The Witness

Summary

Devil in the Desert: The Witness Episode Release Date: July 8, 2025

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Introduction

In the gripping episode titled "The Witness" from ABC News' podcast series Devil in the Desert, host Matt Gutman delves deep into the harrowing 2012 kidnapping of Michael and Mary Barnes in the Mojave Desert. This case not only stunned the local community but also initiated an international manhunt targeting Hossein Nayeri, a charismatic figure connected to California's burgeoning medical marijuana industry. Through a combination of police recordings, informant testimonies, and dramatic reenactments of key events, this episode unravels the complexities and brutalities of a crime that continues to haunt investigators.

Discovery of Key Evidence

The investigation took a pivotal turn when Detective Ryan Peters uncovered a critical lead involving a Chevrolet Tahoe linked to the case:

Detective Ryan Peters [01:39]: "Courtney Shigerian's husband, Hussein Nayeri, whose DNA was found on a glove in Kyle Handley's car, was connected to this vehicle."

Initially dismissed as a possible red herring, the Tahoe's discovery on Balboa Island became a cornerstone in piecing together the puzzle surrounding the kidnapping and subsequent torture of the Barnes.

Investigative Strategies and Courtney Shigerian's Involvement

Courtney Shigerian, the registered owner of the Tahoe, emerged as a person of interest. Her initial interactions with law enforcement were marked by resistance and suspicion:

Courtney Shigerian [05:04]: "Hossein Nayeri, whose DNA is on a glove in Kyle Handley's truck, also has cameras linking him to watching Michael's truck. You can't refute that. So for me, this is huge."

Detective Peters approached Courtney with a tactful strategy, aiming to implicate her subtly to gain leverage:

Detective Ryan Peters [08:03]: "Yeah, that's just the items that were releasing to you. Okay, you can take your stuff."

Despite the meticulously laid trap, Courtney remained unnervingly calm, raising questions about her awareness and involvement.

The Proffer Interview: A Turning Point

The breakthrough came when Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy and his colleague Heather Brown devised a plan to engage Courtney's family, recognizing the profound influence her relatives could wield over her cooperation. This strategic outreach led to Courtney consenting to a proffer interview—a conditional agreement to provide information without immediate legal repercussions.

During the interview on May 7, 2013, Courtney's revelations were both detailed and damning:

Courtney Shigerian [24:56]: "Hussein Nayeri, Kyle Hanley, and their third person... Hossein and Ryan were very close."

She meticulously outlined the motives and mechanics behind the kidnapping, linking it directly to Nayeri's dissatisfaction with financial dealings related to his marijuana business:

Courtney Shigerian [26:06]: "Hussein got offended and was like, 'What is this guy telling me that this is good product?'"

Her testimony shed light on the extent of surveillance and the premeditated nature of the crime, revealing a plot driven by greed and betrayal.

Breakthroughs and Pursuit of Hossein Nayeri

Courtney's cooperation provided law enforcement with a tangible lead on the third conspirator, Ryan Kevorkian, whose DNA matched evidence from the crime scene. This confirmation accelerated the pursuit of Nayeri, who had fled to Iran following the arrest of Kyle Handley.

The authorities' relentless efforts culminated in locating Kevorkian in Lancaster:

Detective Ryan Peters [34:34]: "We followed him to the 24 Hour Fitness and recovered his towel, which provided the crucial DNA match."

With Kevorkian's identity and involvement secured, the focus shifted to orchestrating a sting operation to lure Nayeri out of hiding. Utilizing Courtney's pivotal role, investigators arranged for her to reconnect with Nayeri under the guise of reconciliation, positioning her as a key informant against him.

Conclusion: A Glimmer of Hope Amidst Despair

"The Witness" concludes on a tense note as Courtney successfully reestablishes contact with Nayeri, positioning herself as the linchpin in the operation to apprehend him. Her transformation from a potentially complicit individual to a cooperative informant underscores the complexities of loyalty, coercion, and redemption within the murky depths of criminal investigations.

Courtney Shigerian [37:18]: "I'm just shaking right now."

Detective Ryan Peters [37:22]: "I'm just shaking right now."

As the episode wraps, listeners are left contemplating the precarious balance between justice and survival, and the profound personal costs borne by those entangled in such brutal crimes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Detective Ryan Peters [01:39]: "Courtney Shigerian's husband, Hussein Nayeri, whose DNA was found on a glove in Kyle Handley's car, was connected to this vehicle."

• Courtney Shigerian [05:04]: "Hossein Nayeri, whose DNA is on a glove in Kyle Handley's truck, also has cameras linking him to watching Michael's truck. You can't refute that. So for me, this is huge."

• Courtney Shigerian [24:56]: "Hussein Nayeri, Kyle Hanley, and their third person... Hossein and Ryan were very close."

• Courtney Shigerian [26:06]: "Hussein got offended and was like, 'What is this guy telling me that this is good product?'"

• Courtney Shigerian [37:18]: "I'm just shaking right now."

• Detective Ryan Peters [37:22]: "I'm just shaking right now."

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This summary encapsulates the intense investigative journey detailed in "The Witness," highlighting key moments and testimonies that illuminate the dark underbelly of the Mojave Desert's infamous crime.

Transcript

[Matt Gutman]

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[Detective Ryan Peters]

Know what hit it.

[Matt Gutman]

Stretch your limits in the non stop flexibility of the new Lululemon align no line pant in select stores [e-mail] in January of 2013, as Detective Ryan Peters inched forward in his investigation into the kidnapping of Michael and his roommate Mary Barnes, it dawned on him. Newport police had a potential lead right under their nose. A Chevy Tahoe, a car involved in a high speed chase. Months earlier. Police had spotted the Tahoe speeding through Newport beach in the pre dawn hours of September 26, 2012. After a chase, the officers lost sight of the vehicle. They found it later that night dumped on Balboa Island. It's a residential community in Newport Harbor. And the driver vanished. Itaho was registered to a Courtney Shigerian. Her husband was Hussein Nayere, whose DNA had just shown up on a glove found in Kyle Hanley's car. Now, Detective Ryan Peters knew that the Chevy Tahoe might have nothing to do with his kidnapping and torture investigation. But at this point, he couldn't leave any stone unturned.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I don't want to ignore anything and I want to fully invest all my time into every possible lead. I go and write a search warrant for the car knowing that it's, you know, a long shot.

[Matt Gutman]

Detective Peter's hunt for answers led him to the impound lot. He began to rake through the car. Inside he found some gift cards, keys, and paperwork. But then he found something that changed the course of the entire investigation.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I pull out this little box. I'm looking at it, I'm like, what is this thing? And I realize it's a micro mini camera. And then I pull out another one from underneath the seat and it's another micro mini camera. And then I pull out like a small little case with two magnets on it and immediately realize this is a.

[Matt Gutman]

Tracker, a GPS tracking device, and two hidden cameras. Detective Peters emptied the car and took the box of stuff back to his office so that he could examine it more closely later. It turned out that those little devices had recorded hundreds of hours of footage over a period of, of months. When he studied the footage itself, his jaw dropped.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I'm at my desk and I remember opening it, and the first image that pops up is Michael's house.

[Matt Gutman]

These devices had been installed outside of Michael's home where he lived with his roommate Mary Barnes. And the GPS tracker had followed his whereabouts when he was at his parents home, at his girlfriend's house, entering and leaving property, the person who set up the tracker and the cameras could see exactly how Michael went about his day to the minute. Whoever had been watching Michael was studying him very closely and for a long time. I'm ABC News chief national correspondent Matt Gutman. This is Devil in the Desert episode the Witness. As well as the surveillance cameras, the team had also found another important item in the Tahoe. A cell phone belonging to Hussein Nayeri. Matt Murphy was the deputy district attorney on the case.

[Matt Murphy]

And when they get into that phone, what they find is they find a series of orders that were placed for items which could have been used in this crime, including the stuff for the surveillance cameras and some other things.

[Matt Gutman]

The phone had also been getting updates from a GPS tracking system. It had been receiving text messages about when the tracker left or entered a specific location. Based on the tracker's movements, it seemed to Detective Ryan Peters that it was stuck to a vehicle.

[Courtney Shigerian]

And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Like, Hossein Nayeri, whose DNA is on a glove in Kyle Hanley's truck, also has cameras linking him to watching Michael's truck. You can't refute that. So for me, this is huge.

[Matt Gutman]

Remember, the glove was important to investigators because it connected Hossein Ayeri to Kyle Handley, whose truck was seen at Michael's house the day before the attack. And now the items found in the Chevy Tahoe strengthened that connection. Nyeri seemed to have been surveilling Michael for a period of months before Mary Barnes and Michael were kidnapped. The contents of the Tahoe raised another question. The truck didn't actually belong to Jose Nyeri. It belonged to his wife, Courtney Shagarian. So what did Courtney know about the surveillance of Michael and how much was she involved?

[Matt Murphy]

You start to wonder, is this woman totally innocent?

[Matt Gutman]

Back in September 2012, on the night the Tahoe was found on Balboa island, police showed up at Courtney's door. She hadn't been helpful. She had refused to answer their questions and would not identify Nyeri as the driver. Later, she called to report that the car had been stolen and had come to collect it from the impound lot. But after the contents had been removed by Detective Ryan Peters, which gave Newport PD an opportunity. In the spring of 2013, Detective Ryan Peters invited Courtney to come down to the station. He said, hey, why don't you come get this box of stuff we took from your car? On the surface, it looked like normal police procedure, but this was Actually, a trap carefully laid by the investigators. When she came down to the station, police planned to get her to sign a document to get her stuff back. It was called a property release form. The document would have a list of everything inside the car. The cameras, the GPS tracker, the phone. And when she signed that document, she would be saying, these are all of my possessions. And if Courtney signed, it would immediately incriminate her in this scheme to surveil Michael. And with that leverage used against her, detectives wondered if there was more she might be willing to share with him. But would she sign? On April 9, 2013, Courtney Shigerian arrived at the Newport Beach Police Department. Detective Peters was there to greet her.

[Detective Peters]

Can I help you?

[Courtney Shigerian]

I'm just here to pick a property.

[Matt Gutman]

The meeting was recorded by Detective Peters in the tape. Courtney seems confident, poised, and all business.

[Detective Peters]

What's your name?

[Courtney Shigerian]

Courtney Sherrion. Do you need my driver's license?

[Detective Peters]

We do, yes.

[Matt Gutman]

Ryan Peters explained that the contents of the Tahoe would be released to her.

[Detective Peters]

Yeah, that's just the items that were releasing to you. Okay, you can take your stuff.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Oh, I can take my stuff.

Asked if everything was there, and I said yeah. And I kind of went through it. This is a camera. This is a tracker. This is a Pepsi can. This is change. This is trash. This is the slides.

[Matt Gutman]

You.

[Courtney Shigerian]

This is the clothes. And she's like, okay, great, yeah, I'll take it. And she signs for it and then goes to pick it up.

[Matt Gutman]

Ryan Peters plan worked. Courtney signed for the listed items. But her reaction to the whole ordeal surprised Peters.

[Courtney Shigerian]

No hesitation, no emotional response, no physical response to it. And she knows that that was involved in a crime. And now she's got me. Like, man, does she. Maybe she doesn't know. Maybe she has no idea what this is.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney seemed calm for a person whose car contained surveillance equipment. Equipment that had been used on a victim at the center of a months long investigation. Maybe she really didn't know exactly how serious this situation was. Detective Peters announced that he had a search warrant for her belongings.

[Courtney Shigerian]

What is that?

[Detective Peters]

I'll talk to you, Rob. I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you. This is a search warrant for your person, your phone, your car, your house.

[Matt Gutman]

All of a sudden, Courtney didn't seem so confident. And then Detective Peters began to ask his questions.

[Detective Peters]

Do you know Hussein? I agree.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Yes. That's my husband.

[Detective Peters]

That's your husband And Kyle Henley.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I know who Kyle Henry is, but I don't want to talk about anything. I don't, I don't. I feel very off put by what you're saying. I don't know what you're talking about. This is weird. Why did you have me come in here to pick up items, and now you're trying to ask me questions?

[Matt Gutman]

It seemed like now, when it was past the moment of too late, Courtney had finally figured out the real reason she'd been asked to come down to the station. Matt Murphy, the deputy district attorney on the case.

[Matt Murphy]

Again, it's a Jack in the box moment, right? It's like, hey, we got bad news, and we got some worse news.

[Matt Gutman]

Bad news, you're not getting your stuff back.

[Matt Murphy]

Worst news is this document that you just read implicates you as a co conspirator in a case that potentially could send you to California State Prison for the rest of your life.

[Matt Gutman]

Pushed into a corner, Courtney went on the defensive.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Am I able to leave?

[Detective Peters]

No, you're still being detained for the. We're serving this warrant.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Okay? Can my attorney please be present?

[Detective Peters]

You can call them when we're done.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Well, why can't they call him right now?

[Detective Peters]

Because we're serving the warrant, okay? We're serving the warrant right now. You're being detained right now by law enforcement.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney didn't know that she wasn't allowed to leave the police station. The police had a search warrant, and that meant that legally, they could absolutely detain her so she couldn't interfere with her search. Detective Peters asked, do you want to talk about this in a different room? But Courtney didn't want to talk, at least not about the questions they were asking.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I don't understand why I'm being asked any questions at all. I don't know what you're talking about, and I feel very weird and off hope. I just would have. I would just like to have my attorney present for everything. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Matt Gutman]

Peters tried to calm her down. He told her she wasn't under arrest, but that he had to complete the serving of the warrant.

[Courtney Shigerian]

You know, you're nervous.

[Detective Peters]

You're scared. I get it.

[Courtney Shigerian]

This is weird. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so we could.

[Detective Peters]

I could. I also need to get a buckle swab of your cheeks for your DNA.

[Courtney Shigerian]

For me?

[Detective Peters]

For you.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Why me?

[Matt Gutman]

She didn't want to have her DNA sample taken, but in the end, she allowed them to take a cheek swab. She kept asking the officers, why were they interested in her?

[Courtney Shigerian]

Why is it search warrant?

[Detective Peters]

Because we're investigating the kidnapping of Michael and Mary Barnes.

[Matt Gutman]

Detective Peters kept having to tell Courtney, you are here because we suspect your Husband's involvement in this crime.

[Detective Peters]

You're married to St. Nairi would like to talk to him. Can we talk to him? Can you call him? Tell him to call me.

[Matt Gutman]

Detective Peters hoped that Courtney was the missing piece of a puzzle that would finally reveal the whole picture of the crime. Or at the very least, maybe she could tell them where Nyeri was hiding. Now, Courtney knew that Nyeri was in Iran. He left right after Kyle Handley was arrested in October of 20, nearly six months ago. The detectives had begun to suspect that he wasn't hiding out at Courtney's apartment. But if he was that far away, they needed to know. She didn't tell investigators any of that. Instead, she shut down. She kept her responses to the mere basics. The conversation went on for almost an hour and a half. But despite their efforts, detectives couldn't persuade Courtney to open up. Right at the end, one of the officers tried to reason with her. He said, sometimes in cases, there are all of these roles, suspects, witnesses and co conspirators.

[Detective Peters]

And sometimes those lines get blurred, they get gray a little bit. And that's when it takes some soul searching to ask yourself, who am I? Where do I fall in line?

[Courtney Shigerian]

This.

[Detective Peters]

And maybe that's what you should think about.

[Matt Gutman]

After that, the interview ended awkwardly. Courtney didn't seem like she wanted to do any soul searching. She wrote down their details, and then with the search complete, she was free to go.

[Detective Peters]

Any questions?

[Courtney Shigerian]

Thank you, guys. I'm good.

[Detective Peters]

We've seen you.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney left without the tracking equipment from the Tahoe detective. Peter's great plan had turned out to be only partially successful. He didn't get the crucial information from Courtney that he might have been hoping for, like the location of her husband or confirmation of his involvement in the crime. And he may have spooked Courtney, possibly burning their best chance of getting closer to Nyere. But Courtney had walked right into their plan to implicate her in the surveillance scheme. They'd gained leverage. Now they needed to figure out how to use it. The question was, how could they reel her back in and get her to talk?

[Heather Brown]

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[N/A]

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[Detective Ryan Peters]

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[N/A]

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[Courtney Shigerian]

Time to save the planet.

[N/A]

What's the plan?

[Matt Gutman]

Trust me, I hate that. Bad plan. Come on, that's a stupid plan.

[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

We will face this together as a family.

[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

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[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

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[N/A]

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[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

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[Courtney Shigerian]

Stand up special My son said mom. My school has asked me to declare my pronouns. I said, you tell them you are Indian. Your pronoun is doctor.

[N/A]

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[Courtney Shigerian]

Kama Sutra is that it is true. Indian people wrote it, but I can promise you no Indian man has ever read it.

[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney.

[N/A]

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[Courtney Shigerian]

I don't open.

[N/A]

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[Matt Gutman]

When the investigators began digging into Courtney Shagarian's life, they spotted something in her bank records. Courtney had been giving money to Nyeri, money that had been given to her by her family, who were supporting her through law school. That gave law enforcement an idea.

[N/A]

I was like, why don't you call the girl's father, right? Because we wanted to get Courtney turned around and off of Team Nyere and onto Team da.

[Matt Gutman]

This is Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown, a longtime colleague of Matt Murphy. She had joined the case a few months. It was she who came up with the idea to go around Courtney and focus on her family. Courtney's family hadn't approved of her relationship with Nyeri. They had once been close, but in recent years, Courtney had been drifting away. She didn't even tell them that she and Nayeri had married back in 2010. Her relationship with Nyeri had kept her isolated, and even when things started to go awry in their marriage, like when Courtney had to call the police when Nyeri had bruised her arm, she hadn't told her family. She was totally focused on Nyeri and on keeping his secrets. But what if her family could help steer her back into the investigators hands? Maybe if they could get through to her, maybe they could tell her just how much trouble she was in. Heather Brown's strategy was something Detective Peters was willing to try. Three weeks after that first meeting with Courtney, he called up her Father And.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I told him, I said, hey, your daughter is drastically involved in a violent kidnapping. If she's going to go to law school, if she's going to have any sort of family in the future and start over and have a come to Jesus moment, it's right now and you need to help me do that. But getting off the phone with him, like, I wasn't sure.

[Matt Gutman]

On this phone call, Courtney's father learned two huge pieces of information. One, that she was married to someone he'd previously expressed serious concerns about, and two, that she was now implicated with this man in a serious crime. Within minutes, Ryan Peters got a call from Courtney's lawyer, a man named Lou Rosenblum. Whatever Courtney's father had done behind the scenes had moved things along fast. Lou said he was willing to work with Ryan Peters to help Courtney get back on the investigator's good side. They came up with a plan together. Newport beach police would offer Courtney a way to cooperate by using a proffer. A proffer is an agreement between law enforcement and a person involved in a case. The person agrees to be interviewed, but there are conditions of protection. The investigators get information that could help their investigation, but they can't use any of that information against the person giving it. It didn't mean that Courtney was completely off the hook. They could still press charges against her based on evidence collected from other sources. But it was a start. And it would be the first time that investigators could sit down and ask their questions to a receptive witness. Courtney's lawyer, Lou wanted to impress on Courtney the importance of this interview. He told her to be honest. He said there are no second chances here. One lie can ruin everything.

[N/A]

It was only maybe within 48 hours she was sitting down at Newport beach with her attorney and she was telling us everything she knew.

[Matt Gutman]

Now the Newport Beach Police Department sits just off a two lane road next to a golf course. Its parking lot is ringed with palm trees and from the front door you can see the lush golf course right across the street. Courtney's proffer interview was in the conference room inside. On May 7, 2013, Courtney walked into the room filled with Newport PD representatives. The investigative team said she looked scared, out of her mind. Courtney's lawyer was there, as were Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy and and Ryan peters.

[Detective Peters]

Today is May 7th, Tuesday at 1443 hours interview with Courtney Shigerian.

[Matt Gutman]

Detective Peters started off with the basics. How exactly did she know Jose Nayeri? They went over the significant dates of their relationship and Nyeri's involvement in growing and selling Weed. Courtney also confirmed right off the bat what the investigators had begun to suspect, and Nayeri was gone. Once again, he had fled to Iran.

[Detective Peters]

Okay. The 912307. That's the number that he's using now in Iran. Okay.

[Matt Gutman]

That wasn't all Courtney was willing to share. Detective Peters dove right into the question he really wanted to ask. This time, Courtney held nothing back.

[Detective Peters]

Can you tell me who's involved in the kidnapping?

[Courtney Shigerian]

Just identified people.

[Detective Peters]

Yeah.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hussein Nayari, Kyle Hanley, and their third person. I don't know his actual name, but Hussein referred to him as Brown.

[Matt Gutman]

This was the biggest break in the case so far. Courtney was willing to confirm that Nyere and Hanley and a mysterious third man who were the ones who had committed the kidnapping and torture. And even though Courtney didn't know exactly who Mr. Brown was, she had another name for them. Ryan Kevorkian.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hossein and Ryan were very close.

[Matt Gutman]

Ryan Kevorkian was another graduate of Clovis West High School in Fresno. His wife was close to Nyeri, and Courtney thought she might have been involved with planning the crime. And crucially, not only could she confirm the investigator's suspicions about who had committed the crime and give them a lead for the third man, she could also finally explain the motives behind it all. It came back to Nyere's marijuana growing.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hudson told me that he showed his product to Michael. Michael had his friend try it. The friend said that it had too much chemicals in it and wouldn't buy it for that price. And Hussein got offended and was like, you know, what is this guy telling me that this is good products?

[Matt Gutman]

She said that after Michael had refused to pay him what he asked for, Nayeri had sent Kyle to talk to Michael, try him again with the exact same weed. Michael had paid Kyle for it. But Nyeri felt that the payment wasn't enough. He felt cheated. After that, she said that Nyeri wanted Kyle and Michael to become friends, Just as Michael had told investigators. In the days after the attack, Kyle Handley went with Michael on a trip to Las Vegas, where tens of thousands of dollars were spent partying. What Michael didn't know was that Kyle was reporting everything back to Nyeri. A plan formed between nyeri, Kyle, and Mr. Brown. They believed that Michael had huge amounts of cash. They decided to track him and find out where he stored it and then steal it. Courtney wasn't protecting Nyeri anymore. In fact, a lot had changed for her in just a few days, with her father reaching back out to her and her. Her lawyer laying out the Risks of not participating in the investigation. Something had shifted. As well as cooperating with the law, she was also working on repairing the damage that her relationship with Nyeri had done to her personal life. Lou, her lawyer, had found a therapist for her within 24 hours of getting her to agree to a proffer meeting. Now she was signed up to daily sessions. Lou wanted to get Nyeri out of her head, to deprogram her from Nyeri's influence. She was back in close contact with her family, and she'd cut off all contact with her husband completely. She'd picked a side, and now Courtney was holding nothing back, Even on the parts that made her look just as bad as him. Investigators wanted to talk to Courtney about the surveillance on Michael. They knew that Nyeri was monitoring Michael's house in Newport beach, But they had also discovered that he was watching Michael's parents house and that the family had a dog. This dog presented a problem for Nyeri. Courtney thought he wanted to be able to install cameras inside Michael's parents home and. And the dog would bark at anyone approaching their property. So one day, Nyeri asked Courtney to pick up some meat at the store.

[Courtney Shigerian]

And I asked why and he said that he got something that was poisonous for dogs because he wanted to poison the dog that was at Michael's parents house. And he said, oh, can you make hamburgers with this? Because she's like, I need to like, poison that dog to make him sick so that I can go into the house because the dog barked a lot or whatever.

[Detective Peters]

Did he?

[Courtney Shigerian]

I'm pretty sure I made the hamburgers or he made the hamburgers because I remember the. He wore gloves and like, had to handle it carefully. And I think he gave the. I think he did it.

[Matt Gutman]

Thankfully, the poison didn't work because I.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Feel like I heard him complaining after the fact about. About the fact that the dog didn't get sick. Oh, I mean, sometimes it's hard to remember because there's just so much, but da.

[Matt Gutman]

Heather brown said this detail was damning.

[N/A]

You can admit to a lot of things, but, like, making poison burger patties for someone's dog is sure to get you on America's top 10 I hate you list.

[Matt Gutman]

After learning more about how Nyeri operated, the investigators started to see Courtney in a new light. They viewed her as someone who had been harmed by Nyeri, Someone manipulated by him, someone held captive.

[N/A]

I think that she was very young and troubled when she met Hossein, and he filled a void in her life at that time and made her feel safe. When really he was anything but safe.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney was also able to show investigators that the surveillance, as well as being menacing, had also shaped the night of the crime itself. Remember, for months, this team, Nayeri, Kyle Handley, and The still unidentified Mr. Brown were watching Michael's daily whereabouts. And one day in early September 2012, the tracker on Michael's car came, showed him taking a trip. He drove out of Newport, through Orange county suburbs, and into the Mojave Desert. He went with a friend to look at a tract of land he was thinking about buying. There are abandoned gold mines out there that in recent years have been the subject of a real estate boom. He drove around, decided not to invest, and went home thinking nothing of it. But Courtney told investigators that this trip hadn't gone unnoticed by Nayeri.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hossein had put, you know, a GPS on his car. Someone had gone out to the desert and circled in an area in the desert. And Hossein one day had asked me, why would someone go out to this remote area and just keep circling around? Doesn't make sense. And I said, I don't know. And he says, that's they make the perfect place for someone to bury a bunch of money. Yeah, probably right.

[Matt Gutman]

Michael had inadvertently done something he would live to regret. He had unwittingly drawn a map of his own kidnapping route. Courtney had spelled out the motive for the crime. And now the night of the kidnapping made sense. The reason the attackers had ignored Michael's offer of a hundred thousand dollars, why the sports car in the garage wasn't taken. Nyere really thought there was a million dollars buried somewhere in the desert. And when they couldn't find the million, that's when things turned ugly. Months of work, all that surveillance down the drain for nothing. Courtney even had details of who Nyere said was responsible to for the worst parts of the torture of Michael.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hossein told me that Kyle drove and that Hossein and Brown were in the back with the two victims. Hossein told me that they beat him with a cable. And Hossein told me that Hossein directed Kyle to cut off the victim's penis in retaliation for the victim not giving them the money that they believed was buried out in the desert.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney's proffer interview was three hours long. @ no point did she waver or change her mind or refuse to answer. And by the end, the investigators made plans to talk with her in a few days. She wasn't out of the woods yet. She could still face charges for her role in the crime. She'd Described to them she was helpful, convincing, even. But there was more investigating to do, and. And no telling of what detectives might find. Still, she had left them with a name to check out. Ryan Kevorkian. The possible Mr. Brown. The team wanted to get a sample of kevorkian's DNA. They would test it and see if it matched the DNA that was found on the zip tie at kyle handley's house. So on September 25, 2013, the team located ryan kevorkian. He was in lancaster, a town on the edge of the mojave. Detectives went to his home and then spent the day following him as he moved around town.

[N/A]

He, at one point, went into the 24 hour fitness to work out. And the one cop said to the other cop, like, hey, I'm a member. Are you a member? And so they decided to go into the 24 hour fitness and follow him around the gym. So while he was working out, he tossed his towel that he had been wiping his sweat with.

[Matt Gutman]

Investigators brought that towel back from the 24 Hour Fitness, swabbed it, and sent it to the lab. Soon, they got an official DNA hit. Ryan kevorkian's DNA matched the cut zip tie that was found at kyle's house. Courtney was right. They had found their third man. Deputy district attorney Matt murray. Murphy then went back to courtney's attorney with an idea.

[Matt Murphy]

And it was essentially, look, let's give her a chance to redeem herself. By luring hussein nayiri out of iran.

[Matt Gutman]

They offered courtney a chance of not just cooperating, but actively participating in the investigation. They wanted her to help them lure nyeri out of hiding and help deliver him to the police. It was her chance to save her own life. But to do that, Courtney would have to go back to speaking to nyeri, A man she'd now incriminated in her proffer interview and who she had abruptly cut off contact with. Now she had to worm her way back into his life without raising suspicion. And for their plan to work, investigators needed nyeri to trust courtney implicitly, Just as he had done before. So, first, courtney attended the funeral of nyere's uncle, Knowing that word would get back to him. And it did. Nyeri had a bouquet of flowers delivered to her door. And a few days later, in mid June of 2013, husband and wife were. We're back on speaking terms.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Hi. Thank you for my flowers.

[Matt Gutman]

What nyeri didn't know is that now his wife isn't just the chief witness in the investigation again against him, but also a secret informant.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Oh, I love you. I know you could.

[Detective Peters]

This is the best gift you could have given, but just given me a phone call, you have no idea.

[Matt Gutman]

My.

[Detective Peters]

I'm just shaking right now.

[Courtney Shigerian]

I know.

[Matt Gutman]

Courtney Shagarian had become the Newport Police Department's best chance of bringing him down.

[Courtney Shigerian]

They think any, you know, second I'm going to tip him off.

[N/A]

I was terrified for Courtney.

[Courtney Shigerian]

If Hussein ever finds out or when he finds out that I that I've done all this and I've been recording.

[Matt Gutman]

It, he's going to kill me. Devil in the Desert is a production of ABC Audio, ABC News Studios in 2020. Hosted by me, Matt Gutman. This series was produced by by Madeline Wood, Camille Peterson, Amy Pedula and Kiara Powell. Our supervising producer is Susie Lu. Music and mixing by Evan Viola. Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Katie Dendas, Janice Johnston, Eamon McNiff, Jake Lefferman, Katie Muldowney and Michelle Margulies. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming. Laura Mayer is our executive producer.

[Courtney Shigerian]

Paradise is back.

[Matt Gutman]

It's finally here in a new location, Costa Rica.

[N/A]

There will be adventure, drama and romance.

[Courtney Shigerian]

All gas, no breaks.

[Detective Ryan Peters]

That's my vibe.

[Detective Peters]

Ready to find some love.

[Matt Gutman]

But it wouldn't be paradise without surprises along the way.

[N/A]

These kids need to learn.

That's right, your favorite Golden Alert slums.

[Matt Gutman]

Are crashing the beach. We bring in a party, baby. Bachelor in paradise.

[N/A]

New Mondays at 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu.