would do it. she killed herself with an overdose of barbiturates. when my daughter was killed, she was killed. simple. michelle s mother left a suicide note which included one last wish. george actually showed me that note that said, when you find our daughter, bury her remains next to me. bury her beside me. with no evidence of foul play, and without a body, the case of michelle wallace s disappearance went completely cold. because of the difficulties in proving the crime of murder without being awfully darn sure that your victim is dead. five long years passed, until investigators got another potential break. a hiker on an isolated trail found what looked like a clump of braided hair.
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discovered what appeared to her to be a skull. she yelled out, i found it! we didn t believe her at first. even though we know she isn t much of a practical joker, we didn t believe her at first. the skull contained an unmistakable feature michelle s father told police about almost 20 years earlier. michelle had a gold tooth and the sunlight was just right and it reflected, and that s how they discovered her. she had never been buried. and, as a matter of fact, we could determine that her body probably had just been tossed off the side of the road and had rolled up against a tree, and from there gravity and scavengers had taken their toll. i was glad i could be able to
inside. there were certainly the inferences that were drawn from the fact that he was buying clothing in downtown gunnison, driving michelle wallace s vehicle at that time, which told us he knew she was dead and he knew she was not around to make a report of a stolen vehicle. he was brazen about that particular fact. by this time, roy melanson was serving time in a kentucky prison for burglary, but was extradited to colorado to face trial for murder. melanson pleaded not guilty and even refused to attend the trial. instead, he listened to the proceedings from his prison cell. we are not required to prove motive. the issue got raised, however, during the course of the trial in closing argument. because the defense said, where s the motive? after the defense raised that issue, i asked the jury to look at the zipper that was recovered from the levis, because it was
many melanson s possession was michelle s backpack, driver s license and pawnshop ticket for a 35 millimeter camera. on the camera was was a roll of film. the last photographs on the roll of film were photographs of michelle s dog, okie, wearing his hiking packs. in the very last photograph on the roll was a picture of roy melanson with a young woman he met in pueblo, colorado. melanson denied having anything to do with michelle s disappearance. he said they stopped for coffee and he admitted sneaking out the back way and stealing her car. and he said michelle s dog was tied up outside. melanson told police he dumped michelle s car in amarillo, texas. when police recovered the car, they found no evidence of violence either on the inside or outside. although the car had been wiped clean of fingerprints.