4. Lost Time — Episode — Without a Trace

4. Lost Time

The backpack and ID of missing college coed Skye Petersen are suddenly dropped off at a thrift store seven years after Jack--and ultimately the legal system--determined she was murdered by her married professor with whom she'd just ended an affair.

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

Seven years earlier, university professor Thomas Beal confessed to and was convicted of the murder of his student lover, even though no body was found. After Skye Petersen's backpack surfaces in a pawn shop and video surveillance shows it was dropped off by someone who looked remarkably like Skye would have if she had lived, Jack reopens the case, concerned that his investigative tactics seven years earlier led to Beal confessing to a crime he didn't commit.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Without a Trace season 4. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license