Police Discover Bodies Savagely Beaten With A Tube Sock Tied Around Necks

On the afternoon of December 12, 1985, K-mart employees reported a lost 2-year-old girl walking around alone. Crystal Louise Robertson's identity remained a mystery, and when asked about her parents, all she would say was, "mommy is in the trees." The missing mother, Diana Robertson, was discovered 2 months later, partially decomposed. She had been raped and a tube sock was tied around her neck.

When police found Crystal Robertson at a K-Mart, 17911 Pacific Ave. S.A., she was confused, lost, and would only repeat that her "mommy was in the trees."

It would take another 3 days for the 2-year-old to be identified by a nurse employed at Mary Bridge Children's Medical Center. This nurse instantly recognized Crystal and began trying to contact her family. Only the grandmother could be reached, and when she arrived, "Crystal ran to her and cried, "Grandma!"

The child was obviously no help in pointing police to the missing parents. Lt. Jeff Edmonds told the Spokesman-Review that "the real wrench in the investigation is the recovery of the little girl. She's not verbal at all. You can't communicate with her at all."

Crystal's grandmother further confirmed her granddaughter's silence by telling police all she could get was a "blank look" and that she "tossed and turned in her sleep."

Police questioned multiple shoppers in the store and some of these recall seeing Crystal with "two women and another child."

An outside bell ringer for the Salvation Army told police he saw a red truck matching the description of the father's 1982 red Plymouth with a cream-colored canopy.

With the information from Crystal's grandmother, they established an identity on both of the missing parents.

The parents

Before the Mary Bridge nurse established Crystal's identification, Steve Tew reported the couple, and his friends, missing to police.

Diana Robertson, 21, met Michael Reimer Jr., 36, when she was 17. Crystal was their 2-year-old daughter and according to family, "neither parent would have left her" alone.

Michael's father, Reimer Sr., had also reported his son missing and provided police with some crucial details about the morning of December 12th, 1985. He said that his son was a roofer by trade, but also had been supplementing his income for the past 15 years by trapping coyote, mink, fox, muskrat, and bobcat during winter.

On this chilly December morning, Michael and Diana loaded up their little red truck with their daughter and began driving to his trap locations.

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It would be 2 months before Diana Robertson's body was found. Partially decomposed and laying by Michael Reimer's truck, someone had stabbed her 17 times. Shockingly to police, a tube sock had been securely tied around her neck.

Her body was discovered on a logging road in Lewis County. There was no sign of Michael Reimer.

The inside cab of his truck told a haunting story, however. Blood stains seemed to be splashed on the leather seating.

A note reading, "I love you Diana" was "displayed prominently" on the dashboard.

Who wrote this note? And is the note even connected to the crime?

The FBI compared sample writings of Michael Reimer Jr. to the handwriting of the note and found inconclusive results.

Diana's mother Louise, however, is sure that written on the envelope was none other than Reimer's penmanship. "I have cards that he had give to her on different holidays and things... he signed exactly the same way," she told Unsolved Mysteries.