Details: In 1985, high school student Missy Mundy of Hancock, Maryland, met a man named Jerry Strickland, who claimed that he was looking for property to build a new home next door to the Mundy home. Although her mother disliked him, Missy became intrigued and soon began sneaking out to see him. He told her that his wife and child had died in a car accident. He soon began buying her gifts and she fell in love with him.