A West Virginia pharmacist is left widowed after her husband suddenly dies, and troubling details emerge regarding the couple’s business venture. Andrea Canning reports.Blayne Alexander and Andrea Canning go behind the scenes of the making of this episode in ‘Talking Dateline’ Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/4lTe9x5Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3rnxFLE6aJsvBrSrtvwh8e
Chapter 1: Who were Natalie and Michael Cochran?
Beckley, West Virginia. A quiet city tucked into the foothills of Appalachia. The kind of place where neighbors become family and trust runs deep.
We've got so many good people here in this community.
Weekends meant barbecues and Little League games. At the center of it all, a beautiful couple, Natalie and Michael Cochran.
On the outside looking in, they looked like a storybook relationship.
Children, friends, success. A life that seemed perfect. But beneath it all, a secret. One so cold-blooded it would leave them all reeling. Your reaction when you learn it was all smoke and mirrors.
It took all the breath out of me. I just sank.
It was absolutely crushing.
I was lucky to have him.
He's a good guy. Good friend.
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Chapter 2: What led to Michael Cochran's sudden illness and hospitalization?
We invested $511,000. That's a lot of money. Yes.
Chris wasn't the only one of their friends who put money into the company. John and Stephanie had as well. Their son had recently become sick and they were facing mounting medical bills. So she's saying, I can ease your load for you and you can focus more on your son.
Yes, and you can make a lot of money and you can be home with him.
Natalie's parents and Michael's came on board too. How much money are we talking about? Almost a quarter of a million dollars. Was that your retirement, your life savings? It was our retirement savings.
We trusted Natalie, and we loved her, and so why not?
Knowing that so many family and friends of the Cochrans and people you knew were involved in this investment, did that kind of make it just even easier to say yes?
It did. It made it feel a lot more secure. because it was family. Family and friends around here blends a lot. So, you know, it was very comfortable. It wasn't a business transaction.
Now, a month after Michael's death, detectives were secretly checking out complaints against the business. With Michael gone, they could only question Natalie.
She was still running that business. We didn't want to take the chance of her destroying records.
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