| If I Were You | |
| Season 11, Episode 28 | |
| Air Date | January 24, 2007 |
| Previous | Killer Impression |
| Next | As the Tide Turns |
If I Were You refers to episode 28 of the Season 11 of the television series Forensic Files which was broadcast for the first time on January 24, 2007.
Plot summary[]
Considered one of the most bizarre missing persons cases in U.S. history.
In 1994 Paul Gruber's daughter suspected something was wrong when she received a birthday card from her dad with handwriting that wasn't his. When she then learned virtually everything had been removed from her father's Sandpoint, ID home, she was sure something was wrong. But, oddly the bills were being paid and correspondence with family and acquaintances was being maintained through the mail service. A forensic handwriting analyst concluded that the writing on the birthday card matched known samples of Gruber’s handwriting. Remaining suspicious, the daughter set a trap by sending a letter to her father’s address reminding him not to forget her husband’s upcoming birthday and requesting a little financial gift. The husband’s birthday wasn’t actually coming up. Her father would have known that. But a birthday card soon arrived for the daughter’s husband.
The home was on Muskrat Lake. Paul was a beloved, retired high school teacher. He taught at Incline High School near Tahoe Nevada.
Investigators soon discovered that Gruber employed local handyman, Darryl Kuehl, and that he had access to the home. Kuehl killed Gruber and then went about keeping up the appearance that Gruber was still alive.