Podbit · Dateline NBC
Keith Morrison returns to a case he first covered in 2013 — the murder of teen track star Mickey Costanzo in a tiny Nevada casino town. It has obsession, jealousy, a love triangle, and a jailhouse interview. Morrison calls it Shakespearean, and he's not wrong.
Where this was said
At 30:00 · chapter starts 28:30
Alex Laray and Andrea Canning close the Dateline Roundup with a major development in one of America's most iconic cold cases. Etan Patz disappeared from New York City in 1979 at just six years old — one of the first missing children to appear on milk cartons — and his case went unsolved for decades until Pedro Hernandez confessed. After a 2015 mistrial and a 2017 conviction, Hernandez's 25-years-to-life sentence seemed settled, until a federal appeals court overturned it on the grounds that the trial judge gave a prejudicial answer to a juror's question about his confession. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the appeals court had exceeded its authority in overturning the state court conviction. Hernandez, who has maintained his confession was made during a period of mental illness, will not receive a new trial [1] — Alex Laray "The Supreme Court reversed the federal appeals court that had overturned Pedro Hernandez's conviction for killing six-year-old Etan Patz. H…" 28:20 .
Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to the bus stop in New York City on May 25, 1979, becoming one of the first missing children to appear on milk cartons.
Pedro Hernandez was convicted of killing Etan Patz in 2017 after a 2015 mistrial and sentenced to 25 years to life — a sentence the Supreme Court has now upheld.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal appeals court exceeded its authority in overturning Pedro Hernandez's state conviction, reinstating his prison sentence.
A man used ChatGPT as a de facto lawyer, sharing self-incriminating details in his chats. When the transcripts were subpoenaed, the judge ruled no attorney-client privilege applied and admitted the chats as evidence against him. AI first passes are useful — treating AI as your counsel is dangerous.
CIA operative Edwin Wilson armed Muammar Gaddafi with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4 hidden in barrels of mud and flew them to Libya himself. He was sentenced to 52 years and served 12 in solitary. He was also a founder of the same arms network Oliver North contracted for the Contras.
Kim Dotcom's legal nightmare had nothing to do with copyright infringement. He donated to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange — and the US government charged him under RICO statutes, seeking 186 years in prison as payback.
More than a decade after his indictment, the US is still trying to extradite Kim Dotcom from New Zealand — even after he suffered a stroke. He cannot be convinced the authorities are on his side; only the legal process, run by his lawyers, keeps him free.
The illegal wildlife trade and the drug trade aren't just parallel industries — they actively overlap. Smugglers force-fed cocaine to boa constrictors to evade customs, packed drugs beneath layers of live animals in crates with spitting cobras on top, and exploited the chronic under-resourcing of US Fish and Wildlife inspection teams.
Mario Tabraue was sentenced to over 100 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. He served 12. Nobody — not even the DEA agent who put him there — knows why he got out. That agent, Larry Lovelace, now lives in rural West Virginia with a gun within reach every night, still expecting retaliation.
Anson Wong from Malaysia was the Pablo Escobar of the global reptile trade, supplying rare animals — including Komodo dragons — to buyers across the world. He was caught in a sting, extradited to the US, and served the longest wildlife crime sentence at the time. The animals seized from him went on to stock some of America's biggest zoos.
Zelig Williams landed a role in Hamilton at just 19 while still in college — a rare achievement in a world where most Broadway dreams die young. By 28 he was a veteran ready to mentor the next generation, until he disappeared without a trace on October 3, 2024.
Season 5 of Dateline: Missing in America brings six new unsolved mysteries. The show is explicitly asking listeners to engage — because a detail someone remembers might be the break investigators need.
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