Ashley Flowers

They do exactly as they're told.

They publish their reply in the Houston Chronicle, basically like, we hear you.

We want to play ball.

Tell us what to do next kind of thing.

Yeah.

They keep all of this on the down low.

Like, the public doesn't know a thing about this letter at the time.

So, like, even when they publish their reply, the public, like, doesn't even know what they're looking for or to look for it.

But when they publish this, it's just radio silence.

They never hear from that letter writer again.

They even try having the envelope processed to, like, see if there's DNA or fingerprints, whatever.

That's a dead end, too.

And the case is more than 10 years cold by this point.

And once again, like, after this letter, when this leads nowhere, like, they're out of leads.

Right.

Now, I haven't touched on this yet, but Detective Belk, remember, he has been on this case from like day one.

Over the years, he builds a super solid relationship with Cheryl's family.

And what are solid relationships based on?

Trust.

How do you earn trust?