Josh Mankiewicz sits down with Blayne Alexander to discuss his Dateline episode "Deadly Mirage" about the 2014 murder of Rob Limon in Tehachapi, California. The subsequent investigation uncovered an affair in which the Bible was used to justify murder. Josh and Blayne discuss Rob, his wife, and their friends – the self-proclaimed “Wolf Pack” – and the unorthodox secrets of the desert oasis they called home. Josh tells Blayne how the confessed murderer pointed prosecutors to another key player in the scheme. Later, Josh shares an extra clip from the killer’s testimony at trial. Plus, he answers your questions from social media. Have a question for Talking Dateline? DM us on social @DatelineNBC or leave a voicemail at (212) 413-5252 — your question might be featured in a future episode. Listen to the full episode of “Deadly Mirage” on Apple: https://apple.co/3ZDbq1b Listen to the full episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4q5Ij8yfrvwUlUjY7pSVuz?si=27d10ee59bab4f11 Listen to Josh’s 6-part original podcast series on the case on Apple: https://apple.co/44RBkSr Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/65S0Rf8pYQwVJzAeWDEkry
Chapter 1: What is the episode 'Deadly Mirage' about?
Hi everyone, it's Blayne Alexander and I am so glad to be here today with Josh Mankiewicz to talk about his episode, Deadly Mirage. If you haven't seen it, it's the episode right below this one on your Dateline podcast feed. So make sure to go there, listen to it, or of course you can stream it on Peacock and then come right back here. So just a quick recap.
Chapter 2: Who were the key figures in Rob Limon's murder?
In 2014, when Rob Limone was found dead at the rail yard where he worked, investigators wondered if it was a burglary gone wrong until they learned more about Rob's open marriage and close-knit group of friends who called themselves the Wolfpack.
Chapter 3: What role did the 'Wolfpack' play in the story?
Detectives eventually zeroed in on Rob's wife, Sabrina, and her lover, a young firefighter by the name of Jonathan Hearn, and arrested them for Rob's murder. Hearn quickly confessed and agreed to testify against Sabrina in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. Sabrina denied everything but was convicted in 2017. She is currently serving a prison sentence of 25 years to life.
Chapter 4: How did the community of Silver Lakes influence the events?
Later on, we'll play you an extra clip from Jonathan's testimony at Sabrina's trial. But for now, Josh, let's talk Dateline. There's so much to talk about in this episode. I actually want to start with the location, Silver Lakes. You know, they called it the happiest place in the high desert, but that was actually the very first character that we kind of met in this story, right?
Chapter 5: Why did the defendants choose murder over divorce?
Before we knew anybody's names, we knew the name of this location. Had you ever been to Silver Lakes before this report?
Chapter 6: What was the significance of religion in this case?
I had. It is, you know, one of the interesting things about it is that like a lot of other things in California, it's completely artificial, right? It's this community that wouldn't exist if water were not brought in from somewhere else because it's the desert. But from that, there's this like little green oasis.
Chapter 7: How did the investigation unfold?
And, you know, it's this sort of happy, perfect community existing, you know, sort of in the middle of nowhere.
Chapter 8: What were the consequences for Sabrina and Jonathan?
I'm curious, if you pick this story up and plopped it in another city, like a larger city, Atlanta, New York, do you think that it would have had the same kind of ring? Do you think that this would have played out anywhere else but this community?
Well, I mean, it's a little like, you know, sort of Never Never Land. I mean, you know, you've got this group of young couples, call themselves the Wolfpack, their parents during the day and partiers during the night, you know, and they're
that might not be the same in other cities because you don't necessarily have people just like you at your age group with kids living right near you in the same area. But, you know, look, I mean, the things that happened here are things that happen all the time, all over America.
I guess people who thought of building this community out there into the desert sun thought that they would not ever happen there.
It's kind of a thread through this entire episode, people going out of their way to almost kind of create this facade of this perfect kind of place.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's right. I mean, look, there are desert communities out there that have been out there a very long time. But, like, more recently have been these other sort of, you know, perfect planned communities where the streets are, you know, have names like Strawberry Lane where the LeBrons lived. Right.
And I guess, you know, I guess the answer is that no matter how perfect you try to make the place where you are, real life issues are going to come in like infidelity and boredom and sometimes much worse than either of those.
So I really like this question that you asked, Jason, if Rob might have gotten involved with the wrong person or perhaps involved in a bad situation. And he says, yes, you never really know anyone, even in a picture perfect place like Silver Lakes.
I think that Jason and Kelly were an interesting part of this story. You know, they were clearly part of the Wolfpack and the sort of party atmosphere that surrounded that. And there's
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