Original subtitles

Claire, they're going to come through that door any second now. I know you're

probably right.

This just isn't like Virginia to keep the boys out this late. I know, I know.

It's going to be okay.

Claire Martin's daughter, Virginia, and her two grandsons, 11 -year -old Richard

and 10 -year -old Reagan, should have been home hours ago.

The last thing she had seen was them getting into the car and waving goodbye,

and she assumed that she was going to see him in a few hours.

Oh, that's the baby. Let me go check on her, okay? I'll be right back.

Maybe that's them now.

Gerald!

Gerald was Virginia's ex -husband. He made arrangements with Virginia to come

out to his residence and bring the boys along to go bird hunting.

What happened? They never showed up. That's what happened. I waited out there

for hours.

She's not here?

No, they're not here. I'm calling the sheriff.

Well, there's no reason to panic. Why don't we take a look around?

We would feel awful silly if they just ran out of gas somewhere and we called

the law in. All right?

We'll go.

They roam around town and they look for her. They sort of just wandered around

aimlessly.

Okay, we've been driving for over an hour. Let's just stop and think for a

second. They're not on the road between our house. They're not on the road to

the lake.

They've got to be out here somewhere.

I guess I could drive back toward the town one more time.

Please.

Okay.

Okay.

When some...

A portion of your family is missing. The worst -case scenarios roll through your

mind.

Stop the car.

Stop.

Gerald, take me back home.

We've been at this for hours.

Claire. No!

No!

I'm not wasting another second.

It's time to call the sheriff.

Okay.

It really is a parent's worst nightmare.

to not know where their children are.

Sir, we have a situation.

This is... Claire Morton.

It's an emergency,

sir. My daughter and her son, my grandson, they're missing.

We didn't have that many missing persons cases.

And usually when we did have a missing person, they were usually found within a

few hours or the next day.

Do you know what kind of vehicle that they were driving? It was my station

she was driving. They were headed out to meet Virginia's ex -husband, Gerald

Uden. But then they never showed up.

Jimmy, let's check the accident reports for the last 24 hours and let's call the

hospital. I did that already.

I know my daughter.

She would never keep the boys out this late without calling. Now, I want to

a missing persons report now.

Okay. Okay.

Ms. Martin, we're going to find your daughter. We're going to find Virginia

your grandsons.

Okay.

The next day, Deputy Matthews heads to the last place he knows the three were

headed.

Gerald Uden's farm.

Afternoon.

Gerald Uden?

That's me.

You hear about Virginia and the boys?

There I am.

Thought that might be the case.

Claire probably told you, but she never showed up.

Virginia, she's... I don't know, what's the word for it?

Unpredictable? I guess that's why she's my ex -wife.

And how long were you guys married?

Long enough.

It started out good, but...

And it always does start good, don't it?

Virginia and Gerald meet in the most unlikely fashion.

Gerald?

Good afternoon. Can I help you? I'm Virginia.

We spoke on the phone about my gun.

Virginia inherited a Winchester pump -action .22 caliber rifle from her

grandfather.

She thought it was worth some money.

Oh.

Yeah, of course. Sorry. What the hell's wrong with me?

This is it. Yeah, this is it. Gerald Uden was able to help people if they

it with appraising guns.

He had been working at the U .S. steel mines in the Wind River Mountains.

He was a typical blue -collar worker here in the community.

Take a closer look.

Oh. Sorry.

Okay. Do you want to come inside and talk? Yeah.

This way, if you want to.

My Connie.

Okay. Well?

What do you think?

Hmm.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, I hate to break your heart, but this isn't worth more than my own mule

back.

What? That can't be my grandpa.

He's... How much?

Nada. Nothing.

I'm counting on this for my rent.

I'll tell you what.

How about I buy you dinner and maybe we can figure something out?

Dinner? Well, yeah, unless you're busy or... No, I mean, I could take that

offer. Yeah?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Anytime. He just can't believe that this woman walked into his life. She's

beautiful. She's mesmerizing.

So, got any kids?

Yep. Two boys.

I thought you'd never ask.

Here's my boys.

Little man.

That's Richard. That's Reagan. He's more quiet. Kind of shy.

Wow, they look perfect to me.

You know, only one thing missing from this picture.

Father.

Yeah, well.

Say, you look like you want to dance. You know how to dance, don't you?

No, not really. Yeah, me neither. Come on.

Oh. Oh. How's that?

Just fine.

Gerald Uden was seen as a gruff, gritty male.

Women were attracted to it. Say, those boys of yours, they like to do outdoor

stuff, fishing, hunting.

You know, they're not good, but they like it.

Well, I know someone who is good, so.

Now, who would that be?

Gerald connected right away with Virginia because he had always had that

to be a father.

Tell you what, I can fish better than I can dance.

Oh, there you go.

All right, all right, all right, nice and easy. Put your hand, there you go.

Oh, it got away.

All right, we'll get him the next time. All right, let's get a new bait on this

one.

Gerald was starting to be in a strong relationship with the two boys.

You got to have patience when you go fishing, boys, patience.

He was really great with the kids. He took them hunting, took them fishing,

showed them everything that he knew and kind of was teaching them all the things

really that a father would do. Boys.

I want to talk to you about something, something important.

Okay.

I think you know that I care about you boys and I love your mother very, very

much. So I want to know what you think about me and your mom getting married.

I know this is happening real fast.

I thought patience was the name of the game.

Only in fishing.

Not when it comes to life.

In life, you've got to go after what you want.

There they are.

Hey, Mom. It doesn't look like anybody caught anything, though.

Someone wasn't patient.

I bet I know who it was, too.

Genevieve, me and the boys have been talking, and, well,

we think it would be a good idea. Genevieve, what are you doing?

What does it look like?

I don't know.

Now, I know it's fast, but when it's right, it's right.

Virginia Lynn, will you marry me?

Of course.

Of course I will. Of course I will.

See, boys, that's how you catch a fish.

Come on, give your mom a hug.

And Gerald adopted the boys. They took his last name, and he began to raise

them. Beautiful.

Yeah, we got married about three months after I proposed up at the lake.

But it all went to hell, and pretty fast, too.

Can I ask why?

It wasn't just any one thing. I expect we just jumped in too fast.

Gerald and Virginia divorce.

A year later, he marries Alice Prunty, but he continues to share custody of

Richard and Reagan.

Those boys, they're still my sons. I pay child support every month.

Alex don't like it, but they're real dad. He does nothing for them.

Real dad?

Yeah, beard, jack beard.

Good to know.

I'll have to check them out.

Yeah, you should do that.

Thank you for your time.

Yes, sir.

The Fremont County Sheriff's Office launches a full -scale search for the

missing family.

We searched high and low, and we weren't coming up with a vehicle, and there was

just no trace of the entire family.

There's a lot of speculation out there. Did they pick up a hitchhiker on the way

out to Gerald's house? Did the hitchhiker do them harm?

Three people vanish into thin air.

It seems impossible.

Some in this small Wyoming town start to believe Virginia has taken her son

somewhere, and she doesn't want to be found.

Did you get the new photos? The ones I sent with the boys' school pictures?

There's one person who doesn't believe Virginia just took off without

explanation.

I don't care what you heard.

I knew my daughter, and she would never just step and leave without telling me.

Someone's here. I'll call you back.

As time went on, she became more tenacious and more convinced that her

and grandsons had been victims of foul play.

Have a good day. Thank you.

But a week after her daughter and grandsons disappear, the mystery only

A week after Claire Martin's daughter Virginia and grandsons Richard and

vanish, she receives some bizarre news.

Claire loved her daughter and loved those kids tremendously. To have them

disappear like that was just gut -wrenching. Dear Mom, I'm in trouble.

It's better if you don't know about it. I had to leave in a hurry.

There wasn't time to tell you.

Turns out Virginia may not be missing at all.

We're in Illinois now, but we're headed to stay with friends in Pennsylvania.

I think we'll be all right for a while.

It's safer for you if you don't know exactly where we are.

I love you, Virginia.

For Claire, this cryptic telegram offers a glimmer of hope.

My grandkids are okay. My daughter is okay. Even though there may be some

trouble, at least they're alive and they're well.

Before they can follow up with the mysterious letter, there's a big break

case.

Guy, this way!

Three weeks after their disappearance, Virginia's station wagon is found dumped

on the side of a mountain, 40 miles from her home in Riverton.

Someone had either driven or pushed this car off of this mountain road.

The car got hung up in some small trees and some boulders. I think they tried to

blow it up. Looks like they had a change of mind, didn't they?

They had placed a rag in the gas tank like a wick of a Molotov cocktail.

Sir, come look at this.

What do you have for me, Deputy?

The deputies find what appears to be blood in the back of the station wagon.

A test of the blood found in the car reveals the blood is type A, the same

as Virginia's.

Virginia's mother, Claire, must now face the horrible reality.

We can't find her. We have no idea where she may be.

And now finding blood in the car that she was last seen in, it would lead any

reasonable person to suspect that someone had done something wrong to her.

She knew that her daughter had been murdered.

But they can't confirm there's blood from the kids. They could still be out

there.

You know, that was the only hope driving that woman. I mean, she loved the boys.

That was her life.

Gerald Uden and his new family, stepdaughter Erica and wife Alice, are

anxiously awaiting answers.

How'd they get the pictures on there?

I remember seeing my stepbrothers on milk cartons.

Richard was different, shied away, quiet.

Reagan and I became close.

When someone is missing, they try to get as many people as they can to see their

picture so they can find them.

So no one knows where the boys are?

Erica, the police, they're looking for them.

They must be really scared.

Did they get anything on those bolos?

No. No word.

Did they find anything around the car or in the canyon?

We were looking for two days. Didn't find anything.

Except for all that blood.

Unfortunately, There's no other physical evidence leading authorities to a

perpetrator. It's frustrating.

You certainly have sympathetic feelings for those that are missing.

You worry about what may have happened to them.

So eventually the investigation leads them to people in Virginia's past.

Can I help you?

Jack Beard?

Yeah, that's me.

Police question Virginia's ex -husband.

and the biological father of Richard and Reagan.

I have to talk to the boyfriend, husband, ex -husband.

Matter of course.

Not offended, I've seen those crime shows.

Looking to see if he knew anything about them, anything about their whereabouts,

if he'd been in contact with them recently, or if it appeared that maybe

some type of a motive.

I really don't have anything to do with Virginia anymore, or those boys.

It's not what I wanted.

Just the way it kind of ended up.

Well, her mom, Claire, said that you guys used to get in a fight.

Yeah, I bet she did.

Look, officer.

Deputy.

Virginia's my ex for a reason.

But the thought of killing her or Rich or Reagan, come to think of it,

I might be a bit offended.

I'm just trying to do my job, Mr. Beard.

part of which is finding out where you were when she went missing.

If it was any day other than Sunday, I was at work.

And you could check that with my balls.

I'll be sure to do that.

Investigators confirm his alibi and eliminate him as a person of interest.

Have a good evening. And so they were able to close that chapter, and nothing

about his story was suspicious to them.

With no solid suspects, the investigation stalls.

Until the case takes a turn no one saw coming. I gotta talk to Matthews.

Let me call you right back.

All right, Gerald.

You got something on the case?

Yeah, somebody's trying to kill me.

The case of the missing Udens has gripped central Wyoming for the last

months.

And just when it looks like the investigation is going cold, they get a

from Virginia's ex -husband, Gerald Uden.

You got something on the case?

Yeah, somebody's trying to kill me.

Someone's been following me.

Okay. Any idea who?

Yeah, probably the same people who sent me that.

Our tribe is watching you.

You did harm to the family of a good woman. We will take revenge for her.

Unsigned. The envelopes have a return address on it. You know damn well who

that's from. That's from that Wind River tribe.

Where they lived, butted up against.

the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Gerald mentioned getting death threats.

Someone had sent him a letter threatening him that he better come

knows more than he was telling, and he was a little worried about that.

Was there any reason why?

No, I had nothing to do with this. I'd go to the mill, I'd do my time, and then

I'd go home to see my family. The last thing I need is someone from the tribe

coming after me, or my wife and kids.

Calm down.

When blood was found in the car that matched Virginia, a whole bunch of

that I think had originally taken his side or at least had become more neutral

on it, they turned on him and said he had to have been responsible.

Now, take a look at it, and we'll get back to you if we find anything.

Is it very upsetting to my wife, Alice?

Virginia being my ex -wife and all.

I'm mad.

I imagine it would be upsetting.

Thank you.

What are you thinking?

I think you should check out the tribe, talk to the council.

Virginia really didn't have any enemies here locally. At that point, Gerald may

be the only one that may have a motive to do harm to Virginia.

Deputies check with the residents of the Wind River Reservation, who deny any

involvement in the Uden case.

Despite his gut instinct, Matthews has no physical evidence that Gerald Uden,

anyone else for that matter, killed Virginia and her sons.

You always have to suspect foul play, and you're looking for signs of foul

but in this case, we weren't coming up with anything. No evidence, no signs,

nothing.

In 1982, Gerald Uden, his wife Alice, and Alice's daughter also move on.

Gerald lost his job, so he and Alice and little Erica moved back home where

Alice and her family were from, which was the Missouri area.

We thought it was odd that they just relocate. You know, two sons are

but again, Stillmind had shut down. He had been laid off. They didn't have a

job, and they just, you know, basically relocated.

Gerald and Alice buy a 100 -acre farm where they raise pigs and emus.

They start their own trucking company, and together they make enough money to

send Erica to private school.

They said they were going to start a new life in Missouri and make a good life

for it.

I was always provided for. I always had everything I ever wanted.

Erica, dinner's ready.

Erica!

Did you wash up?

Uh -huh.

Erica? Mom, I did.

Mmm.

Something smells good in here.

Erica, did you... I asked her, Gerald.

All right.

Let's ask for God's blessing.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of your bounty, which we have here at this

table. My mom became involved in a church, and she became a very well

member of that church. She spent a lot of time in prayer, penance, and trying

get my stepdad to become Catholic.

And please bring peace and safety for Virginia and her boys.

Amen.

Amen. Amen.

She getting excited to go back to school, sweetheart?

Boy, winter break sure did fly by, huh?

I'm ready, but I think I need one more sleepover before I go back.

Please, Mom.

Okay, but you have to tell Mary Sue she's got to come to church with us this

time. Okay.

Thanks, Mom.

I'm going to call her right now.

This looks lovely, very, very lovely.

I think once they moved, they were really able to live in the moment, and

were able to live this idyllic life.

Don't forget about tomorrow.

You already forgot.

Can I get a hint? No. Just a little one? My parents' relationship has always

been rock solid.

In my eyes, what a marriage should always be, honor, love.

A couple of nights down at the church.

I wouldn't forget something like that. How could I?

They stand together, no matter what.

Each day, month, and year that goes by, Claire Martin gets a little more

desperate to find out what really happened to her daughter and grandsons.

She did bring in a psychic from out of state.

We drove up to the area that the car had been abandoned in the mountains.

Yep, right over there.

Did you bring me something?

Yes, I did.

It's a book of family photos that Virginia loved. She looked at it all the

She was grasping at any straw that might be able to shed some light on this

case.

I see water, a stream.

She's in the water?

She's telling me to look there for something.

Is there a stream nearby?

Yeah, there is, down there.

We did, indeed, search some areas that would be somewhat close to the

description that she gave, and it just didn't pan out. The psychic was no help

whatsoever, and I'm sure that was disappointing and a letdown for Claire.

The case all but dies for 12 long years until a firecracker of

a tip comes in.

If we want to know what really happened to Virginia and Richard and Reagan, we

need to shift our focus towards another murder that we didn't even know had

occurred. One night when he was asleep, she snuck up on him.

Afternoon. My deputy tells me you have some information on the Uden case.

Yes, sir. I know something.

I think I can help.

Twelve years after Virginia Uden and her sons Richard and Reagan vanish,

investigators get a bombshell lead.

Well, why don't you tell me what you have?

Well, it started in 1974 when my mom met a guy named Holtz.

Ronald Holtz. And your mom is?

Alice Uden.

I actually know your family pretty well. Gerald Uden is your father.

He's my stepdad.

Right. So, Ronald Holt?

Right.

Corporal Holt, feeling any better today?

Yes, ma 'am.

Good.

Thank you.

Alice Uden began working in the VA center up there as a nurse in July of

It wasn't very long after that that Ronald Holt came in as a patient.

He was a Vietnam War veteran.

You're a Navy man.

Army all the way.

You know, you've taken such good care of me.

I would love the chance to take care of you when I'm released.

I like that.

You focus on getting better first, huh?

Yes, ma 'am.

Those two began a friendship, and over a matter of weeks, they develop a

relationship.

Alice is so taken with Ron Holt that they marry soon after he's released from

the hospital.

So Mr. Holt is your father?

No, I'm Alice's son from another marriage, not the one through Holt.

I never met him, but she said he was bad.

Bad.

He was crazy.

He would just go off.

He said he'd even hit her.

That's a sad story, but what does that have to do with the Udins?

Years later, Alice, my mom, told me something I'd never told anyone.

Till now.

He was a real mean drunk, and he passed out.

So they were having trouble in their marriage, and finally reaches a point

Alice just decides she can't take it anymore.

One night when he was asleep, she snuck up on him.

What are you doing?

I'm not doing anything.

You're having a nightmare.

Grabbed his rifle at 22 and killed him.

And she told her son that she had put his body in a barrel.

had taken him out, had dumped him down a mine shaft, and that nobody was ever

going to find him.

She told her family back in Colorado that Ron has just run off, and they knew

that he's crazy, so they actually bought it. No one ever asked any questions.

He just sort of disappeared, and no one ever asked why.

Well, she talked to you about Virginia and the boys?

But you're thinking that if she called him up to kill her husband, Then maybe

she had something to do with the Udins.

Her and Gerald.

She's done it once.

She's capable of it again.

This tip, the lead that they'd received, it wasn't just coming from somebody off

the street or somebody that may have knew Alice. It was coming from Alice's

son, Todd Scott.

It really was the nugget of information that the investigators had been waiting

for for so long. They had a way into Alice and Gerald.

Because if you could prove at least one crime, maybe the rest of the dominoes,

you know, would fall.

Before bringing Allison for questioning, they have to make sure Todd Scott is

telling the truth.

A search was organized by the Laramie County Sheriff's Office and coordinated

through us. They focus on a mine shaft at the Remount Ranch, a remote property

where Alice used to work in her late 20s. When animals are...

deceased on the ranch.

They take their carcass and they throw them into this mine shaft. It

was just a big garbage pit. It really is quite a perfect place to put a body

because who is going to go sifting 20 feet down in a mine shaft looking for a

body?

The first three times they were searched and all they found was animal bone.

It will take 15 years of digging before investigators finally find evidence

gold.

All of a sudden, the anthropologist says, stop, call the coroner. And

waited, just holding their breath.

The coroner compares the bones to a DNA sample of Ron Holtz.

It's a match.

It's Ron Holtz. The team also finds a human skull and an actual .22 caliber

bullet.

Agents bring in Alice Uden, now 74 years old, for questioning.

We were able to get her down to the sheriff's office for an interview, and

basically told her, we're here to talk to you about some stuff from Wyoming.

She was so cordial and was like, yeah, I'll spend my entire day talking to you

about some things that I've already been asked about a million times.

And I provide her with a photograph of Ron.

She was like, is it?

You know, that boy, I don't remember him looking like that.

Trimble zeroes in on Holtz's murder.

I show her a picture of the skull that was removed from the mine shaft.

And I ask her, do you know who this is?

And she's like, no.

I said, well, that's Ron Holtz.

We know where he is because we have him now.

So tell me what happened.

Who's from?

It just rolled right off her tongue.

Yeah, I killed him. And I was stunned.

And she explains, you know, that they had been in a fight and he had been

drinking and had been violent with her in the past and had made threats towards

Erica.

Got him into a barrel and put him in the trunk and took him up to the mine and

put him in there.

Agents then ask Alice about the 1980 disappearance of the Udens.

What we're asking you to do is to tell us the truth about Virginia and the

Today's the day to do that. I want to know where Richard and Reagan and

are.

Almost 40 years after Ron Holtz's death, Alice Uden has finally confessed to

pulling the trigger.

But that might not have been the only crime she was behind.

So what about Virginia and the boys?

I've told you everything I know about them.

I want to know where they are.

I don't know.

Do you think that Virginia and the boys deserve to be laid to rest so that they

can be at peace?

I can't talk to you. I'll give you everything I know.

They question her for hours.

Alice never cracks.

She gave me the impression that she was just a little old grandma, you know, who

had never heard a fly.

She's still feeding me the same lies that she's told for almost 40 years.

Gerald Uden gets wind of his wife's arrest while he's out on a trucking job.

He heads home right away, where the FBI is waiting for him.

Investigators play a trick on Gerald.

They let him believe that Alice has been arrested for the murders of Virginia,

Richard and Reagan, not for the murder of Ron Holtz.

I don't know how she could know anything about it, really, because...

She had nothing really to do with it.

Okay. Well, it sounds to me like we've got a lot to talk about.

He didn't want her to be in trouble, so he decided that he was going to confess

and tell him that she had nothing to do with it and it was all him. And he walks

us through the whole story.

On the day of the murder, Gerald lures Virginia and the boys to a field with

promise of doing some bird hunting.

Take one down and pass it around.

Stephanie, bottles appear on the wall. Stephanie, bottles appear on the wall.

Okay, boys, that's enough.

I'm first. I'm first. Hurry, Dad.

Okay, we got one hour.

Virginia was there.

The gun was there. I was there.

Not so fast, boys.

I shot her right square in the back of the head, and she went down.

Mom, no!

And I worked.

And I shot Richard in the back of the head.

And by this time, Reagan had decided that things were going sour, and he

running a trip, and he fell in the ditch. And I walked over to him, and I

him.

And they were all three dead.

So what did I do? I loaded them all in the back of that station wagon, and I

took them back home.

and had no idea there was that much blood in a person.

So I took him out there to the gold mine, and I dumped him in, and I pulled

back out of sight.

Another shocking revelation from his confession was that Gerald wanted to

one more person that night.

It's a hell of a thing to admit, but I probably would have killed Claire, too.

He was going to shoot her and put her in the same mine with the kids because

Claire was the only person that knew Virginia and the boys were supposed to

meet him that day.

But it just so happened that she had a friend named Marie, and Marie had a

and they were all there. And I just lost my stomach for, I've done enough

killing for one goddamn week.

One last question.

Why?

Why would Gerald Uden, middle -class family man, kill his ex and his own

son in cold blood?

He told me that he absolutely loved Alice and that Virginia was intolerable

that Virginia would try to cause issues in he and Alice's relationship.

Alice hated Virginia so much.

She kept telling me.

that, look, you can't let her treat you this way.

You let her run you like a top.

We're never going to be free of her or them boys, ever.

Alice. Gerald, you made the deal with the child support, not me.

But I'm the one paying for it.

Alice was the one who couldn't stand the thought of one more minute with

Virginia or with the kids.

Alice, I told you I'm going to take care of it. When?

Gerald, huh?

When?

I can't live like this no more.

I said I'll do it.

Finally, it just went off.

And I said, I've had it. I'm going to solve this problem.

And so I did.

Before Gerald Uden heads off to prison.

He confesses to his stepdaughter, Erica.

I said, did mom kill them?

And he said, no. And he said that he had killed them and that my mother had

nothing to do with it. And I just was kind of in shock. I was like, I'll be

damned. He did do it.

This was horrible. He killed kids.

He killed two boys who loved him.

Gerald Uden pleads guilty to the murders of Virginia.

Richard and Reagan Uden.

He's sentenced to life.

I think they should have just given the death penalty. He doesn't deserve to

live.

Alice is not charged for the deaths of Richard, Reagan, and Virginia.

Still, investigators believe she was behind the phony telegram to Claire and

that she knew all about the murders.

But in August 2014,

Alice does face a jury for the murder of Ron Holtz.

She is convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

I was stunned that people could live double lives like this, where they were

ordinary citizens with lots of friends, and I think they attended church

regularly, and they had a nice home and good jobs.

the kind of person you'd have coffee with or lunch with, and they were

murderers.

Erica must live with the fact that her parents are responsible for four murders

combined.

I speak with my dad every Sunday night.

I speak with my mom every Wednesday. I don't want my mom in prison.

Yes, she needs to be there.

Yes, she deserves to be there. Do I want her there? No.

I try to be strong.

I'm not.

I'm broken.

There is no sympathy.

They're murderers. They kill people.

They're in prison.

There is no sympathy.

And Claire Martin, Virginia's mom, she never saw the justice she so desperately

sought.

She died in the spring of 2013, just shortly before Gerald confessed to the

murders in the whereabouts of

As for Virginia and the boys, Gerald claims he moved their bodies from the

and sank them in Fremont Lake.

Despite numerous searches, their bodies have never been found.