Horse trainer discovers pre-dug grave of missing California teen

It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.

"48 Hours" correspondent Natalie Morales revisited the site on horseback with Scribner, who told her, "The rest of my ride, I kept trying to justify why [the hole] was there."

"It did," Scribner agreed. And it would haunt him for years to come as Scribner tells Morales in an encore of "Justine's Voice," airing Saturday, July 25 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Scribner had returned with his horse to ride the same trail a week later. He saw a search team gathering at the park and ride nearby. Like everyone in the community, Scribner was aware that local teen Justine Vanderschoot had been missing. As he rode past the area where he had seen the freshly dug hole, he now saw a mattress. Scribner says he didn't suspect anything since the area was used as a dumping ground of sorts. It would be another week-and-a-half before he would realize he was a key witness in a murder case, when the local paper reported that Justine's remains had been found, and her boyfriend, Danny Bezemer, and his roommate, Brandon Fernandez, had been arrested and charged with her murder.

"The Auburn Journal had a photo of just the brush ... where Justine had been buried," Scribner said. "I went, 'Oh my gosh.' ... I saw the freshly dug hole three days prior to her disappearance. ... I immediately ... contacted the [Placer County] sheriff's department."

Retired Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner told "48 Hours," "That was a big piece of evidence ... that's absolutely coldblooded, premeditated."

Justine's parents, Don and Lynnette Vanderschoot, had reported her missing on Sept. 2, 2003, after Lynnette had awoken in the early morning hours to find that Justine wasn't in her bedroom and her truck, normally parked in the driveway, was gone. They reached out to their community for help finding her, but more than two weeks passed with no sign of Justine.

Sheriff's detectives spoke with people within Justine's inner circle, and quickly zeroed in on Bezemer and Fernandez. Bezemer was known to be jealous and possessive, and, according to Justine's friends, he believed she was cheating on him.

"There is a belief right away," Bonner said, "that [Bezemer and Fernandez] are concealing something about Justine's disappearance. ... We needed to separate them, num