Children speak at father's sentencing. Business partner on trial for double murder. Plus, manhunts.
36m 45s
Dateline True Crime Weekly covers a range of high-profile cases involving unresolved murders, wrongful convictions, and complex investigations. In Southern California, Larry Migliette is sentenced to 25 to life for the 2021 murder of his wife Maya, whose body remains missing—fueling ongoing grief among her family and raising questions about the prosecution’s evidence, which relies heavily on circumstantial claims like spellcasting and hemlock interest. During the sentencing, emotional testimonies from Maya’s children and family highlight the deep personal pain and love that persist despite the tragedy. In Ohio, Andrew Griffin is convicted of murdering business partners Tom and Angela Strushen, with prosecutors citing a financial dispute and a detailed plan involving a burner phone and motorcycle travel, though the defense argues the evidence is unreliable and circumstantial. In Florida, a 15-year-old case against Dale Smith Jr. resurfaces due to newly recovered phone data showing hostile messages and location discrepancies that contradict his initial alibi. Meanwhile, Lori Vallow Daybell’s defense claims her trial judge made a constitutional error by removing her attorney without consent, and a new case involving Lindsay Clancy ends in a mistrial, with a retrial scheduled for 2027. The week concludes with a look at fugitive tracking, featuring insights from a retired U.S. Marshal who explains the complexities of manhunt operations, including digital forensics, surveillance, and public safety, emphasizing that escapees face harsher penalties and that the public should avoid contact with fugitives to ensure safety. These stories underscore the enduring challenges in true crime: seeking justice, confronting missing persons, and navigating unreliable evidence.
We are rolling on the trial right now.
It's the start of another workday for the Dateline team.
The next morning, she doesn't show up.
Our producers are swapping tips and story ideas.
He did not say that to police. He only said it to his family.
Both said, you know, we just don't want to mess this up.
Still like a lot of questions.
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly.
I'm Blaine Alexander, in for Andrea Canning.
It's November 5th, and here's what's on our docket.
In Ohio, five years after a married couple were found shot to death
inside their burning home, their business partner is on trial for their murder.
His defense attorney says the prosecution's case
is based on nothing but lies and innuendo.
They're alleging that all the prosecution witnesses are unreliable
and raising questions about why they have said what they said.
In Dateline Roundup, we've got news about Lori Vallow Daybell,
a.k.a. Mommy Doomsday,
and new details about the investigation,
into the Florida man accused of murdering his ex-fiancée back in 2011,
hours after they appeared together on an episode of The People's Court.
There's cursing, there's name-calling, really hostile conversations.
Plus, a convicted killer escaped from a Tennessee prison last month,
sparking a multi-state manhunt.
We're talking to a former U.S. marshal about what it takes to track down a fugitive.
You can run, but you can't hide.
And when you run, you only go to jail tired.
But before all of that,
we are off to Southern California for the dramatic final chapter in a case
we've been following all year.
It's one that involves murder, heartbreak, and spellcasters.
Back in July, former Navy optician Larry Migliette
was convicted of killing his wife, Maya, and hiding her body.
But even after the verdict, there have been plenty of questions.
Maya's body has never been found,
and the years that have passed since her 2021 disappearance,
have worn on her friends and her family,
who have been desperate for answers and for closure.
On Monday afternoon, they gathered in a Chula Vista courtroom for Larry's sentencing,
which was at times very emotional.
Tell us where my sister is and help bring her home.
The court also heard directly from Larry Migliette himself.
She wasn't just my wife, she was my best friend.
Here to fill us in on all of this is my friend and fellow Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning,
who,
was in the courtroom for that hearing.
Andrea, you have been covering this case for quite some time now.
I mean, right now you're actually sitting outside of jail,
waiting to go inside and talk to Larry, right?
Yeah, we're at the Vista Detention Center in California here.
You know, we have a lot of tough questions for him.
There is a lot to talk about.
And I know that you will certainly be the one to press him on that.
I mean, just take us back real quickly.
Remind us how all of this started.
Yeah, so Blaine, this all started in January of 2021.
39-year-old Maya Migliette, she vanished from her home.
in Chula Vista that she shared with her husband, Larry, and their three children.
She got out of her car.
She'd come home from work.
She walked into the house.
But she is never actually seen leaving the house.
And her body has never been found.
Larry Migliette was arrested and charged with Maya's murder nine months later.
He pleaded not guilty, finally went to trial earlier this year.
That's more than five years after Maya's disappearance.
Andrea, just remind us what prosecutors said at the trial.
Yeah.
This was a very long trial, weeks and weeks.
The prosecution painted a picture of a marriage in trouble.
Maya was unhappy.
Her friends and family testified that she was planning to divorce Larry imminently.
We learned from various witnesses that Maya had been having an affair with her married co-worker,
which obviously none of this sat well with Larry Migliette.
You know, the prosecution argued that he was willing to go to any means to control Maya,
to stop her from leaving him, even hectic.
What was that about?
Yeah.
So, Blaine, our listeners will probably remember this case because of that one fact in particular.
The prosecution called an online spellcaster as one of their witnesses.
He testified that Larry was purchasing these spells.
And the requests from Larry ranged from trying to get Maya to not leave him,
to her falling in love with him again.
But then they got more intense.
One request even asking for Maya to suffer from an accident and to,
you know, have a broken bone.
Does the prosecution have a theory about how Larry killed her?
So they suggested that Larry had shown an interest in hemlock, which is a poisonous plant.
But, Blaine, the reality of all of this, because Maya's body has never been found,
they cannot say for sure how she died.
Wow.
And I would imagine that that's something that Larry Migliette's defense really leaned into.
Yeah.
The defense was entirely about reasonable doubt.
Eventually, Andrea, after all of this, in July,
the jury had a verdict and Larry Migliette was found guilty of first-degree murder.
That brings us to the sentencing on Monday.
You were there.
You were inside the courtroom.
What was it like covering the final chapter in all of this?
There was not one available seat in that courtroom.
It was packed.
Family everywhere.
Maya's family, all wearing green, ready to speak their piece, to say how this has affected them.
But we also saw Larry's supporters there as well, his mom and dad.
This was a long, long time.
This was a long, long time coming for both sides.
And I know that in Monday's sentencing, you really got a strong sense of who Maya was.
Can you just tell us about some of those statements from her family and friends?
Blaine, one thing was clear.
Maya was loved.
It was impact statement after impact statement about how much she is missed,
how much they love her, what a strong presence she was in their lives.
We heard from Maya's siblings.
She was one of six children, obviously all very close.
Also, her extended family and her niece especially talked about how they feel her absence all the time.
Auntie Maya's laughter is no longer heard at family parties.
Her smiling face is absent from my family photos.
And we no longer hear her singing hopelessly devoted to you by Olivia Newton-John during karaoke.
And it's a constant reminder that our family will never be whole in quite the same way again.
We also got a sense of just kind of what Larry and Maya's relationship was like leading up to her death.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it was this started off really sweet.
They were very young when they got married.
But we got this sense from her sisters that Larry's behavior just started to become controlling.
You were her love of her life, in sickness and in health.
But that doesn't mean you have to take her life to say till death do us part.
Everything went crashing down because of your obsessive controlling parents.
Paranoid, increasingly abusive behavior.
And then, Andrea, I know a lingering question on everyone's minds.
Where is Maya?
Of course, her body has never been found.
That was literally in every statement from the family members.
It's such an unspeakable pain on top of an already horrifically painful one.
It's such an unspeakable pain on top of an already horrifically painful situation to just not know.
And then in the midst of all of that, Andrea, we got the most heart-wrenching part of this entire thing,
which was hearing directly from Maya's own children.
Yeah, and that was really hard to hear, Blaine.
The two daughters made a statement, you know, her son is young.
He did not.
So the prosecution, they played a video of Maya and her son playing the guitar and singing together.
They played a video of Maya and her son playing the guitar and singing together.
At that point, Larry seemed to show maybe his first sign of emotion.
He was possibly tearing up.
It certainly wasn't, you know, sobbing or anything like that.
Wow.
You know, we heard from the couple's middle child, and she talked about how good of a mother Maya was.
But she also talked about how great of a father Larry was.
He was awesome to me and my siblings, regardless of anything.
He was a person.
I would never regret having in my life.
And I know that hearing from their eldest daughter, I mean, she spoke last and really seemed to kind of talk about how difficult of a position they're in.
Yeah, this was a profound statement.
I've heard children testify before.
Never has a child, for me, dissected so much what it's actually like to be the child.
While I feel the complicated pain of knowing as a person what he did was unimaginable and as a human being unforgivable,
as his daughter, I cannot stop loving him.
For he's the only parent that we have left.
It's too much to ask of me to pick sides when I have so much love in my heart for both of them.
Oh, that sounds so incredibly powerful.
We heard so many people speaking on Maya's behalf.
But the defense, Larry Miliente, also had people speaking on his behalf.
And that's when, I mean, things took a pretty big kind of turn.
Walk me through some of those statements.
Yeah, so first his mom came up.
She defended him.
Yeah.
I am not ashamed of you.
I am proud of you because I know that you did not hurt anybody.
And then Larry's dad came on.
He echoed the same sentiments.
But then it took a turn.
There was a medical emergency.
There was apparently static from the microphone that was messing with Larry's father's pacemaker.
So it appeared to keep zapping him.
And he was saying, it's shocking me.
You know, it's shocking.
shocking me. And then finally, after several times,
of this happening, he said, I need medical. I need medical. They end up taking him out on a
gurney to an ambulance. And I mean, I believe he's okay at this point. Wow. Yes. It was crazy.
So then after all of that subsides, Larry Milioti, what did he have to say?
Yes. He talked about Maya, how much he loved and missed her, how much he wished he could
have protected her. I know I wasn't the best or greatest husband, but I would consider myself a
decent great husband. I'm not a monster. I'm not a bad person. And I know, Andrea, that he also
spoke directly to Maya's family. How did that go? That didn't go well. So Larry had actually
finished and they had gone on to some procedural things. Suddenly there's a message from the
defense attorney. Larry has more to say. He starts saying he hopes to make amends with the family,
with Maya's family. He said, I love you, naming names. I love you. I love you. I love you.
I'm going to start with Lee, but you know, I really love your sister.
And I miss her every day.
I could feel the tensions rising as he was saying these things. You could just
feel it. So what happened was Maya's niece starts screaming. This is a boiling point for her.
She's so upset. No one can blame her for being upset.
The bailiffs came over and they,
you know, they got her to leave. And, you know, your heart just went out to her.
Oh, I mean, all of it sounds so intense, so incredibly difficult for Maya's family.
I know, Andrea, that after that, it was up to the judge. What did the judge have to say?
Yeah, well, he noted just how stone-faced Larry had been.
The Rockets sports court does not demonstrate humility or acceptance of responsibility.
He has maintained a posture of denial and defiance.
He actually called him vicious.
He said that this plan was cold and calculated.
He threw the book at him.
Larry was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder.
And then an additional two years for a gun charge Larry pleaded guilty to after trial,
effectively 27 to life.
The judge also instituted a 10-year protective order restricting Larry's contact with his
children. Once each child turns 18, they can petition to have the order lifted.
But it appears, though, that the children would like to have some kind of contact with their
father. So we'll see what happens.
Wow. Okay. And I mean, the big question, again, in all of this is, where is Maya? I mean,
is that search for her body still going on, Andrea?
Yeah, there was, I attended a press conference after the sentencing, and the DA and the police
chief talked about, again, we don't know where she is. We need to find out where she is. They
urged family members of his, anyone who might know, to come forward. The DA said, we have our
speculation. I said, well, I asked, that was the one question I asked, well, what is your speculation?
And she would not go into.
I mean, this was just a gripping account from the courtroom. Thank you so much for bringing it to us.
Yes. And I'm about to interview Larry Miliete in jail. So we will have that full interview on the
Dateline that we are putting together for the future.
That is going to be a must watch. Good luck with the interview.
Thanks, Blaine.
Coming up, a man accused of murdering his business partners comes face to face with the prosecution's
star witness.
His best friend, Larry Miliete.
His best friend.
On September 21st, 2021, firefighters in Belmont, Ohio, responded to reports of a house fire at the
home of Tom and Angela Strushen, the owners of a local Tex-Mex restaurant, Salsa Joe's. When they got
there, they found Angela and Tom already dead, but not from the fire. They'd been shot to death before
it was even set. After a years-long investigation, prosecutors charged the Strushen's business partner,
Andrew Isaac Griffin, with the grisly double murder. This month, he stood trial.
Prosecutors told the jury that Griffin, who pleaded not guilty, had orchestrated an elaborate
multi-state murder plot as an act of vengeance for a business deal gone bad. The defense called
the investigation sloppy and said the prosecution's star witness was, quote, the lowest scumbag on the
earth. On Wednesday, jurors returned their verdict. Here now to help us get up to speed on all of this,
including what the jury decided, is Dateline producer Rachel White. Rachel, I know you've
been following this case all along, so thank you so much for being here.
Excited to be here.
Rachel, let's start by talking about the Strushen's, Tom and Angela. Just
help us get a sense of who they were.
Sure. So, Angela and Tom met on a dating app when they were both living in Texas,
and they got married about 10 years ago.
The couple then moved to Ohio, where Tom was from, and they opened up Salsa Joe's restaurant.
You know, we talked about the discovery of their bodies so many times in Dateline cases. We see
where someone has set fire to the house in hopes of covering up evidence or
covering up a murder. Let's talk about what investigators found that day.
Yeah, so the fire destroyed a lot, and so did the water from the firefighters trying to extinguish
the fire. So, we saw. We saw during the trial a prosecution expert who testified that she was not able to isolate
any DNA or fingerprints from the crime scene.
So, essentially, investigators were right back to square one. When did they first start looking at
Griffin? I would imagine that as a business partner of Tom and Angela's, he must have come
under scrutiny pretty early on in this investigation, right?
So, investigators definitely checked him out, but he seemed like he had a good alibi.
He told investigators that he was back in Oklahoma at the. At the time of the murders. And when they looked at his cell phone records,
it seemed to corroborate his story. So, he was kind of set aside at that point,
but that all changed in the spring of 2023.
And what happened then?
So, the chief detective decided to reach back out to Andrew Griffin,
and he did not receive a response. But he did hear from Tom's sister,
Lisa Balog, who told him that Griffin was missing.
Oh, missing. Wow.
Lisa tells investigators that Griffin had driven his truck
across the border into Mexico and disappeared.
Well, that certainly calls for suspicion there for investigators. Now,
Griffin ended up moving around after that, and eventually he was arrested in Hawaii.
But Rachel, let's talk about what exactly led up to that arrest, right? Investigators did do a bit
more digging into Griffin's financial relationship with the Strussions. What did they uncover there?
They figured out that Griffin had invested more than $100,000 in the business starting back in
January 2021.
But by August 2021, without any warning, prosecutors say Tom Strussion told Griffin that he was done
with the business because it just wasn't profitable. And they said that there was no talk
of Griffin getting his money back, that investment that he'd made in the business. And they also said
that Griffin found out a day after Tom told him that the business was closing, he'd been locked
out of his shared bank account where he'd been investing all that money.
So, Rachel, just hearing you lay out what investigators say they found, I mean, one could
certainly see why that could be a reason for anger. So, what did investigators do next?
So, after that, they basically reach out to Griffin's estranged wife. Her name is Stacy,
and she mentions that Griffin's best friend was a man named Brett Kuhl. So, investigators decided
to give him a closer look. They subpoena Brett Kuhl's phone, and they notice that on the day
of the murders, he received a call from a number that didn't match any of the numbers that he
typically got calls and texts from. So, it stood out to them.
And when they traced that number, prosecutors say that they discovered
that that number traced back to a burner phone connected to Andrew Griffin.
So, where was that burner phone, Rachel, on the day of the murders? Could investigators
kind of pin down the location of that phone? Yeah. So, they say it was in Ohio,
pinging off the cell towers close to the Streshens' home. And investigators had a theory
about how Griffin could have traveled from Oklahoma to Ohio to commit the murders.
They say that they discovered Griffin had given Kuhl some money,
to go pick up a motorcycle for him a few weeks before the murders. And highway plate reader
cameras captured that motorcycle heading toward Ohio right before the murders took place.
Break that down for me, though, because even if jurors believe that Griffin was riding that
motorcycle, it doesn't automatically prove that he then went to the Streshens' home and killed
them. So, how did they make that connection? So, prosecutors told the jury that they had
two witnesses who could kind of tie all these things together,
starting with Brett Kuhl's grandfather, Arthur. And this was a little bit unusual because the
jury didn't get to see Arthur in person. He's elderly, he's in poor health, and so prosecutors
taped a video deposition with him back in summer 2025 ahead of the trial. And he told them that
he overheard Griffin making a call to Brett Kuhl admitting to the murders.
Wow. That's big. Who were some of the other big witnesses during trial?
They had Brett Kuhl himself as well, who, as I said, was Griffin's best friend since childhood,
his alleged co-conspirator in the murder plot. He testified subject to an immunity deal,
and he laid out all the details of the alleged plan. He basically said that he was the one who
suggested Griffin travel via motorcycle to go carry out the murders. And he said he suggested
Griffin wear a frog tog, which,
is a type of rain suit, so no DNA or blood spatter would be able to get on him as he committed the
murder.
Oh, wow. And I also understand that he testified that their plan was to focus only on Tom Strushen, right? That it was never to target Angela as part of any of this.
Yeah, that's right. He described what Griffin told him happened when he entered the Strushen house that day.
He said when he shot Tom, Angela had jumped up and ran towards him, and he then shot her multiple times. He said then, after he shot Angela, he went back to asking Tom where the money's at, and Tom says there ain't no money. And then he shoots Tom and kills him.
I have to say that testimony is pretty specific. I mean, to a jury, that could be very believable.
Right. But Brett,
Brett Cole is someone the defense has told the jury from day one that they can't believe.
Why?
Because he's a convicted felon. Since the murders, Brett Cole has been sentenced to serve three life sentences for sexually abusing a child.
Oh, good grief. I mean, we're not talking about just writing back checks or any other crime here. But if you take him out of the picture, how much is left of the prosecution's case?
I mean, Blaine, that's basically the theme of the entire defense here.
They're alleging that all the prosecution's case is a crime.
The prosecution witnesses are unreliable and raising questions about why they have said what they said.
Now, there is the evidence of the burner phone and the motorcycle. Where do we stand with that?
So the defense says, essentially, none of that proves that Griffin committed the murders beyond a reasonable doubt.
They're really hammering home that there's no physical evidence linking Griffin to the scene. And, you know, this is a circumstantial case.
There's zero proof of who committed these two murders.
Who set this house on fire?
I mean, I'm curious. The defense is kind of knocking down these things. But has the defense presented any theory of its own about what they believe happened?
So the defense has suggested that Tom had been hanging out with some shady people before his death.
And pretty much everybody who knew him does say that he did always carry a lot of cash on him, that he wasn't shy about, you know, showing it off.
So I think they just really attempted to plant these secrets.
I think there's a lot of seeds of doubt that Andrew Griffin was the only person that would have some motive to kill Tom Streshin.
So thanks so much for being with us here today, Rachel.
Thank you for having me.
After taping our segment, jury deliberations got underway. And after about four hours, they returned a verdict.
We, the jury, being duly and panel and sworn, find the defendant guilty.
Guilty on all counts. Griffin's sentencing is scheduled for December 1st, and we'll bring you that update in a few weeks.
Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup. We've got news about Lori Vallow Daybell.
Also, a recently unsealed arrest affidavit sheds light on prosecutors' decision to charge a Florida man with the murder of his ex-fiancee 15 years after she disappeared.
Plus, a former U.S. marshal takes us behind the scenes on how to catch a fugitive.
Welcome back. Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer Marissa Meyer. Marissa, welcome back to the show.
Thank you so much for having me, Blayne.
So for our first story, we are heading to Idaho, where we have an update for you on Lori Vallow Daybell, a.k.a. Mommy Doomsday.
On Monday, her defense team was in court in front of a panel of Idaho Supreme Court justices arguing that she should get a new trial for her convictions.
Yes. So just a quick reminder, back in 2023, she was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of her two children, JJ and Tylee, and for her involvement in the death of Tammy Daybell, who was her husband Chad's wife.
Chad was convicted of killing those three victims and is on death row in Idaho.
So what was Mondays hearing about?
We heard that her trial judge made a fundamental error before her trial.
In the early stages of the case, Lori was represented by a lawyer named Mark Means, and that lawyer had also represented Lori's husband, Chad.
So in December of 2021, the trial judge removed Mark Means from Lori's case, saying his representation could be a conflict of interest.
Lori did not get a say in that decision.
At the time, she was classified as mentally incompetent.
To participate in the proceedings, Lori's attorneys argued that the judge's actions violated Lori's constitutional right to choose her own lawyer.
It was an abuse of discretion. We asked this court to reverse.
How did the state respond to all of this, Marissa?
So the attorney for the state argued that the judge's decision to remove Lori's attorney was in her best interest as someone who couldn't make the choice to remove him herself.
So.
I know that this hearing lasted over an hour.
The justices were asking questions.
Could you get any sort of sense which way this might go?
Not really.
The justices had tough questions for both sides.
You know, one justice kept calling what the judge had done unorthodox.
Another justice asked whether it could mean the death penalty was back on the table for her.
All of this is just so interesting, Marissa.
The justices now will take their time to issue a ruling.
And of course, we will report back once they have made that ruling.
Next up, we are heading down to Orlando, Florida, where we're learning more about what led up to the arrest of Dale Smith Jr.
a few weeks ago for the alleged murder of his ex-fiancee, Michelle Parker.
She is the 33-year-old woman who went missing back in 2011, just hours after appearing with Dale on an episode of the TV show The People's Court.
Now, Dale has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
But the big question.
The big question since his arrest has been why investigators decided to make a move in this case all these years later.
Why are we just now seeing an arrest, Marissa?
Yeah, I mean, that has been the big question.
But now we have gotten our hands on a 46-page affidavit that investigators filed with the court.
And according to the affidavit, investigators were able to recover new data from Dale and Michelle's phones that they didn't have access to or wasn't able to access.
And some of this evidence includes more precise location and user data, as well as some of the text messages between Michelle and Dale.
Let's talk about some of those text messages between Dale and Michelle, right?
They're included in the affidavit.
And just reading through them, Marissa, it sounds like they had a somewhat tumultuous relationship.
In these messages, there's cursing, there's name-calling, and it's just really hostile conversations.
Investigators said they were able to recover new data from Dale and Michelle.
Investigators also argued in the affidavit that the more precise location data that they now have really suggests that Dale just didn't tell them the truth about Michelle's location at the time.
Yeah, so in his initial story to police, according to this affidavit, Dale says that Michelle dropped off the kids at his home and left after 10 minutes.
But investigators say that Michelle's phone shows her arriving in the area 45 minutes before Dale said she did.
And surveillance says that Michelle's phone shows her arriving in the area 45 minutes before Dale said she did.
And this video shows her truck was at Dale's house for an hour, not just 10 minutes.
There is a lot to watch in this case, and of course, we will keep our eye on it.
And then finally, we've got an update in the case of Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse from Massachusetts who's been accused of killing her three children.
At her trial earlier this year, she pleaded not guilty, saying that she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis when she killed her children.
That trial ended in a mistrial.
Uh, Clancy was back in court on Monday.
Marissa, what happened there?
Yeah, so Lindsay Clancy appeared in court for a motions hearing.
There was lots of back and forth about issues that we've talked about before, including this defense request that the judge do more to investigate whether the holdout juror followed the law and deliberated in good faith.
And the judge had something to say about that.
But didn't I do that?
Well, respect.
Didn't I bring, didn't I do what here?
Didn't I bring the jurors in?
Didn't I swear them in?
There are so many aspects to this case that are just under an intense microscope.
So what happens next?
The judge has set a hearing for November 16th when we'll find out when any retrial might be.
The judge said he is open to having a new trial start in March 2027.
Gosh, a lot of updates on some very big stories this week.
Marissa, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much, Blaine.
On October 25th, 28-year-old Jacob Morley, a convicted killer serving a life sentence for murder in a Tennessee prison, made a daring escape.
He cut through the prison fence, stole a pickup truck nearby, and went on the run.
Officers from local, state, and federal agencies now scouring northwest Tennessee, setting up checkpoints and using a helicopter and search dogs in the hunt.
On Tuesday morning, after a nine-day manhunt, Morley was captured in Missouri.
And was back behind bars.
So for our final story this week, we wanted to find out more about what exactly happens when someone who is potentially dangerous goes on the run.
And how do investigators go about tracking them down?
Here to bring us up to speed.
speed on all of that, is retired U.S. Marshal Lenny DePaul. Lenny, you are certainly the expert in
this subject, so I am so glad to have you with us on the podcast today. Welcome. Well, thank you,
Blayne. Thanks for inviting me on. I want to first just kind of let some of our listeners know
that you are very well-versed in tracking down some of the most dangerous fugitives in the
country. I mean, names that we all have recognized, certainly D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malveaux back in
2002, the Boston Marathon bomber, Johar Sarnia, back in 2013. I mean, your career has spanned
decades. First, just tell me, when you think back on some of those high-profile cases,
what sticks with you the most? As a former chief inspector with the U.S. Marshals and the former
commander of the largest fugitive task force of its kind in the world in New York, we weren't
going after, you know, turnstile jumpers and deadbeat dads. These were violent people. So when
you target these people, I've seen it happen many different ways. I've gone after triple homicide
suspects that have thrown their hands up and started crying and simple parole violators that
sadly we've been in shootings with and whatnot. So you take them all very serious, especially
escape cases. These people have elaborate escape plans. They get out there, they're sleeping with
one eye open, and it makes life pretty tough. But walk me through that, Lenny. Start from the
moment that a manhunt is launched. What types of things just kind of tick through what you're
looking at to even launch it?
You know, when you have an initial manhunt going on, you know, especially with an escape case,
it's a full court press. I mean, it's all hands on deck. The assets that are available,
aviation support, drones, canines, bloodhounds, thermal imaging, you name it, we have it.
You also have a fugitive investigation going on behind the scenes. I mean, we're flipping,
you know, that person's world upside down. In an escape case, Department of Corrections,
who visited him recently? What kind of calls were made? Was he on the internet? What kind
of stuff was going on? What kind of sites did he visit? Sometimes it's old-fashioned police work, hitting the bricks,
knocking on doors, Q&Aing people. I used to love going to talk to mom, because mom would be very
important. We'd knock on the door and, you know, hey, mom, your son just escaped from this prison.
You know, if you knew where he was, would you tell me? Digital footprints are important,
cellular intercepts, things that we do with burner phones and whatnot. You know what I always say,
Blaine? That's, you know what, that is certainly a good message to put out there.
Because, I mean, I think at the end of the day, if you're escaping, if you're out there
doing these things, you're going to go back to a harsher sentence than what you had before,
right? And so let's talk about the case of Jacob Morley. I mean, when you hear that somebody like
Jacob Morley allegedly stole a truck, that truck was abandoned two days later in Illinois,
states away. I mean, does that tell us anything about what his plan possibly was?
Well, how did he steal the truck? Somebody leave the keys,
dialing in the ignition? I mean, I would have a lot of questions. You know, you hit the ground
running.
Set that perimeter up. You're stopping vehicles. You're looking at license plate readers. You're
looking at everything. You know, surveillance cameras, CCTV. What was his description? What
did the cameras pick up on this guy? Did somebody find him? I've been out on prison escapees in the
woods with bloodhounds, and they'll track the fugitive. And all of a sudden, we come to a road
and they lose their scent. Well, what does that tell you? Somebody picked them up.
Do you typically find that escapees have accomplices,
somebody who's helping them on the outside?
I've seen it all. Dana Moore, if you remember that case, a few years ago,
a few years back, the two that escaped up in upstate New York, it was Matt and Sweat was the
other guy's last name. They groomed this woman on the inside. She was helping them, brought him
tools to get out. They ended up getting out. They left little smiley face signs and whatnot.
The problem is, when they got up through the sewer cap, she wasn't there. She had a panic
attack, allegedly. So they had an elaborate escape plan, but they had no plan B.
So when you talk about fugitives, Lenny, I mean, you're dealing sometimes with two different cases.
There's somebody who's known, like this guy is, Jacob Morley, who you know who you're
looking for. You know the details. But then you have fugitive hunts, like maybe the D.C. sniper,
where you know there's somebody out here who's shooting people, but you don't know who it is.
How do officials approach those two scenarios differently?
When somebody's identified and you've got a beat on these people, you have a pretty good idea what
their background is. I mean, you live in these people's minds, right? I used to wake up in the
morning, you know, three o'clock in the morning, say, ah, this is what this guy's up to. So,
you know, you live their lives. When you're chasing a ghost and you have no idea who you're looking at,
it's mind-boggling.
Because you don't know what you're up against. We'll take the D.C. snipers, for instance,
Mohamed and Melvo. I mean, we knew what was going on, right? They're out there. They're
covertly sniping people. But, you know, it's going to be a matter of time before people that
aren't identified, they come up on our radar somehow, whether it's fingerprints or somebody
identifies them. And now we're off to the races again.
And, Lenny, if you could, I want to just wrap up by asking you to speak directly to the public,
because let's say, heaven forbid, someone's confronted by somebody like this. They try and
steal a car, like,
what types of things should the public know to keep themselves safe if they ever find
themselves in the path of a fugitive?
Well, first of all, if they see somebody like this, just stay away. Grab your cell phone,
make a phone call, just call 911 and stay away from these people. They're violent.
Lenny DePaul, this was a fascinating conversation with some really,
really good information. I appreciate your expertise on this. Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you.
If you love Dateline Podcasts, and we hope you do, check out Dateline Premium. It's a great way to get
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content. Coming up this Friday on Dateline, Lester has an all-new two-hour episode that will keep you
guessing up until the final minutes. It's about the murder of a woman in East Baltimore that
sent investigators on a wild ride to find her killer.
Every turn, every step,
something new happened.
Things are falling apart very quickly.
He was asking to get a one-way trip to Cuba.
We're about to lose him.
Watch Deadly Intersection this Friday at 9, 8 central on Dateline on NBC.
Thanks so much for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins,
Caroline Casey, and Kiani Reid. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Groff and Aria
Young. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Koroloff. Production and fact-checking help by Carol
Chen. Veronica Mazzecca is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music
by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of
Dateline. Have a good day, everyone.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
In Southern California, Larry Migliette is sentenced to 25 to life in prison for the 2021 murder of his wife Maya, whose body has never been found.
The prosecution argued that Larry’s obsession with controlling Maya—supported by testimony from an online spellcaster and interest in hemlock—led to her death, though no physical evidence confirms the cause.
During sentencing, Maya’s family expressed deep grief and love for her, while Larry's children revealed enduring emotional ties to both parents, highlighting the tragedy’s personal toll.
Larry’s defense challenged the credibility of key prosecution witnesses, particularly his best friend Brett Kuhl, a convicted felon, and questioned the reliability of circumstantial evidence.
In Ohio, Andrew Isaac Griffin is found guilty of the 2021 double murder of Tom and Angela Strushen, linked to a financial dispute and a surveillance-based case involving a burner phone and motorcycle travel.
A new arrest affidavit reveals that Dale Smith Jr. may have murdered his ex-fiancée Michelle Parker in 2011, with text messages showing hostility and location data contradicting his initial alibi.
Lori Vallow Daybell’s defense argues that her trial judge violated her constitutional rights by removing her attorney without her consent due to a conflict of interest.
A fugitive from Tennessee, Jacob Morley, was captured after a nine-day manhunt involving multi-agency coordination, illustrating the challenges and risks of tracking dangerous escapees.
Summary:
Dateline True Crime Weekly covers a range of high-profile cases involving unresolved murders, wrongful convictions, and complex investigations. In Southern California, Larry Migliette is sentenced to 25 to life for the 2021 murder of his wife Maya, whose body remains missing—fueling ongoing grief among her family and raising questions about the prosecution’s evidence, which relies heavily on circumstantial claims like spellcasting and hemlock interest. During the sentencing, emotional testimonies from Maya’s children and family highlight the deep personal pain and love that persist despite the tragedy.
In Ohio, Andrew Griffin is convicted of murdering business partners Tom and Angela Strushen, with prosecutors citing a financial dispute and a detailed plan involving a burner phone and motorcycle travel, though the defense argues the evidence is unreliable and circumstantial. In Florida, a 15-year-old case against Dale Smith Jr. resurfaces due to newly recovered phone data showing hostile messages and location discrepancies that contradict his initial alibi.
Meanwhile, Lori Vallow Daybell’s defense claims her trial judge made a constitutional error by removing her attorney without consent, and a new case involving Lindsay Clancy ends in a mistrial, with a retrial scheduled for 2027. S. Marshal who explains the complexities of manhunt operations, including digital forensics, surveillance, and public safety, emphasizing that escapees face harsher penalties and that the public should avoid contact with fugitives to ensure safety.
These stories underscore the enduring challenges in true crime: seeking justice, confronting missing persons, and navigating unreliable evidence.
FAQs
Griffin was found guilty of the murders by a jury after a trial that featured testimony from his best friend, Brett Kuhl, and evidence including a burner phone and motorcycle travel records. The verdict was returned after about four hours of jury deliberation.
Maya Migliette's body has never been found. The family and investigators have repeatedly stated that her disappearance remains a central mystery, with no definitive evidence of her location or cause of death.
The prosecution called an online spellcaster as a witness who testified that Larry Migliette purchased spells, including ones that asked for Maya to suffer an accident or fall in love with him again, suggesting possible intent to harm her.
The defense focused on reasonable doubt, questioning the reliability of prosecution witnesses and arguing that the case relied on circumstantial evidence without physical proof linking Larry to the murder or Maya's disappearance.
Larry Migliette was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for first-degree murder and an additional two years for a gun charge, effectively resulting in 27 to life. A 10-year protective order was also imposed restricting contact with his children.
Her defense team argued that the original trial judge made a constitutional error by removing her attorney without her consent, as she was deemed mentally incompetent at the time. The court is reviewing whether this violated her right to choose legal representation.
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