Dateline: Tangled - A complete timeline of the Pam Candelario murder case, revisited

In S24, E36 of Dateline, Ralph Candelario posted a shocking home invasion in Walsenburg, Colorado, on January 15, 2014. He alleged that two thugs broke into their house and killed his wife, Pam. Pam, who was 48 years old, was discovered in her kitchen on the floor with severe injuries to her head. Ralph started reporting with,

"At first, we were a little worried, a home invasion in a town of 3,000 people? ….Mr. Candelario killed his wife and then injured himself to make it appear like a home invasion.”

Ralph continued,

"I guess one of the most surprising outcomes from…… often this tiny town gets in the national news. …Walsenburg continues to attract national attention.”

The police first trusted Ralph's statement, but further examination revealed discrepancies. In the ‘Tangled’ episode, the viewers were informed of the way in which investigators solved this mystifying murder.

Read more about the Pam Candelario murder case.

Did Ralph's story really make sense on Dateline?

The Dateline investigation revealed that Ralph’s story of the alleged break-in at his home was significantly flawed. He argued that he had woken up at 2.30 AM and proceeded down the stairs. He claimed he was attacked by two intruders who killed Pam when he was lying unconscious.

However, it turned out that Ralph changed his story on several occasions when police began to interrogate him. He wrote a rambling 3,345-word letter to the local newspaper, but he provided different information while addressing the investigators.

Tangled shows how these constant changes made detectives suspicious. Pam Candelario's blood evidence told a different story from the one Ralph described. The prosecutor argued that Dateline viewers would see how Ralph's inconsistencies proved his guilt in the murder.

What did the physical evidence reveal?

The major piece of evidence used to solve the Dateline case involving Pam Candelario was blood spatter analysis. Experts testified that Pam was struck twice in the head with a fireplace poker, not shot as initially thought. She was hit once when standing about 30 inches off the ground and struck again when she fell to about 8 inches high. The autopsy confirmed she died from blunt force trauma to her head.

According to Dateline, the blood evidence totally disproved Ralph's description of what happened. Investigators also found that Ralph had washed bloody rugs and cleaned items inside the home. The physical evidence presented on the show proved that only Ralph could have killed Pam Candelario this way. No evidence supported his story of intruders committing the murder.

Why did investigators suspect Ralph's past?

Ralph’s past made the police very suspicious when they looked into the Pam Candelario murder. His first wife, Dena Candelario, had disappeared mysteriously in 2004. Ralph reported her missing ten years before Pam's death. Investigators discovered that Ralph had met Pam through their church while he was still married to Dena. The Dateline episode revealed that Ralph was having an affair with Pam before they divorced their respective spouses. This pattern of deception suggested Ralph might be capable of murder.

Ralph was arrested by the police in California in October 2014 and taken back to Colorado. The documentary show probe revealed how his shady background led the prosecutors to suspect that Ralph killed Pam Candelario to get out of his marriage, in the same manner that his first wife had disappeared several years ago.

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