This article needs an improved plot summary. (November 2015)
A small-town policeman works to uncover the truth behind two crimes: the disappearance of his son eight years earlier, and a fifty-year-old homicide of another boy.[1] In the opening scenes, a mummified corpse is unearthed at a construction site. At first the policeman fears and welcomes closure to the search for his son; however, pathology demonstrates that these are the remains from a much older crime. The film continues with parallel stories in flashback, showing the events leading to the crimes and the investigation. Work has become an obsession for Detective Tom Adkins (Jon Hamm) since the disappearance of his ten-year-old son, Tommy Jr. When an early morning phone call leads him to the mangled remains of a young boy who was brutally murdered 50 years ago, Adkins takes on the case in hopes of finding absolution. His investigation leads him to a man who lived in 1958 named Matthew Wakefield (Josh Lucas) and his mentally retarded son, John. The striking similarities in the cases pushes Adkinsâ obsession over the top. Barely holding onto his sanity and bound by redemption, Adkins unravels the unspeakable truth behind what happened to his son.
To whom does Tom's investigation lead to?
Matthew Wakefield