Vanessa Richardson

He waited until he was in his car to read it.

When he did, it read, quote, Now Cabrera knew something was wrong.

So the very next morning, on November 11th, 1988, he returned to the boarding home.

This time, he brought backup with him.

He hoped Dorothea would let him and his colleagues look around, despite them not having a search warrant.

And she did.

Inside the house, Cabrera and his colleagues found a few suspicious objects, including drug reference books with notes on pages that discussed sedatives, and a prescription bottle for Dorothy Miller, which Dorothea offered an excuse for.

But Cabrera still found it strange, not to mention he noticed a foul odor in Dorothea's bedroom, but he couldn't place it.

So instead, he turned his attention to the garden.

Cabrera and his team started digging.

And when they realized they were short one shovel, Dorothea let them borrow one of hers.

If Dorothea was panicked at all, she didn't show it.

She stood calmly and looked on as the officers started with what seemed to be the newest patch of turned soil.

They dug around and found some pieces of cloth and plastic.

Then they pulled on something that seemed to be a root, but it wouldn't relent.

They kept digging around it until they could finally tug it free.

And that's when they saw what it really was.

A human shinbone.

When the officers looked back at the hole they'd just dug, they also spotted a shoe with a severed foot inside of it.

The policemen froze.