police begin to cut through the concrete of what was now a six-car garage. the job of finding mike snyder s remains proved difficult. the garage floor was a solid foot of steel reinforced concrete. police will resume digging tomorrow. finally on the third day, searchers uncovered a waterproof tarp. inside were the remains of mike snyder. she had been saying mike was in phoenix and mike this and that and all along mike wasn t in phoenix. for mike s family the finality is devastating. to not know eight years and hold on to hope and have that pulled out from under you was very difficult for all of us.
perhaps the loneliest place on earth is in the middle of a bad marriage, which was exactly where ellen snyder found herself. but in the early-morning hours of january 11th, 2002, that came to an end. she had confronted her husband mike snyder with her knowledge of his love affair with another man and in a rage, she says, mike left his home and his family and disappeared. it had been a long, lonely time to be married and lonely every day and that loneliness was gone. what disappeared along with mike was ellen s second marriage, which she says she fought so hard to save. now, it had failed, just like her first. on the plus said, she said, mike was no longer there to torment her, belittle her and shout at her. your husband wasn t waking you
make sure you get the job done and move on. she was no pushover. no pushover. she stood the up for herselves. right. inside of the walls of the nice home ellen s rank was near the bottom. he became condescending, controlling where i could go, who i could see. at home, mike made the rules and ellen obeyed them. you had a significant executive job at a big company. yes. so you are not some little shrinking violet whose home cowering under her husband s direction. when it came to being home and opening that door i was that shrinking violet. that s how it was. two different ellens, two different lives. they interviewed ellen s old boss. he told the detective he remembered an incident when
again we came in to a dead end there. but the detective did discover one very curious thing. it turns out that mike snyder filed state tax returns in 2004 and 2005. years after his disappearance. that doesn t sound like a missing person. no, it doesn t. what that sounds like to me, off the top of my head, is a guy that doesn t want to be found. it suggests the possibility that he might be alive. is your brother the kind of person who would either know how or want to sort of live off the grid? he certainly had the financial means. did he have the know how? i wouldn t think so. i don t know what it takes to live underground so to speak and be a person of a different identity. i don t know if he would even considered something like that. could mike snyder be hiding, not missing? and if so why and from whom?
to the snyder s old property. a neighbor show wrd a flowering tree had been planted in 2002, a year after mike disappeared. my suspicion was there was a body under the tree. that they planted a tree to hide the body. the handlers let the dogs loose on the property. at first they showed little interest, that is until they went under the flowering tree. incredible. both dogs, independently of one another, gave their cadaver alert. the dog handler said this is an indication that possibly the scent is coming up through the tree. but she said say, well with, the body could be ten feet down here, 30 feet in that direction if indeed was there was a body there. detective wilson had a new theory. make mike snyder never left home after all. was in the big break that they needed? mike discussed it with his sister.