hi, mom. this woman had gone out to get the mail and disappeared in her pyjamas the case was never closed. it was consuming all of us. the individual was wearing a baseball cap, hoodie with the hood pulled up and large mirrored sunglasses. oh, my gosh, did this really happen? i m like, no, dude, i can t do this. there was a scream. a drop of blood came from her nose. it was like a game. he was a part of this game. we re done with the games. it needs to stop. it needed to stop. michigan snow blankets field and woodland with silent beauty, sometimes encasing ugly secrets hidden beneath, never meant to be disturbed until finally they re revealed and all is made clear. i know a lot of people say, you wanted to find her. yeah, i wanted to find her, but then it was going to become so real to me that maybe you don t want to find yeah, yeah. start with the mother of two who vanished as she stepped outside her door to pick up mail. she wasn t there, and
fries, and crumpled up receipts, it looked like leftovers from a college road trip, but all this dirt was about to become pay date of birth. one smudged receipt suddenly got the team s attention. they were able to locate a received and therefore the purchase of a tarp, a shovel, gloves, and a hat. reporter: they couldn t believe their eyes or their luck. we thought they were joking. who leaves that in a truck? but they weren t kidding. they had the receipt. reporter: maybe the single biggest piece of evidence. this crumpled up, tossed receipt? yes. reporter: an investigator on the forensic team immediately called detective scott back in in michigan. he called me and said, where you sitting down? reporter: in all this garbage there s a receipt, huh? a hat, gloves, a shovel, and an 8 by 10 tarp. that was an item we were looking for because of the wrapper found in the mccomb residence was for an
when he called me, he says, are you sitting down? and in all the garbage, there s this receipt, huh? yes. a hat, some gloves, a shovel, and an 8x10 tarp. and that was the item that we were looking for because the wrapper found at the mccomb residence was for an 8x10 tarp. and where was the receipt from? it was from a walmart. reporter: specifically, the walmart in van wert, ohio, about two hours southeast from where venus disappeared. but not one of the walmarts michigan investigators had checked out. i doubt we would ve found that purchase had we not had the receipt. the date on the receipt itself was smudged. we didn t know when these items were purchased. so, the investigators began contacting the van wert walmart store to try to determine the date. and we learned right away that those items were purchased the evening before venus stewart went missing. now van wert, ohio is not near michigan. it s not near newport news.