Medical Detectives

In 1981, Charlotte Grabbe, wife of prominent Illinois farmer Fred Grabbe, disappeared from her farm without a trace. For three years, investigators searched in vain for any trace of Charlotte. Eventually, Fred Grabbe's former lover came forward with a fantastic tale of rage, murder, mutilation and cremation, but there seemed to be no way to test the validity of her story. That is, until a plant pathologist and a dendrochronologist conducted some tests on the plant life where the cremation supposedly occurred, which led to a surprising revelation.