Ashley Flowers

In fact, she didn't come on our radar even until very late into investigating Nick's case.

Now, the first thing you need to know is that the reason we hadn't heard about Laura's undetermined death, why almost no one outside of her small circle has, is because people seem to be afraid to talk about it.

More specifically, people seem to be afraid of Dave and what might happen if they spoke up.

And I think that's why this story has never been covered in any news source that we could find.

But we know from our reporting that Laura Sweetman's family still wants answers.

Her friends want answers.

Her colleagues and former patients even want answers.

Because for them and us, something isn't adding up.

And what I can tell you after deep diving into this case is that it doesn't all point to Dave.

This is the story of Laura Sweetman.

So let's start with the elephant in the room, Dave Sweetman.

When we first started poking around trying to ask questions about Laura's case, we were surprised by how many people were afraid to talk to us.

They were afraid of Dave because the prevailing theory among those who knew Laura seemed to be that somehow, some way, Dave was involved in her death.

They didn't have proof, of course, or they would have gone to police with that.

But what they had were decades of stories about a man who scared them and who was scaring Laura right before her death.

So to understand that fear and before I ever get into how Laura died, I need to take you all the way back to the 1980s when Dave and Laura first started dating as teenagers at Fallbrook Union High School in California.

As a junior in high school, Laura was a future homemaker of America and part of the swim team and the yearbook club.

And Dave was a varsity football player in the grade above her.

This is like a real all-American California dream kind of couple.

Now, after graduating, Laura went on to get her master's in biochemistry.