Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Willie Hart, 61, of Yaphank, was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree for murdering his girlfriend Candace Woodruff, 37, of Texas.

“The defendant behaved cowardly and callously when he took his girlfriend’s life,” said District Attorney Tierney . “I am relieved that the jury has held him responsible for his actions. I urge anyone who is in a relationship involving violence to call 911 or Suffolk County’s S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women Program at (631) 853-8222.”

The evidence at trial established that on May 29, 2023, at approximately 2:25 a.m., Hart, a long-haul trucker, called police and claimed that he had discovered his girlfriend, Candace Woodruff, unresponsive on the floor of his tractor cab, which w

See Full Page