WEBVTT - From Valley of Shadows: An Unreasonable Act 0:00:15.422 --> 0:00:15.942 Pushkin. 0:00:19.862 --> 0:00:22.622 Hey, it's Betsy Shepherd dropping into your feed to bring 0:00:22.662 --> 0:00:26.662 you another episode from my new podcast, Valley of Shadows. 0:00:27.342 --> 0:00:30.302 If you missed episode one, go check that out first. 0:00:30.902 --> 0:00:33.862 It sets the scene for the mysterious disappearance of Los 0:00:33.862 --> 0:00:38.142 Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy John Auja and explains why whistleblowers 0:00:38.142 --> 0:00:41.342 think the Sheriff's department is covering up what really happened 0:00:41.382 --> 0:00:44.302 to the deputy. Then come back to this episode to 0:00:44.382 --> 0:00:47.422 hear why the police's official story doesn't quite add up 0:00:47.982 --> 0:00:55.622 all right, Enjoy the episode. This series includes content that 0:00:55.662 --> 0:00:58.702 may not be suitable for all listeners. Listener and discretion 0:00:58.942 --> 0:01:03.382 is advised. Previously on Valley of Shadows. 0:01:05.262 --> 0:01:08.102 It's an all out manhunt for John Aujay, the thirty 0:01:08.142 --> 0:01:10.622 eight year old When hiking Thursday in a rugged section 0:01:10.702 --> 0:01:14.062 of the Angels National Forest known as Devil Punch Bowls. 0:01:13.782 --> 0:01:17.742 Park, he says, you know, there's a bunch of caves 0:01:17.742 --> 0:01:18.702 and stuff out here. 0:01:19.302 --> 0:01:23.222 You can pretty much disappear and nobody would ever find you. 0:01:24.142 --> 0:01:27.542 I participated in that search until my feet were bloody. 0:01:28.062 --> 0:01:31.502 But day six they said, well shut it down. Why 0:01:31.542 --> 0:01:33.782 are you shutting it down? Well, they say that they 0:01:33.822 --> 0:01:35.382 decided he committed suicide. 0:01:36.142 --> 0:01:40.342 I kept contacting homicide and saying something's wrong. 0:01:40.462 --> 0:01:42.942 I'm telling you there's a problem. 0:01:43.102 --> 0:01:46.622 There's something rotten in the woodpile, and it stinks and 0:01:46.662 --> 0:01:47.502 I can smell it. 0:01:52.542 --> 0:01:56.102 Deputy John Aujay disappeared while jogging in the Devil's Punch 0:01:56.142 --> 0:02:00.542 Bowl on June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight. A couple weeks later, 0:02:01.022 --> 0:02:05.822 something tragic would also happen to his department issued canine, Bosco, 0:02:07.342 --> 0:02:09.662 and there are more than a few parallels between what 0:02:09.742 --> 0:02:14.662 happened with the two. Bosco was a Belgian Malinwah, which 0:02:14.942 --> 0:02:18.462 looks like a leaner version of a German shepherd. Auj 0:02:18.622 --> 0:02:21.382 got him as a puppy, trained him to do police work, 0:02:21.822 --> 0:02:24.382 and brought the dog home to live with him, his wife, 0:02:24.422 --> 0:02:29.182 Deb and their daughter Chloe. I've had my dog, Stringer 0:02:29.222 --> 0:02:34.262 Bell for over a decade. Dringer Bell, Dringer Bear. 0:02:34.742 --> 0:02:36.982 You gonna run around. 0:02:37.022 --> 0:02:40.502 He's a protector and eighty five pounds of emotional support. 0:02:41.182 --> 0:02:42.342 He's gonna run on the grass. 0:02:42.542 --> 0:02:43.582 You're gonna eat some grass. 0:02:45.102 --> 0:02:48.342 My home life revolves around my dog, just as the 0:02:48.382 --> 0:02:52.382 Aujays did around Bosco. We can tell because the dog's 0:02:52.422 --> 0:02:56.982 front and center, and dozens of family photos. Those pictures 0:02:56.982 --> 0:03:00.262 now belong to Aujay's captain, Mike Bauer, and he shares 0:03:00.302 --> 0:03:03.102 them with us. Oh my gosh, we get this picture 0:03:03.502 --> 0:03:04.782 of Chloe and the dog. 0:03:05.142 --> 0:03:10.062 Yeah, you can tell that they were raised together. 0:03:10.382 --> 0:03:13.222 She's like squeezing the dog's neck, like their heads are 0:03:13.262 --> 0:03:17.582 pushed together, like you lived like your best bud. Chloe 0:03:17.582 --> 0:03:20.462 appears to be three or four in the photo. Her 0:03:20.582 --> 0:03:23.582 arms are barely able to reach around Bosco's neck, so 0:03:23.942 --> 0:03:27.222 she leans in to make it happen, smiling from ear 0:03:27.262 --> 0:03:30.982 to ear. Bosco looks annoyed like an older sibling would, 0:03:31.142 --> 0:03:35.582 which is essentially what he was. And there was another 0:03:35.702 --> 0:03:40.142 important Bosco memento. Bower came across it while rifling through 0:03:40.182 --> 0:03:43.902 Aujay's patrol vehicle just days after he was reported missing. 0:03:44.702 --> 0:03:48.222 I found his tape recorder in the visor with tape 0:03:48.262 --> 0:03:50.382 in a little tape recorder like I have. 0:03:51.502 --> 0:03:54.542 Bower points to a micro cassette player, something he uses 0:03:54.582 --> 0:03:57.982 for audio interviews and personal memos. 0:03:57.582 --> 0:03:59.422 And so I brought it in the office. I played it, 0:04:00.742 --> 0:04:01.782 and it's charming as hell. 0:04:03.342 --> 0:04:06.782 The recording was a snapshot of John and Bosco's relationship. 0:04:07.502 --> 0:04:10.662 Bower doesn't have it anymore, but he recaps it for us, 0:04:10.982 --> 0:04:12.942 and it's easy for me to imagine. 0:04:13.502 --> 0:04:19.062 Let's goat, he was playing fetch somewhere in like a 0:04:19.102 --> 0:04:21.262 high school field or somewhere out there in anlet valley. 0:04:22.302 --> 0:04:23.422 He's throwing the ball. 0:04:23.342 --> 0:04:26.102 To Bosco and he's going, hey, Bosco, and Bosco's barking, 0:04:26.142 --> 0:04:27.942 and they're doing a training exercise. 0:04:28.822 --> 0:04:30.862 Good job, you try. 0:04:33.182 --> 0:04:36.742 The connection canine cops have to their dogs is something 0:04:36.822 --> 0:04:40.982 special because they're together all the time in the trenches, 0:04:41.262 --> 0:04:44.462 working during the day and unwinding together at night. 0:04:45.542 --> 0:04:48.182 When you talk about John's relationship with his dog, you 0:04:48.262 --> 0:04:52.022 have to understand he's a one man unit and that's 0:04:52.062 --> 0:04:56.942 his partner, and it's a bond, and it's a big 0:04:56.982 --> 0:04:59.782 deal because that dog saves that officer's life. The officers 0:04:59.782 --> 0:05:00.742 in charge of the dog. 0:05:00.662 --> 0:05:01.102 Like a child. 0:05:02.022 --> 0:05:05.742 Canine officers become so bonded to their dogs that when 0:05:05.742 --> 0:05:09.062 one of these animals passes away, the Sheriff's department gives 0:05:09.262 --> 0:05:14.982 a funeral like it would a uniformed officer. An American 0:05:15.062 --> 0:05:19.182 flag is draped over the dog's casket, a military band 0:05:19.262 --> 0:05:24.502 plays taps, mourners give eulogies and riflemen send the dog 0:05:24.542 --> 0:05:32.902 off with a twenty one gun salute. After Auj vanished, 0:05:33.262 --> 0:05:36.662 Bauer hears that someone from the department retrieved Bosco from 0:05:36.662 --> 0:05:40.582 the Auj home. Bower's confused because he was the person 0:05:40.622 --> 0:05:43.742 overseeing the canine unit, so if someone was to give 0:05:43.742 --> 0:05:46.462 the order to bring in Bosco, it should have been him. 0:05:47.142 --> 0:05:50.382 And I started searching for the dog. Where's the dog? 0:05:51.022 --> 0:05:55.422 I was told that dog died at the kennel during 0:05:55.422 --> 0:05:58.902 a vet exam, and most likely the dog had some 0:05:58.942 --> 0:06:00.142 sort of heart problem. 0:06:01.262 --> 0:06:05.062 The LA Sheriff's Department tells Bauer and the press that 0:06:05.182 --> 0:06:08.022 Bosco was taken to a police kennel where he died 0:06:08.182 --> 0:06:13.702 of natural cause, That the dog stopped eating after Aujay disappeared, and. 0:06:13.702 --> 0:06:16.182 The dog may have died of a broken heart because 0:06:16.182 --> 0:06:17.662 its master was gone. 0:06:17.822 --> 0:06:20.302 That's a kind of sappy crap, I was told at 0:06:20.302 --> 0:06:20.702 the time. 0:06:22.142 --> 0:06:25.502 Years later, Bauer hears a different account from a friend 0:06:25.542 --> 0:06:26.582 of Aujay's. 0:06:27.102 --> 0:06:29.702 She said, it's a shame that dog had to be destroyed. 0:06:31.702 --> 0:06:34.462 I said, wait a minute, Bosco died in a vet 0:06:34.502 --> 0:06:37.422 exam from some sort of heart attack from missing his master. 0:06:39.182 --> 0:06:42.022 So Bauer makes some phone calls and eventually reaches a 0:06:42.022 --> 0:06:45.582 deputy who were not going to name, and this deputy 0:06:45.662 --> 0:06:49.862 claims that he and a colleague killed Bosco. Bower met 0:06:49.902 --> 0:06:52.222 him at a diner and recorded their conversation. 0:06:52.422 --> 0:06:53.302 Go he's gonna bite. 0:06:53.302 --> 0:06:54.862 Always keep going because I got to tell. 0:06:54.782 --> 0:06:55.462 Him before he does. 0:06:56.862 --> 0:06:59.342 He says, I shot that dog with my twenty five. 0:07:00.222 --> 0:07:03.422 I said in its kennel. He says, yeah, I said 0:07:03.422 --> 0:07:05.662 you killed the dog. He says yeah. 0:07:06.542 --> 0:07:08.822 Pull filling a humpster twice sents. 0:07:10.702 --> 0:07:13.902 The deputy says it cost them twenty cents the price 0:07:13.982 --> 0:07:18.982 of a bullet to take out Bosco. He says they 0:07:19.022 --> 0:07:21.702 did it because the dog was dangerous without John Auja 0:07:21.782 --> 0:07:25.822 there to control it. Bosco should have been reassigned to 0:07:25.902 --> 0:07:29.902 another deputy, or if the dog was a liability, it 0:07:29.942 --> 0:07:31.742 should have been properly euthanized. 0:07:32.542 --> 0:07:36.062 You would expect a police organization that had ceremonies to 0:07:36.142 --> 0:07:39.342 honor their dogs to give a shit about that issue. 0:07:40.622 --> 0:07:44.302 Instead of getting a police burial, Bosco was tossed in 0:07:44.382 --> 0:07:49.062 a dumpster behind the kennel where he was shot. Bowers 0:07:49.182 --> 0:07:52.342 pissed and he confronts the higher ups at the LASD. 0:07:53.182 --> 0:07:55.622 I see you guys, what happened to Bosco? Mike, I 0:07:55.702 --> 0:07:58.182 don't know, vote, but you will just stop this. We 0:07:58.302 --> 0:08:00.462 all agreed that it was a suicide and you should 0:08:00.502 --> 0:08:00.982 just let it go. 0:08:02.102 --> 0:08:03.062 No, I'm not gonna let it go. 0:08:04.942 --> 0:08:07.862 The department says, it makes no difference what happened in Moscow. 0:08:08.462 --> 0:08:13.782 Baj died suicide, so case clothes. But if the LASD 0:08:13.982 --> 0:08:17.822 would lie about Bosco, what else might they be lying about. 0:08:22.902 --> 0:08:24.182 I'm Haley Fox. 0:08:24.502 --> 0:08:35.302 I'm Betty Shephard, and this is Valley of Shadows, Episode two, 0:08:35.942 --> 0:08:46.942 An Unreasonable Act the Devil's Punch Bowl on June eleventh, 0:08:47.102 --> 0:08:51.262 nineteen ninety eight. It's a scene we're gonna keep returning 0:08:51.342 --> 0:08:54.302 to because the story of what happened to John Ajay 0:08:54.862 --> 0:08:58.782 is like the sedimentary rock formations in the park. It 0:08:58.862 --> 0:09:02.302 builds up over time and change of shape as new 0:09:02.422 --> 0:09:07.182 layers are added. One of those layers comes from the 0:09:07.342 --> 0:09:10.742 last known person to talk to auj before his disappearance. 0:09:12.582 --> 0:09:15.542 School teacher Dave Evanson, took his fifth grade class on 0:09:15.622 --> 0:09:17.382 a field trip to the Devil's Punch Bowl. 0:09:20.142 --> 0:09:25.542 We stop tables, the picnic tables. 0:09:26.662 --> 0:09:30.062 Dave Evanson has Parkinson's disease, which causes him to slur 0:09:30.142 --> 0:09:33.262 his speech, so his wife Don is helping him communicate 0:09:33.342 --> 0:09:36.422 with us. At this point, she knows the story pretty 0:09:36.462 --> 0:09:39.382 well because her husband has told it many times over 0:09:39.422 --> 0:09:42.102 the years, and he insists on telling it to us. 0:09:43.262 --> 0:09:46.062 Evanson's class was exiting the trail to go eat lunch 0:09:46.302 --> 0:09:47.942 when they ran into Aujenny rail. 0:09:48.382 --> 0:09:51.182 And he was just starting up the trail and that 0:09:51.382 --> 0:09:54.982 the kids saw him and started firing questions because they 0:09:55.062 --> 0:09:56.662 recognized him from Family Night. 0:09:57.942 --> 0:10:01.502 Every year, John Auj volunteered at Family Night, a community 0:10:01.542 --> 0:10:04.422 event held at a local elementary school where Dave and 0:10:04.542 --> 0:10:08.782 Don Evanson both had worked. The roster of entertainers included 0:10:08.782 --> 0:10:10.262 audien in Bosco. 0:10:11.022 --> 0:10:13.942 And Aja became one of the stars of the show 0:10:14.022 --> 0:10:17.222 because he would bring Bosco and do demonstrations on what 0:10:17.342 --> 0:10:18.422 the dog could do. 0:10:19.982 --> 0:10:22.862 The event took place two days before the class went 0:10:22.902 --> 0:10:25.782 to the punch Bowl, so when the students see Auj 0:10:25.902 --> 0:10:29.342 in the park, they crowd around him like he's a celebrity, 0:10:30.182 --> 0:10:34.302 or really the owner of a celebrity. Do you remember 0:10:34.502 --> 0:10:36.662 any of the questions that they asked him? 0:10:37.182 --> 0:10:38.182 Where's Boscore? 0:10:39.662 --> 0:10:43.542 Where's Bosco? The kids ask? Auj says he had to 0:10:43.622 --> 0:10:45.942 leave the dog at home because he's here to train 0:10:46.022 --> 0:10:49.582 for an ultra marathon. Auj took his time with the 0:10:49.622 --> 0:10:53.782 students and even turned the conversation into a teachable moment, 0:10:54.462 --> 0:10:58.502 telling them about the importance of wilderness safety. To me, 0:10:58.982 --> 0:11:01.702 that does not sound like someone who's going out to 0:11:01.782 --> 0:11:05.022 the woods to take his own life. But that's what 0:11:05.182 --> 0:11:09.062 the Sheriff's Department says Auja did after he finished talking 0:11:09.262 --> 0:11:13.422 to these fifth graders. Evanson will never be convinced of that. 0:11:15.062 --> 0:11:15.782 He's happy. 0:11:17.382 --> 0:11:17.782 He was. 0:11:19.302 --> 0:11:22.822 Full of life, happy, having fun talking to the kids. 0:11:26.862 --> 0:11:30.782 So where is the Sheriff's Department drawing their suicide conclusion from. 0:11:31.702 --> 0:11:35.662 Is there some other evidence we don't know about? Well, 0:11:35.702 --> 0:11:38.742 if there is, the LASD sure isn't sharing it with us. 0:11:39.502 --> 0:11:43.422 They denied our public records request, saying the requested records 0:11:43.462 --> 0:11:47.142 are part of an ongoing and active criminal investigation and 0:11:47.262 --> 0:11:53.942 are therefore exempt from disclosure an ongoing and active criminal investigation. 0:11:55.102 --> 0:11:57.222 This response does not make a lot of sense to me, 0:11:58.582 --> 0:12:02.222 because Auja disappeared about thirty years ago. The state of 0:12:02.302 --> 0:12:05.302 California issued a death certificate for him all the way. 0:12:05.182 --> 0:12:06.222 Back in two thousand and three. 0:12:07.222 --> 0:12:10.782 Meanwhile, the department has stuck by a suicide ruling, and 0:12:10.862 --> 0:12:15.622 they've openly and actively discouraged retired Captain Mike Bauer's investigation. 0:12:17.422 --> 0:12:21.702 Lucky for us, Bauer hasn't let up. He spent decades 0:12:21.782 --> 0:12:24.942 looking into the aj case. His office is filled with 0:12:25.062 --> 0:12:29.222 handwritten notes and discs of recorded interviews, and he's collected 0:12:29.262 --> 0:12:32.582 internal documents from the Sheriff's department which he's agreed to 0:12:32.662 --> 0:12:33.022 share with. 0:12:33.102 --> 0:12:38.982 US, including confidential suicide report. I somehow got hold of. 0:12:41.182 --> 0:12:44.302 Bower Hands as a case file that's hundreds of pages long. 0:12:44.982 --> 0:12:48.302 It includes reports that span years of investigation in the 0:12:48.342 --> 0:12:51.422 Auja's disappearance, and it tells a story. 0:12:52.822 --> 0:12:56.662 This was assigned to Homicide Bureau Missing Persons Unit. They 0:12:56.702 --> 0:12:59.302 were the ones who had to make the decision that 0:12:59.462 --> 0:13:00.542 this was a suicide. 0:13:01.662 --> 0:13:05.742 The missing person's investigation began with the person who reported 0:13:05.822 --> 0:13:08.582 John auj missing, his wife, Debbie. 0:13:09.462 --> 0:13:11.942 Then they began to get the feeling, well, this guy's 0:13:12.022 --> 0:13:14.342 got some sort of relationship problems, maybe we. 0:13:14.462 --> 0:13:15.182 Better look at it. 0:13:16.702 --> 0:13:19.222 Debbie tells detectives that she and her husband got into 0:13:19.262 --> 0:13:21.662 an argument before he took off for the punch bowl, 0:13:22.422 --> 0:13:25.142 and that she can't find his off duty gun. 0:13:26.022 --> 0:13:27.902 They went out to her house and she said there's 0:13:27.942 --> 0:13:32.742 an empty holster on the workbench, but the two inches missing. 0:13:34.582 --> 0:13:37.662 The department begins to speculate that Auj may have taken 0:13:37.702 --> 0:13:40.662 the gun with him into the devil's punch bowl to 0:13:40.862 --> 0:13:42.182 use it on himself. 0:13:43.662 --> 0:13:47.462 They then get psychological services involved in and find out 0:13:47.502 --> 0:13:48.982 about the marriage counseling. 0:13:48.702 --> 0:13:49.342 The day before. 0:13:50.782 --> 0:13:54.102 The day before Auj disappeared, he and Debbie had gone 0:13:54.102 --> 0:13:58.262 to couples counseling with an LASD psychologist. By the end 0:13:58.342 --> 0:14:02.142 of the session, the therapist concluded the Auj's were incompatible 0:14:02.302 --> 0:14:06.222 and should separate, and the Sheriff's Department says that's what 0:14:06.382 --> 0:14:10.262 pushed Auj over the edge, the falation that he and 0:14:10.422 --> 0:14:11.742 Debbie were done. 0:14:13.142 --> 0:14:18.822 When we ended, she said, if you have decided to 0:14:18.862 --> 0:14:21.262 go through with the divorce, to come back to her 0:14:21.582 --> 0:14:26.582 and she would give us ideas on parenting skills for 0:14:26.702 --> 0:14:27.382 Chloe's sake. 0:14:29.022 --> 0:14:32.582 This is an interview Bauer recorded with Debbie in twenty fifteen. 0:14:33.662 --> 0:14:36.342 He questions her at length about her marriage to John 0:14:36.582 --> 0:14:40.662 because it's the crux of the department's suicide narrative. In 0:14:40.742 --> 0:14:43.622 a nutshell, Debbie was a stay at home mom. While 0:14:43.662 --> 0:14:47.342 John worked a lot, she liked to party. His version 0:14:47.382 --> 0:14:51.542 of fun was extreme running. She was full figured with 0:14:51.622 --> 0:14:55.342 the bleach bond perm He was all muscle topped off 0:14:55.462 --> 0:14:58.782 with the military crew cut. The report says that after 0:14:58.902 --> 0:15:02.542 twelve years of marriage, the couple drifted apart. They fought 0:15:02.582 --> 0:15:06.182 a lot, and as their fights intensified, John withdrew. 0:15:07.342 --> 0:15:10.902 Okay, let me get to someations that they wrote in 0:15:11.022 --> 0:15:14.102 the report. He was not verbally communicating with you, and 0:15:14.302 --> 0:15:17.422 he was getting more distant from you. That makes sense. Yes, 0:15:18.422 --> 0:15:19.182 was he depressed? 0:15:20.342 --> 0:15:27.822 Well, he had told the psychologist that he had been 0:15:27.942 --> 0:15:30.422 unhappy for two years with the marriage. 0:15:30.542 --> 0:15:31.222 With the marriage. 0:15:32.662 --> 0:15:35.502 Bower's fact checking the sheriff's report because it attributes a 0:15:35.622 --> 0:15:40.022 lot of its claims to Debbie's testimony, supposed characterizations of 0:15:40.102 --> 0:15:41.582 her husband and their life together. 0:15:42.742 --> 0:15:45.422 Okay, when you talked to John afterwards on the drive home, 0:15:46.262 --> 0:15:48.862 what was the conversation between the two of you about 0:15:48.942 --> 0:15:54.742 this experience with marriage counseling? What was John's attitude? I 0:15:55.182 --> 0:15:58.142 Since he was angry, do you think he was hopeful 0:15:58.182 --> 0:16:00.302 that this session was going to help save the marriage? 0:16:02.982 --> 0:16:03.022 No? 0:16:04.222 --> 0:16:12.382 No, no, things aren't adding up. If AUJ had been 0:16:12.502 --> 0:16:14.822 unhappy with the marriage for two years and thought it 0:16:14.902 --> 0:16:19.902 was beyond repair. Why would he suddenly snap. Well, the 0:16:20.022 --> 0:16:23.462 report quotes Debbie as saying that Auj was psychotic. 0:16:24.422 --> 0:16:28.182 That's kind of describing a person who's mentally ill. 0:16:30.182 --> 0:16:32.182 I don't know if I. 0:16:33.702 --> 0:16:38.262 Said he was psychotic. I do remember saying that his 0:16:38.422 --> 0:16:40.982 eyes did not look right. I do remember saying that 0:16:41.182 --> 0:16:46.862 to them, what respect, Just a real strong look in 0:16:46.942 --> 0:16:50.382 his eyes. Maybe his eyes looked intense. 0:16:53.382 --> 0:16:57.422 There's a world of difference between intense looking eyes and psychosis. 0:16:58.662 --> 0:17:02.422 But investigators say there were other indications that Auj was suicidal. 0:17:03.222 --> 0:17:07.102 He was giving away his prized possessions, including a family heirloom, 0:17:07.622 --> 0:17:10.862 a gold necklace, and then right before he left for 0:17:10.942 --> 0:17:14.342 the punch bowl, Auj told Debbie to have a nice life. 0:17:15.302 --> 0:17:20.902 To detectives, that was Auj saying his final goodbyes. In conclusion, 0:17:21.182 --> 0:17:25.502 the LASD report says the likelihood of suicide is overwhelming 0:17:25.902 --> 0:17:30.502 and by far surpasses any of the other possibilities. I 0:17:30.662 --> 0:17:34.302 can see why the department considered the possibility of suicide, 0:17:34.662 --> 0:17:37.182 because it's clear that Auj was going through a tough time. 0:17:38.102 --> 0:17:40.302 But to me, it's a big stretch to say, the 0:17:40.462 --> 0:17:45.462 likelihood of suicide is overwhelming, especially as I keep reading 0:17:45.542 --> 0:17:48.262 the report and find out that Auj had big plans 0:17:48.302 --> 0:17:50.742 for his future and that he wanted to spend it 0:17:51.462 --> 0:17:52.422 with his girlfriend. 0:18:05.342 --> 0:18:07.782 Auj had been seeing a forty five year old woman 0:18:07.902 --> 0:18:11.342 named Vicki da Vita. She was a competitive ultra marathon 0:18:11.422 --> 0:18:14.262 runner just like him, and she was the one Auj 0:18:14.422 --> 0:18:18.342 gave the heirloom necklace to. Their relationship was a bit 0:18:18.382 --> 0:18:21.182 of an open secret, especially when she showed up with 0:18:21.222 --> 0:18:25.542 the punch bowl searching for him day after day. We 0:18:25.662 --> 0:18:28.662 can't ask Davida what she thinks happened to Auj because 0:18:28.702 --> 0:18:31.982 she died of cancer in twenty ten, but her statement 0:18:32.022 --> 0:18:37.102 to investigators reveals a rosier picture of the deputy. According 0:18:37.142 --> 0:18:39.302 to Davida, she and Aj met at a race in 0:18:39.462 --> 0:18:43.262 nineteen ninety five. She was the more experienced runner and 0:18:43.422 --> 0:18:46.942 helped Aj train for his ultra marathons. They bonded over 0:18:46.982 --> 0:18:50.822 their shared passion and slowly they fell in love. But 0:18:50.902 --> 0:18:55.142 according to Davida, the relationship wasn't sexual because Aja wanted 0:18:55.182 --> 0:18:58.302 to wait until after he and his wife had officially separated. 0:18:59.342 --> 0:19:02.422 In letters to Davida, Aj called her his Eternal Love 0:19:03.182 --> 0:19:07.542 and shared poems by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, and recently, 0:19:07.782 --> 0:19:10.382 Auja had asked her to take in std test so 0:19:10.502 --> 0:19:15.062 they could finally consummate their relationship. So Aj was making moves, 0:19:15.822 --> 0:19:18.302 and Divita says he was relieved that he and Debbie 0:19:18.302 --> 0:19:20.662 were splitting up because he was ready to start the 0:19:20.782 --> 0:19:24.742 next chapter of his life. Debbie seems to confirm all this, 0:19:24.942 --> 0:19:27.542 explaining that towards the end of their marriage, she and 0:19:27.662 --> 0:19:30.742 Aj slept in different rooms and that he'd begun to 0:19:30.822 --> 0:19:33.102 take photos and art off the walls of his bedroom. 0:19:34.582 --> 0:19:39.662 He was telling Vicki that he was setting a certain 0:19:39.942 --> 0:19:42.222 time frame for him to make a decision what he 0:19:42.382 --> 0:19:47.182 was going to do. Did you sense a move out 0:19:47.342 --> 0:19:47.742 was coming? 0:19:48.662 --> 0:19:51.262 Yes, it appeared that he was going to move out. 0:19:55.702 --> 0:19:59.022 Given this new information, Auj sounds less like someone saying 0:19:59.062 --> 0:20:02.462 his final goodbyes and more like someone saying goodbye to 0:20:02.582 --> 0:20:06.462 a relationship that had already run its course, and it 0:20:06.542 --> 0:20:08.702 sheds new light on what Aj may have meant the 0:20:08.782 --> 0:20:11.822 morning June eleventh when he told his wife Debbie to 0:20:11.942 --> 0:20:12.782 have a nice life. 0:20:13.782 --> 0:20:15.582 What was your thought at the time when he said it? 0:20:15.822 --> 0:20:18.222 Did you think suicide at the time. 0:20:18.502 --> 0:20:19.182 No, I get it. 0:20:20.782 --> 0:20:23.222 It was not a threat of suicide. Had he ever 0:20:23.342 --> 0:20:25.982 made a threat of suicide in the past. He was 0:20:26.022 --> 0:20:28.702 going to kill himself because of some problem you two 0:20:28.742 --> 0:20:31.382 were having. No, No, never expressed it. 0:20:32.302 --> 0:20:32.342 No. 0:20:34.222 --> 0:20:36.862 Debbie paints a picture of Auj's final days that looks 0:20:37.302 --> 0:20:40.942 very different from the Sheriff's departments in their report. It 0:20:40.982 --> 0:20:44.422 seems they've cherry picked details to support their suicide thesis 0:20:44.982 --> 0:20:50.422 and ignore or downplay those that contradicted. So we keep 0:20:50.502 --> 0:20:53.382 digging through the LSD reports. Bauer gives us to figure 0:20:53.382 --> 0:20:57.342 out how the department is connecting in stocks, and we 0:20:57.462 --> 0:21:00.142 find a kind of personality profile they did on Auj. 0:21:01.542 --> 0:21:05.182 I feel like this has summed up so much of 0:21:05.382 --> 0:21:08.902 what we've read and heard about him into a punch list. 0:21:09.222 --> 0:21:16.582 Can I just read the bullet points? Yeah, okay, organized, responsible, punctual, regimented, committed, structured. 0:21:17.382 --> 0:21:18.742 There's a definite theme. 0:21:19.822 --> 0:21:23.702 Did not believe in divorce or extramarital affairs, lived by 0:21:23.942 --> 0:21:28.982 and often said death before dishonor occasionally read Bible. 0:21:30.622 --> 0:21:32.942 I like that last night sounds like a real, real 0:21:33.062 --> 0:21:37.582 fun day. Auj's code of ethics is a big part 0:21:37.622 --> 0:21:39.902 of why The Sheriff's Department says he couldn't live with 0:21:39.982 --> 0:21:44.462 himself because he thought divorce and extramarital affairs were dishonorable. 0:21:45.702 --> 0:21:48.902 The LSD seems to be saying that Auj's girlfriend wasn't 0:21:48.942 --> 0:21:51.822 a reason to keep on living. It was the reason 0:21:51.942 --> 0:21:55.182 he took his life, because he was consumed with guilt 0:21:55.262 --> 0:21:58.822 over his part in ruining his marriage. We try to 0:21:58.902 --> 0:21:59.742 follow this logic. 0:22:01.102 --> 0:22:08.582 His motto was death before dishonor, which alone is extreme, 0:22:08.822 --> 0:22:12.462 but it it's interesting to me that here he is 0:22:12.542 --> 0:22:16.222 in this position where he knows he can't stay with 0:22:16.342 --> 0:22:21.822 his wife, but emotionally he's not ready or willing to 0:22:21.982 --> 0:22:26.142 accept divorce, and then the next day he disappears. 0:22:27.062 --> 0:22:30.182 Yeah, but if he's someone that sees giving up on 0:22:30.302 --> 0:22:34.622 a marriage as failure as dishonorable, then he's sure shit 0:22:34.902 --> 0:22:38.782 thinks that killing himself and giving up on life is dishonorable. 0:22:39.982 --> 0:22:41.702 I'm just saying it cuts both ways. 0:22:45.662 --> 0:22:49.062 Our main takeaway from this personality profile and the rest 0:22:49.142 --> 0:22:52.182 of the Aujay report is that the suicide theory isn't 0:22:52.182 --> 0:22:55.662 based on hard facts. It's based on subjective accounts of 0:22:55.702 --> 0:22:59.182 John Auja's behavior, just like those Rock faces in the 0:22:59.262 --> 0:23:02.222 Devil's punch bowl. It's a matter of interpretation. 0:23:03.822 --> 0:23:06.622 You'd have to say, how is he going to be dishonored? 0:23:08.102 --> 0:23:11.382 We check in with Dave r was Augie's former partner. 0:23:11.622 --> 0:23:13.502 He was one of the few people who had insight 0:23:13.662 --> 0:23:14.742 into his personal life. 0:23:15.382 --> 0:23:15.862 Divorce. 0:23:16.822 --> 0:23:17.822 That's dishonorable. 0:23:19.102 --> 0:23:22.382 Even this eighty year old cop thinks that's ridiculously puritanical. 0:23:23.462 --> 0:23:27.302 I mean, might have been in eighteen ninety three, but 0:23:27.902 --> 0:23:32.022 that was one hundred years before this, so that's beyond 0:23:32.102 --> 0:23:34.742 a stretch. It's like science fiction or something. 0:23:34.822 --> 0:23:39.022 I think Rathman got a divorce, which he says is 0:23:39.062 --> 0:23:41.022 pretty common for law enforcement officers. 0:23:41.982 --> 0:23:44.102 My son even makes this joy. He's a lieutenant on 0:23:44.182 --> 0:23:47.302 the sheriff department. And he said, yeah, my future ex 0:23:47.382 --> 0:23:49.262 wife and I are going to go here and do 0:23:49.422 --> 0:23:52.182 this and do that. I said, oh, for crying out loud. 0:23:52.022 --> 0:23:52.702 Don't say that. 0:23:54.342 --> 0:23:56.382 He said, yeah, the deputies will say that they think 0:23:56.422 --> 0:23:57.982 it's funny. And I said, I don't know if I 0:23:58.102 --> 0:23:59.902 think it's funny. Having gone through a. 0:23:59.902 --> 0:24:04.862 Divorce, Rathman doesn't buy the whole death before dishonor explanation, 0:24:05.782 --> 0:24:08.742 and he feels pretty certain that Auj would never take 0:24:08.742 --> 0:24:11.582 his own life on account of his daughter, Chloe. 0:24:12.582 --> 0:24:16.102 If you got on the subject to Chloe, he glowed, Yeah, 0:24:16.342 --> 0:24:20.782 he glowed and he went soft like wam that fast. 0:24:21.382 --> 0:24:22.382 He loved her to death. 0:24:22.462 --> 0:24:25.542 He would talk about her all the time. Chloe. Is 0:24:25.702 --> 0:24:29.342 Chloe that he's going to disappear in the mountains and 0:24:29.622 --> 0:24:32.862 kill himself and leave her alone? Does that fit with 0:24:32.982 --> 0:24:39.102 death before dishonor not very well? That's pretty dishonorable to 0:24:39.382 --> 0:24:41.142 just abandon your five year old. 0:24:41.062 --> 0:24:47.502 Daughter, Debbie. Auja has her own doubts about the suicide theory. 0:24:48.582 --> 0:24:52.342 It just causes confusion in me, that's all, because I. 0:24:52.342 --> 0:24:53.182 Don't know what to believe. 0:24:55.262 --> 0:24:57.862 There are more than a few details about Aujay's final 0:24:57.942 --> 0:25:00.982 days that just don't add up for her, Like what 0:25:01.142 --> 0:25:02.862