Page 18 - Jack Proctor News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: excavation resumed for two more days. finally on the third day searchers uncovered a waterproof tarp. inside were the remains of mike snyder. >> ellen had been saying mike was in phoenix, mike this, mike that, and all along, mike wasn't in phoenix. >> reporter: for mike's family, the finality was devastating. >> to not know for eight years and somewhat hold on to hope and to have that hope finally just pulled out from under you was very difficult for all of us. >> reporter: ellen snyder sat in defense attorney penni adrian's office, knowing an arrest was eminent. >> they had found...

Mike's sister terry. but without any real proof ellen had something to do with mike's disappearance, there was nothing that could be done about those aching suspicions. >> there was nothing that could tangibly prove murder enough to get an arrest warrant for it until they had a body. >> reporter: and so another four years passed. mike's sister terry became more and more dissatisfied with the progress detective wilson was making. >> i think at first he was very zealous. he felt that you're right, a lot of this isn't adding up and i believe at first they worked very hard to find my brother. >> r...

Asked the judge for leniency. >> she does ask your honor that the court sentence her to five years in prison. which will allow her to at least be at her daughter's graduation from college. >> the judge addressed ellen directly, focusing on that construction waste she'd buried on top of her husband's body. >> it was reported that you unceremoniously threw trash in the same hole that mr. snyder had been placed. >> with that, ellen was given the maximum sentence of 11 years behind bars. >> ms. snyder once you're released you can get things together and go forward in life. >> reporter: she hopes t...

His family had waited for mike to call after he disappear disappeared. they waited for the police to call when investigators first said they'd look for him. that didn't happen either. years later with ellen snyder facing a murder charge for killing mike, they waited for justice. mike's sister, terry. >> how could you look at us, the family, in the face and tell us that you have no idea where mike is at or you just spoke to mike and mike is doing just fine? >> thus, giving all of you hope. >> thus giving all of us hope. it's beyond me how any one person can do that. it's unimaginable. >> finall...

One month earlier. she was turned down after a routine background check. >> and you couldn't? what happened? >> it was a fraud charge. >> reporter: what did you guy that got you in trouble? >> i was working for a company that i wrote a check on. >> reporter: it turns out that in the late '80s, ellen had pled guilty to embezzlement. the charges were dropped after her probation. suddenly ellen snyder's skeletons were starting to see the light of day. and while detective wilson was doing his investigative work, mike's sister terry, a co schoolteacher, was doing hers. she told the detective about ...