Through police dogs and phone records, a murder case from 1976 that started in Madison has stretched to Western Wisconsin. The case centers on what happened to Jeanette Zapata, who disappeared in October of 1976. Her husband, Eugene Zapata, was charged Monday with first degree murder in Jean's presumed death. In 2004, the investigation rekindled.

"At the time she was going through a divorce proceeding, she was going through child custody issues with her estranged husband Gene Zapata and she indicated she was frightened of him," says Madison Police Department Captain Tom Snyder.

After cooking breakfast for her three children and sending them to school that October morning, Jean disappeared. No body was found and Eugene began a new life out west.

By January 2005, Eugene Zapata, now living outside Las Vegas, caught wind that the case was re-opened and police were looking for him. A cadaver dog named Cleo went through homes the Zapatas used to own in Madison. Cleo detected the odor of human decomposition in the basements of two homes. A third Madison home was also examined. Cleo detected more odor, but, again, no remains.

In April of last year, Zapata returned to Wisconsin. Police discovered he rented a Toyota Corolla in Minneapolis and drove to Onalaska to stay with friends. Days later, records say he headed to Madison and purchased cleaning supplies, a drop cloth, trash bags and an odor respirator at a Wal-mart. A storage locker that Zapata rented in Sun Prairie, just northeast of Madison, soon revealed more clues.

Captain Snyder says," We knew that his storage locker in Sun Prairie had been cleaned out, dumped out the contents and we knew that canines indicated the presence of decomposing or decomposed human flesh at that storage locker."

On April 13, Zapata called the Juneau County solid waste landfill, near Mauston, close to where he also owned land. The next day, Zapata called Madison police, from Onalaska, and told police he had a family emergency requiring him to go home immediately. Police learned in September that Zapata visited the Juneau County landfill, where records state he dropped off items weighing about 60 pounds. The same dog, Cleo, found the odor of human remains in the trunk of the rented Toyota.

Madison police say while there's no "smoking gun" in the case, all of the pieces are adding up to probable cause. Zapata is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.