We all have cases from our hometowns and local communities that will stick with us forever.

This is one of those cases for me and for countless others across the state of Maine.

I'm Kylie Lowe and with the help of her sister and mother, this is the case of Ashley Willett, on Dark Down East.

It was just before 4 a.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 1999, and Michael Lopez was sitting

passenger-side in his mother's vehicle on his way home from work.

It was quiet in the cab as they approached the marshlands that flank Pine Point Road in Scarborough, Maine.

According to reporting by David Connerty Marin and Sarah Ragland for the Portland Press Herald,

it was almost pitch black as the mother and son rounded a slight

curve into the Scarborough Marsh Audubon area, but their headlights illuminated something on the

road ahead not a moment too soon. Michael's mother swerved fast to avoid whatever it was. Michael did a

double take, realizing the shape was distinctly human.

He told his mother to turn around.

Michael's eyes hadn't deceived him.

There was a person lying there in the middle of Pine Point Road,

almost perfectly lined up with the center lines painted on the pavement.

As Michael turned the body over, it didn't register at first

if he was looking at a man or woman, boy or girl. He only noticed that the person's skin was

blue and there was no pulse, but their body was still warm. Michael was trained in CPR, so in the

yellow beam from their headlights, Michael began chest compressions

as his mother called 911 from her cell. The body, in fact, was that of a young girl. Michael

thought at first she had been hit by a car, but as he told David Hensch and Kelly Bouchard

for the Portland Press Herald, he didn't see any bruises or scrapes, just a little bit of

...