Fresh flowers stand alongside the headstone of Jacob Lansing.
Along with the dates marking a life cut short, a message from a mother in mourning: "My perfect son and greatest friend."
Lansing died in August 2012 of what everyone believed to be an accident.
"He had a crash on US 23 a month prior, and allegedly he was out there working on his car. And when family members found him, the vehicle appeared to have fallen off the jack," said Brian Reader, Chief Investigator with the Pike County Prosecutor's Office."Everyone including the responding officers, coroner and EMTs, had thought it's just an accident, a horrible awful accident," said Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk.
Lansing's mother suspected otherwise, hired a private investigator, and two years ago took her case to Junk and Reader.
"She wanted the truth," said Reader. "She was very adamant that someone harmed her son."
After looking at photos from the scene, Reader says he started to believe Lansing's mother was onto something.
"I felt it wasn't right," he said. "Something wasn't right about it. The problem was before you can make it a criminal case, you have to know the cause of death. So that was the first step."
In March of last year, Reader took the extraordinary step of opening Jacob Lansing's grave and having his body removed.
The autopsy that followed revealed Lansing's death four years earlier was no accident.
"It was absolutely a huge moment," said Reader. "Because now I know cause of death. Cause of death has nothing to do with a vehicle. He was murdered. He was strangled. Cause of death was strangulation."
And Monday night, nearly a year after that revelation- an arrest. Paul Detty is charged in Lansing's murder.
"It's really just unreal," said Junk. "I've never seen a case quite like this in my entire career. We've never had to exhume a body. I've never had someone go at a case like Brian has either."
Reader isn't ruling out additional suspects. He said until the day he can tell Lansing's mother justice has been done, he won't be done.
Paul Detty is jailed on $250,000 bond. Lansing's mother had no comment.
This case was part of a Major Crimes Task Force created by the Pike County Sheriff in January.
The Sheriff said the task force is focusing on five other cold case homicides.