43: His Family Vanished…Then He Said THIS at Dinner | Jennifer and Abby Blagg

"We're going to get out, the children will become poor and the people in my life are good thing right now." Usually when people commute to work, they have a pretty routine after work type schedule. Whether it's they go to the gym, they eat dinner at a certain time, they walk the dogs, they help kids with homework. I mean, whatever it is, it's usually built into the structure around their commuting hours. I know for me, I know like when I have to leave in order to get to school pick up, what I'm going to do if I have to get to swim, how what time I need to leave in the morning to hit all my markers and still get here in time to record. So it's almost like if you commute or have a heavy commute, I should say, you have to build your entire day around that and slot things in. And for Michael Black, his evenings were usually pretty predictable too. He got home around 4 p.m. from his job at a manufacturing company and his wife Jennifer and daughter, six-year-old Abby would be there. Jennifer was a stay-at-home mom, little Abby was in first grade. So by the time he got home, Jennifer and Abby usually were already there too. The three of them would spend time together as a family and then they would settle into their normal night time routine. Usually Michael would walk through the front door and Abby would just immediately come running over, super excited to see her dad, tell him all about her day, just jump on to him. But on November 13th, 2001, something was different about that evening. Michael walked through the front door of the family's home in Grand Junction, Colorado, but he wasn't met with a running six-year-old or a wife saying, "Hey, dinner's almost ready or anything like that." He was met with silence. The kind of silence that is so eerie and unpredictable that it almost is loud if that makes sense. So he waited for the sound of Abby's footsteps that would be running toward him, but there was nothing. He also didn't hear his wife Jennifer watching TV. He didn't hear her in the kitchen starting dinner. He didn't hear anything at all that he normally would. It was definitely strange. Now to play Devil's Advocate, maybe Jennifer and Abby just had to run to the grocery store and grab something really quick. Except when Michael looked into the garage, the family's minivan was still parked there. So then he wondered if maybe they were outside, but they weren't there either. And honestly, this was mid-November in Colorado. It was already getting very cold outside, not exactly the kind of weather where you would just be like casually hanging outside for hours. So then Michael walked further into the house, and he noticed Jennifer's purse lying on the floor. It was tipped over right there on its side with the contents of it completely dumped out and scattered around on the floor. So Michael started yelling out, Jennifer, Abby, where are you? Are you here? But no matter how loud he got or what room he checked, there was no response. The house felt completely empty. As he searched room to room, he eventually made his way into the master bedroom. He and Jennifer's room. And when he walked in, it looked completely different from the way that it had looked that morning when he left for work. To put it bluntly, it was a disaster. The bed that Jennifer normally made every single morning was completely disheveled. There also appear to be blood on the sheets. But when Michael got closer, he realized it wasn't just a small spot of blood. It was a big red stain that had already dried. It also looked like someone had completely rummaged through the room, tossing aside anything that they deemed worthless. Only photos, documents, birth certificates, all of it just crumpled up and scattered across the floor. And Michael knew immediately his wife, Jennifer, she never would have left things like this. So he searched high and low all throughout the entire house. But Jennifer and Abby were nowhere to be found. And honestly, just imagine walking into that scene for a moment, blood on your bed, your wife's purse dumped out on the floor, your family missing when you know that they should be home. So at 4.21 p.m., Michael called 911. What's going on? I just got home from work and there's blood all over the bed and there's stuff all over the floor. My family's gone. My daughter and my wife are here. Okay. Calm down. You're at 22.53 p.m. current? Yes. Okay. Hold on. And the blood's on the bed? Yes. that door is open. These are messed up in your house. Just in the master bedroom, it looks good. How old is your wife? She's 34, she'll be 35 this January. And how old is your child? Oh God. Okay calm down. Is your wife's car out front? Mike? Okay. Yeah, my car is. Is your wife's purse or anything there? Does it look like she had time to grab her purse? Does it go straight on up the floor? You have her purse? Okay hold on. Have you touched anything Mike? The door is in the front door. And I touched the garage door to look into the garage. Okay, and the phone, correct? Okay, don't touch anything else. Okay? Can you tell me about the blood? What does it look like? Does it look like it? Somebody lay here in blood? Does it look like it was splattered? Yes, it's a big, big pool of blood about where they would be and then it stripped all down the side of the bed on the floor. As soon as first responders arrived at the house and saw the condition that it was in, they knew that this was serious. It would have been one thing if the home was just messy or if Jennifer's purse had even been rifled through, but the amount of blood on Michael and Jennifer's bed, that immediately made investigators realize that this was something far more severe. There was enough blood that you really had to start wondering whether someone could have even survived what had happened there without receiving immediate medical attention. So right away, a search for Jennifer and Abby began. And the secrets that were about to be exposed, it would take this case in a direction that nobody saw coming. Hey guys, I'm Annie Elise. This is 10 to life. Hit that subscribe button, hit that like button, and let's jump right in. Now if you think back to that 911 call, Michael mentioned something pretty important. Abby's school clothes were still laid out for the next day. So detectives quickly learned that Abby had never even made it to school that morning. So the investigators were already starting to piece together a timeline of figuring out what had happened because the truth was whatever happened to Jennifer and Abby, it hadn't happened 30 minutes before Michael got home or an hour before Michael got home, it likely happened shortly after he left for work that morning. Now the mostly dried blood around the bed, it seemed to support this timeline as well. Michael told the investigators that throughout the day he had periodically called home trying to reach his wife, Jennifer, and every time she didn't answer, he left a voicemail on the answering machine, hoping that she would call him back. But she never did. The first call came in around 7 a.m., likely right after Michael got to work. And in this voicemail, he said, "Good morning, gorgeous. It's just me calling to see how you and Abby are doing." Now that to me stands out because either he is the best husband and father on the planet and like super attentive and just loves his wife and daughter so much that he's calling to check in at 7 a.m. or this is a Scott Peterson situation. He barely just left the house but he's trying to leave a digital footprint and trail of him checking in and trying to seem like the doting husband. Which one is it? I mean, it could go either way, right? Now we don't know exactly what time the second call came in, only that it was sometime later that morning. Again, Jennifer didn't answer this call either. So Michael left another message. This time saying, "Hey, where are you? Just calling to see how you're doing." Then around noon, he called for a third time. Once again, no answer. So this time he left a message saying, "Hello, my beautiful bride. I hope you're having fun. You're out and about doing all kinds of cool and nifty things." Which I'd really be curious to know at this point, how often these types of voicemails were left, right? Because again, you're either an A plus star husband or you're doing something shady and you're trying not to get caught. So then around 3 p.m., a few hours later, Michael called home one last time. Jennifer still didn't answer. So he left another voicemail saying, "Man, where are you guys? I hope everything's fine." Things okay, I love you, I miss you, and then the message just ended. So now the detectives had even more of a timeline to work with, right? They had these missed calls, these voice mails, they could start building things together. And the truth was, there was only a short window of time between Michael leaving for work, and then that first phone call coming in at 7 a.m. Yet based on the scene inside the house, it already seemed like so much had happened. Just thrown about, the sheets just shuffled, blood, like how did so much happen in such a short window. According to Michael, the night before had been completely normal. He said that he got home from work at around 3.30 p.m. that afternoon, which was a little earlier than usual. Abby his daughter greeted him at the door, the family then spent a few hours together, and by 7 p.m. it was Abby's bedtime. So Jennifer laid out Abby's school clothes for the next day, a yellow, long-slave shirt, and dark blue floral pants. And then she and Michael tucked Abby into bed together. Michael later said that he's saying this little light of mine to Abby, because it was her favorite song. So then after Abby went to sleep, Michael and Jennifer spent some time in separate rooms unwinding for the night, which I've seen a lot of speculation out there about like, oh, why are they in separate rooms when like their daughters finally asleep, and I'll just be honest with you. Me and my husband are, we don't sleep in separate rooms, well, sometimes like we'll like, trade off and sleep with the kids, but like, once we put the kids to bed, and once they have dinner, I like to watch my reality TV. He likes to like, do trail running videos or whatever the heck he's watching. And we are into totally separate areas, like, and maybe it's not the most healthy. I don't know, but I don't see it as a red flag because I myself do the same thing. Michael also remembered Jennifer talking on the phone with a friend about having lunch plans the following day together. Then, not too long after Abby went to bed, Jennifer and Michael went to bed as well. The next morning, Michael woke up early, got ready for work, started gathering his stuff, and he claimed that when he left the house at around 6am, Jennifer and Abby were both still sleeping in their respective rooms. And according to Michael, that was the last time he ever saw either of them. So what happened to Jennifer and Abby was someone watching the family's home waiting for Michael to leave before then entering and destroying what appeared to be a happy, stable family life? And if so, why? Now, let's talk about the family a little bit. The blags were relatively new to the grand junction area. Jennifer and Michael had met back in the early 1990s when Jennifer was attending National University in San Diego, California, and Michael was serving in the Navy. One night, the two of them ended up at the same party. And from the moment that they met, there was this instant connection. They just immediately fell head over heels. Jennifer's friends said that one of the things that had attracted her the most to Michael right away was how seriously he took his faith and his relationship with God. Religion had always been incredibly important to Jennifer as well. So she knew she wanted a partner who shared those same values. And Jennifer was also more traditional in a lot of ways. She really wanted someone that she felt could provide for her and protect her family. And to her, Michael checked those boxes. He was hardworking, disciplined, and had this long history in the Navy. And at least on the surface, they seemed like the perfect match. In love, happy wanting the same things. And by 1991, Michael and Jennifer were married. And according to Jennifer's mother, Marilyn Conaway, Jennifer was incredibly happy during that time in her life. She could tell that her daughter was truly in love. And as a parent, that was the most beautiful thing for her to witness. Michael's mother, Betsy, said something very similar too. She and Michael regularly wrote letters back and forth. And in those letters, Michael constantly talked about how much he loved Jennifer, how happy he was, all the things that they were doing together as a couple. Betsy later described their relationship as a real-life fairy tale. So after getting married, Michael ended up retiring from the Navy. He was a Persian Gulf War veteran who had worked as a helicopter pilot. But he felt that that chapter of his life was over now. It was time to settle down, time to focus on building a family life. So the couple moved from California to Simpsonville, South Carolina. And honestly, that's where it really seemed like they started to put down roots. This felt like more of their home base and where, not where they were going to be forever because we know they went to Colorado. But they found close friends, they became involved in their church community. And in 1995, that's when they welcomed their daughter Abby into the world. And Abby was absolutely adorable. She had this little blonde bob haircut that was like peak late 90s early 2000s energy. Family members described her as bubbly, friendly, constantly singing. Apparently she would literally just wake up singing and go to bed singing. Relatives even joked that Abby was basically Jennifer's mini-me. She always wanted to match her mom and do whatever Jennifer was doing. Now while living in South Carolina, Jennifer taught a woman's Bible study group. As I said, she was very involved with the church and faith was very important to her. It was important to Michael too, and Michael co-taught at a Bible school as well. So overall it really seemed like Simpsonville was going to be the home base for them. That's where they were going to settle down. That's where their life was going to remain. But then, like life happens for so many families, things shifted. Michael got a job offer that just felt too good to turn down. It was an operations manager position at a manufacturing plant. And it was great on paper or the perks, the benefits, the salary, but the only problem was that the job was in Colorado. So in 2000, the family packed up their lives and they moved to Grand Junction. Now Jennifer had genuinely loved living in South Carolina. She felt comfortable there. She had friends, community, you know, people who she was familiar with and close with. So understandably, she wasn't exactly thrilled about this move. But she also wanted to support her husband, Michael, and to support the opportunities that this new job could bring for their family. So they picked out a home in a quiet, cold, assac neighborhood, signed the lease and rented it. Most of the neighbors were either older couples or families with kids of their own. So that would be great because they were raising their daughter as well. And the neighborhood was considered safe. The kind of neighborhood where people knew each other, they waved from their driveways and they generally just looked out for one another. Now because the blags were still relatively new to the area when this whole thing happened, investigators had a lot of questions. Had they really been there long enough to make enemies? Was this random? Was this a burglary that somehow escalated into something far more sinister? Now right away, investigators noticed several things about the crime scene that jumped out at them. There was the bedroom with the belongings scattered everywhere. There was Jennifer's purse that had been dumped out on the floor, which it almost looked like whoever had been inside that house had gotten what they came for and then left super quickly. But if that's the case, the obvious question becomes, what exactly were they looking for? And then there's the biggest piece of this puzzle, right? Jennifer and Abby themselves being gone. Because honestly, as awful as this sounds, if someone breaks into a house, planning to steal things and then unexpectedly realizes that people are home, most of the time, they either flee immediately or they do something to eliminate eyewitnesses. And look, it's not impossible, but it does seem unusual for someone to intend to commit a burglary and then suddenly decide to abduct both a mother and her child. And there was something else in this. It was also felt that while, yeah, the scene looked messy. It was a little too messy, too perfectly messy, almost like it had been staged. It was as if someone wanted law enforcement to walk in and assume that there had been a break in. But that wasn't the only thing about the scene that got their attention. It was the details that they discovered about the blood. Investigators found that blood evidence in Jennifer and Michael's bedroom, especially strange. Because there was blood concentrated all around the bed, but nowhere else. No drag marks leading from room to room. No trail suggesting someone had been moved through the house. No blood drops on the walls, the floors, or any other part of this home. And with the amount of blood that was found on the bed, investigators believed that if it had belonged to Jennifer, which they suspected that it did, then whoever had been injured likely would have continued bleeding while being moved, yet there was no evidence of that. So detectives started wondering if the answer to Jennifer and Abby's disappearance had less to do with the condition of the house itself, and more to do with the people inside of it. Was this random? Or was this personal? During Michael's very first interview with investigators on the day that Jennifer and Abby had disappeared, detectives were already carefully analyzing everything that he said. In fact, that initial interview, it lasted around five hours. According to the lead detective, Michael came across as a very common collected. He wasn't hysterical, he wasn't frantic, and honestly, he didn't even see him particularly. >> Thank you, Lerley, emotional. >> Wanko, what, how did that go? I get up at 5.30, you can't get dressed. Is that what time you got up this morning? It's 5.30. And who is there? Who is in the house when you got up? >> Jeff Brennan. They're both late in the '60s and '30s. >> Okay. >> And does Abby speak with you guys? Or does she have her own lines? >> He's got her. >> I don't know if it's a terrorist. And you say that, can I assume your bedroom's downstairs? >> Yeah. >> Okay, I am dead in your house, so you're going to have to. The master bedroom's downstairs. And I get up at 5.30, and we have a downstairs bath that's kind of a guest bath. And the night before, I put all my clothes in there. So when I get up, I close the door to the master bedroom and go change. So I don't disturb dinner. I'll get the dress. >> Okay. >> Then it's fixed. And I go, there's a clothes. Abby's door to see who speaks with it open. >> Okay. >> All right. And then I get dressed. And I will breath it sometime. It kind of not. And I'm sorry. This morning when you closed Abby's door, was she in that? >> I think. >> The detective later said that it almost felt like Michael was being interviewed about witnessing a traffic accident. Not being interviewed about his wife and six-year-old daughter vanishing from their home. And there's one moment from that interview that really stood out to me and stuck with me for some reason. Because investigators start asking Michael about Abby's allergies and her health history. And he just calmly explains the different things that she's allergic to. >> She is allergic to a grant. So if you're going to roll around the grass to play, to play that, you'll have to give her some -- we get it's my view to all the dealer that we give her some time. But other than that, she is just. >> No other allergies, just blood and grass. I mean, you know, we found that the powdery cheese, like architos, and nachos, potato chips, or corn chips, she had problems with it. So you type all you can to that -- other than all the things we found the powdery, problems that are in watching it. >> It's hard to ask. >> Just me and her allergic type. >> Right on. >> Now what got me with this is the way that he's speaking. It just feels so normal. Like, if you watched that clip with zero context, without knowing that she was missing or that anything happened, you'd probably think that he was casually just talking to a pediatrician during a routine appointment. I mean, not discussing a child who was potentially in danger. And look, I'm not trying to shame. Everybody reacts differently to trauma. I get that. I fully understand it. But personally, if my husband or one of my kids were missing, I would be beside myself. I would not be sitting there sounding calm and composed. I would be rattling off everything I knew. What my kids look like. Yes, they're allergies, all these things, but also with a frantic tone of voice that you can't help when you are scared and in fear. And the detective even told Michael something similar at one point. Saying that if he were in Michael's shoes, he'd probably need to be hospitalized and sedated. >> I have this strange feeling, and I can't put my finger up. And I don't know if it is because of your religious beliefs and your military training that you handled or are handling this extremely well. As in, I'm not sure if my child and my wife were gone and I came home and saw the things that you saw. If I would not be at St. Mary's right now, being medicated in reference to this. And in one part of me, it concerns me, and the other part of me is saying, he's doing the things he needs to do to get through this. Any insight there? I think I'd be able to give me? It's only through the strength of the voice spirit, and I'm able to be sitting here in front of you right now. Every fiber, every core member of my body wants to scream out and shout and grab somebody by the neck and say, you did it. And, Tara, I'm winning from Lynn. We're talking about the two most important people in my life are metting right now. And you're both bothered. You both know the situation. I'm telling you, I'm concerned how is my mind about Abby? Because of the lack of harmful evidence. What was it that I thought in there that she could be being abused in ways that I don't even want it? I don't even want to have go through my head right now. And my number one concern, we get into the point where you guys say, all right, let's go find the person that did it. I know you guys are great at that now, but that's good. That's exactly what I was saying. You want to take our focus on you. Not that we're not working out with questions, but our job is focused on you to make sure clearly you want to picture that loop. Now, what makes it even more interesting is that when Michael initially called 911 earlier that day, he sounded genuinely distraught. Like he was crying or had been crying, he sounded confused, worried. Every emotion that you think a person would feel and be in that situation. But then, only a few hours later, during the interview, his demeanor felt noticeably different. And remember, this wasn't weeks later, and after a lot of time had passed, this was the same day, right in the middle of all of the chaos and all of the uncertainty. And honestly, I feel like as more time passed, I probably would have become even more panicked if it were me. Your mind would start spiraling, you would be going into every possible scenario, and you would just be panicked. And what's crazy is that Michael himself actually brings that up during the interview. At one point during the interview, he tells investigators that he's starting to think about the possibility that if Abby was still alive, whoever took them could potentially be hurting her. As if it was like he was trying to imply sexual assault or child trafficking. I mean, I haven't got a clue who would have any merit in their heart at all, or anyone at our family. Having a beautiful little girl, a wonderful, energetic little girl. I didn't see any blood in her limb. When I was up there, some scary thoughts go into my mind about what could be happening or could have happened to her. There are sick people in this world. Honestly, I would rather not let my life go to where some of those things were the scenarios. Throughout the interview, Michael repeatedly insisted that he had no idea what happened, or who would want to hurt Jennifer and Abby. But when investigators started asking questions about his marriage, well, it felt like he became a little more guarded. He admitted that, like any couple, they did have bumps in the road over the years. But according to him, they had worked through all of those issues, whatever, you know, they were. At one point, he even said, "You won't find anyone who loves each other more than we do. It's a wonderful marriage." So, if any problem you get having, well, we have a very good marriage. Tell me about it. Well, we're very loving. We're very open with each other. We talk about everything. When we talk about what happens at work, even mundane, little, nothing, things. When we talk about that, we're very, we're very open with our affection for each other. We genuinely care what's going on in each other's lives. We do whatever we can to help the other person through any kind of issues they're going on. If I have a bad day of work, I mean, she is there for me to help talk me through it, or if I could get from my screening or, you know, just a little thing that add up to show what an incredible love we have for each other. The whole handle, all the time. Whenever we go, we play. I pick up on it because she tried to get between us all the time and hold hands with all of it. We're just a very loving, affectionate family. More often than not, if we had an argument, it was typically a good nature argument, and we could end up talking our way through that, whatever it was. You know, we had a golden rule, don't go to bed angry. So we would talk it out before, before we sometimes are late nights, but sure that we'd talk it out. And when investigators just lightly started floating the possibility that Jennifer may have been involved with another man who could have taken her and Abby. or staged the scene to look like a kidnapping, Michael shut the idea down pretty quickly. He acknowledged that, yeah, technically anything was possible, but he said that he had never once suspected Jennifer of being involved with anybody else, and he didn't believe that that scenario made any sense whatsoever. Even a role possible, that your wife is not someone else, man. Everything inside me says, no, but if you ask, is there a remote possibility, I can't get some permission, no, I have no permission, you never have that. Now at this point, Michael wasn't under arrest, or even officially considered a suspect. They were just asking him questions, right? They always look at the spouse first, so interviewing him was simply a standard procedure. He was the husband, the father, the person who found the scene that called 911. He didn't even have a lawyer present during this interview. Still though, investigators had to ask the obvious question. Did he have anything to do with Jennifer and Abby's disappearance? And multiple times throughout the interview, Michael acknowledged that he understood why they had to ask him this, but he continued to firmly deny having any involvement whatsoever. "If something happened last night, it was bad so that you need to tell me not who he just was." I didn't. I appreciated the question he had, I understand the need for it, I don't like the need for it, but I do understand it. I would have to ask the same question. He would be living and his dream is on my side as far as saying it, because somebody they know. Looks like robbery, but yeah, that doesn't fit with her. Let's say she did walk in at 3.30 in the robbery, what's going on? Why would it be blown away? I mean, none of that makes sense, and then you're right back to where you got her. Why would she never call back? I mean, I called her all day long. I know. That too presents an interesting problem because you called it at 7.705.9.12.3, and you go home at 4, but the venom is seen going in there at 3.30. You come home to what appears to be a crime scene. That goes to pretty strange scenario, but as you paint it, that is pretty strange. So days go by, and during the first week after Jennifer and Abby disappeared, investigators launched multiple searches throughout the area surrounding the family's home. Search teams combed through sectioned off areas, sent dogs searched nearby fields and trails, and investigators even searched areas around the Colorado River itself. But despite all of those searches, investigators found nothing. The community was shocked, and people desperately wanted answers. News stations across the area, even in towns hours away, they were all covering the disappearance of Jennifer and Abby. It was non-stop news coverage. And almost immediately, people in the public started pointing fingers at Michael. Not because there was any specific evidence against him at that point, but more so, just because he was the husband. And statistically, we know that people tend to look closest to home in cases like this. That's where they look first. Still though, investigators made it very clear that there were officially no suspects, including Michael. Meanwhile, Michael was doing media interviews of his own, trying to not only defend himself, but also plead with the public for help finding Jennifer and Abby. I've got some great hopes that we're going to find something out. Like you said, somebody knows something. I have certainly had many a time when I have just been completely out of control. But I have also spent a lot of time in my Bible, and the Lord has given me a piece about this. You know that you're the first person who's a suspect, and that you're probably still an active suspect. I feel like that has to be the case, because I've been told that in excess of 90% of the time, it's a family member or someone close to the family that would do this sort of thing. Did you have anything to do with their disappearance? No, I had nothing to do with their disappearance, and it's strange to me to think that anybody could do anything like what apparently happened here. Now, as you can imagine, every single one of these interviews that he gave, it was heavily dissected. People analyzed the way that he spoke, the wording he used, his demeanor, all of it. But throughout everything, Michael maintained that he was cooperating fully with the investigators, that he had nothing to do with it, and he just wanted his wife and daughter home safely. For about a month, Michael and Jennifer's home remained sealed off as an active crime scene, and during just the first week of the investigation alone, authorities collected more than 150 bags of evidence from inside the house. But right before Christmas in 2001, investigators finally decided to release the home back to Michael. And publicly, the image that Michael presented was that of a devastated husband and a father who was returning to an empty home alone right around the holiday time. He gave interviews, talking about how Jennifer and Abby's Christmas presents were still wrapped and hidden away in the closet, waiting for them to come home. And at one point, he even refused to say what the gifts were during an interview, because in his mind, Jennifer and Abby could still walk through the door at any moment. But then, late in December of 2001, Michael moved out of the house entirely, and he told the media that he simply just could not handle being there anymore. Everywhere that he looked reminded him of Jennifer and Abby, and he still had no idea where they were and whether they were even alive. And honestly, for anyone, going back into that house, that would have been incredibly difficult. The silence alone would be unbearable. I mean, every single room, holding a memory, every corner you turn, serving as a reminder that your wife and daughter are missing. But according to some of Michael's family members and friends, the way that he acted privately inside the house didn't exactly match the devastated image that he presented publicly. Unnamed sources later claimed that Michael would invite people over and ask them very strange questions. Questions like, "Do you want to see where it happened?" Which, "Hello, who would ask that?" He also apparently would walk people through the home, unprompted, showing them where things had been found, and describing what the house looked like when he got home that day. Almost like he was giving them a tour of the crime scene, and people found that behavior very unsettling, especially considering how emotional and heartbroken he had portrayed himself in all of his interviews. Now what nobody knew at the time was that by late November, very early on in this investigation, authorities had already started closely watching Michael. Officially, he still hadn't been named a suspect, but investigators very clearly believed that there was more to the story here. So let's go through some of the things that raised red flags for them, because honestly, there were quite a few things. The first major discovery that the investigators made inside the home was Jennifer's journal, which yes, feels deeply personal and very invasive, but from an investigative standpoint, it ended up becoming a pretty important piece of evidence. Because just days before Jennifer and Abby disappeared, Jennifer wrote an entry about something that was weighing very heavily on her mind. Apparently, she and Michael had recently gotten into an argument. Jennifer didn't write exactly what the fight was about or what was specifically said, but instead she framed the entry through the lens of her faith and religion. Part of the journal entry read, "Jesus has the keys to life and death, but he's left me some keys also, health, marriage, material, and my will as to what I do with these keys. The key to Jesus' peace is to give him the key to my will, trust him with the keys he's left me, give them back and trust him with them. I'll have peace because he says I will." Now, whatever this disagreement had been about, it was clearly affecting her deeply. So naturally, investigators asked Michael about this fight, and this is where detectives really started becoming even more uneasy about him. Because, according to Michael, he didn't even remember them having an argument. In fact, during his first interview, he claimed that the last disagreement that they had was weeks earlier, and even then, it had only been minor. Now to be fair, sometimes one spouse absolutely can view an argument as more significant than the other. That definitely happens. But investigators still found it strange. I mean, clearly, something had upset Jennifer enough that she felt like she needed to process it privately through writing and through prayer. And honestly, the tone of the journal entry, it feels pretty heavy. It's all about surrendering things to God, trusting him to handle whatever burden she was carrying. Those aren't usually the kinds of thoughts that people are having over some minor tiny disagreement about, you know, taking out the trash. But investigators would soon uncover even more. When detectives first started talking to people who knew the family, more specifically knew the couple, most described them as, yes, a happy, loving couple, friends from church and co-workers had overwhelmingly positive things to say. But the deeper that the investigators dug, the more complicated the picture became. Some of Jennifer's friends admitted that they had some concerns about Michael, and many of those concerns centered around how controlling they believed he was. According to them, Michael always wanted to know where Jennifer was, who she was with, what she was doing. Which, sure, you could argue that some people are just overprotective. But Jennifer's friends, describing it as behavior that crossed the line from "protective" into "controlling." For example, they claimed that Jennifer felt like she needed Michael's approval before changing her hairstyle or cutting her hair. Friends also said that Jennifer seemed extremely anxious about keeping everything perfect before Michael got home from work. One friend even recalled visiting Jennifer one afternoon and saying that they lost track of time talking, and once Jennifer realized that it was getting close to 4 p.m., and that Michael would be home soon, her demeanor just completely shifted. The friend said that Jennifer suddenly became anxious and that she started rushing to get everything cleaned up, before essentially, hurrying her friend just out the door. Just like Michael coming home to anything less than a perfectly clean, organized house would have caused problems. And that same friend had claimed that Jennifer reached out shortly before she disappeared, asking if she and Abby could come visit her alone, specifically without Michael. The friend said, "Yes, of course, absolutely, they were welcome to come." But she also thought that it was unusual. Because the Blacks, they typically did everything together as a family. According to friends, Michael didn't even like Jennifer going shopping at the mall with friends, unless she checked in with him frequently. And while Jennifer never outright said that something was wrong in her marriage, her friends described getting this sense that there was way more happening beneath the surface than Jennifer was willing to openly admit. And there were lots of little comments and observations like that from Jennifer's friends. And together, investigators started wondering whether the marriage wasn't nearly as perfect as it appeared publicly, and then investigators found something else inside Jennifer's purse. The same purse that had been dumped out on the floor. And it was a printed out email from Michael to Jennifer. In the email, Michael wrote, "I would love to take some time to talk through the problems we are having. Do not give the devil a foothold." So I mean, clearly, there were marital issues happening. Now exactly what those issues were, that wasn't obvious from this email alone. But it directly contradicted Michael's earlier claim that he couldn't even remember them having a recent fight. Because if there were enough problems for him to specifically write an email like that out, why not just admit it to the investigators? Now remember, investigators had seized all kinds of evidence from the family's home early on in the investigation, including the family's computers. They needed a search warrant before they could go through everything, though. But once they finally got access, investigators started combing through the files, and what they found would likely explain at least part of the tension in Jennifer and Michael's marriage. Because behind the image of this deeply religious, traditional couple, there were a lot of secrets. For a couple who taught Bible study and lived a very faith-centered life, hardcore pornography was probably not something that most people expected investigators to find on their home computer. But according to the authorities, the family's computer, it contained thousands of pornographic files, many of which sources have described as, quote, "hardcore." Now when investigators confronted Michael about it, he insisted that this material was not his. It claimed it actually belonged to his wife, Jennifer. According to him, because both he and Jennifer came from extremely religious and traditional backgrounds, they had been very sheltered when it came to sex and when it came to intimacy. His word, not mine, he said, sheltered. So Michael claimed that Jennifer had downloaded this material almost as if it were educational material, essentially trying to learn how to better please and satisfy her husband. Now obviously without Jennifer here to tell her side of the story, there was no way to confirm any of that. But the investigator basically called bullshit on it being like, "Uh, okay, sure guy." He said he had a really hard time believing that Michael, a former military helicopter pilot, was somehow completely sheltered sexually. Regardless though, this discovery, it opened things up because investigators now felt like they potentially had a motive. Was this deeply religious marriage unraveling under the weight of these secrets? Was Michael afraid of what might come to light? And if so, could things have escalated far enough for him to hurt his wife, even his own daughter? Now despite the growing suspicions surrounding Michael, plenty of people still stood firmly behind him. And both Jennifer's mother and Michael's mother traveled to grand junction to support him publicly. They literally stood arm in arm beside him while reporters were grilling him with questions about Jennifer and Abby. Questions like who could have taken them where they might be, and to the public they really presented this completely united front. However as time went on, more and more things about Michael's story started falling apart. That explanation about Jennifer using this adult material to learn how to please him? While Michael eventually admitted, that part just wasn't true. For whatever reason, he finally came clean and he acknowledged that the material was actually his. And according to him, it wasn't just casual viewing either. He said that he had a serious addiction. And Michael claimed that when Jennifer discovered this material, she was devastated. Given how religious she was, he said that she viewed it almost the same as infidelity. She felt betrayed and hurt. But even then, Michael's confession, it still felt partial. Because although he admitted the pornography belonged to him, he continued insisting that Jennifer had eventually told him that if he was going to watch it, then she wanted to participate as well. An activity that they could do together so it didn't feel so secretive and shameful. Again, though, this is one of those things that is impossible to verify without Jennifer being here herself to confirm or deny any of this. So then in December, investigators publicly announced another major development in the case. The DNA testing that was found on the blood in the bedroom had come back. And it was officially confirmed to be Jennifer's blood. And while most people had already assumed that that was the direction it was going, I mean, hearing it confirmed it made everything feel even more real. Because now the questions became even darker. What exactly happened to Jennifer? Had she been stabbed, shot? Was there any chance that she was somehow still alive? And what about six-year-old Abby? Was she still out there somewhere without her mother? And investigators also revealed something else in all of this. Early on, it seemed like Jennifer's blood had only been found in the bedroom. But that actually was not true. All traces of Jennifer's blood was also discovered inside the family's minivan. The same minivan that was sitting in the garage when first responders arrived. And this was huge because investigators had struggled to make sense of why Jennifer's blood would be inside the van if some random third party had broken in and abducted her. I mean, what kind of burglar or kidnapper breaks into a house, attack someone, then decides to use the family's vehicle as transportation. Not to mention that whoever did that would have had to return the minivan back to the garage before Michael even got home from work, all without anyone noticing. But even with all this mounting suspicion, there still weren't any arrests. No one had officially been named a suspect. By February of 2002, the FBI officially joined the investigation. At that point, Jennifer and Abby had been missing for three months. And once the FBI became involved, there was definitely a shift in how aggressively investigators approached Michael behind the scenes. On February 5th, 2002, Michael was brought back in for another interview. But this interrogation, it was very different from the first one. And they questioned him for 10 hours straight. Now, during that first interview, on the day that Jennifer and Abby disappeared, detectives were approaching it and dealing with a husband and a father whose family had supposedly just vanished. But now, three months had passed, and Michael's stories weren't lining up cleanly. The evidence against him was also growing. The FBI was now involved. And investigators clearly believed that he knew more than he was saying. So it was time to apply the pressure. At points during the interview, the detectives openly accused him. Telling him things like, "You know, we know you did it. You're the one. Why don't you just tell us where they are?" But Michael, he continued denying everything. He insisted he had nothing to do with Jennifer or Abby's disappearance. He also claimed he had no idea where they were. And eventually, after 10 very exhausting hours, the investigators let him go home. And honestly, I really think investigators were hoping that the pressure would maybe break him and it would make him either have his story fall apart or it would force a confession possibly, but they still didn't have enough to actually arrest him. Then, the very next day, investigators showed up at Michael's front door again. Exactly what prompted them to stop by that day. It isn't entirely clear, but the timing, it ended up being incredibly significant. And investigators first started knocking, nobody answered. But as they listened closely, they could hear running water inside the house. So because of that, they forced the door open. And sure enough, inside, there was Michael lying in the bathtub after slitting his wrists. Next to him was a Bible, a photograph of Jennifer and Abby, and a note specifically stating that he did not kill either one of them. Now luckily, investigators had arrived in time. Michael was still alive and emergency responders were able to get him medical treatment. And later, once he was stable enough to talk, Michael blamed this self-harm attempt on the investigators themselves, insisting that the attempt was not an admission of guilt, but rather according to Michael, after the interrogation the day before, he realized two things. First, that investigators considered him the main suspect, and second, that Jennifer and Abby were never coming home. Now what's interesting is that Michael's attempt, it didn't just make investigators question whether he had a guilty conscience or not, it also became a turning point for some of his own family members and his social circle. Because for many people, the thought process now became, if your wife and daughter are still technically missing, wouldn't you want to stay alive for them? Neither Jennifer nor Abby had officially been declared dead at that point, so technically, there was still hope that they could be found alive. And even if Michael personally believed that they were gone, wouldn't he still want justice for them? People also started noticing that while Michael was very vocal about defending his own innocence publicly, he wasn't especially active in the actual searches for Jennifer and Abby. He wasn't organizing search parties, hanging flyers everywhere, or constantly out looking for them himself. Not to mention, friends had been reporting behavior from Michael that they found incredibly unsettling. In January of 2002, just one month before this self-harm attempt, Michael went out to dinner with a group of friends. They were drinking, they were hanging out, and according to those friends, Michael drank multiple beers that night, which they had said was very unusual for him because they didn't consider him much of a drinker. But the alcohol wasn't the only thing that stood out to them, or even really the primary thing that stood out to them. What stood out to them the most was something that Michael allegedly said during the dinner. While sitting at dinner with his friends after drinking a few beers with his wife and daughter still missing, Michael reportedly leaned back in his chair and said, "I'm lucky to be a single guy, having drinks and being at dinner with three beautiful women." That's what he said. Like, how crazy is that to say that you're single? When you aren't single, you're married, your wife is missing, and she could still be out there. It's not like you divorced and you broke up, and you're kicking back drinking like, "I'm so lucky to be a single guy with you three beauties like what?" Now after his attempt, his life really started spiraling. About same month, February 2002, he was caught stealing from work, handed up getting fired over it. Then, the following month, the authorities publicly finally announced that Michael was officially the main person of interest in Jennifer and Abby's disappearance. Investigators also publicly stated that they believed that both Jennifer and Abby were victims of foul play, though honestly, by that point, I think that most people already assumed that. Still, despite all of the suspicions surrounding Michael, the investigators didn't have enough evidence to charge him. That is until May of 2002, because that's when one of Michael's former co-workers had contacted investigators with information that completely changed the direction of the case. The co-worker claimed that Michael had acted very strangely on November 13, 2001. That same day that Jennifer and Abby disappeared. According to the co-worker, they saw Michael walking through a warehouse pushing a pallet jack, which is one of those like forklifts that you use to move wooden pallets. And the one that Michael was pushing, it had two big boxes on it. They saw him taking the boxes to the trash bins at the office loading dock right near the trash compactors. And that immediately struck this co-worker as unusual. Because Michael, remember, was the operations manager. He wasn't responsible for taking out trash or hauling away discarded materials. Facilities like that usually have employees whose entire job is handling disposal and cleanup, and they're trained on it, especially if it's mechanical stuff and tools or whatever it is. So now, seeing Michael personally transporting these large boxes to the trash compactors, it stood out. And according to this co-worker, things got even stranger when they offered to help him. Michael just quickly refused saying, "No, no, no, no, I don't need the help." Now, honestly, I don't know why the co-worker waited months to come forward with that information. Maybe at first they simply couldn't imagine Michael being involved. And then maybe once he was publicly named a person of interest, it suddenly felt more important. But regardless, the investigators now started forming a theory. What if Michael had killed Jennifer and Abby, transported them in the family minivan where Jennifer's blood was later found, hidden their bodies inside those boxes, and then disposed of them through the industrial trash compactor, hoping that their remains would disappear forever inside a landfill. Then, throughout the day, according to investigators, Michael could continue calling home, pretending to be that worried, doting, loving husband, leaving the voicemails, checking in, building this image that he had no idea where Jennifer and Abby were, only to later call 911 in a complete panic when he got home that evening. At least, that's the theory that the investigators were starting to believe. So almost immediately, authorities coordinated with the landfill where the trash from Michael's workplace had been taken. Search crews began sectioning off different areas, preparing to dig through tons of garbage in hopes of finally finding answers. And the landfill search officially began on May 13, 2002. Every morning, teams would start at 7 a.m., heavy machinery would dig out these huge sections of trash, and then they would dump everything onto these flat areas where the investigators manually would rake through it piece by piece. And for days, they repeated that exact process over and over again, but they weren't finding anything. That is until June 4, the 17th day of this landfill search. During one excavation, the investigator spotted something hanging from the excavator. It was a decomposed human leg. The remains were attached to a body that was wrapped inside a red tent. And near the body was a crumpled newspaper that was dated November 13, 2001. Unfortunately, the body was ultimately identified as Jennifer. We can report to you tonight that those remains have been positively identified as that of Jennifer flag. This identification was made by a local forensic odontologist through the use of dental records. The forensic pathologist has declared the cause of death to be a gunshot wound in the manner of death is classified as a homicide. Jennifer had been shot in the left eye. The bullet was still lodged in the back of her skull. She was also wearing an oversized t-shirt, something that the investigators believed that she likely wore to bed that night. And even more heartbreaking, the retainer that she wore while she would sleep, it was still in her mouth. Meaning that this coward, this asshole attacked her in her sleep, like a true coward. And as horrific as this discovery was, investigators though now finally had what they needed to make an arrest. So on June 6, 2020. 2002, Michael Black was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. And I know what you're probably thinking right now. What about 6-year-old Abbey? Now here's the truly devastating part of this case. Investigators continued searching the landfill for Abbey's remains, but they never found anything. And based on the co-worker's story, investigators initially thought that maybe there was a strong possibility that both Jennifer and Abbey had been disposed of there together. Two bodies, two large boxes, but Abbey simply wasn't there. And honestly, this is probably the most haunting and most confusing part of this entire case. From day one, the blood evidence in Jennifer and Michael's bedroom, it painted a horrifying picture. Most people believed that Jennifer had been seriously harmed inside that house before then being removed. And investigators never found any sort of evidence in Abbey's room. There wasn't blood on her bed, there wasn't blood in her room, there wasn't even evidence tying her directly to the minivan the way that Jennifer's blood had. And near Jennifer's body, investigators found trash that connected to Michael's workplace. So if Jennifer ended up there, why hadn't Abbey as well? Now even while the search for Abbey continued, the investigators were relieved to finally have enough evidence to charge Michael after all of those months. Though his actual trial, it wouldn't begin until March of 2004. Prosecutors argued that during the early morning hours of November 13, Michael shot Jennifer while she was asleep in bed. Experts testified that she likely lost consciousness almost immediately and that she would have died within minutes, likely never even realizing that her husband was the person who shot her. According to the prosecution, Michael then loaded Jennifer's body into the family minivan, transported her remains to his workplace and disposed of her through the company trash system. They argued that the motive, it came down to control. Prosecutors believed that Michael knew that Jennifer was planning to divorce him and he just couldn't handle losing control over his family and his marriage. Michael's defense team pushed back hard, though, against that theory. They argued that some unknown predator had targeted the family, then murdered Jennifer and abducted Abbey. And according to the defense, investigators had tunnel vision from the very beginning, just focused on Michael simply because he was the husband. They claimed that law enforcement also contaminated their own investigation by zeroing in on him too quickly. But ultimately, the defense's theory, it didn't convince the jury. Michael was found guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Even after his conviction, though, Michael continued insisting that he was innocent. "I can tell you you're honored that I am innocent of these charges, and I have nothing further to say." Four years later, Michael and his legal team attempted to overturn the conviction through an appeal, but the appeal was denied. And honestly, you would think that, okay, great, that would be the end of the story. But it wasn't, because in 2014, there was a shocking development in the case. One of the jurors from Michael's original 2004 trial was discovered to have lied about their domestic violence history while filling out the juror questionnaire. And unbelievably, that single lie, it was enough to overturn Michael's entire conviction, which why jurors ever lie on things like this, I will never understand you are jeopardizing the entire case at that point. Now thankfully, this didn't mean that Michael simply was able to walk free, but he was ordered to face a new trial. And that re-trial itself wouldn't begin until 2018. And for the most part, the second trial followed many of the same arguments that the first trial did, same evidence too that had been presented during the first trial. After this time around, the defense introduced a brand new witness, a convicted felon named Thomas Fiery. Thomas testified that on November 16, 2001, three days after Jennifer and Abby disappeared, he saw Abby at a Texco gas station in Utah with a blonde woman. At the time, he claimed that he didn't think much of it. He just assumed that it was this little girl who was traveling with her mother and stopping for gas. But according to Thomas, the very next day, he was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle. And while inside the police station, he supposedly saw a missing person's poster for Jennifer and Abby just hanging there on the wall. And he claimed that he immediately recognized Abby as this little girl that he had seen at the gas station, with who he thought was her mother. Now as wild as that testimony sounds, the woman that Thomas had been with that night also testified during the retrial, but she testified for the prosecution. And according to her, Thomas was lying. The retrial ended up being incredibly nerve-wracking for Jennifer and Abby's loved ones, because what if the jury reached a different conclusion this time? What if Thomas's testimony created enough reasonable doubt? But after roughly 17 hours of deliberation, the jury reached a verdict. Michael was once again found guilty of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and two counts of theft. So he was sentenced yet again to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, devastatingly, to this day, Abby's body has never been found. At one point, investigators released an age-progressed image of Abby at 17 years old, although she would obviously be much older than that today, and realistically, investigators no longer believe that Abby is even alive. They believe that she was killed the same day as Jennifer, and that her body was perhaps hidden somewhere entirely separate from where Jennifer's remains were found. Now whether or not you personally believe that Abby could still be out there somewhere, it probably depends on whether or not you think Michael is guilty. But I don't know. And I guess it could go either way, it could be that he kind of actually reversed to Chris Watts a little bit, but it could be that knew he couldn't explain this or get away with it with his daughter, so he had to kill her too, but that he couldn't fathom desecrating her body by putting it through a trash compactor. So he disposed of her somewhere else, kind of how the girls in the Chris Watts case were put in the tanks while Shanann was buried. So again, opposite a little bit, because I personally think burial is nicer than what he did to the girls, but that's a possibility. It's a possibility that he gave her away or left her on the side of the road or did something I don't know, but I wonder where she is and I wonder what he did to her, regardless whether she's alive or not, like I wonder what he did to her that night. I can't even begin to imagine what this has been like for the rest of Abby's family, never truly knowing what happened to her, never being able to properly lay her to rest, wondering if she's still out there holding your breath, because even if investigators strongly believe that it happened, there is no definitive proof when it comes to Abby. And I think for a lot of families, that tiny sliver of uncertainty, I mean, it can keep hope alive forever. It is such a heartbreaking way to live and my heart, it breaks and it genuinely goes out to everyone who loved Abby. I mean, maybe one day she will finally be found and laid to rest beside her mother and maybe one day he will come forward and tell the truth about what happened that night and do right by his daughter who he clearly failed so horribly back then. It's just like this state of the unknown and being in like, what is it like, like a purgatory almost right, where you just don't know what the truth is and I can't even imagine being in that situation, like I said, my heart just breaks for her family. So thank you so much for listening to not only Jennifer's story, but Abby's story. And let's just collectively pray together and whether, and if you don't believe in prayer, that's fine. Like maybe just send out good energy, that answers do come and that Abby's family finally gets those answers. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of "Ten to Life." Don't forget, follow if you're listening, subscribe if you're watching and I will be back with you very soon. Until then, stay safe. Bye.