When a young married couple living comfortably in the sleepy town of San Marino, California suddenly disappeared, family and friends wanted to know why.

Linda Sohus, an artist, and her husband John, a Star Trek fan and a computer geek with a part-time job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in nearby Pasadena, might have left town on a secret government mission. At the very least it could have involved a more lucrative job for John on the East Coast.

It’s just that they left so suddenly. And, for a while at least, they weren’t in communication with anyone. But as days grew into weeks and Linda’s animals went uncared for, members of their families began to ask questions. Before long, someone called the police.

All trails led nowhere.

Eventually, the couple’s pickup was located in Greenwich, Connecticut.

John and Linda? Gone. And, nearly a decade later, all but forgotten. Then, bones turned up in the backyard of the home the couple shared with John’s mother Didi. Criminalists were initially baffled by the find. They wondered, were these the remains of an indigenous person or an early settler?

What detectives uncovered was a complex web of deception that left tragedy and unanswered questions in its wake. Although the case was overshadowed by events that captured the nation’s attention, eventually the truth emerged. It was a tale involving murder, lust, deceit, and trickery in some of America’s wealthiest towns. All perpetrated by one brazen conman, captured only after he was trapped by love.