00:00:04
Gadget 911. What's your emergency? Uh, it's not an emergency, but um I need a sheriff to come out here to Summit Park
00:00:12
Graange. This is Tammy Gilden in Anacortis, Washington. She called 911 sometime before 11:50, the morning of October
00:00:25
28th, 2009, when she and her mother noticed a man trespassing behind the Grange Hall. It's an event facility
00:00:35
about half a mile from Mark Stover's house. I just saw one guy. Okay. Did you say anything to him? Nope. I just backed
00:00:44
up and pulled in front. Tammy noticed that the guy was at the back of the property where no one should be parked.
00:00:52
There two vehicles are facing back to back. One of those two vehicles was a white station wagon. The other was a
00:01:00
black SUV. They were transferring something back and forth or living back and forth or something. What Tammy saw
00:01:06
was both odd and disturbing. Whatever the object being transferred was, Tammy remembered it was large and covered in
00:01:15
plastic. My first thought was, "Oh, a body." I thought, "Oh, you know, you're reading a murder mystery. You know,
00:01:23
silly girl. You know, that's not a body." As they sat in their car at the front of the property, Tammy and her mom
00:01:30
waited for a deputy to arrive. Tammy said the stranger got into the black SUV, leaving the station wagon behind. I
00:01:39
didn't see his face headon when we first pulled in. Uh I saw him when he pulled next to us to leave. He drove right up
00:01:48
next to their car before stepping on the gas and speeding away. We were scrambling to find pen and paper
00:01:57
and write the license plate number down. Tammy called the sheriff again. Dispatch, can I help you? Yeah. Hi. Um,
00:02:05
I called about meeting the sheriff at They gave the dispatcher the license plate number and a description of the
00:02:12
trespasser's car. It's a black SUV. Which direction did it leave? He turned on Stevenson. He turned uh west on
00:02:21
Stevenson. He was driving toward downtown Anacortis. Minutes later, Scadget County Sheriff's
00:02:33
Deputy Rick Du Hay arrived and checked out the station wagon and then went looking for the black
00:02:40
SUV. It didn't take long. I noticed the license number matched the piece of paper that the reporting party had given
00:02:48
me. I turned around in the vehicle, made a traffic stop. The deputy went up to the car window. It was raining. He had
00:02:56
sunglasses on which is unusual. He was extremely nervous. Deputy Duh asked the man who was hiding his eyes for an ID.
00:03:06
He didn't listen to the question and then repeated my question to me. So, he wasn't tracking the conversation we were
00:03:12
having. The deputy explained that he pulled the driver over for trespassing. His story was he was headed to the
00:03:19
casino, which is down the road. During the conversation, the deputy noticed that the driver had some dog
00:03:30
hair on his clothing and he noticed a big bundle of blankets in the back of the SUV. He didn't think much of
00:03:39
it. This just so happened to be the same morning that Mark Stover's employees reported seeing their boss tear out of
00:03:47
his driveway in his white Chevy station wagon. And this traffic stop was just a few hours
00:03:55
later. No one yet knew Mark was missing. The deputy took the driver's ID and went
00:04:03
back to my patrol car, ran a driver's check on him, made sure that the car was registered to
00:04:08
him. I pulled over Michael Oaks and the bundle of blankets in the back. Only later would he learn that was Mark's
00:04:16
dead body. The whole case took off. I'm Peter Vans from 48 hours. This is Train to Kill. The dog trainer, the ays, and
00:04:27
the bodyguard. Episode 4, the bundle in the back. After the sheriff's deputy let
00:04:37
Michael Oaks drive away with just a warning, Michael made a phone call, but not to his girlfriend, Linda Updike.
00:04:47
It was out of it was unexpected. It was out of the blue. It wasn't pre-coordinated.
00:04:52
It was to his ex-wife, Jennifer Thompson. She lived in Everett, Washington, about an hour south of
00:04:59
Anacortis. We spoke in 2010. And he said, "Hey, I am available this afternoon. I'm in your area. Are you
00:05:07
available?" I said, "Actually, yeah, I I am." And he said, "Well, do you want to
00:05:12
meet up?" I said, "Sure." Although they had been separated for about a year, Michael and Jennifer
00:05:19
started talking again. She had emailed him just a few weeks earlier. I had entered a relationship with someone and
00:05:28
it made me really reflect on my situation with Michael because I can't say I didn't love him
00:05:34
anymore. I was healing and moving forward, but I it's not just done. And so I emailed him and said, "I've met
00:05:43
someone. I'm entering this relationship. Are you sure? Are you still sure?" Before she started
00:05:52
something new, Jennifer wanted to know if her marriage to Michael was really over. We had a pretty amazing
00:05:59
relationship. Yeah, it had a lot of brokenness in it, but I don't know. Are you absolutely
00:06:06
100%. Had he said, "Yep, I'm sure." I would have said, "Okay, carry on and moved
00:06:14
forward." But he didn't say that. And he wrote back, "No, I'm not." This is October 2009, right? When Linda Updike
00:06:23
and Michael Oaks have become a couple, and what we've been told is they're deeply in love. He's telling you
00:06:29
something else. He's telling you that in his mind it may not be over. Yeah. Your
00:06:35
relationship with him. And I actually he told me that he didn't love her. Um I I can't say what's true and what
00:06:43
isn't. I don't know. But what he told me was that it wasn't it wasn't like us. It
00:06:50
it was a convenience. They were partners. Like they each had things that the other needed.
00:06:58
[Music] So when Michael called her that October morning, Jennifer agreed to meet him at
00:07:06
a Starbucks. And he looked very disheveled and frumpy, like just kind of hair was poofy and clothes untucked,
00:07:14
which was different because he's usually very meticulous and neat, tidy, tucked in, belt, you know, that kind of thing.
00:07:22
They sat together at a table in the corner of the coffee shop. Oh, we kind of have some general chitchat. And then
00:07:28
he says, "Hey, you know there's a beach around here." And I said, "Well, it's Everett. It's a port. It's not very
00:07:38
pretty though. What are you looking for?" She suggested a beach they could go to. Said, "Sure, that sounds good."
00:07:44
He says, "I have some time." He said, "But my car is really full. There's no room for you, so I'll just follow you."
00:07:50
It's fine. Jennifer noticed that Michael parked far away from her and that his vehicle was caked in mud. Well, the way
00:07:59
there was very strange because he was driving so carefully, laying low, trying not to draw attention
00:08:08
to himself. And this is a man that flips a U-turn when it's convenient for him, even if it's illegal.
00:08:16
She said when they arrived at the beach, she watched him fumble with things in his car. Michael suggested the two of
00:08:23
them go for a walk. Did he seem nervous? No. At this time, he seemed very calm, but the tension was so thick. The
00:08:34
unspoken was so loud. And I felt I don't know. I It was really really a strange cuz he and I have very easy breezy
00:08:42
conversations. So, it was very weird. It was very uncomfortable. Then when they finished their walk, she said they each
00:08:50
decided to stop at the bathroom before they left. So, I went in, he went in, and I came out and he was still in
00:08:57
there. He was in there for a long time. And I sat on a picnic bench and just waited,
00:09:03
waited, and he came out and he was just distraught. Something happened while he was in there. He came out and his entire
00:09:12
demeanor completely changed. And so he he looks upset. He looks stressed out like he's freaking out. He's just
00:09:21
noticeably agitated and not okay. What does he say to you? I said, "Are you okay?" And he said, "No, I think I'm in
00:09:30
trouble." And I said, "Real trouble or like perceived trouble?" And he said, "Like 10 to 15 years felony trouble."
00:09:40
Knowing that Michael could be over the top, Jennifer didn't know whether to take him seriously. I also know this man
00:09:47
to be very melodramatic. So, I'm trying to assess him. I'm reading him and looking at him and I'm saying I'm
00:09:55
thinking in my head, is this real? Is this not? At that point, he was sitting in my
00:10:03
passenger seat and I was in the driver's seat and he was very noticeably agitated, rubbing his temples and his
00:10:09
hair, his fingers through his hair and um really vigilant watching around paranoid, freaking out looking out the
00:10:17
windows. Yeah. At one point a patrolman had come by and he really really went crazy
00:10:23
and he said, "I feel like they know like they" and I said, "They don't know anything. You're just a guy sitting in a
00:10:29
car in a parking lot." He says, "You're right. It's just that guilty conscious thing. And did you not say right then
00:10:36
they know what I No, I didn't. I probably didn't want to know because if it was real, I didn't want to know. And
00:10:43
if it was being dramatic, I didn't need to know. Then Michael said something even more unsettling. He made reference
00:10:50
to if he was to be pulled over, he was just trying to get out of this area. And if he had been pulled over and law
00:10:57
enforcement had seen what was inside his car, he'd go away for life. After that disturbing comment, Michael
00:11:03
got out of her car into his and drove away. I think the part that disturbs me the
00:11:11
most on my part of it is when we parted ways that day, kissed him on the cheek. And that haunts me cuz he had a
00:11:22
body in that car. Michael left Jennifer. He drove back up to Anacortis, then drove more than 250
00:11:33
miles, crossing the Cascade Mountain Range for a second time in the same day. That night, he returned to Linda
00:11:41
Updikeke's house. From Linda's home surveillance camera, you can see Michael arrive just after 11:30
00:11:49
p.m. On a different camera, you can see Linda in a bathrobe come out to welcome him home. Their reunion would prove
00:11:58
[Music] short. On the evening of October 29th, 2009, the day after Mark Stove went
00:12:13
missing, Sergeant Jean Davis with the Okonagan Sheriff's Office got a call. We talked in 2010.
00:12:22
I checked into service around 6:00 and received a call from Detective Meyers with Scadget County um Sheriff's
00:12:29
Department advising that um they're working on a missing person case. Mark Stove. Sergeant Davis knew the name Mark
00:12:36
Stover. Well, months before, he had suggested Linda Updike get a protective order against Mark. He also had offered
00:12:44
to help train her dog to attack. And I told Detective Myers, um, yeah, I know Linda, known Linda very well, and I know
00:12:53
Oaks very well. Detective Meyers then told Sergeant Davis that they had a lead concerning Mark Stover's
00:13:01
disappearance. The lead included a familiar name. Somehow Oaks, Michael Oaks, got involved in this. So, I uh
00:13:11
initially heard this information and I placed a call to uh Dave, Chief Rodriguez, to let him know what was
00:13:17
going on. He didn't answer. Simultaneously, Linda calls me and she's pretty agitated, somewhat frantic,
00:13:26
actually. This is Dave Rodriguez. Back in 2010, he was a chief deputy with the Okonagan Sheriff's Office. She said um
00:13:37
an employee of Stove had just called her and said that the police were there, that Mark is
00:13:46
missing, there's blood at the scene, and the dog's been shot. and she's very frantic and she's saying we're not sure
00:13:54
what's going on and we've not ruled out the possibility that some type of violence happened at his house by him,
00:14:05
not onto him and he's now he's snapped and he's coming over here. So Linda is thinking she may be next.
00:14:14
This is what she's conveying to me anyhow. And I said, "Uh, are you there by yourself?" and she said, "No, that uh
00:14:21
Oaks was there." And I said, "Well, you should be fine, but if you don't, maybe you guys should uh leave the house and
00:14:28
go stay with uh your mother or somewhere else." She goes, "That's a good idea. Um
00:14:34
that's what we're going to do." Sergeant Davis and Deputy Rodriguez drove to Linda's place separately,
00:14:43
unsure of what they were heading into. It's 7:00 at night and it was uh almost a typical fall foggy wintry, not wintry
00:14:54
yet, but it was starting to mist dark night. Both investigators were familiar with Linda's house. So, we drove up to
00:15:04
the house and normally when we were going there to train with her dog, her camera system or possibly a sensor would
00:15:11
say someone's coming up the driveway. She would always be out on the outside on the deck or whatever.
00:15:20
[Music] Instead of that usual warm welcome, the front door stayed closed. This visit to
00:15:28
Linda's would clearly be different. I used my spotlight, my high beams to, you know, if they came out, they'd be
00:15:35
blinded. I tried calling her on the phone and um no answer yet. Her car was there. Oak's car was there. Lights were
00:15:43
on. No answer. The deputies pulled in and parked. I'm like, we're going to have to go. Maybe something has happened
00:15:50
now. Maybe Sto did come to the house in between the time that I talked to her. So, we need to go to the house. So, we
00:15:57
go and knock on the door. Linda answered the door and invited them inside. She seemed a little surprised that we
00:16:06
were there because I didn't, you know, last I talked to her, I said, "I recommend you pack some bags and go stay
00:16:14
with somebody else." So, I don't I think she found that uh a little surprising that we showed up, but I mean, other
00:16:21
than that, nothing unusual. Invited us in. Initially, we didn't see Michael Oaks, but as we walked in the living
00:16:27
room, he was walking up the stairs from a lower level. The deputies told Michael to sit on the
00:16:35
couch. This was after they searched between the cushions for any weapons. I I know Michael and and Linda were are
00:16:45
into guns and I asked if he was armed and he said he was and I removed a a 9mm pistol from
00:16:53
him and at that point um we go into more of the questioning. Was Linda armed as well? No, she was
00:17:01
not. Linda was in a chair nearby. Even though Michael wasn't under arrest, he was
00:17:08
clearly a person of interest in this case, having been in Anacortis on the day Mark Stove
00:17:14
disappeared. Sergeant Davis said they read Michael his Miranda rights just in case he said something that could be
00:17:21
admissible in court. And we point out that we we're here on a task from Scadget County to find out if you were
00:17:30
here because your car was seen in the area of Stover's residence at this particular time. And I as flat asked
00:17:39
him, "What were you doing over there?" And that's when he said, "Oh, I was over there. I was visiting my um ex-wife."
00:17:47
Chief Deputy Rodriguez noticed how distraught Linda became when Michael said that he made the trip to see his
00:17:54
ex-wife Jennifer. So, actually in my mind is, oh, Oaks just got caught messing around with his ex-wife and now
00:18:03
current girlfriend just found out about it. He said Linda left the room crying. Sergeant Davis went after her. She kept
00:18:12
on asking me, I don't know what's going on here. What's going on here? You know,
00:18:15
she asked, "Jean, what's going on? I I'm so confused. I don't know what's going on here." Numerous times to me.
00:18:23
Back in the living room, Chief Deputy Rodriguez continued to press Michael for an answer about why he went to visit his
00:18:32
ex-wife. Then he started to get pretty agitated and he's looking around and he goes,
00:18:38
"Can I get up to find my medication?" and we didn't have probable cause to have him under arrest. And um I said,
00:18:46
"Yeah, you're not under arrest. You can get up." So he's now looking around in the living room for his medication.
00:18:53
That's strange. It is. And now Jean actually Sergeant Davis then I believe got the call from Scaji County, but in
00:19:02
her house, like a lot of places up here, you don't get cell signal. He had to go
00:19:06
out on the deck to actually get cell signal. So he's running around. I'm trying to keep an eye on him while he's
00:19:12
looking for his medication. And then Linda comes out of the back room and asks me
00:19:18
something and which diverted my attention briefly. And then when I looked back for Oaks, he had ran down
00:19:24
went down the stairs that he had come up when we initially got there. Where'd he
00:19:30
go? He went downstairs. So I said, "Linda, he he's got to be at least he's under arrest, but he has to be within my
00:19:36
sight." Outside on the deck, Sergeant Davis was getting new information from Scadget County. They advised that um
00:19:44
they had a search warrant signed and for us to take Oaks's vehicle. When I was outside, I something caught my attention
00:19:51
by Oaks's vehicle. Um I see Oaks open the back hatch, reach inside and take out a plastic bag. Appears to be like a
00:19:59
garbage bag. When Sergeant Davis saw this happen, alarm bells started to go off in his mind. Why was Michael even
00:20:08
outside? And what did he just remove from his car? Michael Oaks had just taken something out of his car, but the
00:20:26
darkness and mist made it tough to see. Sergeant Jean Davis spotted Michael while outside talking on the phone. So I
00:20:35
sneak down to him. I light him up with my flashlight and right when I hit him with beam of my light, the plastic bag,
00:20:40
he throws it over an embankment and he starts going into the front of his car. I grab grab him, ask him what he's
00:20:47
doing. You know, he's really agitated, nervous at this point. I'm looking for medicine and then goes right into it. He
00:20:53
goes, "Why are you giving me the third degree? Why are you treating me like a suspect?" I said, "Well, you're acting
00:20:58
suspicious." And at that point, I take control of Michael Oaks and escort him back into the house. Chief Deputy Dave
00:21:05
Rodriguez was inside with Linda when Sergeant Davis brought Michael back. So he walks in with Oaks. What do you say
00:21:15
to the sergeant? Sergeant said to me what he just saw Oaks doing. And to me that just threw the switch. Since he
00:21:24
knew them well, he felt that he needed to reinforce to Michael that he was no longer a friend. You're now the suspect
00:21:34
and I'm the deputy. Sit down on that couch. We got the second call from Scaji County that says, "We have probable
00:21:40
cause. Put him under arrest." Sergeant Davis put on the handcuffs. And at that point, he looked at Linda again and
00:21:49
said, "It's going to be okay, babe." Linda broke down. She was crying even more now. She was
00:21:56
basically hysterical at this point, sobbing. Couldn't even make out the words that she was saying. Um, she was
00:22:03
completely emotional wreck at this time. After he put Michael in the back of his
00:22:09
car, Sergeant Davis walked out to grab whatever Michael had thrown down that embankment.
00:22:16
Once he's secured in the back of my car, I go and secure um the garbage. It's a basically it's a Walmart garbage sack,
00:22:23
white garbage sack tied up. I How far away from the car was it? Uh it was probably 20 ft down an embankment um
00:22:30
from the car and then I secure it and secured in in the floorboard of my front passenger of my vehicle. He didn't open
00:22:37
the bag. Sergeant Davis didn't want to risk spoiling the evidence, but he said that whatever was inside was heavy. And
00:22:47
after several minutes in my car, I started up smelling a bleach smell. A strong odor of bleach.
00:22:54
You smelled a strong order of bleach coming from what was ever inside that bag? Yes. Sca County deputies arrived
00:23:00
later that night to search Michael's SUV. And Sergeant Davis gave them that unopened garbage bag. They they checked
00:23:09
it after the warrant and discovered a firearm and um and what the rags and whatnot. What was in the bag? What kind
00:23:18
of gun? It was a 22 pistol. 22 caliber. Yes. But when they searched Michael's vehicle, there was no bundle of
00:23:27
blankets. Investigators kept searching for Mark Stover's body. Scadget County Sheriff's Office asked us to check any
00:23:35
probable locations where a body may be dumped in water. And as they gathered the evidence, Michael Oaks's story
00:23:43
seemed more and more unbelievable. So, what are you telling me? You shot Mark Stove in
00:23:52
self-defense? Absolutely. [Music] from 48 hours. This is Train to Kill the Dog Trainer, the Aerys, and the
00:24:12
Bodyguard, produced by Sony Music Entertainment. I'm your host, Peter Vans. Judy Tigard is the executive producer of
00:24:23
48 Hours. Original reporting by 48 Hours producers Ryan Smith and Liza Finley. Jamie Benson is the senior
00:24:33
producer for Paramount Audio and Mora Waltz is the senior story editor. Recording assistance from Alan
00:24:41
Pang and Reginald Bazale. Special thanks to Paramont Podcast Vice President Megan Marcus.
00:24:51
It is written and produced by Alex Schuman. Stephanie Serrano is our editor. Our executive producer is Sher
00:25:00
Morris. Our associate producer is Zoe Kulkin. Theme and original music composed by Hansdale
00:25:09
Shei. Cedric Wilson is our sound designer and mixed the episodes. We also use music from APM and Epidemic
00:25:20
Sounds. Fendle Fulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is Tamika Balance
00:25:29
Kolassni. I'm Peter Vans Sant. If you're enjoying the show, be sure to rate and review. It helps more people find it and
00:25:37
hear our reporting. You can listen to Train to Kill early and adfree right now by subscribing to 48 Hours Plus on Apple
00:25:48
Podcasts. Thanks for listening.