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Trail Of Deceit

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2007

Feb. 21, 2006: Clearwater police arrest Candice Clark and her boyfriend, Michael Sisk, in a local motel, where they are caught with a stolen checkbook. Candice has 20 previous charges and 15 arrest warrants in Kentucky. Sisk is a fugitive from Colorado, where he walked away from a jail work-release program. Candice's 1-year-old daughter, Courtney, goes into state custody.

March 13, 2006: Courtney Clark is reunited with her mother after Candice's release from jail. She moves to Sanford to stay with Tammie Garlin, who has two children and a girlfriend, Michaela Clerc.

July 22, 2006: Candice is arrested again in Seminole County. Courtney goes to live with Clerc's mother, Cynthia Martell, in Lake County. Candice now has another child, but there is no mention of the baby in records.

Oct. 4, 2006: Martell tells a Pinellas County caseworker that Candice took Courtney 10 days ago, saying her case was closed. The caseworker contacts authorities in Colorado, where Candice may be attending Sisk's court hearing. They miss her by minutes.

January 2007: The caseworker tries to report Courtney as a missing child, but the Lake County Sheriff's Office refuses to take the report over the telephone.

February: After months on the lam, Candice, Sisk, Garlin, Clerc and the children rent a house in Portage, Wis.

June 4: Garlin is strangled to death and buried in the back yard of the Portage house.

June 14: Portage police receive a tip that Candice and the others might be hiding in the house. Candice insists she is a woman named Ruth Porter. Officers take her, Clerc and four children into custody. They later find an 11-year-old boy, burned and bruised, held captive in an upstairs closet.

June 15: Police find Tammie Garlin's body buried in a shallow grave in the back yard. Candice later tells reporters her boyfriend killed Garlin after she had a sexual fantasy about Candice. Garlin's daughter tells police Candice contributed to the death.

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