Wisconsin’s 1968 Cold Case Ends With 1 Arrest | Unsolved: Cold Case Files

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The porch light burns cold against the December dawn. It
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shouldn't still be on, not at seven thirty in the morning,
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Not when Eldon Holloway runs the tightest shift at ashbury
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Ridge Mill and hasn't missed a morning bell in twelve years.
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Margaret Pritchett notices it first from across the street, coffee
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mug half way to her lips. She stares at that
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yellow bulb cutting through the gray Wisconsin light, and something
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in her chest pulls tight. The Holloway house sits too quiet,
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no smoke from the chimney, no curtains drawn back, no
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boots on the porch scraping off snow, just that light
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burning waiting. She sets her mug down and watches. Ashbury
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Ridge is the kind of town where you notice things
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like this population barely scraping two thousand, the kind of
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place where everyone knows which house bakes bread on Sundays
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and whose dog barks at the mail truck. Church's out
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number bars three to one. Main Street runs six blocks
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before it turns into farmland. Winter here doesn't just come,
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It settles in and stays, wrapping the town in white
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silence that makes every sound feel important. By eight fifteen,
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Eldon's truck still sits in the driveway, frost thick on
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the windshield. The mill whistle blows in the distance, sharp, lonely.
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Margaret knows that sound means men clocking in, machine starting
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up another day, rolling forward. Eldon Holloway is supposed to
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be there, has been for over a decade. Mill foreman
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forty two years old, the kind of man who shows
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up early and leaves late, who checks the equipment twice
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before starting it, who never raises his voice, but somehow
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keeps thirty workers in line. But Elden isn't there. Welcome
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to cold trail cases. Let us know in the comment
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where you are watching from and how is your weather
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over there. We'd love to hear from you. If you
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enjoy true crime stories like this, be sure to like
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the video, subscribe, turn on the notification bell, and share
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it with someone who'd love it too. At the mill
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foreman Lewis Tate stands at the entrance with his clipboard,
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scanning faces worker's file past him. In woolcotes and steel
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toed boots, breath fogging in the cold air, Lewis checks
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his watch, checks the gate, checks his watch again, the
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absence feels wrong. Elden doesn't skip work. Eldon doesn't call
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in sick. Lewis knows the Holloway family the way everyone
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in Ashbury Ridge knows everyone else. Eldon married Marabelle Foster
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back in fifty one, right after he came back from Korea.
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Quiet wedding at first Baptist. Marabelle was the daughter of
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the church organist. Soft spoken and steady, the kind of
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woman who volunt teered at the food drive without being asked,
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and remembered every birthday. Their son, Calvin just turned seventeen,
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tall kid, reserved, spent most of his time working on
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cars and dreaming about leaving town after graduation. And then
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there's Nora, eight years old, gap toothed, smile, always drawing
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pictures of horses and dogs on scraps of paper she'd
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fold into her pockets. Anyone seen Holloway, Lewis asks, heads shake,
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voice is murmur low. Lewis makes a note, then another.
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By nine o'clock, he's at the payphone outside the break room,
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receiver pressed to his ear, listening to the Holloway line
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ring and ring and ring. No answer. Back on Maple Street,
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Margaret crosses the road. Her boots crunched through snow that
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hasn't been shoveled from the Holloway walkway. That's wrong too.
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Elden clears his path before breakfast every morning. Neat lines
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scrape down to the concrete Maple Street sits in the
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older part of town, where the houses are small but
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kept up, where people rake leaves in fall and plant
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flowers in spring. The Holloway's house is white, clabbered with
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green shutters, a front porch with two rocking chairs Eldon
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built himself. Marabelle keeps a wreath on the door year round,
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switching it out for each season. Margaret climbs the porch
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steps knocks. Maribelle, you home, honey. Nothing. She knocks again,
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harder this time, Eldon, it's Margaret from across the way.
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The silence that comes back feels thick, unnatural, like the
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house is holding its breath. Margaret peers through the front window,
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cupping her hands around her face. The living room looks normal,
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couch cushions in place, Marabel's knitting basket beside the chair.
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She'd been working on a blanket for the church raffle.
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But no movement, no lights except that porch bulb still
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burning behind her. She tries the door, locked, her pulse
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kicks up. She tells herself it's nothing. Maybe they left early.
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Maybe they drove to Madison to visit Marabel's sister Lorraine.
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Maybe the car wouldn't start and a neighbor gave them
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a ride. But the car is right there, and the
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porch light is still on. Margaret hurries back to her
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house and calls the Sheriff's office. The despatcher sounds bored
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until Margaret mentions the name Holloway. Then the tone shifts.
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Stay put, Missus Pritchett, We'll send some one. Sheriff Dalton
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arrives forty minutes later, his cruiser rolling slow down Maple Street.
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He's a big man, gray at the temples, with a
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face that's seen enough trouble to know when something's off.
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Born and raised in Ashbury Ridge, knows every family, every road,
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every short cut through the woods. He parks behind Eldon's
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truck and walks the property line, first eyes scanning the snow.
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No footprints leading away from the house, no tracks in
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the alley, no disturbance in the drifts piled along the fence.
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He climbs the porch knocks twice, waits, then he tries
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the back door, also locked. He radios for a deputy
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and returns to the front, peering through the same window
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Margaret looked through earlier. Everything inside looks still frozen. When
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Deputy Kerrent arrives with a spare key from the county
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office kept on file for emergencies, Dalton nods once and
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unlocks the door. The hinges don't creak. The door swings open,
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smooth and slow. Warm air rolls out, carrying the faint
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scent of soap and old wood. The heat is still
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on the house hums with it. Dalton steps inside first, boots,
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quiet on the hardwood, Sheriff's office, anyone home. His voice
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echoes through the hall and dies in the kitchen. Kern follows,
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hand resting on his belt. They move through the house together,
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room by room. The living room is undisturbed. Family photos
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line the mantle, Eldon and marabel on their wedding day,
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Calvin as a baby, nor a school picture from last year.
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The kitchen is spotless. Breakfast dishes sit clean and dry
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in the rack beside the sink, no food left out,
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no coffee brewing. Marabelle's recipe box sits on the counter,
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organized by meal type, the way she always kept it. Upstairs,
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the beds are made, all of them, tight corners, smooth blankets,
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Marabell's touch everywhere. Calvin's room smells like motor oil and
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teenage boy posters of cars on the walls, school books
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stacked on the desk. Norah's room is smaller, stuffed animals
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lined up on the shelf, drawings pinned above her bed.
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But the closets tell a different story. Coat's missing, shoes gone,
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Eldon's work boots, usually caked in sawdust and oil, aren't
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by the door where he always leaves them. Calvin's jacket,
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the navy one with the torn pocket Marabelle kept meaning
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to fix, isn't on its hook. Nora's red mittens, the
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ones she wore every single day, aren't in the basket
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by the heater. Dalton opens the bathroom cabinet. Toothbrush is gone,
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Marabelle's hair brush missing. He exchanges a look with Kern.
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People don't vanish by accident, not whole families, Not in
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Ashbury Ridge, where everybody knows everybody and nothing stays secret
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for long. Dalton walks back downstairs, and stands in the
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living room, Turning slow, his eyes move over the furniture,
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the walls, the corners. He's looking for something out of place,
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a struggle, a broken lamp, a toppled chair, blood, nothing.
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Kern clears his throat, Sheriff, you seeing what I'm seeing?
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Dalton nods. They packed, but the car still here. They
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step outside. The cold hits harder now, wind picking up,
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pushing snow across the yard in thin white sheets. Dalton
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looks at Eldon's truck again. He walks over and checks
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the doors locked. He cups his hands and peers through
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the driver's side window, keys hanging in the ignition. Kerne's
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voice drops if they left, how'd they leave? Dalton doesn't answer.
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He scans the street, the neighboring houses, the tree line
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beyond the back fence. Ashbury Ridge sits in a valley
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surrounded by farmland and dense woods. Highway twelve runs north
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to south, connecting the town to Madison, forty miles away.
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In winter, those woods turn into a maze of white.
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Easy to get lost, easier to disappear. A family doesn't
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just walk away in the middle of December with no
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car and no explanation, not unless someone made them. By noon,
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Lewis Tate is standing in the Holloway driveway with a
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dozen mill workers, all of them asking the same questions.
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Where's Eldun, Where's Maribelle? Where are the kids? The sheriff
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waves them back, tells them to go home, tells them
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he'll handle it, but his jaw is tight and his
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eyes keep drifting back to that porch, light still burning.
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Margaret watches from her window as more police arrive, cruisers,
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a County van, men in uniform spreading out across the yard,
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marking areas with tape, taking notes. She presses her hand
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to the glass and tries to remember the last time
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she saw the Holloways. Yesterday morning, two days ago, Marrabelle
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had waved from the porch carrying a basket of laundry.
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Or was that last week? She can't remember, and that
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realization sits in her stomach like a stone, because if
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she can't remember, how long have they actually been gone?
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By evening, the story spreads through Ashbury Ridge like frost.
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The Holloways are missing, all four of them. House locked
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car in the driveway, no sign of strug, no note,
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no explanation, people gather in clusters outside Hendrick's General Store,
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voices low and tight. Someone mentions calling a search party.
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Some one else says maybe they're visiting family, but the
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uncertainty hangs heavy and no one really believes it. At
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the Sheriff's office, Dalton pins a map to the wall
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and marks the Holloway property with a red circle. Kern
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stands beside him, arms crossed. What are we calling this,
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Kern asks. Dalton stares at the map, at the roads,
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at the woods, at the empty spaces between a disappearance,
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He says, finally, but it doesn't sit right. Why not?
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Dalton taps the red circle with his knuckle, Because everything's
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too clean, too ready, like they knew they were leaving.
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Kerne frowns, But they didn't take the car exactly. The
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room goes quiet, except for the clock on the wall,
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ticking steady and cold. Dalton picks up the phone and
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starts making calls family, friends, church members, any one who
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might know where the Holloways went. But every conversation ends
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the same way. No one knows. No one saw them leave,
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no one heard anything strange. Marrabelle's sister Lorraine breaks down
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on the phone she would have told me, she sobs.
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If they were going somewhere, she would have called. Eldon's
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boss at the mill, says the same thing. He was
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here Friday, normal as ever, talked about finishing the inventory
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next week. Calvin's teacher mentions he'd seemed distracted lately, but
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nothing alarming. Just at TEA boy counting down the days
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until graduation. And Norah. Norah was eight years old, bright, curious,
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love to draw pictures of animals and fold them into
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tiny squares. She'd hide around the house for her mother
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to find. No red flags, no warnings, no reason for
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any of them to disappear, but they did. At the
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Sheriff's office, Dalton pins photos of the Holloways to the wall.
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Eldon in his work shirt, serious and steady, Marrabelle with
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her soft smile, Calvin, tall and quiet, Norah grinning with
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a missing front tooth. He stares at those faces and
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tries to find the answer hidden somewhere in their eyes.
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What happened to you? He whispers, And somewhere in the
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winter darkness outside Ashbury Ridge, holds its breath and waits
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for an answer that won't come. What do you think happened?
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To the holloways. Drop your theory in the comments. The
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search begins at first light. Volunteers gather in the high
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school parking lot, bundled in layers, breath steaming in the
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frozen air. Over sixty people show up, farmers, teachers, mill workers, mothers,
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with thermoses of coffee. They stomp their feet against the
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cold and weight for Sheriff Dalton to divide them into groups.
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Marabelle's sister, Lorraine, stands near the front, eyes red and swollen.
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She drove in from Madison before dawn. Couldn't sleep, couldn't
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sit still. She keeps twisting a handkerchief in her hands,
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wringing it until her knuckles go white. Lorraine is older
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than Marabell by three years. Teaches elementary school, never married.
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The sisters talked on the phone every Sunday without fail.
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Last Sunday, marabel mentioned Calvin was thinking about technical school
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instead of the army mention. Norah wanted a puppy for
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Chris mentioned nothing wrong. They wouldn't just leave, Lorraine says
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to anyone who'll listen, Maribelle wouldn't do that, not without
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telling me. Dalton assigns search zones North Woods where the
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pine trees grow thick and the ground stays frozen even
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in summer. South fields that stretch flat and endless toward
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the Keller Farm, the creek bed running along County Road twelve,
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narrow and icy, winding through bare birch trees. He hands
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out whistles and flashlights and tells everyone to stay in pairs.
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If you find anything, clothing, tracks anything, you blow that
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whistle and you don't touch it. Understood, Heads nod, faces grim.
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They spread out across Ashbury Ridge like a slow moving wave,
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calling names into the trees, Eldon, Marabelle, Calvin, Nor. The
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voices crack and echo, swallowed by distance and wind. The
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sky stays gray, heavy, with the promise of more snow,
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temperature dropping. Lewis Tate leads a group through the dense
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pines north of the mill. The ground is uneven, roots
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buried under frozen leaves and drifts. They move carefully, eyes
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scanning every shadow, every hollow. Lewis keeps thinking about Eldin's
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truck sitting in that driveway, keys in the ignition, like
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he'd only meant to step away for a minute, but
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a minute became hours, and hours became days. Anything someone
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calls from behind him. Lewis shakes his head and keeps walking,
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his boots crunched through underbrush. Branches scrape his coat. The
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mill sits a quarter mile west, silent on a Saturday.
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Should be running Monday, should have Eldon back at the gate,
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clipboard in hand, checking off names, but Lewis already knows
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that won't happen. By midday, the search parties regroup at
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the lot, cold tired, empty handed. They drink coffee and
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compare notes, but no one has found anything. No tracks,
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no torn fabric, no signs of struggle. Pastor Green from
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first Baptist leads a prayer circle, voices murmur Amen. Lorraine
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doesn't pray. She just stares at the tree line. It's
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like the holloways dissolved into the air. Margaret Pritchett hands
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out sandwiches she made that morning, ham and cheese wrapped
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in wax paper. People thank her, but most don't eat.
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The cold kills appetite, the fear kills it more. A
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woman from church tries to offer Lorrain a sandwich, but
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Lorraine waves it away. She was supper to come to
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my house for Christmas. Lorraine whispers, we were going to
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bake pies, she promised. The woman squeezes her shoulder and
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doesn't say anything. What is there to say? Dalton watches
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from the edge of the lot, arms crossed, jaw tight.
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Kern walks up beside him, snow dusting his hat. Nothing.
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Dalton asks nothing. Kern confirms, it's like they vanished. Dalton's
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eyes narrow. People don't vanish, then where are they? The
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question hangs between them unanswered. Dalton pulls out a pack
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of cigarettes, lights one, takes a long drag. He quits
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smoking two years ago, started again this morning. That afternoon,
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a young volunteer named Marcus Green finds something near the creek.
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He's searching the bank where the water curves sharp around
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a cluster of limestone rocks, boots sinking into the mud.
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When he spots a flash of red against the gray stones,
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he blows his whistle. The sound cuts through the cold,
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sharp and urgent. Within minutes, a dozen people are scrambling
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down the slope toward him. Dalton arrives first, breathing hard,
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eyes locked on what Marcus is pointing at a midden,
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small red sitting on a flat rock at the edge
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of the water. Dalton crouches beside it, careful not to touch.
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The midden is dry, clean, no mud, no water damage.
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The yarn is bright, hand knit, the kind Nora war
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every single day because her grandmother made them before she passed.
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It's been placed there, not dropped, not lost, placed, that's
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Nora's Margaret Pritchett says behind him, voice shading. She came
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down the slope with the others hand pressed to her mouth.
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She wore those every day. Her grandmother knit them. Dalton
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pulls a plastic bag from his coat and carefully lifts
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the mitten with a pen, sealing it inside. He turns
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it over, studying it. The stitches are tight, the yarn soft.
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It looks brand new, too new. She was here, Margaret says,
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voice breaking, She was right here. But Dalton isn't so sure.
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00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:39.839
He scans the area. The mud around the rock is smooth,
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no small footprints, no signs that anyone walk this close
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to the water, and the mitten is sitting on top
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of the rock, centered deliberate. Someone wanted it found. Kern
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00:21:54.880 --> 00:22:00.160
steps closer, voice dropping, what are you thinking? I'm thinking
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00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:06.279
this doesn't make sense, Dalton mutters. He looks downstream, then upstream.
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The creek runs cold and shallow, winding through the woods
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and eventually emptying into Blackwell Lake, five miles east. Ice
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forms at the edges. The current moves slow but steady.
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We need to search the water, Dalton says. Kern's face
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goes tight. You think. I don't know what I think,
297
00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:32.000
but we search it anyway. By the time the sun
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starts to drop, volunteers are wading through the creek in
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boots and waiters, poking sticks into the mud, checking under
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fallen branches. The water is so cold it burns. Ice
301
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forms at the edges, thin and sharp. They move slow, methodical,
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calling out when they find anything. A branch, a tire,
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00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:59.000
a rusted can, but no bodies, no clothing, no other
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00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:03.759
signs of the hollow. As darkness settles over Ashbury Ridge,
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the search parties return to the lot one last time,
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00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:13.200
faces numb, spirits low. Dalton thanks them and sends them home,
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promising to continue at sunrise. But Lorraine doesn't leave. She
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00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:21.960
stays in the parking lot long after everyone else is gone,
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00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.720
staring at the tree line like she's waiting for her
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sister to walk out of the shadows. Her car sits
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00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:32.359
running heat on, but she doesn't get in. They're still
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00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.240
out there, she says to Dalton when he approaches, I
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know they are. Dalton doesn't argue. He just nods and
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tells her to go home get some rest. But rest
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doesn't come easy. In Ashbury Ridge that night, people lock
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their doors, check their windows, pull their children close. The
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00:23:55.799 --> 00:23:58.720
idea that a whole family can disappear in broad daylight,
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or maybe in the dark no one knows, shake something
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loose in the town makes people realize that safety is
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thinner than they thought. In the days that follow, the
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00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:14.720
search expands. State police arrive with dogs German shepherds that
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strain against their leashes, noses to the ground. They sweep
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through the woods, the fields, the abandoned barn on the
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edge of town. Helicopters circle low over the area, blades
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chopping the cold air, searchlights cutting through the trees at night.
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The story makes the front page of the Ashbury Ledger.
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Family of four missing and no leads. By midweek, Milwaukee
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and Madison papers pick it up. Television crews arrive, setting
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up cameras outside the Sheriff's office, interviewing neighbors, filming the
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Holloway house with its dark windows and overgrown walkway. Tips
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start coming in. Some one claims they saw a family
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matching the description at a gas station two towns over.
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00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.240
Some one else reports a suspicious man hanging around the
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Holloway property. The week before, a psychic calls from Illinois,
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says she's had visions of water and trees. Every lead
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gets followed, every tip investigated, none of them go anywhere.
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Eldon's boss at the mill tells police that Elden had
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been acting normal, no complaints, no problems, just steady, reliable work.
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He was talking about taking Marabelle to Niagara Falls for
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their anniversary next summer. Lewis says, doesn't sound like a
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man planning to disappear. Marabelle's friends at church say the same.
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She was kind, faithful, always on time for Sunday service.
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She'd signed up to help with the Christmas pageant, already
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started sewing costumes. Calvin's teacher mentions he'd seem distracted lately,
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but nothing alarming, just a teenage boy counting down to graduation.
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He wanted to work on cars, talked about it all
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the time. And Norah. Norah was eight years old, bright, curious,
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drew pictures of animals and left them around the house
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for her mother to find. Her teacher saved one, a
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horse with a two long neck and a crooked smile.
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No red flags, no warnings, no reason for any of
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them to disappear, but they did. At the Sheriff's office,
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Dalton pins more photos to the wall the Holloway House
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from different angles. The midden in the evidence bag a
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map with red circles marking search zones. He stares at
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it all and tries to make the pieces fit. They don't.
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What happened to you? He whispers again. By the third week,
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the volunteers start to thin out. Life moves on bills,
359
00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:08.200
need paying jobs, need working. Christmas is coming. The search
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parties shrink from sixty to thirty to twelve. The helicopters
361
00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:17.720
stop flying. The news crews pack up and leave. Lorraine
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00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:24.279
keeps coming every single day, walking the same paths, calling
363
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the same names. Her voice goes hoarse, her hands crack
364
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from the cold. Teachers at her school tell her to
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take time off. She refuses. No one has the heart
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to tell her to stop. Margaret Pritchett watches from her
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window as the police tape around the Holloway House starts
368
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:47.400
to fade and sag. The porch light is off now
369
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someone finally turned it off. The house sits dark and empty,
370
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snow piling up on the walkway. She wonders if the
371
00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:00.799
Holloways will ever come home, and deep down, she already
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00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:05.160
knows the answer. One cold January morning, Dalton gets a
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00:28:05.160 --> 00:28:08.359
call at the station. The voice on the other end
374
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is rough, hesitant, mail won't give a name. There was
375
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a man, the voice says, around the Holloway place late
376
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:24.559
at night, few weeks before they went missing. Dalton sits
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00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:29.599
up straight, grabbing a pen. What man don't know his name,
378
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:35.279
but he had a limp, walked slow, worked for the county.
379
00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:40.440
I think road crew. Maybe did you see his face?
380
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:46.960
Silent stretches Dalton hears breathing on the other end. Then
381
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:51.000
he was watching the house, just standing there in the dark.
382
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:55.559
More than once, sir, I need you to come in in.
383
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The line goes dead. Dalton stares at the receiver, pulse
384
00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:04.599
kicking up. He slams it down and calls Kern into
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00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:08.880
the office, repeating the conversation word for word. A man
386
00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:14.559
with a limp, Kern says, slowly, county worker. Dalton nods
387
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:21.279
start pulling personnel files anyone who fits that description, and
388
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.920
somewhere in Ashbury Ridge the truth sits buried under snow,
389
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:27.640
waiting for someone to dig deep enough to find it.
390
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.839
Do you think the anonymous tip was real? Let us
391
00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:35.519
know what you think in the comments. Spring arrives, but
392
00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:39.839
the cold doesn't leave Ashbury Ridge. The snow melts slow,
393
00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:44.240
revealing dead grass and frozen mud. The woods turn from
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00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:48.839
white to brown to hesitant green. Farmers start plowing fields.
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The mill run six days a week. Again, life resumes
396
00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:59.079
its rhythm, but the Holloways don't come home. The search continues,
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00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:04.319
but the urgency he fades. Volunteers stop showing up. The
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00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:08.480
dogs go back to the state police barracks. The helicopters
399
00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:13.160
are reassigned to other cases. By April, Sheriff Dalton is
400
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.920
searching alone most days, walking the same paths, checking the
401
00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:21.559
same spots, hoping for something he knows won't appear. Lorraine
402
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.880
still walks the woods every weekend, voice horse from calling
403
00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:30.319
names that never answer back. She's lost fifteen pounds. Her
404
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:34.000
hands shake when she holds her coffee. People at church
405
00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:39.359
whisper when she passes. They mean well, they bring casseroles.
406
00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:45.680
They offer prayers, but their eyes hold something else. Now pity.
407
00:30:46.839 --> 00:30:49.480
She needs to let go, someone says in the church
408
00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:54.480
basement after Sunday service, she meets closure. Someone else adds,
409
00:30:54.759 --> 00:30:59.640
voice dropping to a whisper. But closure doesn't come. Not
410
00:30:59.720 --> 00:31:04.240
in Dashbury Ridge, not when four people vanish without a trace,
411
00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:06.839
and the only evidence is a single mitten placed too
412
00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.119
carefully on a rock. At the Sheriff's office, Dalton's desk
413
00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:14.960
is buried under reports and dead end leads. He works
414
00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:19.160
late most nights, spreading files across the surface, reading witness
415
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:23.359
statements until the words blur together. The anonymous tip about
416
00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:26.400
the man with a limp haunts him. He and Kern
417
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:31.119
spent weeks pulling County personnel records, cross referencing names, checking
418
00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:35.039
work schedules. They found eight men who fit the basic
419
00:31:35.079 --> 00:31:43.759
description road workers, maintenance crew, building inspectors. All of them questioned,
420
00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:50.599
all of them with alibis, all of them clean, except one,
421
00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:55.680
Roland Pike. The name keeps surfacing in Dalton's notes, always
422
00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:59.680
just out of reach. Pike is a road maintenance supervisor
423
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:04.319
twenty two years with the county, injured his left leg
424
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:06.720
in a work accident back in sixty three when a
425
00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:11.000
greater rolled on uneven ground, walks with a noticeable limp.
426
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.160
Lives alone on the south edge of town in a
427
00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:18.039
house his mother left him when she passed. Dalton visited
428
00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:24.079
Pike twice in February. Both times Pike was polite, co operative,
429
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:30.680
answered every question without hesitation. Yes, he knew the Holloways.
430
00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:35.720
Every one in Ashbury Ridge knew everyone. No, he hadn't
431
00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:40.200
seen anything unusual. Yes, he'd helped with the search parties
432
00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:45.880
in December, brought coffee to volunteers, stood beside Lorraine at
433
00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:51.119
the prayer vigils. Nothing raised a flag, nothing felt wrong,
434
00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:54.720
but Dalton's gut kept pulling him back to that name.
435
00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:58.720
By summer, the case goes cold in everything but name.
436
00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:04.680
The met moves on, a robbery in Madison, a fire
437
00:33:04.759 --> 00:33:08.720
in green Bay, a political scandal in the state capitol.
438
00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:13.039
The Holloway disappearance gets pushed to the back pages, then
439
00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:18.720
disappears from the papers entirely. Dalton hates watching it fade.
440
00:33:18.759 --> 00:33:26.920
He keeps the photos pinned to his wall anyway. Eldon, Marabelle, Calvin, Nora,
441
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.000
their face is watching him every day, asking the question
442
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:35.759
he can't answer, Where are we Kern stops mentioning the
443
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:39.839
case unless Dalton brings it up first. New deputies get
444
00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:43.720
hired who never heard of the Holloways. Files get moved
445
00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:46.920
to the basement storage, boxed and labeled, and shelved between
446
00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:51.559
other unsolved cases from years past. One humid August night,
447
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:55.559
Dalton drives out to the Holloway house. It's been eight
448
00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:00.000
months since anyone's been inside. The grass has grown waist high,
449
00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:04.200
The mail box overflows with junk mail and faded fliers.
450
00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:08.480
The porch SAgs slightly where the wood has started to rot.
451
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:13.400
He unlocks the door and steps inside. The air is stale,
452
00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:17.440
thick with dust and abandonment, but the house still feels
453
00:34:17.480 --> 00:34:20.079
lived in, like the family just stepped out and might
454
00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:23.960
come back any second. He walks through the room, slowly,
455
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:29.119
hands in his pockets. He stops in Nora's bedroom. Her
456
00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:35.119
drawings are still pinned to the wall. Horses, dogs, a
457
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:39.400
lopsided son with a smiling face. He stares at them
458
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:43.320
for a long time, then he pulls one down, folds
459
00:34:43.320 --> 00:34:46.920
it carefully, and puts it in his jacket pocket. He
460
00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:50.639
doesn't know why, just feels like someone should keep it.
461
00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:56.320
By nineteen seventy, the Holloway case is rarely mentioned. New
462
00:34:56.360 --> 00:35:00.599
families move into Ashbury Ridge, A young cup buys the
463
00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:04.719
house three doors down from the Holloways. A hardware store
464
00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:09.280
opens on main Street. The high school gets a new gym.
465
00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:13.119
The missing family becomes a cautionary tale. Parents tell their children,
466
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:19.320
stay close, don't wander off. You remember what happened to
467
00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:25.039
the Holloways, But no one really remembers, not the details,
468
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:29.679
just the fear, just the feeling that something terrible happened
469
00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:33.880
here once and it could happen again. Lorraine stops searching
470
00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:38.360
in seventy one. She doesn't want to, but her body
471
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:42.039
gives out before her hope does. Her doctor tells her
472
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:45.840
the stress is damaging her heart. Her principal tells her
473
00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:49.320
she needs to take a leave of absence. She moves
474
00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:51.719
to Madison to live with her daughter, and the woods
475
00:35:51.760 --> 00:35:56.519
go quiet. Before she leaves, she visits Dalton one last time.
476
00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:00.800
She's thin, now hollow eyed, her hand wrapped around a
477
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:05.280
cup of coffee she doesn't drink. You'll keep looking, she asks.
478
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:13.920
Dalton nods, I will promise me. I promise. She nods,
479
00:36:14.199 --> 00:36:18.480
sets the coffee down and leaves Dalton watches through the
480
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:22.159
window as she drives away. He keeps his promise for
481
00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:28.440
another year, then two, then five, but the leads never come.
482
00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:33.400
The phone never rings with new information. The case just
483
00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:38.679
sits gathering dust. In nineteen seventy two, the Ashbury County
484
00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:42.559
Sheriff's Department officially moves the Holloway case to an active status,
485
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:51.440
not closed, not solved, just paused, waiting for something, anything,
486
00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:56.880
But nothing comes. Margaret Pritchett still glances at the Holloway
487
00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:00.320
House every morning when she drinks her coffee, but she
488
00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:04.320
doesn't think about that porch light anymore. A new family
489
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:09.000
finally buys the property in seventy four. They repaint the shutters,
490
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:15.000
replace the porch boards, plant flowers in the yard. The
491
00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:19.199
house stops being the Holloway House. It's just a house again.
492
00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:25.639
At the station, Dalton gets promoted in seventy six. More responsibility,
493
00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:35.000
more cases, domestic disputes, bar fights, drunk drivers, petty theft,
494
00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:38.719
the kind of crime that fills small town police work,
495
00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:41.880
less time to dwell on the ones that got away.
496
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:45.519
But he never takes the Holloway photos off his wall,
497
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:49.960
even when he moves to a bigger office, even when
498
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:53.559
other deputies ask why he keeps them up, because they're
499
00:37:53.599 --> 00:37:59.159
still missing, he says, and that's enough. Roland Pike retires
500
00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:03.119
from the county in nineteen eighty nine. Small ceremony at
501
00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:08.559
the municipal building. Handshake from the supervisor, a cheap plaque
502
00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:17.440
with his name engraved on it. Twenty six years of service, reliable, steady, unremarkable,
503
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:23.719
He smiles. Thanks. Everyone drives home alone in his faded
504
00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:27.159
blue pickup. No one thinks about him much after that,
505
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:31.679
just another retiree in a town full of them, and
506
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:37.239
the Holloways stay missing. For fifty years, Ashbury Ridge moves forward.
507
00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:43.559
Buildings get torn down, roads get repaved, people are born,
508
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:49.119
people die. The mill closes in ninety three, reopens under
509
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:53.119
new ownership in ninety eight. Main Street gets updated with
510
00:38:53.199 --> 00:38:57.000
new street lights. The high school adds a computer lab.
511
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:03.719
The town changes, but some things don't. Some secrets don't decay,
512
00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:08.920
They just wait. In twenty nineteen, a junior clerk at
513
00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:13.039
the County Record's office is tasked with digitizing old Land transactions.
514
00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:17.559
Her name is Shenise Williams, fresh out of college, working
515
00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:20.280
her first real job in a windowless basement office that
516
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:24.519
smells like old paper and copier toner. It's boring work.
517
00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:31.800
Endless filing cabinets, endless forms, deeds and titles, and surveys
518
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:35.000
from decades past, all needing to be scanned and uploaded
519
00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:38.719
to the new database. She's three weeks into the project
520
00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:42.920
when she finds something strange, a property deed from nineteen
521
00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:47.360
sixty seven purchase agreement for fourteen acres adjacent to the
522
00:39:47.400 --> 00:39:52.800
old Holloway property, signed under a shell company name RP Enterprises.
523
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:58.079
Chnie almost skips past it, but something makes her pause.
524
00:39:59.159 --> 00:40:02.760
She cross reference, says the address in the county mapping system.
525
00:40:03.159 --> 00:40:06.920
The land borders the Holloway property on the east side.
526
00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:09.920
The purchase agreement shows the buyer wanted to expand the
527
00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:14.239
parcel by acquiring additional acreage from Elden Holloway, but the
528
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:18.639
deal never went through. Handwritten note in the margin seller
529
00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:27.039
refused transaction canceled. Shenie frowns. She keeps digging, pulls up
530
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:35.360
tax records, property assessments, business registrations. RP Enterprises dissolved in
531
00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:40.719
nineteen sixty nine no activity after that, but the original
532
00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:46.199
registration lists a single officer, Roland Pike. She prints the
533
00:40:46.239 --> 00:40:49.639
documents and walks them upstairs to her supervisor, a middle
534
00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:52.239
aged man named Gerald who's worked at the county for
535
00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:56.760
thirty years. This might be something, she says, placing the
536
00:40:56.760 --> 00:41:01.320
papers on his desk. Gerald glances at them, then pauses.
537
00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:06.519
His face changes. He picks up the top sheet, reading
538
00:41:06.599 --> 00:41:11.920
slowly the Holloway property. He says quietly, you know it.
539
00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:16.480
Everyone my age knows it. He looks up at her.
540
00:41:17.239 --> 00:41:22.760
That family disappeared in sixty eight, never found them. Shenisa's
541
00:41:22.760 --> 00:41:28.360
stomach drops, And this Pike guy tried to buy their land, apparently.
542
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:33.199
Gerald picks up the phone and makes a call, then another.
543
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:36.760
By the end of the day, the documents are flagged
544
00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:40.320
and sent up the chain. Within a week, they land
545
00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:43.320
on the desk of a state investigator named Tracy Bowen.
546
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:48.159
She's younger than most investigators, sharp eyed and thorough, with
547
00:41:48.239 --> 00:41:52.519
a reputation for not letting cases sit. She reads the file,
548
00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:58.159
reads the old tip logs from sixty eight, reads Dalton's notes.
549
00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:01.880
He retired in ninety five, passed away in two thousand three,
550
00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:05.880
but his records are still archived. She reads about the
551
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:10.800
anonymous caller, the man with a limp, the county worker.
552
00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:15.960
She reads about rolland Pike being questioned and cleared. Then
553
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:19.599
she reads about the failed land deal and she picks
554
00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:24.840
up the phone. We're reopening the Holloway case. After fifty
555
00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:29.199
years of silence, one name resurfaces. What do you think
556
00:42:29.239 --> 00:42:34.920
investigators will find? Comment below. Roland Pike stands in the
557
00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:38.880
coffee line at Hendrik's General Store, newspaper folded under his arm,
558
00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:43.559
exact change already counted in his palm. It's December nineteen
559
00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:49.000
sixty eight, three days after the Holloways disappeared. The woman
560
00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:51.199
ahead of him is talking to the cashier about the
561
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:55.920
search parties, voice tight with worry. Pike nods along, makes
562
00:42:55.960 --> 00:43:00.719
sympathetic sounds, waits his turn. When he reaches the he
563
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.840
adds an extra dollar to his payment for the Holloway fund.
564
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:11.079
He says, whatever helps. The cashier thanks him, writes his
565
00:43:11.199 --> 00:43:14.760
name on the donation sheet taped to the register. Pike
566
00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:18.000
limps out into the cold, coffee steaming in his hand,
567
00:43:18.039 --> 00:43:21.360
and no one thinks twice about him. They should have.
568
00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:25.960
Tracy Bowen stands in the Ashbury Ridge County Records office
569
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:29.800
fifty one years later, holding that same donation sheet. Photocopid
570
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:34.159
from old church records Pike's name appears six times across
571
00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:41.599
different fundraisers, Coffee for searchers, gas money for volunteers, reward
572
00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:47.239
fund contributions. He gave more money than anyone except Lorraine.
573
00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:50.960
He stayed close. Tracy says to Shenie, who's pulled every
574
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:54.840
document related to Pike from the archives. People do that
575
00:43:54.960 --> 00:44:05.079
sometimes insert themselves into the investigation. Nice asks control guilt,
576
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:12.000
sometimes both. Tracy flips through Pike's personnel file twenty six
577
00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:15.599
years with the county. Started in sixty three as a
578
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:21.119
road crew laborer, promoted to supervisor in sixty six. The
579
00:44:21.159 --> 00:44:25.079
injury notation is brief left leg crushed in equipment accident
580
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:30.960
March nineteen sixty three, permanent mobility impairment. But it's the
581
00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:35.440
notes further down that make Tracy stop. A disciplinary warning
582
00:44:35.440 --> 00:44:41.239
from nineteen sixty seven, handwritten by Pike's supervisor employee, demonstrated
583
00:44:41.280 --> 00:44:47.440
concerning behavior regarding property boundary disputes, recommending anger management evaluation.
584
00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:52.960
The evaluation never happened, the note was filed and forgotten.
585
00:44:53.960 --> 00:44:58.119
Tracy pulls out her phone and calls the Madison Field office.
586
00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:03.400
I need everything on Roland Pike. Employment records, tax returns,
587
00:45:03.599 --> 00:45:09.400
property deeds vehicle registrations, everything from nineteen sixty to present day,
588
00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:14.320
present day. The voice on the other end asks how
589
00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:17.679
old is this guy? Tracy checks the birth date in
590
00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:22.079
the file. He'd be eighty seven. Now you think he's
591
00:45:22.119 --> 00:45:26.400
still alive? I think we need to find out. By
592
00:45:26.440 --> 00:45:30.639
that afternoon. Tracy has an address. Pike still lives in
593
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:34.400
Ashbury Ridge, same house he's occupied since his mother died
594
00:45:34.440 --> 00:45:39.119
in nineteen seventy four. Small property on Oakwood Lane, southern
595
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:43.400
edge of town, backing up to County forest land. Tracy
596
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:47.920
drives out with two deputies. The house is white, aluminum siding,
597
00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:52.159
shutters faded to gray. The yard is neat, too neat,
598
00:45:53.159 --> 00:45:59.880
grass trim to exact lines, no weeds, no leaves, flower
599
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:06.719
beds edged with military precision. They knock, no answer. Tracy
600
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:10.559
peers through the front window. The living room is sparse,
601
00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:19.679
a single chair, a television, no photographs, no personal items,
602
00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:24.400
just furniture and bare walls. He's not home, one deputy says.
603
00:46:25.440 --> 00:46:30.880
Tracy tries the back door, locked. She walks the property line,
604
00:46:31.159 --> 00:46:36.400
checking windows, looking for anything unusual. The garage door is closed,
605
00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:41.400
but not locked. She lifts it slowly inside sits a
606
00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:45.119
blue pickup truck late eighties model, barely driven based on
607
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.239
the lack of rust. The garage is organized like a workshop,
608
00:46:50.199 --> 00:46:53.559
tools hanging on peg boards, each one outlined in marker
609
00:46:54.599 --> 00:46:59.719
shelves labeled. Nothing out of place, except for a cardboard
610
00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:03.880
box in the corner. Tracy pulls on gloves and opens it.
611
00:47:04.880 --> 00:47:11.840
Inside our old maps, county survey documents, property platts, all
612
00:47:11.880 --> 00:47:14.280
of them marked with hand written notes in the margins,
613
00:47:14.480 --> 00:47:19.920
highlighting boundary lines, access roads, disputed parcels, and three of
614
00:47:19.960 --> 00:47:23.360
them feature the Holloway property. What are you doing in
615
00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:29.119
my garage? The voice comes from behind her. Tracy turns.
616
00:47:29.719 --> 00:47:33.280
Roland Pike stands in the driveway, grocery bag in one hand,
617
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:37.920
caine in the other. He's thin, now, shoulders bent with age,
618
00:47:38.159 --> 00:47:42.920
but his eyes are sharp watching. Tracy steps out of
619
00:47:42.960 --> 00:47:48.159
the garage, badge already in her hand. Mister Pike, I'm
620
00:47:48.199 --> 00:47:52.840
investigator Tracy Bowen with the Wisconsin State Police. I need
621
00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:56.719
to ask you some questions about the Holloway family. Pike
622
00:47:56.800 --> 00:48:01.880
doesn't react, doesn't flinch, just shifts his weight onto the
623
00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:05.599
cane and nods slowly. That was a long time ago,
624
00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:10.719
he says, yes, it was. I already talked to the
625
00:48:10.760 --> 00:48:15.800
sheriff back then told him everything I knew, I understand,
626
00:48:16.800 --> 00:48:19.360
but new information has come to light and I'd like
627
00:48:19.400 --> 00:48:22.920
to go over a few details. Pike studies her for
628
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:26.719
a long moment, Then he sets the grocery bag down
629
00:48:26.760 --> 00:48:32.079
and gestures toward the house. Come inside, then, no sense
630
00:48:32.119 --> 00:48:35.719
standing in the cold. Tracy follows him through the back
631
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:38.840
door into a kitchen that smells like old coffee and bleach.
632
00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:46.480
Everything is clean, counters wiped, dishes, put away, no clutter.
633
00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:50.280
Pike lowers himself into a chair at the small table
634
00:48:50.360 --> 00:48:53.679
and motions for Tracy to sit across from him. The
635
00:48:53.760 --> 00:48:59.400
deputies remain standing near the door. What details, Pike asks.
636
00:49:00.440 --> 00:49:03.079
Tracy pulls out a folder and sets it on the table.
637
00:49:04.079 --> 00:49:07.599
In nineteen sixty seven, you attempted to purchase land adjacent
638
00:49:07.639 --> 00:49:14.119
to the Holloway property. Is that correct? Pike's expression doesn't change.
639
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:19.639
That's correct. The deal fell through. Eldon Holloway refused to
640
00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:24.280
sell his portion without it. The expansion wasn't worth the investment.
641
00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:29.559
Pike's voice is steady, matter of fact, like he's discussing
642
00:49:29.599 --> 00:49:34.880
the weather. How did that make you feel disappointed? But
643
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:38.320
it was his right to refuse. Did you approach him
644
00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:43.360
more than once? Pike pauses just a fraction of a second.
645
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:49.039
I may have, I don't recall exactly. It was over
646
00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:54.920
fifty years ago. Tracy leans forward slightly. Mister Pike, where
647
00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:59.480
were you on the night of December thirteenth, nineteen sixty eight? Home?
648
00:49:59.760 --> 00:50:04.840
I expect I worked early shifts back then, was usually
649
00:50:04.880 --> 00:50:09.360
in bed by nine. Anyone who can confirm that I
650
00:50:09.480 --> 00:50:15.079
lived alone? Tracy nods slowly. She pulls out another document.
651
00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:19.079
You participated in the search efforts for the Holloway family,
652
00:50:20.039 --> 00:50:28.280
brought coffee, made donations, attended vigils. Of course everyone did.
653
00:50:29.320 --> 00:50:32.840
It was terrible. What happened? What do you think happened?
654
00:50:33.800 --> 00:50:38.440
Pike tilts his head slightly. I think they left or
655
00:50:38.480 --> 00:50:42.639
someone took them. I don't know which. But you have
656
00:50:42.719 --> 00:50:47.320
a theory. Everyone had theories back then. None of them
657
00:50:47.400 --> 00:50:52.880
led anywhere. Tracy watches him carefully. His hands rest flat
658
00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:58.440
on the table, His breathing is even, no nervous movements,
659
00:50:58.960 --> 00:51:03.000
no tells. An anonymous caller reported seeing a man with
660
00:51:03.039 --> 00:51:06.039
a limp near the Holloway property late at night weeks
661
00:51:06.039 --> 00:51:10.880
before the disappearance. Tracy says, you have a limp, mister Pike.
662
00:51:11.920 --> 00:51:15.559
Lots of men have limps. It's not a rare condition.
663
00:51:16.599 --> 00:51:19.840
But you worked for the county. You had access to
664
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:25.599
county vehicles, county roads, county land. Pike's eyes narrow slightly.
665
00:51:26.559 --> 00:51:32.079
Are you accusing me of something? Investigator? I'm asking questions.
666
00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:38.320
Sounds like accusations. Tracy closes the folder and stands, we'll
667
00:51:38.360 --> 00:51:42.079
need to speak with you again, mister Pike. Please don't
668
00:51:42.119 --> 00:51:46.840
leave town. I'm eighty seven years old. Where would I go?
669
00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:50.239
As Tracy walks back to the car, one of the
670
00:51:50.239 --> 00:51:54.960
deputies leans inclose. You think it's him. I think he
671
00:51:55.039 --> 00:52:01.079
knows more than he's saying. He's calm, too, calm exactly
672
00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:05.719
that evening, Tracy pulls up Pike's phone records from nineteen
673
00:52:05.800 --> 00:52:10.119
sixty eight. Limited data exists, but what's there is enough.
674
00:52:11.159 --> 00:52:14.199
Pike made multiple calls to the County Assessor's office in
675
00:52:14.239 --> 00:52:17.880
the months leading up to the Holloway disappearance. Four of
676
00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:20.719
those calls were made the weak Eldon Holloway refuse the
677
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:25.000
land sale. She cross references Pike's work schedule with the
678
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.280
timeline of the disappearance. Pike called in sick on December
679
00:52:29.320 --> 00:52:36.039
thirteenth return to work December sixteenth, three days the same
680
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:40.119
three days the Holloways went missing. Tracy stares at the
681
00:52:40.159 --> 00:52:43.639
time line pinned to the conference room wall. Then she
682
00:52:43.760 --> 00:52:48.039
calls a forensic excavation team in Madison. I need ground
683
00:52:48.079 --> 00:52:52.880
penetrating radar and a full team. We're digging up County land.
684
00:52:53.519 --> 00:52:57.440
Where Tracy looks at the old survey maps Pike kept
685
00:52:57.440 --> 00:53:00.719
in his garage. One of them show was an access
686
00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:05.280
road Pike requested in nineteen sixty eight. The surveyor's notes
687
00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:08.920
mentioned an old quarry abandoned since the fifties, located on
688
00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:13.440
county property east of the Holloway Land. I'll send coordinates,
689
00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:18.000
Tracy says. Before she hangs up, she makes one more
690
00:53:18.079 --> 00:53:22.519
call to a retired surveyor named Gerald Hutchins, the same
691
00:53:22.599 --> 00:53:25.440
man who drew up Pike's access road in sixty eight.
692
00:53:26.480 --> 00:53:30.119
Mister Hutchins, this is investigator Bowen with the State Police.
693
00:53:31.159 --> 00:53:34.159
I'm calling about a survey you completed in nineteen sixty
694
00:53:34.159 --> 00:53:39.159
eight for Roland Pike. There's a long pause, then Hutchins's
695
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:44.000
voice comes through, older, now hesitant. I remember that job.
696
00:53:45.079 --> 00:53:49.599
Why because Pike asked me to keep it quiet. Said
697
00:53:49.639 --> 00:53:53.119
it was for a private project, paid me extra not
698
00:53:53.159 --> 00:53:56.000
to file it with the county. Did you think that
699
00:53:56.159 --> 00:54:01.440
was strange at the time? A little, but money was
700
00:54:01.519 --> 00:54:05.519
tight and Pike seemed harmless enough. Do you remember where
701
00:54:05.559 --> 00:54:09.960
the road led to an old quarry? State shut it
702
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:13.559
down in the forties after someone drowned there. Pike said
703
00:54:13.599 --> 00:54:16.960
he wanted access for hunting. Did you ever see him
704
00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:24.079
use it? Another pause, longer, this time once, maybe a
705
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:27.400
month after I mapped it. I was driving past the
706
00:54:27.480 --> 00:54:31.360
county access point and saw his truck parked there. Thought
707
00:54:31.360 --> 00:54:36.719
about stopping to say hello, but Hutchins trails off. But
708
00:54:36.880 --> 00:54:40.320
what he was standing at the edge of the tree line,
709
00:54:40.599 --> 00:54:44.039
just staring into the woods. Something about the way he
710
00:54:44.079 --> 00:54:47.639
stood there made me keep driving. Tracy thanks him and
711
00:54:47.679 --> 00:54:51.039
hangs up. She stares at the map on her screen,
712
00:54:51.320 --> 00:54:54.840
the quarry marked with a red pin. That's where they are.
713
00:54:55.880 --> 00:54:59.800
She's sure of it. The next morning, Tracy returns to
714
00:54:59.800 --> 00:55:04.679
Pie House, this time with a warrant. Pike answers the
715
00:55:04.719 --> 00:55:10.199
door unsurprised and steps aside without protest. Search all you want,
716
00:55:10.440 --> 00:55:15.920
he says, you won't find anything, and he's right. The
717
00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:21.360
house is clean, no evidence, no signs of the holloways
718
00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:25.159
nothing that connects Pike to the crime, except maps and
719
00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:29.039
a failed land deal from fifty years ago. But Tracy
720
00:55:29.119 --> 00:55:32.760
isn't looking for evidence in the house. She's looking for
721
00:55:32.800 --> 00:55:36.880
it in the ground. Three days later, the excavation team
722
00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:41.639
arrives at the quarry site. Ground penetrating radar sweeps the area,
723
00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:46.880
sending back images of disturbed soil, irregular density patterns, anomalies
724
00:55:46.920 --> 00:55:50.880
below the surface. Tracy stands at the edge of the site,
725
00:55:51.159 --> 00:55:54.320
arms crossed against the November wind, and watches as the
726
00:55:54.320 --> 00:55:58.880
team marks four locations with flags. We start digging tomorrow,
727
00:55:59.039 --> 00:56:04.039
the team leader says. Tracy nods. She pulls out her
728
00:56:04.039 --> 00:56:08.199
phone and makes one last call to Lorraine, who's seventy
729
00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:11.079
nine now and living in a nursing facility in Madison.
730
00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:17.800
Missus Hartwell, this is investigator Tracy Bowen. I'm calling about
731
00:56:17.840 --> 00:56:23.360
your sister. Lorraine's voice is thin, trembling. Did you find her?
732
00:56:24.360 --> 00:56:30.239
We're close. I wanted you to know. There's silence, then
733
00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:35.719
the sound of quiet crying. Thank you. Lorraine whispers, thank
734
00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:40.800
you for not forgetting. We never forgot, Tracy says, And
735
00:56:40.840 --> 00:56:44.599
the next morning the digging begins. Do you think they'll
736
00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:47.760
find the holloways in that quarry. What do you think
737
00:56:47.800 --> 00:56:51.480
Pike will do when he finds out? Drop your thoughts below.
738
00:56:52.519 --> 00:56:56.639
The first shovel breaks ground at dawn. Tracy watches from
739
00:56:56.679 --> 00:57:00.239
the edge of the excavation site, coffee cup warming her hand.
740
00:57:01.280 --> 00:57:03.960
The quarry is a scar in the earth, overgrown with
741
00:57:04.039 --> 00:57:09.000
fifty years of brush and saplings. The team clears vegetation first,
742
00:57:09.280 --> 00:57:12.840
chainsaws buzzing through the cold morning, revealing the rocky slope
743
00:57:12.880 --> 00:57:18.159
that drops into the old pit. This place was forgotten deliberately.
744
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:23.920
The ground penetrating radar flagged four distinct areas. The team
745
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:27.599
starts with the largest anomaly, fifteen feet from the quarry edge,
746
00:57:27.920 --> 00:57:30.960
where the soil density suggests something buried three to four
747
00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:37.719
feet down. They work carefully, slowly, using hand tools. Once
748
00:57:37.760 --> 00:57:42.800
they get close, brushing away dirt like archaeologists. By midday
749
00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:49.159
they find fabric. Tracy's radio crackles investigator, you need to
750
00:57:49.199 --> 00:57:53.639
see this. She climbs down into the excavation area, boots
751
00:57:53.639 --> 00:57:57.760
sliding on loose stones. The team leader, a woman named
752
00:57:57.840 --> 00:58:01.840
doctor Rieschen, crouches beside us a small exposed section of earth.
753
00:58:02.880 --> 00:58:09.599
She points dark fabric deteriorated but intact. The edge of
754
00:58:09.639 --> 00:58:14.320
what looks like a coat sleeve. Keep going, Tracy says quietly.
755
00:58:15.360 --> 00:58:18.800
They excavate around it, expanding the area inch by inch.
756
00:58:19.880 --> 00:58:27.239
More fabric emerges, then buttons, rusted but recognizable, then bone,
757
00:58:28.199 --> 00:58:34.840
human remains. Doctor Chen works in silence, documenting everything, taking photographs,
758
00:58:35.039 --> 00:58:40.559
collecting samples. By late afternoon, they've uncovered the first complete skeleton,
759
00:58:41.559 --> 00:58:45.920
adult male. Based on the pelvic structure, the fabric suggests
760
00:58:45.960 --> 00:58:50.880
work clothing, heavy canvas, thick weave. Tracy thinks of Elden
761
00:58:50.960 --> 00:58:58.440
Holloway mill foreman, always in work clothes. Keep looking, she says.
762
00:58:59.079 --> 00:59:02.960
The second anomaly is ten feet away. They find another
763
00:59:03.039 --> 00:59:09.440
set of remains by evening, adult female, smaller frame. The
764
00:59:09.480 --> 00:59:14.960
fabric here is different, cotton, possibly a dress or skirt, deteriorated,
765
00:59:14.960 --> 00:59:20.039
while nearby may be a coat Marabelle. The third site
766
00:59:20.119 --> 00:59:25.480
yields remains the next morning, taller skeleton, younger based on
767
00:59:25.559 --> 00:59:32.400
bone development male. The fourth site is the hardest, small bones,
768
00:59:33.519 --> 00:59:39.000
child sized, Wrapped in something separate from the others, a blanket.
769
00:59:39.960 --> 00:59:43.239
Doctor Chen lifts it carefully and Tracy sees the stitching
770
00:59:43.280 --> 00:59:49.719
along the edge. Initials embroidered in faded thread RP. The
771
00:59:49.760 --> 00:59:56.239
excavation site goes silent, everyone stops working. Tracy steps closer,
772
00:59:56.559 --> 01:00:01.840
staring at those letters Roland Pike's initial on a blanket
773
01:00:01.880 --> 01:00:05.519
wrapped around an eight year old girl. Tracy pulls out
774
01:00:05.519 --> 01:00:10.119
her phone and makes the call issue the warrant arrest
775
01:00:10.280 --> 01:00:12.960
Roll and Pike for four counts of first degree murder.
776
01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:18.840
Within the hour, squad cars roll down Oakwood Lane. Deputies
777
01:00:18.880 --> 01:00:23.440
surround Pike's house, weapons drawn. Tracy knocks on the door.
778
01:00:24.480 --> 01:00:28.440
Pike opens it slowly. He's dressed neatly, as if he
779
01:00:28.519 --> 01:00:32.880
expected this. Mister Pike, you're under arrest for the murders
780
01:00:32.880 --> 01:00:38.239
of Eldon Marrabelle Calvin, and Norah Holloway. Pike doesn't resist,
781
01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:43.159
He doesn't ask questions. He just holds out his wrists
782
01:00:43.159 --> 01:00:46.920
for the handcuffs and nods. Once I wondered how long
783
01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:51.400
it would take, he says, those seven words confirm everything.
784
01:00:52.400 --> 01:00:55.440
They bring him to the county jail, process him, read
785
01:00:55.519 --> 01:00:58.760
him his rights. Tracy sits across from him in the
786
01:00:58.800 --> 01:01:02.679
interrogation room. Two two hours later, recorder running two other
787
01:01:02.760 --> 01:01:07.039
detectives flanking her. Mister Pike, do you understand why you've
788
01:01:07.079 --> 01:01:11.800
been arrested. Yes, do you wish to have an attorney present?
789
01:01:12.800 --> 01:01:16.480
Pike shakes his head. I've been carrying this for fifty
790
01:01:16.519 --> 01:01:23.119
one years. I'm tired. Tracy leans forward. Tell me what happened.
791
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:28.360
Pike stares at the table, his hands rest flat, fingers
792
01:01:28.400 --> 01:01:34.119
trembling slightly. When he speaks. His voice is calm, too calm.
793
01:01:35.119 --> 01:01:39.559
Eldon discovered the road he begins the access road to
794
01:01:39.599 --> 01:01:43.519
the quarry. He was walking his property line one afternoon
795
01:01:43.559 --> 01:01:48.000
in early December, saw tire tracks cutting through county land,
796
01:01:49.119 --> 01:01:54.800
followed them and he confronted you. He called me, said
797
01:01:54.840 --> 01:01:57.800
he was going to report it to the county. Said
798
01:01:57.840 --> 01:02:01.440
I'd built an illegal road on public land. Said it
799
01:02:01.480 --> 01:02:07.079
was a violation. So you killed him? Pike's jaw titans.
800
01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:10.719
It wasn't supposed to happen that way. I went to
801
01:02:10.760 --> 01:02:16.679
talk to him to explain, but he wouldn't listen, got angry,
802
01:02:17.719 --> 01:02:22.039
threatened me, said he'd ruin me. What did you do?
803
01:02:23.039 --> 01:02:28.760
I brought a tire iron for protection, that's all. But
804
01:02:28.840 --> 01:02:32.239
when he started yelling, when he came at me, Pike
805
01:02:32.360 --> 01:02:37.039
trails off. It happened fast. Where did you kill him?
806
01:02:37.920 --> 01:02:42.039
At the edge of his property near the tree line.
807
01:02:42.239 --> 01:02:48.559
It was late dark, no one saw. What about the others?
808
01:02:49.000 --> 01:02:54.519
Pike's face goes blank, emotionless. Calvin came out looking for
809
01:02:54.599 --> 01:02:59.199
his father, saw what happened. I couldn't let him leave.
810
01:03:00.239 --> 01:03:03.679
So you killed a seventeen year old boy. I didn't
811
01:03:03.679 --> 01:03:08.639
have a choice. You had a choice, Tracy says, voice hard.
812
01:03:09.280 --> 01:03:14.519
You made it. Pike doesn't respond. What about Marabelle and Nora.
813
01:03:15.599 --> 01:03:20.320
Marabelle came out after called for them. I told her
814
01:03:20.320 --> 01:03:24.519
there'd been an accident, asked her to come help. She
815
01:03:24.679 --> 01:03:30.880
trusted me. Pike's voice drops. Nora was with her, holding
816
01:03:30.920 --> 01:03:34.840
her hand. Tracy feels the anger rising in her chest.
817
01:03:35.880 --> 01:03:38.079
You killed a mother and her eight year old daughter.
818
01:03:39.119 --> 01:03:45.280
I couldn't leave witnesses. They weren't witnesses, they were human beings.
819
01:03:45.840 --> 01:03:49.079
Pike looks up and for the first time, something flickers
820
01:03:49.079 --> 01:03:56.159
in his eyes, not remorse, not guilt control. I did
821
01:03:56.159 --> 01:03:59.880
what I had to do, he says, quietly. I protected
822
01:03:59.880 --> 01:04:06.360
myself from what a land deal that fell through, from humiliation,
823
01:04:07.519 --> 01:04:12.760
from loss, from people thinking I was weak. Tracy stares
824
01:04:12.760 --> 01:04:16.320
at him. This man who spent fifty years living among
825
01:04:16.360 --> 01:04:19.599
the people who searched for the family. He murdered, Who
826
01:04:19.639 --> 01:04:24.679
brought them coffee, who donated money, who stood at vigils
827
01:04:24.679 --> 01:04:29.119
and pretended to grieve? Where did you take them? Tracy
828
01:04:29.239 --> 01:04:34.480
asks to the quarry one at a time. I had
829
01:04:34.519 --> 01:04:38.719
a tarp in my truck wrapped each of them, drove
830
01:04:38.760 --> 01:04:44.159
them out that night and buried them. Yes, why the
831
01:04:44.159 --> 01:04:49.400
blanket around Nora? Pike's face twitches. She was a child.
832
01:04:50.440 --> 01:04:54.159
It felt wrong to just leave her, but killing her
833
01:04:54.159 --> 01:05:00.639
didn't feel wrong. Pike doesn't answer. Tracy leans back, exhale slowly.
834
01:05:01.639 --> 01:05:07.440
What about the mitten? What midten Nora's red mitten found
835
01:05:07.480 --> 01:05:11.760
near the creek three days after they disappeared. Pike's expression
836
01:05:11.840 --> 01:05:18.519
shifts confusion, genuine confusion. I don't know anything about that.
837
01:05:19.639 --> 01:05:24.079
You're saying you didn't place it there? No, I buried
838
01:05:24.079 --> 01:05:28.719
them all together. I didn't go back. Tracy makes a
839
01:05:28.800 --> 01:05:33.239
note someone else placed that mitten, or it was lost
840
01:05:33.320 --> 01:05:37.719
before the murders. Either way, it's a detail that doesn't fit,
841
01:05:38.679 --> 01:05:42.519
but the rest does. Over the next two hours, Pike
842
01:05:42.559 --> 01:05:49.000
confesses to everything, the planning, the execution, the clean up.
843
01:05:49.920 --> 01:05:52.280
He describes moving the bodies in the dead of night,
844
01:05:52.559 --> 01:05:56.119
digging graves and frozen ground, covering them with rocks and dirt.
845
01:05:57.119 --> 01:06:01.079
He describes going home afterward, showering, burning his clothes in
846
01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:05.559
the backyard incinerator. He describes returning to work three days
847
01:06:05.639 --> 01:06:09.280
later and acting like nothing happened. Why did you stay
848
01:06:09.320 --> 01:06:15.719
in Ashbury Ridge? Tracy asks, you could have left, started
849
01:06:15.760 --> 01:06:19.159
over somewhere else. Pike looks at her like the question
850
01:06:19.320 --> 01:06:23.679
doesn't make sense. This is my home. Why would I
851
01:06:23.760 --> 01:06:28.760
leave because you murdered four people and no one knew.
852
01:06:29.480 --> 01:06:34.360
I made sure of that until now. Pike nods slowly,
853
01:06:35.440 --> 01:06:39.639
until now. As Tracy walks out of the interrogation room,
854
01:06:39.760 --> 01:06:43.159
one of the detectives follows her into the hall. He's
855
01:06:43.239 --> 01:06:49.800
not showing remorse. The detective says, no, he's not. Think
856
01:06:49.840 --> 01:06:53.960
he's mentally fit to stand trial. Tracy glances back through
857
01:06:54.039 --> 01:06:57.599
the one way glass. Pike sits alone at the table,
858
01:06:57.880 --> 01:07:03.400
hands folded, staring at nothing. He's fit. She says, he
859
01:07:03.519 --> 01:07:07.920
knew exactly what he was doing then and now. The
860
01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:11.719
news breaks the next morning a rest made in nineteen
861
01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:18.159
sixty eight Holloway cold case. Within hours, it's national television
862
01:07:18.199 --> 01:07:21.840
crews descend on Ashbury Ridge again, fifty one years after
863
01:07:21.840 --> 01:07:28.519
the first time. Reporters interview neighbors, former co workers, any
864
01:07:28.519 --> 01:07:33.280
one who remembers Roland Pike. He seemed normal. One man says,
865
01:07:34.400 --> 01:07:39.159
never caused trouble. Another adds, I can't believe it. Margaret
866
01:07:39.159 --> 01:07:42.320
Pritchett tells a reporter standing in her front yard across
867
01:07:42.320 --> 01:07:46.159
from the old Holloway House. He was at the search parties.
868
01:07:47.199 --> 01:07:50.119
He helped us look for them, and he knew where
869
01:07:50.119 --> 01:07:53.880
they were the entire time. Lorraine watches the news from
870
01:07:53.880 --> 01:07:57.280
her room in the Madison nursing facility, tears streaming down
871
01:07:57.280 --> 01:08:01.400
her face. Her daughter sits beside her, holding her hand.
872
01:08:02.480 --> 01:08:07.760
They found her, Lorraine whispers, they finally found her. The
873
01:08:07.800 --> 01:08:11.960
state schedules the trial for the following spring. Pike's public
874
01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:15.159
defender enters a plea of not guilty, but Pike himself
875
01:08:15.239 --> 01:08:18.880
never wavers. He tells anyone who asks that he did
876
01:08:18.920 --> 01:08:21.640
it that he'd do it again if he had to.
877
01:08:22.600 --> 01:08:26.039
At the forensic lab, doctor Chin completes the analysis of
878
01:08:26.079 --> 01:08:31.760
the remains. Blunt forced trauma to Eldon's skull, same for Calvin.
879
01:08:32.800 --> 01:08:37.960
Marrabelle's wrist bones show fractures consistent with being restrained. Norah's
880
01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:41.640
remains reveal no signs of trauma beyond what Pike described
881
01:08:41.960 --> 01:08:47.800
quick efficient cold. Tracy stands in the lab, staring at
882
01:08:47.800 --> 01:08:53.039
the evidence laid out on tables. Four people, four lives
883
01:08:54.079 --> 01:08:57.279
erased because of a land dispute and one man's inability
884
01:08:57.319 --> 01:09:01.239
to accept rejection. He kept the blanket with his initials.
885
01:09:01.439 --> 01:09:06.239
Doctor Chen says quietly, why would he do that? Because
886
01:09:06.279 --> 01:09:10.159
he wanted to own them. Tracy says, even in death.
887
01:09:11.199 --> 01:09:17.199
Doctor Chen looks at her. That's terrifying. Yes, it is.
888
01:09:18.319 --> 01:09:21.720
But as Tracy reviews the evidence one more time, something
889
01:09:21.800 --> 01:09:27.079
nags at her. The mitten. Pike genuinely seemed confused when
890
01:09:27.079 --> 01:09:30.000
she mentioned it, like he didn't know what she was
891
01:09:30.039 --> 01:09:33.560
talking about. If he didn't place it there, who did.
892
01:09:34.680 --> 01:09:37.680
She makes a note to follow up, But the case
893
01:09:37.760 --> 01:09:44.039
is solid. Pike confessed the remains match the forensics. A
894
01:09:44.119 --> 01:09:49.199
line justice after fifty one years is finally within reach.
895
01:09:50.279 --> 01:09:54.239
And yet, as Tracy drives back to her hotel that night,
896
01:09:54.600 --> 01:09:57.279
she can't shake the feeling that something is still missing,
897
01:09:58.279 --> 01:10:02.159
one piece that doesn't fit. She pushes the thought aside
898
01:10:02.199 --> 01:10:06.600
and focuses on what matters. The Holloways have been found.
899
01:10:07.319 --> 01:10:12.239
Roland Pike will face trial and Ashbury Ridge can finally breathe.
900
01:10:13.039 --> 01:10:17.039
After fifty years, the truth comes out. But what about
901
01:10:17.079 --> 01:10:20.199
that mitten? Do you think there's more to this story?
902
01:10:21.159 --> 01:10:24.600
Let us know in the comments. The trial begins on
903
01:10:24.640 --> 01:10:28.960
a gray April morning. Ashbury Ridge County Court House fills
904
01:10:28.960 --> 01:10:35.319
to capacity within minutes. Reporters line the hallway, Cameras cluster outside.
905
01:10:36.399 --> 01:10:40.359
Sheriff vehicles block off the street. People who never knew
906
01:10:40.399 --> 01:10:43.279
the Holloways sit shoulder to shoulder with people who searched
907
01:10:43.279 --> 01:10:46.720
for them fifty one years ago. Lorraine sits in the
908
01:10:46.760 --> 01:10:51.479
front row, flanked by her daughter and granddaughter. She's frail now,
909
01:10:51.760 --> 01:10:54.800
oxygen tube in her nose, but her eyes are fixed
910
01:10:54.840 --> 01:10:59.840
on the defendant's table, waiting. Roland Pike enters the courtroom
911
01:10:59.880 --> 01:11:03.359
in an orange jumpsuit, hands cuffed in front of him.
912
01:11:03.720 --> 01:11:06.279
He walks with the same limp he's had since nineteen
913
01:11:06.359 --> 01:11:10.680
sixty three. Slow and deliberate. He doesn't look at the gallery,
914
01:11:11.640 --> 01:11:16.079
doesn't acknowledge the whispers, just sits down beside his attorney
915
01:11:16.119 --> 01:11:22.840
and waits. The judge enters, everyone stands. The trial begins.
916
01:11:23.880 --> 01:11:28.560
The prosecution lays out the case methodically, the failed Land deal,
917
01:11:29.560 --> 01:11:33.760
Pike's fixation on the property the anonymous tip from sixty
918
01:11:33.800 --> 01:11:37.479
eight describing a man with a limp, the excavation at
919
01:11:37.479 --> 01:11:43.479
the quarry, the remains, the blanket with Pike's initials, and
920
01:11:43.560 --> 01:11:48.800
the confession. Tracy testifies on day two. She walks the
921
01:11:48.880 --> 01:11:52.640
jury through the investigation step by step, from Shenise Williams
922
01:11:52.640 --> 01:11:55.279
finding the land deed, to the excavation, to Pike's own
923
01:11:55.359 --> 01:11:58.720
words in the interrogation room. I did what I had
924
01:11:58.720 --> 01:12:03.520
to do. Tracy repeat Spike's statement, those were his exact words.
925
01:12:04.520 --> 01:12:08.079
The defense attorney, a tired looking man named Martin Cross,
926
01:12:08.359 --> 01:12:13.119
tries to argue diminished capacity suggests Pike's age and mental
927
01:12:13.119 --> 01:12:18.840
state affected his judgment, but the confession undermines everything. Pike
928
01:12:19.000 --> 01:12:25.680
was clear, coherent, detailed. He knew what he did. On
929
01:12:25.880 --> 01:12:29.199
day four, the prosecution calls doctor Chen to the stand.
930
01:12:30.279 --> 01:12:36.399
She presents the forensic evidence, photographs of the remains, analysis
931
01:12:36.399 --> 01:12:40.760
of the trauma, the timeline of death based on the
932
01:12:40.800 --> 01:12:45.239
skeletal evidence. Doctor Chen testifies all four victims died within
933
01:12:45.359 --> 01:12:49.520
hours of each other. The injuries are consistent with blunt force,
934
01:12:49.600 --> 01:12:54.079
trauma delivered with significant force, and the youngest victim. The
935
01:12:54.159 --> 01:13:00.319
prosecutor asks doctor Chen's voice softens. Norah Holloway sh showed
936
01:13:00.359 --> 01:13:04.720
no signs of defensive wounds. The trauma was concentrated to
937
01:13:04.760 --> 01:13:11.000
the back of the skull quick efficient. The courtroom goes silent.
938
01:13:12.039 --> 01:13:15.800
In your professional opinion, doctor Chen, did these victims suffer?
939
01:13:16.800 --> 01:13:22.039
Eldon and Calvin likely lost consciousness quickly. Marrabelle's wrist fractures
940
01:13:22.039 --> 01:13:27.960
suggest she struggled, so yes, she suffered. Norah. Doctor Chen
941
01:13:28.079 --> 01:13:34.079
pauses Nora was likely unconscious before she died. Lorraine covers
942
01:13:34.079 --> 01:13:38.680
her mouth, shoulders shaking. Her daughter wraps an arm around her.
943
01:13:39.640 --> 01:13:44.359
The defense calls no witnesses. Cross argues that Pike's confession
944
01:13:44.479 --> 01:13:48.920
was coerced, that the evidence is circumstantial, that reasonable doubt exists,
945
01:13:49.880 --> 01:13:53.880
but the jury doesn't buy it. On day six, closing
946
01:13:54.000 --> 01:13:58.840
arguments begin. The prosecutor stands before the jury voice steady
947
01:14:00.039 --> 01:14:02.760
Ull and Pike murdered four innocent people because his pride
948
01:14:02.760 --> 01:14:06.800
couldn't handle rejection. He buried them in a forgotten quarry.
949
01:14:07.800 --> 01:14:10.600
He lived among their friends and family for fifty years,
950
01:14:10.880 --> 01:14:14.680
pretending to care, pretending to search, all while knowing exactly
951
01:14:14.720 --> 01:14:19.239
where they were. He showed no remorse. Then he shows
952
01:14:19.319 --> 01:14:23.479
no remorse. Now he told investigators. I did what I
953
01:14:23.520 --> 01:14:26.920
had to do. Ladies and gentlemen. What he had to
954
01:14:26.960 --> 01:14:31.039
do was accept that he couldn't always get what he wanted. Instead,
955
01:14:31.279 --> 01:14:36.840
he chose murder. The defense's closing is brief. Cross reminds
956
01:14:36.880 --> 01:14:39.560
the jury that Pike is eighty seven years old, that
957
01:14:39.600 --> 01:14:42.279
he lived a quiet life, that the confession may have
958
01:14:42.279 --> 01:14:46.199
been influenced by age and confusion. But when Pike takes
959
01:14:46.239 --> 01:14:50.159
the stand against his attorney's advice, he destroys any chance
960
01:14:50.199 --> 01:14:56.279
of sympathy. Did you kill the Holloway family? The prosecutor asks, yes,
961
01:14:57.359 --> 01:15:01.960
Do you regret it? Pike pauses, looks at the jury.
962
01:15:02.960 --> 01:15:08.279
I regret getting caught. The courtroom irrupts. The judge calls
963
01:15:08.279 --> 01:15:12.800
for order. Cross drops his head into his hands. Do
964
01:15:12.840 --> 01:15:17.399
you feel remorse for taking four lives? I feel inconvenienced.
965
01:15:18.439 --> 01:15:23.800
I lived peacefully for fifty years. Now I'm here peacefully.
966
01:15:24.800 --> 01:15:30.079
You murdered a child. Pike's expression doesn't change. I did
967
01:15:30.119 --> 01:15:35.760
what was necessary. The prosecutor steps closer. Necessary for what?
968
01:15:36.920 --> 01:15:43.359
For my survival, for my reputation, for my control, control
969
01:15:43.439 --> 01:15:49.800
over what? Everything. The jury deliberates for three hours. When
970
01:15:49.840 --> 01:15:54.159
they return, the verdict is unanimous. Guilty on all four
971
01:15:54.319 --> 01:15:59.319
counts of first degree murder. Pike shows no reaction, just
972
01:15:59.439 --> 01:16:03.720
nods one like he expected it. Sentencing is scheduled for
973
01:16:03.760 --> 01:16:08.279
two weeks later. The courtroom empties slowly, people lingering in
974
01:16:08.319 --> 01:16:13.039
the aisles, whispering, trying to process what they've heard. Lorraine
975
01:16:13.079 --> 01:16:16.960
doesn't move. She sits in the front row, staring at
976
01:16:17.000 --> 01:16:20.920
Pike's back as deputies lead him away. Did you hear him,
977
01:16:21.159 --> 01:16:25.880
she whispers to her daughter. He doesn't care, he doesn't
978
01:16:25.880 --> 01:16:31.239
care at all. I know, Mama, Marybelle deserved better than this.
979
01:16:32.520 --> 01:16:37.479
I know. Outside, Tracy stands on the courthouse steps, fielding
980
01:16:37.560 --> 01:16:43.439
questions from reporters. Yes, the verdict was expected, Yes, the
981
01:16:43.520 --> 01:16:47.920
evidence was overwhelming. No, she doesn't believe there are any
982
01:16:47.960 --> 01:16:52.199
other victims. But that last answer feels uncertain even as
983
01:16:52.199 --> 01:16:57.000
she says it, because the mitten still bothers her. That night,
984
01:16:57.319 --> 01:17:01.520
Tracy returns to the evidence room at the County Shafriff's office.
985
01:17:01.720 --> 01:17:05.279
She pulls the file on the midden discovery, reads the
986
01:17:05.359 --> 01:17:09.479
reports from sixty eight studies, the photographs of the creek,
987
01:17:09.760 --> 01:17:14.079
the rock, the placement. Deputy Marcus Green found it three
988
01:17:14.159 --> 01:17:20.760
days after the disappearance, Dry clean centered on a flat rock.
989
01:17:21.800 --> 01:17:26.039
Pike said he didn't place it there. Tracy believes him,
990
01:17:26.359 --> 01:17:30.039
which means someone else did. She pulls up the search
991
01:17:30.079 --> 01:17:35.319
party logs from December sixty eighth. Over sixty volunteers participated.
992
01:17:36.279 --> 01:17:40.199
Their names are listed in careful handwriting Sheriff Dalton's notes.
993
01:17:41.239 --> 01:17:47.800
She scans the list, Lewis Tate, Margaret Pritchett, Pastor Green,
994
01:17:48.880 --> 01:17:53.880
dozens of others, and near the bottom Roland Pike. He
995
01:17:54.079 --> 01:17:58.680
was there searching with everyone else, but he didn't place
996
01:17:58.720 --> 01:18:03.720
the midten. Tracy keeps reading. Then she sees another name,
997
01:18:04.720 --> 01:18:12.479
one that appears on multiple days, Jerome Lassiter, County maintenance worker, retired.
998
01:18:13.520 --> 01:18:17.760
She cross references the name with current records. Lassiter is
999
01:18:17.800 --> 01:18:22.760
still alive, eighty three years old, lives in a nursing
1000
01:18:22.800 --> 01:18:27.359
facility in Green Bay. Tracy makes a note to visit him,
1001
01:18:27.720 --> 01:18:32.840
but first there's sentencing. Two weeks later, the courtroom fills again.
1002
01:18:33.880 --> 01:18:39.199
Pike enters, same orange jumpsuit, same empty expression. The judge
1003
01:18:39.199 --> 01:18:42.359
reads the verdict aloud, then asks if Pike has anything
1004
01:18:42.399 --> 01:18:49.159
to say before sentencing. Pike stands slowly. His attorney tries
1005
01:18:49.239 --> 01:18:52.920
to stop him, but Pike waves him off. I lived
1006
01:18:52.960 --> 01:18:57.840
a good life, Pike says. I worked hard, I paid
1007
01:18:57.840 --> 01:19:03.600
my taxes, I help my neighbors. The Holloways were an inconvenience,
1008
01:19:04.640 --> 01:19:09.760
a problem I solved. I don't regret solving problems. The
1009
01:19:09.840 --> 01:19:14.920
judge's face hardens. Mister Pike, you didn't solve a problem.
1010
01:19:15.279 --> 01:19:19.399
You committed an atrocity. You murdered four human beings and
1011
01:19:19.479 --> 01:19:23.239
hid their bodies for fifty years. You robbed a family
1012
01:19:23.319 --> 01:19:27.039
of their loved ones. You robbed a community of their peace.
1013
01:19:28.119 --> 01:19:30.600
You are a danger to society, and you will be
1014
01:19:30.640 --> 01:19:34.720
removed from it permanently. The judge sentences Pike to four
1015
01:19:34.760 --> 01:19:39.279
consecutive life terms, without the possibility of parole. Pike will
1016
01:19:39.319 --> 01:19:45.720
die in prison. He nods once, sits down, shows nothing
1017
01:19:46.720 --> 01:19:51.279
as deputies lead him out. Lorraine stands. Her daughter tries
1018
01:19:51.319 --> 01:19:54.239
to stop her, but Lorraine pulls away and walks toward
1019
01:19:54.279 --> 01:19:58.199
the railing separating the gallery from the defendant's table. You
1020
01:19:58.319 --> 01:20:02.600
lived among us, she says, voice shaking but loud. We
1021
01:20:02.720 --> 01:20:07.680
trusted you. We let you into our homes, into our church,
1022
01:20:08.760 --> 01:20:11.000
and you watched us suffer while you knew the truth.
1023
01:20:12.000 --> 01:20:18.680
Pike stops, turns, looks at her. I did he says, simply.
1024
01:20:19.720 --> 01:20:24.479
Lorraine's face crumples. Her daughter rushes to her side, guiding
1025
01:20:24.520 --> 01:20:28.640
her back to the bench. Pike is led away. The
1026
01:20:28.680 --> 01:20:34.319
courtroom empties justice after fifty one years has been served,
1027
01:20:34.920 --> 01:20:37.800
but as Tracy walks to her car, she can't stop
1028
01:20:37.840 --> 01:20:43.000
thinking about that mitten and about Jerome Lassiter. She drives
1029
01:20:43.000 --> 01:20:47.800
to Green Bay the next day. The nursing facility is clean, quiet,
1030
01:20:48.039 --> 01:20:52.159
staff friendly. Lassiter sits in a wheel chair near a window,
1031
01:20:52.479 --> 01:20:57.920
staring at the parking lot. Mister Lassiter, Tracy says, pulling
1032
01:20:58.000 --> 01:21:02.880
up a chair, I'm investigator Tracy Bowen. I'd like to
1033
01:21:02.920 --> 01:21:08.119
ask you about the Holloway case. Lassiter turns slowly. His
1034
01:21:08.239 --> 01:21:13.800
face is lined, eyes cloudy. That was a long time ago, Yes,
1035
01:21:14.159 --> 01:21:19.479
it was. You participated in the search parties, correct, I
1036
01:21:19.600 --> 01:21:26.319
did everyone did? Do you remember finding anything? Lassiter's expression
1037
01:21:26.399 --> 01:21:33.239
shifts just slightly, like what like a mitten? A red
1038
01:21:33.279 --> 01:21:38.119
mitten near the creek. Lassiter stares at her, his hands
1039
01:21:38.159 --> 01:21:43.600
gripped the armrests of his wheelchair. Mister Lassiter, Marcus green
1040
01:21:43.720 --> 01:21:49.319
found that mitten. Lassiter says, slowly, yes, but someone placed
1041
01:21:49.359 --> 01:21:54.800
it there? Do you know who? Lassiter doesn't answer. He
1042
01:21:54.840 --> 01:22:01.880
looks out the window again. Tracy Waits finally speaks. I
1043
01:22:01.960 --> 01:22:07.159
worked with Roland Pike County Road Crew. We weren't friends,
1044
01:22:07.439 --> 01:22:12.000
but I knew him, knew he was strange, obsessed with
1045
01:22:12.079 --> 01:22:19.560
property lines control. Did you suspect him? Not then? But later,
1046
01:22:19.840 --> 01:22:23.880
after the Holloways disappeared and everyone was searching, I noticed something.
1047
01:22:24.920 --> 01:22:29.279
What Pike kept going to the same area near the
1048
01:22:29.319 --> 01:22:34.600
County Forest access, the old quarry. I asked him why,
1049
01:22:34.840 --> 01:22:37.840
and he said he was being thorough. But the way
1050
01:22:37.880 --> 01:22:42.720
he looked at that place, Lassiter trails off. What did
1051
01:22:42.720 --> 01:22:48.319
you do? Nothing? I had no proof, just a feeling.
1052
01:22:49.319 --> 01:22:53.720
Tracy leans forward. Mister Lassiter, did you place the midden
1053
01:22:53.760 --> 01:22:58.800
by the creek? Lassiter's eyes fill with tears. I found
1054
01:22:58.800 --> 01:23:02.920
it in Pike's truck the day after the Holloways disappeared.
1055
01:23:03.880 --> 01:23:06.279
I was borrowing tools and I saw it in the
1056
01:23:06.319 --> 01:23:12.439
front seat, red mitten, child sized. Why didn't you report it?
1057
01:23:13.399 --> 01:23:18.439
Because I was scared. Pike was my supervisor. I needed
1058
01:23:18.439 --> 01:23:22.239
the job, and I told myself maybe it wasn't connected,
1059
01:23:23.239 --> 01:23:27.279
maybe he just found it. But you knew better. I
1060
01:23:27.359 --> 01:23:32.199
knew better, Lassiter whispers, So I took it, put it
1061
01:23:32.239 --> 01:23:35.560
by the creek where someone would find it. Thought maybe
1062
01:23:35.560 --> 01:23:40.319
it would lead to something, but it didn't. Tracy sits back.
1063
01:23:41.359 --> 01:23:46.119
You've carried that guilt for fifty years. Every day you
1064
01:23:46.199 --> 01:23:51.840
could have stopped him, I know. Tracy studies him, Then
1065
01:23:51.880 --> 01:23:56.680
she stands, thank you for telling me. Will I be charged?
1066
01:23:57.640 --> 01:24:03.039
Tracy pauses, That's not my decision, but you withheld evidence
1067
01:24:03.039 --> 01:24:09.319
in a quadruple homicide. Lassiter nods, I deserve whatever comes.
1068
01:24:09.920 --> 01:24:13.399
Tracy walks out, and as she drives back to Ashbury Ridge,
1069
01:24:13.760 --> 01:24:15.920
she thinks about all the ways this case could have
1070
01:24:16.000 --> 01:24:21.079
ended differently, if Lassiter had spoken up, if the anonymous
1071
01:24:21.079 --> 01:24:24.920
caller had given a name, if Pike had been questioned harder.
1072
01:24:25.880 --> 01:24:29.640
But none of that happened, and four people stayed buried
1073
01:24:29.680 --> 01:24:34.920
for fifty one years. The Holloways finally have justice, But
1074
01:24:35.039 --> 01:24:38.079
could they have been saved sooner? What do you think
1075
01:24:38.079 --> 01:24:42.199
about Jerome Lassiter's silence? Let us know in the comments.
1076
01:24:43.319 --> 01:24:46.960
The excavation site closes on a Thursday morning in late April.
1077
01:24:47.960 --> 01:24:53.760
Yellow tape comes down, Equipment gets loaded onto trucks. The quarry,
1078
01:24:54.079 --> 01:24:58.000
exposed and empty, now sits quiet under gray Wisconsin sky.
1079
01:24:59.079 --> 01:25:02.600
Doctor Chen Super revises the final sweep, making sure nothing
1080
01:25:02.640 --> 01:25:06.800
is left behind. Tracy stands at the edge, looking down
1081
01:25:06.840 --> 01:25:10.000
into the pit where the Holloways spent fifty one years.
1082
01:25:10.600 --> 01:25:14.000
The ground is scarred, disturbed, marked forever by what was
1083
01:25:14.079 --> 01:25:18.399
hidden there. We're done here, doctor Chen says, walking up
1084
01:25:18.439 --> 01:25:22.119
beside her. All remains have been transported to the state
1085
01:25:22.199 --> 01:25:25.840
lab for final processing. When can they be released to
1086
01:25:25.880 --> 01:25:32.479
the family. Two weeks, maybe three. We're completing toxicology and
1087
01:25:32.520 --> 01:25:36.560
confirming identifications through dental records. Even though we're certain based
1088
01:25:36.600 --> 01:25:42.159
on the forensics. Tracy nods. Lorraine wants to bury them together.
1089
01:25:43.239 --> 01:25:46.640
She should be able to. They stand in silence for
1090
01:25:46.680 --> 01:25:50.520
a moment. Then Doctor Chen pulls an evidence bag from
1091
01:25:50.560 --> 01:25:56.239
her jacket. Inside is a small object, cloth faded. We
1092
01:25:56.359 --> 01:26:00.520
found this during the final sweep, she says, wried about
1093
01:26:00.560 --> 01:26:06.039
six feet from Nora's remains, deeper than the bodies separate.
1094
01:26:07.079 --> 01:26:12.439
Tracy takes the bag. Inside is another blanket, smaller than
1095
01:26:12.439 --> 01:26:17.960
the one wrapped around Nora, child sized, same stitching pattern,
1096
01:26:19.039 --> 01:26:28.079
same initials RP. Tracy's stomach drops another one. Yes, was
1097
01:26:28.119 --> 01:26:33.760
there a body with it? No, just the blanket folded
1098
01:26:34.760 --> 01:26:39.039
placed deliberately, Tracy turns the bag over in her hands,
1099
01:26:39.319 --> 01:26:43.760
studying it, he prepared for more than one. That's what
1100
01:26:43.800 --> 01:26:47.279
it looks like, which means the Holloways might not have
1101
01:26:47.319 --> 01:26:51.439
been his only targets. Doctor Chim crosses her arms against
1102
01:26:51.439 --> 01:26:54.720
the cold wind. Or they were the first and he
1103
01:26:54.800 --> 01:26:58.720
planned to continue. Tracy pulls out her phone and calls
1104
01:26:58.720 --> 01:27:02.880
the County Record's office. Shenie answers on the second ring,
1105
01:27:03.920 --> 01:27:06.760
I need you to pull missing persons reports from Ashbury
1106
01:27:06.840 --> 01:27:11.479
Ridge and surrounding counties nineteen sixty eight to nineteen ninety
1107
01:27:12.479 --> 01:27:16.520
focus on families or children. How many am I looking for?
1108
01:27:17.520 --> 01:27:23.079
I don't know. Just pull everything. By that afternoon, Shenie
1109
01:27:23.079 --> 01:27:27.079
has a list forty three missing persons cases filed in
1110
01:27:27.119 --> 01:27:30.520
the region over that twenty two year span. Most of
1111
01:27:30.560 --> 01:27:34.680
them resolved runaways who came home, adults who left voluntarily,
1112
01:27:35.119 --> 01:27:40.239
cases where bodies were eventually found, but three remain unsolved.
1113
01:27:40.880 --> 01:27:44.920
A ten year old girl named Rachel Winters disappeared from
1114
01:27:44.960 --> 01:27:50.199
Madison in nineteen seventy two never found. A family of
1115
01:27:50.239 --> 01:27:54.439
three mother, father, young son vanished from a farm outside
1116
01:27:54.520 --> 01:28:00.000
Ashbury Ridge in nineteen eighty one, no leads, no evidence,
1117
01:28:01.159 --> 01:28:05.800
and a teenage boy named Marcus Delroy last seen hitchhiking
1118
01:28:05.840 --> 01:28:10.439
on Highway twelve in nineteen eighty seven, disappeared without a trace.
1119
01:28:11.520 --> 01:28:15.159
Tracy stares at the names, then she drives to the
1120
01:28:15.199 --> 01:28:19.159
county jail. Pike is in a holding cell awaiting transfer
1121
01:28:19.199 --> 01:28:23.239
to the state prison. He sits on the bunk, hands folded,
1122
01:28:23.520 --> 01:28:26.920
staring at the wall. When the guard brings Tracy to
1123
01:28:27.039 --> 01:28:30.880
the cell, Pike doesn't look up. Mister Pike, I need
1124
01:28:30.960 --> 01:28:33.159
to ask you about something we found at the quarry.
1125
01:28:34.119 --> 01:28:39.319
I already told you everything. Not everything. Tracy holds up
1126
01:28:39.359 --> 01:28:46.199
the evidence bag. We found a second blanket, smaller, same initials,
1127
01:28:47.319 --> 01:28:51.720
no body. Pike's eyes flick to the bag for the
1128
01:28:51.760 --> 01:28:56.760
first time since his arrest. Something registers on his face. Surprise.
1129
01:28:57.920 --> 01:29:01.359
I don't know what that is, he says. You're saying
1130
01:29:01.399 --> 01:29:05.960
you didn't bury it. I buried four people, that's all.
1131
01:29:06.960 --> 01:29:10.920
Tracy steps closer to the bars. Were the holloways? You're
1132
01:29:10.960 --> 01:29:17.319
only victims? Pike's jaw titans. Yes, then why is there
1133
01:29:17.319 --> 01:29:21.800
a second blanket with your initials? I don't know. Did
1134
01:29:21.800 --> 01:29:26.439
you plan to kill someone else? No, then explain it.
1135
01:29:27.439 --> 01:29:31.680
Pike stands slowly, limping to the bars. He stares at
1136
01:29:31.680 --> 01:29:35.920
Tracy eyes hard. I can't explain what I don't know about.
1137
01:29:36.920 --> 01:29:41.560
You're lying, I'm not. Tracy pulls out the list of
1138
01:29:41.640 --> 01:29:49.560
unsolved cases, Rachel Winters, the Brennan family, Marcus Delroy. Do
1139
01:29:49.720 --> 01:29:55.079
those names mean anything to you? Pike's expression doesn't change. No,
1140
01:29:56.359 --> 01:30:02.520
you're sure, I'm sure. Tracy studies him. She spent weeks
1141
01:30:02.600 --> 01:30:06.279
learning to read his face, his body language, his tells,
1142
01:30:06.840 --> 01:30:10.560
and right now he's telling the truth. He doesn't know
1143
01:30:10.640 --> 01:30:14.560
about the second blanket, which means someone else put it there.
1144
01:30:15.560 --> 01:30:18.319
Tracy leaves the jail and drives back to the quarry.
1145
01:30:19.319 --> 01:30:22.159
The site is empty now, just dirt and stones and
1146
01:30:22.199 --> 01:30:26.600
disturbed earth. She walks the perimeter, trying to piece together
1147
01:30:26.680 --> 01:30:30.920
what happened. Pike buried the holloways here in December nineteen
1148
01:30:31.000 --> 01:30:36.319
sixty eight. He admitted to every detail, confess to the planning,
1149
01:30:36.560 --> 01:30:43.119
the execution, the disposal. But the second blanket was buried deeper, separate,
1150
01:30:44.119 --> 01:30:48.960
and Pike doesn't know about it. Someone else access this site.
1151
01:30:49.319 --> 01:30:53.520
Tracy pulls up the survey records again. The access road
1152
01:30:53.600 --> 01:30:56.520
Pike requested and sixty eight led directly to the quarry,
1153
01:30:57.479 --> 01:31:00.880
but County land records show the area remained undeveloped after
1154
01:31:00.920 --> 01:31:08.039
Pike's retirement, no authorized access, no maintenance. So who else
1155
01:31:08.119 --> 01:31:13.199
knew about this place? She calls the county supervisor's office.
1156
01:31:13.520 --> 01:31:18.039
A woman named Karen Talbot answers, Miss Talbot, this is
1157
01:31:18.079 --> 01:31:22.399
investigator Tracy Bowen. I need a list of county employees
1158
01:31:22.439 --> 01:31:25.319
who had access to the quarry site between nineteen sixty
1159
01:31:25.359 --> 01:31:30.079
eight and two thousand. That's a long time frame, I know,
1160
01:31:31.159 --> 01:31:35.800
but it's important. Give me an hour. Tracy waits in
1161
01:31:35.840 --> 01:31:42.199
her car, watching the tree line, thinking the quarry is isolated, hidden,
1162
01:31:43.199 --> 01:31:45.159
the kind of place you'd only know about if you
1163
01:31:45.279 --> 01:31:47.359
worked for the county or grew up in the area.
1164
01:31:48.359 --> 01:31:54.399
Her phone rings Talbot, I have your list. Thirty seven
1165
01:31:54.439 --> 01:31:57.880
employees had access codes or keys to County forest gates
1166
01:31:57.960 --> 01:32:01.920
during that period. Most of them are deceased or retired.
1167
01:32:03.000 --> 01:32:06.680
Send me the full list. The email comes through five
1168
01:32:06.720 --> 01:32:13.079
minutes later. Tracy scans the names. Most are unfamiliar, but
1169
01:32:13.239 --> 01:32:18.760
three stand out. Roland Pike deceased as of three weeks ago,
1170
01:32:19.159 --> 01:32:25.560
heart attack in his cell. Jerome Lassiter, retired, currently in
1171
01:32:25.560 --> 01:32:31.760
a nursing facility. And a third name, Carl Duval, County
1172
01:32:31.840 --> 01:32:37.479
forest ranger, retired, nineteen ninety eight, current address listed in
1173
01:32:37.520 --> 01:32:43.720
Ashbury Ridge. Tracy runs a background check. Carl Duval, seventy
1174
01:32:43.800 --> 01:32:47.640
nine years old, worked for the county from nineteen sixty
1175
01:32:47.680 --> 01:32:55.000
five to nineteen ninety eight. Clean record, no arrests, no complaints,
1176
01:32:55.600 --> 01:32:58.760
but he had access to the quarry for thirty three years.
1177
01:32:59.359 --> 01:33:03.359
Tracy d to Duval's address. It's a small house on
1178
01:33:03.439 --> 01:33:07.520
the east side of town, surrounded by trees. A truck
1179
01:33:07.560 --> 01:33:13.000
sits in the driveway, older model, but well maintained. She knocks.
1180
01:33:13.319 --> 01:33:17.640
A man answers, tall, thin, gray hair pulled back in
1181
01:33:17.720 --> 01:33:21.800
a pony tail. He looks at Tracy with mild curiosity.
1182
01:33:22.720 --> 01:33:27.920
Can I help you, mister Duval? I'm investigator Tracy Bowen
1183
01:33:28.000 --> 01:33:31.000
with the State Police. I'd like to ask you a
1184
01:33:31.039 --> 01:33:36.680
few questions about the Old County Quarry. Duval's expression doesn't change.
1185
01:33:36.960 --> 01:33:40.279
What about it? You worked as a forest ranger for
1186
01:33:40.359 --> 01:33:46.239
over thirty years. Did you ever patrol that area? Sometimes
1187
01:33:46.640 --> 01:33:50.359
it was part of my territory. Did you know Roland Pike?
1188
01:33:51.399 --> 01:33:56.239
Every one knew Rolan. He worked road maintenance. Did you
1189
01:33:56.319 --> 01:33:58.960
know he buried four people at that quarry in nineteen
1190
01:33:59.000 --> 01:34:05.640
sixty eight. Duval's face Hardens. I heard about that terrible thing.
1191
01:34:06.640 --> 01:34:09.359
Did you ever see anything unusual at the quarry during
1192
01:34:09.399 --> 01:34:17.399
your patrols? Like what disturbed ground, fresh tire tracks, evidence
1193
01:34:17.399 --> 01:34:22.640
of digging. Duval crosses his arms. I saw tracks now
1194
01:34:22.640 --> 01:34:28.399
and then hunters, kids, people who shouldn't have been there,
1195
01:34:29.359 --> 01:34:31.600
But I never saw anything that made me think some
1196
01:34:31.680 --> 01:34:34.840
one was burying bodies. Did you ever go to the
1197
01:34:34.920 --> 01:34:41.760
quarry yourself outside of patrol? Duval hesitates just a second,
1198
01:34:42.760 --> 01:34:47.439
but Tracy catches it. Mister Duval, I went there a
1199
01:34:47.439 --> 01:34:52.399
few times over the years. Quiet spot, good for thinking.
1200
01:34:53.399 --> 01:34:58.079
When was the last time, maybe ten years ago before
1201
01:34:58.119 --> 01:35:02.079
I retired. Racey pulls out the evidence photo of the
1202
01:35:02.079 --> 01:35:07.000
second blanket. Have you ever seen this before? Duval looks
1203
01:35:07.039 --> 01:35:12.680
at it, His face stays neutral. No, are you sure?
1204
01:35:13.680 --> 01:35:19.319
I'm sure? Tracy watches him carefully. Mister Duval. We found
1205
01:35:19.319 --> 01:35:22.920
this blanket buried at the quarry. It has the initials
1206
01:35:23.039 --> 01:35:26.680
r P stitched into it, same as the blanket wrapped
1207
01:35:26.720 --> 01:35:33.000
around Norah Holloway, but it was buried separately, deeper, without
1208
01:35:33.039 --> 01:35:37.560
a body. I don't know anything about that, Pike says
1209
01:35:37.600 --> 01:35:41.039
he doesn't either. Then maybe someone else put it there.
1210
01:35:42.039 --> 01:35:47.239
That's what I'm trying to figure out. Duval shifts his weight. Look,
1211
01:35:47.479 --> 01:35:51.239
I spent thirty years walking those woods. I saw a
1212
01:35:51.279 --> 01:35:55.800
lot of things, but I never saw bodies. I never
1213
01:35:55.880 --> 01:35:59.640
saw blankets. If I had, I would have reported it.
1214
01:36:00.600 --> 01:36:05.199
Tracy nods slowly, thank you for your time. As she
1215
01:36:05.279 --> 01:36:08.000
walks back to her car, she glances at the truck
1216
01:36:08.000 --> 01:36:13.560
in the driveway. The bed is clean, too clean, like
1217
01:36:13.600 --> 01:36:17.079
it's been recently scrubbed. She makes a note to run
1218
01:36:17.159 --> 01:36:22.079
Duval's vehicle history. That night, Tracy sits in her hotel room.
1219
01:36:22.399 --> 01:36:26.439
Files spread across the bed. The second blanket bothers her.
1220
01:36:27.399 --> 01:36:33.800
Pike's reaction bothers her. Duval's hesitation bothers her. Something doesn't fit.
1221
01:36:34.840 --> 01:36:40.079
She pulls up the unsolved cases again. Rachel winters the
1222
01:36:40.079 --> 01:36:46.680
Brennan family. Marcus Delroy Rachel disappeared from Madison, forty miles
1223
01:36:46.680 --> 01:36:50.840
from Ashbury Ridge. The Brennans vanished from a farm twelve
1224
01:36:50.880 --> 01:36:55.520
miles outside town. Marcus was last seen on Highway twelve,
1225
01:36:55.760 --> 01:37:00.520
which runs right through Ashbury Ridge. Tracy maps the locations.
1226
01:37:01.600 --> 01:37:04.920
They form a loose circle around the town, and at
1227
01:37:04.920 --> 01:37:08.399
the center of that circle is the quarry. She calls
1228
01:37:08.479 --> 01:37:12.560
doctor Chen, I need you to re examine the quarry site,
1229
01:37:13.439 --> 01:37:19.000
expand the search radius, look for more burial sites. Tracy,
1230
01:37:19.239 --> 01:37:25.920
we already swept the entire area. Sweep it again, deeper, wider.
1231
01:37:26.960 --> 01:37:30.840
You think there are more bodies. I think we're missing something,
1232
01:37:31.840 --> 01:37:35.279
Doctor Chen, size, I'll get a team back out there
1233
01:37:35.279 --> 01:37:40.439
in the morning. The excavation resumes at dawn. This time
1234
01:37:40.640 --> 01:37:44.680
they expand beyond the original site, using ground penetrating radar
1235
01:37:44.760 --> 01:37:48.800
to scan one hundred yard radius. By midday, they find
1236
01:37:48.880 --> 01:37:53.840
three more anomalies, all of them consistent with human remains.
1237
01:37:54.399 --> 01:37:57.159
Tracy stands at the edge of the new excavation area,
1238
01:37:57.439 --> 01:38:03.520
watching the team work. They dig carefully, methodically. By late afternoon,
1239
01:38:03.760 --> 01:38:11.600
they uncover the first skeleton, child female, approximately ten years old.
1240
01:38:12.239 --> 01:38:17.600
Tracy pulls out the missing person's file, Rachel Winters, ten
1241
01:38:17.680 --> 01:38:23.520
years old, disappeared nineteen seventy two. Keep going, she tells
1242
01:38:23.560 --> 01:38:29.079
the team. The second site yields two more skeletons, adult male,
1243
01:38:30.119 --> 01:38:38.239
adult female, one smaller skeleton child male the Brennan family.
1244
01:38:39.279 --> 01:38:45.399
The third site contains a single skeleton, teenage male, Marcus Delroy.
1245
01:38:46.359 --> 01:38:50.560
Tracy's hands shake as she processes what they've found. Eight
1246
01:38:50.600 --> 01:38:59.399
bodies total. The Holloways, Rachel, the Brennans, Marcus, and all
1247
01:38:59.439 --> 01:39:02.079
of them bear at the same site. Rollin Pike used,
1248
01:39:03.079 --> 01:39:07.239
but Pike died claiming he only killed four people, which
1249
01:39:07.279 --> 01:39:10.920
means someone else killed the other four and buried them
1250
01:39:10.920 --> 01:39:15.039
in the same place. Tracy drives back to Ashbury Ridge
1251
01:39:15.039 --> 01:39:18.560
and pulls every piece of evidence related to the new victims.
1252
01:39:19.199 --> 01:39:23.399
Rachel disappeared from a playground. The Brennans vanished from their
1253
01:39:23.439 --> 01:39:27.560
farm overnight. Marcus was last seen getting into a vehicle
1254
01:39:27.600 --> 01:39:35.720
on the highway. No witnesses, no suspects, no leads until now.
1255
01:39:36.720 --> 01:39:41.399
She cross references the dates. Rachel disappeared four years after
1256
01:39:41.439 --> 01:39:47.520
the Holloways, the Brennans thirteen years later, Marcus nineteen years later.
1257
01:39:48.640 --> 01:39:52.640
Someone was using Pike's burial site for decades, and that
1258
01:39:52.800 --> 01:39:56.880
someone had access to county land. Tracy pulls up Carl
1259
01:39:56.960 --> 01:40:01.560
Duval's employment records. He started working as a forest ranger
1260
01:40:01.560 --> 01:40:06.319
in nineteen sixty five, three years before the Holloways disappeared.
1261
01:40:07.279 --> 01:40:11.600
He retired in nineteen ninety eight, nine years after Marcus
1262
01:40:11.600 --> 01:40:17.239
Delroy vanished. The timeline fits. Tracy requests a warrant to
1263
01:40:17.279 --> 01:40:22.399
search Duval's property. A judge signs it within hours. The
1264
01:40:22.439 --> 01:40:26.199
next morning, Tracy arrives at Duval's house with six deputies
1265
01:40:26.239 --> 01:40:30.520
and a forensic team. Duval opens the door, face calm,
1266
01:40:30.800 --> 01:40:34.560
hands in his pockets. I was wondering when you'd come back,
1267
01:40:34.800 --> 01:40:40.680
he says. They search the house, the garage, the truck,
1268
01:40:41.760 --> 01:40:47.239
everything in the basement, they find a storage locker inside
1269
01:40:47.239 --> 01:40:51.960
our blankets, six of them, all with the initials r
1270
01:40:52.079 --> 01:40:56.880
P stitched into the edges. Tracy stares at them. Why
1271
01:40:56.920 --> 01:41:03.560
do you have Roland Pike's blankets? Duval's smiles slow, cold,
1272
01:41:04.560 --> 01:41:09.840
because he gave them to me. Why because we were partners?
1273
01:41:10.359 --> 01:41:16.560
The room goes silent. Partners in what Tracy asks, in
1274
01:41:16.680 --> 01:41:22.239
controlling what we couldn't own? Two killers, one burial ground,
1275
01:41:23.199 --> 01:41:27.600
eight victims. How deep does this go? Let us know
1276
01:41:27.680 --> 01:41:32.199
your theories in the comments, subscribe and turn on notifications.
1277
01:41:32.560 --> 01:41:36.199
You won't want to miss what happens next. Carl Duval
1278
01:41:36.319 --> 01:41:39.479
sits in the interrogation room, hands folded on the table,
1279
01:41:39.720 --> 01:41:44.399
face blank. Tracy sits across from him, recorder running. Two
1280
01:41:44.520 --> 01:41:48.720
detectives flanking the door. She slides the evidence photo of
1281
01:41:48.760 --> 01:41:52.640
the blankets across the table. You said, Roland Pike gave
1282
01:41:52.680 --> 01:41:58.079
these to you. Why? Because he needed help, help with
1283
01:41:58.119 --> 01:42:04.960
what burying the Tracy leans forward. You helped him dispose
1284
01:42:05.000 --> 01:42:10.079
of the bodies. I helped him carry them, dig the graves,
1285
01:42:10.680 --> 01:42:15.319
cover them. Pike couldn't do it alone, not with his leg.
1286
01:42:16.399 --> 01:42:20.039
So you were an accessory to murder. Duval shakes his
1287
01:42:20.119 --> 01:42:24.680
head slowly. I was more than that. What does that mean.
1288
01:42:25.640 --> 01:42:30.000
It means Pike didn't kill them alone. Tracy's pulse kicks up.
1289
01:42:30.960 --> 01:42:34.760
You're saying you participated in the murders. I'm saying I
1290
01:42:34.880 --> 01:42:42.279
was there. I watched, I learned, learned what Duval's eyes glint,
1291
01:42:43.319 --> 01:42:48.560
how easy it was. The detectives shift behind Tracy. She
1292
01:42:48.720 --> 01:42:53.600
keeps her voice steady. Did you kill Rachel Winters, Yes,
1293
01:42:54.720 --> 01:43:03.520
the Brennan family, yes, Marcus Delroy yes. Tracy sits back processing.
1294
01:43:04.560 --> 01:43:08.840
Why because Pike showed me that people disappear all the time,
1295
01:43:09.840 --> 01:43:12.600
that if you're careful, if you choose the right victims,
1296
01:43:12.800 --> 01:43:17.399
no one looks hard enough, no one cares enough. Pike
1297
01:43:17.479 --> 01:43:21.960
didn't know about your victims. No, he thought he was
1298
01:43:22.000 --> 01:43:25.319
the only one using the quarry. But I'd been watching
1299
01:43:25.439 --> 01:43:30.399
him since sixty eight, saw him bury. The Holloways helped
1300
01:43:30.439 --> 01:43:37.479
him finish, and I realized he'd given me the perfect place, hidden, forgotten,
1301
01:43:38.479 --> 01:43:42.560
already contaminated. So you used his burial site for your
1302
01:43:42.600 --> 01:43:48.279
own murders? Yes? How did Pike not know? Because I
1303
01:43:48.399 --> 01:43:53.720
was careful. I waited years between victims, buried them deeper,
1304
01:43:54.760 --> 01:43:58.319
made sure there were no tracks. Pike stopped going to
1305
01:43:58.319 --> 01:44:04.520
the quarry after the Holloways, guilt maybe or fear, but
1306
01:44:04.640 --> 01:44:09.840
I kept going. It became mine. Tracy clenches her fists
1307
01:44:09.880 --> 01:44:15.439
under the table. Why those victims? Rachel was ten years old.
1308
01:44:16.119 --> 01:44:21.840
She was convenient walking home alone from school, easy to approach,
1309
01:44:22.920 --> 01:44:30.880
easy to control. The Brennans they had land I wanted, remote, valuable.
1310
01:44:31.880 --> 01:44:37.159
They refused to sell. Tracy's stomach turns. So you killed
1311
01:44:37.199 --> 01:44:43.000
them for property, just like Pike. Pike killed for pride.
1312
01:44:43.199 --> 01:44:47.439
I killed for prophet and sometimes just because I could.
1313
01:44:48.399 --> 01:44:53.720
And Marcus Delroy Duval's smile widens. He saw me at
1314
01:44:53.720 --> 01:44:57.880
the quarry hitch hiking on twelve, saw my truck turning
1315
01:44:57.880 --> 01:45:01.720
on to the access road, flagged me down, asked if
1316
01:45:01.760 --> 01:45:05.680
he could catch a ride, started asking questions about where
1317
01:45:05.680 --> 01:45:09.760
the road led. I couldn't let him leave. So you
1318
01:45:09.880 --> 01:45:13.880
murdered a teenage boy because he was curious. I murdered
1319
01:45:13.920 --> 01:45:18.039
him because he was a threat. Tracy stands abruptly, chair
1320
01:45:18.119 --> 01:45:21.680
scraping against the floor. She walks to the corner of
1321
01:45:21.720 --> 01:45:24.960
the room, takes a breath, forces herself to stay calm.
1322
01:45:26.000 --> 01:45:30.960
Why are you confessing now? Because Pike's dead, the quarry's
1323
01:45:30.960 --> 01:45:36.359
been excavated. There's no point in hiding any more, and honestly,
1324
01:45:37.399 --> 01:45:41.640
Duval leans back, relaxed. I'm proud of what I did.
1325
01:45:42.680 --> 01:45:47.960
Fifty years and no one suspected me. Not once you
1326
01:45:48.079 --> 01:45:54.600
murdered eight people. I removed obstacles, just like Pike, just
1327
01:45:54.760 --> 01:45:58.840
like anyone who wants to succeed. Tracy turns to face him.
1328
01:46:00.079 --> 01:46:04.760
Not successful. You're a murderer and you'll spend the rest
1329
01:46:04.760 --> 01:46:09.760
of your life in prison. Duval shrugs. I'm seventy nine
1330
01:46:09.840 --> 01:46:13.159
years old. How long do you think I have left.
1331
01:46:13.920 --> 01:46:18.199
The confession is logged. Duval is formally charged with four
1332
01:46:18.319 --> 01:46:22.600
counts of first degree murder additional charges for accessory to
1333
01:46:22.720 --> 01:46:26.239
murder in the Holloway case. He waives his right to
1334
01:46:26.319 --> 01:46:30.479
trial and pleads guilty to everything. The families of Rachel
1335
01:46:30.520 --> 01:46:35.479
Winters the Brennans and Marcus Delroy are notified. Some of
1336
01:46:35.520 --> 01:46:39.239
them are still alive, some are too old to process
1337
01:46:39.279 --> 01:46:42.600
the news, but all of them have the same reaction,
1338
01:46:43.720 --> 01:46:49.119
relief and rage. Tracy meets with Rachel's mother, now in
1339
01:46:49.159 --> 01:46:53.199
her eighties living in a Madison care facility. The woman
1340
01:46:53.319 --> 01:46:57.479
cries when Tracy tells her they found Rachel's remains. I
1341
01:46:57.520 --> 01:47:01.760
always thought she'd run away, the mother whispers, thought maybe
1342
01:47:01.800 --> 01:47:05.439
she started a new life somewhere. I wanted to believe that.
1343
01:47:06.560 --> 01:47:13.319
I'm sorry, Tracy says, Is he sorry? No? The woman nods,
1344
01:47:13.600 --> 01:47:18.800
wiping her eyes. Then I hope he suffers. The Brennan's daughter,
1345
01:47:19.079 --> 01:47:23.239
now fifty years old, listens to Tracy's explanation in stunned silence.
1346
01:47:24.319 --> 01:47:27.520
She was sixteen when her parents and younger brother disappeared.
1347
01:47:28.520 --> 01:47:32.800
She spent decades believing they'd abandoned her. They didn't leave you,
1348
01:47:33.039 --> 01:47:38.920
Tracy says, gently, they were taken. The daughter breaks down.
1349
01:47:39.239 --> 01:47:42.359
I thought they didn't love me. I thought I did
1350
01:47:42.399 --> 01:47:46.920
something wrong. You didn't. None of this was your fault.
1351
01:47:47.960 --> 01:47:52.680
Marcus Delroy's sister reacts differently. She's in her sixties now
1352
01:47:52.880 --> 01:47:56.439
living in Illinois. When Tracy calls to tell her they
1353
01:47:56.520 --> 01:48:01.119
found Marcus. The sister's voice goes cold. Took you long enough,
1354
01:48:01.319 --> 01:48:05.560
she says, we didn't know where to look. You didn't
1355
01:48:05.560 --> 01:48:12.199
look hard enough. Tracy doesn't argue she can't. Duval's sentencing
1356
01:48:12.279 --> 01:48:18.199
is swift, for consecutive life terms, same as Pike, no parole,
1357
01:48:19.279 --> 01:48:23.880
no appeals. He stands before the judge, shows no remorse,
1358
01:48:24.079 --> 01:48:27.720
offers no apologies. Do you have anything to say to
1359
01:48:27.760 --> 01:48:32.079
the families, the judge asks. Duval looks at the gallery,
1360
01:48:33.039 --> 01:48:38.279
at Rachel's mother, at the Brennan's daughter, at Marcus's sister.
1361
01:48:39.319 --> 01:48:42.600
I did what I wanted, he says, and I'd do
1362
01:48:42.680 --> 01:48:47.560
it again. The judge's face hardens. You are a danger
1363
01:48:47.600 --> 01:48:52.760
to humanity. You will be removed from society permanently. Take
1364
01:48:52.840 --> 01:48:57.159
him away. As deputies lead Duval out, he glances back
1365
01:48:57.199 --> 01:49:02.880
at Tracy and smiles. The case closes officially in late May.
1366
01:49:03.840 --> 01:49:08.039
All eight victims are identified, All remains are released to
1367
01:49:08.079 --> 01:49:15.479
their families. Funerals are held across Wisconsin, some together, some separate.
1368
01:49:16.479 --> 01:49:20.359
Lorrain attends the Holloway burial in Ashbury Ridge, surrounded by
1369
01:49:20.359 --> 01:49:24.319
family she hasn't seen in years. The four caskets are
1370
01:49:24.359 --> 01:49:27.199
lowered into the ground, side by side. At first Baptist
1371
01:49:27.239 --> 01:49:32.119
Cemetery Pastor Green, now in his nineties, leads the service.
1372
01:49:33.159 --> 01:49:38.600
They're finally home, Lorraine says, voice shaking, after all this time,
1373
01:49:38.800 --> 01:49:43.479
their home. Margaret Pritchett stands near by, tears streaming down
1374
01:49:43.520 --> 01:49:47.760
her face. She's ninety one now, frail and bent, but
1375
01:49:47.880 --> 01:49:52.000
she insisted on coming. I should have known, she whispers
1376
01:49:52.039 --> 01:49:56.720
to Tracy. I lived across the street. I should have known.
1377
01:49:57.800 --> 01:50:01.479
You couldn't have known, Tracy says, but I should have
1378
01:50:01.520 --> 01:50:06.760
tried harder. Rachel Winters is buried in Madison, the Brennan
1379
01:50:06.800 --> 01:50:11.279
family in their hometown of Black River Falls, Marcus Delroy
1380
01:50:11.319 --> 01:50:17.119
in Chicago, where his sister lives. Each funeral is small, quiet,
1381
01:50:18.119 --> 01:50:22.600
attended by people who never stopped wondering, and finally they
1382
01:50:22.600 --> 01:50:26.880
have answers. Tracy writes her final report in early June.
1383
01:50:27.920 --> 01:50:33.319
She details the investigation, the discoveries, the confessions. She notes
1384
01:50:33.359 --> 01:50:37.359
the failures, the mist tips, the overlooked evidence, the years
1385
01:50:37.399 --> 01:50:41.199
of silence. She ends the report with a single line,
1386
01:50:41.520 --> 01:50:45.199
justice delayed is still justice, but it should never take
1387
01:50:45.319 --> 01:50:49.520
fifty one years. Her supervisor calls her into his office
1388
01:50:49.560 --> 01:50:53.560
the day after she submits the report. Good work, Bowen,
1389
01:50:53.840 --> 01:50:57.840
He says, this case was impossible, and you solved it.
1390
01:50:58.840 --> 01:51:03.640
I didn't solve it, Shenise Williams solved it. A clerk
1391
01:51:03.720 --> 01:51:11.479
digitizing old records. You followed through. That's what mattered. Tracy nods,
1392
01:51:11.960 --> 01:51:17.479
but she doesn't feel accomplished. She feels exhausted. That night,
1393
01:51:17.840 --> 01:51:21.159
she drives back to the quarry one last time. The
1394
01:51:21.239 --> 01:51:25.279
sight has been filled in, the ground smoothed over. Wild
1395
01:51:25.359 --> 01:51:28.039
flowers are starting to grow where the graves used to be.
1396
01:51:29.159 --> 01:51:31.840
She stands at the edge, looking out over the trees
1397
01:51:32.199 --> 01:51:35.279
and thinks about the eight people who spent decades buried here,
1398
01:51:36.319 --> 01:51:42.479
forgotten until they weren't. Her phone buzzes a text from
1399
01:51:42.560 --> 01:51:47.439
doctor Chen. Final lab results confirmed, all eight victims match
1400
01:51:47.520 --> 01:51:53.880
the identifications. Case officially closed. Tracy types back, thank you.
1401
01:51:55.000 --> 01:51:57.560
She pockets her phone and walks back to her car.
1402
01:51:58.560 --> 01:52:01.600
As she drives away from the cour she doesn't look back.
1403
01:52:02.640 --> 01:52:06.439
Some places should be forgotten, but the people buried there
1404
01:52:06.479 --> 01:52:12.880
never should be. Eight victims, two killers, fifty one years
1405
01:52:12.880 --> 01:52:16.920
of silence finally broken. What other cold cases are out
1406
01:52:16.920 --> 01:52:20.119
there waiting to be solved? Drop your thoughts in the
1407
01:52:20.159 --> 01:52:24.640
comments subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss
1408
01:52:24.680 --> 01:52:29.479
a story. Share this with someone who needs to hear it. Together,
1409
01:52:29.760 --> 01:52:34.439
we keep these voices alive. The headlines run for weeks.
1410
01:52:34.960 --> 01:52:39.359
Two killers, one burial ground. Ashbury Ridge rocked by decades
1411
01:52:39.359 --> 01:52:44.119
of murder. Eight victims finally identified in Wisconsin cold case
1412
01:52:45.239 --> 01:52:48.399
Roland Pike and Carl Duval, the partners in death. No
1413
01:52:48.439 --> 01:52:53.000
one suspected. Ashbury Ridge can't escape the attention this time.
1414
01:52:54.000 --> 01:52:58.640
Reporters set up camp on Main Street. Documentary Crew's interview
1415
01:52:58.680 --> 01:53:03.479
residents true crime podcasts dissect every detail of the case.
1416
01:53:04.560 --> 01:53:07.039
The town that wanted to forget is forced to remember.
1417
01:53:08.079 --> 01:53:10.920
Margaret Pritchett gives an interview from her living room, the
1418
01:53:10.960 --> 01:53:13.800
same window behind her where she first noticed the Holloway
1419
01:53:13.840 --> 01:53:17.720
porch light still burning fifty one years ago. I lived
1420
01:53:17.760 --> 01:53:21.199
here my whole life, she says to the camera. I
1421
01:53:21.279 --> 01:53:24.640
thought I knew this place, thought I knew the people.
1422
01:53:25.640 --> 01:53:29.239
But evil doesn't always look like evil. It looks like
1423
01:53:29.279 --> 01:53:33.960
your neighbor, your co worker, the man who brings coffee
1424
01:53:34.000 --> 01:53:38.319
to search parties. The interviewer asks if she feels safe now.
1425
01:53:39.359 --> 01:53:45.479
Margaret pauses safe, No, but maybe we were never as
1426
01:53:45.520 --> 01:53:49.479
safe as we thought. Lewis Tate, now ninety three and
1427
01:53:49.600 --> 01:53:53.840
living with his grandson, refuses to speak to reporters, but
1428
01:53:53.960 --> 01:53:56.760
his grandson tells them Lewis hasn't been the same since
1429
01:53:56.760 --> 01:54:00.800
hearing about the excavation. He keeps saying he should have known.
1430
01:54:01.039 --> 01:54:06.439
The grandson explains he worked with Pike for years, feels
1431
01:54:06.479 --> 01:54:10.079
like he missed something. Pastor Green speaks at a town
1432
01:54:10.159 --> 01:54:14.720
hall meeting organized by the mayor. Over two hundred residents attend,
1433
01:54:14.960 --> 01:54:18.840
filling the high school gymnasium. This town has been living
1434
01:54:18.880 --> 01:54:23.159
with ghosts for fifty years, Green says, voice trembling but steady.
1435
01:54:24.079 --> 01:54:32.960
The holloways Rachel, The Brennans Marcus. They deserved better, They
1436
01:54:33.000 --> 01:54:37.600
deserved truth, and now they have it. But we must
1437
01:54:37.640 --> 01:54:41.960
ask ourselves, what did we miss? What signs did we ignore?
1438
01:54:42.920 --> 01:54:46.079
How do we make sure this never happens again? The
1439
01:54:46.159 --> 01:54:52.359
crowd sits in silence. Then Lorraine's daughter stands. She's sixty now,
1440
01:54:52.680 --> 01:54:56.600
drove in from Madison specifically for this meeting. My mother
1441
01:54:56.680 --> 01:54:59.960
spent fifty years believing her sister abandoned her, she said,
1442
01:55:00.000 --> 01:55:04.600
a voice breaking, fifty years of guilt and grief and wondering.
1443
01:55:05.600 --> 01:55:10.119
Pike and Duval didn't just kill eight people. They killed hope,
1444
01:55:10.720 --> 01:55:16.439
they killed trust, they poisoned this entire town. Applause ripples
1445
01:55:16.439 --> 01:55:22.720
through the gymnasium, slow at first, then louder. We can't
1446
01:55:22.800 --> 01:55:27.199
change the past, Lorraine's daughter continues, But we can honor
1447
01:55:27.239 --> 01:55:32.159
the victims by remembering them, by saying their names, by
1448
01:55:32.199 --> 01:55:36.000
refusing to let their stories be buried again. The mayor
1449
01:55:36.079 --> 01:55:40.239
steps forward and announces plans for a memorial, a small
1450
01:55:40.279 --> 01:55:44.079
park near the center of town dedicated to the eight victims,
1451
01:55:44.640 --> 01:55:50.960
plaques with their names, benches, trees, a place to remember.
1452
01:55:52.000 --> 01:55:55.800
We failed them in life, the mayor says, we won't
1453
01:55:55.800 --> 01:55:59.920
fail them in death. Construction on the memorial begins in July.
1454
01:56:01.119 --> 01:56:04.920
The town comes together to fund it. Donations pour in
1455
01:56:04.960 --> 01:56:08.680
from residence, former residence, and people across the country who
1456
01:56:08.720 --> 01:56:14.079
followed the case. By September, the memorial is complete, eight
1457
01:56:14.119 --> 01:56:18.319
granite plaques, each one engraved with a name, a date,
1458
01:56:18.520 --> 01:56:23.920
and a simple message Taken too soon, never forgotten. The
1459
01:56:23.960 --> 01:56:29.239
dedication ceremony is held on a cool Saturday morning. Hundreds attend.
1460
01:56:29.920 --> 01:56:33.840
Lorraine is there in a wheelchair, now oxygen tube in place,
1461
01:56:34.199 --> 01:56:38.840
but determined to see it through. Rachel's mother attends, supported
1462
01:56:38.840 --> 01:56:43.359
by her grandchildren. The Brennan's daughter stands quietly beside the
1463
01:56:43.359 --> 01:56:48.039
plaque bearing her family's names. Marcus Delroy's sister flies in
1464
01:56:48.079 --> 01:56:53.720
from Chicago. Pastor Green leads the prayer. Tracy Bowen stands
1465
01:56:53.760 --> 01:56:58.159
near the back, watching. These eight souls were stolen from us.
1466
01:56:58.319 --> 01:57:03.880
Green says, but today we reclaim them. We say their names,
1467
01:57:04.920 --> 01:57:08.760
we honor their lives, and we vow to never forget.
1468
01:57:09.720 --> 01:57:13.239
One by one, family members step forward and place flowers
1469
01:57:13.239 --> 01:57:17.159
at the base of each plaque. Lorraine's daughter places white
1470
01:57:17.239 --> 01:57:23.000
roses for the Holloways. Rachel's mother places pink carnations, the
1471
01:57:23.079 --> 01:57:28.520
Brennan's daughter places yellow daisies. Marcus's sister places red tulips.
1472
01:57:29.479 --> 01:57:33.640
When the ceremony ends, people linger. They walk through the
1473
01:57:33.680 --> 01:57:37.960
small park, reading the plaques, touching the stones, crying quietly.
1474
01:57:39.079 --> 01:57:42.279
Margaret Pritchett stands in front of the Holloway plaque, leaning
1475
01:57:42.319 --> 01:57:47.560
on her cane. I'm sorry, she whispers, I'm so sorry
1476
01:57:47.600 --> 01:57:52.399
I didn't do more. Tracy approaches her gently. You did
1477
01:57:52.439 --> 01:57:57.720
everything you could. It wasn't enough. It never feels like enough.
1478
01:57:58.720 --> 01:58:02.439
But you saw something was wrong. You called the sheriff.
1479
01:58:03.439 --> 01:58:07.359
You started the search. Without you, we might never have
1480
01:58:07.439 --> 01:58:11.840
found them. Margaret looks at her eyes wet. Do you
1481
01:58:11.880 --> 01:58:17.399
really believe that I do? Margaret nods slowly, then turns
1482
01:58:17.439 --> 01:58:21.079
back to the plaque. She reaches out and touches Nora's
1483
01:58:21.159 --> 01:58:24.840
name with trembling fingers. She would have been fifty nine
1484
01:58:24.880 --> 01:58:28.720
this year, Margaret says, had a whole life ahead of her.
1485
01:58:29.760 --> 01:58:34.119
I know Pike and Duval took that from her, from
1486
01:58:34.159 --> 01:58:38.560
all of them, yes, but they didn't take their memory.
1487
01:58:39.560 --> 01:58:44.520
That's still here because of people like you. Margaret wipes
1488
01:58:44.520 --> 01:58:48.479
her eyes and walks away slowly. Tracy watches her go,
1489
01:58:48.920 --> 01:58:54.119
then turns to the plaques herself. Eight names, eight lives,
1490
01:58:55.119 --> 01:59:01.439
eight families destroyed, but also eight stories finally told. That evening,
1491
01:59:01.760 --> 01:59:05.359
Tracy drives out to the quarry one last time. The
1492
01:59:05.439 --> 01:59:09.800
sight is empty now, the excavation completely filled in. The
1493
01:59:09.920 --> 01:59:14.920
county has posted signs marking it as protected land, no trespassing,
1494
01:59:15.960 --> 01:59:20.079
no entry. The quarry will never be used for anything again.
1495
01:59:21.079 --> 01:59:24.000
Tracy stands at the edge, looking out over the trees.
1496
01:59:25.119 --> 01:59:28.920
The sun is setting, casting long shadows across the forest floor.
1497
01:59:29.960 --> 01:59:34.680
We found you, she says, quietly. All of you and
1498
01:59:34.760 --> 01:59:38.960
the men who did this are gone. It's over. The
1499
01:59:39.000 --> 01:59:43.560
wind picks up, rustling the leaves. Tracy turns and walks
1500
01:59:43.560 --> 01:59:47.199
back to her car. As she drives away, she thinks
1501
01:59:47.239 --> 01:59:49.920
about what Lorraine's daughter said at the town hall meeting.
1502
01:59:50.880 --> 01:59:55.000
Pike and Duval didn't just kill eight people. They killed hope,
1503
01:59:56.000 --> 02:00:00.119
They killed trust. But maybe in finding the victims and
1504
02:00:00.159 --> 02:00:02.920
bringing the killers to justice, some of that hope and
1505
02:00:02.960 --> 02:00:07.520
trust can be rebuilt. It won't be easy, it won't
1506
02:00:07.520 --> 02:00:13.680
be quick, but it's possible, and sometimes that's enough. The
1507
02:00:13.760 --> 02:00:18.239
case officially closes in October. Tracy is reassigned to a
1508
02:00:18.279 --> 02:00:23.760
new investigation, but she keeps copies of the files, photos
1509
02:00:23.800 --> 02:00:29.239
of the victims, the memorial dedication program reminders that the
1510
02:00:29.279 --> 02:00:34.000
work matters, even when it takes decades to finish. One afternoon,
1511
02:00:34.319 --> 02:00:37.079
she gets a call from Shenie Williams, the clerk who
1512
02:00:37.119 --> 02:00:41.079
started it all. I just wanted to thank you, Shenie says,
1513
02:00:42.119 --> 02:00:46.119
for following through. I almost didn't report that land deed,
1514
02:00:47.159 --> 02:00:50.800
almost thought it wasn't important, but you did report it,
1515
02:00:51.760 --> 02:00:55.560
and because of that, eight families have answers. Do you
1516
02:00:55.600 --> 02:00:59.199
think there are more cases like this? More people waiting
1517
02:00:59.239 --> 02:01:06.159
to be found. Tracy pauses, yes, I do. Then we
1518
02:01:06.279 --> 02:01:13.119
keep looking. Yes, we keep looking. They hang up. Tracy
1519
02:01:13.199 --> 02:01:16.159
stares out her office window, thinking about all the cold
1520
02:01:16.279 --> 02:01:20.520
cases filed away in basements and storage rooms, all the
1521
02:01:20.560 --> 02:01:26.000
families still waiting, still hoping. The work is never finished,
1522
02:01:26.920 --> 02:01:31.119
but every case solved, every victim found, every truth uncovered.
1523
02:01:31.399 --> 02:01:34.880
It matters, and Tracy will keep doing it as long
1524
02:01:34.920 --> 02:01:39.560
as she can because justice may be delayed, but it's
1525
02:01:39.640 --> 02:01:46.239
never too late. Eight lives lost, eight stories told justice
1526
02:01:46.319 --> 02:01:50.640
after fifty one years. This is why we never stop searching.
1527
02:01:51.640 --> 02:01:55.359
Drop a comment. If this story moved you subscribe and
1528
02:01:55.399 --> 02:01:59.600
turn on notifications so you never miss another case. Share
1529
02:01:59.640 --> 02:02:02.399
this vis with someone who believes in the power of truth.
1530
02:02:03.399 --> 02:02:07.319
Together we make sure no one is forgotten. The first
1531
02:02:07.359 --> 02:02:12.039
snow falls on Ashbury Ridge in late November. It comes quietly,
1532
02:02:12.359 --> 02:02:16.199
dusting the Memorial Park in white, covering the plaques, the benches,
1533
02:02:16.520 --> 02:02:18.920
the trees planted in honor of eight people who should
1534
02:02:18.960 --> 02:02:24.640
still be alive. Lorraine passes away three weeks later, peacefully
1535
02:02:24.880 --> 02:02:29.000
in her sleep, her daughter beside her. She's buried next
1536
02:02:29.039 --> 02:02:32.880
to Mirabelle in First Baptist Cemetery. The two sisters reunited
1537
02:02:32.920 --> 02:02:37.479
at last. At the funeral, Lorraine's daughter tells Tracy something
1538
02:02:37.520 --> 02:02:40.920
her mother said in her final days. She said she
1539
02:02:40.960 --> 02:02:44.760
could finally rest, that she'd kept her promise to never
1540
02:02:44.840 --> 02:02:48.920
stop looking, and now Marabelle was found, she said it
1541
02:02:49.000 --> 02:02:53.239
was okay to let go. Tracy attends the service, standing
1542
02:02:53.279 --> 02:02:55.960
in the back, watching as the town says goodbye to
1543
02:02:56.000 --> 02:02:59.720
the woman who never gave up. Margaret Pritchett is there, too,
1544
02:03:00.039 --> 02:03:04.359
bundled in layers, Leaning heavily on her cane, She places
1545
02:03:04.399 --> 02:03:07.600
a single white rose on Lorraine's casket before it's lowered
1546
02:03:07.600 --> 02:03:13.520
into the ground. Two sisters. Margaret whispers to Tracy, separated
1547
02:03:13.560 --> 02:03:19.319
by fifty years of grief, but together now. Tracy nods,
1548
02:03:19.800 --> 02:03:24.119
she doesn't trust herself to speak. After the funeral, Tracy
1549
02:03:24.239 --> 02:03:27.960
visits the memorial park. The snow has been cleared from
1550
02:03:27.960 --> 02:03:31.720
the walkways, but it still clings to the plaques. She
1551
02:03:31.840 --> 02:03:36.760
brushes it away gently, revealing the names beneath. Eldon Holloway,
1552
02:03:37.800 --> 02:03:46.439
Marribelle Holloway, Calvin Holloway, Norah Holloway, Rachel Winters, Thomas Brennan,
1553
02:03:47.439 --> 02:03:55.560
Linda Brennan, Samuel Brennan, Marcus Delroy, eight people eight stories,
1554
02:03:56.560 --> 02:04:00.840
eight families forever changed, but also a names that will
1555
02:04:00.840 --> 02:04:04.479
never be forgotten. Tracy sits on one of the benches,
1556
02:04:04.760 --> 02:04:08.520
pulling her coat tighter against the cold. She thinks about
1557
02:04:08.520 --> 02:04:16.520
the investigation, the excavation, the confessions, the trials. She thinks
1558
02:04:16.560 --> 02:04:19.520
about Roland Pike, who lived fifty one years among the
1559
02:04:19.560 --> 02:04:23.000
people he betrayed, pretending to care while knowing exactly where
1560
02:04:23.000 --> 02:04:26.920
the bodies were buried. She thinks about Carl Duval, who
1561
02:04:27.000 --> 02:04:29.199
learned from Pike's crime and turned it into his own
1562
02:04:29.279 --> 02:04:36.479
hunting ground. Two men, eight victims, decades of lies, but
1563
02:04:36.600 --> 02:04:42.720
the truth came out eventually, it always does. Her phone
1564
02:04:42.760 --> 02:04:47.159
buzzes a text from doctor Chen. Just heard about Lorraine.
1565
02:04:48.159 --> 02:04:51.760
Sorry for your loss. She fought hard for her sister.
1566
02:04:52.800 --> 02:04:58.039
Tracy types back, she did and she won, because that's
1567
02:04:58.039 --> 02:05:03.880
what this is. Not in the way anyone wanted, not
1568
02:05:04.000 --> 02:05:06.520
in the way that brings the victims back or erases
1569
02:05:06.600 --> 02:05:10.159
the pain, but in the way that says we saw you,
1570
02:05:11.239 --> 02:05:15.840
we remembered you, we fought for you, and that matters.
1571
02:05:16.880 --> 02:05:19.720
Tracy stands and walks through the park one more time,
1572
02:05:20.000 --> 02:05:27.119
reading each plaque, saying each name aloud. Elden Marabelle Calvin,
1573
02:05:28.159 --> 02:05:40.039
Norah Rachel Thomas, Linda Samuel Marcus. She pauses, You're not forgotten.
1574
02:05:41.039 --> 02:05:44.479
You never will be. As she walks back to her car,
1575
02:05:44.760 --> 02:05:47.479
she notices a group of middle school students entering the
1576
02:05:47.520 --> 02:05:51.159
park with their teacher. They're on a field trip learning
1577
02:05:51.199 --> 02:05:54.239
about the case, learning about the importance of vigilance and
1578
02:05:54.279 --> 02:05:58.199
speaking up when something feels wrong. The teacher gathers the
1579
02:05:58.199 --> 02:06:01.239
students near the plaques and begins explaining what happened here.
1580
02:06:02.279 --> 02:06:06.000
These eight people were taken from their families. The teacher says,
1581
02:06:06.680 --> 02:06:10.319
not because they did anything wrong, but because two men
1582
02:06:10.399 --> 02:06:15.399
chose violence over humanity. This memorial exists so we never forget,
1583
02:06:16.359 --> 02:06:20.479
so we never stop asking questions, so we never ignore
1584
02:06:20.520 --> 02:06:25.079
the signs. One of the students raises her hand. Did
1585
02:06:25.119 --> 02:06:30.279
they ever catch the bad guys? Yes, it took fifty years,
1586
02:06:30.479 --> 02:06:34.039
but they were caught and they'll never hurt anyone again.
1587
02:06:35.039 --> 02:06:38.920
Another student asks why did it take so long? The
1588
02:06:38.960 --> 02:06:43.920
teacher hesitates, then she says, because sometimes people don't want
1589
02:06:43.920 --> 02:06:46.520
to believe that someone they know could do something terrible,
1590
02:06:47.479 --> 02:06:52.039
Because sometimes evidence gets missed, because sometimes the truth is
1591
02:06:52.079 --> 02:06:55.000
buried so deep it takes decades to dig it up.
1592
02:06:55.920 --> 02:07:00.880
But the important thing is it was dug up, served,
1593
02:07:01.479 --> 02:07:04.520
and these eight people finally got the dignity they deserved.
1594
02:07:05.479 --> 02:07:09.199
Tracy watches from a distance, then she gets in her
1595
02:07:09.239 --> 02:07:13.800
car and drives away. The case is closed, but the
1596
02:07:13.920 --> 02:07:18.479
impact will last generations. Children in Ashbury Ridge will grow
1597
02:07:18.560 --> 02:07:22.720
up knowing this story. They'll learn to trust their instincts.
1598
02:07:23.319 --> 02:07:27.680
They'll learn to speak up. They'll learn that silence protects monsters,
1599
02:07:28.680 --> 02:07:32.079
and maybe, just maybe that will prevent the next tragedy.
1600
02:07:33.079 --> 02:07:37.560
That's the hope, anyway. Tracy returns to Madison and buries
1601
02:07:37.600 --> 02:07:45.079
herself in new cases, missing persons, unsolved homicides, cold cases
1602
02:07:45.119 --> 02:07:47.680
that have been sitting for years, waiting for someone to
1603
02:07:47.760 --> 02:07:51.800
care enough to dig deeper. She thinks about Shenie Williams,
1604
02:07:51.960 --> 02:07:54.159
the clerk who found the land deed that broke the
1605
02:07:54.199 --> 02:07:58.840
Holloway case wide open. She thinks about Sheriff Dalton, who
1606
02:07:58.920 --> 02:08:01.880
kept the photos on his way for decades, refusing to
1607
02:08:01.960 --> 02:08:05.920
let the case die. She thinks about Lorraine, who searched
1608
02:08:06.000 --> 02:08:09.319
until her body gave out. She thinks about all the
1609
02:08:09.319 --> 02:08:12.680
people who refuse to forget, and she vows to be
1610
02:08:12.800 --> 02:08:16.560
one of them. Six months later, Tracy gets a call
1611
02:08:16.600 --> 02:08:19.960
from a journalist writing a book about the case. He
1612
02:08:20.039 --> 02:08:22.880
wants to interview her for a chapter on the investigation.
1613
02:08:23.960 --> 02:08:26.359
What do you want people to take away from this story,
1614
02:08:26.600 --> 02:08:31.239
the journalist asks, Tracy thinks for a long time before answering.
1615
02:08:32.239 --> 02:08:35.319
I want them to know that every missing person matters,
1616
02:08:35.920 --> 02:08:41.159
every cold case matters, every family waiting for answers matters.
1617
02:08:41.680 --> 02:08:43.479
And I want them to know that even when it
1618
02:08:43.520 --> 02:08:47.079
takes fifty years, even when it feels impossible, the truth
1619
02:08:47.159 --> 02:08:51.960
can still come out. Justice can still be served, people
1620
02:08:52.000 --> 02:08:55.000
can still be found. Do you think there are other
1621
02:08:55.039 --> 02:09:02.399
burial sites out there? Other Roland Pikes and Carl Duval's. Yes? Absolutely.
1622
02:09:03.399 --> 02:09:08.479
Does that scare you? It motivates me. The journalist finishes
1623
02:09:08.520 --> 02:09:12.039
the interview and thanks her. The book is published eight
1624
02:09:12.079 --> 02:09:17.159
months later. It becomes a best seller. The Ashbury Ridge
1625
02:09:17.159 --> 02:09:22.600
case is featured in documentaries, podcasts, and television specials. The
1626
02:09:22.680 --> 02:09:26.960
story reaches millions of people, and because of that, three
1627
02:09:27.000 --> 02:09:32.199
other cold cases are reopened. Tips come in, evidence is
1628
02:09:32.279 --> 02:09:36.359
re examined, Families who thought they'd never get answers start
1629
02:09:36.359 --> 02:09:39.760
to hope again. One of those cases is solved. Within
1630
02:09:39.800 --> 02:09:43.439
a year. A woman missing since nineteen eighty three, is
1631
02:09:43.520 --> 02:09:47.640
found buried on property owned by a deceased suspect. Her
1632
02:09:47.680 --> 02:09:51.199
family finally gets to bring her home. They credit the
1633
02:09:51.239 --> 02:09:54.119
ashbury Ridge case for inspiring them to push for a
1634
02:09:54.159 --> 02:09:59.680
new investigation. Tracy attends that funeral. Two she stands in
1635
02:09:59.680 --> 02:10:03.279
the back watching another family find closure, and she thinks
1636
02:10:03.319 --> 02:10:07.199
about the ripple effect. One case solve leads to another.
1637
02:10:08.239 --> 02:10:12.720
One truth uncovered leads to more. The work is never finished,
1638
02:10:13.640 --> 02:10:17.399
but it's always worth doing. On the one year anniversary
1639
02:10:17.399 --> 02:10:20.760
of the Holloway discovery, ashbury Ridge holds a vigil at
1640
02:10:20.760 --> 02:10:26.840
the memorial park. Candles are lit, names are read, prayers
1641
02:10:26.880 --> 02:10:32.479
are spoken. Tracy is invited, but declines. This moment belongs
1642
02:10:32.520 --> 02:10:36.720
to the families, to the town, to the people who
1643
02:10:36.760 --> 02:10:39.239
live through the nightmare and came out the other side.
1644
02:10:40.279 --> 02:10:43.000
She watches the news coverage that night from her apartment.
1645
02:10:44.039 --> 02:10:48.119
The camera pans across the memorial, showing the plaques, the flowers,
1646
02:10:48.359 --> 02:10:52.359
the candles flickering in the cold December wind. The reporter
1647
02:10:52.479 --> 02:10:57.000
interviews Lorraine's daughter, who speaks through tears. My mother spent
1648
02:10:57.119 --> 02:11:00.760
fifty years waiting for this moment. She's not here to
1649
02:11:00.800 --> 02:11:04.279
see it, but I know she's at peace. We all are,
1650
02:11:05.359 --> 02:11:10.479
because they're not missing anymore. They're home. The screen cuts
1651
02:11:10.479 --> 02:11:14.159
to Margaret Pritchett, now ninety two, sitting in her living room.
1652
02:11:15.159 --> 02:11:19.039
I think about them every day, Margaret says, I'll think
1653
02:11:19.079 --> 02:11:22.359
about them every day until I die. But now when
1654
02:11:22.359 --> 02:11:24.960
I think about them, I don't just think about the horror.
1655
02:11:26.000 --> 02:11:31.199
I think about the justice, and that helps. The segment ends.
1656
02:11:32.239 --> 02:11:35.159
Tracy turns off the television and sits in the quiet.
1657
02:11:36.119 --> 02:11:41.159
She thinks about the eight victims, about the families, about
1658
02:11:41.199 --> 02:11:45.000
the town, about the way darkness can hide for decades,
1659
02:11:45.239 --> 02:11:48.560
but light always finds a way through, even if it
1660
02:11:48.600 --> 02:11:52.640
takes fifty years. She opens her laptop and pulls up
1661
02:11:52.680 --> 02:11:57.000
the list of unsolved cases in Wisconsin. Hundreds of names,
1662
02:11:58.079 --> 02:12:02.199
hundreds of families still waiting. She picks one at random,
1663
02:12:03.159 --> 02:12:09.279
a woman missing since nineteen seventy six, no leads, no evidence,
1664
02:12:10.399 --> 02:12:15.960
filed away and forgotten. Tracy starts reading. Because someone has
1665
02:12:16.000 --> 02:12:21.119
to remember, someone has to care, someone has to keep digging,
1666
02:12:22.039 --> 02:12:24.520
And as long as there are cases to solve, as
1667
02:12:24.560 --> 02:12:27.800
long as there are families waiting for answers, Tracy Bowen
1668
02:12:27.880 --> 02:12:32.720
will keep working. Because justice may be delayed. But it's
1669
02:12:32.800 --> 02:12:37.439
never ever too late. The snow falls harder, now, blanketing
1670
02:12:37.479 --> 02:12:42.119
Ashbury Ridge in white. The memorial park sits quiet, empty
1671
02:12:42.159 --> 02:12:44.640
except for the plaques and the candles left behind from
1672
02:12:44.680 --> 02:12:49.880
the vigil. Eight names carved in stone, eight lives remembered,
1673
02:12:50.840 --> 02:12:54.720
eight stories that will never be buried again. And somewhere
1674
02:12:54.720 --> 02:12:57.399
in the darkness, someone lights a candle for the next
1675
02:12:57.479 --> 02:13:02.600
missing person, the next cold case, the next truth waiting
1676
02:13:02.640 --> 02:13:06.760
to be uncovered. Because this story isn't just about the past.
1677
02:13:07.800 --> 02:13:11.800
It's about the future. It's about every person still missing,
1678
02:13:12.760 --> 02:13:18.399
every family still waiting, every case still unsolved. It's about
1679
02:13:18.439 --> 02:13:23.439
refusing to give up, refusing to forget, refusing to let
1680
02:13:23.560 --> 02:13:28.600
evil win. And that's a fight worth having every single time.
1681
02:13:29.560 --> 02:13:33.600
But there's one more thing, one final detail that Tracy
1682
02:13:33.680 --> 02:13:38.199
discovered in the last excavation report, something doctor Chen mentioned
1683
02:13:38.239 --> 02:13:42.079
in passing but never followed up on. The second blanket,
1684
02:13:42.319 --> 02:13:45.439
the one with RP stitched into it that was buried separately,
1685
02:13:45.840 --> 02:13:49.399
was folded differently than the one wrapped around Nora, and
1686
02:13:49.520 --> 02:13:52.680
beneath it, deeper in the ground, they found something else,
1687
02:13:53.760 --> 02:14:00.600
a small photograph protected in plastic two deteriorated to identify clearly,
1688
02:14:00.880 --> 02:14:04.279
but the lab is still working on it. A photograph
1689
02:14:04.359 --> 02:14:08.159
of a child, a child no one has identified yet,
1690
02:14:09.039 --> 02:14:13.399
which raises one final question, one that keeps Tracy awake
1691
02:14:13.479 --> 02:14:17.600
at night, one that she can't answer yet. Were the
1692
02:14:17.680 --> 02:14:21.079
eight victims really all there were? Or is there still
1693
02:14:21.159 --> 02:14:25.199
someone out there waiting to be found? Eight victims found,
1694
02:14:26.159 --> 02:14:32.600
eight families given closure, but one photograph remains unidentified, one
1695
02:14:32.640 --> 02:14:36.359
more child who might still be missing, One more story
1696
02:14:36.439 --> 02:14:39.920
waiting to be told. This is why we keep searching,
1697
02:14:40.920 --> 02:14:44.920
Why we keep sharing these stories, why we never stop
1698
02:14:44.960 --> 02:14:49.680
asking questions. If this case moved you, inspired you, or
1699
02:14:49.720 --> 02:14:52.319
made you think differently about the missing and the forgotten,
1700
02:14:52.600 --> 02:14:57.079
leave a comment, share your thoughts, tell us where you're
1701
02:14:57.119 --> 02:15:01.439
watching from, Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never
1702
02:15:01.479 --> 02:15:07.640
miss another story. Because every case matters, every person matters,
1703
02:15:08.239 --> 02:15:12.520
Every truth waiting to be uncovered matters. Share this video
1704
02:15:12.600 --> 02:15:17.119
with someone who needs to hear it, someone who believes injustice,
1705
02:15:17.720 --> 02:15:24.039
someone who refuses to forget together. We keep these voices alive. Together,
1706
02:15:24.359 --> 02:15:27.640
we make sure no one is left behind. Thank you
1707
02:15:27.680 --> 02:15:32.000
for watching, Thank you for caring, Thank you for being
1708
02:15:32.039 --> 02:15:36.600
part of the search for truth. Until next time, stay vigilant,
1709
02:15:37.640 --> 02:15:43.399
stay compassionate, and never stop asking questions because the next
1710
02:15:43.439 --> 02:15:45.520
case could be the one that changes everything.