How Reddit Cracked a 17-Year Cold Case Police Called Impossible

The guest hadn't left, but he also would not be checking out.

She found him underneath the coat rack.

There were no signs of life.

Quickly realizing what she'd discovered, the maid ran out of the door to call the manager.

Within minutes, they placed the call that would bring police to room number five.

Responders reached the scene within minutes and began collecting evidence from the crime scene and statements from witnesses.

Much of what we know about the early investigations came from Lane Youmans, one of the original responding officers and the only official to have stayed involved in the case from its inception until its resolution.

When Youmans arrived on the scene, the man's body was already showing signs of rigor mortis and lividity.

It was estimated that he died roughly eight to 12 hours before the cleaner entered his room.

The room itself was eerily untouched.

Each piece of furniture remained clean.

The television was off, but the lights had been left on seemingly overnight.

The bedding was spotless, and there was no food waste in the trash.

There were, however, some odd adjustments to the room.

A bed cover was draped over the front window, possibly to block light from outside.

The extra towels that the man had apparently requested the day before were found in the room.

Three were scattered on the wooden desk, and the other three were still neatly folded in a chair.

On the nightstand sat eight crisp $20 bills that looked freshly withdrawn from the bank.

Beside it was a comment card that read, "For the room." They found an empty Pepsi cup and a previous day's copy of the Daily World newspaper.

But all of this revealed almost nothing about how this man had spent his weekend in the room, other than, of course, the most telling piece of evidence, a crumpled piece of paper with one word written in all caps.

Unlike the man's hastily scribbled writing on the motel registration form, this one appeared to be written with more thought.

On the check-in form, Lyle Stevik was written under name and 1019 South Progress Avenue, Meridian, Idaho under address.

However, no form of ID had been found in the room that could confirm that this was his real name and address.

Lyle used a mix of cursive and block print when filling out the registration, but on the crumpled up piece of paper, the letters were bigger and with more precise lines.

Investigators theorized that Lyle had written the word on the piece of paper to explain the scene to whoever-

The guest hadn't left, but he also would not be checking out.

She found him underneath the coat rack.

There were no signs of life.

Quickly realizing what she'd discovered, the maid ran out of the door to call the manager.

Within minutes, they placed the call that would bring police to room number five.

Responders reached the scene within minutes and began collecting evidence from the crime scene and statements from witnesses.

Much of what we know about the early investigations came from Lane Youmans, one of the original responding officers and the only official to have stayed involved in the case from its inception until its resolution.

When Youmans arrived on the scene, the man's body was already showing signs of rigor mortis and lividity.

It was estimated that he died roughly eight to 12 hours before the cleaner entered his room.

The room itself was eerily untouched.

Each piece of furniture remained clean.

The television was off, but the lights had been left on seemingly overnight.

The bedding was spotless, and there was no food waste in the trash.

There were, however, some odd adjustments to the room.

A bed cover was draped over the front window, possibly to block light from outside.

The extra towels that the man had apparently requested the day before were found in the room.

Three were scattered on the wooden desk, and the other three were still neatly folded in a chair.

On the nightstand sat eight crisp $20 bills that looked freshly withdrawn from the bank.

Beside it was a comment card that read, "For the room." They found an empty Pepsi cup and a previous day's copy of the Daily World newspaper.

But all of this revealed almost nothing about how this man had spent his weekend in the room, other than, of course, the most telling piece of evidence, a crumpled piece of paper with one word written in all caps.

Unlike the man's hastily scribbled writing on the motel registration form, this one appeared to be written with more thought.

On the check-in form, Lyle Stevik was written under name and 1019 South Progress Avenue, Meridian, Idaho under address.

However, no form of ID had been found in the room that could confirm that this was his real name and address.

Lyle used a mix of cursive and block print when filling out the registration, but on the crumpled up piece of paper, the letters were bigger and with more precise lines.

Investigators theorized that Lyle had written the word on the piece of paper to explain the scene to whoever-