Police have been scouring the woods off Kimball Road in Manchester, New Hampshire, hoping to solve the cold case of then 25-year-old Denise Daneault, who went missing in 1980.
On Saturday, they were out with K9s, and on Sunday they showed up with shovels as part of the investigation.
The mystery brought Darryl LaRoche to remember a past romance.
"I dated Denise back in 1969-1970,” he said.
He remembers only the good about her.
"She was such a sweetheart and a beautiful lady."
Joan Tremblay met Daneault when she was 15.
"She made everything fun,” Tremblay said.
Although she wished that was her only memory of Daneault, she also remembers the day she went missing perfectly.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
"She loved her two boys. They were her everything, so I knew right away that something was wrong when she didn't go pick them up when she was supposed to."
Tremblay said the possibility of this being solved is overwhelming.
"This is like real, you know... it's not a TV show. It's real."
LaRoche and Tremblay came out to the woods to speak to police, hoping to pass on any information that might be helpful.
"I heard about it in the news and I said, 'I'm gonna drive by this field,’” LaRoche said.
He only heard his former girlfriend went missing a year ago. He moved out west for almost four decades without knowing Daneault hadn't lived out the full live he expected her to have.
"I just hope they find her remains and put her at rest,” he said.
Tremblay, on the other hand, was hoping for a different ending.
"I cried all night last night."
She said seeing police with shovels in hand shattered her hope.
"Ninety-nine percent of me knew she was gone, but one percent fantasizes she was alive some place. You kind of want to keep that fantasy alive."
Police were out Sunday in what was the second day of their search.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Lucas Hobbs at the Manchester Police Department at 603-792-5519.
