Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200803

Her story was concerning about a masked man, shooting her husband and leaving her alive. Im worried, did she hire somebody . Then a revelation. The dead man had a dangerous dream. Ended up finding a lot of people related to the oil business. I remember him telling us, im going to make millions of dollars. A big money venture oozing with outlaws. A violent individual, been to prison for robbery. 250 pounds of steroid, rock muscle. Greed is what killed my dad. Greed is what caused all of this. A thirst for oil, an lust for blood. A sociopath. What can happen in a quiet Little Prairie town until oil comes around. Yeah. Among the green and pleasant landscapes of american privilege is the rise of historic land called the south hill. Its been the home of spokane, washingtons elite, in their queen anne and craftsmans homes and not the sort of story were about to tell. Ambitious men, dark plots and dames. I asked him. Am i just the dumb blonde who missed it . Or did everyone miss it . The one so many people missed, before that dreadful vent here in the wooded enclave. He thought that god was blessing hem and my mom. We thought we were walking on water. Here they were, empty nesters, all alone in their house on the south hill, convinced that their successes, their six grown kids, their good life were products of an unflinching trust in god. You know, we finally got out of the desert. And he was going to get into the promised land. Yes, the promised land. Riches beyond imagining. As the not so dumb blonde knew so well. It was a madhouse, it was the wild west. So maybe thats why the thing on the south hill wasnt going to stay here. My life will never be the same. Im sorry. It was wintertime when it happened. Christmas season, 15th of december, 2013. A sunday evening after church. 911, what are you reporting . Theres been shots. A man kicked into our house and shot my husband. This is how our story began. In an ugly splash of violence and terror. Hes going to shoot me. But was this the beginning of the story . Or the end . That was the evening Spokane Police detectives brian sesnick and Mark Burbridge were pulled into the strangest case of their careers. It was the most unique homicide id investigated, and i knew that from the first moments of my involvement. Really . Just you knew . Yes. It was sesnick who drove over first to the address at south hill. The sort of place a homicide detective can go a whole career without visiting a single time. The house is in a very upperclass neighborhood. And the south hill, thats where you want to be. Right. The street that its on, id never been to before. Why would you as a homicide detective . Theres just not crime up there in general. So it was very odd. The home the detective was going to was owned by a businessman named carlile. Sesnick walked into the house. It was just a weird scene all in all. This was december 15th. Theres Christmas Music playing throughout the house. Thats bizarre. It was very bizarre. Theyre very religious people, so theres religious scripture written on the walls. Them you have this horribly violent and gruesome murder. It was a very, very odd scene. Doug carlile was lying on the kitchen floor, clearly the victim of a closerange shooting. There was a lot of blood around the body. A lot of shell casings. A lot of bullets laying around. How badly was this person damaged . Hed been shot seven times. It was obviously a very brutal attack. It wasnt just a one time shot and the person ran out. Clearly someone was making sure. Correct. Whoever had done this, we knew they wanted to make sure he didnt survive. And whatever happened here didnt appear to be the result of a burglary. The house was locked up tight. Windows, doors. He still had his wallet and cell phone. Everything was in place. Nothing was ransacked that we could find. It was elberta, dougs wife, who called 911 in what sounded like a state of abject terror. Investigators found her hiding in an upstairs closet. They took her downtown. I want to see my husband. The detective was ready to sympathize, but something looked a little off. A little off. What did you make of her . Shes unique in some of her responses, threw up red flags, made me concerned about whether she was involved in this or not. Not. What kind of responses . She didnt care about the police investigation. All she cared about was her husband, praying over him, she was upset that the patrol officers wouldnt let her do that. P that. I want my husband theres nothing we can do for your husband right now. Well, i can hold him. P well, i can hold him. Him. P him. I could have prayed for then when the investigator asked what happened elberta told a story, and neither the telling or the story made any sense at all. R all. Coming up im worried whether she had a motive. Jealousy. P jealousy. Questions and suspicions. Burbridge had seen a thing or two during his time on the force, floods of phony tears. So he paid careful, experienced attention when elberta carlile told him what happened that sunday evening in the house on south hill. What happened tonight . We went to church. Then we went to a church function. Nothing, i dont know what happened, a nightmare. Thats what happened. And elbertas story, said detective burbridge just didnt add up. All of a sudden i hear its okay, its okay. Then i hear back off, back off, back off then when i heard the back off, i saw, i looked and saw a man standing there in all black. Her story was concerning about a masked man wearing all black, coming into the house and shooting her husband and leaving and leaving her alive. Made me worry that maybe she hired a hit man or maybe she was making up the story and she was involved in what happened. The thing was, the killer saw elberta. She came right out and said so. They stared at each other, soul to soul. So why would a hit man leave an eyewitness alive . Unless she was in on it. Im wondering whether she had a motive. Money, jealousy, boyfriend, girlfriend. Did she kill him herself . Did she hire somebody . Did she get one of the children to do it . These are all my concerns. Besides, says burbridge, hes seen many people caught by sudden violence and grief, and elberta was agitated, certainly, but to his practiced eye, her emotional reaction was somehow flat as if practiced. It bothered him. How long had you been home . It happened instantly. When we got home, it was like somebody ambushed him. The way she told her story about a masked man killing her husband of 42 years. It almost seemed like it was rehearsed or like she thought about this and what could i say . Rehearsed is a good word. It sounded that way to you . Yes, it did. But you dont have to take it from the detective. We were able to arrange an interview with elberta, too. My whole life was over as i knew it. Elberta said with she and her husband returned from church that evening they drove through the gate of their property as usual. Ill get the gate, you get the door. Did anything look unusual . No, it just didnt feel right. I got all the way to the top of the stairs and i started down the hall when i heard muffled voices. Headed right down the stairs, i got back to the bottom of the stairs and i called out to doug, doug, is somebody here . And i looked to my left. The man was standing right in front of the doorway. How far away from you . Ten feet at the most. Nine feet. And i looked at him. And it was a man. All in black. And he had a mask on. And he had a gun pointed where i knew my husband was standing. You couldnt see doug. I couldnt see doug. I only saw this man in black. He a mask on. Only thing i could see was his eyes. And he looked at me. He never moved the gun. And he blinked three times, and i thought, why is he blinking at me . Why is that guy in my House Holding a gun . I thought oh, my god, hes going to kill me. I tried to go up the stairs. My legs werent working and i started going up the hall when i heard multiple shots. Did you realize right away what must have happened . Oh, absolutely. I knew my husband must have been shot. So i thought i have to hide. She ran to a closet and shut the door and called 911. Stay on the line for me, okay . Oh, my god. Oh, god hurry. Im hiding in the closet. I want you to stay on the line. Do you remember what it felt like in there, what you felt like . Oh, sheer desperation. Just sheer desperation. And this overwhelming need to go to my husband. I wanted to go to him. I wanted to comfort him. Doug carlile, remember, was an excavator, not an oil man. But, of course a whole army of ambitious, hardworking men had established careers to grab a piece of the wealth by north dakotas oilfracking boom. Thus, were prairie towns on steroids and men bursting with pentup testosterone. The wild black gold rush around the bakken airfields had peaked. But investors looking for a big payday wouldnt have known that yet. And with eager cash, they chased a stake in what they hope were billions still in the ground. Apparently, doug carlile was one of them. According to family, he got turned onto oil by a friend who knew a guy. He told us about north dakota. Hey, its booming there. You should go check things out and see whats happening. First, doug partnered in a Trucking Company that served north dakotas many oil rigs. Black stone, started by the guy his friend introduced him to. Then opportunity knocked. One of those opportunities of a lifetime, ordained from above, according to doug. The whole thing kind of fell into his lap. And i think he felt like that was his calling from god to move forward in that lease. An oil lease that is. A lease that would give doug and any partners he could bring in, the exclusive right to drill for oil on 640 acres of land on the mha indian reservation. But that opportunity doesnt come cheap. So you had to raise some money. Yes, he had to raise 2 million. He tapped his Business Partners and kids. I put 100,000 in it. It wasnt for a return or anything. It was to help him with his dream to fulfill that. But the next step to fulfilling dougs dream was even more daunting. Finding investors to pay for drilling as many as eight wells on the property and that price was more steep, more than 100 million. But the potential payoff was immense. And doug firmly believed, gods will, a reward for his faith. We thought we were walking on water. This is a miracle. I remember him telling us were going to make millions of dollars, this is for the family. Were all going to be rich. He sat on the couch and said what would you do if you had all the money you could ever want . If we had this money, we would use it to serve the lord, to serve ministries, to serve people, our family. But now all those good intentions, all those dreams were gone. Now detectives slogged through the paperwork on doug carliles desk. Those documents in arabic turned out to be a scam a con man was trying to run on doug. But doug you could see had been making promises, too, to investors. Promises he couldnt keep and he must have known it. 100 return practically overnight . Impossible. Many of these were partners who had come in, and now he may have owed them a tremendous amount of money. Correct. They may have a reason to be pretty mad at him. And our suspect list kept growing. How many partners did that guy have anyway . About ten that we could find, there may be more. Detective burbridge began calling dougs partners and discovered most of them lived in or around washington. Anyone of them who could be considered a person of interest was hundreds or thousands of miles away from spokane the night he was murdered. I dont believe in coincidences like that. Coincidences that they were not there . Yes, sir. That they may have planned not to be there when something happened . Yes, sir. How did you know which one to target . I was running this investigation in about eight Different Directions trying to eliminate a lot of Business Partners, trying to see if he had a secret life. He had a lot of failed business dealings in his other businesses. So i had a lot of concerns. Angry exBusiness Partners . Angry current Business Partners . What, if anything did she have to do with it . Yeah. I mean, obviously, i didnt know at the time what he was doing. Coming up detectives learn about a charismatic couple kneedeep in dougs oil venture. They looked like ken and barbie, their perfectly white teeth and tans. Did they know anything about the murder . And then finally, investigators have someone to question. I researched his criminal history and knew he had a very significant criminal history. I was concerned, was he my hit man . Were going to Start Talking about some things honestly here. When dateline continues. And it helps prevent streaks and haze. Stop cleaning. Start swiffering i wanted more from my copd medicine thats why ive got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved oncedaily 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy the power of 1,2,3 trelegy 1,2,3 trelegy woman with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. 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All of us are raising funds for one goal a World Without alzheimers and all other dementia. Because this disease isnt waiting, neither are you. Take the first step on your walk right now. Go to alz dot org slash walk. Elberta carlile was inconsolable. Instantly, that night, that night, lost everything. Elbertas eldest daughter left her own family for a while to stay with her mom, try to keep her sane. She would wake up screaming every single night. And there was nothing i could do besides just hold her. It was horrible. The very thing the carliles hoped would create wealth, security, happiness had brought instead nothing but grief. But, remember, this, the evidence suggested, was a hit job. Somebody must have ordered dougs execution. So now the detectives try to figure out who. Did he have any disputes with anybody . Yes. Inevitable probably, when high stakes investors go after a prize, an oil lease, and doug had been promising potential investors returns that so far just hadnt materialized. Any number of partners might have felt theyd been taken for a ride. But who . And elberta who was no longer a suspect offered a possibility. Who did he have a dispute with . His name is James Henrikson. James henrikson. He was the plan who had gotten doug interested in the oil play in the first place. The man with his wife sarah were known as the barbie and ken of the oil patch. This guy worked for them. His name is rick airy. They stuck out like a couple of turds in a punch bowl. She was a barista. What was he like . He was calm, cool, collected, older man, goodlooking. He was fun. Wed always go out. We would go out. It was easy. I never thought id marry him or go to business with him. But thats what she did. They moved to the oil patch in 2011, got married in minot, north dakota, and by 2013, he was the charismatic face of a major trucking operation called blackstone, and she was the blond on his arm and the Senior Company official. Sarah signed the checks. Blackstone was the business doug first invested in, before he got interested in the oil lease. It was a big operation. 100 trucks hauling water to and from oil fracking sites. Very profitable. James let it be known that he was backed by a billion dollar trust fund. I was like, their guys a winner. A lot of money around. Were they making money . Yes, it sure seemed like it. And james was buff, all man. Its 20 degrees outside and hed be wearing a tee shirt. He wants you to see his guns. Hes showing them off. Theyre perfectly white teeth and tans. They looked like ken and barbie. They didnt fit in at all. Not a nickname sarah took to, mind you. No, i feel like i have somewhat of a brain, i dont want to be called just a barbie. Youre living in a town of men. 921. All jacked up on testosterone. Yeah, it was miserable. Every day was a plan on how to get out. With him . Yeah, we wanted to leave the oil field, but he just saw so much opportunity and money. He was like one day well get there. Doug carlile liked james and sarahs entrepreneurial style a lot. So when the chance to buy an oil lease came up they went in on it together. James kicked in 600,000. Doug only 40,000. They needed 2 million, remember. Yet, doug was saying hed be taking over. There were disputes, then, over control and money and accusations flew. The facts dougs son said. He basically said im concerned with what james is going to try to do. That was serious. And he said that if anything happens to me, you know, its James Henrikson. But, like the other partners, James Henrikson was far away when doug was killed, 700 miles away in wofford city, north dakota. Detectives pinged his phone and confirmed it. And then something happened that seemed straight out of some detective novel. Detective burbridge put out a plea for information from anybody whod done business with doug carlile, and what do you know . In walked a guy who could have just as easily been a murder suspect himself. Robert, thanks for coming down voluntarily. His name was robert delao. Sometimes a police informant. Hed served time on drug and weapons charges. I knew he had a very significant criminal history. I was concerned, was he my hit man or what was his involvement in this he knew doug carlile and James Henrikson. Why was he here . To tell the cops just in case they were wondering, that he didnt have anything to do with the murder. Did you drive somebody up there . No, no, no, i had nothing to do with it, nothing. But burbridge had seen a thing or two. He pushed. Were going to Start Talking about some things honestly. And im going to have a heart to heart with you. Okay. Thats fine, thats fine. People tell me you are the shooter. I say hell no. You know that night i was in wofford city, north dakota. You went after him pretty hard, accused him of murder . I did. How did he respond to that . He denied it and didnt even flinch. Did you think he was your guy . I did not think he was the guy. Why did you do that . Sometimes you do things, put them under pressure to see their reaction. And he did not flinch. The detectives asked delao to take a polygraph, and he did. Did he pass the test . Yes, he did. So curious, certainly, but a real lead . Or a dead end . Hard to know. So burbridge and his team of investigators kept working other leads. And christmas happened. Sort of. It was really a rough christmas. I look back on pictures. We had smiles on our faces but you werent really smiling. And my mom, it was so hard to watch her. She wanted to give the grandkids gifts but she was almost like a zombie. You cant not have christmas, you know, but nobody felt like it. But grief wasnt all the family was feeling. The debilitating fear took hold, too. Whoever killed their patriarch might not be done. We armed ourselves. I spent about 10,000 on a Security Camera system around the house. Went out and bought an attack dog, german shepherd. Meanwhile detectives hit the road and thats when they discovered something truly shocking. Doug carlile wasnt the only victim of the weird goings on around the oil patch. Coming up. For this investigator, a tantalizing tip at his finger tips. I clicked on it and a flyer came up that basically said beware of these two people. And then a potential suspect gives cops the crush off. He leaned over and slapped me on the shoulder and shut the door. When dateline continues. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. Frontline plus. You try to stay ahead of the but scrubbing still takes time. 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Yes, i kept them busy. One detective, his whole job was to try to identify that white van. Remember that white van the neighbors saw . Van was unique enough because it was an afterfactory extended van that they make for certain professions. Okay. And eventually once we were able to identify the make and model we had washington d. O. L. Provide with us all the vans registered in spokane county and there were 75 of them. Which possibly fit that description. Yes, sir. Of course every one of those vans had to be tracked down. And that welding glove, the one found outside a back gate, maybe the killer dropped it as he escaped or maybe it just happened to be there. They swabbed it for dna anyway. They scoured social media, the internet, looking for connections, looking for anything. And then one night after christmas, a couple weeks after the murder i was at my desk. I got a hit on whats called a Ripoff Report which id never heard of. But i clicked on it and a flyer came up that basically said beware of these two people. What do you know . The ken and barbie of north dakotas oil patch, squajames henricksen and his wife sarah creveling. It said theyre known frauds. Theyre running fraud scams in north dakota. Dont do any business. Of course as the detectives had figured out by now, rivalries, disputes, grievances were rife around that oil lease project in which doug and james and others were involved. The Ripoff Report was put out as a flyer in stores and businesses all around the oil patch. It was payback, apparently. By one particularly disgruntled former partner. But then not everybody was a boy scout. James, for example, had a criminal record going back to his teens. Anyway, when detective sesnick read the flyer, his eye landed on a very curious detail. One of jamess employees, a man named casey clark, had up and disappeared. I printed it off and handed it to mark and said hey, what do you think about this . What did you think about that . It was the first time wed every heard of that name. So who was casey clark . He was funny, wellmannered. Didnt take long to find out. K. C. Was an old friend of james henricksen. He moved to the oil patch specifically to work for henrikson at blackstone, jamess Trucking Company. Rick airy knew him well. So whatd you do . The two of you. Wed go up to the bar. Wed chase the girls. Wed dot normal things guys do during the boom, you know. Rick and k. C. Were field superintendents for the Trucking Company, which sarah was helping to run. How were you involved in the business . I worked directly with the accountant, make sure they got signed off so we could get paid, make sure payroll is turned in on time to the accountant. Sort of the middle man for the paperwork. But you were really kind of minor partner if i can put it that way. It was the james show. For sure. As much people as people saw me all the time. Time off was rare. And eventually rick airy and k. C. Made plans to work for a rival Trucking Company. He was extremely worried about james finding out about this whole transition. On february 22nd, 2012 k. C. Dropped briefly into blackstones headquarters. And then was gone. So, did he leave in a huff . Or was it Something Else . Because nobody ever saw him again. No sign of him at all. Hed been missing for about a year, almost two years at that point. Had henriksen ever been questioned about it . Hed been questioned. He took a polygraph with north dakota Law Enforcement. And had passed. Yes. Still, James Henriksen had to know should go about k. C. Clarke and Doug Carlisle. And so the two detectives got in the car and drove 700 miles to wolford city, north dakota. With the wind chill, i believe it was 60 below when we were there. Their destination, the home of James Henriksen and his sarah. We went to the side door. From there you can see the garage. And in the garage was like a twoyearold bentley, flat tires, kind of almost laying on its belly. A bentley . An almost new bentley . Yes. Obviously not taken care of at all. No. Sarah answered the door, very pleasant said the detectives, and went to get james. How did James Henriksen greet you . Did he tell you a story . Did he sit you down for a cup of tea . What . He leaned out the door, slapped my on the shoulder and said too bad you drove all that way, my attorney told me not to talk to you. And then he shut the door. And you got nothing. Got nothing. Got nothing except kind of a rude reception which might have told you something or not . Hes a big man. He was probably 510, 250 pounds of steroided rock muscle. He bragged he was benching over 500 pounds. And he looked like it. But i dont intimidate and grew werewolf fangs when he reached out and tried to belittle me. But nothing to do but suck it up and drive those 700 miles back home again, emptyhanded. Along the way detective sesnick got a blood clot. It nearly killed him. A month after Doug Carlisles murder they had suspects. Oh, yes. But nothing was coming together. Coming up finally, a clue. And its a big one. The very top of the paper is the word glove and then shell get away route on google earth, practice with pistol. What killer makes a todo list . Who does it point to . Jackpot. Jackpot. When dateline continues. Thats how a home and auto bundle is made. [ chuckles ] so, what are some Key Takeaways from this commercial . Did any of you hear the bundle your home and auto part . I like that, just not when it comes out of her mouth. Yeah, as a mother, i wouldnt want my kids to see that. Good mom. To see wait. Im sorry. What . Dont kids see enough violence as it is . Ive seen violence. Maybe we turn the word bundle into a character, like mr. Bundles. Top o the bundle to you. [ laughter ] bundle, bundle, bundle. My kids would love that. Yeah. Bundle, bundle, bundle. 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Com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Back from north dakota, suspicious but empty handed, detectives burbridge and sesnick got back to grunt work. Sesnick still recovering from a near fatal blood clot. I got order to go home i dont know how many times over the next couple of days. But obviously i wasnt going anywhere. And the case . Well, they knew they had something but what exactly . It was just one of those cases where we knew we were on the right track, but we also knew that there was a lot of work left. And for the carliles, a lot of grief. Elberta was a barely functioning mess. I didnt lose just my dad. I lost my mom, too. Because she wasnt the same person for a really long time. And adding insult, dougs secrets were exposed for the whole world to see. That big house on the south hill, heavily mortgaged. The fancy cars not paid for. The paperwork that claimed he was worth millions . A facade. Doug carlile was flat broke. Hadnt even bought life insurance. Do you ever feel angry at all at doug for not providing more like an insurance policy or something . No, not at all. Because he was a very good provider every day he was alive. And i really didnt believe in insurance policies like that. I believed in trusting the lord for our finances, and thats what we did. Secrets, just another casualty, as the little army of detectives searched the neighborhood for clues, like for example the strange find that turned up in the killers escape path. That weirdly out of place welding glove. They swabbed it for dna on the off chance really, just a shot in the dark, that something in or on that glove might match a known person, like a felon, say, whose dna would be stored in a data bank. And how about that . It did. What was the name . Timothy sukow. Had you ever heard the name before . Id never heard the name. Who was timothy sukow . Eye violent ridge. Been to prison for robbery. What did you think when you found this out . I thought this could be our guy. Was he local . He was local. He was working at irs environmental, an Asbestos Removal company. They dont drive around in white vans by any chance at irs, do they . I checked that list, and lo and behold irs environmental was one of the companies that owned a van matched in our video. Well, well, well, what were the chances . Timothy suckow must have been the muscular man in black seen on this video running for dear life toward the equally mysterious white van. They looked him up. He lived in the suburbs. A wife, kids, his house was ten miles from the murder scene. We had the s. W. A. T. Team waiting because we didnt want to take him at his house. Potential of firearms. But when suckow and another man left the house police moved in to make the arrest. Here a few hours later the police photographed suckows many tattoos. Mr. Suckow is a very hardened prison type individual, very large man, 275 pounds of solid muscle. Give us a few minutes. Weve got some paperwork to do. Tell you whats going on. Sure. When the interview began, detectives made no bones about it. They thought they had suckow dead to rights. Today is the day to help yourself out. I didnt come to you by accident. Okay . My killer left something up at the house, and your dna is all over it. No joke. The van at your work that you drive is on my video up there. Youre scaring me now. You should be scared. Youre looking at federal conspiracies to commit murder, fraud, life in prison. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. Yeah. Do i need a lawyer before we even do anything . Thats your choice. That would probably be smarter. Those are some serious accusations youre making. At this point, were probably beyond accusations. You are under arrest. And you can help yourself out. You can take me to jail. Well iron this out in court. Because youre im not kidding you about having your dna. Im not kidding you either, man. I have your dna up there, man. Lets go to [ bleep ] jail, take it to court. Timothy suckow was done talking. And he just looked me in the eye, laid his head down and went to sleep. Seriously . Seriously. Like a big emotional release to him that its finally over. After that the detectives rounded up some search warrants for suckows house and his car. In his car we found a very significant piece of evidence. What was that . A piece of notebook paper with a list of items to be done. At the very top of the paper is the word glove with a question mark. And theres statements about wheel man and wing man. Show getaway route on google earth, practice with pistol. Thats almost like a confession, right . On a notepad. What killer makes a todo list . It was a todo list on how to prepare to go do this murder. What did you think when you saw that . It was almost hollywood like. This was a month after the murder. And we arrest who we believe is our shooter and he has a todo kill list in his car. You cant make this stuff up. Suckow also had a storage unit. Where . A surveillance camera picked up a white van pulling up soon after the murder. Suckow had to be their shooter. Question was, who put him up to it . And why . Suckow wouldnt tell them. Refused to say a word. So then they got a search warrant for his phone. His contact list said james in nd. Jackpot. Jackpot. So that was the first time we had ever connected him with henriksen. James and sarah arrived to become the ken and barbie of the oil patch and before long one man is missing and another dead and the suspected hit man has james on speed dial. And as for sarah, there was a shock in store for her too. Emotionally difficult to deal with. Oh, absolutely. Its ruined my life. Coming up. Sarah becomes suspicious about her husband. Did you think at the time, i wonder if james had something to do with this . It seemed fishy to me. Then she gets a call from the sheriff. He said you need to come to my office right this second. When dateline continues. Hello. Im dara brown. Heres whats happening. Tropical storm isaias brought gusty winds and rain to florida on sunday, and the National Hurricane center says it could strengthen again as it heads up the east coast. The storm has taken aim at the carolinas and could make landfall there. The state of florida is also struggling to slow the death toll from coronavirus. The state recorded 62 new deaths from the virus on saturday, bringing the total to more than 7,000 covid19related fatalities. Now back to dateline. Sometimes the best detective is named luck. A dropped welding glove leads to a presumed tattooed hitman named Timothy Suckow, whose phone provides a direct connection to the man who may have ordered the murder of doug carli lechlt, James Henriksen in north dakota. Investigators were able to rule out all of doug carliles Business Partners in washington state. I thought we had a pretty good idea of what had actually been going on, but it turned out to be a lot more. A sentiment which, as the investigation turned rapidly back to north dakota, sarah creveling, aka mrs. James h henriksen, could have put in the same words but for more personal reasons. Best i remember is there was rumors of james having an affair. Its an old story, of course. Husband cheats on wife with a younger woman. Even younger than sarah, who was only in her 20s. What was it like to hear that he was cheating on you in the first place . It was hurtful, but it was so off the wall. I just didnt believe it. Like generations of wives before her, until the truth was impossible to avoid. What was that like to hear . Horrific. Especially when i found out with who. I just thought absolutely not. No way. Wouldnt believe it. Wouldnt believe it. She was like my little sister. This is her. The young woman in the unpleasant little triangle. But she wasnt just some other woman. This is peyton martin, daughter of tex hall, the chief of the mha nation on whose tribal land was the oil lease, the one james and doug carlile wanted so badly. Peyton was 19. You knew her. Mmhmm. Yeah. I had a vacation, family vacationed with her quite a bit. In fact, here they are in hawaii. James in the water. Sarah there on the paddleboard. And there on another board was peyton. I think i found a picture of and so i called her and asked her. And she said its none of my business, but if its my husbands then get over it. Mmhmm. Peyton denied saying that, by the way. But when the baby was born, a very healthy and happylooking little boy, james and peyton named him bentley, of all things. Bentley. Just like that expensive automobile james bought for sarah, then left in the garage with flattened tires. You cant make it up. Its weird. Its so strange. Bentley. Yeah. As you can see, he was the one who wanted the car and the name and the show. Chief tex hall, as you might imagine, was not pleased about any of that. He banished james from the reservation. But there was something neither tex nor sarah knew just then. Not just that the spokane cops were investigating sarahs wayward husband. Out on the north dakota prairie, another lawman had been poking around for more than a year. Homeland security agent derrick trudell had heard from a colleague about the missing casey clark and the Ripoff Report and other possible crimes. He told me the story, and it sounded unbelievable is what it did. Eric trudell was hooked. So by the time burbridge started showing up, trudell could tell him a thing or two about James Henriksen. How would you describe him . He comes across as just youre at a loss for words. You could say he comes across as a used car salesman but thats really not fair to used car salesmen. The guy is just hes a scumbag. By the time doug carlile was murdered trudell had really just by coincidence been on jamess trail for more than a year, looking into possible illegal drug imports and the mysterious disappearance of employee k. C. Clarke. It began to look like henriksen was behaving like some sort of latter day wild west outlaw. Hes a sociopath. Above all that the guys a coward. He didnt get his hands dirty in any of it. Trudell already suspected henriksen may have ordered someone to kill k. C. Clarke. Then doug carlile was murdered out in washington and trudell began working with detective burbridge. If Timothy Suckow was the hit man in spokane, did he kill k. C. Clarke too . Agents pulled records of all the cell phones being used around the time of k. C. s disappearance in north dakota. And . They checked mr. Suckows number at the time against the phone records they acquired bace records. Meaning sucko was in the area when k. C. Clarke disappeared. Sarah, meanwhile, her marriage falling apart, had begun to harbor suspicions about james and not just his cheating ways. It went back to the day james told her about doug carliles death. He just walked into the room and was like, dougs dead, straightfaced, nothing. It was the strangest thing ever. Did you think at the time, i wonder if james had something to do with this . You know, it seemed fishy to me. It did. But again, your lifes already crumbli crumbling. You dont want to think that your husband could be doing anything like that. Why didnt you get out of that marriage . I was scared of him. You know . Everyone wants the fairy tale. Everyone wants to be married with a good life with kids. And it kind of came crashing quickly. So finally, sarah started talking about divorce. I told him and hed be like, how are you going to feel if you divorce me and find out all this isnt true and the kids not mine . He was like youll be the horrible person and im going to destroy you. He was very threatening. Was he serious . A month after the murder of doug carlile, january 2014, sarah got a call from her local sheriff. He said you need to come to my office right this second. Coming up sarah gets some frightening news. Homeland security was waiting for me. And they were like, your husband is trying to have you killed today. What was that moment like for you . Doesnt seem real. Its like a movie. When dateline continues. brad apartmentsdotcom makes easier than ever. W home brokenhearted guy i thought you loved me. [brokenhearted guy sobs] apartmentsdotcom. The most popular place to find a place. Sarah creveling didnt know which way to turn. With investigators in two states closing in, her husband james had vanished. Their marriage was on life support, and shed just been summoned by her county sheriff. So i went into his office and Homeland Security was waiting for me. And they were like, sit down, we need to talk to you. And they said we just received in the last ten minutes that your husband is trying to have you killed today. Sarah on a hit list . Why . Sarah had a pretty good idea. They wanted all the money. And he knew i had it locked up with the divorce getting ready. So get her out of the way and well get all the assets. So they could run to brazil. But sarah marked for death . Yes, the sheriff told her, she was supposed to die that very day. What was that moment like for you . I cant even describe it. Doesnt seem real. Its like a movie. I sat there and spoke with them all day. And id asked, can i call someone . Like, i dont know what to do. They said nope. We have to take you into a safe home. Call no one . Mmmm. Not even your mom . No, no one. Because they were afraid james would harass my family and friends to find my location, because once he realized i wasnt responding to him he went into panic mode. He didnt know if i was working with the police, if i was dead, if i was on the run. The cops knew her husband was lurking somewhere out there. But they couldnt find him. He was harassing a lot of my friends and family, trying to see if theyd heard from me, which they hadnt. Now the cops were sarahs best hope to stay alive. They tried a ruse to throw james off the scent. They even drove me to the border in canada to make it look like i had jumped the border to see if james would chase me. He did not. But where was he . No one seemed to know. With sarah close enough so they could actually see her, investigators tried to track her husbands phone. Youre sitting in a Homeland Security office and listening to them ping him across the state. Hes on the run, hes on the move. I think a car backfired in the parking lot and all these agents pull their guns out and run to the windows, because they didnt know if james was in town. Its a surreal thing. Even if they found him, though, they couldnt charge him with murder or conspiracy. Didnt have enough evidence for that. But they did have something quite useful. A few days earlier, a search warrant in hand, state and federal agencies including Homeland Security agent trudell, descended on james and sarahs empty house while they were out of town. What did you find in the house . Found a lot of financial records. Found some firearms. Some firearms . Yeah. I cant remember the exact number. It doesnt matter if there was one there. He was a convicted felon, right . Correct. Grounds for immediate arrest. Agents fanned out around north dakota. And a few days later, in a little place called mandan, there he was. What was he doing . He was over at his girlfriends friends apartment. That is the apartment of a friend of peyton. The chiefs daughter. We had guys staked out around it, doing surveillance on it. As we drove by, i recognized him. And i knew that was him. On the street. Walking on the street. He was stopped. We hopped out, told him to turn around, show me his hands. James henriksen was surrounded by cops with guns drawn and pointed. So what happened then was very odd. He had his hands in his pockets. Kept telling him to show me his hands. He wouldnt show me both hands at the same time. He had this stupid smirk on his face. Like hes playing with you. Yeah. So eventually enoughs enough. We helped him to the ground, put handcuffs at him. Helped him to the ground . Hes just smiling up at me and asked me, you know, hey, how are you . He instantly went into like trying to charm us. Trying to pull a con on the cop. Yeah, like he was going to build rapport with me and relationship and we were going to be buddies . Bizarre though the arrest was, James Henriksen was at least in custody. But sarah, no choice they told her, had to stay in deep cover, hiding in a secret shelter, unable to call friends or even her parents just in case the hit was still a go. I had a bunch of friends call the sheriff and the police, and they were asking, they said we think hes had her killed. Will you drive around and look in ditches . Because no one was allowed to know. They wanted him to think that it had gone through to see what he would do. Cant imagine what it would be like for your family. It was hard for them. And james agreed very civilized, to talk to investigators, but what he did not do [ laughter ] [ bleep ]. You guys are 100 sure that you can protect me. Was tell them the real story of what hed been up to. It had to do with the cartel and the m. A. Thats it. You know what that is, right . Mexican mafia and drug cartel. He gave us, to me, it was a story. He talked about the cartels. The triad, all these organized crime groups that he implied having connections to. I dont know. Like you said, if i was to go through with it, but im not worried about it. You know what i mean. You can put all the charges you want on me. And like if i dont say anything, you know, i dont say anything. Like whatever, theyll kill me in prison or whatever. Did he think you were buying it . Oh, i think in his mind he thought we were buying it. But it was so outlandish, nobodys going to believe that. Trouble was, investigators in north dakota and spokane still didnt have enough solid evidence to tie James Henriksen to the murders of k. C. Clarke and doug carlile. For that theyd have to keep digging while henriksen waited in jail. That is, if they could keep him there when he had other ideas. Coming up preparing for the great escape. They knocked out that window, dropped some bed sheets to the ground, nine stories. Oh, my god. When dateline continues. door bell rings its open hey. This is amazing. With moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay . Even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts. So you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. For bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again James Henriksen was one of the stranger perps Homeland Security agent Derek Trudell had ever encountered and had an attitude. But as he discovered henriksen was also an inept criminal, rarely getting his schemes to work. Its almost like a tragic comedy when you see this group of people involved with this case. Like the time they put out a hit on another Business Partner but the hit man ran off with the money. The guy rips him off for 10,000 and as he said it was the easiest 10,000 he ever made. Gradually, agent truedell and spokane detectives burbridge and sesnick amassed circumstantial evidence to show henriksen for all his criminal fumbling did orchestrate two murders, k. C. Clarke and doug carlile. But it was not quite enough circumstantial evidence to take to trial. Till finally the break they needed. Timothy suckow, remember him . Admitted he killed both victims on orders from James Henriksen, and the middleman caved, too. Robert delao. The man who came snooping around a couple days after the carlile murder and passed a polygraph. Which might Say Something about polygraphs. Now deleo admitted he recruited suckow and transmitted henriksens orders and the money. So how did tim get paid for k. C. s murder . Do you know . It was cash. So in september 2014, nine months after his arrest on weapons charges, James Henriksen was flown from north dakota to spokane, washington and charged with multiple federal counts of conspiracy, solicitation, and murder for hire in the deaths of k. C. Clarke and doug carlile. And attempts on the lives of three more Business Partners. He was not charged, however, with trying to kill his wife, sarah, because said the prosecutors they went with the charges that were easiest to prove. So henriksen was toast. Unless . As he sat in the spokane jail awaiting trial, henriksen did his best to see that the trial would never happen. He tried to hire people to attack the marshal van that was transporting him between our jail and the u. S. Courtroom, shoot the driver, set fire to the van and break him out the back of it while the vans on fire. Good lord. He was still letting on that he had a lot of money. And in jail obviously it doesnt take too long to find people that will bite on that. Unfortunately, he found one that also needed help with his current charges, so he turned him in pretty quickly. Thus the plan was foiled. Yes. But henriksen wasnt done. He was in another cell with another person suspected of murder. Smt spokane county jail there are windows in each of the cells. They knocked out that window, dropped some tiedtogether bed sheets down to the ground. Nine stories. Oh, my god. Some people showing up for work saw the rope hanging out the window. Can you really see someone squeezing out a window that size . Theyre purposely designed so an adult human head cant get out the window. They could have charged him for escape attempts. They didnt. The prosecutor had bigger things to do. And finally, january 2016 James Henriksen encountered them. I was so mad i couldnt see straight. Doug carliles still grieving family. I had to close my eyes several times and actually say a prayer, god, calm me down. I wanted to put my hands on him for sure. And then youd be in trouble. It would be worth it. Federal prosecutors oni ahmed and scott jones were, however, not exactly confident about their case. Proving k. C. Clarkes murder was the toughest part that i was thinking of. We didnt have a body. We had no forensic evidence. So, to get a conviction, theyd need these two sketchy characters, who allegedly on orders from henriksen had done some truly awful things. If they didnt tell the story and make the jury believe it, henriksen would get away with murder. But if they did tell it . What sort of credibility would a person like that have . My concerns our most important witness is going to admit that he killed two people, literally beat k. C. Clarkes brains out. How do you handle that . You have to embrace it. Our number two witness has a tattoo on his back of him urinating on the headstone of the last guy that he killed. These are our two star witnesses. Still, tim suckow, the actual killer, was by far the more important witness. After all, suckow could tell the jury chapter and verse about the many twisted and homicidal plots set in motion by James Henriksen. So two nights before the trial was to begin, attorneys jones and ahmed went to see suckow, to prepare him for his testimony. And thats where it all went south. Suckow is bipolar. He was laying down on the floor of the prison cell in a fetal position. And so this is two days before our star witness is going to testify. And hes basically sucking his thumb on the floor of a jail cell. Were there at 10 00 at night, trying to make sure this guy gets his medication so he can effectively testify before a jury. Would James Henriksen, the desperado of the oil patch, go free . Coming up, the entire courtroom stunned. I had decided long before then that James Henriksen was crazy. I didnt know he was that kind of crazy. When dateline continues. They line up by the thousands. Each one suffering with a story that breaks your heart. 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But i was diagnosed with dupuytrens contracture. And it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. Thought surgery was my only option. Turns out i was wrong. So when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. Like you, my hands have a lot more to do. Learn more at factsonhand. Com today. It was no easy task, preparing tim suckow to testify at the trial of the man accused of paying him to kill two people. He was off his meds. He was a mess emotionally. So when the trial began in federal court, no cameras allowed, the prosecutors held their breath. And . Suckow, back on his meds, came through. And in court he repeated just what he said here in his pretrial interviews, that he met delao when they both worked for the company that owned the white van he drove the night he shot doug carlile. But the year before that job delao told him he could make money for roughing up some guy in north dakota. But then the boss, that is, James Henriksen, changed the plan. So when k. C. Showed up at jamess office before going on vacation, suckow was behind the door with a heavy truck jack. And i hit him in the back of the head. He stumbled and fell. He tried to get up. And i hit him about three or four more times. They ditched k. C. s truck in a nearby town, said suckow, and then they took k. C. s body to a lonely spot 20 miles out of town. He did the digging while henriksen stood nearby. Anyway, he said he got the 20,000 and he burned the bloody clothes. Investigators found buttons and other evidence of that burn pile. But though they took suckow to the prairie twice to look for the burial site, they never found k. C. Clarkes body. K. C. Clarke was simply killed for the reason that he just wanted to leave James Henriksens employment. He felt wrong. So he was going to kill him . It was almost like a jealousy cheating spouse kind of thing. And why according to the prosecutors did James Henriksen want doug carlile killed . He really felt that the oil deal they were involved with was worth tens of millions of dollars, and he thought that doug carlile was standing in the way of him getting most, the large share of those tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Carlile had already threatened mr. Henriksen that he was going to get him out of the oil drilling business. And that was the thing that triggered this whole business . Yeah, they were each trying to get each other out of the deal. At the trial, prosecutors introduced hundreds of text messages, an almost play by play account as the plan rolled out. You can watch a text message go from henriksen to delao and then the content is passed from delao to suckow and back the other way. Negotiations over payment, whos going to be there, an alarm system. So when doug carlile returned from church that evening in december, suckow was waiting. He brought a heavy welding glove in case he had to punch in a window. He didnt have to. And then somehow the welding glove got left behind. The glove that revealed suckows dna and broke the case. Without the glove we would probably be unsolved to this day. And what could have happened then . James henriksen according to prosecutors was a very dangerous man, was actively planning more murders. Eventually, they said, had suckow not lost his welding glove, henriksen might have become that worst of all criminals. A serial killer is someone who causes the death or murder of three people. And he certainly got an a for effort because he tried. There were about 11 people that we know of that he tried to have murdered. James henriksens Defense Attorneys declined our request for interview, but they blamed suckow and delao, not henriksen and eventually argued the jury should not believe such unsavory characters. Elberta carlile watched the trial play out day after day, same prayer on her lips. I prayed for justice for my husband. I prayed that the truth would come forward and that there would be a way to go on in life. Deliberations took less than a day. On all 11 counts, murder for hire, solicitation, conspiracy and more, the jury found James Henriksen guilty. We wanted to jump up and down and clap, you know, as a family, because our whole family was there. It was great. In the weeks that followed robert delao, the gobetween, was sentenced to 22 years in prison. When Timothy Suckow, the hit man, faced the judge . The only thing he ever asked for was that we do what we can to ensure that he was sent to a prison with appropriate Mental Health facilities so he could figure out what was wrong with him. Then in court he turned around and faced elberta. Said please forgive me. Im so sorry for what ive done. Did he seem genuine . He did. He said it in tears, and he said i cant forgive myself, but can you forgive me . And i i told home yes. I said, i forgive you. And god forgives you. 30 years for tim suckow. When it was James Henriksens turn, a ripple ran through the court. Would he, too, ask forgiveness, admit guilt . Apologize . Reveal the location of k. C. Clarkes body . Well, no. Not a chance. He read a short story that was very graphic about abortion. So much so that everybody in the courtroom was very uncomfortable with what he was saying. And i think he just did that to purposely upset people. I had decided long before then that James Henriksen was crazy. I didnt know he was that kind of crazy. Henriksen will leave prison only in a box, having received two consecutive life sentences. Hes chosen not to appeal. And here in the vast north dakota grasslands, k. C. Clarkes friends and family are still searching, vowing to stay with it until they find him. I just want to like, all right, james, you son of a bitch, were going to get him oufl, we dont need you. Were going to go bring him home and finally get some closure for everybody here. And elberta . Sometimes grief overwhelms me. You know, im just in a pile of tears. And ive not lived alone ever. Takes some figuring out. It takes figuring out. Sarah, thoroughly investigated, was held blameless, not involved in jamess violent conspiracies. Though in the community and among some in Law Enforcement suspicion lingers. In june of 2017 she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Sarah was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay over 340,000 in restitution. So as you look at all these events and you think, gosh, what sin did i commit to be in this spot, what would you say . I trusted a con artist. I trusted a sociopath. Since i married the monster some people think i should be one too. But im not. Wreckage. Lots of it. Once upon a time, in a flat and gracious land where tough men wrestle for oil, murderous ambition bubbled up with the crude and made a play as old as humankind. What was it all about, really . Why . Greed. Plain and simple. It just came down to greed. It was all about money. This sunday, the surging covid crisis. Ive never seen anything like this in my 30plus years in medicine. The u. S. Averaging roughly 65,000 new cases a day. This is really an apocalyptic time for us. 25 states in the socalled red zone. Amid the growing crisis, President Trump retweets discredited advice. You dont need mask. There is a cure. Its called hydroxychloroquine. This morning ill talk to admiral giroir of the task force and boston university. Plus, trailing in the polls. The president floats delaying the election blaming without evidence increased mailin voting. These elections will be fraudulent