Listen on the go: Four Days investigation, narrated by Kevin Donovan of the Four Days investigation.
The investigation into the disappearance and murder of Jessica Ridgeway began on Feb. 5, 2016, with the police chief telling a press conference that the case would be classified as a homicide. In the beginning, no bodies or bodies or bodies were found. As the investigation continued, one of the first pieces of evidence that came to light was DNA from a DNA kit on the car Ridgeway’s fiancé, Mark Taylor, was driving when Taylor drove to their place of employment, the K-Mart, with a box of groceries in the car, to buy more food so Taylor and Ridgeway could eat. The police investigated whether Taylor had ever been on the run, but no one could find any evidence that he was ever on the run.
Ridgeway’s father, Steve Ridgeway, was a retired school principal with a family photo on the wall next to a photo of his daughter. The photo is the only one in his entire house that is not taken by his daughter.
The Ridgeway family has been through so much, and the police investigation of their daughter’s murder and possible disappearance has only brought them pain. On Nov. 23, 2016, Steve Ridgeway spoke with the San Joaquin County Sherriff’s Office to ask for the investigation to be halted indefinitely. On Nov. 24 that day, he made a tearful statement on Facebook, saying that because there had been so much corruption in the case, “this is a crime now against us.”
I visited the Ridgeway family on Dec. 7. The family and I sat down in a meeting room at the sheriff’s office and spent the rest of the day talking to reporters about the case. I tried to hear their story without being told their story, and I was determined to ask questions from an investigative perspective.
On Saturday, I was back with the Ridgeway family. Steve Ridgeway asked me not to reveal his identity until he had made a decision to speak publicly and have his say about the case.
“I don’t