RAPID CITY, SD — In 1994, Tina Marcotte disappeared, and police suspected foul play. About five days later the main suspect was found dead, his head crushed under a forklift at work.

What became known as the “forklift mystery” began around midnight on June 23, 1994, when 30-year-old Marcotte, a mother of three children, finished her shift at Black Hills Molding on Highway 79. Her car’s tire had been slashed with a knife, so she called a friend named Vicky Riddle for a ride. Halfway through the conversation she reportedly said help arrived. “Tom who used to work here” would take her home, according to news reports at the time.

It was the last time anyone would hear from Marcotte. A media frenzy ensued; the story was featured on the NBC documentary television show “Unsolved Mysteries ”

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