Candace Miller, born June 20, 1947, to Martha and Guido Canclini, passed away peacefully on December 25, 2025, after being diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia in 2020. Candy spent her entire life in Humboldt County, attending grade school at Jacoby Creek School and graduating from Arcata High School in 1965.

She had many fond memories of her early days growing up in Sunnybrae, where she met some of her lifelong friends. She was a cheerleader at Arcata High School and was named Homecoming Queen in 1964. Many people will remember seeing Candy working alongside her parents at the Plaza Shoe Shop, located on the Arcata Plaza.

After high school, Candy attended College of the Redwoods, where she enrolled in as many art classes as she could. She had a passion for the arts and remained an artist her entire life. She began her artistic journey as a fiber artist, always loving texture and form, and grew increasingly excited by turning small knots into large sculptural wall hangings, otherwise known as macramé. She was also an active member of the Arcata Chamber of Commerce.

In 1967, she married Robert Miller, and together they welcomed their son, Tad Miller, in 1970. They lived in Jacoby Creek, just down the road from Candy’s parents. They later divorced in 1987, but remained friends until Robert’s death in 2020.

In 1979, Candy noticed an advertisement for “Fimo” clay in a magazine and decided to try this so-called “new” clay. She purchased several blocks at a local art supply store and immediately loved that it came in vibrant colors, was inexpensive, and traveled well. Many will remember that she began by making whimsical little lizard pins to wear. Encouraged to enter them in a local craft fair, she made 24 lizards—and sold every one. From that little “lizard beginning,” she went on to create thousands of brooches, earrings, necklaces, and buttons. She covered tin boxes with polymer clay, made clay collages, and ended her career sculpting. Candy could always be seen at holiday art fairs with her beautiful display of Fimo jewelry. She was a longtime member of the Arcata Artisans, where her jewelry was displayed for all to enjoy. Over the years, she experienced many proud moments, receiving numerous awards for her work.

Candy truly loved living on the Arcata Plaza. She enjoyed walks around town, frequenting the farmers markets, and especially looked forward to her walks at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. She was a longtime employee at Murphy’s in Sunnybrae, where she was often seen at Register 1. She enjoyed meeting families, watching their children grow, and being a helpful hand in any way she could.

Candy’s fondest memories were the many weekends spent at the family cabin on the South Fork of the Trinity River. There, she enjoyed days by the river—moving and skipping rocks, building paths, and sharing long conversations on the deck overlooking the water with family and friends. After the arrival of her two granddaughters, Sydney and Grace, she took on the yearly planning of elaborate Easter egg hunts for everyone to enjoy. In her spare time, Candy loved teaching Sydney and Grace how to make Fimo clay art and supporting them in all their endeavors.Candy was preceded in death by her parents, Guido and Martha Canclini. She is survived by her brother, Peter Canclini; her son, Tad Miller; daughter-in-law, Kelly Miller; and her two grandchildren, Sydney Hill (Miller) and her husband, Brock Hill, and Grace Miller.

A memorial service for Candy will be held on Saturday, January 17, at 11 a.m. at the Baywood Country Club. All are welcome. The family would also like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the staff at Renaissance of Timber Ridge in McKinleyville for the care and love shown to Candy. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Humboldt Historical Society or Miranda’s Rescue.

Thomas Emil Eggel of 357 Regli Lane, Ferndale, passed away on December 11, 2025 on his brother’s Ferndale ranch on Crosby Lane. He was 79.

Tom was born to Olga and Emil Eggel on May 9, 1946 in Arcata. He was raised in Klamath, Orick and Arcata. He graduated from Arcata High School in 1964 and was drafted into the military in 1965. After serving, he went to work in the Arcata Plywood plant until it closed its doors. Tom moved to Ferndale in the early 1980s to start a dairy ranch, which he maintained until 1989. He then went to work for Eel River Disposal in Fortuna until he retired.

After retirement, Tom enjoyed his time working on the ranch property he inherited from his uncle Ed Regli. He spent many days and hours improving the roads and the family campsite on the property that he loved so much.

Tom is survived by his wife Lucia and stepsons, Zanden, Hero and Prince in addition to his son L.T. with his deceased wife Lovelyn. He also is survived by his first wife, Charlotte Palmer, their children Tony (Shannon) Eggel and Annette Eggel (James) Carpenter and grandson Calvin Carpenter, along with several nieces and nephews, and his brother Robert Eggel.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Jim Eggel, sister Kay Eggel Schekla, sister Mary Eggel Pelasini and his second wife Lovelyn Delogosa.

There will be a memorial mass held on January 10, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. at Assumption Catholic Church at 546 Berding in Ferndale, with a potluck gathering in the church hall following the service.

Paul Calvin Windham, MD, passed into eternal rest on December 13, 2025, at the age of 76, following a courageous two-year battle with cancer.

The pile of rubble sitting on the corner of 10th and H streets in Arcata probably won’t be going anywhere tomorrow.

The Jan. 2 fire that destroyed seven local businesses and displaced about as many people reduced half a city block to a steaming pile of brick and timber. None of it has been cleaned up yet. Arcata’s city manager, Merritt Perry, told the Outpost during a phone call today that the property owner, their insurers, and the city are working together to clean the site up as quickly as possible. Though cleanup is the owner’s responsibility, he said Arcata would do “whatever we can” to support them, such as accelerating permit approvals and following up with outside entities. 

Perry said the city will meet soon with the owner and their insurance agents to figure out a cleanup plan and timeline. The owner will need to assess the kinds of debris on-site and may need a certified hazardous materials contractor to haul it away.

The fire also likely damaged the environment; to what extent is unknown. Ash and the chemicals released by burning buildings is toxic enough on its own, but the fire also burned the paint section of Hensel’s Ace Hardware, and some of it was probably washed down storm drains and into Humboldt Bay when the firefighting crews were trying to put the fire out. The runoff could negatively impact the bay and other aquatic wildlife habitats. 

Arcata Director of Community Services Emily Sinkhorn told the Outpost that they were monitoring water quality at drains around the burned lot and had also installed devices that stop water from entering. Staff are also keeping an eye on creeks downstream for fire debris. 

A city spokesperson said that they were partnering with outside agencies like California’s water quality and toxic substances boards, California’s Environmental Protection Agency and the North Coast Unified Air Management Quality District.

Because neither Arcata nor Humboldt County has the resources to accurately measure and mitigate the effects, the sheriff’s office declared a local state of emergency yesterday, allowing them to request funding from the state of California. How much they’ll need is unknown.

The spokesperson said there would be a special city council meeting at 8 a.m. this Friday on Zoom with more details about the fire and cleanup. The agenda isn’t public yet. 

“The thing I would like to emphasize is that we’re not just ignoring it,” Perry said. “We’re taking a very active approach, and that’s why we did the emergency declaration — to bring the resources in that we need to assess and mitigate any contamination.”

• Multiple Humboldt County Schools Placed on Lockdown Due to Threats
• LOCKDOWNS UPDATE: Out-of-State Man Identified as Suspect Believed to Have Made Threatening Calls to Multiple Humboldt Schools and Businesses
• Extradition Arrest Warrant Issued for Out-of-State Asshole Who Keeps Threatening Local Schools
• 31-Year-Old Oklahoma Resident Arrested on Multiple Felony Counts for Making ‘Terrorist Threats’ to Local Schools
• Officers Recount Threatening Phone Calls to Schools During Preliminary Hearing in Trial of Daryl Jones
• We’ll Have to Wait Until October to Finish the Prelim Hearing for Man Charged With Threatening Schools, Businesses

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WARNING: This story includes descriptions of testimony that readers will almost certainly find disturbing.

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In the long-delayed resumption of a preliminary hearing for Daryl Ray Jones, officers from both the Arcata and Fortuna police departments took the stand this week to recount a series of threatening phone calls made to local businesses and schools last winter.

Jones during an August court appearance. | Photo by John Chiv.

Jones, who faces multiple felony counts of making terroristic threats, sat silently at the defense table throughout the days’ testimony, wearing a white dress shirt. Whenever he leaned forward, the shirt pulled tight across his shoulders and the “3XL” printed on the back of his inmate jumpsuit was legible through the thin fabric. 

In their testimony, officers described numerous phone calls in which a male voice threatened to commit violent acts. In at least one case, the caller expressed a desire to rape, kill and mutilate children.

The threats, made from several different phone numbers in late February and March of 2025, prompted lockdowns at several local schools and preschools. Under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees, the lead prosecutor in the case, officers said the calls sparked fear in business employees, school secretaries, administrators and others.

Jones is being represented by Meagan O’Connell with the county’s Conflict Counsel Office. In cross-examining the officers, she questioned whether they could be certain about specific details, often challenging their assertions that the people who answered these calls found the threats credible and were scared by them.

Fortuna Police Officer Bryce Sancho testified about threatening calls made to that city’s Starbucks and Trish’s Out of the Way Café. The caller made “nonstop calls threatening to kill everyone inside” the latter establishment, Sancho said. 

Fortuna Police Detective Thomas Macleod testified about responding to Rainbow Junction Children’s Center, a Fortuna preschool and daycare that was put on lockdown after receiving multiple calls from a man who threatened to shoot up the school. 

The most explicitly violent threats recounted in court thus far were made during a call to Jacoby Creek Elementary School on March 19. Arcata Police Officer Robert Duggan testified that a school secretary there answered the phone and spoke to a man who said he planned to “kill you and all of the children I can get my hands on.” 

The caller went on to say he wanted to “slit all of the children’s throats” and “really wants to rape all the little girls, cut their backs open and peel the skin off so he can see their ribs,” Duggan testified. The secretary was afraid that the caller could be across the street, and after she told the school principal about the call, a shelter-in-place was ordered.

Death threats were also called in to Fuente Nueva Elementary School that same day, and the school was placed on lockdown, according to testimony from Arcata Police Sergeant Abraham Jansen. 

The next day, March 20, a secretary at Sunny Brae answered a call from a man who said, “I’m going to kill you and all the children in the school,” according to Duggan’s testimony. While most of the threatening calls had been made from cell phones with a 707 area code, this one came from the Oklahoma-based area code of 580, Duggan said. Jones has history in Humboldt County but was living in Oklahoma at the time of his arrest. 

Other officers testified to threats called in to yet more schools, including Arcata Elementary School, Pacific Union Middle School and Coastal Grove Charter School.

Arcata Police Officer Kasey Burke testified that on March 20, she responded to Arcata Elementary and found staff crouched behind a desk in the administration office with the lights off. The school’s secretary had answered a from a man who addressed her by her first name and said, “I’m going to kill you, arrogant bitch,” Burke said. 

When a call came in to Pacific Union the next day, Burke responded to the scene and managed to speak with the caller. By this point, the Arcata Police Department had identified Jones as a suspect, and so when a school secretary answered a call and promptly handed the phone over to Burke, the officer engaged the caller in conversation while addressing him as “Daryl.” 

“Did the person correct you [or] indicate that wasn’t their name?” Rees asked.

“No,” Burke replied. 

During the phone conversation with Burke, the caller said he wanted to rape children. Burke testified that he told the caller this wasn’t a wise decision, but the caller reiterated his desire to rape children. When Burke asked him why, the caller said it was “because he was sad,” the officer testified. Under cross-examination from O’Connell, Burke said the caller also admitted to being depressed. 

While school employees may have been scared by these calls, Burke said he wasn’t.

“I believe that Daryl, the person I was talking to, was doing this in a manner to get attention, and probably, likely, mental health stuff was going on with him,” Burke said.

While Burke was on the Pacific Union campus, employees and administrators recounted their own conversations with the subject. Principal Mathew Bigham reported that the caller had expressed his intent to rape children and said, “little boy or little girl, don’t matter.”

In a call to Coastal Grove, the caller again said he planned to shoot and rape children and told a secretary, “I’m gonna shoot you; I’ll be there in 30 seconds,” Burke testified. 

Officer testimony extended through the afternoon on Monday and resumed this morning, with other Arcata police officers relaying information about threatening calls made to the Best Western in Valley West, Humboldt Brews downtown and Arcata High School. These calls, made in late February, included more threats to harm and kill.

Jones was arrested on March 21 of last year. Legal proceedings against him were delayed after Judge Kelly Neel expressed doubt about Jones’s ability to understand the charges against him and participate in his own defense. Jones was subsequently examined by local clinical psychologist Dr. Mark Lamers, and the preliminary hearing began in August. 

The preliminary hearing is intended to lay the groundwork for a jury trial. But that hearing was itself delayed after just a day and a half of testimony when Rees admitted that he had failed to turn over some important court documents to the defense counsel, O’Connell. He cited a filing mistake. 

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue tomorrow.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is providing an update to the public regarding the unidentified human remains that were recovered from the Eel River on Jun. 25, 2025, near the Williams Grove Day Use area in Myers Flat.

The remains were submitted to the Chico State Human Identification Laboratory for examination and analysis. A simplified summary of the findings is outlined below.

The remains were determined to be of a male, believed to middle aged or older, with an estimated height of 5-foot 5-inches to 5-foot 11-inches tall. The examination revealed very poor oral health, with evidence of at least 19 teeth were lost prior to death. The remaining teeth showed signs of dental restorations, indicating the individual received dental care at some point in their life.

Degenerative changes were observed in the skeletal remains, suggesting the individual may have experienced chronic pain of difficulty with mobility.  One possible explanation for these changes could be rheumatoid arthritis, though this cannot be confirmed.  No major trauma was identified on the recovered remains; however, this does not exclude the possibility of soft tissue injuries that would not be detectable through skeletal analysis.

At this time, the cause and manner of death remain undetermined. The Individual has not yet been positively identified.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate this case and is seeking assistance from the public.  Anyone with information regarding a missing person who may match this description, or who has information that may assist in this investigation, is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539 and reference case number 202502721.

Additional updates will be released as information becomes available.

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On January 6, 2026, at approximately 9:53 a.m., the Eureka Police Department (EPD), Humboldt Bay Fire (HBF), and City Ambulance responded to a report of a vehicle-versus-pedestrian collision in the 3000 block of F Street.

The pedestrian, a 78-year-old female, sustained major injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Per standard protocol, personnel from EPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit and Major/Fatal Injury Team responded to the scene to conduct the investigation. The following are the preliminary facts known at this time:

• The pedestrian was walking westbound on the north sidewalk of Harris Street and entered the crosswalk to cross F Street.
• A truck was traveling eastbound on Harris Street and turned northbound on F Street as the traffic signal turned green.
• The truck collided with the pedestrian at a low speed.
• Alcohol or drug impairment does not appear to be a factor in this collision.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information that may assist investigators is asked to contact EPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 707-441-4300.