Speaker 1: Pushkin. Once upon a time in Malibu, there was a
Speaker 1: perfect family, the Railers. They were the picture postcard Christmas
Speaker 1: postcard family of two very handsome, intelligent people with four
Speaker 1: kids that were just delightful. They lived a sun kissed
Speaker 1: life in the midst of one of the most hedonistic,
Speaker 1: freewheeling subcultures in America, Malibu in the late seventies and
Speaker 1: early eighties. The seventies became pretty crazy. Rock star Robbie
Speaker 1: Robertson was out there. There was a lot of drugs
Speaker 1: and a lot of everything, and so was movie star
Speaker 1: Ali McGraw, Neil Young. There were most of the Eagles
Speaker 1: that was Peter Paul and Mary and Chris Christofferson. But
Speaker 1: the Railer family was solid, wholesome in a Brady Bunch
Speaker 1: kind of way. Fred the dad, was a widower, Verna
Speaker 1: the mom, was a widow. Between them, they had four kids,
Speaker 1: ages six to eleven. They were living the dream until
Speaker 1: it all turned unfathomably dark. On January second, nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 1: on a sailing trip off the coast of Malibu, something
Speaker 1: tragic happened. We had just gotten passed what they called
Speaker 1: bird rocks, and the dogs started to go over the side.
Speaker 1: Their boat overturned in the frigid water Verna and her
Speaker 1: eight year old son drowned. Fred was the only survivor
Speaker 1: and the only eyewitness. There was little physical evidence, and
Speaker 1: the deaths were initially ruled an accident, but then the
Speaker 1: Malibu rumor mill got going. Did Berna ever tell you
Speaker 1: that she had heard all the rumors, the suspicions that
Speaker 1: various people had about James death. I think that whole
Speaker 1: thing was just a cover up of how he is.
Speaker 1: I think Frederick Rayler's a sociopath. The first thing I
Speaker 1: thought was an accident of my ass. Okay, it just
Speaker 1: couldn't have been. They were scheduled to be cremated, and
Speaker 1: I said, hold and hold everything. You've got to do
Speaker 1: some kind of investigation. I think there was a murder
Speaker 1: committed today. Fred has been in prison for forty years
Speaker 1: for a double homicide. He and the rest of his
Speaker 1: family all insist was a tragic accident. Did the perfect
Speaker 1: family man murder his wife and stepson? Or was an
Speaker 1: innocent person convicted on small town Malibu gossip. I'm Dana
Speaker 1: Goodyear from Western Sound and Pushkin Industries. Lost Hills is
Speaker 1: back with season two. Dead in the Water was the
Speaker 1: Malibu dream worth killing for Lost Hills. Dead in the
Speaker 1: Water launches December first. Wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe
Speaker 1: to pushkin Plus and you can hear the whole season.
Speaker 1: Add free and get early access to the final two episodes.
Speaker 1: Find Pushkin Plus on the Lost Hill Show page in
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin dot fm.