Marriage

Katherine and Joel had been married for 9 years and the first five of those had been a dream.  But the marriage was tested as Joel had cheated on Katherine some time ago with his secretary and it nearly destroyed their ideal marriage.  It had taken years for them to completely overcome the adultery and for Katherine to trust Joel again, leaving them with no children in the aftermath.  Joel always talked about one day having kids but always in the distant future as if implying "one day"" would never arrive.  He knew kids were something Katherine wanted dearly but while never dismissing the idea of having children he wasn't ready and probably never would be.

Katherine had dropped the subject of children after the adultery because it was this misalignment in their marriage that led Joel to cheat in the first place.  She gave up the idea of kids for Joel because she wanted and needed him in her life.  They managed to salvage the marriage for a few more years but the strain of monotony and boredom eventually took its toll on Joel.  He began mingling with other female coworkers and coming home late making Katherine very jealous.  Katherine finally realized Joel would never be ready for children on his own.

Joel had disappeared from his job, family and friends for the next eight months.  No one could get in touch directly with Joel because Katherine would take all his messages and calls.  She was readily available whenever someone wanted to talk to Joel but he was seemingly never around when they came over.  It was another few more months before Joel's family finally intervened with the police.  They came with probable cause and had a warrant to search for Joel in the house.  They entered the home when Katherine wasn't there and found Joel naked bound and gagged upstairs to the bed.  The autopsy later showed he had been dead for a month but had vaginal residue on his penis not older than a day.  Katherine went missing after they searched the house but her last known sighting was a year later in a small nearby town with a baby in her arms.