Dateline NBC - Dateline Presents: Murder in the Moonlight

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

Hey Dateline fans! As a bonus, we’re giving you a special preview clip of our new podcast series, Murder in the Moonlight.  In this podcast, Keith Morrison takes listeners to a quiet farmhouse on America’s Great Plains, where Sharmon and Wayne Stock have just celebrated Easter with their big, loving family. That night, under a pale moon, the couple is shot to death in their bedroom. The investigation includes four suspects, spans three states, and comes down to a single shiny clue: A gold ring found at the scene of the crime. If you like what you hear, just search Murder in the Moonlight to listen to the first two episodes now, completely free. Or subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or DatelinePremium.com. Subscribers get early access to new episodes and can listen to all Dateline podcasts ad-free. 

Hi, I'm Keith Morrison from Dateline NBC. Here's a special preview of our new podcast, Murder in the Moonlight. It was late past midnight. The moon was nearly full and its pale ghost lights spread across the great, dark Nebraska plains. Not quite enough to see much of anything. The moon had no competition, not out here, so far from the polluting light of a city or town of any size. A few farm buildings caught in the muted glow through black moon shadows, and all around was silence almost.

It was a pickup truck by the sound of it, tires crunching over gravel, headlights poking at the night along the country road, as if the driver was looking for something. And there it was, rising out of the dark, a farmhouse. The pickup slowed down, turned in. The driver looked at his companion. This was the place. They gathered up their tools, got out, gently, gently shut the truck's doors and walked across the yard. It was a big two-story place, old, established. Even in the moonlight it showed off a little, like people cared about this house, about appearances. Was anyone home? Maybe, maybe not. No sign of life, no movement inside, no dog barked.

One of them made a decision. They would not enter through the front door as family would, but in quick order they found a window unlocked. So here it was, the way inside. No turning back now. This is a story about fear. I was sitting up in bed and I said, Andy, should I be shaking? And he said, that's normal. It's shock. The fight, flight or freeze kind of fear that grabs you by the throat.

So there was a real, genuine itch in your back that somebody was going to come after you. Come after me? Come after my family? And? It's a story about certainty. I'm going to do my best to hang your ass from the high street. Certainty. Right or wrong. I know what happened and no one will believe me. And it's about a secret hidden far, far away and all but forgotten. A secret that waited for the one who could find the golden key. I'm Keith Morrison and this is Dateline's newest podcast, Murder in the Moonlight. Thank you for listening. in the moonlight.