Welcome to postmortem. I'm your host Anne Marie Green, and today we're discussing the case of Joe Shemansky. In September 2023, Joe was reported missing by his ex-wife, Heather Snyder, after she arrived at his Maryland home to drop off their two children.

She said that he wasn't there.

She told investigators that she'd recently broken up with her ex-boyfriend, Brandon Holbrook.

And just days after she spoke to investigators, Joe's remains were found in a clearing near Holbrook. And just days after she spoke to investigators, Joe's remains were found

in a clearing near Holbrook's home in Pennsylvania. Heather has not been charged with any crime,

nor has she been named a suspect, and she has an alibi. So joining me today is CBS News correspondent

Nikki Batiste to talk about this case.

Nikki, it's always great to have you here. Good to see you. This is interesting because you actually

have a connection to this case. This was an unbelievable coincidence. I actually grew up with

Heather Snyder in a really small town in rural Pennsylvania.

Only about 1,500 people, give you a sense. We went at the same high school. She was a year below me.

And in 1997, I was Homecoming Queen in 1998. I went back to our small town and crowned her

homecoming queen that year. And that was the last time I'd seen her before this.

So then had you heard about this case before you were assigned to it by 48 hours? Because I would,

I would think that this would have been the talk of the town. Remarkably, no, I hadn't heard about

this story. My family, my parents still live in the same house I grew up and in that town.

Heather's family still lives there. My parents hadn't heard about it. I first learned about this story from 48 hours producer Josh Yeager. I was riding on an Amtrak train. I get a text from

Josh telling me about the story and Heather Snyder's connection. And I was shocked. to this day, and that was probably over a year ago,

it's still hard to believe. So when Josh brings up her name, I mean, do you instantly remember?

Oh, I immediately knew who she was. Again, this was a tiny town. We were on the field hockey team together.

She was a cheerleader. I saw her at all the games. She often cheered for some of my games. Her sister was a grade above me. I mean, this was such a small town where truly everyone knew everyone. So immediately I recognized her name. But I was confused at first. Like, wait, what? There's no way someone from my hometown.

There's no way Heather Snyder could possibly be involved in any way in a murder case.

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