marriage to work, i did not give up. soon he was gone, vanished without a word or a trace. he left the young daughter behind. he left the house. was this a husband who did not want to be found? or could this be something else. detectives are not an undercover operation. that would lead to a long hard to say ready for that? i know that it has to happen. disappearance in the desert. could it be the perfect crime. i can only imagine what would be like to keep that. welcome to dateline. i m lester holt. for eight years it was a mystery, a husband who had simply vanished. on the surface it didn t make sense. he had a wife, a lucrative job, a daughter he loved. but investigators were told he also had a secret. so was he missing or was he hiding? that question would lead detectives to a dark discovery because someone else had a secret to. here s josh michael it s. there is an old saying, that two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead. we never talked about
shooting happened the way that ellen now said it did because, after all, how believable was ellen? we tried to gather information six, seven years later, we don t have the actual crime scene. at that time, they would have seen blood streams from where he first got shot to where the body was laying, to where the bullet projectiles had stopped. ellen claimed that mike woke her up yelling and they fought in the family room where mike slept. i m in the middle of the family room and he s about as as far as you and i facing me. what happened? he stepped forward and i start shooting. using creative detective work, wilson had an idea. he remembered something that michael, ellen s son had mentioned in his interview with police. something about a stereo speaker. apparently not all of the
information six, seven years later. we don t have the actual crime scene. at that time they would have seen blood strains from where he first got shot to where his body was laying to where the bullet projectiles stopped. reporter: ellen claimed michael woke her up yelling and fought in the family room where mike slept. i m in the middle of the family room and he s about as far as you and i facing each other. reporter: and what happened? he came steps forward and i started shooting. reporter: using some creative detective work, wilson had an idea. he remember something michael, ellen s son had mentioned in his interview with police. something about a stereo speaker. apparently not all of the bullets had went in the body, one went through the bottom of a speaker. i still have that speaker. reporter: the detective went back to the house with michael,
in jail, detective wilson was trying to determine if the shooting happened the way that ellen now said it did because, after all, how believable was ellen? we tried to gather information six, seven years later, we don t have the actual crime scene. at that time, they would have seen blood streams from where he first got shot to where the body was laying, to where the bullet projectiles had stopped. ellen claimed that mike woke her up yelling and they fought in the family room where mike slept. i m in the middle of the family room and he s about as as far as you and i facing me. what happened? he stepped forward and i start shooting. using creative detective work, wilson had an idea. he remembered something that michael, ellen s son had
defense that caused ellen snider to shoot her husband, why hasn t she called police? usually when abused women kill their abusers, they call the police and they are sitting there with the gun when the police drive up. okay. they don t try to evade responsibility. they admit what they did and they say, i didn t have any choice. pretty much as you are saying to me now. but they don t bury the body. and tell a series of pretty good lies over a long period of time. that s pretty unusual. okay. which suggests, to some people, that there s more to the story than you are telling. they didn t live through what we lived through. they weren t there that night. with ellen snyder now sitting in jail, detective wilson was trying to determine if the shooting happened the way that ellen now said it did because, after all, how believable was ellen? we tried to gather information six, seven years later, we don t have the actual crime scene. at that time, they would have seen blood strea