Importance of Rocky's Snake

At some point in their relationship, Rocky acquired a rattlesnake that he kept in the house in a cage. He used it to terrorize his wife and attempt to exert control over her. He threatened to put it in her bed while she slept so that her death would look like an accident. Michelle includes the snake in her affidavit against Rocky and it is a detail that stands out to the police. However, when they searched the house, they could not find it. Had they been able to find it, it would have provided material evidence against Rocky that might have made it possible for them to prosecute him even after Michelle recanted. The snake never materializes and it hangs over Michelle's story as a disturbing and threatening detail. In the last clip Snyder watches from Rocky's home movies, she sees him antagonizing the snake in its cage. This proves that it's threat to Michelle was real and that Rocky was a person who took pleasure out of tormenting animals and who enjoyed the power he exerted over a creature that could kill him in another context.