With its sixteen square miles of flora practically floating on water, Strangmoor Bog seemed to the killers like the perfect place to hide bodies. They did not, however, foresee the perseverance of two fourteen-year-old boy scouts intent on earning their Geology Merit Badges.

When Robby and Red probed into the peat bog for core samples, they also unearthed the well-preserved finger of a man who had been murdered decades earlier. This led to further excavation by the authorities, which produced several additional bodies.

Tensions ran high when the FBI took over the...