M. William Phelps

Eventually, they figured out that the driver had, in fact, been paid.

But he had lied to his employers when he said they had burned him, effectively pocketing the money.

A real scumbag move.

Sometimes the most basic, unimportant revelations break murder cases wide open.

A serial killer I once investigated had fudged one entry out of 300 on a mileage log he kept.

He was a traveling salesman.

That one entry wound up placing him at the location where a body had been found, which led detectives to finding his DNA on the victim.

So no detail is too small or insignificant this early in an investigation.

Just keep following the breadcrumbs.

Once the tow truck driver admitted he'd stiffed the company he worked for, investigators realized he was more of a thief and liar than a killer.

But he did remember that night and provided details about the timeline.

The photographic evidence from the ATM ended up being crucial.

One young guy, a disheveled-looking, hippie-like dude with long hair and a mustache, goes up to the ATM and withdraws the money for the tow guy.

Then he hands it over.

Up until now, investigators didn't know who these kids were, but the camera had caught not one, but two of them.

What's more, as I went through the images, a strange bit of information emerged.

Another unknown, younger looking male, kind of cagey and tall and skinny with very dark hair, wearing what appears to be all black, walks up and takes the debit card out of the ATM slot.

This second guy in the ATM photographs had to be either the person who'd gone to the neighbor's house or the driver of the car stuck in the mud.

Locke asked the tow truck driver about the vehicle.

Primarily, did you at least write down the license plate number?