Andrea Gunning

One summer, about 15 years into their marriage, the family was on one of their regular road trips.

And on this trip, their rental home was in a remote area.

He was just gone.

It was the early 2000s, so she didn't have a smartphone to look at his location.

She started to worry that something terrible happened.

Around 3 a.m., the phone rang.

It was Chad.

He blew it over.

Whenever they got in a disagreement, this is what he'd tell her.

abandoning the family in a rental house in the middle of the night with no good explanation, it just didn't sit right with her.

So Danielle called her mom.

She was like, oh, wow, yeah, that is really weird.

I'm glad you're okay.

You know, I'm glad it all worked out, but that is really weird.

Danielle was the full-time caretaker for six children under 15.

She didn't have the energy to fight with her husband.

Plus, whenever she did question him, it always ended up coming back on her.

When Danielle woke up on a family vacation to find her husband missing, he said he was picking up something for work at a Walmart in the middle of the night.

She didn't quite buy the story, but she knew Chad was busier than ever, growing his financial advising firm.

Around the same time, he decided to start making passive income by buying rental properties in town.