Page 2 - Mike Thinking News Today

In march of 1981 a young mother unhappy in her marriage vanished leaving behind not only her husband but her son mike junior. >> i never felt my mother abandoned me. i was never upset with her. >> really. >> i never thought she did. i dont know why. i was just upset she wasnt there. i thought she would show up at a graduation or something. >> but she didnt and at family gatherings as the years went by, thanksgiving, christmass, that awful question, why would she leave them remained the unmention...

Onion. >> i know she was going to the red onion. i never went there with her so i dont know what she was like. >> then that night in march. kids off to bed. mike junior was just a boy. 10 years old. >> i had just got a new stereo for my tenth birthday and i was listening to the headphones. >> from his bed, he could see something happening out in the hallway. >> i remember them getting into an argument, which was unusual. >> because they just didnt. >> not that i knew of. i remember her marching ...

Your kids, just let it go. tell us what happened. >> can i just have a moment? >> the judge granted a recess so mike could speak with his attorney privately. did he actually have something to confess? he returned a few minutes later. >> and were asking to continue the sentencing. >> time to think? the judge pushed back sentencing by a month. >> my hope was that he would tell us what happened, that he would tell us what he did with carol, and that he would be honest about both. >> for almost four...

Weird things about your story and it was the first time that my father really would have known i felt that way. so i was really, really stressed out about that. >> how hard is it for you to be here today? >> very. >> do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mothers disappearance. >> do i want to believe it? >> yes. >> no. >> lets assume that your dad, in fact, did kill your mom, would you want to see him punished for it? >> no, not particularly. >> he knew the ambivalence of ...

Subtle changes in mikes story chl. >> and i thought thats strange. i wouldnt think youd forget the last time that you saw your wife. >> so he went to see carols parents. her mom and her dad. >> and he looked up at me and he was starting to cry and im like milt, are you okay? and he said oh, im just so happy, i cant believe you guys are still interested in this case. >> how much did that have to do with you driving ahead on this case? that conversation? >> a lot. im the father of three daughters ...

Prove beyond any reasonable doubt, ladies and gentlemen, is that despite the fact that mike luhbahn is a decent man, he murdered his wife. of course he knew that to prove a murder had occurred he had to show the victim was, in fact, no longer alive. for that he turned to detective wallace that explained the facebook and social media presence he created for carol turned up a whole lot of nothing. >> had you been contacted by anybody either by phone, e-mail, in writing who says, you know what, ive...

Top of the first nightmare. >> this was a case where i think the family would have been more than happy to believe that carol is still out there somewhere. shes not dead and their beloved son-in-law is not a killer. >> but of all mikes family members no one was as torn as his name sake first son mike junior who loved his father, unreservedly. followed him into the family painting business and worked side by side with him for decades an confessed to detectives that like his aunt terry, he too had...

Same conclusion. >> if carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the accusation to court would be risky. circumstantial. no clear motive, a sympathetic defendant. but he decided to roll the dice. 30 years after carol vanished from her familys life on april 13th, 2011, mike was arrested for carols murder. >> when you went to the family and said were going to charge him, what was the reaction? >> mixed at best. >> mixed. thats a mild word. how about upset, horrified, mist identified. in fact, mos...

Away. odd. but memories do play tricks. anyway. it didnt seem terribly significant so the case went back into the file and got colder. mike took over the house painting business from carols dad and went on to marry carrie and have two more sons. gail and terry raised their own families and having babies started to change terrys way of looking at her sisters disappearance. >> as unhappy as you might be in your life, you might leave your husband, youd take your kids with you. >> so when you began ...

Murder of his wife carol but then he refused to talk and the investigation hit a wall. without a body, how could they prove there was a murder at all? the answer would send investigators in an unexpected direction. could facebook help them find out what really happened to carol? here again is keith morrison with secrets in the mist. >> deputy d.a. and the torrence police department cold case team believed mike killed his wife carol back in 1981. but they had one big problem. they couldnt prove c...