The Cowboy | Paper Trail

[sheep baaing] [birds chirping] Over an hour northeast of Meeteetse, Kathy and Jerry Ewing lived on an old family ranch.

The nearest town was Shell, a town so small it doesn't even have a stoplight.

It was gorgeous.

It was a little piece of heaven, had a big deck that faced the mountain.

Jerry had grown up there, putting out hay every morning for the sheep on his parents' farm.

And we could see 10 miles in either direction and all the way to the mountain.

He and Kathy met when they were children, back in the '50s.

He was a, kind of a shy farm kid.

He didn't really have a whole lot of social skills.

In high school, Jerry worked up the courage to ask Kathy out on a date.

His best friend was dating my friend, and John, our friend, had to literally twist his arm behind his back and say, "Call her." And so I get from Jerry, "You wouldn't want to go out Friday, would you?" [laughs]

Their first date was a trip to the movies.

They saw The Pink Panther.

Three years later, they were married.

Jerry flew helicopters in the Vietnam War, and later worked as a carpenter.

Kathy trained as a nurse, and then a physician assistant, specializing in rural medicine.

They had three children.

By 2008, two years before Julie Mosbacher found the mysterious flyer in her mailbox, Kathy and Jerry were in their 60s.

The high school sweethearts still lived busy and active lives.

One day, they were hiking in the mountains with some friends.

They'd set up camp, and it was Kathy's turn to cook.

I was kneeling down in front of the fire, cooking, when it dawned on me that I'm not sure I can get up.

The pain was excruciating, a sharp burn that radiated across her middle and lower back.

I took so much aspirin on that trip that my ears were just ringing.

She and Jerry decided they would head home early.