Mark Stover’s body was still missing when the trial over his death began. Michiel Oakes said the body would prove his innocence, and that he would reveal everything when he took the stand. Get ad-free access to episodes of Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, the Heiress and the Bodyguard by subscribing to 48 Hours Plus on Apple Podcasts. The series is widely available everywhere else you get your podcasts. Subscribe to 48 Hours+: https://apple.co/4aEgENo To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the background and setting of the Mark Stover case?
This is Pershing Lake. Just over these trees over here is where the Updike residence is.
Chapter 2: How did law enforcement search for Mark Stover's body?
In June 2010, Chief Deputy Dave Rodriguez took me out on patrol in an Okanagan County Sheriff's fast boat on a lake just a few miles from Linda Updike's home outside Winthrop, Washington. Rodriguez had helped Linda Updike train a new attack dog, and later was one of the deputies who arrested Michael Oakes. Months had passed since Mark Stover was murdered, and still, his body had not been found.
Skagit County Sheriff's Office asked us to check any probable locations where the body may be dumped in water. We were so close to her home, this was on the list to check.
Michael Oakes had spent time near these waters, and Rodriguez wanted to check if he might have sunk Mark's body here. So how does this work?
Well, I don't know if you can see, but the lake is too big for two or three or four or even six divers to adequately search.
That's why they turned to sonar to scour the lake bed.
And we grid search across the lake, and then when we find something of interest on the sonar screen, then we put divers down on it.
And that diver will be you? Yes, today it's me. Then Deputy Rodriguez slowed the boat down toward a spot where he had detected some kind of an image. He put on the diver's suit.
You ready?
Ready. And jumped into the water. He swam below the boat, but no luck.
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Chapter 3: Who are the key players in the trial of Michael Oakes?
I'm Peter Van Sant. From 48 Hours, it's Trained to Kill, the dog trainer, the heiress, and the bodyguard. Episode six, time will tell. Michael Oakes has been accused of a murder of Mark Stover. What do you say? Prove it. That's John Henry Brown. He was Michael Oak's lead defense attorney. We spoke in 2010. So my defense is prove it. First, I have to prove there's a murder. Right?
Brown is a brilliant showman known for making arguments in court that could fit into the final scene of a primetime legal drama. We've got blood. Right. We've got shell casings. Correct. Got a dog that was shot. Correct. But we don't have a body. Correct.
And what does that add up to for you? A case of circumstantial evidence.
When it comes to representing accused killers, Brown has been around the block. He titled his memoir, The Devil's Defender, to highlight a career spent arguing on behalf of defendants he considered evil. His client list included one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, Ted Bundy, who said he had murdered 30 people.
Bundy once told me that he knew he was evil. Now, most sociopaths don't say that. Now, I don't see any of that in Michael at all.
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Chapter 4: What was the defense attorney John Henry Brown's argument?
Brown argued instead that Mark Stover represented the evil in this case, not his client.
I think somebody asked Michael recently whether he thought, Michael thought, Mark Stover was evil. And Michael said, no, not all parts of him, which I thought was a very gracious thing for Michael to say under the circumstances. But I think there were parts of Mark Stover that were very evil.
You know, when you start treating people as objects, which is what Stover did, particularly with Linda, then I think that crosses over.
In court, they planned to make the case that Michael shot Mark in self-defense. The trial started in September 2010, less than a year after Mark Stover was killed.
It did have an interesting cast of characters. Everybody appeared at first blush to be very, very good citizens.
That's Judge Mike Rickert.
The case became very sensationalized, much to my chagrin. That makes things more difficult for us as we're trying to ensure that both sides get a fair shake and that justice is actually done.
Judge Rickard said this turned out to be one of the stranger cases he had presided over.
The trial actually lasted four weeks. The investigation lasted for the year prior to that. And the twists and the turns in the plot and the details of this case just kept changing.
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Chapter 5: How did Michael Oakes describe the self-defense shooting incident?
Okay, what happens then?
I can't remember if I lunged and he shot. We tangled and I got shot.
Remember, Detective Dan Luvera said it was highly improbable that Michael could shoot Mark in self-defense immediately after being shot himself, even if he was wearing a bulletproof vest. So Brown asked Michael to reenact the shooting to show that it was possible.
Would you mind taking off your coat? I'm not sure how it works, so why don't you put this on the way you had it on, right?
Brown asked Michael to put on a Kevlar vest like the one he wore on October 28, 2009. Brown's co-counsel, Corbin Valles, stood in as Mark Stover. Mr. Valles is larger than Mr. Stover, as far as you know? He's taller. Valles held up his left hand and stuck out his pointer finger to act like he was aiming a gun at Michael.
So Mr. Valles is holding the gun out. He's fired at you. What do you do?
Michael lunged at Valles, grabbed his left arm, and tackled him to the ground.
I don't think we were expecting that.
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Chapter 6: What role did the Kevlar vest demonstration play in the trial?
The aggressive move startled the courtroom into a big laugh. Are you all right?
I'm fine. My finger wasn't loaded.
Michael took off the vest and then walked back to the witness stand.
Can I take this off?
That was amazingly fast, Mr. Oakes. Is that the way you did that?
That's how it was trained. Can I take this off?
Yes, please take that off.
I asked prosecutor Rich Weirich why a bullet hole in Michael Oakes' vest wasn't convincing to authorities. He explained the location of the bullet was suspicious.
It appeared to have gone in very close to exactly straight, exactly in the middle of the bulletproof vest. Which suggests what to you? Well, what it suggested to us is that it was done either before or after the event as somewhat of an alibi.
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Chapter 7: Why was the bullet hole in Michael Oakes’ vest considered suspicious?
Listen to Deep Cover, The Truth About Sarah, wherever you get your podcasts.
You somehow get Mr. Stover's body into the station wagon.
That's what I did then. I picked him up, which was very difficult, and carried him out to the back of the station wagon and laid him there. And I had that kitchen towel that I had grabbed, and I threw that in with him. Oh, before, when I picked him up and the gun fell down on the floor, I just put it in his vest pocket.
Chapter 8: What did Michael Oakes reveal about the disposal of Mark Stover's body?
Michael then testified he later drove to that Grange Hall parking lot nearby, where he struggled to transfer Mark's body.
I tried to move him to my car, but it was too heavy. And so I used the plastic that was in the back of the rig. His rig? Yes, in the back of the station wagon and slid underneath of him and was able to then slide him across to my car.
After meeting with his ex-wife, Jennifer Thompson, in Everett, Washington, he drove back to Anacortes to move Mark's now-empty station wagon.
And it was still just sitting there, and I was blown away. I thought for sure it would have been like some big crime scene investigation.
Michael said he then drove the station wagon about two miles to the nearby Swinomish Casino parking lot. Michael then walked back to his own car, where Mark's body was covered up in the back. You leave it there? Yep. Michael told the courtroom he then decided to dispose of the body because he didn't think investigators would believe his story.
I'm walking away from Mr. Stover's car. I see some kind of a boat in the water. just near there.
Michael said he then drove down to a dock at the far end of that casino's vast parking lot.
And I got my car as close to that as possible and muscled him out and dropped him in the water.
According to Michael, he then dropped Mark's body into the Swinomish Channel, which flows into the Padilla Bay near Anacortes.
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Chapter 9: What inconsistencies did the prosecution highlight in Michael Oakes’ testimony?
And on another occasion, you were able to just pick it up and toss it into the back of Mr. Stover's car.
Pick up and toss, I think would be your words, but yes, I was able to pick him up.
Why was it too heavy at the Summit Park Range?
Because it's a station wagon, I couldn't stand up. You have to lean over to lift something, and I can't do that.
Detectives searched the waters behind the casino with a submersible camera and found nothing. While court was in recess, I asked Michael if he was telling the truth. Police have searched that area. They have not found a gun. They have found no skeletal remains. Is that really where you dropped the body?
Absolutely, yes.
No matter where he may have disposed the body, I pressed him more. What do you say to those who suspect that you disposed of the body because you wanted to dispose of the evidence? That if people could see Mark Stover's body, maybe there's a bullet hole in the back of the head. Maybe they would have seen that he was shot in the back, not in the front. Maybe you were trying to cover up a murder.
Well, I understand that feeling. I really do. And I wish, I hope that the body is recovered because it will exactly corroborate my story 100%.
After he was cross-examined, Michael watched the woman he loved, the heiress, the person at the center of Mark Stover's rage, Linda Updike, raise her hand.
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