Linda Zapata

But as painful as it might be, Linda was now determined to help the detectives find out whether that was true or not.

I knew the deciding factor was could I sleep at night the rest of my life knowing I didn't somehow help my mom.

But helping the police would put Linda in an almost impossible position.

In April 2005, word got back to her father, Eugene, that the case had been reopened.

He was living with his second wife in Nevada, but he showed up suddenly and unexpectedly in Madison.

And Linda immediately called Detective Statz.

What do you think he was doing here?

Why did he pop up here all of a sudden?

I was concerned that he was somehow tampering with evidence.

What kind of evidence?

Her remains?

Zapata managed to avoid her and flew back to Nevada.

Two months later, she paid a surprise visit to his house.

But it was clear that Eugene was not going to admit to anything.

Detective Stats returned home without Eugene's confession, but not without hope.

She had begun reconstructing his movements during that April visit to Wisconsin by pulling his cell phone and financial records.

And that's how she found out he had rented this storage locker just outside Madison.

She also discovered he had visited a landfill about 80 miles from here, but not before he had gone on a shopping trip to Walmart.

I call the Walmart and I get faxed the receipt.

And at that point, it became so very clear to me what he was actually doing.