As early as Jan. 7 of this year, Linn County investigators believed Chris Bagley was dead and had possibly been murdered, according to a search warrant obtained by TV9.

Bagley was reported missing by his family on Dec. 14. His body was found last week, buried outside a home on Soutter Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids.

The warrant was for a trailer on Mt. Vernon Road SE in Cedar Rapids and was issued Jan. 7, 24 days after Bagley disappeared.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office wanted to search for evidence related to Bagley’s disappearance at this trailer since it was the last place he was known to be.

According to the warrant, Bagley left his home in Walker around 9 p.m. on Dec. 13 with a woman who was not his wife.

Bagley’s mother, Christine, said she wishes she knew what her son was up to that night.

“I’d just say, ‘Why did you leave home that night?’” she said. “He had company there. Whatever you had to go do, you shouldn’t have went and done.”

About five hours later, the woman and Bagley drove to a trailer on Mt. Vernon Road SE in Cedar Rapids.

The man who owned the trailer didn’t answer, so they left around 3 a.m. This was confirmed by surveillance video from a nearby business.

Cell phone records show Bagley called a second man around 3:30.

That man told investigators that Bagley was going back to the trailer and asked the man to be ready for the “Grand Finale.” The man said he didn’t know what Bagley meant by that, but believed he planned to rob someone.

After this, Bagley and the woman drove back to the trailer and went inside.

The man who owned the trailer told detectives that Bagley and the woman were planning on going to a drug house to get a “good score.”

The woman said Bagley and the man who owned the trailer were talking about “hitting licks,” or robbing someone, but the woman said she didn’t know who or where.

According to the warrant, Bagley was both a known drug user and seller.

The woman Bagley was with that night said Bagley and the man who owned the trailer had robbed Bagley’s marijuana supplier before. She said she believed the supplier had paid someone to harm Bagley and that Bagley had been set up. According to the warrant, Linn County investigators confirmed the supplier had a "hit" out for Bagley.

Later in the morning he disappeared, Bagley told the woman to leave and that he was staying at the trailer. Surveillance video showed her leaving around 4:30 a.m.

The man who owned the trailer said Bagley left sometime around 7 a.m., but that is not confirmed in the warrant.

Detectives said the man who owned the trailer had previously made threats toward Bagley. At one point, Bagley had been facing possible federal prosecution following an arrest, and the man reportedly said Bagley’s tongue needed to be cut out so he couldn’t be a “rat” while in prison.

The warrant said, “Based on our investigation to this point it is believe[d] that Bagley is deceased and possibly murdered.”

Bagley had been convicted of several crimes in his lifetime, including assault and arson.

His family said they believe he was trying to get out of trouble the night he disappeared, but something went wrong.

“I honestly think he thought he could fix it himself,” his father, Stewart, said. “That’s just kind of the way he was.”

Bagley’s parents said they believe their son was a good man, but there are still unanswered questions.

“We’ll never really, I feel like, know the whole truth,” Christine said.

“Because the man that knows the truth is dead,” Stewart added.