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A ladder was lowered into the hole, which was eight feet deep, and three agents scaled down. Once they were in the hole, other agents tossed shovels down and the digging continued.
“How did you find this specific location?” Sloan asked Agent Michaels. She looked out at the vast property that went on for thousands of acres.
“We had a team of a hundred agents walk the grounds with radar looking for anything under the ground. Got a bunch of hits but narrowed them down to a couple. Then we brought in the experts and the sonar. They were able to distinguish the objects underground that were of interest versus the nonsense. Once we had a few specific locations that looked promising, we shot hydraulic piers down to the foreign objects and then brought them back up. Cadaver dogs sniffed the piers to let us know if we were on the right track. The dogs went crazy in this location.”
Agent Michaels paused.
“We’re pretty sure this is it.”
Thirty minutes later one of the agents yelled.
“Got something down here, doc.”
The FBI’s forensic anthropologist climbed down the ladder and Sloan watched as the man knelt in the hole and worked diligently. Finally, one of the agents who’d completed the final dig climbed up the ladder and approached Michaels.
“Sir, they’re bones. The doc confirmed they’re human remains.”
Agent Michaels looked up, exhaled a lungful of air, and placed a hand on Sloan’s shoulder.
“It took nearly thirty years,” Sloan said. “But we found them.”
Agent Michaels turned to Sloan. “You found them.”
CHAPTER 75
Raleigh, North Carolina Friday, September 6, 2024
SLOAN SAT IN HER PARENTS’ LIVING ROOM. TWO CHAIRS, WHICH DID not belong to her parents but had been brought in by HAP News, were set in the center of the room perfectly positioned in front of a portrait of Sloan and her parents. The portrait had hung above the fireplace for as long as Sloan could remember. This morning it was on the side wall of the living room. Producers had asked if they could move the portrait so that it was on display in the background during the interview because it so perfectly embodied the theme and feel they were striving for—baby Charlotte returns again.
Three cameras stood in the room. One positioned directly in front of the two chairs; the other two off to each side. Studio lights were mounted on tripods and white backdrops surrounded the chairs. Microphones hung from long boom poles. Sloan had decided to give her exclusive interview to Avery Mason and American Events. The decision came after a long conversation with Dr. Cutty, who knew Ms. Mason and promised she’d be fair in both her questions and the inevitable spin that Sloan’s story was generating.
Sloan had put off the interview for the last month, but ever since forensic anthropology confirmed that the bodies found buried at Margolis Manor were, indeed, Preston and Annabelle Margolis, she could wait no longer. Sloan needed to set the record straight and fill in the details the public was desperate to learn.
Margot Gray’s body had been discovered in a Dumpster on the north end of Cedar Creek. Eric Stamos and the sheriff’s office had been able to piece together surveillance footage from the Cedar Creek Inn that showed Ellis Margolis arriving at the inn with a large suitcase and taking the elevator to the third floor. Moments later, footage showed him wheeling the same suitcase out of the building. Together with the footage Ryder Hillier had provided, it was clear that Ellis Margolis had exited room 303 wheeling a suitcase behind him. Margot Gray’s body was suspected to have been inside.
Since Sloan had refused to speak with Ryder Hillier, the podcaster had instead set her sights on telling the story of Margot Gray and the woman’s role in the baby Charlotte saga. With footage Ryder had captured at the Cedar Creek Inn, the Margot Gray podcast proved to be one of her most popular.
The photos Sloan and Nora developed from Annabelle’s camera were the only mystery that remained about the disappearance of Annabelle and Preston Margolis. No one could explain how the photos had been taken or who had been operating the camera the night Annabelle and Preston were killed. This lone mystery fueled the true crime community and produced dozens of conspiracy theories, the worst of which was that Nora Margolis had taken the photos that night in a demented attempt to document the murders for posterity’s sake. Sloan planned to shut those rumors down during her one-on-one with Avery Mason.
“Five minutes,” the producer yelled.
Sloan smiled at her parents, who offered encouraging nods.
She took a seat in one of the staged chairs, glancing briefly at the portrait that looked so out of place hanging on the side wall of the living room. Avery Mason took a seat next to her.
“Are you ready?” Avery asked.
Sloan took a deep breath and nodded. “Ready.”
A producer held up his hand and counted down. “Three, two, one.”
The world tuned in, and Sloan Hastings told her story.
CHAPTER 76
Raleigh, North Carolina Friday, June 27, 2025
THE FOLLOWING SUMMER, SLOAN STOOD AT THE FRONT OF THE CAGE at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina. She looked out at a standing-room-only crowd, bigger than any she’d seen for the other fellows who had given their end-of-the-year presentations. She wasn’t surprised. Her story had gone viral over the last year, and the return of baby Charlotte Margolis was as big a news event today as was her disappearance thirty years before. This time, though, Sloan provided the answers that had eluded the media, law enforcement, and true crime fanatics who had chased the story for three decades.
