Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking that they change laws, change society, or even earn the label,

Crime of the Century.

But the stories that made headlines in decades past

aren't necessarily remembered today.

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author,

and in each episode of this show,

I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today but was huge when it happened.

This is crimes of the centuries. When optometrist Perry Nelson disappeared one sultry night in 1983, it seemed the sad culmination of a downward spiral, his friends and family had been helplessly watching for years.

Perry had once been a popular and multidoo eye doctor in a small Colorado town where

he lived with his wife and two daughters. It seemed in enviable existence until Perry threw it all away. He said it was for love. He'd fallen head over heels for a new woman in town, even though that woman was already

married when she arrived in Rocky Ford, Colorado, to the town's minister, even.

The whole town had been scandalized. The plot line was a stretch for even the

tawdriest of soap operas, and yet here it was unfolding in real life.

Anyway, Sharon Fuller, the minister's wife, left her husband for Perry, and Perry

left his wife Julie in return. Surprising no one in town, the couple's steamy start didn't automatically translate into a happily ever

after ending. Sharon cheated on Perry with Perry's good friend Buzz, then started sleeping

with another married man who did odd jobs for a here and there.

The whole thing was a mess.

So when Perry didn't come home one night, it wasn't all that shocking.

A few days later, his car was discovered in a river absolutely

demolished. It appeared that Perry had gotten into a terrible wreck driving

through the mountains and considering that his recent personal turmoil had led to an increase in his drinking,

...