Newlyweds, Gaynard and Norma Widick, planned a dinner date for Friday evening. Upon returning home from work that Friday afternoon, Norma was shocked by what she discovered in their home in Alhambra, California. The house had been burglarized. The police suspected that the burglary had not been random.

Yielding to an addiction that he hid from family and friends, Gaynard set a tragic series of events in motion. Missing for over a week, his abandoned truck was finally located in Las Vegas. Norma and her mother, along with her husbands' parents drove to Vegas to retrieve the vehicle. The in-laws drove Gaynard's truck home.

A career criminal, recently released from an Oregon state prison for armed robbery, hid in the back seat of a parked car. Norma and her mother Inez climbed into their car. Forcing them at gun point, he made them drive into the desert at midnight.

Mother and daughter never returned home.