A decades-long mystery involving the disappearance of a Snohomish County woman suddenly becomes a "hot" and "active" police investigation.

Cheryl Grose left five children behind in 1991. Her husband, Tom, says she "ran off" while they were staying at a Tigard, Ore., hotel.

Now, KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne discovers that Tom Grose has connections to a Seattle-based professional hit man and that's raising new questions about his story.

This is a multi-faceted police investigation: One agency digging into the missing persons case of Cheryl Grose, another trying to finally close the high-profile, 2001 murder of Bellevue realtor Mike Emert.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators recently traveled into an isolated desert near Death Valley to see what binds these incidents together.  

Amargosa, Nev., sits just a stone's throw from the infamous Area 51, about a two-hour trek outside the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Most folks who live in Amargosa Valley, among the tumbleweeds and cacti, consider themselves "off the grid." Nobody asks about anybody else's business, so Tom Grose fits right in.

Team 7 Investigators discovered King County cold case homicide detectives visited Grose at his secure property on Casada Road around Christmas.  

A witness says Grose was hostile and uncooperative. He refused to answer questions about a lifelong pal named Gary Krueger. Krueger is a former Seattle cop, turned professional killer, who's DNA ties him to the 2001 stabbing death of Bellevue realtor, Mike Emert. Emert was stabbed 19 times, then stuffed in a bathtub, while showing a mysterious man a house for sale.   Read Halsne's orginal series

Police sources inside the King County Sheriff’s Department also tell Halsne that Krueger is the prime suspect in at least two other unsolved murders and a violent home invasion robbery. Krueger, now deceased, was the best man at Tom Grose's wedding.

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To find out more about why a King County cold case homicide task force is so interested in Grose, Team 7 Investigators traveled to Nevada. Grose wasn't home.

His youngest daughter, Brandi Nowak, told us that he suddenly "left town" two months ago, never mentioning detectives paid him a visit. 

Chris: "That's about when the police came to see him. Did he tell you that?"

Brandi: "No. My heart is going boom, boom, boom, right now. I don't know what to say. I'm in shock right now."

Chris: "Do you know where he went?"

Brandi: "No. I haven't talked to him since he left."

His current location isn't the only thing Tom Grose kept secret from his daughter.

Brandi is unaware police consider her dad "a person of interest" in connection to her mother, Cheryl Grose's disappearance 20 years ago. Cheryl, who was raised in Lake Stevens, was last seen in 1991 at a Tigard, Ore., hotel with Tom.

Brandi was told her mom "left them" when she was five.

According to Tigard, Ore., police spokesperson Jim Wolf, that's an unlikely scenario.

Here is what he recently told KIRO Team 7 Investigators: "We're proceeding under the assumption that Cheryl may have been the target of foul play and/or homicide. Tom Grose is the last person to have been known to be in contact with Cheryl, so he is considered a person of interest."

Cheryl Grose's elderly father, Dick Carr, hopes the renewed police interest in his daughter's disappearance can bring him some long sought peace.

Carr told Halsne, “Hopefully before I die, I'll find out something. It'd be a big relief to get something solved so I could put some closure to it. It’s one of those things that boggles the mind – just disappear without a trace.”

Carr says he misses not only his daughter, but his five grandchildren, who he hasn't been able to visit since his former son-in-law whisked them out of state 19 years ago. He asked that KIRO-TV, through this article, let them know that he and his wife, Shirley, still love them dearly and would like to speak with them again. 

Tom Grose has not been charged with any crime -- nor told he needs to stay in Nevada -- so he is free to travel where he wishes. That said, King County detectives could use your help in creating a timelime of WHEN AND WHERE Grose might have last been in the Seattle area.

If you've seen Tom Grose and Gary Krueger together  (click this link to see larger photos)  or have information regarding Cheryl Grose’s disappearance, please call King County Major Crimes at 206-296-7530, or email them from this page:  www.kingcounty.gov/safety/sheriff/Contact/TIPS.aspx.