1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: On June eleventh, nineteen ninety eight, the deputy from the 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 2: It's an all out manhunt for John Auj. Every search 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 2: and rescue team in La County has been called in 5 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 2: to help. 6 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: Deputy Jonathan a J spin his day off jogging in 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: a rugged section of the Mojave Desert known as the 8 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: Devil's Punch Bowl, but he never returned home to his 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: wife and young daughter. 10 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: Friends say Auj is a highly trained survivalist in hiker 11 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 2: and fear his disappearance may mean he's in serious trouble. 12 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 3: Within days, tips started flooding into the Sheriff's department that 13 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 3: their deputy was the victim of foul play. 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: I'm here, it's shit out of the street man Auj 15 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: was murdered. 16 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 3: I'm hearing from a one more in person. 17 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: A ruler around the drug scene was that a deputy 18 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: stumbled onto something he's shouldn't of and he was taken 19 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 2: care of. 20 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 3: But the Sheriff's department dismissed the tips suddenly called off 21 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 3: the search for Auja. 22 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: His death certificate says cause a death unknown manner, a 23 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: death unknown no body. 24 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,199 Speaker 3: And thirty years later, the La County Sheriff's Apartment still 25 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 3: hasn't found him. 26 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: The only law enforcement agency in this country that I 27 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: know of who has a missing deputy sheriff and doesn't 28 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: seem to care. 29 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 3: What the hell happened? 30 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: What's the answer? Who's motivated to find the answer. And 31 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: that's where we come in. I'm Betsy Shepherd and I'm 32 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: Haley Fox. We're investigative journalists, and for the past year 33 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: we've been retracing Auj's steps in the devil's punch bowl, 34 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: trying to separate fact from fiction. How hot do you 35 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: think it is right now? 36 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 2: I don't know. 37 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 3: It's pushing one hundred. 38 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: For sure. Your brain does some wonky stuff when you're dehydrated. 39 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 2: And they thought maybe he got on the trail and 40 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 2: keeps doing the forest going, just kept roaming. 41 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 3: But out here it's not just heat stroke you have 42 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 3: to worry about. It's meth labs hidden in canyons, outlaw 43 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 3: bikers running drugs, and deputies who operate on both sides 44 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 3: of the law. I think a lot of people picture 45 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 3: breaking bad whatever you're talking about, making meth in the desert. 46 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:21,519 Speaker 3: Can you give us a reality check? 47 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: If you change the names. It's the same exact thing. 48 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: Is this the story of a man who just got 49 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: lost in the desert? Or of a cover up inside 50 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: the nation's largest sheriff's department? 51 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 2: A homicide captain saying, detective, do not find out if 52 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 2: this guy's guilty or innocent? Who does that? 53 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: Hey, I don't fucking kill a Coffinberry? What are you 54 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: gonna do to me? 55 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 2: As my father would say, God bless him, there's something 56 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 2: rotten in the woodpile, and it stinks and I can 57 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: smell it. 58 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 3: What really happened to the missing deputy. 59 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: Which is Perry Mason? This shit? 60 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 3: This changes my whole way of gin him about theory. 61 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 3: Valley of Shadows a new series from Pushkin Industries about 62 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 3: crime and corruption in California's High Desert. 63 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: Do you have any advice for us while looking into 64 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone. In the event 65 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: somebody did decide that you were getting too close to something, 66 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: you will not be found killed. You will simply disappear. 67 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 3: Subscribe to Pushkin Plus to hear the entire season of 68 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 3: Valley of Shadows ad free starting January twelfth. You'll also 69 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 3: get bonus episodes, full audiobooks, and early ad free listening 70 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 3: from your favorite Pushkin hosts and authors. Find Pushkin Plus 71 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 3: on the Valley of Shadows show page on Apple podcast 72 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 3: or at pushkin dot fm, slash plus, and thanks for 73 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 3: your support.