The Unlikely Suspect | Fifteen

Summary

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48 Hours – "The Unlikely Suspect | Fifteen"

Host: Erin Moriarty (CBS News)
Air Date: January 1, 2026
Series: 15 Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders, Episode Four

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Overview

This gripping episode of "48 Hours" peels back the layers of a truly shocking double homicide in Davis, California: the murders of Chip Northup and Claudia Maupin. Through unprecedented access to police interrogations and candid interviews with law enforcement, award-winning correspondent Erin Moriarty explores how 15-year-old Daniel Marsh became the main suspect—and ultimately confessed. The episode delves into the complexities of trauma, obsession, and youth, illustrating both the horror of the crime and the psychology of an "unlikely" suspect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: How Daniel Marsh Became a Suspect

• June 17, 2013: Two months after the murders, Daniel Marsh is brought in for questioning, having just turned 16. He did not request his parents or an attorney ([00:24–01:00]).
• Legal Background: California law allows minors to be questioned without parental presence under reasonable suspicion.

2. The Interrogation: Rapport Before Revelation

• Detective Ariel Panetta & FBI Special Agent Chris Campion: The first phase of the questioning focuses on Daniel’s family life, friendships, and struggles with mental health ([01:25–06:51]).
  • Daniel describes stressful home circumstances, his parents’ addictions, and his own battles with depression and self-harm.
• Building Rapport: Campion intentionally avoids direct questions about the crime initially, cultivating trust so Daniel might open up ([07:32–08:14]).
  • “You try to get some rapport going… to make the person feel at ease.” – Special Agent Chris Campion ([07:40])

3. Delving into Daniel’s Mindset

• Childhood Trauma & Mental Health: Daniel recounts a fractured family, his mother's illness, and periods in eating disorder clinics, painting a picture of isolation and pain ([06:56–12:03]).
• Campion’s Strategy: By paralleling Daniel’s feelings to soldiers with PTSD or others burdened by trauma, Campion encourages Daniel to reflect on his compulsions ([08:14–10:19]).
  • “They just want the pain to stop... a way to escape, get some temporary relief from the hell that they’re living in.” – Campion ([08:14])
• Notable Suspicion: Campion’s profiler experience leads him to suspect Daniel’s new-found optimism is sinister, not healthy ([14:02]).
  • “As I’m listening to that, I’m thinking he’s looking forward to being a serial killer.” – Campion ([14:02])

4. Evidence Mounts: Gore Obsession and Potential Guilt

• Digital Footprint: Investigators challenge Daniel with his unsettling Tumblr activity—collecting violent, graphic images of death and gore ([15:59–17:14]).
  • “The common theme was gore and violence and death.” – Campion ([16:33])
• Daniel’s Justifications: He claims it’s dark humor and interest in anatomy, denying any emotional connection except fascination ([17:25–19:10]).

5. The Turning Point: Confrontation & Slow Confession

• Direct Accusation: Campion tells Daniel evidence points to him as the murderer. Daniel initially denies with, “That’s ridiculous. I’m a kid. I don’t hurt people.” ([19:28])
• Forensic Pressure: DNA swabs, discussion of physical evidence (boots, tracking his cell phone), and Daniel’s body language indicate stress and impending confession ([22:45–25:36]).
• Daniel’s First Crack:
  • “I am so scared right now. Of course I’m going to do anything I can to try and say that I didn’t do this.” – Daniel ([25:52])
• Admission of Violent Thoughts:
  • “Every time I look at someone in my mind, I see flashes of images of me killing them in numerous ways…” – Daniel ([26:37])

6. The Chilling Confession

• Details of the Murders: Daniel gives a step-by-step recounting:
  • Wandering at night, choosing a house with vulnerabilities ([28:26–28:49]).
  • Entering through an open window, watching the sleeping victims before attacking ([29:00]).
  • Stabbing both Chip and Claudia a total of 128 times, mutilating their bodies in gruesome ways ([29:45–31:07]).
• Emotional State:
  • “It felt amazing… It was pure happiness and adrenaline and dopamine… the most exhilarating, enjoyable feeling I’ve ever felt.” – Daniel ([31:22])

7. Aftermath and Danger Ahead

• Campion’s Composure: Despite harrowing details, Campion remains stoic, but later calls Daniel “the most dangerous suspect he had ever interviewed” ([31:53]).
• Evidence Retrieval: Daniel guides police to where he hid the mask, gloves, and pants in his mother’s garage—he keeps his murder jacket as a “little memento” ([32:37]).
• Legal Awareness: Daniel asks about the death penalty, noting his age and mental health ([33:03]).

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Notable Quotes & Timestamped Moments

• Campion expresses shock at suspect’s age:

  • “What was your reaction when you heard that the main suspect was a 15-year-old boy?”
  • “It shocked me.” – Special Agent Chris Campion ([05:35])

• Explaining the motive through fantasy and compulsion:

  • “They’re motivated by a fantasy… their interior life is completely obsessed with this fantasy… Daniel’s… is about death and mutilation and murder and gore.” – Campion ([14:23])

• Daniel’s chilling confession:

  • “When was the first time you started thinking about throwing these people down the street? That night. I just… I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do it. I lost control of my goal.” – Daniel ([27:50])
  • “I just kind of kept stabbing their dead bodies. Don’t know why. I just felt right.” – Daniel ([30:11])

• On his emotional response:

  • “It felt amazing… It was pure happiness and adrenaline and dopamine… the most exhilarating, enjoyable feeling I’ve ever felt.” – Daniel ([31:22])

• Campion on Daniel's risk:

  • “Daniel Marsh was the most dangerous suspect he had ever interviewed.” – Erin Moriarty ([31:53])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:24] – Daniel Marsh brought in and waives rights.
• [05:33] – Campion called in, reacts to suspect’s age.
• [08:14] – Campion uses analogy of PTSD and trauma.
• [14:02] – Campion suspects Daniel is fantasy-driven and dangerous.
• [16:33] – Confrontation over violent Tumblr images.
• [19:28] – Direct accusation, Daniel’s denial.
• [22:45] – DNA swab and mounting forensic pressure.
• [25:52] – First hint of Daniel breaking.
• [26:37] – Daniel admits to violent obsessions.
• [29:00–31:07] – Graphic, detailed confession of murders and mutilation.
• [31:22] – Daniel describes thrill of crime.
• [33:03] – Daniel asks about the legal consequences (death penalty).

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains a clinical, fact-driven but empathetic tone. Campion and Moriarty are both methodical and compassionate, aiming to understand while not excusing the horror. Daniel’s own speech alternates between detached (explaining his feelings and rituals) and strikingly candid (openly describing pleasure from the murders).

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Memorable Moments

• Campion’s unique approach to interviewing Daniel by building rapport and indirectly addressing trauma, eventually leading Daniel to open up about compulsions.
• Chilling contrast between Daniel’s matter-of-fact confession and the brutality of his crimes.
• Campion’s professional composure, later admitting the depth of danger he perceived.
• Daniel’s own acknowledgment of his age and psychological problems, with an eerie lack of remorse.

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This episode encapsulates the disturbing paradox of a "typical" teenager capable of unspeakable violence, an investigation driven by careful psychology, and the lasting shock experienced even by hardened federal agents. The following episode promises to further unpack the implications of Daniel Marsh’s confession for justice and public safety.

Transcript

[Erin Moriarty]

Before we begin, just a trigger warning. The following episode does include mentions of graphic physical violence and suicide. So please listen with care.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

So basically you go in police department. Okay. So I have to read this stuff to you. Okay. You understand? Yeah. All right.

[Erin Moriarty]

On June 17, 2013, almost two months after Chip Northup and Claudia Maupin were found dead inside the safety of their bedroom, investigators asked the police officer who worked at Daniel Marsh's school to bring the teenager into the station.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

You have the right to remain silent. You understand? Yeah. Anything you say maybe is against you in court. You understand? Yep.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel would be questioned alone, even though he had just turned 16. California law states that minors can be questioned without parents present if law enforcement has reasonable belief that they were involved in a crime. At no point did Daniel request his parents presence. When the officer read him his Miranda rights, Daniel waived his right to an attorney. And then Detective Ariel Panetta began the interview.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Hey, Daniel. I'll sit right here. Okay. I'll sit right here for you. I'm all right.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel was a little scruffy with long blonde hair. Thin and wiry. He looked like a regular teenager. A little jittery and awkward and student.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Yeah. At the high school. What year are you? I'm going into my junior year.

[Erin Moriarty]

Officer Panetta told Daniel why they had asked him to come to the station.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

You may notice, but we have an investigation going on in Davis in regards to some murders and information indicated you may know about it or you may have some information as well. So that's why I'm here to ask you about that. Okay. So. Okay.

[Erin Moriarty]

But instead of questioning Daniel about the murders, Detective Panetta started with the basics. School, friends, family. Daniel told the detective that his life was stressful.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

How have you been able to deal with some of that stress? Honestly, I smoke pot. Okay. Like I don't do it for any other reason than to deal with my depression and my anxiety and all the adoptions. It's just kind of, you know, a little bit of a relief temporarily. Like for a little bit I can just relax. I can just. Everything's all right right now.

[Erin Moriarty]

You know, it was actually Daniel who first brought up Chip and Claudia. He was telling Detective Panetta about his parents divorce.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

So you dad moved down to South Davis. You said it was a house apartment. Yeah, it was an apartment. Ok. What was he after? I don't remember. I know that it was like, I think they were neighbors with the people who got killed. Okay. Because I know like they were either next door or within like a few houses of theirs.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel told the detective that within a week after the murders, his father had moved out of the neighborhood.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Well, it freaked him out, you know, I mean, you wake up and you find like, the people next to you are dead. It's like, wow, that could have been us, you know, I guess it's just kind of scary in a way. It's spooky, like you want to just get out of there.

[Erin Moriarty]

That was the perfect opening for Panetta and you.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

So you do know about the. The murders that were investigating it. I mean, with Davis, when something like that happens here, it's like, holy crap. Everybody knows about it, hears about it. Tell me what you know about it. I think they were like an elderly couple or something. I know that somebody broke in and like stabbed these two people, but I don't really know anything else.

[Erin Moriarty]

But as law enforcement officers questioned Daniel over the next five hours, they learned he knew quite a bit more than that. I'm 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty, and this is 15 Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders. Episode four the unlikely suspect. What was your reaction when you heard that the main suspect was a 15 year old boy?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

It. It shocked me.

[Erin Moriarty]

Special Agent Chris Campion worked in the FBI's Behavioral Unit. The Davis Police Department had asked for his help the night before their sit down with Daniel Marsh. About an hour into the interview, Campion opened the door to the room.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

I walked into the interview room and introduced myself and sat down and started talking to him.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Hi. Hi. You must be Danley. Yeah. I'm Chris Campion. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm from the FBI.

[Erin Moriarty]

I spoke with Special Agent Campion in 2018, five years after he questioned Daniel. Daniel was no ordinary suspect, and I wanted to hear more about how he approached the interview.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

We had pretty good evidence, probable cause evidence, but certainly not enough to arrest him there and then.

[Erin Moriarty]

And your then hope is to get him to admit what he did?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Of course, that's our goal. At the same time, though, teams are searching his mother's house, where he lived most of the time, searching his father's house, where he was at some of the time, and some other locations that they were trying to gather other evidence at the same time.

[Erin Moriarty]

Campion started the conversation by asking Daniel about his family.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Dad and mom split when you were pretty young. Yeah. Wow. And then mom basically left, abandoned you or your family? Yeah, for like three or four months. And she just kind of randomly turned up again.

[Erin Moriarty]

Campion then got Daniel to confirm something his friend Alvaro had already told the police. Daniel said that his Parents divorced after his mother had an affair with a woman.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

It was actually my kindergarten teacher. Wow. Yeah.

[Erin Moriarty]

In the interview, you're not just asking him about the crime at all. You're starting just talking to him. What's the purpose of the beginning of the interview?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Well, in any law enforcement interview or any interview, you try to get some rapport going to make the person feel at ease.

[Daniel Marsh]

Right.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

And so that's what we try to do in these cases. And, of course, during that time, you get to know the person a little bit. I like to try to drop a few hints and some themes that I might come back to later on.

[Erin Moriarty]

One of those themes Campion wanted to pursue was trauma. He guessed that Daniel might relate to. Hearing about how people struggle like Daniel did with mental health, doing the kind.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Of work that I do there is, I see a lot of people who have had lives that are just devastating, devastated by all sorts of different things. And the refuge is the key, and we all do that. I mean, from combat veterans in Afghanistan and Iraq who come back and they have these nightmares and they're haunted and PTSD and stuff. Ptsd, right. We see those and we see them do just some horrible things because they just want the pain to stop. They want the. They need the refuge. They need someplace to go where they can feel something besides what they're feeling. Does that make sense to you? Yeah. It's a way to escape, get some temporary relief. Right. Temporary relief from the hell that they're living in. Yeah. Does that sound kind of familiar to you? Yeah.

[Erin Moriarty]

Campion spoke gently with Daniel and thought he had struck a chord with the teenager. Daniel perked up as Special Agent Campion talked about the psychology of criminals and his mission in law enforcement.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

To heal people, and not necessarily just the victims, but the people who do these horrendous things. What the public perceives as the horrendous things. Yeah.

[Erin Moriarty]

They agreed that people might do horrible things, but that doesn't make them horrible people.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

That's not what they planned on for their lives. Right, but why did you get there? How did you get there? And I ask them, you know, and they. They're sometimes very honest, and they say, chris, it's just, I can't not do it. I can't not have it. It's what I think about all the time. Hmm. Sounds like it might be a form of ocd. It's an obsession, for sure, and it's a compulsion because they can't not do it.

[Erin Moriarty]

Campion's approach to questioning fascinated me. I asked him where he was going with it.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Well, the biggest theme with Daniel that I suspected is that he didn't feel like anybody else could understand what was going on in his head, that he thought that he was unique, that nobody else felt like this. And so I tried to reassure him that I had talked to other people who have had these kind of very dark thoughts and fantasies, and that I wasn't going to look at him like he was an evil, terrible person, that I could understand, try to understand what was going on in his interior life, in his thoughts.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel was opening up more and more. Campion learned that Daniel's father suffered from back and neck injuries.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

How does he get along? I mean, that's got to be constant pain. Yeah, not very well. Makes him pretty irritable. Doesn't help with his temper. But he's on a lot of painkillers. So does he look like one of those guys that we have so many in our society right now, Dan, that just are kind of addicted? Like Brett Favre, a football player? Would you say that that's. I say that both my parents are addicted to painkillers.

[Erin Moriarty]

According to Daniel, there was one point when he and his sister had to take care of their mom when she was diagnosed with a disease affecting the nerves in her face.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

She has fibromyalgia and trigeminal neuralgia, and she might have ms, they're not sure yet.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel coped with his parents behavior, he said, by slowly trying to starve himself. Ultimately, he checked into an eating disorder clinic for 25 days. But after treatment, he still sought other ways to. To harm himself.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I see his car too, there. Yeah, yeah.

[Erin Moriarty]

At that point, Special Agent Campion leaned forward to have a closer look. Daniel extended his arm.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I've attempted suicide in the past. Those aren't suicide attempts. So that's something different. No, not at all. Doesn't have that. But hey, what? No, this doesn't have anything to do with the suicide attempts. Okay.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel told Campion that his parents never found out about those attempts on his own life. At the time of the police interview, Daniel had just turned 16. He had spent much of the conversation with Special Agent Campion discussing the many problems in his life. But he also told him that his outlook on life had started to improve somewhat when he began to take antidepressant and antipsychotic medication.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Yeah, Gotten to the point where I actually wake up in the morning and I want to be alive, you know, like I want to experience what life has, you know, I mean, I'm 16, I've just started, Got my whole life ahead of me. Experience all the things that they're already experienced.

[Erin Moriarty]

But Campion didn't see this revelation quite the same way Daniel did. He didn't think Daniel Marsh was actually getting better or healthier. Campion had reached a far more chilling conclusion.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Well, to the casual observer, you might think he's just, you know, he's getting through his depression and, you know, this is a good thing. He's looking forward to a life of doing positive things. In my mind, as I'm listening to that, I'm thinking he's looking forward to being a serial killer.

[Erin Moriarty]

You're actually thinking that. And why are you getting that?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

When I worked with the profilers on analyzing this case, and they've taught this to people such as myself, FBI agents out in the field for years, these people are fantasy driven. The people who commit crime, like we saw in the crime scene photos of this double murder, they're motivated by a fantasy. Their interior life is completely obsessed with this fantasy that he has. And Daniel's, we find out later, is about death and mutilation and murder and gore. And so I knew that that was going on in his mind. So that's why I felt pretty confident he was talking about looking forward to his future as a criminal. This is what gave him pleasure. This is what gave him meaning in his life. This is what really thrilled him and he found that and could leave the depression behind.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

What exactly are you guys trying to get from me?

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel had asked. What exactly are you guys trying to get from me? Close to two hours into questioning, FBI Special Agent Campion revealed concerns over some of Daniel's online postings.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

People who are much more tech savvy than me because I'm just an old guy, I don't know anything about anything. Found this thing called Tumblr. And your Tumblr page, is that the right term? Yeah, yeah.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel had an account on Tumblr. It's a blogging platform where users can share videos, pictures or text posts. Daniel's page was public, but under a pseudonym on it, he had curated and saved a series of unsettling images.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

There were all sorts of images like Iraq war deaths, you know, roadside bomb aftermath, sniper killings, horror movies, you know, Hollywood type horror movie images all mixed together. Crime scene photographs from different types of violent crimes. So he had a little bit of everything, but the common theme was gore and violence and death.

[Erin Moriarty]

How unusual is that for a 16 year old?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Very, I think, very unusual for any age, quite frankly. It's not a focus or an obsession with most people.

[Erin Moriarty]

Campion kept patiently probing. He needed to understand what. Why Daniel focused so much on gore and violence.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I'm wondering if it's a refuge for you, Dan, in a way, kind of is. I've got a dark, screwed up sense of humor. And actually, a lot of that stuff makes me laugh when I see it. And not a lot of stuff makes me laugh. And so it's like. I like horror movies. And it's just. It's the same thing as a horror movie, only it's real. I don't have any connection to whoever it happened to. That doesn't really bother me. Right. So. And it's kind of like the cutting. It's. It's a feeling, right? Yeah. Seriously. Like, it makes me feel something. And I've just always kind of been into darker stuff.

[Erin Moriarty]

Darker stuff that would spook. Most people seemed to thrill Daniel.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I don't know, it makes me feel, like, shocked. And I'm fascinated with anatomy. And so, like, you can see what happened to them and how warped their bodies are and just kind of fascinating to think. Like, what could have done that? How did that happen? Why did that happen? Just, how did this all come to play? And I don't know, sometimes they'll be, like, in a funny pose or something, they'll just look stupid and so, like, giggle at it.

[Erin Moriarty]

Finally, Agent Campion got to the point of the long interview and directly brought up why Daniel was being asked all these questions. The tips they received. That he had killed Chip and Claudia.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

That you were there, that you did those murders. Me? Mm. That's ridiculous. Why is it ridiculous? I'm a kid. No, that's. Well, like, I don't. I don't hurt people. Like, you can ask anyone around me. I'm a compassionate, affectionate person. I care about people. I don't. When I hurt them. I mean, yeah, they piss me off sometimes and they do some messed up shit, but I care about people.

[Erin Moriarty]

What were you thinking at that point? I mean, I found him kind of convincing. Did you? At all?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

No, I did not at that point.

[Erin Moriarty]

I mean, what would the normal, innocent person do?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Are you kidding me? You think I murdered those people? Absolutely not. That's ridiculous. You really think it's me? Something like that.

[Erin Moriarty]

The FBI agent had just confronted Daniel with the reason they had brought him in. They had evidence that Daniel committed the murders. Now Campion had to get Daniel to admit it.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I see you as a person who has a need. You have a big need. You have a need for a refuge. Maybe more than anybody I've ever run across. And at age 16. Just 16. That's remarkable. I don't know if that's a good thing. Probably not. But it is an unusual thing to see, to meet a person like you, Dan, who has been through some of the things you have and has this need. The compulsion, I think. The need to do something. To feel. Well, yeah, but I don't hurt people.

[Erin Moriarty]

Over and over again, Daniel continued to deny that he could have killed anyone.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to hurt anyone. The person who did this will do it again. I have no doubt about it. They can't not. It's the inside obsession. It's the compulsion. Well, then maybe that's where you'll find your guy. Sir? It's not me.

[Erin Moriarty]

Almost three hours had passed in the interview room. It was a standoff. Special Agent Campion stepped out of the room. Daniel cracked his knuckles and wiped his face with a tissue. When Campion returned, he was holding a DNA swab kit.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Like to take your DNA to check it against things that have been found at the crime scene. Pretty much standard CSI kind of stuff. Any problem with that?

[Erin Moriarty]

Special Agent Campion asked Daniel to remove his boots. Then he again asked Daniel about the elderly couple who had lived near his father.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Have you ever been inside of that house? No. Either when they were there or when they weren't there. With. I went in once when we first moved there. Okay. What were the circumstances of that? Neighbors meeting neighbors. It was just kind of a welcome thing, you know?

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel said that he had been to Chip and Claudia's house once when his father first moved to the community. It was just a, quote, welcome thing, neighbors meeting neighbors. But it turned out that Daniel knew quite a lot about Chip and Claudia's home. He had actually been invited inside with his father two years earlier.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

She was around. I went in the kitchen, in the living room. Showed me where. Show me. Their bedroom. Shouldn't have used their bathroom at one point, I think. I don't know. It was a long time ago.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

He was planting the. In the contingency that there was DNA evidence there. He was planting the thought that maybe that could have been the reason.

[Erin Moriarty]

As another officer began opening the DNA swab packaging, Campion picked up Daniel's boots and began probing for more information.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Anything unusual about these? I don't think so. You ever worn them around? Blood, Maybe. I get a lot of nibbles, so maybe they got on that okay. But if that was to be the case, it Would be your blood. I can't.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

We started talking about his boots, which I think he realized were the same boots that he had worn the night of the murders. And he realized he probably didn't clean those to remove all of the physical evidence. We started talking about his cell phone and the fact that cell phones are basically personal tracking devices. And, you know, we could track his movements on particular days and times. So those factors, I think, started weighing on him that he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this. And the walls started closing in on him.

[Daniel Marsh]

You guys are threatening me with. With what? The truth? With getting arrested for two murders?

[Erin Moriarty]

I am.

[Daniel Marsh]

I am so scared right now. Of course I'm gonna do anything I can to try and say that I didn't do this.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

That was the first sign that he was getting over that wall, that he was getting ready to talk to us about what really happened.

[Daniel Marsh]

Do you want to help me? Then don't ruin my life.

[Erin Moriarty]

Anything.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Send me to the psychiatric hospital.

[Erin Moriarty]

Backed into a corner.

[Daniel Marsh]

Either way, aren't I?

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel Marsh seemed to see that he was trapped. Chris, were you really prepared for what he told you next?

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

No.

[Daniel Marsh]

Every time I look at someone in my mind, I see flashes of images of me killing them in numerous ways, in numerous horrible ways, doing terrible things. I can't help it. It's just what comes into my head when I see them. I don't want it to. I don't like that it does, but it does.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Welcome to Radio Rental. The scariest stories you've ever heard in your life, all told by real people. And off we go. This wasn't a human being that I saw. Just something here in this house. Something out of this world.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

There was a woman moving through the hall. I stepped back, and I was completely alone.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

Radio Rental is available now Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel admitted to Special Agent Campion that he had spent years thinking about killing people and that he made it a reality on that April night.

[Daniel Marsh]

When was the first time you started thinking about throwing these people down the street? That night, I just. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do it. I lost control of my goal. Okay. I just went into the street, wandered around for a while, just looking for who would be. Which house I should go to, who would be a good victim.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel said he had walked through his father's South Davis neighborhood in the middle of the night. He scouted most of the street and checked out 50 homes.

[Daniel Marsh]

Everyone had done A good job of locking their doors and closing their windows until I got to their house.

[Erin Moriarty]

When he got to Chip and Claudia's home, he noticed that they had left a back window open. So he cut the screen and climbed through.

[Daniel Marsh]

I listened to her storm. I heard it. Went to their bedroom. I opened the door and I just kind of stood over their bed watching them sleep for a few minutes. My body was trembling. I was nervous, but excited and exhilarated. I was actually gonna do it.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

I was there.

[Daniel Marsh]

It was finally happening.

[Erin Moriarty]

He said at that point, Claudia woke up.

[Daniel Marsh]

I just started stabbing shape over and over.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

Okay.

[Daniel Marsh]

All shrugged in the torso. And I tried to get in them. Then the husband woke up and he looked over. And just as he looked over, I stabbed him in the neck.

[Erin Moriarty]

And he didn't stop. Daniel Marsh stabbed both Chip and Claudia A combined 128 times.

[Daniel Marsh]

Made sure they were both dead. Then I just kind of kept stabbing their dead bodies. Don't know why. I just felt right. Okay. So even after they stopped moving, even when they were dead, I wasn't done.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel admitted to all of it.

[Daniel Marsh]

I just kind of messed around with. Messed around with them. Cut open both of their torsos around here. Gun. And the woman, I put a phone inside of her and I put a cup inside the guy. I don't know why. I really don't. Okay. And now I cut open her leg. I don't know why I did that either. I just kind of wanted to see.

[Erin Moriarty]

The horrific details Daniel shared match crime scene reports and the autopsies. But what he said afterwards was even more outrageous.

[Daniel Marsh]

I'm not gonna lie. It felt amazing. How did it feel, Dan? It felt great. It was pure happiness and adrenaline and dopamine. Just all of it rushing over me. The most exhilarating, enjoyable feeling I've ever felt.

[Erin Moriarty]

Special Agent Chris Campion never changed the tone of his voice during the hours long interview. He never reacted visibly to anything Daniel Marsh said to him. But he later admitted to me that Daniel Marsh was the most dangerous suspect he had ever interviewed. With everything out in the open, Daniel was then willing to walk the police through where they could find the rest of the evidence. The ski mask he wore, his gloves, his pants. He had stashed it all in his mother's garage. But he kept the jacket.

[Daniel Marsh]

Just kind of a little momento and a constant reminder what happened. Just so I can see it and kind of relive it.

[Erin Moriarty]

Daniel knew his admission of guilt was going to lead to an arrest and was curious about what would come next.

[Daniel Marsh]

Did you get the death penalty? That's kind of far fetched. You were 15, right? Yeah, I was 15 and got psychological issues up a lot of zoo.

[Erin Moriarty]

There was one moment from Campion's interview with Daniel that especially shocked me. In my years of reporting on crime, I had never heard anything like it in a police interrogation. For the prosecutors building a case against Daniel, it was just one more example of how dangerous Daniel would be if he wasn't put behind bars for a long time. That's next time on 15. Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders. This series was reported by me, Erin Moriarty. Alan Peng is our producer. Maura Walls is our story editor, and Jamie Benson is the senior producer. Meghan Markus is the vice president of podcast editorial for CBS. Special thanks to 48 Hours executive producer Judy Tygard, along with 48 Hours producers Judy Ryback, Stephanie Slifer and Greg Fisher from Goat Rodeo. This podcast was written and produced by Kara Schillin, Max Johnston, Jay venables, Isabel Kirby McGowan, Megan Nadolsky and Ian Enright. Additional reporting and recording by Kara Schillen. Our executive producers at Goat Rodeo are Megan Nadolski and Ian Enright. Original theme and music by Hans Del she with additional music from Paramount. Final Mix by Rebecca Seidel. Fendel Fulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is Kara Schillen. Erin I'm Erin Moriarty. If you're enjoying this show, be sure to give it a rating and review. It helps more people find it and hear our reporting. If you liked 15 inside the Daniel Marsh Murders, check out the rest of our 48 Hours podcasts by searching 48 Hours on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening. It is my great honor to welcome you all to Starfleet Academy.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

There's never been a better time to enroll in Star Trek.

[Erin Moriarty]

It's our job to prepare you for the unimaginable.

[Detective Ariel Panetta]

To the Night Cadet. In high pressure situations, positive reinforcement is crucial to one single success. You're doing a great job. This is what we train for.

[Erin Moriarty]

These friends of mine, they all live for something bigger than themselves.

[Special Agent Chris Campion]

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[Detective Ariel Panetta]

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[Special Agent Chris Campion]

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[Detective Ariel Panetta]

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