Identified? Candle Face Victim #11: The Girl from the Shack

January 31, 2024

Main Subjects: Candle Face

• Victim #11

I was contacted by someone who had seen my January 11, 2024, interview on Beyond Believe Talk, a podcast hosted by Beyond Believe Paranormal Investigators.

Watch the Beyond Believe Talk podcast here:

Note: Beyond Believe Paranormal Investigators pulled this video from YouTube.

During that episode, I spoke about my childhood encounters with Candle Face and about the spirits of her victims who had been coming to me at night. These spirits had been asking for help locating their remains and identifying the people who killed them. The interview also included one strange moment when a psychic described Candle Face as a candle with a face that is “happy.” Even so, I’m grateful I had the chance to speak about these spirits and the stories they wanted told.

The anonymous email I received focused on the spirit I referred to during the podcast as Victim #11. Her account was the hardest I’ve heard. She told me she was killed by her boyfriend and his friends after being drugged, tied up, and raped, because of her disbelief in Candle Face. The email suggested a possible connection between her testimony and the real-life case of Roxanne Paltauf, who disappeared in July 2006 under disturbingly similar circumstances.

The email included a link to a KVUE article published on January 24, 2024, just two weeks after the spirit’s visit.

Read the KVUE article about Roxanne Paltauf here: www.kvue.com/article/news/crime/austin-cold-case-roxanne-paultauf/269-f520dfa4-aba3-4682-9d00-6da6b5a92751

The article does appear to line up closely with the spirit’s account, but I still don’t know whether the spirit and Roxanne are the same person. The possibility is serious, but my role here is limited. Any connection like this has to be approached carefully. No one should be treated as guilty without evidence, and cases like this require real investigative work beyond a spirit’s testimony. I encourage readers to do research, but the pursuit of justice must remain with law enforcement.

Here are the similarities between the missing person report and the spirit’s testimony.

Personal Note to My Readers

I want to thank those of you who have supported this project and allowed me to give these Lost Souls a voice. Because of you, they have at least been heard. That doesn’t solve what happened to them. But after being silent for so long, being heard counts for something.

Still, what comes through from the spirit world is only part of the story. These accounts may offer leads, but they have to be checked against real evidence. We can’t act on partial or unclear details alone. There are too many ways for the truth to be distorted. The spirit who came to me may not understand everything that happened to her. Candle Face may also be interfering. Even if the spirit resembles Roxanne Paltauf, it’s still possible that some details belong to someone else, or that parts of the account were lost, altered, or confused.

That’s why I’m asking you to approach this with care and discipline. Leave criminal investigation and legal action to law enforcement and other trained professionals. Our role is to listen, document, and advocate, not to take justice into our own hands.

If we handle this responsibly, we may be able to honor these spirits without causing more harm to the living.

The investigation continues in the three most recent entries below. Each adds to the record on Candle Face (Isabel), the Lost Souls, and the Fugitives. You’ll find every entry to date in The Journal.