It was 3:22 pm on March 22 1999, when Sierra County’s 9-1-1 Emergency Central Dispatch received a call from a local residential number. When the operator answered, all they could hear on the other end of the line was a muffled commotion like an altercation was taking place. Nothing distinguishable was said and the caller soon hung up.

Sensing something was wrong, the 9-1-1 operator phoned the number back minutes later and a woman answered. Sounding flustered and irritated, the woman apologised for making the initial call, brushing it off as a mistake. She insisted everything was fine before abruptly hanging up.

She lied. Everything was not fine…