Patricia E. Gillespie’s The Secrets We Bury is a haunting and unconventional true crime documentary that chronicles a family’s relentless pursuit of answers about a disappearance that haunted them for nearly six decades. The film’s measured pace allows viewers to absorb every unsettling twist in a case that spans from 1961 to a dramatic breakthrough in 2018.
At the heart of the story is Mike Carroll, who still resides in the same modest home in Lake Grove, New York, where his father George vanished when Mike was just eight months old. For years, the official family narrative was simple—George stepped out for cigarettes and never came back. But suspicions grew, especially as George’s wife Dorothy quickly remarried Richard Darress, a man who had been working for George at the time of his disappearance and had recently been released from prison.
The documentary’s bold decision to rely solely on interviews with family members—excluding law enforcement or professional investigators—makes sense here. The Carrolls themselves were the driving force behind uncovering the truth, piecing together fragments of memory, suspicion, and psychic revelations.
Over the course of the film, harrowing accounts of abuse at the hands of Richard Darress Sr. emerge, particularly from Jean Kennedy, who recounts years of sexual abuse beginning at age eight. Her allegations, along with those from her sister Pat, fractured relationships and deepened the family’s distrust. These personal testimonies add a disturbing layer to the mystery of George’s fate.
The turning point comes when Jean consults a psychic in 2010, who claims George’s remains lie beneath the family home. While Mike’s brother Steve dismisses such claims, Mike decides to investigate—literally digging into the basement. The project consumes him for nearly two years, even leading to a stroke, before his sons take over the search. In 2018, Chris Carroll uncovers bones confirmed to be George’s, igniting national media coverage and validating decades of suspicion.
While the documentary reveals the discovery, it leaves certain questions unresolved—chiefly whether George’s death was murder or a tragic accident. An autopsy provides no definitive answer, and any chance of confronting Richard Sr. disappears when he dies just days before Mike and Steve planned to meet him.
In the documentary, relatives recount that the remains were discovered late on October 30, 2018, and reported to local authorities the following day. Because the call to police came on Halloween, Mike believes the officers initially dismissed the report, assuming it was part of a holiday prank. However, when law enforcement eventually arrived at the residence, they were stunned to realize the family’s account was genuine.
This unsettling case leaves several unanswered questions: What did Richard Sr. and Dorothy truly know about George’s disappearance? What were the circumstances surrounding his death? Mike insists that, if George was indeed murdered, he cannot accept the idea that Dorothy was involved. He even considers it possible that she was unaware George’s remains lay beneath the home. In contrast, Mike’s siblings, Steve and Jean, suspect Dorothy may have known the truth, though they admit they cannot be certain.
Given Richard Sr.’s background in construction and his unrestricted access to the property, those interviewed in the film believe he was the most likely person to have concealed George’s body in the basement. The Secrets We Bury presents this heartbreaking narrative with restraint and directness—avoiding dramatizations or outside commentary—allowing the Carroll family’s own voices to guide the story. While the mystery may never be fully resolved, the retrieval of George’s remains (which were later cremated) has given his loved ones the opportunity to mourn properly and begin the long process of emotional recovery.
The Secrets We Bury isn’t just about solving a mystery—it’s about the corrosive power of secrets, the resilience of family bonds, and the lengths ordinary people will go when official channels fail them. Gillespie’s choice to keep the focus on the family delivers an intimate, unsettling portrait of a decades-old tragedy.
Investigation Discovery first aired The Secrets We Bury on December 16, 2025.
