keith morrison: then, not long after, stephanie arrived and noticed perhaps 100 yards from where she stood down in the field, mark s station wagon was backed up to the carport area of his house. i was kind of surprised that it was parked where it was parked, because it was never parked there. it s really hard to get it into that position to begin with. keith morrison: anyway, why hadn t he left for seattle? it was then she noticed, must be mark up at the house. someone who had mark s hat on, which i thought was mark, was bringing something big into the back of the car. keith morrison: big, big, big? it looked like to me. so i was thinking he was carrying ding and putting her in the back of the car. keith morrison: ding, who remember was recovering from surgery. and then he went to get into his car. he was wearing mark s hat, mark s coat. and closed the car door and then proceeded to like scream down the driveway, which
keith morrison: so there was one defendant in the murder of mark s stover, michael oakes. but he certainly didn t look the part of a hired killer. all five foot six of him, soft spoken understated, articulate, father of four, grandfather of one. john henry browne: yeah, he s not your hollywood casting for a hit man. keith morrison: but cast as defense attorney, seattle s colorful and irrepressible john henry browne. john henry browne: he s a really kind, compassionate, loving guy. keith morrison: but early legal skirmishing seems sometimes to merely add confusion. was it murder? oakes a hired gun? or was it something else altogether? and besides that, how intimate was oakes relationship with mark stover s ex-wife linda? and who was paying for his famous defense attorney? john henry browne: if the opdykes are behind this [interposing voices] john henry browne: if the opdykes are behind this, and you know, they hired me, i ll tell you,
giving them treats or clicker training or something like that. he spoke to the animals. keith morrison: with talents that amazed his loyal clients, starbucks chairman, howard schultz, pearl jam s eddie vedder, major league outfielder ichiro suzuki, brought him their dogs. you know, one of these phrases was we train everybody in seattle from nordstrom to nirvana, but he was much more than a dog trainer to the stars. are you ready? ok. keith morrison: a longtime employee. come on, samson. he trained everyone, you know. it didn t matter to him who they were. it was about the person and the dog and the relationship between the person and the dog, not who they were. stormy come. keith morrison: this woman liked him so much as a client, she went to work for him. he would connect with you. he d find something that he could talk to you about and then he d help you train your dog. keith morrison: and the setting for mark s dog whispering business, incomparable.
keith morrison: back when it started, the lovebirds should have known probably that it was too good to be true or too good to last anyway. after all, he seemed something of a self-made mutt. and she, the purebred heiress type. the golden haired daughter of a wealthy alpha male. whatever. by the time they promised their eternal love, the clock to its end, was ticking. inaudible to them, of course, like a whistle only a dog can hear. which come to think of it, begs the question, how did he of all people miss it? his name was mark stover and he discovered quite early that he had some special eerily mystical connection with dogs. when he talked to them, they listened. he was born with a gift. keith morrison: stover had become known as seattle s dog whisperer. i mean, it s not as simple as just
but for mark, he had dozens of guns. he loved his guns. it was a passion for him. he loved his hunting. keith morrison: no, guns no contact with linda. and mark agreed. here s what teresa says mark told her. this will make it all stop. keith morrison: in other words, he was telling you, i m going to let her win. he said that was important. that she needed to win. keith morrison: was he afraid of her? oh, yes. keith morrison: still, after that, things seemed to settle down. mark s business thrived in his new location here in anacortes. he continued to service his clients in seattle. and of course, by then he had found teresa. but then, in the summer of 2009, two strange 911 calls came into the skagit county sheriff s office. an anonymous male caller claimed mark stover was transporting drugs in his car. anonymous caller: there is a crime that s going to take place in the morning.