New, shocking court documents revealed in Sandra Eckert case

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FRANKLIN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Newly released court documents shedding some light on a mystery that has baffled a Franklin family for over a year.

Search warrants in the disappearance of 70-year-old Sandra Eckert reveal a marriage in turmoil.

The most startling discovery -- a neighbor told police the night Sandra Eckert disappeared she heard gunshots -- pop, pop, pop. So loud she walked upstairs to calm her dogs, then heard another round.

"Like that doesn't make any of this better. We still have to kind of live in this obviously harsh harsh reality of what happened," said Sandra's son, Wes Eckert Junior, in an interview with CBS 58 last month.

Wes Eckert Junior and his siblings detailed in this report numerous times their father threatened their mother. They say their mom also had a contentious relationship with their half-brother, John. The search warrant claims John sent text messages to a sibling threatening Sandra's life, saying he and his father know bad people who could make Sandra disappear. Another text said, "Dad's friends are seriously talking about having your mother killed!"

The night this 70-year-old grandmother disappeared, her husband Wesley tells police they argued over his mother's estate and she threatened to divorce him. He says Sandra's been drinking. He took her car keys and when he woke five hours later, she, and the couple's other car, were gone.

Police received an anonymous tip in the days after Sandra disappeared, claiming her husband was picking up a bag from his son, John. That bag containing $10,000 and possibly a gun. Franklin police stopped Wesley Eckert driving his wife's jeep outside the home where his son was staying, and in the jeep was the bag -- with that $10,000 and gun.

Police discovered Sandra's cell phone missing, her new iPad gone. Her purse was left behind but the contents had been emptied. A search of the couple's home on North Cape Road didn't find any crime scene, no evidence of a struggle. Two people were taken in for questioning in the case last month, but no charges were issued and their names were not released.

CBS 58 received a message from Eckert's son, Wes Junior, who says he believes answers and justice are on the horizon. In his words -- "While it doesn't make our reality any better, my mother still deserves justice."

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