Detectives pursue multiple potential suspects, a key witness comes forward, and stunning secrets are revealed. This episode originally published on December 3, 2024.
Chapter 1: What is the Tehachapi Loop and why is it significant?
Every day they roll through Tehachapi, California by the dozens. Freight trains, some several miles long, are traveling what's called the Tehachapi Loop. It's a 19th century engineering marvel, one that enables heavy trains to cross the Tehachapi Mountains, climbing 77 feet in less than a mile. The loop is essentially a big helix, which attracts train buffs from around the world.
Chapter 2: Who was Rob Lamone and what happened on the day he died?
It also attracts train robbers or tweakers who prey upon any trains that might break down there. Keeping those tracks clear and the trains moving is the job of the rapid responders who work out of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe shop east of town. That was the job Rob Lamone was doing on the day he died in August 2014. Remember, this wasn't his normal gig.
Rob usually worked 90 miles away at the big train yard in Barstow. He just happened to be filling in that day, doing a favor for a friend. Had Rob been killed by a tweaker, someone who'd wandered into the train shop looking for something to steal, That's what Rob's friends thought.
We thought maybe it was some kind of railroad robbery.
BNSF put out a reward, you know, if anybody knew of anything. Silent witness, that type of thing.
The reward was for information leading to an arrest and conviction. A hundred grand. And wouldn't you know it, the tip line phones soon started ringing.
How many phone calls did you get? A lot. I would say in the 50s or more, there was a lot of phone calls.
This is the story of that hunt for a killer and of the twisted trail that led to a conspiracy to hide the truth. Truthful people usually don't get caught in those kind of traps. In this episode, you'll hear how the murder of Rob Lamone shined a bright light on high times in the high desert.
So many salacious details started coming out.
They made their choices. They're adults. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work out the way you'd hoped.
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Chapter 3: What theories emerged about Rob Lamone's murder?
and how the investigation revealed some stunning secrets that many were desperately trying to keep hidden.
That's what this story is about. It's peeling apart the layers, and you go deeper and deeper into Hellendale and Silver Lakes, and things are not as they appear. I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is Deadly Mirage, a podcast from Dateline.
Episode 2, The Man on the Motorcycle. It was late afternoon on the Friday before Labor Day. Detective Randall Meyer rocked back in his office chair, leafing through the Lamone murder file. Police reports, witness statements, tip line leads. Two weeks had gone by since Rob Lamone's murder, and as far as Meyer could see, it all added up to a nickel's worth of nothing.
He tossed the file back on the desk and stared at it, half hoping a solution would pop out of that pile of paper, like a fly ball to shallow right. Well, none did. So he reviewed it all again. The limping man seen on security camera video? Well, investigators found a man living nearby who matched that description. However, he had a solid alibi for the time of the shooting.
There was also a theory going around that Rob Lamone's killing might have been a case of mistaken identity because Rob had only been filling in that day. And on short notice at that, some wondered if a killer had come looking for somebody else.
That theory even seemed plausible when the guy Rob was covering for told investigators he'd had a run-in with someone in a bar the night before Rob was killed.
He told me that he and some fellow friends went to a local bar and got into a small argument with some of the patrons inside the bar. That's the voice of lead detective Randall Meyer. Argument about what? I believe he said he bumped into somebody and then it caused some confusion and that's where it occurred.
The bar's security camera seemed to confirm the railroad man's story. Except... All that unblinking eye saw that night was some alcohol-fueled jawing.
Did it get to the point of, you know, punches being thrown? No, he said quickly once the argument started, he then left the bar with his friends and they went home. On the face of it, it doesn't seem like a big a deal. No, it didn't seem to be a big deal at the time.
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Chapter 4: Who is the mysterious man on the motorcycle?
Except it was the night before Rob Lema was killed. Yes. One of the more promising leads in the file had come from the tip line. a gunsmith in Tehachapi called in to say the day after the murder, one of his regulars, a man named Mark, had brought him a .44 caliber Ruger to repair.
He said the gentleman, Mark, was having issues with the firearm and asked the gunsmith to change out the firing pin.
I'm no gun expert, but how often do people change out the firing pins in their guns?
Not very often. That was very suspicious to us.
Cops went to work tracking down that gun's owner. Turned out, Mark was an older guy who owned a business there in the industrial complex. He did not limp, and he did not own a motorcycle. At the time, all investigators knew about the murder weapon was that it had been a large caliber weapon.
Then the report came back from firearms analysis, and it turned out the slug pulled from Rob Lamone's brain was a .45, not a .44. meaning the Ruger with the new firing pin, was not the gun they were looking for.
It was not the gun that was used to kill Rob Lamone.
Disappointing?
It was disappointing at first. Back to the grind.
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Chapter 5: What was revealed about Sabrina Limon's personal life?
I had met the Bernatines at Sabrina Limon's house when I did my first interview with her in person. But that was just happenstance because they had to be there consoling her. Yes, it was just briefly.
At 36, Jason Bernatine looked like an Eagle Scout, clean cut and wide eyed, as wholesome as a tall glass of milk. After shaking hands and finding a quiet place to talk, Jason got straight to the point.
Jason told me that he knew of a prior affair.
A prior affair with Sabrina Lamal?
Yes.
Who had told you there were no problems in her marriage? Yes. According to Jason Bernatine, the affair started a couple of years earlier when Sabrina got involved with a firefighter Jason used to work with, a guy named Jonathan Hearn. Jason told Detective Meyer that he'd thought the affair had ended.
But then days earlier, he'd gotten some texts and an odd voicemail from Jonathan Hearn that made him think maybe he was wrong.
Jason actually told me that he wasn't going to say anything to law enforcement at all about it. However, with the text message and then another text message and a voicemail, he thought it was very suspicious.
Jason Bernatine played the message for Detective Meyer.
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Chapter 6: How did Jonathan Hearn become a suspect?
That's when Sabrina Limon got a part-time job handing out free food samples at the Costco in Victorville, a town about 15 miles south of Hellendale. It was there that she met a young fireman who was doing the shopping for his firehouse. Soon after, Sabrina mentioned meeting the fireman to Jason and his wife, Kelly.
Sabrina told us, like, hey, I met one of the guys you used to work with. That's Jason Bernatine. And I was like, oh, what's his name? She says, John. And I know a lot of Johns from the fire department, so I said, well, find out what department he works for next time you see him, and then maybe I can figure it out. So next time I saw her, she said that he worked for Redlands.
And I'm like, oh, it's got to be Jonathan Hearn. I mean, one of the smartest guys I've ever met. I said a lot of good things about him. How long did you work with him? He wasn't actually assigned to my station. So I would work what we call overtime. I would go work his station sometimes. I can't really recall.
And that was all there was to it. Or so it seemed at the time.
So it's Christmas 2012 at Brooke's house.
That year, the Silver Lakes Wolfpack celebrated Christmas and New Year's together. as they always did.
Happy New Year's.
Sabrina, wearing a black blouse and hot pink pants, lifted her wine glass and toasted the camera with a smile and an air smooch.
Happy New Year.
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