The local sheriff's department, in this case, let this family down from the first moment of this case. The sheriff's department's decision to make the family wait 24 hours may have prevented finding the young girl in the case alive. They then did the most amateurish search of the missing girl's car that it was rendered useless as a piece of evidence. The family had to call the FBI, the sheriff's office did not. But any evidence the sheriff's office had was so badly handled it was useless. Which made his and his wife's appearance in this episode so surprising. There was no explaining away the mistakes made by his department. After all this, it's hard to imagine they could foul up any worse. Well, then they brought the case to court against the wrong man. The local detective said things on the stand that caused a mistrial. Which was a good thing for the man they had accused! Finally, years later a cold case detective got involved. His investigation led to the proper person being charged. But the bad stuff doesn't stop there. Not only did they wind up letting the vicious murderer plead to a lower charge. It was later determined that the defense attorneys were holding back information. Important information. The sheriff and everyone associated with that office should be ashamed of themselves. And they needed retraining. But to me, the most disgusting actions were those of the defense attorney associated with the 2002 case. He should have face some form of punishment.