Jail.

[Kim]

This call is subject to recording and monitoring.

[Aura]

To recept this free call, press 1. You may start the conversation now. Hello.

[Charlie Webster]

This has been Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills and hosted and executive produced by me, Charlie Webster. Unicorn Girl is produced, produced by me, Charlie Webster and Jackson McLennan. Original score and theme music by Ryan Sorenson. Editing and sound design by Nico Polella, assistant producer and fact checking by Emmy Jory. Candice's social media posts are also read by Emmy Jory, mixed by Little Big Room, additional production support by Fun Meter. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.