Surface Level

Prologue

How does a seemingly average family of three vanish, only for two of them to turn up dead just days later, while their baby is never found?The chilling mystery of Marie Roberts, Joseph Roberts, and their twelve-month-old daughter, Ariana, is a mystery that has never been solved.

The Roberts family appeared to be like any other in the quiet town of Pineview Heights, Indiana, but beneath the surface, things weren't as ordinary as they seemed.

Marie and Joseph were described as a friendly, if somewhat private couple, known around the neighbourhood but never quite part of it. They lived in a modest home, kept mostly to themselves, and were considered a quiet family – nothing remarkable, at least to the casual observer. But according to several of their neighbours, there was an unusual element in their lives: a mysterious man, who many now refer to as "The Shadow Man."

Rumours about The Shadow Man had been circulating for months before the Roberts' disappearance. Neighbours claimed that they often saw this figure – a tall, imposing man always dressed in dark clothes – lurking near the Roberts' home at odd hours. On several occasions, heated arguments were witnessed between him and the couple. 

While the police were never called and the man was never officially identified, local gossip suggested that Marie and Joseph might have been involved in something far more dangerous than anyone imagined. Some speculated they were blackmailing him over some undisclosed secret, but these were only rumours – whispers in a town that thrived on mystery.

The last known sighting of The Shadow Man came on May 3, 2004. Witnesses say he was seen standing in front of the Roberts' house once again, engaged in an intense conversation with Marie and Joseph. What was said remains unknown, but the encounter was brief. The Shadow Man left, the door closed, and just like that, it seemed like any other night. But it wasn't. That night, the Roberts family disappeared without a trace.

At first, no one thought much of it. Neighbours assumed the family had taken a sudden trip or perhaps moved away without notice. After all, the Roberts had been planning to leave Pineview Heights for some time, or so they'd mentioned to a few acquaintances. But when days passed with no word, people began to worry. And then, two days later, the horror was discovered.

Marie and Joseph's lifeless bodies were found discarded in a ditch along a remote, desolate road, miles away from their home. Their deaths were violent, the result of what appeared to be blunt force trauma, but authorities were left with more questions than answers. There was no sign of Ariana, their infant daughter, at the crime scene. No clues as to where she might have been taken.

The investigation that followed was frantic but fruitless. There were no leads, no witnesses, and no trace of the child. The Shadow Man, whoever he was, had vanished just as mysteriously as he had appeared. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into years, the case grew cold, haunting the town of Pineview Heights.

For nearly two decades, the chilling mystery of the Roberts family's disappearance and murder has lingered in the town's collective memory. Who was The Shadow Man? What was his connection to the Roberts? Were they blackmailing him, as some have long suspected, or was something else at play? And perhaps most disturbingly, what became of Ariana? No one knew the answer to these questions.

Until now.