In November 1998, Shandelle Maycock trusted a man she knew from church, Harrel Braddy. What began as an uncomfortable acquaintance quickly turned into a violent kidnapping. Braddy attacked Shandelle inside her apartment, choking her unconscious multiple times before forcing both her and her five year old daughter, Quantisha “Candy” Maycock, into his car.

When the pair tried to escape, Braddy forced Shandelle into the trunk and drove her to a remote area where he left her for dead. She survived and was able to get help. Her daughter did not.

For nearly two days, Braddy refused to tell police where Candy was, sending search teams in the wrong direction. When he finally spoke, he led detectives to Alligator Alley in South Florida, an area lined with canals known to contain alligators. He admitted he left the child alive near the water. Candy’s body was later found floating in a canal. The medical examiner confirmed she suffered blunt force injuries and alligator bites while still alive.

In 2007, Braddy was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by an eleven to one jury vote. That sentence was later overturned after Florida changed its death penalty laws to require unanimous jury decisions. Now, more than twenty five years after Candy’s death, Braddy is back in court under new sentencing rules that again allow non unanimous verdicts.

At seventy six years old, he faces the possibility of the death penalty once more, raising painful questions about justice, accountability, and whether any sentence can ever match the cruelty of this crime.