A former late-model race car driver in several K&N Series has been found dead at her home under circumstances that police have called “suspicious.”
43-year-old Candace Muzny was found dead at her Oklahoma City home on Monday, February 17th, 2020 around 5 p.m. local time – just a few days after being released from jail on Friday.
Muzny competed in 2011 and 2012 races as part of the K&N Pro Series and had previously raced in the 2009 Toyota All-Star Showdown and Last Chance Open of that same year.
Just a month ago, Muzny was arrested and jailed for charges that included aggravated assault and battery after attacking a Vietnamese nail salon worker for not speaking English.
She then was also accused of attacking one of the responding officers with a knife.
Speaking with Heavy after posting bond and being released from that January 2020 incident, Muzny said that she had a bad temper and needs to learn more patience, but claimed the nail salon tech was being intentionally disrespectful.
“I backhanded her. I didn’t slap her … she was looking at me nasty and speaking Vietnamese after I very politely asked her not to.”
“I think if you’re speaking to an American who is a customer of yours, and you know they’re not Vietnamese, it’s rude to talk to them in a language they don’t understand. She needs to get back to Vietnam,” she told Heavy.
“If she wants to live on the American dollar, then she needs to speak English.”
She added: “I’m aggressive. I’m a race car driver.”
Once sponsored by Jesse James and his then-wife Sandra Bullock, Muzny had a promising career, but it appears she had been troubled recently.
Police have not issued a cause of death but have labeled it suspicious. A neighbor told WKYT that he had arrived home on Monday to discover Muzny’s family distraught in the front yard.
“I just pulled in right there, and the woman was already in the front crying and she was on the phone with somebody,” Raushae Jones told the news outlet. “They always seemed like nice people, so I didn’t really…I don’t know. It was just shocking.”
Police say that the death remains under investigation.