A judge found probable cause to advance the case after testimony about a delivery truck, surveillance video and evidence recovered near the scene.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington homicide detective testified that Dario Williams admitted stabbing his former girlfriend after driving a FedEx delivery truck into the home where she was staying, as a judge sent the murder case involving the death of 34-year-old Candice Mackie toward a grand jury.

The Sept. 9 preliminary hearing provided the most detailed public account yet of the evidence police say they gathered after Mackie was fatally wounded Sept. 3 on Valhalla Drive. Williams, who has pleaded not guilty, is charged with murder related to domestic violence and first-degree burglary. Fayette District Judge Bruce Bell kept Williams’ bond at $1 million and found probable cause for the case to proceed. The finding was not a determination of guilt. A grand jury will decide whether the evidence supports an indictment and what charges, if any, should move forward in circuit court.

Lexington homicide Detective Nicholas Music testified that investigators interviewed Williams at police headquarters after he was taken into custody near the scene. Music said Williams acknowledged stabbing Mackie several times. That testimony came days after Williams entered a not-guilty plea at his arraignment. The detective’s account is an allegation presented at a preliminary hearing and has not been tested at trial. Publicly available reporting did not identify a trial date or indicate that a grand jury had returned an indictment by Oct. 19. Williams retains the presumption of innocence unless and until he is convicted.

Music also described what police believe happened before the stabbing. He testified that Williams was supposed to be delivering packages in Versailles but went instead to the Valhalla Drive residence. According to the detective, Williams said he tried to get through the front door and saw people at the property before driving the delivery truck into the house. Earlier court records reported by local news organizations allege that the vehicle was intentionally driven through the garage so Williams could confront Mackie. Investigators have not publicly released a complete reconstruction of Williams’ movements before he arrived at the home or explained the precise circumstances under which he had access to the truck.

Investigators believe the fatal confrontation occurred outside the residence rather than inside it. Music testified that police recovered surveillance video showing Williams walking away and Mackie collapsing on a sidewalk before someone called 911. He also said investigators found a green switchblade knife near the intersection of Valhalla Drive and Grafton Drive. The detective said the physical scene and video evidence led police to conclude Mackie was stabbed outside. The publicly reported video did not capture the stabbing itself. Police were also trying to identify another person whom Music said had been outside with Mackie and left before officers arrived.

The case began as an emergency call involving both a vehicle collision and a seriously injured woman. Lexington police were dispatched to the 3300 block of Valhalla Drive at about 10 a.m. Sept. 3 after a report that a commercial vehicle had struck a residence. Officers found the delivery truck extending into the home and Mackie suffering from apparent stab wounds. Emergency personnel transported her to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. She died later that day. The Fayette County coroner identified her as Candice Lynn Mackie, 34, and the Lexington Police Department lists her death as a 2026 homicide caused by stabbing.

Williams was arrested near the scene and booked into the Fayette County Detention Center. Police initially announced charges including murder related to domestic violence and first-degree burglary. Williams also faced fourth-degree assault involving domestic violence and second-degree criminal mischief in connection with a separate case. Those allegations stemmed from an earlier incident involving Mackie, according to court records reported by Lexington news organizations. Because those earlier allegations were unresolved, they remain accusations rather than established facts.

The earlier case has become an important part of the chronology. Court records show that a judge signed a warrant for Williams on July 8 after Mackie reported that he had struck her while she was lying on a couch at her uncle’s home. The complaint also alleged property damage. The warrant remained unserved until Williams was arrested Sept. 3 after Mackie’s fatal stabbing, according to reporting based on the court file. WKYT also reported that Mackie had sought an emergency protective order involving Williams in 2022; that order later expired. Authorities have not publicly provided a full explanation for why the July warrant was not served before Sept. 3.

Mackie’s uncle, Emmit Murphy, told local reporters that his niece had been staying with him for roughly four months after difficulties in her relationship with Williams. Family members described Williams as Mackie’s former boyfriend and the father of her 5-year-old daughter. At the preliminary hearing, Music testified that Mackie and Williams had been in a relationship for about a decade. Those details place the homicide investigation within a longer domestic relationship, but investigators have not publicly announced a specific motive beyond the circumstances alleged in the criminal case.

Relatives have also sought to keep attention on Mackie’s life beyond the allegations surrounding her death. Family members remembered her as a devoted mother who was particularly focused on her young daughter’s life and education. Her obituary said Mackie was born in Lexington, had attended Boyd County High School and Sullivan University, and belonged to Good Faith Church. It described motherhood as the central part of her life. A memorial of flowers and candles formed outside the Valhalla Drive home in the days after her death, according to local television reports.

The delivery truck brought another question into the investigation: Williams’ connection to FedEx at the time. A FedEx spokesperson initially said the company was cooperating with Lexington police and expressed condolences to Mackie’s loved ones. The company subsequently told WKYT that Williams was no longer providing service on behalf of FedEx. Public reporting has not established the exact employment or contracting arrangement under which Williams had been driving the vehicle, and authorities have not publicly alleged that FedEx had advance knowledge of the confrontation or participated in the events under investigation.

The preliminary hearing shifted the case from the first stage of an arrest to the process that can lead to a felony prosecution in circuit court. Bell’s probable-cause finding allowed the evidence against Williams to be presented to a grand jury. The hearing did not require prosecutors to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, and the defense will have later opportunities to challenge evidence and testimony if an indictment is returned. As of Oct. 19, the most recent public reporting reviewed for this article showed Williams held on the $1 million bond while the case awaited its next publicly confirmed court step.

Author note: Last updated Oct. 19, 2026.