Frank Merritt

There was just more and more twists and turns.

So just none of it made sense at all that Michael had sent a text message to his boss just up and quitting. He was known to be a very dependable worker and a diligent worker that didn't add up at all.

These text messages were completely out of character for Michael. I think that the family really noticed that very quickly.

This has got to be the strangest case in my career.

There was just more and more twists and turns.

This has got to be the strangest case in my career that I've ever seen. It was as though this guy had literally just vanished.

Laurie really didn't seem very apprehensive or nervous or surprised.

She welcomed them onto the property. She appeared to be very cooperative. She appeared as though she had nothing to hide. Obviously, they noticed it was a beautiful, sprawling five-acre piece of property, and they were able to walk the outside of the property and look around.

And that's when her cooperation ended suddenly.

So detectives got the report from the deputies, and they began to plan their next steps and how they were going to move forward to get back out to the property and do a more thorough search.

They learned that his driver's license was expired. There was not a new driver's license issued in any other state. His pilot's license was expired. There was literally no trace of Michael, no matter what they tried, no matter where they looked.

Based upon all of these bizarre circumstances, we knew something had happened to Michael.

We began digging up that yard. We dug a very significant area. We realized that there was nothing to be found there. The fire pit was our next point of interest. Once they started digging, we heard some yelling.

I could tell something had been discovered.

The decision was made to bust up that concrete and dig down below that fire pit to see what we could find.

Once they started digging, we heard some yelling. We knew we were onto something.

And I can tell you that we have found what appears to be a bone that is consistent with that of a human upper arm bone.

I mean, that's just not something that we deal with and see every day. The media attention just grew.

She pretended to be Michael in order to out Jeremy to his wife. And she tried to do that through Facebook messages from Michael's Facebook account. And when she didn't get a response from Jeremy's wife, Vanessa, she sent a bouquet of flowers to Vanessa with a card.

Michael's family up north had heard from his Facebook account.

Laurie was using his cell phone and his Facebook account to present this facade that Michael was still alive.