The Night of the Audition

Speaker 1 say a new year means a new chapter. Why not write yours with Southern New Hampshire University?

Speaker 1 Offering more than 200 degree programs you can complete online, SNHU is a flexible, affordable way to shake up your storyline. Make 2026 a plot twist no one saw coming.

Speaker 1 Get started at SNHU.edu slash dateline. That's SNHU.edu slash dateline.

Speaker 1 With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One Bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One.

Speaker 1 He wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums, he'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. What's in your wallet? Terms apply.

Speaker 1 See capital1.com slash bank. Capital One NA member FDIC.

Speaker 3 Tonight on Dateline.

Speaker 4 My biggest nightmare was that one of my children would go missing. I never thought it would happen.
Just beyond, beyond imaginable.

Speaker 5 She was very committed to her acting career.

Speaker 6 I believe you do good things, but I'm not doing this again.

Speaker 5 Was going to auditions all the time.

Speaker 7 I was really concerned something bad had happened.

Speaker 9 No sign of her anywhere.

Speaker 5 No sign of her, no.

Speaker 10 We had reached out to a couple of casting agencies.

Speaker 7 Every single possibility went through my head. Maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her.

Speaker 5 Her husband was cooperative.

Speaker 7 He was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her.

Speaker 12 Did you know that they had an open relationship?

Speaker 4 Yes, she was very open about her life.

Speaker 13 She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time.

Speaker 14 What is it like to feel like you're a suspect?

Speaker 15 Completely surreal.

Speaker 5 Why is her phone moving? Who was with this phone? Was it Shannon?

Speaker 6 My stomach dropped.

Speaker 5 He had written, I love you on the mirror, and he was covered in blood.

Speaker 3 I'm a spidering young actress poised for her first big break till someone played a killer part.

Speaker 8 I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.

Speaker 3 Here's Keith Morrison with The Night of the Audition

Speaker 12 In a million years, Lisa Medill could never have seen herself doing this.

Speaker 12 Mother of four adult children in boxing gloves.

Speaker 18 As if she could punch away her anguish, exhaust her body, calm her mind, get through another day.

Speaker 4 Unless you've lived through it, you cannot comprehend it. It's a nightmare, and it goes on, it doesn't stop.

Speaker 20 I am interning for my radio and television program.

Speaker 18 It began the nightmare just after this video was recorded.

Speaker 11 That's Lisa's youngest. She was 25 then.

Speaker 8 An aspiring actress and comedian, Shannon Medill.

Speaker 18 This was her audition for a breakout role in a new TV series.

Speaker 20 Hey, Wesley.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 8 Could you.

Speaker 20 If it's not too much to ask, could you help me with this trivia, Gillion?

Speaker 25 You can kind of get a sense of her personality.

Speaker 5 Some suggestions?

Speaker 8 A feisty and quirky free spirit.

Speaker 26 She'd lose her keys and miss appointments, but she never missed a chance to be the center of attention.

Speaker 4 From the time she could walk and talk, she loved a spotlight and a microphone. She was happy to perform for everybody.
She was always telling jokes.

Speaker 4 She was just one of those people that you liked being around because she brought a really positive energy to everything.

Speaker 21 Older sister Erin was convinced that Shannon was going to be a star.

Speaker 9 Does that really seem possible? She was that good?

Speaker 7 I thought she was fantastic. She was more than happy to do anything and everything that would get her name out there.

Speaker 5 I can do pretty much anything, whatever he wants.

Speaker 7 She was funny. Her personality was amazing, and she was fantastic to work with because she was happy to just go with the flow and do whatever was required.

Speaker 18 And her husband, Josh Burgess, was there to support her.

Speaker 5 I basically kick ass for you day and night because I believe you do good things. But I'm not doing this again.

Speaker 27 That's Josh on the right, helping Shannon play a scene for an audition reel.

Speaker 28 You're lucky, I'm amazing.

Speaker 21 This was home, Calgary.

Speaker 27 A bustling metropolis bursting at its seams here in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies.

Speaker 11 A A city with possibilities where great things could happen.

Speaker 20 More about me.

Speaker 28 I love plants. I have laws.

Speaker 11 The audition, Shannon's audition, was on the 26th of November, 2014.

Speaker 19 A couple of days later, Shannon was supposed to meet with one of her brothers for dinner. She was in no-show.

Speaker 8 Older brother, Tyler, wasn't surprised.

Speaker 10 I recall at the time kind of thinking, like, you know, it's not unlike her to flake out or disappear. I even remember saying, like, give her a little bit.
She'll probably turn up shortly.

Speaker 19 But she didn't.

Speaker 11 Aaron called and texted Shannon.

Speaker 23 No answer.

Speaker 27 Not that day or the next or the next.

Speaker 7 Everything goes through your mind. I mean, Calgary winters, and especially on those highways, they can be deadly.

Speaker 8 And at the end of that November, a blizzard had just blown through town.

Speaker 8 But then an answer, apparently, to their little mystery.

Speaker 22 Josh told Erin that Shannon was 200 miles away in Edmonton, where he texted she apparently got a big roll.

Speaker 8 And snowstorm or not, she had to go. But

Speaker 7 because of the snowstorm that had happened on the Friday, she was too afraid to take her car.

Speaker 23 So she got a ride from a friend, except just like Shannon, she didn't say who.

Speaker 18 Josh didn't seem too too worried, but Erin was.

Speaker 18 So she called the police and filed a missing persons report.

Speaker 7 I was really concerned that obviously something bad had happened, and that's why we couldn't find her anymore. So you fear the worst, but you hope for the best.

Speaker 11 Of course, they had to explain to the police that Shannon was unpredictable.

Speaker 18 Maybe she was in Edmonton.

Speaker 21 Or maybe somewhere else altogether.

Speaker 18 Detective Christina Witt.

Speaker 5 It wouldn't be unheard of for Shannon to kind of go off the grid for a period of time.

Speaker 5 Not that she had done that a lot, but her sister had felt maybe she was being dramatic and just needed to take a break.

Speaker 11 Just the same, police sent a couple of officers over to Shannon and Josh's house.

Speaker 5 They asked for consent by Josh to do a search of the residence, a walkthrough. On that walkthrough, they didn't see anything suspicious.

Speaker 11 By then, said Josh, it was four days since he'd last seen or heard from Shannon, and that was the night she recorded that audition.

Speaker 11 Since she was busy, Josh had gone out that night.

Speaker 5 He said just around midnight, he got home, he saw Shannon on the couch, and went to bed.

Speaker 18 Next morning, she was gone.

Speaker 19 But this seemed weird, though maybe not if you knew Shannon.

Speaker 8 Josh said she left a pair of jeans behind, and her phone and wallet, were still in the pockets.

Speaker 21 It wasn't the first time something like that happened, said Josh.

Speaker 8 Her family agreed, but each day that went by was worse.

Speaker 23 Wondered how that must have been for you on those first days piling up and then weeks.

Speaker 22 What was that like, that period?

Speaker 4 Oh, it was dreadful. It was the worst thing that I've ever had to live through.
I didn't sleep. I didn't eat.
I was just walking in a daze the whole time.

Speaker 4 I was trying to function, but it wasn't working very well.

Speaker 23 Police took Shannon's cell phone for analysis.

Speaker 27 They also conducted multiple searches starting in Shannon's neighborhood.

Speaker 5 It's protocol to do a 500-meter search on the outer perimeter of the residence, just to see what they can see.

Speaker 5 And, you know, they started canvassing the neighborhood, asking neighbors questions, trying to collect CCTV, those kinds of things, and then identifying who else they can speak to for witnesses.

Speaker 31 No sign of her anywhere.

Speaker 5 No sign of her, no.

Speaker 4 You can't do anything about it until she's found. There's just nothing that you can do.
The police were great. They were doing as much as they could.
But at that point, there were really no leads.

Speaker 4 And so she's just disappeared.

Speaker 21 The family had to consider a terrifying possibility.

Speaker 7 She had actually threatened to commit suicide a couple of months prior.

Speaker 7 The police came to assist when she was standing on a platform debating jumping in front of a train. So I knew that she did have low moments, yes.

Speaker 23 The Bow River that flows through town.

Speaker 21 Could Shannon have gone there?

Speaker 5 The family was worried, did Shannon drown in the river? So there were searches going on on the riverbanks.

Speaker 27 Then, almost a week after Shannon missed that family dinner, Josh called Aaron and said that his credit card company had alerted him that someone used his card in New York City.

Speaker 7 At that point in time, anything, there were all kinds of possibilities. We were concerned that maybe she was in New York.

Speaker 21 Where was Shannon Medill?

Speaker 16 Possible clues would start to appear.

Speaker 5 A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree.

Speaker 16 And what did he have to do with it?

Speaker 21 Was she married at the time?

Speaker 13 She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time.

Speaker 8 What did love have to do with it?

Speaker 5 He had written in blood, I love you on the mirror.

Speaker 11 December dawned confused among the Medills of Calgary, Alberta.

Speaker 23 For five days, they'd been trying to track down their Shannon.

Speaker 11 They even got the police involved.

Speaker 19 and the media.

Speaker 18 Though, as the family told the assembled reporters, they hoped she was alive and well somewhere.

Speaker 6 I just want to make sure that she understands that even with all this media attention, that she's not in trouble. Nobody's going to be mad.
Just please let us know that you're okay wherever you are.

Speaker 6 This is Shannon's husband.

Speaker 27 Shannon's husband, Josh, was there, but he was too upset to say anything.

Speaker 10 You know, he's miserable and didn't want to, you know, didn't want to be out. in public and was kind of dealing with the grief of her being gone.

Speaker 30 It's a cliché to say it's always the husband.

Speaker 23 No one said that about Josh.

Speaker 11 Quiet, steady Josh, the IT consultant, the soft-spoken yin to her funny, noisy yang.

Speaker 12 They had started dating four years earlier.

Speaker 7 She needed somebody who could actually be there for her on a more emotional level. And Josh was that for her.

Speaker 7 He was very supportive of everything she did, and he was there to try to help her achieve her goals. And I think that's what really drew her to him.
And she did truly love him.

Speaker 7 I think she saw him as being her forever.

Speaker 33 He was a shoulder she could cry on if she had to, or if she was in a depressed mood, he was there for her, etc.

Speaker 7 Yeah, he was there to help her out constantly. He, when she had down days, A lot of comedians, as I'm sure you know, tend to suffer from some depression.

Speaker 7 It's probably why they're so funny is they're constantly trying to make sure that nobody else has to feel that pain.

Speaker 7 And when she would go through those dark moments, he was phenomenal about being there for her her and supporting her.

Speaker 21 Did you see him very much?

Speaker 4 Yep, saw him on a regular basis. He would come to things, even if she wasn't available, he would come to family events on his own.

Speaker 21 She's like becoming part of the family.

Speaker 4 He was part of the family.

Speaker 24 He officially joined the family seven months earlier when he and Shannon got married.

Speaker 4 You know, he was quiet and shy, like a very nice person.

Speaker 18 If Shannon's family had anything negative to say, it was that Josh was too much of a church mouse.

Speaker 5 For But Shannon, they described her as having a fiery personality and that if anyone was going to start an argument between the two of them, it would be Shannon.

Speaker 5 And that Josh would just go with it and that Josh was a really nice person, kind of a gentle soul. And Shannon was the one that was more of a kind of aggressive, get-going kind of personality.

Speaker 5 That's the picture they painted of Josh.

Speaker 21 A gentle soul who sadly seemed to have no idea what Shannon was up to.

Speaker 16 There was that business about Josh's credit card turning up in New York City, but it couldn't have been Shannon using it there.

Speaker 17 Her passport was still at home.

Speaker 19 And another week went by.

Speaker 8 And then?

Speaker 7 The police called and asked me to provide every single photographer that had taken headshots of her, and that's when I realized that they were debating if maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her.

Speaker 30 And why might they think that?

Speaker 8 Because of a very strange development in a local Calgary park, which had the makings of some bizarre ritual.

Speaker 5 A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree, and the hair color and the skin color of the neck matched Shannon's. So there was concern.

Speaker 11 A hiker came across the image, got it to police.

Speaker 18 The original was not saved, so Detective Witt used AI to produce this virtual copy.

Speaker 5 And there was actually a second photo, and it was of a female in a field holding a dove in the air, and there's a string connecting the dove to this female, and that female looked very similar to Shannon.

Speaker 22 So a team of Calgary cops spread out all around that big park.

Speaker 11 They spent two days searching the place.

Speaker 5 Trying to figure out if someone

Speaker 5 had harmed her and were going to find her body in the park, or was this some elaborate stunt to get media attention? We had no idea.

Speaker 5 And after the first two days of searching, some students came forward. They'd seen it on the news and sheepishly came forward to the police and said, hey, those pictures are ours.

Speaker 9 Was that an art project or something that the students had put up?

Speaker 5 It was. They were art students.
It was a project.

Speaker 22 Another blind alley.

Speaker 7 My biggest nightmare was that she was still alive, locked in a basement and being hurt. And I became really obsessed with trying to find her, and it became all-consuming for me.

Speaker 31 Can anybody really understand what it's like to be in that awful place of not knowing?

Speaker 7 Only people who have lost someone, because that ambiguous loss is,

Speaker 7 it eats your soul.

Speaker 11 It was about then that police encountered quite another possibility.

Speaker 34 This guy, I was asked, you know, questions with a harder edge, like, you know, where were you and who were you with?

Speaker 35 Hi, I'm Chef Franklin Becker. You know the jingle.
Now discover the facts about Ozempic, a GLP-1. There's only one FDA-approved Ozempic, made by Novo Nordisk.
Learn about the real thing.

Speaker 36 Talk to your healthcare professional today. Call 1-833-OZEPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Ozempic.

Speaker 36 Semaglotide injection: 0.5 milligram, 1 milligram, and 2 milligrams.

Speaker 1 Being sick, the worst. Being sick during the holidays, even worse.

Speaker 1 Good news is GoodRX can help you get back on your feet for way less. You could save an average of $53 on flu treatments, plus discounts on cold beds, decongestants, and more.
GoodRX is easy and free.

Speaker 1 Just search your prescription on the app or website, compare prices at local pharmacies, save your free coupon, and show it at the pharmacy counter.

Speaker 1 Pick up your prescription in store or have GoodRX deliver it to your door. Good RX is not insurance, but it works whether you have insurance or not.
And in fact, it might even beat your copay.

Speaker 1 Don't let cold and flu seasons steal your holiday cheer. Check out GoodRX for savings on the medications you need this holiday season.
That's goodrx.com/slash dateline. GoodRX.com/slash dateline.

Speaker 37 Hey, Ryan Reynolds here, wishing you a very happy half-off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.

Speaker 37 Mint is still premium, unlimited wireless for a great price.

Speaker 4 So that means a half day.

Speaker 37 Yeah? Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

Speaker 28 Upfront payment of $45 for a three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only.
Speed slow under 35 gigabytes of networks busy.

Speaker 28 Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com.

Speaker 8 Complications.

Speaker 8 One in particular.

Speaker 23 Maybe it mattered to the search for Shannon Medill.

Speaker 8 Maybe not.

Speaker 12 She'd confided in Aaron and her mom a secret of sorts.

Speaker 23 A secret that would take the investigation in a new direction.

Speaker 22 Just months after they were married, Shannon had persuaded Josh to try an open marriage.

Speaker 11 She was the one who wanted it.

Speaker 7 She was the one who requested it, yeah.

Speaker 24 What did you think?

Speaker 7 I'm pretty open-minded. I have a couple of different friends who are in open relationships and they've made it work really well.

Speaker 7 I told her I had concerns because one of the most important things is a lot of open, honest conversation, and I wasn't sure if they were both mature enough for that.

Speaker 31 Did you know that they had a kind of, at one point, at least had an open relationship?

Speaker 4 Yes, she had spoken to me about that. She had, huh? Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 She was very open about her life. Maybe a little bit too open with her life.

Speaker 31 I don't know how I would react if one of my children said, I'm have an open marriage.

Speaker 33 We see other people.

Speaker 4 I was non-judgmental. I did say that I'd known other open marriages and that they hadn't worked.

Speaker 4 But when your children are in their twenties, thirties, you don't really have any control over what they do.

Speaker 4 You have to sit and listen and hopefully be the shoulder to cry on if they need it, or just listen and not judge.

Speaker 9 What did you think privately when you weren't judging?

Speaker 7 That it was, oh, big mistake, is what I thought.

Speaker 23 Josh didn't seem to think it was a mistake.

Speaker 21 He rather liked the arrangement, was upfront with the police from the very beginning.

Speaker 5 Josh was the person that let them know, you know, we're in this open relationship.

Speaker 29 But as we say, complications.

Speaker 22 For police, it meant looking into an entire reservoir of possible suspects.

Speaker 23 There were other men, any one of whom could have taken Shannon away somewhere or might have done something to harm her.

Speaker 8 Josh said he knew who the men were and he gave the police a list of names.

Speaker 5 I think we ended up doing seven interviews of other men who had been involved in her life.

Speaker 21 Did the police ever come to talk to you?

Speaker 34 The police did. A detective contacted me and asked me to come in for an interview.

Speaker 8 Hello, everyone.

Speaker 13 My name is Ian Wallace.

Speaker 8 Yeah, I'm fun tonight. Yay!

Speaker 22 Ian Wallace is a local stand-up comedian.

Speaker 23 He had met Shannon a few months before she vanished.

Speaker 30 They worked on a sketch together.

Speaker 22 And then, well, one thing led to another.

Speaker 13 She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time.

Speaker 9 Ah, did you both know that?

Speaker 34 We both knew that immediately.

Speaker 19 Ian was also in an open marriage when he met Shannon.

Speaker 8 What was it about her?

Speaker 11 How would you describe her way of being, her character, her demeanor?

Speaker 34 Very lively, very energetic, and I could tell right away that her sense of humor was very keen and maybe even a little edgy, which, you know, that's me as well.

Speaker 34 She just was bouncy in her movements and just very, just lively. And

Speaker 34 I think it would be hard for anyone to not be drawn in by that.

Speaker 8 Did you fall in love with her? I think I did.

Speaker 34 I mean, I did.

Speaker 23 Ian said he talked to Shannon the last day anyone saw her, the day of her audition.

Speaker 34 And then a few days later, I got a message on Facebook from Josh that

Speaker 34 Shannon was missing and that the family, you know, was freaking out and didn't know where she was and that he needed to know if I knew anything about where she was or where she might be.

Speaker 34 And that's when I really started to worry and. panic even a little bit.

Speaker 22 Had you met Josh at that point?

Speaker 34 Josh and I crossed paths and I mean that quite literally.

Speaker 34 One time, Shannon and I were headed to watch a movie at her place, and Josh was headed out, I think, to see somebody that he was dating, and we literally just sort of said hello to each other at the doorway.

Speaker 8 Was that awkward?

Speaker 34 Yeah, it's always awkward when you're in that sort of situation of meeting someone else's partner.

Speaker 34 The dominant feeling is that you're both maybe kind of worried that the other one is angry or going to be confrontational or jealous or something like that.

Speaker 34 But that wasn't really the experience I had with Josh. It was just, hey, you guys have fun tonight.
You know, I'll be home at whatever.

Speaker 8 And just like, that's all it was.

Speaker 11 Was it? Police weren't so sure.

Speaker 22 They called Ian in for a second time.

Speaker 34 That interview was much more, I think, interested in establishing where I was around the time of Shannon's disappearance. So I was asked, you know,

Speaker 34 questions with a harder edge, like, you know, you you know, where were you and who were you with?

Speaker 14 What is it like to feel like you're a suspect in a serious investigation like that?

Speaker 34 I mean, it felt completely surreal.

Speaker 34 It was almost like one of those experiences where you kind of watch yourself from outside your body, where I was just kind of like, this is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me.

Speaker 22 Do you remember the look in the officer's eye?

Speaker 33 Yeah.

Speaker 34 I mean, you get a vibe, I think, when somebody is trying to size you up and maybe even throw you off kilter a little bit to see how you'll react. It felt intense while it was happening.

Speaker 11 But Ian was far from the only romantic interest attached to that complicated little household, or

Speaker 11 the only person of interest.

Speaker 5 Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious.

Speaker 23 All they could do was tell themselves comforting stories.

Speaker 26 Their Shannon had to be alive somewhere.

Speaker 21 It was nearly a month since she had disappeared.

Speaker 29 Christmas was coming.

Speaker 8 She would turn up as if their love alone could bring her home.

Speaker 10 We'll find her.

Speaker 8 We'll figure this out.

Speaker 10 I think we were consoling each other. We were all together, and

Speaker 10 it was a family affair. We had to stick together to get through it.

Speaker 8 What were those holidays like?

Speaker 10 I mean, the holidays were obviously the worst.

Speaker 22 Josh came over, bearing gifts and sharing worry.

Speaker 11 And meanwhile, the police kept looking and getting nowhere.

Speaker 11 Except one piece of the story that kept mattering away in Detective Wood's brain.

Speaker 8 That open marriage.

Speaker 5 I got this sense that it was okay for them to see other people as long as it didn't get serious.

Speaker 8 But the thing was, maybe it did get serious.

Speaker 19 For Josh, at least.

Speaker 8 There was this one particular woman.

Speaker 5 Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious.

Speaker 30 So the police asked Josh about that, and he said, yes, it was true.

Speaker 21 He'd been seeing her for months. So could his girlfriend be involved?

Speaker 30 She became a person of interest.

Speaker 30 And, of course, they had questions for her, too, too, such as, did she have any idea where Shannon was?

Speaker 21 No.

Speaker 11 Where was she the night Shannon was last seen?

Speaker 22 On a date.

Speaker 30 Who was she with?

Speaker 16 Well, it was Josh.

Speaker 19 Had she met Shannon?

Speaker 22 Yeah, a few times.

Speaker 11 Did Shannon approve?

Speaker 30 Her mom knew the answer to that question.

Speaker 4 From what she told me, he had broken the rules of the open marriage. I guess you set some boundaries and some rules, and he had broken those.

Speaker 18 Shannon thought Josh's affair had gotten way too intimate.

Speaker 8 So, according to her family.

Speaker 5 She wanted him to break up with her, and he didn't want to do that.

Speaker 11 Instead, Josh told her he wanted to end his marriage to Shannon.

Speaker 8 How did you hear about that?

Speaker 4 She phoned me. just was in tears and couldn't figure out what was going on and you know went through the whole i don't know what to do mom.

Speaker 7 And that happened on October 26th. So about a month before she went missing.
And she was devastated when he asked for the divorce.

Speaker 5 Obviously, that's also a very critical time in a domestic relationship. It can be dangerous.

Speaker 5 But I think it added stress to Shannon. And that stress was playing out in different ways in her life, I would say.

Speaker 33 How did she feel about all of this stuff with Josh?

Speaker 7 She was really devastated. We were hanging out, and she was talking about how she had such mixed mixed feelings.

Speaker 7 She was so angry and so hurt, but also things were going so well for her outside of this marriage that she just, she didn't know what she wanted to do.

Speaker 31 Did you stay in touch with Josh during this, during that time they were going through those troubles?

Speaker 21 Did you talk to him much?

Speaker 7 I did, actually. Josh and I were friendly.

Speaker 7 And when she called me to say that they were getting a divorce and he'd asked for it, my very first text after I got off the phone was a message of support to Josh.

Speaker 7 I've actually been through a divorce myself, and I know how hard it is on both people.

Speaker 11 Shannon was shuffling back and forth between acting gigs and overwhelmed emotionally by the chaos in her personal life.

Speaker 23 And then, just like that, Josh apologized, told her he didn't want a divorce after all.

Speaker 7 Once they made the decision to try to work on their marriage, Shannon requested that he actually end the mistress relationship so that they could focus on the marriage and really focus on what brought them together in the first place.

Speaker 11 And so, to Shannon's great relief, they decided to return to a more traditional marriage.

Speaker 21 Shannon was all in.

Speaker 26 So was Josh.

Speaker 12 She thought.

Speaker 7 Unfortunately, Josh lied to her and to the mistress, telling Shannon he was leaving the mistress to work with her, and then was meeting up with the mistress saying, I'm planning on leaving my wife soon.

Speaker 8 Shannon, found out, was devastated all over again.

Speaker 21 And soon she was gone.

Speaker 11 Too proud to face the humiliation?

Speaker 8 Perhaps.

Speaker 11 Despite the turmoil in the marriage, Shannon's family did not believe Josh harmed her, not her quiet, steady church mouse.

Speaker 4 I never felt that he was involved. I just couldn't imagine that somebody who loved her would have done something to her.

Speaker 4 I did not have any interactions with him that would have said he's capable of something like this.

Speaker 22 But Detective Witt was focused less on personality and more on the puzzle she was trying to put together.

Speaker 21 And perhaps unwittingly, the girlfriend had handed her a missing piece.

Speaker 5 She said she had been texting with Josh at 3 a.m. that morning, whereas Josh had told us when he got home, he went straight to bed.

Speaker 8 Welcome back to Listen to Your Heart. I'm Jerry.

Speaker 2 And I'm Jerry's Heart.

Speaker 29 Today's topic, Repatha Evaloki Map. Heart, why'd you pick this one?

Speaker 2 Well, Jerry, for people who have had a heart attack, like us, diet and exercise might not be enough to lower the risk of another one. Okay.

Speaker 2 To help know if we're at risk, we should be getting our LDLC, our bad cholesterol, checked and talking to our doctor.

Speaker 8 I'm listening.

Speaker 2 And if it's still too high, Rapatha can be added to a statin to lower our LDLC and our heart attack risk.

Speaker 8 Hmm.

Speaker 29 Guess it's time to ask about Repatha.

Speaker 38 Do not take Repatha if you're allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can occur.
Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing or swallowing.

Speaker 38 Swelling of the face, lips, lips, tongue, throat, or arms.

Speaker 38 Common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, common cold symptoms, flu or flu-like symptoms, back pain, high blood sugar, and redness, pain, or bruising at the injection site.

Speaker 8 Listen to your heart.

Speaker 2 Ask your doctor about Rapatha. Learn more at Rapatha.com or call 1-844-RAPATHA.

Speaker 39 With ThreatLocker Zero Trust Protection, you can stop breaches before they happen.

Speaker 15 The result?

Speaker 39 No stress about the latest malware or zero-day attacks, because with ThreatLocker, you block them by default. Gain more control over your environment with ThreatLocker Zero Trust Protection.

Speaker 37 Hey, Ryan Reynolds here, wishing you a very happy half-off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service.

Speaker 37 Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

Speaker 4 So that means a half day.

Speaker 37 Yeah? Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

Speaker 28 Upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only.
Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy. Taxes and fees extra.

Speaker 8 See midmobile.com.

Speaker 25 It was spring.

Speaker 21 Shannon Medill had been missing since November.

Speaker 19 Her family suspended in a never-ending state of dread. I mean, the hell that you were going through, I don't know anybody can possibly understand, but

Speaker 4 no, not unless you live through it.

Speaker 8 It's interesting.

Speaker 4 There's a lot of activity at the very beginning, and then as the leads fall away, you hear less and less and less.

Speaker 4 You know, you start to wonder if she'll ever be found, if this is just going to be a giant mystery for the rest of your life. And you just hope that they find

Speaker 4 something that will bring this all to an end.

Speaker 9 Where was Josh when all this was going on?

Speaker 4 He was living at the home, the home that they had together.

Speaker 7 We had dinner in March, and then in April, I ran into him at a bar when we were both there with friends, and he informed me that the police had interrogated him again and he felt like a suspect.

Speaker 7 So he got a lawyer and the lawyer told him to stop talking to me.

Speaker 8 What was that like?

Speaker 7 It was interesting. I gave him a hug and I said, I totally understand that I won't reach out to him out of respect, but he's more than welcome to talk to me at any point in time.

Speaker 22 All the while, without telling the family, police had grown ever more suspicious, partly because of the interview with Josh's girlfriend.

Speaker 23 The two had been out the night Josh said he last saw Shannon, the night of that audition.

Speaker 5 The girlfriend had said that she dropped Josh off around 12, 12.30. So that would have been early morning hours of November 27th.

Speaker 5 And she said she had been texting with Josh at 3 a.m. that morning, whereas Josh had told us when he got home, he went straight to bed.
He saw Shannon on the couch and went to bed.

Speaker 5 And that's different than what the girlfriend had told police.

Speaker 16 And there was something else that seemed off about Josh's story.

Speaker 5 He was very detail-oriented in talking about what he did before he got home. And then the minute he arrived home, his information became vague.
That's a flag for police as well.

Speaker 11 Flags, mind you.

Speaker 19 not actual evidence.

Speaker 12 But there was this, too.

Speaker 21 The forensic records from Shannon's cell phone also contradicted Josh. Josh said he found her phone in her jeans days after he last saw her.

Speaker 8 But an analysis of the cell phone itself seemed to tell a different story.

Speaker 5 Her phone had done a walkabout in the alley behind their residence, and this was 12 hours after Shannon, according to Josh, had last been seen.

Speaker 5 We can only speak for sure that the phone went on the walkabout, but who was with this phone? Was it Shannon? Was it Josh?

Speaker 5 At that point, we don't know, but it's a big question mark about why is her phone moving when no one's seen her at that point.

Speaker 27 Still didn't mean Josh was involved, but it was enough to allow the police to bring him in as a possible suspect.

Speaker 5 Certainly, the interviewer went at him a little bit more aggressively and challenged him on some of the information that we now had. And Josh was unable to provide really clear responses to that.

Speaker 22 Things like the discrepancies in his answers and his girlfriends about texting in the early morning hours, long after he said he went to bed.

Speaker 5 He was not forthcoming in his answers. He would kind of delay before he'd give his response.

Speaker 19 So, more suspicion, but no concrete proof Josh did anything to Shannon.

Speaker 27 In fact, some of Christina Witt's colleagues remained unconvinced they'd reached the high bar needed to show a crime had even occurred.

Speaker 19 They didn't even have a body.

Speaker 5 Investigators are always going to have different perspectives and different experiences. I'd been in homicide for quite a while at that point and I disagreed.
I felt we'd met the threshold.

Speaker 23 By then, it was May, six months since Shannon vanished.

Speaker 21 A frustrated Detective Witt began a time-consuming process to seize more evidence.

Speaker 5 I had directed an investigator to write a search warrant for Josh's phone and his

Speaker 8 car,

Speaker 5 and so that was authorized.

Speaker 23 But getting that approval had taken time.

Speaker 11 More than six weeks had gone by.

Speaker 8 And then finally.

Speaker 5 On July 2nd of 2015, myself and another homicide investigator and two patrol members supporting us. We went and did a door knock at Josh's house.

Speaker 18 She was surprised when Josh didn't respond right away.

Speaker 5 We could hear movement, so we knew someone was inside. I knocked on the door, knocked on the door, no answer.
So I called Josh's cell phone. He doesn't answer.

Speaker 5 So now we start communicating through the window, kind of like, hey, Josh,

Speaker 5 we can hear you inside. Come to the door.

Speaker 26 But Josh didn't. He stalled stalled and stalled.

Speaker 5 I phone the phone again, and Josh answers this time. Josh starts crying.
He seems flustered, and he seems to be trying to buy some time. So he's like, okay, just give me a minute.

Speaker 5 I need to go downstairs. I need to get my pants out of the dryer.
I'll come to the door. I'll come to the door.
He's not coming to the door.

Speaker 5 So my police instincts are like, okay, what is actually going on in the house right now? Why is he stalling?

Speaker 8 Oh, there was a reason.

Speaker 22 She'd find out soon enough.

Speaker 5 He came out basically naked with tight white underwear on, and he was covered in blood.

Speaker 25 There's always more to the story. To go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, listen to our Talking Dateline series with Keith and Blaine available Wednesday.

Speaker 23 It was a standoff by cell phone.

Speaker 18 Calgary Police Detective Christina Witt stood outside Josh's front door, and he,

Speaker 29 somewhere inside, stalled, delayed, cried.

Speaker 5 I just kept encouraging him, Josh, just come to the door. That's the safest thing for all of us.

Speaker 5 And we can speak in person face to face. And he's stalling a bit, he's upset, and then he blurts out, I killed her.

Speaker 5 I killed her she couldn't believe it i asked him to say it again and he said i killed my wife he said it a second time yeah

Speaker 21 but problems the detective did not have a body cam or recording device that would prove he said it

Speaker 27 so for 90 minutes she coaxed him come out talk

Speaker 19 until finally the door opened And there he was.

Speaker 5 I was not expecting at all what he looked like. He came out basically naked with tight white underwear on and he was covered in blood.

Speaker 1 Blood?

Speaker 12 Why was he covered in blood?

Speaker 5 Well, he had a pocket knife and basically he was gnawing at his neck while speaking to me.

Speaker 24 They rushed Josh to a hospital and looked inside his house.

Speaker 5 In the house, while we were negotiating, he had written in blood, I love you on the mirror.

Speaker 18 His wounds were superficial.

Speaker 21 He was released the next day and arrested. But now they needed a recorded confession.
They needed him to say again what he blurted out to Detective Witt the day before, and they didn't have much time.

Speaker 21 Isn't there some sort of deadline you have to hit once you've arrested somebody?

Speaker 40 Yes, you have 24 hours from when the person is under arrest until they're actually formally charged at court.

Speaker 11 Ray Bangloy is an undercover detective.

Speaker 23 We agreed not to show his face. And you don't want to formally charge him until you've got something pretty concrete to charge him

Speaker 3 to back it up.

Speaker 8 Time was flying.

Speaker 23 Josh spoke to a lawyer for hours, more than two hours in before he even faced detectives.

Speaker 8 And then he stonewalled. He refused again and again to repeat his unrecorded confession.

Speaker 18 Shortly after 2 a.m., Detective Witt told Josh.

Speaker 5 The cadaver dogs are finding

Speaker 42 stuff right now, so there's a lot going on at the house, so we're going to focus our attention on that right now, and you can have a sleep, and someone will be in to speak with you tomorrow.

Speaker 41 Morning, Josh.

Speaker 8 In the morning, Josh was awakened to face another detective and a picture of Shannon.

Speaker 11 Still, no confession.

Speaker 29 And it was just hours until deadline, after which they would have to release him.

Speaker 40 We're probably at the 20-hour mark when I went in to talk to Josh.

Speaker 11 And slowly, Josh began to tell Detective Bangloy how, the night of her big audition, they were trying to put their marriage back together again.

Speaker 41 I came home.

Speaker 41 She was on the couch. She was watching.

Speaker 41 Stupid Johnny Towck, baby.

Speaker 41 And I just asked her if she wanted to have angry makeup sex.

Speaker 8 But that apparently wasn't what she heard.

Speaker 41 She thought I said breakup sex.

Speaker 41 She got so mad at me.

Speaker 23 That's when Detective Bangloy went to what he calls his blame the victim technique.

Speaker 40 So the theme with blame the victim is to try to take the victim down a couple notches and explain to him, hey, nobody's perfect. Nobody's an angel.

Speaker 40 He was portraying Shannon to be an angel. It's hard for someone to admit to that.

Speaker 23 How could you kill an angel, for heaven's sake, you know?

Speaker 22 Exactly.

Speaker 31 On the other hand, if maybe she wasn't an angel after all, might be more understandable.

Speaker 9 Or at least something he could confess to.

Speaker 10 Exactly.

Speaker 40 During my talks with the victim's family, I found out that Shannon had an anger problem at times. And when she would get angry, she sometimes would say cruel things.

Speaker 41 What type of mean things did she say to you

Speaker 41 that night?

Speaker 41 She said she regretted marrying me.

Speaker 41 She said she regretted marrying you. She could have done all this on her own.
She could have done what on her own? Her career.

Speaker 41 She didn't need me.

Speaker 40 He actually told me to stop talking and that he was going to tell me what happened.

Speaker 41 I just wanted her to be quiet.

Speaker 41 I just couldn't

Speaker 41 anymore.

Speaker 41 Put my hands around her neck.

Speaker 41 Put your hands around her neck?

Speaker 8 Yeah.

Speaker 41 I killed her with my hands.

Speaker 41 When my hands got tired, I used to belt.

Speaker 41 I don't know why.

Speaker 41 He used the belt? I don't know why. I just didn't stop.

Speaker 8 Just slumped.

Speaker 8 Just

Speaker 8 pay.

Speaker 8 Why?

Speaker 8 I don't know.

Speaker 18 Finally, with just an hour to spare, police had what they needed.

Speaker 30 Josh used a belt to strangle Shannon.

Speaker 23 The same day, cadaver dogs found Shannon's body.

Speaker 18 He had hidden her, frozen in a plastic bin outside during the wicked Calgary winter, moved to his car, and then recently buried in the yard.

Speaker 31 Right up until they told you that he'd been arrested and charged, you couldn't believe it would be him.

Speaker 4 Well, he was just such an unassuming person that I wouldn't have thought that he would have had it in him. I wouldn't have thought that he would have had that kind of anger and rage inside of him.

Speaker 7 One of the biggest things that has had a huge huge impact on me is that I don't trust myself anymore.

Speaker 7 You go through life believing that if you're going to meet somebody who's a serial killer or a sociopath, you'd be able to pick them out. And the reality is, you can't.

Speaker 7 He never hurt her. He never touched her.
He didn't do a single thing to her until the day he killed her.

Speaker 9 This quiet little church mouse of a guy.

Speaker 8 Yeah.

Speaker 23 After two years of legal stops and starts, Josh got a plea deal. Second-degree murder.

Speaker 18 In 2017, he was sentenced to life.

Speaker 4 I try to dwell on the happiness, the happy points with her, her smile.

Speaker 4 It's easier for me to remember her that way than the horror that she went through.

Speaker 21 And now, Shannon Medille's mother takes her grief and pain of betrayal to the gym, and she puts on her boxing gloves and finally comes away with a measure of peace.

Speaker 4 With murder, the rest of the family is victimized, and they're victimized over and over again with the legal system and

Speaker 4 all of the stuff that goes on with it. But you can choose to stay a victim or you can choose not to be a victim.
I'm still victimized, but I choose not to be a victim.

Speaker 3 That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again next Friday at 10 9 Central.
I'm Lester Holt for all of us at NBC News. Good night.

Speaker 15 This ad is brought to you by Viv Healthcare, the makers of Devato, Dalyutegriver Lamivudine.

Speaker 44 If you're living with HIV, look ahead. Do chase a dream.
Do consider how you stay undetectable.

Speaker 15 Do learn about Devado.

Speaker 44 Devato is a complete HIV treatment by prescription only. For some people 12 and older, your doctor will determine if Devato is right for you.
Do find out how many medicines are in your HIV pill.

Speaker 44 Most HIV pills contain three or four. Devato is as effective with just two medicines.
No other complete HIV pill contains fewer medicines than Devato. Do dream about tomorrow.

Speaker 43 It is unknown if Devato is safe and effective if you have HIV and hepatitis B. If you have HEP B, don't stop Devato without talking to your doctor, as it may get worse or harder to treat.

Speaker 43 Don't take Devato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking Difetilide due to serious or life-threatening side effects.

Speaker 43 If you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop Devato and get medical help right away. Other serious or life-threatening side effects include severe liver problems and lactic acid buildup.

Speaker 43 If you're female or obese, you may be more at risk. Tell your doctor about your medicines or supplements, medical conditions, liver or kidney problems, pregnancy, breastfeeding, or planned pregnancy.

Speaker 44 Do ask your doctor about fewer medicines. Visit Devado.com or call 1-877-844-8872 to learn more.