Peter Van Sant Revisits a True Crime Mystery in New Podcast, Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, the Heiress and the Bodyguard
Peter Van Sant has spent decades telling compelling stories through 48 Hours.
But when it comes to the mysterious murder of Mark Stover — a dog trainer with deep ties in his Washington community — he always knew there was more to tell.
Now, he’s returning to a case that never left him — one that still holds unanswered questions and emotional weight.
“I always look at the 48 Hours broadcast that I work for — when we do a story like this, that’s like the magazine article on it,” Van Sant said. “The podcast, that’s like the movie. And this story so deserves the movie version.”
The six-part series, titled Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, the Heiress and the Bodyguard, is based on a 2014 episode of 48 Hours that Van Sant produced.
The story centers on the disappearance and presumed murder of Stover, whose body was never found. His ex-wife, heiress Linda Updike, and her boyfriend, bodyguard Michael Oakes, were central to the case — and to Van Sant’s reporting.
“There are still unanswered questions within this investigation,” Van Sant said.
“There is still a website for Michael Oakes, the convicted killer in this, that claims he’s an innocent man, wrongly convicted. There are still questions about Linda Updike, the heiress in this story, Oakes’ girlfriend, about what did she know, what did she not know.”
“The lead detective in this case always believed that Linda knew more than she was saying. Linda, in the three interviews I did with her, is emphatic that she did not know more than what she had to say and that she was stunned by this killing and things.
“But there are all sorts of questions that we are able to deal with in this format and tell this fascinating story in detail that has never been presented.”
That access — particularly the early interviews with both Oakes and Updike — is what makes this project feel different.
“We actually got to Linda and Michael, by the way, and they agreed to interviews with me before they were interviewed by authorities, which was extraordinary,” he said.
“In fact, Oakes never spoke to authorities or Linda extensively until they testified at trial, and we’re able to play so much more of that in this podcast format.”
There’s a noticeable sense of satisfaction in Van Sant’s voice when he talks about the depth he can explore in the podcast format.
“I’ve always wanted to tell this in long form,” he said.
“Frankly, I just got a podcast that started last year. We did our first Blood is Thicker podcast that had six parts. And now Trained to Kill is my second podcast, six parts. And this is the story I wanted to tell next because there is so much people have not heard.”
That kind of access only works if the subject trusts the journalist. And trust is something Van Sant takes seriously — especially when it comes to telling stories that involve trauma and grief.
“All families have been touched by crime, or many have — mine have,” he said. “So I have a fascination in pursuing justice and learning about these cases.”
“I want to relate to these victims of crime. I want to hear their stories. I honestly want to hear their stories. I don’t want to take advantage of them.
“I want them to share their life experience that others can learn from and also create for them at the end of the day, a story that they will be proud of for having taken part — be able to show their family, to have a little piece of history of what occurred in their family — a tragedy that occurred in their family where hopefully justice at the end of the day was achieved.”
He also doesn’t sugarcoat his perspective on the media’s role in shaping these stories.
“I look out there at the news media business, and, as you know, there’s an incredible spectrum,” he said. “I compare it to the film industry at times — there’s sort of pornographers in our business and there’s Steven Spielbergs in our business.”
That same blunt honesty informs his approach to interviewing suspects and family members alike.
“I’ll be asking you direct questions during the course of this. Sometimes they may be — you might think of them as tough — never insulting but tough, because questions must be answered,” he explained.
“Those challenging questions will be divvied out to all sides in this — from the investigators to the perpetrator to the victims.”
Still, when it comes to victims and their families, the tone shifts. “There aren’t a lot of tough questions with victims, though, I must say. It’s more from the heart — connecting with them and wanting them to tell their story.”
Stover’s story continues to raise questions, especially when it comes to the missing body.
“That body likely has evidence. Perhaps it has a bullet hole in the back of the skull that then fights the story that was told in court by the suspect in a dramatic way,” Van Sant said. “Those are the pieces I’d still like to try to solve in this. Stover’s remains are out there somewhere.”
He suspects the body was never put where authorities were led to search. “They took a mini sub in there, a remote-controlled sub, divers,” he said. “I know that area very well, this slough that empties out into this bay… no way a body was put there.”
Van Sant believes the real disposal site was far more remote. “You drive from Anacortes, Washington, to eastern Washington — you go over a mountain pass, and there are hundreds of logging roads and things. Finding that would be almost impossible.”
So, how do you keep a listener engaged across six episodes without visuals or the constraints of a 42-minute runtime? Van Sant relies on structure — and trust in the story itself.
“The most important thing when I do these interviews with people… you never start that interview by saying, the night of the crime, we know you were here,” he explained. “It’s the backstory that people want to learn. They want to get inside these people’s heads and things.”
That backstory, he said, is what separates this podcast from other retellings. “Luxuriate. Get in the hot tub and give a listen to this because the details — you cannot make this stuff up.”
Looking ahead, Van Sant said he’s already thinking about what stories he might adapt next.
“I’ve done some fascinating murder mysteries that will really fit into this,” he said. “One hasn’t aired yet that’s coming up that we were already talking about being able to turn… into a podcast because they have, again, such rich material.”
For now, though, he’s proud to be offering a long-form look at a case that never let him go — one that still holds more questions than answers. “It is journalistically liberating to have this much time,” he said. “We finished the project, and it’s the dream.”
“All of us, when we were in college, what do we want to do in the news business? Documentaries. We all dreamed of that… I’m getting to do these long-form presentations that are so satisfying and fascinating.”
Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, the Heiress and the Bodyguard and other 48 Hours podcasts are available wherever you get your podcasts.
You can watch the full interview with Peter Van Sant below.
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