Transcript
Josh Mankiewicz (0:00)
Hey, it's Josh Mayankiewicz from Dateline. Here's a special preview of our new podcast called Deadly Mirage. The body lay on the shop floor, the man's shaven head leaning against the front left tire of a service truck. There was a dime sized hole in his chin and a pool of blood slowly congealing on the concrete floor. Scarlet stained the front of his shirt, which was stiffening in the dry desert air. A few feet away lay a bullet and a line of broken fluorescent glass, white and powdery, like a line of drugs. For more than an hour, silence hung over this scene of death and disorder. A quiet broken only by the occasional sound of a big diesel rig out on the highway. Then, shortly before 7pm a man scheduled to work second shift walked in and that silence was replaced by screams.
Witness 1 (1:05)
Tell me exactly what happened.
Witness 2 (1:07)
I opened the garage door and there's a light bulb busted out. Get in the office door up and he's on the ground bleeding out of his head.
Josh Mankiewicz (1:15)
Okay.
Witness 1 (1:18)
Oh, my God.
Josh Mankiewicz (1:20)
This is the story of what happened that afternoon in 2014 and why. But it's also about much more. It's about long shadows cast by old sins.
Witness 3 (1:34)
It starts as a Playboy Channel fantasy, but this is real life, and there are real complications.
Josh Mankiewicz (1:42)
It's about the pairings of flawed souls, unholy alliances that spiraled out of control.
Witness 4 (1:50)
It had everything. It had sex, religion, the seemingly perfect beautiful family that had all these secrets.
Josh Mankiewicz (1:59)
It's about faith and faithlessness, murder and the thrill of moral escapism.
Witness 3 (2:07)
God's given us a purpose, and he's given us a chance with that purpose.
Josh Mankiewicz (2:11)
This murder was God's work.
Detective 1 (2:12)
They spoke about that many times. They were doing God's work.
Josh Mankiewicz (2:17)
In this podcast, you'll hear from people who loved that man found lying on the shop floor in August 2014.