on august 7th, 1996, 12-year-old tim lyons and his friend tj dejohn headed to linden lake for an afternoon of fishing. but instead of a blue gill or catfish, the boys reeled in what looked like a skull. >> it's hard to believe that you'd find somebody's head down there, that you're just fishing, minding your own business, and you reel in some lady's head. it is just unbelievable. >> the boys left the skull on the bank, uncertain of what to do. >> i know my mom and dad, they didn't believe me. they thought i was just goofing off. >> like, a whole day passed before we even -- we went back down there and it was still there. >> this time the boys contacted the police. >> first cop that came down there was pretty much a prick. he came down there and showed us everything. he threw a rock at it and said, it's real. you boys just opened up a big investigation like we did something wrong. >> 20 minutes later, the whole police force was down there, and they had boats and everything, people scuba diving down there, searching for other clues. it was crazy. went nuts from there. >> the police scuba div