topic of gossip. she didn t want anybody to know what was going on in her life. she didn t talk about her marriage, but other people did? yeah. what they said was what? it wasn t working? no. they said mike was a hot head. mike had a reputation at work for having a hot temper, for to go intimidating. mechanic dave seiler worked with him for a decade. there was a lot of tension. you could just feel it from him. a lot of people were very careful around him, what they said, what they did. because mike s fuse could blow and when it did, you didn t want to be around. he did blowup at dispatchers and advisers. the dispatcher would be crying. so it didn t come as a big surprise when ellen announced that mike had left her. he packed up his stuff and moved to phoenix. he s probably going to end up living in phoenix. that marriage mean it s over.
station sister terry filed a missing person s report. she had a feeling something happened. it was one thing to leave a bad marriage but quite another to end contact with the daughter mike loved. i know my brother remained steadfast in his love for his daughter. she was the joy of my brother s life. i believe he fell victim to foul play. i really did not have a concrete explanation besides that s just how i felt. that was my gut. but terry wasn t too pleased with the response the officer gave them. the officer that took our report was a little arrogant and said, you know, that he s a grown adult and that he can come and go as he pleases. so he really at that time didn t even want to write our report. the police were essentially making the same argument ellen was making. right. mike snyder s name was entered into a national missing person s database, but there wasn t much else the police could do or frankly would do.
just you and the kids now. just me and the kids. ellen says she tried to reach him but couldn t, and neither could mike s family. he wasn t returning their calls either. mike s sister terry. your mother calls and says i haven t heard from michael in a couple of weeks. right. we were concerned. terry says she knew mike was planning on leaving ellen soon. the whole family knew that much or assumed it. but he wasn t supposed to leave everyone. he would have never have done that to his mother. he would have at least given her, look, i don t want to be contacted, please give me my space, but i am okay. at work a mechanic noticed his boss ellen seemed more relax as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulder. she seemed happier. she seemed more content, more at ease. and unbeknownst to ellen, her collapsing marriage was the
hiding? that question would lead detectives to a dark discovery because someone else had a secret too. we never talked about what happened or why it happened. every marriage had its secrets and this one was no different. but what if the secret becomes bigger than you? i was just solving the problem. they were two people who had been unlucky in love the first time around. back then she was ellen sheffield in her early 30s, divorced with a young child. and looking for someone to share that next chapter of her life. then quite literally in walked mike snyder. and i said hi, mike, how are you doing? it was the fall of 91. auto mechanic mike snyder was
brother s life. he just thought the world of that child. ellen would come by the dealership and bring elizabeth by. mike would get her a balloon, candy, soda, and give his time to her. everything else stopped. but behind closed doors, mike and ellen s marriage was starting to unravel. ellen said mike seemed jealous of her success at work. once i was promoted to service manager, it basically became hurtful and he was standoffish. ellen says from the time elizabeth was conceived, mike had moved out of the bedroom permanently. we never slept together again. so mike and ellen began living two separate lives in that dream home with their children. but still they stayed together. i still wanted this marriage to work. i didn t want to give up. that is until she learned