The Dateline Correspondents' Year in Review. And true crime goes viral.

Summary

Dateline NBC: The Correspondents' Year in Review and the Rise of Viral True Crime

Released on December 26, 2024

Dateline NBC’s latest podcast episode, titled "The Dateline Correspondents' Year in Review. And True Crime Goes Viral," offers an insightful and comprehensive reflection on the past year’s true crime narratives, highlighting significant cases, emerging trends, and the evolving landscape of true crime media. Hosted by Andrea Canning, alongside stalwarts Keith Morrison, Dennis Murphy, Josh Mankiewicz, and producer Marianne O'Donnell, the episode delves into high-profile cases, the impact of social media, and the unprecedented viral moments that captivated audiences in 2024.

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A Year of High-Profile Female Defendants

The correspondents begin by spotlighting the increase in high-profile female defendants that marked 2024. Andrea Canning introduces key cases, highlighting figures like Karen Reed from Boston, Ashley Benefield—a former ballerina in Florida convicted of manslaughter for shooting her husband—and Sarah Boone, convicted of murdering her boyfriend by suffocating him in a suitcase.

Notable Quote:

“This year, it felt like we had more high profile female defendants than ever before,” – Andrea Canning [02:14]

Josh Mankiewicz emphasizes the public’s engagement with these stories, particularly the Sarah Boone case, noting its significant traction on social media.

Michelle Troconis Murder Trial

Dennis Murphy narrates the intense eight-week trial of Michelle Troconis, the live-in girlfriend of Jennifer Doulos’s husband, Fotus Doulos. Doulos, believed to have murdered Jennifer, committed suicide before the trial could proceed, leading to Troconis being charged with conspiracy to cover up the murder.

Notable Quote:

“So who was Michelle Troconis?... She was then charged with conspiracy to cover up, creating his alibi, helping in sort of aiding and abetting fashion.” – Keith Morrison [03:27]

The trial highlighted the emotional toll on Jennifer’s friends, who united to support her during the proceedings.

Resurgence of the Menendez Brothers Case

The correspondents discuss the renewed attention on the Menendez brothers, driven by a Netflix series and intense social media discourse. Dennis Murphy points out the complexities introduced by modern media portrayals and public opinion, contrasting them with the original trial’s focus.

Notable Quote:

“A scripted series is based on a true story, but isn't necessarily true.” – Dennis Murphy [06:38]

The debate centers on whether past abuse should influence contemporary judicial perspectives, with the new conservative prosecutor casting uncertainty on the brothers' prospects for early release.

JonBenet Ramsey’s Case Gains Fresh Scrutiny

Josh Mankiewicz reflects on the renewed interest in JonBenet Ramsey’s unsolved murder, spurred by a recent Netflix documentary. Law enforcement’s commitment to solving the case remains steadfast, with advancements in DNA technology presenting new opportunities.

Notable Quote:

“Local law enforcement has said that largely in reaction to the public reaction to the documentary that's out.” – Josh Mankiewicz [08:30]

Advancements in Genetic Genealogy: The Brian Coburger Case

The episode delves into the Brian Coburger case, where genetic genealogy played a pivotal role in linking DNA evidence from the crime scene to Coburger’s family tree. Despite the defense’s challenges regarding the methodology, Coburger remains a central figure awaiting trial.

Notable Quote:

“There's enough sort of to get the defense making an argument or two, But I'm not sure how much success they'll have with it.” – Dennis Murphy [15:06]

Surveillance Technology and the Bob Lee Case

Surveillance cameras continue to influence criminal investigations, as seen in the Bob Lee case. Although footage exists, its poor quality poses challenges for jurors expecting clearer evidence.

Notable Quote:

“Jurors in general... believe that you can take this cruddy, blurry video and make it crisper and better so that I can see exactly what's going on.” – Josh Mankiewicz [16:07]

Donna Adelson Trial Delays

Donna Adelson, accused of orchestrating a hit, faces significant trial delays after her attorney was disqualified due to a conflict of interest. The postponement extends her trial into next June, heightening public anticipation.

Notable Quote:

“And we think that grandmother Donna Adelson is going to go on trial maybe next June.” – Keith Morrison [16:43]

Karen Reed’s Case and Public Support

Karen Reed’s case, involving the mysterious death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe, garnered substantial public support, with "true crime tourists" attending court proceedings. The correspondents compare this phenomenon to historical cases like O.J. Simpson’s, highlighting the persistent public fascination with high-profile trials.

Notable Quote:

“It really struck a nerve with people, that case.” – Andrea Canning [18:05]

Andrea recounts an encounter with avid Karen Reed supporters, underscoring the deep emotional investments audiences have in such cases.

Viral True Crime Moments of 2024

Producer Marianne O'Donnell transitions the discussion to viral moments that transcended traditional true crime audiences, capturing widespread media attention.

Corey Harris’s Zoom Court Appearance

A Michigan man, Corey Harris, inadvertently became a viral sensation when he attended a court hearing from the driver's seat of his car. Initially perceived humorously, it was later revealed that his license had been reinstated, leading to an embarrassing jail stint due to outdated court records.

Notable Quote:

“He had every right to be driving. The court just didn't have that up to date information.” – Marianne O'Donnell [23:39]

Anna Delvey on Dancing with the Stars

Anna Delvey, the notorious con woman whose life inspired the Netflix series "Inventing Anna," made headlines by appearing on "Dancing with the Stars" during her house arrest. Her participation, marked by her ankle bracelet, was short-lived as she was eliminated in the first week, leading to a viral reaction upon her exit.

Notable Quote:

“Anna Delvey, or Anna Sorkin, is the woman who inspired that popular Netflix series Inventing Anna.” – Marianne O'Donnell [24:10]

Insurance Fraud Bears in Los Angeles

A bizarre trend emerged in Los Angeles, where four individuals fraudulently claimed insurance by staging bear appearances in their luxury vehicles. The ruse led to their arrest after insurance companies uncovered the deception.

Notable Quote:

“They sent along video footage from the San Bernardino Mountains... it was actually someone in a bear costume.” – Marianne O'Donnell [25:46]

Officer Sings Happy Birthday

In a heartwarming twist, an officer responded to a 911 call from a man seeking a birthday song. The officers surprised him with a banana muffin and candles, creating a memorable and touching moment.

Notable Quote:

“The two officers... they did bring a banana muffin and some candles so we could make a wish.” – Marianne O'Donnell [26:34]

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Reflections and Future Directions

As the episode concludes, Andrea Canning and her colleagues express gratitude for their collaborative efforts over the year, celebrating the team’s dedication to uncovering and narrating compelling true crime stories. They hint at future episodes that will explore upcoming cases and continued trends in the true crime genre.

Closing Note:

“Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey... From all of us here at Dateline, happy holidays. Merry Christmas, everyone.” – Andrea Canning [28:12]

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Conclusion

"The Dateline Correspondents' Year in Review. And True Crime Goes Viral" encapsulates a year of intense true crime storytelling, marked by pivotal cases, the influence of social media, and unexpected viral moments that expanded Dateline NBC’s reach beyond traditional audiences. By blending in-depth analysis with engaging narratives, the correspondents provide listeners with a comprehensive overview of the true crime landscape in 2024, setting the stage for continued exploration and discovery in the coming year.

Transcript

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[Keith Morrison]

Hey, Keith. How are you?

[Dennis Murphy]

I'm good. It's nice to see your face.

[Keith Morrison]

Nice to see you. It makes my day. It releases the endorphins.

[Andrea Canning]

You're listening in to a morning meeting at 30 Rockefeller Center.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

This is True Crime Weekly, right?

[Andrea Canning]

Only this time it's not our usual team of producers talking about breaking crime news and what stories to jump on. It's the Dateline correspondence.

[Keith Morrison]

There's a missing half hour, and that's. I wondered if that's where somehow the body was moved.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Did somebody help it?

[Keith Morrison]

I don't know.

[Andrea Canning]

Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's December 26th, the end of another year covering true crime here at Dateline. We've had more than 250 morning meetings, broadcast more than 50 hours of original Dateline episodes, and dropped more than 150 hours of podcasts.

[Keith Morrison]

Boy, I'm exhausted already.

[Dennis Murphy]

We did all that? Jeez.

[Andrea Canning]

Yes. So we thought it might be fun to look back at some of our highlights from 2024. Josh, we survived an earthquake together during one of our talking Datelines.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Yes, we did.

[Andrea Canning]

Well, I was here in New York. Yeah, you were in la, but.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

But it was like we were here.

[Andrea Canning]

Plus, later on, we've got some true crime moments that didn't make it into a Dateline episode, but definitely got our attention.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

The insurance companies realized that that wasn't really a bear. It was someone in a bear costume.

[Andrea Canning]

Welcome to Dateline, True Crime Weekly's first ever year in review. Okay, we are going to just dive right in this year. This year, it felt like we had more high profile female defendants than ever before. There was Karen Reed in Boston. Ashley Benefield, the former ballerina in Florida who shot her husband and was convicted of manslaughter. Sarah Boone, she was the woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend by letting him suffocate in a suitcase.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The Sarah Boone story is, I, I'm gonna say one of the most engaged stories on social media. That's my take from the year. Like, like a lot of people wanted to know about that. You know, that has, that's, that's had a lot of followers.

[Dennis Murphy]

I, I have to tell you, I didn't follow that story that closely. But, but it occurs to me immediately when you talk about it that everything old is new again, because we have done at least one, maybe more of victims being zipped into suitcases before.

[Andrea Canning]

Dennis, back in March, you covered the Michelle Troconis murder trial. And that was another case involving a female defendant that got a ton of attention.

[Keith Morrison]

This is the case, Andrea, of the woman named Jennifer Doulos, who lived in New Canaan, Connecticut. She came back from dropping her kids off to school and was never seen again. It was believed that her husband had murdered her in the garage. They, the authorities were closing in on the husband, Fotus Doulos, but before they could take him to trial, he ended up killing himself. So who was Michelle Chonis? Well, she was the live in girlfriend of this guy, Fotus Doulos. And she was then charged with conspiracy to cover up, creating his alibi, helping in sort of aiding and abetting fashion.

[Andrea Canning]

This was an intense eight week trial, Dennis. And you, you interviewed a group of Jennifer's friends who really came together after this, her death.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, it's funny what you're, it's funny what you remember after these stories, but in this case, they all agreed to come in and sit down in a circle and tell stories about their lost friend Jennifer.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

That part of the story was great. That was a great element to the story.

[Keith Morrison]

I learned something about the nature of friendship because these women who really didn't know one another outside of their common connector of Jennifer all agreed to go to the trial to just stand watch on her behalf.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Dennis, she's still never been found to this day, right?

[Keith Morrison]

That's correct.

[Andrea Canning]

This story particularly hit close to home for Me, because at the time when this happened, I had five children. I have six now. Jennifer had five children and it's only 20 minutes from my house. It's chilling.

[Keith Morrison]

It was such a five kids off and then never be seen again.

[Andrea Canning]

Awful story.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

As I think of it, the case against Michelle Traconis, the girlfriend, was kind of forensic light. They had kind of interesting things, but nothing added up to the smoking gun. And yet the jury came back very quickly, found her guilty and she was sent away for 14 and a half years, but they still don't know where the body is.

[Andrea Canning]

So many unanswered questions in that story. We should say Michelle Troconis was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and not the actual murder itself. The other female defendants we mentioned, the former ballerina Ashley Benefield, the suitcase murder defendant Sarah Boone, they were charged with actually killing someone and they shared a common defense strategy that they'd been abused by their victims. It's something that we come across in our DATELINE stories a lot. The backdrop of domestic abuse or toxic relationships.

[Dennis Murphy]

Well, we do. I mean, domestic abuse is a terrible problem. It certainly plays a significant role in spousal killings. You know, I guess when it comes to the kinds of stories that attract to the public's interest, the femme fatale killer is intrinsically more interesting to the public than, than males killing females simply because males killing females are way more common.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Well, the, the famous Margaret Atwood quote that, you know, men are afraid that women will laugh at them and women are afraid that men will kill them. That would fit into so many DATELINE stories. I mean, indeed it would. You literally could write that into, into any one of a number of scripts.

[Andrea Canning]

Keith, you reported on a high profile case this year which made us all think about whether abuse should or should not factor into what justice looks like. And that is, of course, the Menendez brothers, which everyone was talking about this year.

[Dennis Murphy]

It, it became a huge story and it was, it's a testament to the power of social media. Millions and millions of people around the world commented and got involved emotionally in what, what happened to the Menendez brothers after, especially after the Netflix scripted series. A scripted series is based on a true story, but isn't necessarily true. And I think that was a bit of a trip up for a lot of people who made some assumptions about the case and about the amount of abuse which may or may not have occurred. The same questions were chewed over 30 some years ago. During the course of the first trial, the jury was hung. In the second murder trial, the judge said the issue wasn't whether abuse occurred. The issue was whether the boys were in fear of their lives when they killed their parents. Therefore, he didn't allow a lot of the abuse evidence. Now, 30 some years later, the abuse became the central part of it. The original prosecutors of the case maintain to this day that abuse, if it occurred, was certainly not abuse that would have led anybody to kill anybody else.

[Andrea Canning]

And, and Keith, that prosecutor you interviewed, she really was, you know, very fortunate.

[Dennis Murphy]

Adamant is a good word. Yeah.

[Andrea Canning]

How she felt. Yeah. I mean, she had some strong words.

[Dennis Murphy]

Very strong words. But the DA in LA decided to apply for the Menendez brothers released. God knows they've been asking for it for years. And they had been very well behaved in prison for a long time.

[Andrea Canning]

Then he lost his reelection bid. So there is a new prosecutor in town.

[Dennis Murphy]

The new prosecutor is elected. The new prosecutor is much more conservative.

[Andrea Canning]

Do the Menendez brothers still even have a shot?

[Dennis Murphy]

Well, the shot has diminished considerably. I don't think we know what the new prosecutor is going to do.

[Andrea Canning]

So we're talking about old cases suddenly new again. It's not just the Menendez brothers. Josh, you covered JonBenet Ramsey's murder back in the day, and that's been getting a lot of new attention as well because of a Netflix documentary. And also law enforcement has recently come out and said, we're. We're not giving up on this. Local law enforcement, they want to solve it.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Local law enforcement has said that largely in reaction to the public reaction to the documentary that's out. Many people know little about that case except seen that documentary, which has a point of view. Now, there is a considerable groundswell of opinion that evidence in the case should be tested or retested using modern DNA technology. And we will have to. We'll have to see where that goes.

[Andrea Canning]

When people start talking about these cases again. Filmmakers getting involved, the public getting involved. Is that good or bad?

[Dennis Murphy]

Depends on the story.

[Keith Morrison]

It seems to me that a compelling narration so often beats the facts or the truth.

[Dennis Murphy]

Yes.

[Keith Morrison]

You want to impose a story on it. It is more appealing to you. And then it moves into the strength.

[Dennis Murphy]

Yes. And the emotional element to it that really drives it. That probably shouldn't be allowed to, but does because it sells. You know, and then this notion of being able to take modern methods and retest material which has been tested repeatedly over the decades, sometimes it's not as easy as all that.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Well, yeah. Testing is not only expensive, which is a concern people don't usually think about, but it's also consumes some of the sample and that that can be a problem with investigations going forward.

[Andrea Canning]

Very true, very true. Okay, well, we've been speaking about old being new. Question for all of our listeners. Which one of us here has been at Dateline the longest?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Oh, I know.

[Andrea Canning]

When we come back, we've got the answer.

[Keith Morrison]

Is there a prize?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I know the answer.

[Andrea Canning]

We have to wait until we come back. Josh. Oh, we have to.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I know the answer though.

[Andrea Canning]

And we'll have some other stats when we come back. Which Dateline correspondent traveled the furthest in one day to get to a shoot?

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[Andrea Canning]

Welcome back to the show. Okay, before the break we threw out a question. Who is the OG of Dateline? Who's been at Dateline the longest?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I'm Raising my hand. I know the answer.

[Dennis Murphy]

I vote for Dennis.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I think it's Dennis.

[Andrea Canning]

It has. Is it Dennis?

[Keith Morrison]

I think we compare driver's licenses once, Keith, and I think, I think I've got you a couple, two, three months or something.

[Andrea Canning]

Were you on from day one?

[Keith Morrison]

No, I was sort of the second wave.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay. And here's the other question that we teased. According to Dateline, True Crime Weekly, Josh, you traveled the furthest distance in a single day to get to a shoot. What was that for?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Yeah, this was, this was for a story in extreme northern Ontario, Canada. This was to a town that was not on the Canadian road system. You either have to fly in or take a train, or you can. In the, in the colder months, you can snowmobile up the river. We chose to take a train because we have all that gear. So the trip there actually took, the trip up was like two and a half days, and the trip back was like two days. And then I was only there like a day and a half. But it turned out to be a pretty interesting story. It was a, a couple of cold case murders from the 1980s in, in, in Toronto. And the, the man who was found to have been the murderer left Toronto shortly after the second murder, went up there to the extreme cold, small town. He was arrested a while ago and he's already been put on trial and locked up. He pled guilty. And the last time I spoke to the police, he had not revealed anything else about other crimes he committed. But that remains a sort of big question mark because it very unusual for these guys to just stop.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah. Genetic genealogy comes into play in that story, of course, and it's really something we see all the time now. And it's become an issue in the murders of the four University of Idaho students. Keith, with your story. Ph.D. criminology student Brian Coburger is accused of fatally stabbing the students. And we are still waiting for the trial, which has been pushed back twice.

[Dennis Murphy]

The case is, you know, far from resolved. The. The defense is making an issue of the gen genealogy in this case because it was kind of a new way of trying to do it.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah. This is so interesting. We talked about this on the podcast before. According to court filings, investigators got DNA off a knife sheath left at the crime scene, uploaded it to various publicly available databases to build a family tree that eventually led them to Brian Coburger's father. And from there they zeroed in on the sun on Brian. But the defense says they have all kinds of questions about this.

[Dennis Murphy]

There's enough sort of to get the defense making an argument or two, But I'm not sure how much success they'll have with it.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I get asked about that case a lot by people people bring online in airports.

[Keith Morrison]

Just a singular horror.

[Dennis Murphy]

Yeah, it was. It truly was a horror.

[Andrea Canning]

And he, of course, has pled not guilty.

[Dennis Murphy]

He has pled not guilty. And he has a very good defense attorney who is making the best case possible for him.

[Andrea Canning]

Speaking of technology, surveillance cameras continue to play an important part in the cases we covered this year. And Josh, you always say no one can expect to be invisible these days. They are everywhere.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Not. Not if you're outdoors. Yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

Not if you have a phone.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Yeah.

[Andrea Canning]

And Josh, the surveillance cameras really came into play in the Bob Lee case, the cash app tech executive who was killed. And. And it was caught on camera. Well, yeah, it was a tricky one.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

It was caught on camera. I mean, you know, as Keith would say. Or was it? And the question is, what is that show? There's definitely some video.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah, it's definitely blurry video, which throws a wrench in that.

[Advertiser 5]

Right.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

And that's the. I mean, jurors in general, you know, who've watched TV shows believe, you know, and prosecutors will tell you this, they believe that you can take this cruddy, blurry video and make it crisper and better so that I can see exactly what's going on and we can read that license plate in the car. And that technology is unquestionably going to exist one day, but not yet.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay, how about the biggest twist of the year, Dennis? I know. Jury selection had begun in the case of Donna Adelson. She's the family matriarch accused of orchestrating the hit.

[Keith Morrison]

How much time do we have of her son?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I can't wait for Shakespeare. And she was arrested as she was about to board a plane for Vietnam.

[Keith Morrison]

She was the most wanted in the whole dramatic piece here. And she bought a one way ticket to Vietnam, which is a non extraditable country. And just as they're in the boarding jetway ready to go plane that's going to take them overseas, here comes the FBI and a SWAT team and they take them down and they're wrestling for the phone and she's charged with first degree murder. Anyway, she's waiting to go on trial. And last September the jury had been picked and we're waiting for opening arguments and the judge says, come in chambers here. And then it turns out that her attorney was ruled by the court to have a conflict of interest. It could not represent her. So he's thrown off the case, which puts everything back months and months and months. So now we think that grandmother Don Adelson is going to go on trial maybe next June. Wait and see.

[Andrea Canning]

And we should add that Donna Adelson has pleaded not guilty and her trip to Vietnam was just that, a vacation. She says that trial will be very interesting. Okay. One case we haven't talked about yet, which I thought was one of the most intriguing this year, was will. Any guesses?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

My guess is Karen Reed.

[Andrea Canning]

I mean, it was huge.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Still is huge.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah. I gotta tell you, I was at. For an event at the Marriott Marquis in midtown Manhattan just last week, and a woman. I was waiting for someone. She walked up to me and she said, I'm from Massachusetts. Is it okay if I talk to you? She said, we are huge Karen Reed supporters. We're team Karen. And she wanted to talk to me about this, the Karen Reed story, this stranger in the hotel. It really struck a nerve with people, that case. And Dennis, you and I ended up teaming up for that one.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, we. I had interviewed Karen Reid.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah, you did the big one in.

[Keith Morrison]

March, the year before the trial. And, you know, she was poised and confident. The highlights that I remember from that interview, Andrew, is that she says she went back to her place and then woke up in the middle of the night and lo and behold, he's not there. And she goes back to the scene and then blurts out, did I hit him? You know, that would come back to haunt her.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah. And there's different interpretations of what she was saying. And of course, we should just mention, you know, she is accused of backing into her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, who was a Boston police officer. The jurors had three different counts that they had to consider. And then that got kind of messy at the end when it was a hung jury. It was just. I feel like it was messy.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

And there's going to be another trial, right?

[Andrea Canning]

Yes, yes.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

And you'll be there, right, Andrea?

[Andrea Canning]

Yes.

[Keith Morrison]

But I was surprised by the gauntlet of. The gauntlet of people in front of the turtle boy.

[Andrea Canning]

Turtle boy. Friends.

[Keith Morrison]

Friends of Karen.

[Dennis Murphy]

Yeah.

[Andrea Canning]

Do we think that this is like, you know, I also did the ballerina story, Ashley Benefield, which had supporters as well show up outside of court. Do we think that this is kind of this new thing now in the Karen Reid story? They called themselves true crime tourists. They come from England.

[Dennis Murphy]

There are lots and lots of those around. And I have to tell you, we've been doing this a long time, and people get engaged with these stories.

[Andrea Canning]

I mean, this kind of interest goes way back. Think of something like the O.J. simpson case, which this year was the 30th anniversary of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. O.J. simpson also died this year, in April.

[Dennis Murphy]

When that verdict in the OJ Case was announced. My assignment that day was to stand on the street when there was because a big crowd had gathered and just to sort of do a little live shot from the street where the all these people were. And the, the roar that came up from the crowd was unbelievable.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay, well, that about does it for our year in review. I love working with all of you. You are the best in the business. You three, you are the best in the business. And it's such an honor to be on this team and we love working with you. Thank you.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Happy holidays, everybody.

[Dennis Murphy]

Thank you, Andrew.

[Andrea Canning]

That's it from the Dateline correspondence. But this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly isn't done quite yet. Next up, we've got some true crime cases that went viral this year.

[Dennis Murphy]

Oh boy, what could that be?

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[Andrea Canning]

In 2024, we saw something we've never really seen before at Dateline, the rise of viral true crime moments. Stories that didn't just capture our DATELINE fans attention, but widespread media attention. So for our final story this week, we thought we'd look back on those moments that got even your non true crime fan friends talking. I am joined by dateline producer Marianne O'Donnell. Hey, Marianne.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Hey, Andrea.

[Andrea Canning]

So this one, this first one we're going to talk about, it's this viral video of a Zoom Call. A Michigan man named Corey Harris. He joins a court hearing in May to answer to charges of driving with a suspended license. He joins the Zoom Call from behind the wheel of his car.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Are you driving, Ashley? I'm pulling into my doctor's office, actually.

[Advertiser 5]

So. So I'll just give me one second. I'm parking right now.

[Andrea Canning]

So while most people laughed at this viral moment, there is an update to this story that our listeners might not expect. Marian.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

So, as it turns out, Harris's license had been previously suspended, but in this case, the suspension was ended by a judge in 2022, two years before this all took place. So, I mean, he had every right to be driving. The court just didn't have that up to date information. Harris ended up spending two nights in jail after this court appearance for the misunderstanding. And he called the whole experience very embarrassing.

[Andrea Canning]

Anna Delvey, I saw the series. She's the con woman. She went on Dancing with the Stars because where else do you go when you get out of prison?

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Exactly.

[Andrea Canning]

Okay. So this story really, of course, piqued the interest of true crime and reality TV fans alike.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Yeah, it really did. Anna Delvey, or Anna Sorkin, is the woman who inspired that popular Netflix series Inventing Anna. And she posed as a wealthy German heiress in New York City. Scam people. Anyway, in 2019, after being found guilty of eight charges, including grand larceny and theft, Delvey was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in state prison, but was let out in 2021 on house arrest. So that's that backstory.

[Andrea Canning]

And and Marianne, she had a interesting piece of jewelry, if you will, that was front and center on Dancing with the Stars.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, she sure did. I mean, and what, what would you wear if you've done some time inside and you're let out?

[Andrea Canning]

Ankle bracelet with a Little special monitor attached. There you go.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

A judge granted her permission to leave her house arrest to compete, though she was eliminated in the first week of the show. So you might remember the viral moment after learning she was eliminated.

[Andrea Canning]

Yes. Yes.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

What are you gonna take away from this competition?

[Advertiser 2]

Nothing.

[Andrea Canning]

There.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

There you have it.

[Andrea Canning]

I think. Wow. Wow. Okay, so this, this is really bizarre. These are people trying to pin crimes on bears.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Just last month, according to the California Department of Insurance, four residents of Los Angeles submitted claims to three car insurance companies and they sent along video footage from the San Bernardino Mountains of a bear in their cars. A Rolls Royce, of course, and two Mercedes. But the insurance companies realized that that wasn't really a bear. It was someone in a bear costume. The four individuals were arrested and charged with defrauding three insurance companies of nearly, get this, 142,000.

[Andrea Canning]

A man called 911 wanting someone to sing Happy Birthday to him, which is so sad. And then officer showed up with cake.

[Keith Morrison]

Happy bir.

[Dennis Murphy]

Happy birthday to you.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

And it was a really sweet moment. Right? Isn't that, I mean, the two officers, they go to the man's house, they sing to him. I mean, they didn't have cake, actually, but they did bring a banana muffin and some candles so we could make a wish.

[Andrea Canning]

What a heartwarming story. Marianne, thank you so much.

[Marianne O'Donnell]

Enjoy your holidays.

[Andrea Canning]

Yeah, you too. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. Next week we'll have another special for you, but instead of looking back, we'll be looking forward. We'll tell you what's on our docket for 2025. And if you want to dig deeper into the stories we've discussed this year on the show, check out our website@dateline truecrimeweekly.com coming up on Dateline, a woman is found dead in the shower. Her friends want to know was it an accident or murder? You can watch my classic two hour mystery, Return to Shalimar Way, airing this Friday at 9, 8 Central on NBC or stream it starting Saturday on Peacock. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Franny Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown Kurloff. Production and fact checking helped by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazeka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original Music by Jesse McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline. From all of us here at Dateline, happy holidays. Merry Christmas, everyone.

[Advertiser 5]

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