A friend sent a Twitter post he found (though he can't find the original post), that said Laura's death was only ever referred to as a "disappearance" or other things during season 3. Can anyone confirm this? I'm thinking of the scenes (but don't have access to them right now) where Ben Horne explains Laura to his assistant, and Hawke bringing out the case files and looking through Laura's diary.. Is her murder explicitly mentioned in any of those scenes?
The photo of her wrapped in plastic is on the desk in the Sheriff's office in Part 4. There may be some other mentions of her death elsewhere in the Return as well.
I'd have to double-check, but I think when Ben Horne tells Beverly about Agent Cooper he says, "He was here investigating the murder of Laura Palmer."
Beverly: "Who's Laura Palmer?"
Ben: "That, my dear, is a long story."
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