In 2016, 33-year-old Tricia Todd was reported missing after failing to pick up her daughter from a babysitter. As her family hoped and prayed, investigators found her online journal that revealed the true horror of what had happened.

In 1982, JoAnn Tate, 35, is stabbed to death in her home in St. Louis, and her children, Melissa, 7, and Renee, 4, are left critically injured; Melissa identifies the attacker but remembers something different years later.

In 2000, Mike Williams, 31, vanishes while duck hunting on a Florida lake; his boat and his shotgun are found, but not his body; 17 years later, a violent kidnapping leads detectives to suspects who had been hiding in plain sight.

In 2011, Holly Bobo is abducted from her home in rural Tennessee; the investigation goes cold for two years until a hunter makes a gruesome discovery.

Michelle Mockbee, 42, is beaten to death at work; robbery is ruled out since Mockbee is still wearing her pink sapphire ring; the case stalls until a video surfaces that blows it wide open.

Homicide detectives reveal how unique objects, often with an emotional connection to the victim, have provided vital clues in solving murder cases.