I opened the final folder.
Mia appeared on the screen, sitting inside what looked like her closet.
Ben was beside her.
“If you’re watching this,” she whispered, “either Rick found out or Mom didn’t come home.”
My stomach tightened.
Then she explained.
Rick controlled Laura’s bank cards.
He had taken her passport.
He checked her phone every night.
Laura had tried to leave once before, but Rick found her at her sister’s house and brought them back.
Mia said he had threatened that if Laura ever tried again, no one would find her.
Then Ben mentioned a cabin.
Mia reluctantly explained that Rick had once taken them to a wooded property belonging to his family.
Behind it was a deep hole.
Rick had made Ben stand near it while telling Laura that “accidents happen when people don’t listen.”
I immediately opened the audio recordings.
There were twenty-three.
In one, Rick laughed while saying:
“You think anyone will believe you instead of me?”
In another, he threatened that if Laura left again, the children would lose both parents.
The photos were even worse.
They showed visible injuries.
A bedroom door with a lock installed on the outside.
A handgun beneath the driver’s seat of Rick’s truck.
Rope, a shovel, and fuel containers in storage.
Then I found screenshots from Laura’s phone containing threatening messages.
The final photograph showed four names written on a sheet of paper.
Laura.
Mia.
Ben.
Rachel—Laura’s sister.
A date was written beside each one.
