Woman accepts plea deal in Portage abuse, murder case
Candace Clark, charged with 11 counts in the Portage murder and abuse case, accepted a plea agreement Thursday morning in the June 2007 death of Tammie Garlin and the abuse of Garlin's son.
Clark pleaded no contest to second-degree homicide and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She pleaded guilty to mayhem, child enticement, child abuse, causing mental harm to a child and false imprisonment. Four other charges were dropped in a plea agreement between Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey and Clark's defense attorney, David Geier of Madison.
The trial for Clark, 24, was scheduled to take two weeks and start Monday in Stevens Point with jury selection, moving to Portage on Tuesday for opening arguments. The jury was to be selected from outside the county because of the level of media coverage of the case.
Thursday's development still leaves a trial for another defendant in the June 2007 strangulation death of the 37-year-old Garlin. Michael Sisk, 26, is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 11.
Sisk faces the same 11 charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and child abuse, that Clark did before her plea deal was accepted.
A third defendant, Michaela Clerc, 21, another resident at the home, pleaded no contest in March to charges of mayhem, physical abuse of a child, causing mental harm to a child and false imprisonment. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8.
Clark's plea agreement means her trial will not be held. It would have been possibly the largest in Columbia County history, with dozens of witnesses scheduled for two weeks of testimony.
How it started
On June 14, 2007, Portage police located Clark at a rental property at 304 W. Oneida St. and questioned her about the disappearance of her 2-year-old daughter from protective custody in Florida. The girl was found in the house and turned over to the Columbia County Health and Human Services Department.
Nine people had been living in the house since February 2007: four adults (Clark, Sisk, Clerc and Garlin) and five children (Garlin's 15-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, and 2-year-old, 1-year-old and 3-month-old daughters of Clark).
During the investigation, police learned that the 11-year-old boy was at the house, likely in a closet. Later on June 14, authorities found him emaciated, severely beaten and covered in burns and learned that his mother, Tammie Garlin, was missing.
Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey said of the boy's abuse: "This child looks very similar to the pictures, maybe even a little bit worse than pictures that you see of people that are coming out of concentration camps."
The boy's abuse led to an outpouring of support from around the country, leading to the formation of Portage Cares Charitable Trust. More than $30,000 has been raised to help the children found in the home.
Michaela Clerc also was discovered at the house June 14 and was taken in for questioning. Clark's 1-year-old and 3-month-old girls were turned over to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
On June 15, the body of Tammie Garlin was discovered buried behind the Oneida Street house. Police said the woman's body was discovered about 3 feet deep in a recently dug garden.
Sisk was arrested at a Greyhound bus station in Milwaukee the same day.
A preliminary autopsy of Garlin's body conducted by forensic pathologist Mark Witeck found Garlin was strangled and physically abused.
Formal charges of first-degree homicide, mayhem, child abuse, false imprisonment, hiding a corpse and numerous other felonies were then formally filed against Clark, Sisk, Clerc and Garlin's 15-year-old daughter. Prosecutors alleged at the time that Clark and Sisk were the "ringleaders" of the group, and Judge Alan White ordered them held without bond.
In an interview June 22 with the Daily Register, Clark said of Garlin: "I didn't kill her." She said she was not a "monster" during the interview at the jail. Clark claimed she was "under a lot of pressure" but declined to discuss where the pressure came from.
On Nov. 14, all charges against Garlin's 15-year-old daugher were dropped in adult court. Kohlwey said similar charges were brought through the juvenile justice system. However, those charges, if filed, are confidential.
On Feb. 29, Clerc pleaded no contest to charges of mayhem, physical abuse of a child, causing mental harm to a child and false imprisonment; the five remaining charges were dismissed.
How did Garlin die?
The criminal complaint in the case provides slightly conflicting stories as to how Garlin actually died.
Garlin's 15-year-old daughter told authorities she and either Clerc or Clark carried Garlin down the stairs, likely on June 4, so the woman could go to the bathroom, and she used the toilet and fell to the floor.
The daughter said Clark told her she was tired of Garlin defecating in the house and said she was going to "buy a shovel and bury Tammie and (her 11-year-old son) alive."
After that, the daughter said Sisk kicked Garlin in the chest, and the daughter was told to go upstairs, according to her account. When she returned, Garlin was dead.
Clark told investigators that Garlin never used the toilet, but was placed in the tub because she had soiled herself. She said both the daughter and Clerc kicked Garlin before she was ever brought down the stairs.
"Tammie was not feeling well after that time," the complaint states Clark said.
In Clark's account, Clerc dropped Garlin's head and it hit the floor when they got into the bathroom.
"(The daughter) also 'smacked' Tammie 'hard' while they were in the bathroom," the complaint states Clark said.
Garlin then was placed into the tub with her clothes on and washed off. Clark said when Garlin was removed from the tub, she was not moving. She also said Clerc kicked Garlin and then Sisk went into the bathroom and shut the door.
"He came out a few minutes later and said something to the effect of, 'She's dead,' " the complaint states Clark said. "Michaela laughed."
All three adults and the daughter then gathered to talk about the death, Clark said.
"Michaela said she wondered whether her kicking Tammie could have killed her," the complaint states. "Later that evening, they buried Tammie in the backyard."
The criminal complaint never mentions Garlin being strangled by a specific suspect, although in Clark's account, Sisk was alone with her in the bathroom for a "few minutes."
The vast majority of information in the criminal complaint was attributed to the daughter and Clark.
The daughter said that after her mother was killed, the body was put in the trunk of a car. Clark and Sisk backed the car up to the kitchen, and the teen, Clark and Sisk loaded her into the trunk. The daughter told authorities she believed her mother was still alive because she saw her legs move.
The girl and Clark drove to Wal-Mart, and the girl heard her mother sighing in the trunk. They bought a shovel and returned to the home, she told authorities, and they left Garlin in the trunk overnight. The next night at 8 p.m., Sisk dug the hole in the backyard, the girl told authorities, and the girl helped Sisk put Garlin into the hole while Clark acted as a lookout. Sisk threw dirt over Garlin, and the girl and Clark planted flowers on the grave.
Group traveled the country
The people living in the West Oneida Street rental home had been moving around to different parts of the country, including Florida and Colorado.
Candace Clark met Michaela Clerc in an Internet chat room in 2005, where authorities said Clark posed as a lesbian and targeted Clerc as a victim in an identity theft scheme. Clerc had recently broken up with her lesbian lover, Tammie Garlin, whose two children had lived with Clerc at her mother's house in Sarasota, Fla., until the break-up, Clerc's mother said.
Investigators said Clark befriended Clerc online and stole her personal information and money from her personal bank account. Clerc, however, fell in love with Clark following the identity theft, and Clark and her two infant daughters eventually moved into the home Clerc's mother lived in.
After a brief period of time, the two women turned Clark's two girls over to Clerc's mother and left Florida. Clerc's mother said a string of charges on her bank card indicated the two instead spent time in Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.
While Clerc and Clark traveled the country, Clerc's mother welcomed Garlin and her two children back into her home. Clerc and Clark eventually returned to the Sarasota home where Clerc's mother and all three women, plus the four children, lived together.
Clark was arrested when a dispute arose among their children and police learned Clark had active warrants for her arrest in Colorado. Police extradited Clark to Colorado, and Clerc's mother was given legal custody of Clark's oldest daughter and continued to look after the other as well.
In July, Clerc's mother said she and her husband drove to Colorado to post bond for Clark, who then returned to Florida. Clark later traveled to Colorado to make an appearance in court, but the hearing was delayed, so she returned to Florida. In August, Clark, Clerc and Tammie Garlin traveled to Colorado, supposedly to attend the rescheduled hearing. Instead, they skipped it, Clerc's mother said.
Two weeks after that trip, the women returned to Colorado to pick up Sisk, whom Clerc's mother said was being released from prison at the time. All three women and Sisk returned to Florida and lived in Clerc's mother's home.
Clerc's mother said that in September, the group vanished. Investigators said the group made its way to Maine in the following months and eventually ended up in Wisconsin. Clark's children apparently wanted to see snow for the first time.
They settled into a rental property at 304 W. Oneida Street in February, where Clark had a third girl. Clark told the Daily Register the relationship between the residents soured when, at the house, Tammie Garlin revealed she'd had a fantasy about Clark.
The group remained at the residence until police received a tip from Florida police that Clark and her child might be located at the address on West Oneida Street.
Associated Press
Candace Clark
