ok, i'm ready... ...is it...? here we go. it says i'm pregnant. clearblue digital pregnancy test with smart countdown, gives unmistakably clear results written in words. over 99% accurate. absolute clarity, when you need it most. with advil's fast relief, you'll ask, "what pulled muscle?" "what headache?" nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis. what pain? i love you, droolius caesar, abut sometimes you stink.s. febreze car vent clip cleans away odors for up to 30 days.

because the things you love can stink.

on the outside you'd look at your marriage, it was a great marriage, great family, made lots of money. when you go in that door, that's not how it was. >> ellen snyder said it had been eight years. >> he made the rules, you followed them. >> eight rules in a marriage that was neither equal nor loving. and you were afraid to stand up to him? >> absolutely. >> eight years of living a lie to the outside world in that big home that she and her husband mike had worked so hard to build. but ellen wouldn't leave, determined to make her marriage work. >> i wasn't going to be another

failure of a marriage. >> but his sister terry says mike was think of ending it. >> i believe he was the process of trying to leave her. he was moving belongings to my mother's house. >> mike and allen's daughter, izbeth, was now six years old and very much daddy's little girl. and michael son was the first marriage was 17. >> the older michael got, the more harsh he was with him. >> but then mike snyder got sick and life inside that home grew much worse for just about everyone in the snyder family. >> he would pass out. he was in severe pain. >> it was the summer of 2001 when mike went to see a doctor. >> the doctor came in and said we believe that it's on on setting case of multiple sclerosis. >> multiple sclerosis, there's no cure.

and the prognosis can range from a manageable disease to paralysis and even death. mike was put on injection treatments to slow the progression of the disease. ellen gave him the shots. >> it was my place. i was his wife. i was to take care of him. >> as time went on mike's work culleges like chuck waite noticed a physically weaker mike. >> he was just struggling to make it through the day. we weren't told actually what he had or what was going on, but he wasn't coming into work as often or every day. >> when he couldn't work at the level he expected of himself, mike went on disability. >> he was really trying to face it and try to understand how his life wuss going to be with ms. >> which only added more stress to his marriage. >> i'm sure my brother was going through incredible emotional turmoil about his physical condition. >> maybe that was the reason

mike began waking up ellen in the middle of the night, to vent his anger. >> he was demeaning and calling me names andtelling me how worthless i was. he didn't want to have to big fights in front of elizabeth so he would wake me up at 2:00, 3:00 montana morning am. >> i yell at you? >> and yell at me. >> she said she feared if she showed a single chink in her emotional armor, she would never again become effective. she did say aloud that now that mike was sick she'd be there for him as she'd promised through the good time and the bad. >> she has to see him through this. she says what kind of wife would i be? >> insickness and in health? >> right. she wasn't going to leave him.

>> but allan says she had no problem leaving her. in fact mike was spending more andmore time away from his wife and family. he was going back and forth between albur kirky and phoenix. >> he still wanted to go to training. >> but a two day trip became three days, then four days, then a week. ellen was become increasingly suspicious on what mike was doing on those long trips away from his family and from her. >> and i felt hurt and betrayed i'd gone along all this time being a good wife with his ms. >> and then one night his phone was sitting there. curiosity, she says got the better of her. she picked up his phone and

opened it. so you listened to the messages. >> i listened to the message. >> and what a shock that was. one message in particular from a man she'd never heard him mention, someone named dave simmons, the reason ellen believed mike was spending so much time in phoenix. >> he would talk about how satisfied he was with their sexual contact. he would beal explicit as to what each had done to each other. >> so there really wasn't any question what was going on here? >> no, none. >> it was january 11, 2002. ellen says like so many nights before mike woke her for their nightly screaming match. this one was around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, ellen who never directly confanted mike with

anything now told him she knew about the affair she was having with dave from phoenix. there was ellen says a heated argument and then mike left the next morning. at the dealership where mike worked colleagues knew he'd only been out sick for a while. >> we didn't know it was cancer or he'd come back or not come back. we had no idea. >> this was like losing the star player? >> pretty much, yes. >> but mike's toolbox was still at work worth about $4,000. so everyone thought he's soon return until ellen broke the news about mike leaving town. she said he's leave igin arizona. >> it was all so puzzling to mike's family.

they could understand why mike wasn't talking to ellen but why wasn't he talking to them. their calls went straight to voice mail. >> we were very concerned as to why we hadn't heard from him. >> was everything as it seemed? was meac really in phoenix, and if so what was he doing there? >> coming up. >> i was hearing rumors the moment you realize, "how could there possibly be this many blues?" come into lowe's, where you'll find we've lowered our prices on top paint brands so your new look is more affordable. save 10 to $40 off valspar or hgtv home by sherwin-williams paint and primer via rebate. you were borne to travel... borne to rock... borne to piggyback... and you don't want anything stopping you from doing what you love. so if you're looking to give your immune system extra support... only airborne plus beta-immune booster

is made with a crafted blend of vitamins and minerals, plus an added ingredient proven to boost your natural defenses. keep doing what you were borne to do. airborne plus beta immune booster. sure smells amazing. even in accounts receivable. new gain botanicals laundry detergent, bring the smell of nature wherever you are.

perhaps the loneliest place on earth is in the middle of a bad marriage, which is exactly where ellen snyder found herself. but in the early morning hours of january 11, 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 was so calm in the house. it had been a very long, lonely time to be married and to be lonely every day, and that loneliness was gone. >> but 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 side, she said, mike was no longer there to torment her, belittle and shout at her.

your husband isn't waking you up in the middle of the night to yell at you. >> that's right. >> just you and the kids now. >> just me and the kids. >> ellen said she tried to reach him but couldn't and neither could mike's family. he wasn't returning their calls either. mike's sister terri. so your mother calls you and says, i haven't heard from michael in a couple of weeks. >> right. >> and you're thinking his ms is getting -- >> well, we were concerned. >> terri 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 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, he noticed his boss was more relaxed as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. >> she seemed happier, she seemed more content, sort of more at ease.

>> and unbeknownst to ellen her collapsing marriage was the topic of office gossip. >> she didn't want anyone to know what was going on in her life. >> she didn't talk about her marriage but other people did. >> yeah. >> and what they said was, what, it wasn't working? >> well, they said mike was a hothead. >> mike had a reputation at work for having a hot temper, for being intimidating. mechanic dave seiler worked with him for a decade. >> it was a lot of tension. you could just feel it from him. and, you know, 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 blow up at dispatchers and service advisers, and 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. >> probably going to end up living in phoenix. the marriage must be over. >> the rumors spread through the albuquerque auto business quicker than the latest recall. >> mike had left town, took the money out of the house, took all of these things, and just disappeared. and then later on i was hearing rumors that he was gay, had a male lover, went to the caribbean. >> do you have any idea who the source of these rumors was? >> no. everybody heard it and it was just passed along throughout the dealerships. >> did you believe it? >> disappearing i was kind of -- was one thing, but being gay no. >> several months passed with no word from mike. now his side of the family was so concerned they decided to go to the police. >> i knew at some point we had to move on. we had to not just hope that he

was out there but had to at least explore other options. >> down at the albuquerque police station, sister terri filed a missing persons report. she had a feeling that something had happeneded to her brother. 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. he she was just the joy of my brother's life. i believed 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 terri 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, he's a grown adult and that he can come and go as he pleases. and so he really at that time didn't even want to write our report. >> the police are essentially making the same argument ellen was making. >> right. >> mike snyder's name was entered into a national missing persons' database.

but there wasn't much else the police could do or, frankly, would do. albuquerque police chief ray schultz. >> it's not against the law to be a missing person unless there's suspicious circumstances. >> and chief schultz was right in saying that mike was totally within his rights to walk out and cut off ties with everyone in his life, the people he loved, the people he no longer loved. and so the investigation was limited to that of a missing person. winter 2002 turned to spring. no one heard from mike snyder. his expensive mechanic's tools lay unused at work. ellen, now a single mom, filed for divorce. she was awarded the house, the money in their joint account, and sole custody of their daughter elizabeth. when your daughter, mike's daughter, would say to you, where's daddy, what would you say?

>> i didn't know. that he had left because he was mad at mommy. >> a year after mike left her, ellen says she could no longer afford that home they'd built together, now that she only had her salary. so she sold the house and she and her kids, michael and elizabeth, moved to a much smaller one. it was fall 2003 when ellen received a follow-up call from the albuquerque police department. the investigator wanted to know if she'd spoken with mike. and you say what? >> i say that i don't consider him missing, that he is right where he wants to be, that he left me with had his gay boyfriend and that i haven't heard from him since. >> police seemed to find it understandable that perhaps ellen didn't really care much about mike's whereabouts at that point. >> they never asked me any more questions. >> ever show up at your house? >> no. >> whatever suspicions mike's side of the family may have had, police apparently didn't share them.

and so, with a few computer key strokes, and without the family's knowledge or any further investigation, mike snyder's name was literally wiped out of the national missing persons' database. ellen had said he was not missing. and back then that was good enough for the police. >> there should have been obviously a little bit more investigation done other than just the word of ellen snyder. >> so all of this time you thought police were looking for him, turns out they weren't looking for him at all. >> they weren't looking for him at all.

we would call missing persons and they would say someone would get back with us. so i believe almost in a three-year span we had little to no contact with the police department. and -- >> turns out they weren't even looking for most of that time. >> that's right. during that time he was not even in the database. >> it was now 2005. it had been three years since mike snyder left his home, his family, his whole life in albuquerque. no one had heard from the master mechanic, not even his little girl who was now 9 years old, a third grader.

>> that was one big red flag for me and maybe the leading one that kept me going because i knew there would be no way that my brother would ever have left his daughter. ever. >> at the he jeep dealership where mike had worked for ten years, his name was rarely mentioned in conversation. >> after three or four years of mike being gone, it didn't come up too much anymore. >> we knew he was sick. we didn't really know if he was still in a hospital somewhere or if he had actually just passed away from his illness. >> his tools were no longer lying there unused. ellen's son michael was using them. he had followed in mike's shoes and had become a mechanic as well. and on those rare occasions where ellen would come by the shop where mike had once worked, his old colleague dave seiler would ask -- >> have you heard from mike? and she would say no. there just seemed to be no concern for mike. she was just, like, no, i haven't seen mike. >> it's often said that the happiest and saddest of occasions are what bring families together. and when mike's family gathered together to mourn the death of

mike's father, any hope the family had left for mike's return evaporated. >> that definitely was probably the final straw, where we were all on board that my brother would have definitely shown up for his own father's funeral. >> but ellen and her children did show up. they no longer kept in touch with mike's side of the family, but they had seen the death announcement in the newspaper and came to pay their respects. >> we weren't expecting them so it was a little strange, kind of caught us off guard. but once again we're in a state of mourning. we don't want to create any kind of issues. we certainly weren't going to have them escorted out. >> after all, mike's deceased father was elizabeth's grandfather and step-grandfather to michael. >> we let them come up to the kafblgt and have their bereavement time. then we noticed that michael was hysterical, just crying uncontrollably.

at that point my sister and i are just looking at each other and poking each other thinking, what? >> michael cried so hysterically that his mother ellen had to escort the 20-year-old out of the room. were he and your father close? >> not close per se. i mean, he was no closer to my father than he was my mother so it was a very odd occurrence that we all just took note of. >> and there was something else that terri remembers about that day. something that enraged her. >> ellen at some point comes up to my sister and asks about my father's will. and wanted to know if there was anything in the will provision for his daughter, for mike's daughter. >> and she's asking about money. >> and she's asking about money. >> and the more she thought about it, the more terri had a sinking feeling that ellen knew something about mike's disappearance. >> she certainly wasn't acting like a woman who was trying to find the father of her child and we could not understand why she didn't seem the least big concerned about her child not having her father. >> it just didn't make sense to mike's side of the family. they pleaded with police to take

a fresh look at the case. and, in the spring of 2005, the albuquerque police agreed. assigned was cold case detective mark wilson. >> the department said, yes, we'll look into it. it's been three years. he left a young daughter behind. he left a house. >> the detective began digging for any information on the missing mechanic. did any record of him exist >> first we look into the criminal end to see if maybe he had been stopped or maybe there might be a police report on him some whether. >> and there's nothing. >> right. there's nothing. >> and we also look into the fact, could he be dead somewhere? >> check the medical investigator's office, and he's not there.

>> right. he's not there. then i started looking in to see if there might be any indication of financial records that might indicate he was working somewhere and there was once -- once again, we came to a dead-end there. >> but the detective did discover one very curious thing. it turned out mike snyder had 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 who doesn't particularly 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 to 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 have considered something like that.

>> could mike snyder be hiding, not missing? and, if it so, why and from whom? coming up -- the search for mike, from the caribbean -- >> that's where he was with dave simmons. >> correct. >> -- to his own backyard. >> the neighbor says she remembered michael and ellen digging out behind the garage. digging a hole. lower back pain has met its match. aleve direct therapy. the only remote controlled tens device that's drug free, wire free for deep penetrating lower back pain relief. get aleve direct therapy. now $10 off with a coupon at walgreens. ♪ tired of wrestling with seemingly impossible cleaning tasks? using wipes in the kitchen can be ineffective. try mr. clean magic eraser. simply add water, to remove burnt on food and grease. try mr. clean magic eraser.

jimmy's gotten used to his whole yup, he's gone noseblind. odors. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher.

febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy.

out here in the new mexico desert the land is dry and vast. there are roads that lead nowhere and mysteries that go unsolved. cold case detective mark wilson had had been trying to unravel one of those mysteries, the disappearance of albuquerque native mike snyder. >> she could have had a successful job anywhere in the country. >> one that would have shown up on your search. >> right. yes. >> but there was no trace of him, not anywhere. it was as if the master mechanic had simply vanished. >> there wasn't any indication of anything that would match up to him. >> but mike snyder had filed income tax returns in 2004 and 2005, years after he disappeared. it was, quite simply, very, very odd. with the investigation seeming to stall, detective wilson called the local paper, the albuquerque journal, asking if they'd file a story on the cold

case. maybe the attention would shake loose some leads. journalist jeff proctor. >> police were finally willing to say publicly that they believed this may have been a homicide. >> it's no secret that in any homicide investigation the spouse is always the first to be questioned. but before the detective had a chance to reach out to ellen, she was calling him, complaining about that article. >> and she said, where did you get this information? she was upset that it portrayed that he was just an innocent man, father that had disappeared. >> the article didn't implicate you. >> oh, yes, it did. >> i read it. it doesn't, like, lay the blame at your feet. >> yes, it does. >> what did she tell you? >> she and michael had a heated discussion and that the next morning when she woke up he was gone and he hadn't taken a vehicle.

>> ellen told the detective she was pretty sure that mike had initially moved to phoenix, home of his lover dave simmons. but more recently she believed he had moved on to the caribbean. >> she said he's probably on an island somewhere. >> we had looked at land on st. croix. as far as i knew, i figured he had gone to st. croix. >> and that's where he was with dave simmons. >> correct. >> in fact, ellen said she had actually spoken with mike over the years. mike had called a couple of times, that you had heard his voice. >> yes. >> and whenever he was, he was maybe not angry at you anymore but at least the two of you were talking in a sort of nonangry way about the kids. >> oh, i think we were still angry. i think i told him that we were still angry. >> but that he was gone and that he wasn't coming back. >> right. >> mike's sister terri hadn't yet learned about mike's relationship with the mysterious dave simmons or about the accusation that her brother was secretly gay.

ellen didn't share any of that with terri until a few years after mike had disappeared. she told other people about it at the time. >> not us. she didn't seem to throw that out to us at first. >> any of that make any sense to you? >> oh, goodness no. i don't believe for one minute that my brother is gay. >> that was only one of the components to ellen's story that detective wilson wanted to check out. he says he asked ellen to come down to the police department to meet with him in person. only she wouldn't. >> she said, he's not missing. we said, well, we want to find him, and even asking her to come in to help us find him, she would not come in. >> and so ellen and detective wilson never did meet face-to-face. she claims she was giving him all the information she had. well, you weren't giving him what he needed because he wanted

to meet with you. >> he never said that. >> he says he did. >> he never, ever asked me to come down. ever. >> instead, ellen mailed the detective some paperwork that she'd found in mike's desk, a western union money transfer from mike snyder to dave simmons in the amount of $200, a u-haul receipt with dave simmons' name and number, and a copy of mike's cell phone bill from december 2001, right before he disappeared, which showed a number of phone calls to that same telephone number. you gave detective wilson all the documentation you had on dave simmons. >> yes. >> unfortunately, ellen no longer had the voice mail, the one she claims to have discovered on mike's cell phone, the sexually explicit one from dave simmons. i mean, the only proof that they had a relationship is the voice mails, which don't exist anymore. >> well, i think people, if they knew mike, would know that he would never send anybody money, ever, unless there was some sort

of relationship there. >> so mike was supporting this guy? >> i never found enough money that he was supporting him, but he was definitely helping him out. >> police tell us ellen's information didn't lead anywhere. the detective didn't locate mike in the caribbean, and when he tried to contact dave simmons from phoenix, he never got a response. but that same albuquerque journal article, the one that so infuriated ellen, also got ellen's former neighbors talking about something they'd seen years before. >> they had seen michael and ellen digging out behind the garage. digging a hole. >> when was that? >> around the time mike went missing. the neighbor says she remembers seeing them out behind the garage with shovels. >> and that was pretty intriguing to the detective. it sounded like a viable lead. so in late spring 2006, with the current homeowner's permission, detective wilson brought two search dogs and their handlers

to the snyders' old property. a neighbor showed them where a flowering tree had been planted in 2002, a year after mike disappeared. >> my suspicion was that 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. incredibly, 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 did say that, well, the body could be ten feet down here or 30 feet over that direction if, indeed, there was a body there. >> detective wilson had a new theory. maybe mike snyder had never actually left home after all. was this the big break the case needed? the detective discussed it with mike's sister. >> and of course i get both

excited, intrigued, anxious, and i start asking him a bunch of questions. >> the team tried to dig deeper, but the ground was hard. >> what did you find? >> we didn't find anything. and the dogs didn't -- they weren't excited about the hole itself. >> and soon the trail went cold. the tip that seemed like gold, and mike's sister terri was crushed. the detective was deflated. >> i had to think that, well, there's a possibility that maybe his body was somewhere else. i did have a feeling that michael snyder was dead somewhere. >> the digging here was over, but metaphorically at least, detective wilson still held a shovel. he was trying to get to the bottom of what ellen snyder had been doing around the time her husband mysteriously disappeared. and it wasn't long before he found someone ellen worked with who had offered some very unusual help. >> the co-work he said, i have a gun if you'd like to use it, if that will help.

why in the world would ellen n trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. hai'm messing up every dish, pot, and plate... ...to show my love. ta-da! all this devotion only calls for a little bit of dawn ultra. so concentrated, just one bottle has the grease cleaning power of three... ...bottles of this other liquid. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. try using dawn beyond the sink.

essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. a must for vinyl. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief.

ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™". the energy conscious whopeople among usle? say small actions can add up to something... humongous. a little thing here. a little thing there. starts to feel like a badge maybe millions can wear. who are all these caretakers, advocates too? turns out, it's californians it's me and it's you. don't stop now, it's easy to add to the routine.

join energy upgrade california and do your thing. why in the world would ellen snyder need a gun? it had been four years since mike snyder had gone missing. four years since he'd left his family, including his young daughter in his hometown of albuquerque, new mexico. in 2006, the "albuquerque journal" ran an article on the missing father and mechanic. the cold case, which had been virtually dead for years, was suddenly picking up steam. reporter jeff proctor. >> it triggered some tips to the police department, and it got people, you know, talking about this as something other than a husband who had walked off on his family. >> for the first time, albuquerque police were publicly calling the case a homicide investigation. and that caught the attention of

a man named frank. >> he said, i'm the one that lent her the gun. and if you think she's a suspect in this, i don't want my family in danger so i want to turn the gun over to you. >> frank was retired military, a straight by the book guy who had befriended ellen snyder when they worked together in 2001. >> she was telling people that he yells at her all the time. >> it was christmas 2001. ellen says the daily fighting in the snyder home had escalated. mike's multiple sclerosis had grown progressively worse and, with it, so had his anger. >> he would push me around. he would -- you know, he hit me. >> he hit you how many times? one time? >> three or four. >> ellen now held an executive-level position at a large dealership. she was the boss to 30 mechanics and making upwards of $90,000 a year.

>> she'd put your feet to the fire. you'd make sure you get the job done and move on. >> so she was no pushover. >> she was no pushover. >> she stood up for herself. >> right. >> but inside the walls of that nice home, ellen's rank was near the bottom. >> he became very 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're not some little shrinking violet who's home cowering under her husband's direction. >> but when it came to being home and opening that door, i was that shrinking violet. that's how things were. he ran the show. it was two different ellens, two different lives. >> detective wilson interviewed ellen's old boss, a man named james co-sell. he told the detective he remembered an incident when ellen came to work with bruises.

>> she was wearing her sunglasses. i said, why are you wearing sunglasses? she finally took her sunglasses off and she had a nice big old shiner. i asked her, what the heck happened to you? she had stated to me that supposedly mike and michael got into some big battle and mike was beating the crap out of him so she jumed in the middle of it. and of course she took the brunt of it. >> was she giving the classic battered wife's explanation for her bruises? a few days later, cassell says he heard yelling coming from ellen's office. >> i hear world war iii breaking loose in the office next to me. there was a guy screaming, okay? >> turns out the loud, angry voice belonged to none other than mike snyder. >> he's standing on this side of the desk, she's standing on her side of the desk, and he's just screaming. and he stops when i barge in and he looks at me. i told him, i said, you know, you can't do this here.

and he basically told me i needed to mind my own f-ing business. >> her colleague frank, having nothing but good intentions, volunteered to loan ellen a .32 semiautomatic pistol. >> showed her how to use it, explained a bunch of things to her, you know, it was a ten-minute, please don't shoot yourself lesson. >> i had never had one before. he offered me the gun after he saw my bruises. i took it home, put it in the back of the closet. >> why not just gather p up the kids and leave? >> it was christmastime. we had a 6-year-old daughter. >> detective wilson checked for any police reports of domestic abuse or calls to 911. he found none. >> did they have altercations throughout their marriage? i would imagine. most couples do. but i have never seen any violent temper in my brother. >> you know there are no documented visits of the police to your house. >> i know that. >> it was a few months later when ellen returned the gun to her colleague.

>> he looked at it. he looked at her. he said, where's the bullets? >> ellen said a friend had taken her to a gun range and showed her how to use it. these birds once affected by oil are heading back home. thanks to dawn, rescue workers only trust dawn, because it's tough on grease yet gentle. i am home, i am home, i am home no matter what it brings. every day. or where he is. and pain doesn't hold him back. thanks to dr. scholl's running insoles. the only ones proven to relieve and prevent pain from runner's knee, shin splints and plantar fasciitis. dr. scholl's. born to move. with advil's fast relief, you'll ask, "what pulled muscle?" "what headache?" nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis.

what pain? toddlers see things a bit undifferently advil liqui-gels and advil liqui-gels minis. with pampers easy ups they'll see a stretchy waistband you'll see pampers' superior protection and you'll both see an easy way to underwear pampers easy ups i love you, droolius caesar, but sometimes you stink. febreze car vent clip cleans away odors for up to 30 days. because the things you love can stink.

and detective wilson had discovered something else. ellen had actually tried to purchase another gun at a local pawnshop one month earlier. someone is about to step forward from the shadows to say he knows exactly what happened to mike snyder. mystery over? or just beginning? here again, josh mankiewicz. >> mike snyder had been missing for eight long years. his family didn't know where he was, and the detective investigating the case had a

hunch that mike's wife ellen was somehow involved. neighbors had even seen her and her son digging in their backyard. you had looked in the yard, not found anything, not found mike anywhere, not been able to talk to ellen. i mean, i'm not going to say this wasn't going anywhere, but it certainly didn't seem to be pointing immediately to any resolution.

ten years of probation and on a minor offense two to four years? how do you do this? my brother's signature on either line. >> that's true, ellen says. she did sign mike's name but says mike knew all about it. the more terri thought about mike, the more she remembered his growing frustration with ellen in the months before he disappeared. >> he would intercede phone calls, collectors calling wanting to know why their credit cards hadn't been paid, things he didn't know anything about. >> things he thought ellen had run up. >> right. >> after mike disappeared, she was in debt, had 20 creditors and owed more than $120,000 on

her credit cards. did mike know about the debt before he dropped by her work? is that why mike had showed up in a rage? had he discovered the financial mess into which she put their family? and, if mike had been abusive, had ellen come to the conclusion that she could solve that problem with a gun? detective wilson was growing more and more skeptical of ellen snyder's story and so was mike's sister terri. but, without any real proof that ellen had something to do with mike's disappearance, there was nothing that could be done about those aching suspicions. >> there was nothing that could tangibly prove murder, enough to get an arrest warrant for it, until they had a body. >> and so another four years passesed. mike's sister terri became more and more dissatisfied with the progress detective wilson was

making. >> i think at fist he was very zealous. he felt that, you're right, a lot of this isn't adding up and i believe at first they worked very hard to find my brother. >> but, as the years went by, the unknown had become unbearable for the snyder family. they wanted answers from the police. >> i think he got very upset with me that i was being pushy. our phone conversations got less and less. i would call and leave a message and my messages weren't being returned. they kind of i think put the case on the back burner, i believe. >> detective wilson did continue to look for mike snyder, but wilson also had to focus on the 20 other cold cases that needed his attention. and then one day in 2010 came the phone call that would break this case. a confidential informant who said he knew exactly where mike snyder was.

must have sounded pretty good to you. >> yes, it did. office when a most unexpected call came in. the caller, a confidential source, who said he had information on mike snyder. who was this confidential source? >> somebody that was a friend with michael sheffield. >> ellen's son. >> ellen's son. >> the man's name was patrick, a 26-year-old motorcycle technician. he and ellen's son michael sheffield had gone to high school together and were close friends. >> he had been living with me in my house with my son for months.

they lived there rent free. >> out of the goodness of your heart? >> because it was michael's friend, yeah. he was a good kid. they needed this break. >> not only was he michael sheffield's good friend, patrick was also ellen's employee at the r & s cow suck ki motorcycle dealership where she was working as the service manager. >> my boss was giving me a lot of heat about patrick's productivity and his comebacks. so he told me in december that i needed to let him go but he wanted to wait until after christmas. i actually kept him much longer than i would have because he was a friend. >> the first week of january 2010 ellen fired patrick. she could not have known just how life-altering that decision would be. what did he say? >> didn't say too much. just loaded up his stuff and left.

>> of course, ellen didn't know that patrick knew the secret. and he went to the police. >> and he went to the police. >> and now patrick was sitting in a starbucks with detective wilson, letting him in on the eight-year-old secret. >> so this guy didn't really come forward out of the goodness of his heart or his civic duty. this was revenge. >> yes. >> but you'll take it. >> yes. >> patrick told the detective that he knew that mike snyder had been killed and that his body was buried in the yard of the snyders' former home. and how did patrick know this? his best friend michael had told him and on more than one occasion. >> he even said the next day he told him about it, and then over the years if they were together drinking or something, that he would break down and tell him again the story. >> did you believe him? >> yes. >> so this is one more person pointing you to the backyard. >> yes.

>> but you'd already looked there. >> this seemed very believable, this information, and it really corroborated what we suspected. >> patrick agreed to cooperate with police. he drove an undercover police vehicle with a hidden microphone to michael's home and told him they neededed to speak privately. patrick said the police had contacted him about the disappearance of mike snyder and he didn't know what to do. >> they're really freaking me out, and i just want to come to you and, like, what the [ bleep ] do i say? what do i not say? they were in my house for like two hours. so i just need to know from you like what i should do. >> tell them you don't know anything. >> i just don't want them to get to you and stuff, too. >> oh, i know how to handle myself. >> i'm just scared. >> yeah. because they seem to like know a lot of things, too. >> like what? >> they're saying something about hearing gunshots and also saying they might know what the weapon is.

do you still have that? oh, no. good. well, what do you want me to tell them next week? just, dude, i don't know anything? just keep saying that? >> yeah. >> if they want like your number and stuff, should i give it to them? >> yeah. >> and then came the big question, the one the police had coached patrick to ask -- is he still there? >> as far as i know, under a big slab of concrete. >> it was now time for detective wilson to pay a visit to michael sheffield, ellen snyder's son and mike snyder's stepson and begin to unravel an eight-year-old mystery. >> you wouldn't happen to have some place where we could sit down, would you? >> coming up -- the interrogation begins. >> michael, it's time to come clean, it's over. >> can they get at the truth after all these years. >> i can only imagine what it would be like keeping that type of secret.

things than rheumatiod arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of ra, even without methotrexate.

ask your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. i mwell, what are youe to take care odoing tomorrow -10am? staff meeting. noon? eating. 3:45? uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam's baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn't it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios. the automated investing solution

that lets you focus on your life.

it was friday, january 29, 2010, and it was business as usual in the service department at this albuquerque saab dealership located on the west side of town. that is, until detective mark wilson and three of his colleagues from the cold case team showed up. >> you wouldn't happen to have some place where we can sit down and talk, would you? just want to chat. >> it they were there to speak with 25-year-old mechanic michael sheffield. >> he didn't seem to be surprised that the police showed up at his work. he said, sure, we have a breakroom we can go talk in. so we went to his break room and we conducted an interview with him there. >> we work the violent crimes section of the apd. we are going to ask you questions, all right?

that we already know the absence answers to. >> you knew this day was coming ever since you were about 17 years old. how you answer the questions and your honesty here is really going to change your life from this moment on, okay? >> all right. >> detective wilson here has been investigating the disappearance of your stepfather. >> why don't you tell me right now what you know that happened to your stepdad, michael snyder. >> michael snyder who helped raise you. >> he left us. >> at first, michael tells the same story that ellen his mom has told since the day mike snyder first disappeared. >> he had a partner in phoenix. >> michael -- >> huh? >> remember what i told you. >> right. he had a lover in phoenix. he lefts us. >> no. >> that's what my mother told me. >> that's what your mother told you. think about when you were 17 years old and what you woke up to one night.

you pretty sure that's what your statement is going to be to the district attorney? you're not going to find his -- we're not going to find his body? >> i sure as hell hope not. >> it's time to come clean. >> i am. i'm not sure what you're talking about. as far as i'm concerned he left us. he did. he left my sister and i. do you know what it's like trying to raise her? i was 17. she had no father figure anymore. >> he said, well, as far as i know he ran off with a guy and left my mother and sister and i behind and denied that he knew anything. >> so he's still telling the story he's been telling for six, seven years. >> yes. >> we have information, all right? that you assisted your mom in burying your stepfather in this backyard. >> no. >> no?

>> do you think we are here by chance? do you think we're making this up? >> i don't know where you got your information, but i would never -- no. that's a terrible crime. >> repeatedly the detective tells michael that it's time for him to confess. >> i need you to be honest with us and i need you to right here, on this picture, show us where you buried the body. >> i don't know where he's buried. i didn't -- i didn't bury a body. >> yes, you did. >> how long did it take him to come off that story? >> after we told him that we had information that he knew where the body was and went a little further and told him that we heard him talking about it, he came forward after we showed him that we had evidence. >> so tell us what happened and exactly where you buried the body. >> i need know what's going to happen to my mom. >> the detectives had broken him and the story came spilling out after eight years of lies.

it was early morning january 2002 michael said when he woke to the sound of gunshots and a called 911. >> my mother comes in and says everything's all right. so i hung up the call. >> he must have hung up just in time because there's no record of a 911 call from the snyder home that day. >> i was just -- i didn't know what to do. i was so scared. >> that was a tough position for a 17-year-old. did you know she had a gun? >> no. >> a few days later, in a second interview, michael told police this -- >> mom tells me what had happened. >> what did she tell you? >> she told me she'd shot him in defense. she was scared. >> okay. >> told me she shouldn't have done it. i'm sorry, but could you help me with this? and i was scared at the time. i didn't know what to do. >> and so, he says, he reluctantly p helped his mother

wrap mike snyder's dead body in a waterproof tarp, place it in a hole in the backyard, and put some construction waste on top of it. >> what's going through your mind at this time? >> god, i don't want to get caught. god, i don't want to go to jail. what am i doing? >> and michael had told detectives about the breakdown he had at mr. snyder's funeral, the one the snyder family thought so peculiar. >> i couldn't handle it. i just had a breakdown then. so we leave. family's staring at me. and she's outside talking to me. and she says, is this my fault? is this about what happened? and i don't remember saying anything back. >> okay. >> but now it was, you know -- it was about that. >> i had the feeling that he was glad to finally get it off his chest. he broke down somewhat, and i can only imagine what it would be like keeping that type of a secret.

>> the detective showed michael photographs of the snyders' property as it it looked in 2002. and had michael circle where he believed his stepfather's body was buried. >> did michael believe that he was on the hook legally for his part in this? >> i think he probably knew that he was. he knew that he was an accomplice in the case. >> a few miles away, michael's mom ellen snyder was ending her work day. >> had whi came out from work, his girlfriend came by. she was sitting in her car next to my car. she says, you need to get in the car. >> she told ellen that michael had called. the police had shown up at his work and they knew the secret. >> so i called my mom and i said, i need to come over. and she was, like, are you okay? ed and i said no. and, with that, ellen's mother phoned an old acquaintance of hers, a defense attorney named penny adrian.

>> her mom calls me p up, said, i think we have a problem. there was apparently something very wrong. >> the next morning ellen went to meet with adrienne. by then, the story was breaking. >> breaking news -- albuquerque police have an active crime scene vision going on. >> police tell us a confidential source told them that the remains of snyder are buried underneath the garage of this home. >> she just sat really stiffly in front of me. she said, have you heard about themging for a body in the northeast heights? and i said, well, you couldn't not hear about it. i mean, it was on all of the television stations and all over the newspaper. and she said, well, my ex-husband is buried there because i shot him.

north albuquerque acres is known for its large subdivisions in the foothills of the sandia mountains, not for crime scene vehicles and newspapers flying overhead. but in february 2010, this was the scene in front of the home where ellen and mike snyder once lived. >> out in the street it was a zoo. >> reporters like jeff proctor were staked out for three days while men with jackhammers and backhoes began tearing up the garage floor. >> we continue to follow breaking news right now. >> if you lived in albuquerque, you would have had to wear ear plugs not to hear about it. >> we just spoke to the police chief and he told us that the police is here looking for the remains of michael snyder. >> mechanic jim hertata, a longtime friend of ellen's, was at work when the news broke. >> i couldn't believe it. >> so you really believed that he had left her and he was in phoenix.

>> yeah. >> police began cutting through the concrete of what was now a six-car garage. but the job of finding mike snyder's remains proved difficult. the garage floor was a solid foot of steel reinforced concrete. >> police say they will resume digging tomorrow. >> the excavation went on for two more days. finally, on the third day, searchers uncovered a waterproof tarp. inside were the remains of mike snyder. >> ellen was saying mike was in phoenix, mike this, mike that, all along mike wasn't in phoenix. >> for mike's family, the finality was devastating. >> to not know for eight years and to somewhat hold onto hope and to have that hope finally just pulled out from under you was very difficult for all of us. >> ellen snyder sat in defense attorney penny adrian's office knowing an arrest was imminent.

>> they had found the body, and she wanted to get it over with. she said, we just can't go on like this. >> so adrian informed the police that ellen snyder was ready to turn herself in. >> that following friday i met with the police detectives at her office, gave a full statement . >> i want you to understand these are your constitutional rights. >> she gave police a 2 1/2-hour confession and her version of events is quite a story. >> woke me up. 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, we're arguing, pushing, you know, back and forth. and i told him, i know all about you and dave simmons. i know that you're gay. >> ellen says she had recently grown more courageous in her dealings with mike. and on that night she had confronted her husband over what she says was a secret gay affair.

>> and i'm yelling at him and he's yelling at me. and i told him, i said, i'm going to tell everybody. i'm going to tell everybody about you. and he's telling me, you will never tell anybody about me. you are not going to tell anything. there's nothing to tell. he's denying it. he's screaming at me. he's -- i have never seen him so angry. ever. >> she says she ran to the bedroom and got the gun from the closet, the gun that her colleague frank had loaned her. >> i said, i have a gun. he's laughing at me telling me i'm a coward and i'm never, ever going to tell anybody. >> so he's taunting you, saying you don't have the courage to shoot me. >> taunting me. calling me, you know, a bitch and telling me what a rotten person i am. screaming at me. >> and, in that moment of fear, ellen says, she pulled the trigger. not once, not twice, but repeatedly.

>> i emptied the gun. i had never been so afraid in my life. >> he turned around and ran way from you. >> he did. >> and you kept shooting. >> i did. >> he just turned and i ran and i kept shooting. >> how far did he get? >> ten feet. >> then what happened? >> then he fell down. >> elizabeth, mike and ellen's 6-year-old daughter, was fast asleep in the bedroom. she didn't wake up. but ellen's son michael, 17, was in his bedroom and he did. >> he was calling 911. i told him, just hang up, michael. >> and he hung up. >> and he hung up. and i sat down on the step waiting for the police to come. >> but the police never did show. >> i covered him up. i told michael to get ready for school. i told him, i shot mike, you need to just go to school. >> how was michael doing at this point? >> i thought he was doing okay.

>> but evidently michael was not okay. he skipped school that day and he told his friend patrick about the horror he had gone through. did you talk to him about this? or from the first minute that this happened did this sort of become the thing you're not talking about? >> right. we never talked about it. >> once you said to him, i shot mike, go to school? >> we didn't talk about it. >> later, with michael and elizabeth at school, ellen planned to move the body into the garage, but there was a problem. >> trying to get him situated to where i could get him -- a board under him to move him into the garage. >> and you couldn't do it alone. >> i couldn't do it alone. >> so you asked your son. >> so i asked my son. yep. >> you asked michael to help you move the body. >> yes. he didn't want to.

i asked him please. he said okay. >> 17-year-old michael reluctantly agreed. were you aware that you were asking him to essentially help you commit a crime? >> i wasn't in the frame of mind to believe it as such. >> yet at the time you were willing to do that instead of the other option, which is call the cops and face the music. >> yes. at that point i was just solving a 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 a 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 snyder's body in a tarp and put plastic bags on his hands and then, in the dark of night, they moved him onto a dolly and into the hole. your son helping you this time or not? >> yeah. 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 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. and you buried a body. >> and i buried 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 recorders?

>> the one thing i want to say is, i'm not -- i'm not a horrible killer. >> and, with that, 50-year-old ellen snyder was charged with first-degree murder and held on $1 million bail. >> albuquerque police announced they've arrested the ex-wife of an albuquerque man who vanished eight years ago. >> an eight-year-old cover-up was over, but another story line was just beginning. did mike snyder have it coming? was ellen guilty of anything? and what could be proven after so many years? coming up -- a startling police discovery. >> it appeared to me that michael snyder was laying in his bed when he was shot. >> and something more startling still. >> she could walk away from this. >> she might have committed first-degree murder and gotten away with this. do i use a toothpaste that whitens my teeth or...

...one that's good for my teeth? now i don't have to choose! from crest 3d white comes new whitening therapy. it's our best whitening technology. plus, it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

firstthen you put yourselfareer. through school. got the degree. you've given it your all, to reach the goals you've set. don't let student debt hold you back. refinancing student loans with sofi can save thousands. so you can get where you've always been headed... sooner. see how much you can save with sofi. the leader in student loan refinancing. you thought he was going to kill you even though you had the gun. >> yes, i did. i have never seen such anger. ever. i shot him because i was afraid. >> there are some things ellen snyder admits. she admits she shot and killed

her husband mike snyder in the early morning hours of january 2002. she admits that she buried his body and then lied about his disappearance for years. but she does not admit to being guilty of murder. you don't think of yourself as a murderer. >> no, i don't. i was saving my own life. it came down that night to me or him. >> she says it's a case of survival. but ask detective mark wilson, and he calls it something else. >> i believe this is a an evil woman who planned this from the beginning. >> maybe she did fear for her life. there are people who say they saw her with bruises. >> sure. and it's a possibility. possibility there was a bruise. or it could have been something she set up to look like that to go along with her story because it was getting closer to the time where she was going to kill him. >> but even if it was an act of self-defense that caused ellen snyder to shoot her husband, why hadn't she called the police?

usually when abused women kill their abusers, they call the police and they're sitting there with the gun when the police drive up. >> okay. >> they don't try to evade responsibility they admit what they did and say, i didn't have any choice, pretty much as you're saying to me now. but they don't bury the body and tell a series of pretty good lies over a long period of time. that's pretty unusual. >> okay. >> which suggests to some people that there's more to this story than you're telling. >> they didn't live through what we lived through. they weren't there that night. >> with ellen snyder now sitting in jail, detective wilson was trying to determine if the shooting happened the way ellen now said it did. because, after all, how believable was ellen?

>> when we tried to gather information six, seven years later, we don't have the actual crime scene. at that time, they would have seen blood streams from where he first got shot to where the body was laying to where the bullet projectiles had stopped. >> ellen claimed that mike woke her up yelling and that they fought in the family room where mike slept. i'm in the middle of the family room and he's about as far as you and i facing me. >> and what happened then? >> he steps forward and i start shooting. >> using some creative detective work, wilson had an idea. he remembered something that michael, ellen's son, had mentioned in his interview with police. something about a stereo speaker. >> apparently not all of the bullets hit the body. one of them went through a speaker, like the bottom of a speaker. >> okay. >> i still have that speaker.

>> the detective went back to the house with michael, asked him to show where the speaker was positioned on the floor and where it was in relation to where mike slept. and detective wilson came to this hypothesis. >> it appeared to me that michael snyder was laying in his bed when he was shot. >> not up and advancing on ellen to do her harm? >> exactly. and the medical investigator reported that the projectiles came up through the victim's body from down in the stomach area into the shoulder area. >> almost as if the person was lying flat and the shooter was standing at his feet. >> yes. my estimation was that the body was on the mattresses when he was being fired at. he may have gotten up and started running, if it didn't kill him right away. >> and there was something else the detective uncoughed that appeared a lot more sinister than a woman in fear for her

life. it seemed ellen snyder had actually made a pretty penny off mike's death. do i use a toothpaste that whitens my teeth or... ...one that's good for my teeth? now i don't have to choose! from crest 3d white comes new whitening therapy. it's our best whitening technology. plus, it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

(cough) it's just a cough. if you could see your cough, you'd see just how far it can spread. robitussin soothes in seconds and delivers fast, powerful cough relief for hours. (giggling) robitussin dm max. because it's never just a cough. one laugh, and hello so i tried always discreet.

i didn't think protection this thin could work. but the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. snap! so it's out of sight... ...and out of mind. always discreet. for bladder leaks.

just months after she shot her husband and filed for divorce, ellen was awarded the couple's home and the cash in their joint account. and remember those tax returns that had been filed in mike's name after he disappeared? turns out it was ellen who had filed them in order to get a refund. she also cashed out mike's $60,00 401(k) and she continued to collect the disability checks that mike had been getting because of his multiple sclerosis. you kept cashing those checks for a year. >> those checks were deposited into my account, yes. >> totalling about how much money? >> about four grand a month.

>> that must have helped. >> it did. >> so the argument could be made that you made some money out of this. >> so are you implying that it was -- it was because of that that it occurred? is that what you're implying? >> i'm not implying it. i'm saying you made money out of the death of your husband. >> i did not make a substantial amount of money out of the death of my husband, no. >> it was now the job of prosecutor david waymeyer to put together a case for a jury to hear. >> covering up the crime i think would be our best evidence in terms of trying to convince a jury that her intent at the time of the killing was something along the lines of a premeditated murder. >> but the prosecution found itself in a rather unusual predicament. eight years had passed since the shooting, and in that time the statute of limitations had run out on any charge other than first-degree murder. that meant, in order to get any conviction at all, prosecutors would have to prove to a jury,

beyond a reasonable doubt, that ellen snyder planned mike snyder's murder. and with no crime scene and little in the way of forensics, that was going to be hard to prove. so, in her view, it was self-defense, but maybe she was guilty of manslaughter or second-degree murder. but you couldn't prosecute her for either of those offenses. >> that's correct. the statute of limitations here in new mexico on a state case like this prohibited us from going forward on any of those lesser types of offenses. >> ellen snyder's defense attorney penny adrian knew a first-degree murder conviction could mean a life sentence for ellen but felt the prosecution would have a tough time making their case. >> the premeditation would be hard to prove, but, even harder, would be to prove that she did not act in self-defense, given all the things that were going on with mike. >> adrian says ellen acted,

after years of emotional and physical abuse. this guy was treating her horribly. >> that's right. and had been for a long, long time. >> and she couldn't leave him? >> no. no. and that's what the cycle of abuse is all about. there's an isolation. there's a dependency. there's a demeaning factor. and those things all go together until the abuser has turned the abused into someone who thinks that he or she -- because it happens both ways -- is a worthless person. >> would ellen snyder spend the rest of her life behind bars? or had she committed the perfect murder? is it possible she's going to walk? >> i mean, it's certainly possible in this case. >> she could walk away from this. >> she might have committed first-degree murder and gotten away with it.

>> i know that it has to happen mike snyder's side of the family had spent many years waiting. they'd waited for mike to call after he disappeared. he never did. they'd waited for the police to call when investigators first said they'd look for him. that didn't happen either. and, finally, years later, with ellen snyder sitting in jail, facing a murder charge for killing mike, they waited for justice. mike's sister terri. >> how could you look at us, the family, in the face and tell us that you have no idea where mike is at or you just spoke to mike and mike is doing just fine? >> thus, giving all of you hope. >> thus giving all of us hope. it's beyond me how any one person can do that. it's unimaginable. >> finally, ellen snyder would pay the price for the murder of mike snyder and the cover-up that followed. at least that's what mike's side of the family fully expected.

but there was that problem with the statute of limitations expired on anything less than first-degree murder. there was the chance ellen snyder could be found not guilty. mike's family was willing to risk that. >> we felt that strongly that it was premeditated, and, you know, that was a gamble we were willing to take. >> but when it comes to murder, prosecutor david waymeyer isn't willing to gamble. >> maybe she gets convicted of first-degree murder and maybe that's what she did all along and that would have been justice. but with an all or nothing where you're trying to convince beyond a reasonable doubt 12 jurors -- >> you didn't want to roll the dice. >> that's a huge risk to roll the dice and not have somebody held accountable at all for the death of another human being. >> and it was a risk for ellen, too. she knew that going to trial could mean a possible life sentence. one month before the case was set for trial, prosecutors offered ellen a plea deal, which she accepted.

ultimately, ellen snyder agreed to waive the statute of limitations restrictions and plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, admitting that she shot her husband. she also pled guilty to tampering with evidence for the burying and concealment of mike's body. >> falsifying tax returns. >> and to one count of tax fraud for filing mike's tax returns after his death. in all, the maximum sentence possible was not life in prison but just 11 years. mike's side of the family was devastated. so whether she's sentenced to 4 years, 5 years, 8 years, 11 years, she's still getting away with it in your view. >> she's definitely getting away with murder. nothing is going to be long enough for us. >> this past july family and friends of both ellen and mike gathered in the district courthouse for ellen's sentencing.

ellen's son michael was there in support of his mom, just as he had been on the day she shot her husband. michael was still a minor when the killing happened and so, in exchange for his cooperation, he was given immunity and faced no charges. as we sit here, you're about to go into that courtroom and a judge is going to pronounce sentence. >> yep. >> you ready for what's coming? >> how do you say you're ready for that? i know that it has to happen, and i know it has to happen for this to be over. so i don't know that i can say yes, i'm ready, but it's going to happen. >> we have what became eight years of concealment, of lies. >> the prosecution asked the judge to give ellen snyder the maximum sentence of 11 years.

>> she could have been looking at a total of 339 years. >> ellen's defense attorney asked the judge for some leniency. >> she does ask, your honor, that the court sentence her to five years in prison, which will allow her to at least be at her daughter's graduation from college. >> the judge addressed ellen directly, focusing on that construction waste she had buried on top of her husband's body. >> it was reported that you unceremoniously threw trash in the same hole that mr. snyder had been placed. >> and, with that, ellen was given the maximum sentence of 11 years behind bars. >> ms. snyder, hopefully once you are released you can get things together and go forward in life. >> and she hopes to. but, for now, ellen says she worries most about her children,

daughter elizabeth now a 16-year-old high school junior. she was only 6 when her father disappeared from her life. you told her you had been lying to her all those years. >> i did. >> what did she say? >> she was most concerned about losing her mom. she's been to see me every week. she's such a remarkable young woman. she loves me. >> but ellen says the greatest regret of her life was putting her son michael in the middle of a cover-up. you said that you always looked out for him and that he always looked out for you. >> i didn't do such a good job. >> you didn't. >> and he's such a remarkable man. >> i know you wish you had shielded him from that. >> yep. >> i get the feeling you have way more regret about that than about what happened. >> absolutely.

the shooting happened for a reason. the shooting happened. it was too much to give michael. >> no one but ellen snyder will ever know exactly what happened inside the walls of that dream home in the early morning hours of january 2002. that will forever remain a mystery. but one thing is clear -- ellen snyder is something of an expert on how to live a life of secrets and lies. one thing we know about you for sure is that you're pretty good at telling a lie. >> okay. >> and the truth is, if you hadn't fired the wrong person, i think you'd still be telling that lie today. >> you're right. i can't dispute that. >> you have some sense of regret now? >> absolutely.

i'm sorry that it ever happened. i'm sorry for mike. i'm sorry for my family. i'm sorry for his family. harass point or is it? after refusing to back alabama's roy moore -- >> the president said if the allegations are true then that roy moore should step aside. >> president trump decides to stand by his man. >> i can tell you one thing for sure, we don't need a liberal person in there, a democrat. >> while democrats face their own crisis, do they force out a popular senator who admits to inappropriate behavior? >> and he stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast. >> as well as their longest serving house member. and what message are they nd