A follow-up on one weird case from 2001 in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Michael Blagg, a husband and father thought to be a devoutly religious man, left for work one morning and came home at the end of his day (he says) to find his wife Jennifer and daughter Abby missing. There was a pool of congealed blood in the master bedroom, with no cast-off droplets of blood.

The evidence pointing to Michael was circumstantial: detectives found porn on Michael’s computer, which isn’t a celebrated hobby in the religious world, and some evidence of an argument the day before the murder. Investigators also discovered that he was taking equipment from his employer.

Michael Blagg attempted suicide during the initial investigation of his family’s disappearance.

Co-workers stated that on the day of the disappearance, Michael took bags of garbage to the company dumpster, which was unusual behavior for him.

Jennifer Blagg’s body was found in a landfill outside of Junction – the same place Michael’s employer sent their trash to the same landfill. Abby’s body has been found.

Blagg was charged and convicted with his wife’s murder in 2004. There are no eyewitnesses to the alleged murder, and no physical evidence to tie him to it .He was sentenced to life in prison.  He was not charged with Abby’s disappearance.

Robert Scott wrote a book about this case in 2007.

Lead investigator Steve King was elected to the Colorado state senate after his work with the Mesa County sheriff’s office, but plead guilty to several felony counts of embezzlement in 2014.

Michael Blagg was granted a new trial in June, 2014 when it was discovered that a juror lied during juror selection about being a victim of domestic violence. No trial date has been set yet – Mesa county prosecutors speculate that it may not take place until 2016.