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
executive. but as your career was on the rise. her marriage was on the rocks. sydney i still wanted this 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 t 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.
her and her son michael wrap snyder s body in a tarp. and put plastic bags on his hands. then, the dark of night, they moved him onto a dolly and into the whole. we had recent helping at this time or not? yes, i asked me throw some dirt on top of him. he said okay. they fill the hole with leftover construction waste so the body could not be seen. the next day, she went back to the paper. and found a different guy, who had a bobcat, and hired him to fill in the hole. and you buried a body? i did. then, she came up with her story. you got better at telling that story. yeah, as time went on it became a bigger and bigger story. it was the end of her two and a half hour statement to police. and she wanted to get one last thing on the record. anything else you want to
the other option which is call the cops and face the music. yes. at that point i was just solving the problem. so the tears and regret that i m seeing now, you weren t feeling that then. no. never cried. because at the time ellen says she was on auto pilot and needed to dispose of the body. and how did she do that? in the want ads she found a guy with a backhoe who came out to the house and dug a hole. did you tell the guy why you were doing this? he didn t ask. ellen and her son michael wrapped his body in a tarp and put plastic bags on his hands and in the dark of night they move him on to a dolly in to the hole. is your son helping you or not. i asked him to help me throw some dirt on top of him. he said okay. they filled the hole with leftover construction waste so
he said okay. they filled the hole with leftover construction waste so the body couldn t be seen. the next day, ellen went back to the paper. found a different guy who had a bobcat and hired him to fill in the hole. you buried a body. i burr riffed a body. and then she came up with her story. you got better at telling that story as time went on. yeah, as time went on. it became a bigger and bigger story. it was the end of her 2 1/2 hour statement to police. and ellen snyder wanted to get one last thing on the record. is there anything else you want to say before we turn off the recorder? i want to say i m not a horrible killer. and with that 50-year-old ellen snyder was charged with first-degree murder and held on