Peter Van Sant has spent many years telling compelling tales by means of 48 Hours.
However in terms of the mysterious homicide of Mark Stover — a canine coach with deep ties in his Washington neighborhood — he all the time knew there was extra to inform.
Now, he’s returning to a case that by no means left him — one that also holds unanswered questions and emotional weight.
“I all the time take a look at the 48 Hours broadcast that I work for — after we do a narrative like this, that’s just like the journal article on it,” Van Sant stated. “The podcast, that’s just like the film. And this story so deserves the film model.”
The six-part collection, titled Educated to Kill: The Canine Coach, the Heiress and the Bodyguard, is predicated on a 2014 episode of 48 Hours that Van Sant produced.
The story facilities on the disappearance and presumed homicide of Stover, whose physique was by no means discovered. His ex-wife, heiress Linda Updike, and her boyfriend, bodyguard Michael Oakes, have been central to the case — and to Van Sant’s reporting.
“There are nonetheless unanswered questions inside this investigation,” Van Sant stated.
“There may be nonetheless a web site for Michael Oakes, the convicted killer on this, that claims he’s an harmless man, wrongly convicted. There are nonetheless questions on Linda Updike, the heiress on this story, Oakes’ girlfriend, about what did she know, what did she not know.”
“The lead detective on this case all the time believed that Linda knew greater than she was saying. Linda, within the three interviews I did together with her, is emphatic that she didn’t know greater than what she needed to say and that she was surprised by this killing and issues.
“However there are all types of questions that we’re in a position to take care of on this format and inform this fascinating story intimately that has by no means been offered.”
That entry — significantly the early interviews with each Oakes and Updike — is what makes this venture really feel totally different.
“We truly obtained to Linda and Michael, by the best way, they usually agreed to interviews with me earlier than they have been interviewed by authorities, which was extraordinary,” he stated.
“The truth is, Oakes by no means spoke to authorities or Linda extensively till they testified at trial, and we’re in a position to play a lot extra of that on this podcast format.”
There’s a noticeable sense of satisfaction in Van Sant’s voice when he talks in regards to the depth he can discover within the podcast format.
“I’ve all the time needed to inform this in lengthy kind,” he stated.
“Frankly, I simply obtained a podcast that began final 12 months. We did our first Blood is Thicker podcast that had six components. And now Educated to Kill is my second podcast, six components. And that is the story I needed to inform subsequent as a result of there’s a lot folks haven’t heard.”
That sort of entry solely works if the topic trusts the journalist. And belief is one thing Van Sant takes critically — particularly in terms of telling tales that contain trauma and grief.
“All households have been touched by crime, or many have — mine have,” he stated. “So I’ve a fascination in pursuing justice and studying about these instances.”
“I need to relate to those victims of crime. I need to hear their tales. I truthfully need to hear their tales. I don’t need to benefit from them.
“I would like them to share their life expertise that others can be taught from and in addition create for them on the finish of the day, a narrative that they are going to be pleased with for having taken half — have the ability to present their household, to have somewhat piece of historical past of what occurred of their household — a tragedy that occurred of their household the place hopefully justice on the finish of the day was achieved.”
He additionally doesn’t sugarcoat his perspective on the media’s function in shaping these tales.
“I look on the market on the information media enterprise, and, as you understand, there’s an unbelievable spectrum,” he stated. “I evaluate it to the movie business at occasions — there’s type of pornographers in our enterprise and there’s Steven Spielbergs in our enterprise.”
That very same blunt honesty informs his strategy to interviewing suspects and members of the family alike.
“I’ll be asking you direct questions in the course of the course of this. Typically they could be — you may consider them as robust — by no means insulting however robust, as a result of questions have to be answered,” he defined.
“These difficult questions will likely be divvied out to all sides on this — from the investigators to the perpetrator to the victims.”
Nonetheless, in terms of victims and their households, the tone shifts. “There aren’t a variety of robust questions with victims, although, I need to say. It’s extra from the guts — connecting with them and wanting them to inform their story.”
Stover’s story continues to boost questions, particularly in terms of the lacking physique.
“That physique seemingly has proof. Maybe it has a bullet gap behind the cranium that then fights the story that was advised in courtroom by the suspect in a dramatic approach,” Van Sant stated. “These are the items I’d nonetheless prefer to attempt to resolve on this. Stover’s stays are on the market someplace.”
He suspects the physique was by no means put the place authorities have been led to go looking. “They took a mini sub in there, a remote-controlled sub, divers,” he stated. “I do know that space very nicely, this slough that empties out into this bay… no approach a physique was put there.”
Van Sant believes the true disposal web site was way more distant. “You drive from Anacortes, Washington, to japanese Washington — you go over a mountain move, and there are tons of of logging roads and issues. Discovering that may be virtually unattainable.”
So, how do you retain a listener engaged throughout six episodes with out visuals or the constraints of a 42-minute runtime? Van Sant depends on construction — and belief within the story itself.
“An important factor after I do these interviews with folks… you by no means begin that interview by saying, the night time of the crime, we all know you have been right here,” he defined. “It’s the backstory that individuals need to be taught. They need to get inside these folks’s heads and issues.”
That backstory, he stated, is what separates this podcast from different retellings. “Luxuriate. Get within the scorching tub and provides a hearken to this as a result of the small print — you can’t make these items up.”
Trying forward, Van Sant stated he’s already serious about what tales he may adapt subsequent.
“I’ve executed some fascinating homicide mysteries that may actually match into this,” he stated. “One hasn’t aired but that’s developing that we have been already speaking about with the ability to flip… right into a podcast as a result of they’ve, once more, such wealthy materials.”
For now, although, he’s proud to offer a long-form take a look at a case that by no means let him go — one that also holds extra questions than solutions. “It’s journalistically liberating to have this a lot time,” he stated. “We completed the venture, and it’s the dream.”
“All of us, after we have been in school, what can we need to do within the information enterprise? Documentaries. All of us dreamed of that… I’m attending to do these long-form shows which might be so satisfying and engaging.”
Educated to Kill: The Canine Coach, the Heiress and the Bodyguard and different 48 Hours podcasts can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
You may watch the total interview with Peter Van Sant under.
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