The Night of the Audition

Summary

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Dateline NBC – "The Night of the Audition"

Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Lester Holt
Correspondent: Keith Morrison

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Episode Overview

This haunting episode of Dateline NBC explores the disappearance and subsequent murder of Shannon Medill, a vivacious aspiring actress and comedian from Calgary. Through interviews with family, friends, detectives, and one of her romantic interests, the episode delves into Shannon’s personal life, the harrowing investigation, and the shocking confession that uncovered the truth. The episode captures the devastating impact on Shannon’s loved ones and the relentless pursuit of justice by detectives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Disappearance of Shannon Medill

• Shannon, age 25, disappears just after an audition for a promising new TV role (03:06).
• She is described as quirky, energetic, and the vibrant center of her family and friend groups (03:53–04:08).
• Family initially rationalizes her absence due to her unpredictable nature (05:28–05:41).

2. Initial Investigation & Family Distress

• Early on, her family and the police consider many possibilities—including personal struggles and the dangers of a Calgary winter (05:52, 07:13).
• Shannon had once threatened suicide, adding another layer to the investigation (09:17).
• The police conduct perimeter searches and canvass the neighborhood without immediate clues (08:36, 09:00).
• A mysterious use of Josh’s credit card in New York and an unnerving art installation distract and complicate the search (09:47, 14:09).

3. Exploring Shannon’s Relationships

• The open nature of Shannon’s marriage to Josh Burgess becomes a focal point, revealing multiple romantic partners and introducing a new pool of potential suspects (17:46–19:52).
• Josh is open-minded but harbors concerns about the arrangement's maturity and honesty (18:13–18:30).
• Family and friends share mixed feelings about the open relationship, noting that complications may have arisen (18:35–19:14).

4. Tensions in the Marriage

• Emotional turmoil intensifies as Shannon learns that Josh’s relationship with another woman may be getting serious, in violation of their open marriage boundaries (24:44–25:40).
• Josh asks for a divorce, devastating Shannon (25:47–26:07).
• They later try to reconcile by closing the marriage, but Josh secretly continues his affair (27:22–27:56).

5. Shifting Focus of the Investigation

• Police notice inconsistencies between Josh’s and his girlfriend's accounts, particularly regarding his whereabouts and communications the night of Shannon’s disappearance (28:42–32:28).
• Forensic analysis shows Shannon’s phone moving after she was last seen, which raises serious questions (33:05–33:33).

6. Police Grow Suspicious of Josh

• Detective Christina Witt becomes convinced of foul play and begins seizing more evidence (34:26–34:39).
• After a period of stonewalling, police finally confront Josh at home in July 2015, nearly eight months after Shannon vanished (35:05–36:27).

7. The Confession

• Josh stalls, then eventually emerges covered in blood and confesses, "I killed her" (36:59–37:20).
• Because the initial confession isn’t recorded, police must coax Josh to confess again on tape in time for charging deadlines (38:29–44:10).
• In a recorded interview, Josh describes a heated argument over misunderstood words ("angry makeup sex" vs "breakup sex"), followed by Shannon’s angry outburst and their fight escalating into strangulation (40:00–42:31).
• Ultimately, Josh admits, "I killed her with my hands. When my hands got tired, I used belts. I don't know why. I just didn't stop..." (42:02–42:15).

8. Aftermath and Impact

• Shannon’s body is found; she was hidden in a bin and later buried in the yard (43:00).
• Josh Burgess is sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder after a plea deal (43:39–43:57).
• Shannon’s mother expresses the challenge of coping, focusing on happier memories to preserve her daughter’s spirit (43:57–44:25).
• The family’s message is one of survival and resilience in the face of devastating loss (44:25–44:47).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Living Through Loss:

  "Unless you've lived through it. You cannot comprehend it. It's a nightmare. And it goes on. It doesn't stop."
  — Lisa Medill (Shannon’s Mother), [02:56]

• On Shannon’s Energy:

  "From the time she could walk and talk, she loved a spotlight and a microphone... She was always telling jokes. She was just one of those people that you liked being around because she brought a really positive energy to everything."
  — Lisa Medill, [03:53]

• On the Open Marriage:

  "She was the one who requested it... I told her I had concerns because one of the most important things is a lot of open, honest conversation."
  — Josh Burgess, [18:13]

  "I was non-judgmental. I did say that I'd known other open marriages and that they hadn't worked. But...you can only listen and hopefully be the shoulder to cry on..."
  — Lisa Medill, [18:50–19:14]

• On Becoming a Suspect:

  "It felt completely surreal. It was almost like one of those experiences where you kind of watch yourself from outside your body..."
  — Ian Wallace, [22:42]

• On Grief:

  "Only people who have lost someone...that ambiguous loss is—it eats your soul."
  — Josh Burgess, [15:39]

• On the Murder:

  "I just wanted her to be quiet. Just couldn't anymore. Put my hands around your neck... When my hands got tired, I used belts. I don't know why. I just didn't stop..."
  — Josh Burgess (Confession), [41:36–42:15]

• On the Family’s Pain:

  "You go through life believing...if you're going to meet somebody who's a serial killer or a sociopath, you'd be able to pick them out. And the reality is, you can't."
  — Josh Burgess (friend, not the murderer), [43:12]

  "The rest of the family is victimized, and they're victimized over and over again with the legal system... But you can choose to stay a victim or you can choose not to be a victim."
  — Lisa Medill, [44:25]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro to the Medill family & Shannon’s audition: [02:56–04:08]
• First signs of alarm, missing person report: [05:28–07:13]
• Police search protocols, initial dead ends: [08:36–09:40]
• Discovery of open marriage, new suspects: [17:46–19:52]
• Tensions and breakdown of the marriage: [24:44–27:56]
• Police grow suspicious of Josh: [28:42–34:39]
• The confrontation and confession: [35:05–42:31]
• Resolution, sentencing, and family reflections: [43:00–44:47]

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Episode Tone

The episode maintains Dateline's trademark sober and empathetic tone, guided by Keith Morrison’s and Lester Holt’s balanced, respectful narration. Family members and detectives speak candidly about both heartbreak and perseverance, and the overall language is direct, personal, and emotionally authentic.

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Summary

"The Night of the Audition" is a harrowing true-crime investigation anchored in the vibrant, complicated life of Shannon Medill—her dreams, her relationships, and, ultimately, her tragic death. Through meticulous police work, the supportive but increasingly worried family, and a cast of romantic partners, the episode unravels the layers surrounding Shannon’s disappearance. After months of ambiguity, Josh Burgess’s confession brings clarity yet no true comfort. The episode closes with a message of resilience—the Medill family’s struggle to rebuild in the wake of unthinkable loss, honoring Shannon’s memory not as a victim, but as a source of light and laughter.

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Transcript

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[Ian Wallace]

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Best flight ever, for sure.

[Ian Wallace]

That's how good leads the way.

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[Ian Wallace]

Tonight on Dateline.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

My biggest nightmare was that one of my children would go missing. I never thought it would happen. Just beyond. Beyond imaginable.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

She was very committed to her acting career. I believe you do good things, but.

[Josh Burgess]

I'm not doing this again.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Was going to auditions all the time.

[Josh Burgess]

I was really concerned something bad had happened.

[Lester Holt]

No sign of her anywhere?

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

No sign of her? No.

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

We had reached out to a couple of casting agencies.

[Josh Burgess]

Every single possibility went through my head. Maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Her husband was cooperative.

[Josh Burgess]

He was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her.

[Lester Holt]

Did you know that they had an open relationship?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Yes. She was very open about her life.

[Ian Wallace]

She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time.

[Lester Holt]

What is it like to feel like you're a suspect?

[Ian Wallace]

Completely surreal.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Why is her phone moving? Who was with this phone? Was it Shannon?

[Josh Burgess]

My stomach dropp.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He had written I love you on the mirror, and he was covered in blood.

[Lester Holt]

An aspiring young actress poised for her first big break. Till someone played a killer part. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Keith Morrison with the night of the audition. In a million years, Lisa Medill could never have seen herself doing this. Mother of four adult children in boxing gloves. As if she could punch away her anguish, exhaust her body, calm her mind, get through another day.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Unless you've lived through it. You cannot comprehend it. It's a nightmare. And it goes on. It doesn't stop.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I am interning for my radio and television program.

[Lester Holt]

It began the nightmare, just after this video was recorded. That's Lisa's youngest. She was 25 then. An aspiring actress and comedian, Shannon Medill. This was her audition for a breakout role in a new TV series.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Hey, Wesley.

[Josh Burgess]

Yeah? Could you, if it's not too much.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

To ask, could you help me with this tribute video?

[Lester Holt]

You can kind of get a sense of her personality, some suggestions. A feisty and quirky free spirit. She'd lose her keys and miss appointments, but she never missed a chance to be the center of attention.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

From the time she could walk and talk, she loved a spotlight and a microphone. She was happy to perform for everybody. She was always telling jokes. She was just one of those people that you liked being around because she brought a really positive energy to everything.

[Lester Holt]

Older sister Erin was convinced that Shannon was going to be a star. Does that really seem possible? She was that good.

[Josh Burgess]

I thought she was fantastic. She was more than happy to do anything and everything that would get her name out there. I can do pretty much anything, whatever you want. She was funny, her personality was amazing. And she was fantastic to work with because she was happy to just go with the flow and do whatever was required.

[Lester Holt]

And her husband, Josh Burgess, was there to support her.

[Josh Burgess]

I basically kick ass for you day and night because I believe you do.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Good things, but I'm not doing this again.

[Lester Holt]

That's Josh on the right, helping Shannon play a scene for an audition reel.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

You're lucky.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I'm amazing.

[Lester Holt]

This was home. Calgary. A bustling metropolis bursting at its seams. Here in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies. A city with possibilities where great things could happen.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

More about me. I love plants.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

I have lawns.

[Lester Holt]

The audition. Shannon's audition was on the 26th of November, 2014. A couple of days later, Shannon was supposed to meet with one of her brothers for dinner. She was in no show. Older brother Tyler wasn't surprised.

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

I recall at the time kind of thinking, like, you know, it's not unlike her to flake out or disappear. I even remember saying, like, give her a little bit. She'll probably turn up shortly.

[Lester Holt]

But she didn't. Aaron called and texted Shannon. No answer. Not that day, or the next, or the next.

[Josh Burgess]

Everything goes through your mind. I mean, Calgary winters, and especially on those highways, they can be deadly.

[Lester Holt]

And at the end of that, a blizzard had just blown through town. But then, an answer, apparently, to their little mystery. Josh told Erin that Shannon was 200 miles away in Edmonton, where he texted. She apparently got a big roll and snowstorm or not, she had to go.

[Josh Burgess]

But because of the snowstorm that had happened on the Friday, she was too afraid to take her car, so she.

[Lester Holt]

Got a ride from a friend. Except, just like Shannon, she didn't say who. Josh didn't seem too worried, but Erin was. So she called the police and filed a missing persons report.

[Josh Burgess]

I was really concerned that obviously something bad had happened and that's why we couldn't find her anymore. So you, you fear the worst, but you hope for the best.

[Lester Holt]

Of course, they had to explain to the police that Shannon was unpredictable. Maybe she was in Edmonton or maybe somewhere else altogether. Detective Christina Witt.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

It wouldn't be unheard of for Shannon to kind of go off the grid for a period of time. Not that she had done that a lot, but her sister had felt maybe she was being dramatic and just needed to take a break.

[Lester Holt]

Just the same, police sent a couple of officers over to Shannon and Josh's house.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

They asked for consent by Josh to do a search of the residence. A walkthrough on that walkthrough, they didn't see anything suspicious by then, said Josh.

[Lester Holt]

It was four days since he'd last seen or heard from Shannon, and that was the night she recorded that audition. Since she was busy, Josh had gone out that night.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He said just around midnight he got home, he saw Shannon on the couch and went to bed.

[Lester Holt]

Next morning she was gone. But this seemed weird, though. Maybe not if you knew Shannon. Josh said she left a pair of jeans behind and her phone and wallet were still in the pockets. It wasn't the first time something like that happened, said Josh. Her family agreed. But each day that went by was worse. Wondered how that must have been for you on those first days piling up and then weeks. What was that like, that period?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Oh, it was dreadful. It was the worst thing that I've ever had to live through. I didn't sleep, I didn't eat. I was just walking in a daze the whole time. I was trying to function, but it wasn't working very well.

[Lester Holt]

Police took Shannon's cell phone for analysis. They also conducted multiple searches, starting in Shannon's neighborhood.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

It's protocol to do a 500 meter search on the outer perimeter of the residence, just to see what they can see. And, you know, they started canvassing the neighborhood, asking neighbors questions, trying to collect cctv, those kinds of things, and then identifying who else they can speak to for witnesses.

[Lester Holt]

No sign of her anywhere?

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

No sign of her? No.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

You can't do anything about it until she's found, there's just nothing that you can do. The police were great. They were doing as much as they could, but at that point there were really no leads. And so she's just disappeared.

[Lester Holt]

The family had to consider a terrifying possibility.

[Josh Burgess]

She had actually threatened to commit suicide a couple of months prior. The police came to assist when she was standing on a platform debating jumping in front of a train. So I knew that she did have low moments. Yes.

[Lester Holt]

The Bow river that flows through town, could Shannon have gone there?

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

The family was worried. Did Shannon drown in the river? So there was searches going on on the riverbanks.

[Lester Holt]

Then almost a week after Shannon missed that family dinner, Josh called Aaron and said that his credit card company had alerted him that someone used his card in New York City.

[Josh Burgess]

At that point in time, anything. There were all kind of possibilities. We were concerned that maybe she was in New York.

[Lester Holt]

Where was Shannon Medill? Possible clues would start to appear.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree.

[Lester Holt]

And what did he have to do with it? Was she married at the time?

[Ian Wallace]

She was married at the time and I was also married at the time.

[Lester Holt]

What did love have to do with it?

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He had written in blood, I love you on the mirror.

[Lester Holt]

December dawned confused among the Medills of Calgary, Alberta. For five days they'd been trying to track down their Shannon. Even got the police involved. And the media, though, as the family told the assembled reporters, they hoped she was alive and well somewhere.

[Josh Burgess]

I just want to make sure that she understands that even with all this media attention that she's not in trouble. Nobody's going to be mad. Just please let us know that you're okay, wherever you are. This is Shannon's husband.

[Lester Holt]

Shannon's husband Josh was there, but he was too upset to say anything.

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

You know, he's miserable and didn't want to, you know, didn't want to be out in public and was kind of dealing with the grief of her being gone.

[Lester Holt]

It's a cliche to say it's always the husband. No one said that about Josh. Quiet, steady Josh, the IT consultant, the soft spoken yin to her funny, noisy yang. They had started dating four years earlier.

[Josh Burgess]

She needed somebody who could actually be there for her on a more emotional level. And Josh was that for her. He was. He was very supportive of everything she did and he was there to try to help her achieve her goals. And I think that's what really drew her to him, and she did truly love him. I think she saw him as being her forever.

[Lester Holt]

He was a shoulder she could cry on if she had to or if she was in a depressed mood. He was there for her, et cetera.

[Josh Burgess]

Yeah, he was there to help her out constantly.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He.

[Josh Burgess]

When she had down days. A lot of comedians, as I'm sure you know, tend to suffer from some depression. It's probably why they're so funny is they're constantly trying to make sure that nobody else has to feel that pain. And when she would go through those dark moments, he was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her.

[Lester Holt]

Did you see him very much?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Yep. Saw him on a regular basis. He would come to things even if she wasn't available. He would come to family events on his own.

[Lester Holt]

She's like becoming part of the family.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

He was part of the family.

[Lester Holt]

He officially joined the family seven months earlier when he and Shannon got married.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

You know, he was quiet and shy, a very nice person.

[Lester Holt]

If Shannon's family had anything negative to say, it was that Josh was too much of a church mouse.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

But Shannon, they described her as having a fiery personality and that if anyone was going to start an argument between the two of them, it would be Shannon and. And that Josh would just go with it. And that Josh was a really nice person, kind of a gentle soul. And Shannon was the one that was more of a kind of aggressive, get going kind of personality. That's the picture they painted of Josh.

[Lester Holt]

A gentle soul who sadly seemed to have no idea what Shannon was up to. There was that business about Josh's credit card turning up in New York City, but it couldn't have been Shannon using it there. Her passport was still at home. And another week went by.

[Josh Burgess]

And then the police called and asked me to provide every single photographer that had taken headshots of her. And that's when I realized that they were debating if maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her.

[Lester Holt]

And why might they think that? Because of a very strange development in a local Calgary park, which had the makings of some bizarre ritual.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree. And the hair color and the skin color of the neck matched Shannon's. So there was concern.

[Lester Holt]

A hiker came across the image, got it to police. The original was not saved. So Detective Witt used AI to produce this virtual copy.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

And there was actually a second photo, and it was of a female in a field holding a dove in the air and there's a string connecting the dove to this female. And that female looked very similar to Shannon.

[Lester Holt]

So a team of Calgary cops spread out all around that big park. They spent two days searching the place.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Trying to figure out if someone, you know had harmed her and were going to find her body in the park. Or was this some elaborate stunt to get media attention? We had no idea. And after the first two days of searching, some students came forward, they'd seen it on the news and sheepishly came forward to the police and said, hey, those pictures were ours.

[Lester Holt]

Was that an art project or something that the students had put up?

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

It was. They were art students. It was a project.

[Lester Holt]

Another blind alley.

[Josh Burgess]

My biggest nightmare was that she was still alive, locked in a basement and being hurt. And I became really obsessed with trying to find her. And it became all consuming for me.

[Lester Holt]

Can anybody really understand what it's like to be in that awful place of.

[Josh Burgess]

Not knowing only people who have lost someone? Because that ambiguous loss is. It eats your soul.

[Lester Holt]

It was about then that police encountered quite another possibility. This guy.

[Ian Wallace]

I was asked, you know, questions with a harder edge like, you know, where were you and who were you with?

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[Josh Burgess]

I'm Julio Vaquero, anchor of Noticias Telemundo. You can watch Dateline, the hit true crime series on Telemundo. And now you can listen to Dateline as a podcast. Stories of love and betrayal of secrets revealed of the men and women who stand between evil and justice. Every twist and turn can now be heard in Spanish. With new mysteries arriving every week, just search Dateline en Espanol, wherever you get your podcasts and start listening.

[Lester Holt]

Complications. One in particular. Maybe it mattered to the search for Shannon Medill. Maybe not. She'd confided in Aaron and her mom a secret of sorts, a secret that would take the investigation in a new direction. Just months after they were married, Shannon had persuaded Josh to try an open marriage. She was the one who wanted it.

[Josh Burgess]

She was the one who requested it.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, what did you think?

[Josh Burgess]

I'm pretty open minded. I have a couple of different friends who are in open relationships and they've made it work really well. I told her I had concerns because one of the most important things is a lot of open, honest conversation. And I wasn't sure if they were both mature enough for that.

[Lester Holt]

Did you know that they had a kind of a, at one point, at least had an open relationship?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Yes, she had spoken to me about that.

[Lester Holt]

She had, huh?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Yeah, yeah. She was very open about her life. Maybe a little bit too open with her life.

[Lester Holt]

I don't know how I would react if one of my children said, I have an open marriage. We see other people.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

I was non judgmental. I did say that I'd known other open marriages and that they hadn't worked. But when your children are in their 20s, 30s, you don't really have any control over what they do. You have to sit and listen and hopefully be the shoulder to cry on if they need it, or just listen and not judge.

[Lester Holt]

What did you think privately when you weren't judging?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

That it was, oh, big mistake is what I thought.

[Lester Holt]

Josh didn't seem to think it was a mistake. He rather liked the arrangement was up front with the police from the very beginning.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Josh was the person that let them know, you know, we're in this open relationship.

[Lester Holt]

But as we say, complications. For police, it meant looking into an entire reservoir of possible suspects. There were other men, any one of whom could have taken Shannon away somewhere or might have done something to harm her. Josh said he knew who the men were and he gave the police a list of names.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I think we ended up doing seven interviews of other men who had been involved in her life.

[Lester Holt]

Did the police ever come to talk to you?

[Ian Wallace]

The police did. A detective contacted me and asked me to come in for an interview. Hello, everyone, my name is Ian Wallace.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

You having fun tonight?

[Lester Holt]

Ian Wallace is a local stand up comedian. He had met Shannon A few months before she vanished, they worked on a sketch together, and then, well, one thing led to another.

[Ian Wallace]

She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time.

[Lester Holt]

Ah. Did you both know that?

[Ian Wallace]

We both knew that immediately.

[Lester Holt]

Ian was also in an open marriage when he met Shannon. What was it about her? How would you describe her way of being, her character, her demeanor?

[Ian Wallace]

Very lively, very energetic. And I could tell right away that her sense of humor was very keen and maybe even a little edgy, which, you know, that's me as well. She just was bouncy in her movements and just very. Just lively. And I think it would be hard for anyone to not be drawn in by that.

[Lester Holt]

Did you fall in love with her?

[Ian Wallace]

I think I did. I mean, I did.

[Lester Holt]

Ian said he talked to Shannon the last day anyone saw her, the day of her audition. And then a few days later, I.

[Ian Wallace]

Got a message on Facebook from Josh that Shannon was missing and that the family, you know, was freaking out and didn't know where she was, and that he needed to know if I knew anything about where she was or where she might be. And that's when I really started to worry and panic even a little bit.

[Lester Holt]

Had you met Josh at that point?

[Ian Wallace]

Josh and I crossed paths, and I mean that quite literally. One time, Shannon and I were headed to watch a movie at her place, and Josh was headed out, I think, to see somebody that he was dating. And we literally just sort of said hello to each other at the doorway.

[Lester Holt]

Was that awkward?

[Ian Wallace]

Yeah, it's. It's always awkward when you're, you know, in that sort of situation of meeting someone else's partner. The dominant feeling is that you're both maybe kind of worried that the other one is angry or going to be confrontational or jealous or something like that. But that wasn't really the experience I had with Josh. It was just, hey, you guys have fun tonight. You know, I'll be home at whatever. And just like, that's all it was, was it?

[Lester Holt]

Police weren't so sure. They called ENN for a second time.

[Ian Wallace]

That interview was much more, I think, interested in establishing where I was around the time of Shannon's disappearance. So I was asked, you know, questions with a harder edge, like, you know, where were you and who were you with?

[Lester Holt]

What is it like to feel like you're a suspect in a serious investigation like that?

[Ian Wallace]

I mean, it felt completely surreal. It was almost like one of those experiences where you kind of watch yourself from outside your body, where I was just kind of like, this is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me.

[Lester Holt]

Do you remember the look in the officer's eye? Yeah.

[Ian Wallace]

I mean, you get a vibe, I think, when somebody is trying to size you up and maybe even throw you off kilter a little bit to see how you'll react. It felt intense while it was happening.

[Lester Holt]

But Ian was far from the only romantic interest attached to that complicated little household. Or the only person of interest.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious.

[Lester Holt]

All they could do was tell themselves comforting stories. Their Shannon had to be alive somewhere. It was nearly a month since she had disappeared. Christmas was coming. She would turn up. As if their love alone could bring her home.

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

We'll find her. We'll figure this out. I think we were consoling each other. We were all together, and it was a family affair. We had to stick together to get through it.

[Lester Holt]

What were those holidays like?

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

I mean, the holidays were obviously the worst.

[Lester Holt]

Josh came over bearing gifts and sharing worry. And meanwhile, the police kept looking and getting nowhere. Except one piece of the story that kept nattering away in Detective Witt's brain. That open marriage.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I got this sense that it was okay for them to see other people as long as it didn't get serious.

[Lester Holt]

But the thing was, maybe it did get serious. For Josh, at least. There was this one particular woman.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious.

[Lester Holt]

So the police asked Josh about that, and he said yes, it was true. He'd been seeing her for months. So could his girlfriend be involved? She became a person of interest. And of course, they had questions for her, too. Such as? Did she have any idea where Shannon was? No. Where was she the night Shannon was last seen? On a date. Who was she with? Well, it was Josh. Had she met Shannon? Yeah, a few times. Did Shannon approve? Well, her mom knew the answer to that question.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

From what she told me, he had broken the rules of the open marriage. I guess you set some boundaries and some rules, and he had broken those.

[Lester Holt]

Shannon thought Josh's affair had gotten way too intimate. So according to her family, she wanted.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Him to break up with her, and he didn't want to do that.

[Lester Holt]

Instead, Josh told her he wanted to end his marriage. Deshannan. How did you hear about that?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

She phoned me. Just was in tears and couldn't figure out what was going on, and, you know, went through the whole, I don't know what to do, Mom.

[Josh Burgess]

And that happened on October 26th. So about a month before she went missing. And she was devastated when he asked for the divorce.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Obviously, that's also a very critical time in a domestic relationship. It can be dangerous. But I think it added stress to Shannon, and that stress was playing out in different ways in her life, I would say.

[Lester Holt]

How did she feel about all of this stuff with Josh?

[Josh Burgess]

She was really devastated. We were hanging out, and she was talking about how she had such mixed feelings. She was so angry and so hurt. But also, things were going so well for her outside of this marriage that she just. She didn't know what she wanted to do.

[Lester Holt]

Did you stay in touch with Josh during this? During that time they were going through those troubles, did you talk to him much?

[Josh Burgess]

I did, actually. Josh and I were friendly. And when she called me to say that they were getting a divorce and he'd asked for it, my very first text after I got off the phone was a message of support to Josh. I've actually been through a divorce myself, and I know how hard it is on both people.

[Lester Holt]

Shannon was shuttling back and forth between acting gigs and overwhelmed emotionally by the chaos in her personal life. And then, just like that, Josh apologized, told her he didn't want a divorce after all.

[Josh Burgess]

Once they made the decision to try to work on their marriage, Shannon requested that he actually end the mistress relationship so that they could focus on the marriage and really focus on what brought them together in the first place.

[Lester Holt]

And so, to Shannon's great relief, they decided to return to a more traditional marriage. Shannon was all in. So was Josh, she thought.

[Josh Burgess]

Unfortunately, Josh lied to her and the mistress, telling Shannon he was leaving the mistress to work with her, and then was meeting up with the mistress, saying, I'm planning on leaving my wife soon.

[Lester Holt]

Shannon found out, was devastated all over again. And soon she was gone, too proud to face the humiliation. Perhaps despite the turmoil in the marriage, Shannon's family did not believe church Josh harmed her, not her quiet, steady church mouse.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

I never felt that he was involved. I just couldn't imagine that somebody who loved her would have done something to her. I did not have any interactions with him that would have said he's capable of something like this.

[Lester Holt]

But Detective Witt was focused less on personality and more on the puzzle she was trying to put together. And perhaps unwittingly, the girlfriend had handed her a missing piece.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

She said she had been texting with Josh at 3am that morning, whereas Josh had told us when he got home, he went straight to bed.

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[Lester Holt]

Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with Eva Longoria to talk about her rise from the small Texas ranch where she grew up to the heights of.

[Aaron Medill (Shannon's Brother)]

Hollywood as an actress, producer, director and philanthropist.

[Lester Holt]

You can get our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts. It was spring. Shannon Medill had been missing since November, her family suspended in a never ending state of dread. I mean, the hell that you were going through, I don't know anybody can.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Possibly understand, but no, not unless you live through it. It's interesting. There's a lot of activity at the very beginning and then as the leads fall away, you hear less and less and less. You know, you start to wonder if she'll ever be found, if this is just gonna be a giant mystery for the rest of your life and you just hope that they find something that will bring this all to an end.

[Lester Holt]

Where was Josh when all this was going on?

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

He was living at the home, the home that they had together.

[Josh Burgess]

We had dinner in March and then in April I ran into him at a bar when we were both there with friends and he informed me that the police had interrogated him again and he felt like a suspect. So he got a lawyer and the lawy told him to stop talking to me.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

Huh.

[Lester Holt]

What was that like?

[Josh Burgess]

It was interesting. I gave him a hug and I said I totally understand that I won't reach out to him out of Respect, but he's more than welcome to talk to me at any point in time.

[Lester Holt]

All the while, without telling the family, police had grown ever more suspicious, partly because of the interview with Josh's girlfriend. The two had been out the night Josh said he last saw Shannon. The night of that audition.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

The girlfriend had said that she dropped Josh off around 12, 12:30, so that would have been early morning hours of November 27th. And she said she had been texting with Josh at 3am that morning, whereas Josh had told us when he got home, he went straight to bed. He saw Shannon on the couch and went to bed. And that's different than what the girlfriend had told police.

[Lester Holt]

And there was something else that seemed off about Josh's story.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He was very detail oriented in talking about what he did before he got home. And then the minute he arrived home, his information became vague. That's a flag for police as well.

[Lester Holt]

Flags, mind you, not actual evidence. But there was this, too. The forensic records from Shannon's cell phone also contradicted Josh. Josh said he found her phone in her jeans days after he last saw her. But an analysis of the cell phone itself seemed to tell a different story.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Her phone had done a walkabout in the alley behind their residence. And this was 12 hours after Shannon, according to Josh, had last been seen. We can only speak for sure that the phone went on the walkabout. But who was with this phone? Was it Shannon? Was it Josh at that point? We don't know. But it's a big question mark about why is her phone moving when no one's seen her at that point?

[Lester Holt]

Still didn't mean Josh was involved, but it was enough to allow the police to bring him in as a possible suspect.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Certainly the interviewer went at him a little bit more aggressively and challenged him on some of the information that we now had. And Josh was unable to provide really clear responses to that.

[Lester Holt]

Things like the discrepancies in his answers and his girlfriends about texting in the early morning hours long after he said he went to bed.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He was not forthcoming in his answers. He would kind of delay before he'd give his response.

[Lester Holt]

So more suspicion, but no concrete proof Josh did anything to Shannon. In fact, some of Christina Witt's colleagues remained unconvinced they'd reached the high bar needed to show a crime had even occurred. They didn't even have a body.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Investigators are always going to have different perspectives and different experiences. I'd been in homicide for quite a while at that point, and I disagreed. I felt we'd met the threshold by then.

[Lester Holt]

It was May, six months since Shannon vanished. A frustrated Detective Witt began a time consuming process to seize more evidence.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I had directed an investigator to write a search warrant for Josh's phone and his car, and so that was authorized.

[Lester Holt]

But getting that approval had taken time. More than six weeks had gone by.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

And then finally, on July 2nd of 2015, myself and another homicide investigator and two patrol members supporting us, we went and did a door knock at Josh's house.

[Lester Holt]

She was surprised when Josh didn't respond.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Right away, we could hear movement, so we knew someone was inside. I knocked on the door, knocked on the door, no answer. So I called Josh's cell phone. He doesn't answer. So now we start communicating through the window. Kind of like, hey, Josh, we can hear you inside. Come to the door.

[Lester Holt]

But Josh didn't. He stalled and stalled.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I phoned the phone again, and Josh answers. This time, Josh starts crying. He seems flustered and he seems to be trying to buy some time. So he's like, okay, just give me a minute. I need to go downstairs. I need to get my pants out of the dryer. I'll come to the door. I'll come to the door. He's not coming to the door. So my police instincts are like, okay, what is actually going on in the house right now? Why is he stalling?

[Lester Holt]

Oh, there was a reason. She'd find out soon enough.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

He came out basically naked with tight white underwear on, and he was covered in blood.

[Lester Holt]

There's always more to the story. To go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, listen to our talking Dateline series with Keith and Blaine, available Wednesday. It was a standoff by cell phone. Calgary police Detective Christina Witt stood outside Josh's front door and he, somewhere inside, stalled, delayed, cried.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I just kept encouraging him, josh, just come to the door. That's the safest thing for all of us. And we can speak in person face to face. And he's stalling a bit, he's upset, and then he blurts out, I killed her.

[Lester Holt]

I killed her. She couldn't believe it.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I asked him to say it again, and he said, I killed my wife.

[Lester Holt]

He said, a second time. Yeah, but problems. The detective did not have a body cam or recording device that would prove he said it. So for 90 minutes, she coaxed him come out, talk. Until finally the door opened and there he was.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

I was not expecting at all what he looked like. He came out basically naked with tight white underwear on, and he was covered in blood.

[Lester Holt]

Blood. Why was he Covered in blood.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

Well, he had a pocket knife, and basically he was gnawing at his neck while speaking to me.

[Lester Holt]

They rushed Josh to a hospital and looked inside his house.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

In the house, while we were negotiating, he had written in blood I love you on the mirror.

[Lester Holt]

His wounds were superficial. He was released the next day and arrested. But now they needed a recorded confession. They needed him to say again what he blurted out to Detective Witt the day before. And they didn't have much time. Isn't there some sort of deadline you have to hit once you've arrested somebody?

[Detective Christina Witt]

Yes. You have 24 hours from when the person is under arrest until they're actually formally charged at court.

[Lester Holt]

Ray Bangloi, as an undercover detective, we agreed not to show his face. And you don't want to formally charge him until you've got something pretty concrete to charge him.

[Detective Christina Witt]

Exactly.

[Lester Holt]

Back it up. Time was flying. Josh spoke to a lawyer for hours, more than two hours in, before he even faced detectives doing all right. And then he stonewalled. He refused again and again to repeat his unrecorded confession. Shortly after 2am Detective Whipp told Josh.

[Detective Ray Bangloi]

The cadaver dogs are fine. Slept right now. So there's a lot going on at the house. So we're gonna focus our attention on that right now. And you can have a sleep, and someone will be in to speak with you tomorrow.

[Lester Holt]

Morning. Josh. In the morning, Josh was awakened to face another detective and a picture of Shaman. Still no confession, and it was just hours until deadline, after which they would have to release him.

[Detective Christina Witt]

We're probably at the 20 hour mark when I went in to talk to Josh.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

I have a question.

[Lester Holt]

And slowly, Josh began to tell Detective Bangloy how the night of her big audition, they were trying to put their marriage back together again.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

I came home, she was on the couch. She was watching stupid Johnny Depp. And I just asked her if she wanted to have angry makeup sex.

[Lester Holt]

But that apparently wasn't what she heard.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

She thought I said breakup sex. She got so mad at me.

[Lester Holt]

That's when Detective Bangalore went to what he calls his blame the victim technique.

[Detective Christina Witt]

So the theme with blame the victim is to try to take the victim down a couple notches and explain to him, hey, nobody's perfect. Nobody's an angel. He was portraying Shannon to be an angel. It's hard for someone to admit to that.

[Lester Holt]

How could you kill an angel, for heaven's sake? You know?

[Detective Christina Witt]

Exactly.

[Lester Holt]

On the other hand, if maybe she wasn't an angel after all, might be more understandable. Yes. At least Something he could confess to.

[Detective Christina Witt]

Exactly. During my talks with the victim's family, I found out that Shannon had an anger problem at times. And when she would get angry, she sometimes would say cruel things.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

What that mean things that she said you at night. She said she regretted marrying me. She said she regretted marrying you. She could have done all this on her own.

[Detective Christina Witt]

She could have done what on her own?

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

She didn't leave me.

[Detective Christina Witt]

He actually told me to stop talking and that he was going to tell me what happened.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

I just wanted her to be quiet. Just couldn't anymore. Put my hands around your neck. Put your hands around her neck.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. Hey.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

I killed her with my hands. When my hands got tired, I used belts. I don't know why.

[Lester Holt]

You use the belt.

[Josh Burgess (Confession Voice)]

I don't know why. I just didn't stop. Just stop. I don't know why. I don't know.

[Lester Holt]

Finally, with just an hour to spare, police had what they needed. Josh used a belt to strangle Shannon. The same day, cadaver dogs found Shannon's body. He had hidden her frozen in a plastic bin outside during the wicked Calgary winter. Moved to his car and then recently buried in the yard. Right up until they told you that he'd been arrested and charged, you couldn't believe it would be him.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

Well, he was just such an unassuming person that I wouldn't have thought that he would have had it in him. I wouldn't have thought that he would have had that kind of anger and rage inside of him.

[Josh Burgess]

One of the biggest things that has had a huge impact on me is that I don't trust myself anymore. You go through life believing that if you're going to meet somebody who's a serial killer or a sociopath, you'd be able to pick them out. And the reality is, you can't. He never hurt her. He never touched her. He didn't do a single thing to her until the day he killed her.

[Lester Holt]

This quiet little church mouse of a guy.

[Josh Burgess]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

After two years of legal stops and starts, Josh got a plea deal. Second degree murder. In 2017, he was sentenced to life.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

I try to dwell on the happiness, the happy points with her, her smile. It's easier for me to remember her that way than the horror that she went through.

[Lester Holt]

And now Shannon Medill's mother takes her grief and pain of betrayal to the gym, and she puts on her boxing gloves and finally comes away with a measure of peace with murder.

[Lisa Medill (Shannon's Mother)]

The rest of the family is victimized, and they're victimized over and over again with the legal system. And all of the stuff that goes on with it. But you can choose to stay a victim or you can choose not to be a victim. I'm still victimized, but I choose not to be a victim.

[Lester Holt]

That's all for this edition of DATELINE. We'll see you again next Friday at 10, 9 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.