Chapter 5 - THE MAN ON THE ATV
The engine in the forest belonged to Thomas Wade.
A trail camera confirmed it.
He had driven an ATV toward the cabin seven minutes after Ethan left with the twins.
Then disappeared before deputies arrived.
His attorney contacted police the next morning.
Thomas claimed:
He was retrieving his daughters.
They had run away.
He had brought them to the cabin because he believed Rachel might return there.
He denied abusing them.
Denied threatening them.
Denied knowing Olivia Brooks beyond “a woman who interfered in his marriage.”
His attorney demanded immediate custody.
Child services refused.
The twins’ condition mattered.
Dehydration.
Weight loss.
Bruising consistent with rough handling but not enough alone to identify an assailant.
No shoes.
Minimal food.
Emma told the forensic interviewer:
“Daddy said Mommy was bad.”
Ella said:
“Daddy said Olivia stole Mommy.”
Then Emma:
“Daddy said if we told Ethan, he would put us somewhere nobody could find.”
That statement changed the urgency.
Thomas was arrested on a limited child-endangerment warrant while investigators examined the rest.
Not murder.
Not kidnapping.
Evidence first.
Ethan wanted him buried beneath every crime imaginable.
Olivia’s letter stopped him.
May you like
Follow facts. Not grief.
He hated that she was still right.
