keith morrison: mark stover was a bit like one of his well trained dogs. he was a creature of habit. always on time, never missed an appointment, in bed early, up with the sun. and every wednesday, mark hit the road for the hour and a half drive south to seattle for sessions with his loyal clients. a schedule which employs amber. we used to always joke that he was up, he beat the rooster out of bed. keith morrison: and beth. he was usually on the road by seven. keith morrison: and stephanie. he had his breakfast. beat seattle traffic. keith morrison: knew very well. but on the morning of wednesday, october 28, 2009, nothing was routine, nothing at all. first stephanie, whose own house is right next door to the kennels, woke up to a chorus of barking dogs. it was, she thinks, about 6:00 am. and the kennel dogs were very, very upset. it was a huge ruckus next door. keith morrison: occasionally that sort of thing
and she was obviously hurt. she was growling. and so i started talking to her nicely, thinking oh my god, what is she doing here and what s gone on? and i backed down the driveway. keith morrison: at about the same time, the phone rang in the kennel. it was mark s fiance, teresa. when they told me ding was out, there was blood, ding is never out, ever. she s either in the house or she s with mark. she s not just out barking at people. keith morrison: no mark, injured dog. teresa frantic now, called the skagit county sheriff s department. all of those circumstances were very suspicious. keith morrison: this is detective dan luvera. oh, i immediately thought foul play. this is huge. there s more to the story, and there definitely was. keith morrison: coming up, more to the story? yes, there apparently was, starting with a secret history.
it started seeming odd. but then the next day when i hadn t heard from him by 9:00 o clock, i got one of the employees on the phone and i said, what is going on there? where s mark? and so they told me, you know, we haven t seen mark. we didn t see him all day yesterday. and i knew in my heart something terrible had happened. keith morrison: but what? well, there s the puzzle. does anybody know, even now? coming up, strange goings on at mark stover s place. the dogs are restless. the kennel dogs were very, very upset. it was a huge ruckus next door. keith morrison: the neighbors are about to find out why. before i even got to the door, there was this immense smell of bleach. keith morrison: bleach? and inside the house. there was three wet, what looked like blood spots. keith morrison: when dateline continues. [music playing]
keith morrison: mark stover was a bit like one of his well trained dogs. he was a creature of habit. always on time, never missed an appointment, in bed early, up with the sun. and every wednesday, mark hit the road for the hour and a half drive south to seattle for sessions with his loyal clients. a schedule which employs amber. we used to always joke that he was up, he beat the rooster out of bed. keith morrison: and beth. he was usually on the road by seven. keith morrison: and stephanie. he had his breakfast. beat seattle traffic. keith morrison: knew very well. but on the morning of wednesday, october 28, 2009, nothing was routine, nothing at all. first stephanie, whose own house is right next door to the kennels, woke up to a chorus of barking dogs. it was, she thinks, about 6:00 am. and the kennel dogs were very, very upset. it was a huge ruckus next door.
keith morrison: mark stover was a bit like one of his well trained dogs. he was a creature of habit. mark stover was a bit like one of his well-trained dogs. he was a creature of habit. always on time. never missed an appointment. in bed early. up with the sun. and every wednesday mark hit the road for the hour-and-a-half drive south to seattle for sessions with his loyal clients, a schedule which employees amber we used to always joke that he was up, he beat the rooster out of bed. reporter: and beth he was usually on the road by 7:00. reporter: and stephanie he had his breakfast and beat seattle traffic. reporter: knew very well. but on the morning of wednesday, october 28th, 2009, nothing was routine, nothing at all. first, stephanie, whose own house is right next door to the kennels, woke up to a chorus of barking dogs. it was, she thinks, about 6:00 a.m. and the kennel dogs were very, very upset.