When eight-year-old Emma called police claiming her father was beneath the floor, no one could have predicted the horrifying truth that would emerge—or how a child’s supernatural connection would solve a perfect crime
The Call That Changed Everything
Detective Sergeant Michael Torres had been working the night shift at the Riverside Police Department for twelve years, and he thought he’d heard every possible variation of domestic disturbance, missing person, and family crisis call that could come through the department’s main line. But nothing in his experience had prepared him for the phone call he received at 11:47 PM on a cold Tuesday evening in March.
“Riverside Police, this is Sergeant Torres.”
The voice that responded was small, trembling, and heartbreakingly young. “Please… please help me. My daddy is under the floor.”
Torres immediately signaled to his partner, Officer Lisa Chen, who was reviewing case files at her desk nearby. Calls from children, especially late-night calls from children in distress, were always taken seriously and handled with extreme care.
“Hi there, sweetheart,” Torres said, adjusting his tone to the gentle, reassuring voice he used when speaking to young victims or witnesses. “What’s your name?”
“Emma. Emma Hartwell. I’m eight years old.” The girl’s voice was punctuated by quiet sobs, the kind of controlled crying that suggested she was trying very hard to be brave.
“Emma, that’s a beautiful name. You said your daddy is under the floor? Can you tell me what you mean by that?”
There was a pause, and Torres could hear the child taking shaky breaths as she tried to compose herself enough to explain.
“He’s been gone for so long, and Mommy says he’s on a trip, but I know he’s here. He’s under the floor in our house. He told me.”
Torres exchanged a look with Officer Chen, who had moved closer to listen to the conversation. Children sometimes had vivid imaginations that could blur the line between reality and fantasy, but there was something in Emma’s voice that suggested genuine distress rather than childhood make-believe.
“Emma, is your mommy there with you? Can I talk to her?”
“She’s sleeping. She takes pills that make her sleep really hard. But Daddy came to see me and told me to call you.”
“When did your daddy come to see you, honey?”
“In my dream. But it wasn’t just a dream—it was real. He looked sad, and he told me he was under the floor and that I needed to tell someone to help him.”
Torres felt a familiar chill run down his spine. In his years of police work, he had learned not to dismiss unusual sources of information, especially when they came from children. Young minds often processed trauma and information in ways that adults couldn’t understand, and sometimes those processes led to insights that more rational approaches missed.
“Emma, how long has your daddy been gone?”
“A really long time. Maybe… maybe two weeks? Mommy says he went far away for work, but he always calls me when he goes away for work. Always. And he didn’t call.”
Torres began taking detailed notes, documenting Emma’s responses and the timeline she was providing.
“And you haven’t seen him since then? Just in the dream?”
“Yes. But the dream felt different. He looked at me like when he’s really serious, and he said ‘Emma, I need you to be very brave and call the police. Tell them I’m under the floor. Tell them I’m in the house, under the new floor.'”
The mention of a “new floor” caught Torres’s attention immediately. Home renovations could certainly provide opportunities to conceal evidence, and the specificity of Emma’s description suggested this wasn’t simple childhood imagination.
“Emma, did your family recently put in a new floor?”
“Yes! Mommy had workers come and they made lots of noise and put in pretty new floors. But after they left, I started having the dreams about Daddy.”
Torres made the decision that would ultimately crack the case.
“Emma, I want you to listen to me very carefully. You’ve been very brave to call us, and we’re going to come to your house to check on everything. Is the address 247 Maple Street?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ll be there soon. Can you stay on the phone with me until we arrive?”
“Okay,” Emma whispered. “Will you really help find Daddy?”
“We’re going to do everything we can, sweetheart. I promise.”
The House on Maple Street
The Hartwell home was located in Cedarbrook, a middle-class suburban neighborhood where families lived in tidy ranch-style houses with well-maintained lawns and children’s bicycles in the driveways. Number 247 Maple Street looked like every other house on the block—beige siding, black shutters, and a small front porch decorated with seasonal flowers.
Torres and Chen arrived at 12:23 AM, accompanied by a third officer, Detective Patricia Reeves, who specialized in cases involving children and domestic situations. The house was dark except for a single light glowing in what appeared to be a child’s bedroom window.
Before approaching the front door, the officers took a moment to assess the situation and plan their approach.
“Kid sounded genuinely distressed,” Torres said quietly. “Either something real is happening here, or she’s processing some kind of trauma in a way that’s manifesting as these dreams.”
“The new floor detail bothers me,” Chen added. “That’s pretty specific for a fantasy. And if the father has been missing for two weeks without contacting his daughter, that raises red flags regardless of what the mother is saying about business trips.”
Detective Reeves nodded. “We approach this carefully. If the mother is involved in something criminal, we don’t want to alert her to our suspicions. But if this is just a traumatized child dealing with an absent father, we need to be sensitive to the family dynamics.”
Torres rang the doorbell, and after several minutes, they heard footsteps approaching the door. The woman who answered was in her early forties, attractive in a tired way that suggested recent stress. She was wearing a bathrobe and looked like she had been awakened from deep sleep.
“Officers?” she said, her voice carrying confusion and a hint of anxiety. “Is everything all right?”
“Mrs. Hartwell? I’m Detective Sergeant Torres. We received a call from your daughter Emma. She was concerned about her father’s whereabouts.”
Rebecca Hartwell’s face went through a series of micro-expressions that Torres, trained in reading body language and deception, noted carefully. Surprise, followed by irritation, followed by what looked like forced calm.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Rebecca said, running a hand through her disheveled hair. “I’m so sorry officers. Emma has been having a hard time since David left for his business trip. She’s been having nightmares and… well, you know how children can be when they’re upset.”
“When did your husband leave on his trip?” Chen asked.
“About two weeks ago. He travels frequently for his job—he’s in pharmaceutical sales. This trip was supposed to be longer than usual, something about establishing new client relationships in Eastern Europe.”
“Have you been in contact with him?”
Rebecca’s pause was just a fraction too long. “His phone service isn’t working properly overseas. You know how it is with international roaming. But he emailed me a few days ago to say everything was going well.”
Detective Reeves stepped forward. “We’d like to speak with Emma, if that’s all right. Just to reassure her that everything is okay.”
“She should be sleeping,” Rebecca said quickly. “It’s a school night, and she needs her rest.”
“The call came from your house about an hour ago,” Torres pointed out. “She was awake then.”
Rebecca’s composure flickered again. “She must have snuck out of bed. She does that sometimes when she’s upset. I’ll go get her.”
As Rebecca went to retrieve Emma, the officers used the opportunity to observe their surroundings. The living room was immaculate, with new laminate flooring that looked like it had been recently installed. The furniture was arranged with the kind of precision that suggested someone who was either naturally organized or currently under stress and trying to maintain control.
Emma appeared a few minutes later, clutching a worn stuffed rabbit and looking even smaller and more vulnerable than her voice had suggested over the phone. She was a thin child with dark hair and large eyes that held an intensity that seemed unusual for someone her age.
“Hi Emma,” Torres said gently, crouching down to her level. “I’m the police officer you talked to on the phone. You were very brave to call us.”
Emma nodded but said nothing, her eyes darting between the officers and her mother.
“Can you tell us again about your daddy?” Detective Reeves asked. “You said you saw him in a dream?”
“It wasn’t just a dream,” Emma said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. “He came to visit me. He looked sad, and he told me he was under the floor and needed help.”
Rebecca laughed nervously. “She’s been having these vivid dreams since David left. I’ve tried explaining that Daddy is just away working, but she’s convinced herself that something terrible has happened.”
“Emma,” Torres said, maintaining eye contact with the child, “can you show us where you think your daddy might be?”
Without hesitation, Emma walked to the center of the living room and pointed to a specific area of the floor near the fireplace.
“There,” she said with absolute certainty. “He’s right there.”
The officers looked at the spot Emma had indicated—a section of the new laminate flooring that looked identical to every other section.
“Why do you think he’s in that particular spot?” Chen asked.
“Because that’s where he was standing when Mommy got really mad at him,” Emma said matter-of-factly.
The silence that followed was heavy with implication. Rebecca’s face had gone pale, and her hands were visibly trembling.
“Emma, honey,” Rebecca said, her voice tight with forced calm, “you know that’s not true. Daddy isn’t under the floor. He’s in Europe working.”
But Emma shook her head stubbornly. “He told me to tell the police. He said he was under the floor and he needed help.”
The Investigation Deepens
Detective Reeves took Emma into the kitchen for a more private conversation while Torres and Chen continued questioning Rebecca in the living room. The child’s statements were concerning enough to warrant further investigation, but the officers needed to proceed carefully to avoid contaminating potential evidence or traumatizing Emma further if her claims proved to be fantasy.
“Mrs. Hartwell,” Torres said, “we’re going to need to verify your husband’s whereabouts. Can you provide us with his travel itinerary, hotel information, or contact details for his employer?”
Rebecca’s discomfort was becoming increasingly obvious. “I… I don’t have all those details readily available. David handles his own travel arrangements, and like I said, his phone isn’t working properly.”
“What’s the name of his company?” Chen asked.
“MedSource Pharmaceuticals. But they won’t have detailed travel information. David works mostly with independent contractors.”
Torres made notes while maintaining his observation of Rebecca’s body language. Every answer seemed rehearsed, and she was showing classic signs of deception—avoiding eye contact, fidgeting with her hands, providing vague responses to specific questions.
“When was the last time you actually spoke to your husband?” Torres pressed.
“I told you, he emailed—”
“I asked when you spoke to him. Voice contact.”
Rebecca’s pause stretched long enough to be uncomfortable. “The day before he left. We said goodbye, and he said he’d be in touch once he got settled.”
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Detective Reeves was having a very different conversation with Emma. Away from her mother’s influence, the child was more forthcoming about the details of her father’s disappearance and the circumstances leading up to it.
“Emma, before your daddy went away, do you remember anything unusual happening at home?” Reeves asked gently.
Emma nodded immediately. “Mommy and Daddy were fighting a lot. Really loud fighting, after they thought I was asleep. And Mommy was throwing things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Dishes. And one time she threw Daddy’s coffee mug, and it broke against the wall. I heard it from upstairs.”
“Did you ever see them fighting?”
Emma shook her head. “But I heard them. Mommy was yelling about money and about Daddy not caring about us anymore. And Daddy was saying he was trying his best.”
Reeves documented Emma’s responses carefully. Child witnesses required special handling, but Emma’s statements were remarkably consistent and detailed for someone her age.
“Emma, the night your daddy visited you in your dream, can you tell me exactly what he said?”
Emma’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He looked really sad, and his clothes were dirty. He said ‘Emma, I need you to be very brave and call the police. Tell them I’m under the floor in the living room. Tell them I didn’t go away—I’m still in the house.’ And then he smiled at me and said not to be scared, that everything would be okay.”
The specificity of Emma’s account, combined with her unwavering insistence on the location under the floor, was beginning to convince the officers that this might be more than childhood imagination.
When Detective Reeves returned to the living room, she found Torres and Chen examining the new flooring more closely with flashlights.
“How recently was this floor installed?” Chen was asking Rebecca.
“About… about ten days ago. We’d been planning the renovation for months, and the contractors were finally available.”
“Can you provide us with the contractor’s information?” Torres asked.
“I… I’d have to look for their business card. It’s probably in my purse somewhere.”
Torres made a decision. “Mrs. Hartwell, based on your daughter’s statements and some inconsistencies in the timeline you’ve provided, we’re going to need to conduct a more thorough investigation. That includes examining the area under this floor.”
Rebecca’s reaction was immediate and telling. “You can’t do that! We just had this floor installed. Do you know how much it cost? Who’s going to pay to repair it if you tear it up for nothing?”
“If we find nothing, your insurance should cover the restoration costs,” Torres replied evenly. “But your daughter has made specific claims about her father’s location, and we have a responsibility to investigate.”
“This is ridiculous! David is on a business trip. Emma is just upset and having nightmares. You’re going to destroy my home based on a child’s bad dreams?”
But Detective Reeves had noticed something that Rebecca’s protests had revealed. “You said the floor was installed about ten days ago. But earlier you said your husband left on his trip two weeks ago. If he left before the floor was installed, how could he be under a floor that wasn’t there when he left?”
Rebecca’s face went white as she realized her mistake. “I… I misspoke. The timeline… I’m confused. This whole situation is very stressful.”
Torres exchanged a look with his partners. Rebecca’s story was falling apart, and Emma’s claims were becoming more credible by the minute.
“Mrs. Hartwell, we’re going to need you to step outside while we examine this floor. And we’re going to need to call in additional resources.”
The Discovery
What happened next would haunt everyone involved for years to come.
The police called in a crime scene investigation team, including specialists in ground-penetrating radar and forensic archaeology. While they waited for the additional personnel to arrive, Torres contacted the district attorney’s office to ensure they had proper legal authority to proceed with what was essentially an excavation of a family’s living room.
Emma was taken to stay with Rebecca’s sister while the investigation proceeded, but before she left, she provided one more detail that chilled everyone involved.
“When Daddy visited me,” she told Detective Reeves, “he said to tell you that the big hammer is still in the garage. He said you would understand what that meant.”
The crime scene team arrived at 6 AM, and by 8 AM they had confirmed what ground-penetrating radar had suggested: there was indeed something buried beneath the new flooring in the exact location Emma had indicated.
The process of removing the laminate flooring and excavating the area beneath was methodical and painstaking. Crime scene photographers documented every step of the process, and the team worked with the precision of archaeologists uncovering an ancient burial site.
At 11:47 AM—exactly twelve hours after Emma’s initial phone call—they found David Hartwell.
His body was wrapped in heavy plastic sheeting and surrounded by expanding foam insulation, which had been covered with a layer of concrete to level the subfloor for the laminate installation. The preservation was better than anyone had expected, and the cause of death was immediately apparent: a single, devastating blow to the left temple that had caused massive brain trauma.
In the garage, exactly where Emma had suggested they look, investigators found a heavy carpenter’s hammer with traces of blood and hair that would later be matched to David Hartwell through DNA analysis.
The Confession
Faced with the physical evidence and the collapse of her alibi, Rebecca Hartwell confessed to killing her husband during questioning the same day his body was discovered.
The truth, as it emerged during her interview with detectives, was both tragic and mundane—a domestic dispute that escalated into violence, followed by an elaborate cover-up that might have worked if not for her daughter’s extraordinary intervention.
According to Rebecca’s statement, she and David had been having severe marital problems for months. David had been struggling with depression and had lost his job with the pharmaceutical company several months earlier, though he had been hiding this from Rebecca by pretending to go to work each day and using their savings to maintain the illusion that he was still employed.
When Rebecca discovered the truth about David’s unemployment and the extent of their financial problems, a confrontation ensued that turned physical. During the argument, Rebecca struck David with the hammer she had been using to hang pictures, intending only to threaten him but delivering a fatal blow.
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” she told investigators. “I just wanted him to stop lying to me, to stop pretending everything was fine when our world was falling apart. When I saw him lying there… I panicked.”
Rather than calling for help or reporting the death as an accident, Rebecca made a series of calculated decisions to cover up what had happened. She wrapped David’s body and temporarily hid it in the garage while she developed a plan.
Rebecca then contacted a flooring contractor and arranged for an “emergency” renovation project, claiming that a pipe had burst and damaged their existing floor. She told the contractors that she needed the subfloor built up significantly to prevent future water damage, which provided the perfect opportunity to create a permanent grave for her husband.
The workers, having no reason to suspect anything unusual, simply followed her instructions and installed the new flooring over what they assumed was standard subflooring preparation.
Rebecca then created the fiction of David’s business trip, using his computer to send herself emails that would support her story if questioned. She had planned to maintain the deception indefinitely, possibly eventually reporting David as missing or claiming that he had abandoned the family.
“I thought I had covered everything,” she told investigators. “I never imagined that Emma would… that she would somehow know.”
The Psychological Investigation
The revelation of David’s murder and Rebecca’s elaborate cover-up raised immediate concerns about Emma’s psychological well-being and her ability to provide reliable testimony if the case went to trial. The court ordered a comprehensive psychological evaluation of the child to determine how she had acquired her knowledge about her father’s location and whether she had witnessed the murder or its aftermath.
Dr. Sarah Chen, a forensic psychologist specializing in child trauma and testimony, conducted extensive interviews with Emma over several weeks. What she discovered challenged conventional understanding of how children process traumatic experiences and information.
According to Dr. Chen’s report, Emma showed no signs of having witnessed her father’s murder directly. Her accounts of the event were limited to what she had overheard—arguments between her parents—and her knowledge of her father’s location appeared to have come entirely from what she described as dream visits.
“Emma’s descriptions of her father’s visits are remarkably consistent across multiple interviews,” Dr. Chen noted in her report. “She provides specific details about his appearance, his emotional state, and his messages that she could not have derived from imagination alone. However, there is no evidence that she witnessed the actual murder or burial.”
The psychological evaluation also revealed that Emma had been experiencing significant anxiety and depression since her father’s disappearance, but had been trying to hide these feelings from her mother to avoid causing additional stress.
“Emma appears to have been protecting her mother emotionally while simultaneously seeking help for her father,” Dr. Chen observed. “The psychological burden she was carrying would be extraordinary for an adult, let alone an eight-year-old child.”
The question of how Emma had acquired her accurate knowledge about her father’s location remained officially unexplained, though Dr. Chen’s report noted several possible theories ranging from unconscious observation of environmental clues to what some might classify as extrasensory perception.
“While I cannot provide a scientific explanation for Emma’s knowledge,” Dr. Chen concluded, “I can state with confidence that her information was accurate and that her psychological response to the situation demonstrates remarkable resilience and courage.”
The Legal Proceedings
Rebecca Hartwell was charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Her defense attorney argued that David’s death was the result of a domestic dispute that escalated beyond her intent, and requested that she be allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
The prosecutor, however, pointed to the elaborate cover-up as evidence of premeditation and a lack of remorse that warranted the more serious charge.
The case never went to trial. Faced with overwhelming physical evidence and her own confession, Rebecca accepted a plea agreement that resulted in a sentence of 25 years to life for second-degree murder.
Emma’s testimony was ultimately not required for the prosecution, sparing her the trauma of testifying against her mother in open court. However, her initial statements to police and the investigators became crucial evidence in establishing the timeline of David’s death and Rebecca’s subsequent actions.
The Aftermath and Emma’s Future
Emma was placed in the custody of her paternal grandparents, David’s parents, who lived in a neighboring state. The transition was difficult for a child who had lost both parents—one to murder and one to prison—within the span of a few weeks.
However, Emma showed remarkable resilience in adapting to her new life. Her grandparents provided a stable, loving environment where she could begin to heal from the trauma she had experienced.
Detective Reeves maintained contact with Emma and her grandparents, providing updates about the case and ensuring that Emma had access to ongoing psychological support. The detective was continually impressed by Emma’s strength and her ability to find happiness despite everything she had been through.
“Emma is one of the most remarkable children I’ve ever encountered,” Detective Reeves said in a later interview. “She faced an impossible situation with courage that most adults would struggle to match. Her father would be very proud of her.”
Emma continued to report occasional dream visits from her father, but according to her therapist, these dreams had taken on a more peaceful quality. Rather than asking for help, David appeared in Emma’s dreams to reassure her that he was at peace and proud of her bravery.
“He tells me he’s happy now,” Emma told Dr. Chen during one of their sessions. “He says he’s not sad anymore, and he wants me to be happy too.”
The case attracted significant media attention, both for the shocking nature of the crime and for the unusual way it was solved. Emma’s role in the investigation raised questions about children’s intuitive abilities and the ways that trauma can manifest in behavior that adults don’t always understand or take seriously.
Several true crime documentaries featured the case, though Emma’s identity was protected and she did not participate in any media coverage. Her grandparents were determined to provide her with as normal a childhood as possible, away from the notoriety surrounding her mother’s crime.
The Broader Implications
The Hartwell case had lasting impacts on police procedures for handling calls from children reporting missing persons or family emergencies. The Riverside Police Department implemented new training protocols that emphasized taking children’s reports seriously, even when they contained elements that seemed fantastical or impossible.
“Emma’s call could easily have been dismissed as a child’s nightmare or overactive imagination,” Sergeant Torres reflected. “The fact that we chose to investigate probably saved weeks or months of investigation time and potentially prevented Rebecca from getting away with murder entirely.”
The case also highlighted the importance of recognizing signs of domestic violence and financial stress that can escalate into fatal confrontations. David’s attempts to hide his job loss from his family, while understandable from a psychological standpoint, had created the conditions for the conflict that ultimately led to his death.
Social workers and family therapists began using the Hartwell case as an example of how family secrets and financial pressure can create dangerous dynamics that affect every member of the household, including children who may seem removed from adult problems.
Dr. Chen’s psychological evaluation of Emma also contributed to ongoing research into children’s responses to trauma and their ability to process information in ways that adults might not immediately understand or believe.
“Emma’s case demonstrates that children often know more about their family situations than adults realize,” Dr. Chen noted. “They may not have the language or framework to express what they know in ways that adults find credible, but that doesn’t mean their knowledge is invalid.”
The Question That Remains
Ten years after David Hartwell’s murder was solved, the question of how Emma knew her father’s location remains officially unanswered. The case file contains extensive documentation of the investigation, including Emma’s statements, the physical evidence, and Rebecca’s confession, but no definitive explanation for Emma’s supernatural knowledge.
Emma herself, now eighteen and a freshman in college studying psychology, has declined to discuss the supernatural aspects of the case in interviews. Her grandparents have protected her privacy throughout her childhood, allowing her to grow up as normally as possible despite the extraordinary circumstances that shaped her early life.
However, in a brief statement provided through her attorney when she turned eighteen, Emma offered her own perspective on what happened that night when she called the police.
“I know people want to understand how I knew where my father was,” she said. “The truth is, I don’t fully understand it myself. What I do know is that my father loved me very much, and somehow he found a way to make sure the truth came out. Whether people call that supernatural or just intuition doesn’t really matter to me. What matters is that he’s at peace now, and that I was able to help him find justice.”
Emma has indicated that she hopes to work as a family therapist specializing in children who have experienced trauma, inspired by her own experiences and the professionals who helped her heal.
“I want to help other kids who might be going through something terrible but don’t know how to ask for help,” she explained. “Sometimes children know things that adults don’t believe or understand. I want to be someone who listens and takes them seriously.”
The case remains one of the most unusual in the Riverside Police Department’s history, and it continues to be studied by law enforcement professionals, psychologists, and researchers interested in the intersection of criminal investigation and unexplained phenomena.
Detective Torres, now retired, keeps a copy of Emma’s original missing person report in his desk drawer as a reminder of the importance of listening to every voice that asks for help, no matter how unlikely the source or improbable the story.
“Emma taught me that truth can come from the most unexpected places,” he said. “And that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is believe a child who’s trying to tell you something important, even when what they’re telling you seems impossible.”
The voice from below had been heard, and justice had been served. David Hartwell could finally rest in peace, knowing that his daughter’s courage had ensured that the truth would never stay buried.
Lila Hart is a dedicated Digital Archivist and Research Specialist with a keen eye for preserving and curating meaningful content. At TheArchivists, she specializes in organizing and managing digital archives, ensuring that valuable stories and historical moments are accessible for generations to come.
Lila earned her degree in History and Archival Studies from the University of Edinburgh, where she cultivated her passion for documenting the past and preserving cultural heritage. Her expertise lies in combining traditional archival techniques with modern digital tools, allowing her to create comprehensive and engaging collections that resonate with audiences worldwide.
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