Dateline NBC - Family Secrets

Episode Date: December 20, 2019

In this Dateline classic, a father and his sons have a dream to build an extreme sports theme park. But reality hits when the dad is found dead on the floor of their Skim-X warehouse. Keith Morrison reports. Originally aired on NBC on September 16, 2016.

It was screaming that shots had been fired. Crying, screaming. I went into a panic. It just froze. It was going to be the next big thing. Feels like skiing powder. Yes! But he wouldn't live to see it.

This is where it gets rough. The body was laying on the ground. This was a whodunit from the very beginning. He said, I will make sure you cannot feed your wife and your baby. It could have been a disgruntled ex-employee. It could have been a disgruntled investor. There were a lot of people who didn't like the victim. But someone knew the truth.

You were pretty sure he did this. Absolutely. And the killer had a proposal. How could you get back with him and, like, marry him? Um. It's called The Secret. It's an international bestseller, which claims to be based on hidden ancient texts.

But as we all know, there are other kinds of secrets that lead to a far darker place. His dad's helping John, and he said he heard gunshots. Let me put you through that thing. In Northern California, not far from the famous Folsom Prison, there's a town called Roseville, home to a true believer in the secret. His name? Chris Northam. Forty-something, divorced, a father who had just guided two sons to adulthood. This is the younger one, Cody. He was an extremely supportive father. We've always been extremely close.

I always knew that my family is the closest family I've ever known. This is Cody's big brother, Chris Northam Jr., who brought to the family her. So we all just kind of became this group. We all just kind of meshed together really well. Averill easily fell for Chris Jr. right away. He enjoyed the things that I enjoyed, which was action sports and being outdoors.

You must have been a damn good looking couple. Yeah. And that felt good too. It was fabulous. We could be anywhere and people would strike up conversations with us. And all three of them, Averill and the boys, were enthralled with that champion of the secret, Chris Northam Sr. Full of energy. He was so charismatic. My dad, he was extremely innovative. He was just constantly brainstorming about new ideas. And when Chris Sr. saw his boys compete in an event called the Sacramento Skimfest, his biggest new idea was born.

He could make a business of this. Extreme water parks for skim boards. He called his new company SkimX. This is one of their marketing videos showcasing an early demonstration model, starring, not surprisingly, Cody and Chris Jr. And Chris Sr., that's him to the lower right of your screen sharing a moment with a competitive skier invited to

try out the system. That feels great. It feels like skiing powder. Yes, yes! He just thought of the way to flow water over ramps, and he patented it. What's that like? It's fun, it's different.

It had all the potential in the world. Chris Sr. had big plans to expand SkimmX into a theme park, club scene, mashup, a place for millennials. He wanted live music. He wanted the light show. He wanted concerts there. He wanted to make it a resort, a lifestyle and entertainment company. So he'd be very enthusiastic about these ideas, huh? Oh, he was passionate about it. He could make them happen.

He knew a way to get your emotions involved in how great his idea was. Oh my God, that is so sick. He was very knowledgeable book-wise. Always read inspirational books. The Secret. He made every employee read it. Really? Mm-hmm.

That was their prerequisite to working there. Chris Sr. believed the secret would lead him to the gilded gates of success. But turning empty warehouses like the one at Roseville into a skimmix resort empire would require cash and lots of it. How do you raise the money for this? This couldn't have been cheap. No, of course it would be a pretty penny, but he had a lot of connections, and he just found a way to do it. Friends, neighbors, even a couple of South African investors wanted in. Some people he knew all his life, others not so well.

But what they all had in common was their belief that Chris Northam Sr. knew the secret to making them rich. And yet, something was wrong, said Averill. Had to be. Though the men kept quiet about it. But a year after Skimmix was launched, she said she overheard part of a phone call, father to son, and got a bad feeling. I couldn't hear the talking. All I could hear was crying. Christopher was crying? Christopher was crying. But could you tell what he was crying about?

I couldn't understand. And I was asking, is your dad okay? You know, kind of whispering it. He just said, yeah, he's having problems with, I guess he received an email from one of the investors wanting bank statements. Because the investor believed... The money was not being allocated the right way, I guess.

So what did Chris say about that? He just kept saying, yes, Dad, okay, Dad, I'll get the bank statements. We'll be fine. Everything's going to be fine. Calming him down. Calming him down. Remember what we said about secrets? Some of them hide in the dark.

Who's the one who heard gunshots? You or him? Gunshots and questions about missing money. Was Chris Sr. keeping secrets of his own? Gunshots and questions about missing money. Was Chris Sr. keeping secrets of his own? SWAT teams, police in caution tape, a helicopter. It looked like a war zone. Memorial Day 2011 was no day off for Chris Northam Jr. He was up before daybreak, said Avril, told her he was going to the office

to help his dad with some worried investors. It was really early. It was still dark. I think he had printed the bank statements out and was going to take them to his dad. And a couple of hours later... I got a phone call from him saying that they had just left Mimi's Cafe, and that they were heading back to the office. But that he had to run, because they were still working, but that he would be home soon.

It was a holiday, remember. And on top of that, Averill and Chris, now engaged, were supposed to spend the day doing a final walkthrough of their wedding venue. So by mid-afternoon... I was mad, because it was supposed to be the one day that he gets off, which was very, very rare. And kind of important to you. It was very important. And then, the phone rang.

And this is where it gets rough. Chris was screaming on the phone. Crying, screaming. And I just couldn't understand a word he was saying. I just kept saying, calm. You're screaming at me. What's going on? I can't hear you.

But I got from it that shots had been fired. What she pieced together through Junior's panic was he had dropped his dad off at the Skim X building and was driving home when his dad called him, said he was worried, said someone had broken into the building. Next thing Junior heard was gunshots. I immediately said

oh my god i'm calling 9-1-1 and i hung up who's the one who heard gunshots you were him okay as he was driving away he heard the gunshot chris said he was too afraid to go back to the skimx building alone so avril agreed to meet him part way and she was still on the phone with 9-1-1 when they rendezvoused a few minutes later honey i need you to call him down i have 911 on the phone does he think something happened did he shoot himself do you know do you think your dad did it and think someone else did oh no he doesn't know he's never brought it broken to the building he said someone It was horrible. And he said to me, call my dad. Try to call my dad.

Okay. So I called his dad twice, and they went to voicemail. And Chris kind of collapsed in front of the car, or on the side of the road. Mm-hmm. And he was kind of dry heaving. A few minutes later, a patrol officer

met them at the roadside, then escorted them back to the Skim X office. And when I pulled up, it looked like a war zone. It was like a movie. SWAT teams suiting up, police in caution tape and a helicopter. And I saw an ambulance drive away without their lights on. And.

Averill turned to the cop. without their lights on. And... Averill turned to the cop. And I asked him if he was dead, and he says, you know, I can't tell you, but I'm sure you could figure it out. And I just, I just froze. Police found Chris Sr. on the floor of the Skim X shop.

He'd been shot twice. He had one round that had gone through the left cheek. Then Detective Kurt Leatherman had a look around, and this was weird. The body was laying on the ground. Keys were next to it, and absolutely no other evidence anywhere. Really? No shell casings, no weapons, no footprints, just a body. It was more like a sniper got him.

At that point, we had no idea. Meanwhile, Averill and Chris Jr. went to the Roseville Police Department. The whole family was there. Chris's whole family. They must have been beside themselves. Everyone was just, um, it was chaos. Months later, Chris Jr.'s little brother Cody still had a hard time talking about that day. It's got to be the toughest part, losing him.

There's a lot of tough parts. I'll never know anyone or meet anyone like him. Very first prototype, so imagine what we're going to be able to do with him. So who wanted him dead, and why? I mean, obviously, when something like this happens, we have to eliminate people basically because... Everyone in the family was

questioned. Did you pick up your boyfriend from his truck? Yes. Okay. So was every employee at Skim X. They quit. Oh, Joey got fired. Averill and Chris Jr. told police that in the days just before the murder, Chris Jr. got an ugly text

from a former employee who had recently been canned. Some of the text did. My dad, he's messing with the wrong person. The other part of the text was, I know people. What did you think? I was blown away. Who fired those shots? Disgruntled employee? Angry investor?

Or maybe the woman police learned about, the married woman Chris Sr. had been seeing. There are a whole list of potential suspects. This was a whodunit from the very beginning. So, who did it? Whatever was on his mind, he would tell you. There were some people who maybe had a little trouble with that, you think? Yeah, I think a lot of people.

Very first prototype, so imagine what we're going to be able to do with it. Chris Northam Sr. was a can of Red Bull made live. The man who had the power to bend investors to his will. And if some people didn't like what he said, tough. Whatever was on his mind, he would tell you. There were some people who maybe had a little trouble with that, you think? Yeah, I think a lot of people. Did he make some enemies? You know, of course we all have enemies, but...

When it came to enemies, Chris Sr. seemed to have more than most. There were a lot of people who didn't like the victim. Prosecutor David Tellman could see right away this wasn't going to be quick or easy. This was a whodunit from the very beginning. It could have been a disgruntled ex-employee. It could have been a disgruntled investor. It could have been a break-in in progress that was interrupted by the victim. And then Detective Leatherman began hearing that before Chris Sr. became a secret-inspired businessman,

he may have been something very, very different. I don't know if he ever specifically told people he was a SEAL, but he would always imply it. And he'd imply that he was in Blackwater, goes overseas for missions. And sure enough, police found a Navy SEAL manual on his bedroom floor and heard story after story about Chris Sr.'s obsession with security. He even kept an AR-15 type assault rifle. He would actually do training exercises in front of other employees with Jr.

like they're holding rifles and how they would clear a building and stuff along that line. So, was this secret to his death buried in a top-secret military past? Or maybe Chris Sr. was murdered over money. The QuickBooks said the business had $545,000 in the accounts, and actually had less than $40,000. Which could only mean that somebody covered up the sudden disappearance of more than half a million dollars. What was going on at Skim X? We did some sleuthing and discovered that whatever Chris senior had in confidence he lacked in competence. He lost his house to foreclosure. He had had to declare personal bankruptcy.

He owed money, all over, 80,000 in liens and mortgages. The day he was murdered, he was worth absolutely nothing. He rented the little house he lived in in this neighborhood, but didn't even have furniture. He slept on a mattress on the floor. But Chris Sr. worked hard to prevent investors from hearing about those secrets. He was a pretty good salesman because he was able to sell this vision of a company that seems a bit preposterous to people. Where did Chris Sr. get his money for Skimex? Chris Sr.

got a large sum of money from South African investors. He must have been a good salesman, huh? He must have been because they invested with not even seeing on site the project. They just believed in Chris Sr. and his vision, and he was able to sell that to them. And then there was that eternal motive, love, or love gone wrong, which led the detective to that married woman Chris Sr. was seeing. Could she have been the shooter? Leatherman pulled cell phone records.

Phone towers might reveal where she was time of the shooting. And sure enough, she, or her phone at least, was within 250 yards of the Skim X office. We contacted the girlfriend, asked for an interview. No way, she said, and hung up. Then there was the South African investor who claimed he was bilked out of $800,000. A lot of money. As we all know, murders have been committed for a lot less than that.

The investor agreed to sit on camera and tell us the whole story. But a couple of hours later, he sent us a text backing out. His reason, he said, didn't want to put the family through any more pain. But there was someone else on the detective's list of possible suspects. An ex-employee who knew where to find the victim. Where he could get a clean shot. A man who was, everybody knew, very angry at Chris Northam Sr.

This man. Did you threaten him? I did, yes. I said, I will kill you. Did an angry meeting end in murder? I said you might want to be very careful about the next thing that comes out of your mouth. Or was the killer much closer to home? I didn't want to be the one to point the finger. Within a matter of weeks, the Chris Northam Sr. murder investigation had more potential suspects than a game of Clue.

Several swindled investors. The married girlfriend. But pretty soon, detectives seemed to zero in on this guy. A man who'd recently had a bitter falling out with Chris, who'd made a direct threat on his life. His name was Ron Kahn, and he admitted he was no fan of Chris Sr. or the way he ran skimmicks like some special forces unit. We had SOPs, and we had situational awareness,

and we had all these military terms being thrown at us left and right. Well, why was that? Without coming out and saying he was a Navy SEAL, he said he was involved in special operations for the government and couldn't talk about these things. Kahn is a licensed contractor. Chris Sr. hired him to build Skim X's complicated ramps and jumps. When we actually were supposed to start building the park, it was at that time that I realized he had no idea what he was doing. Construction-wise, business-wise. Out of his depth. Far, far out of his depth.

So I told him that it may be best that we part ways. It was at that point he said, I'm going after your contractor's license and I will make sure you cannot feed your wife and your baby. And what did you say to him? I said, you might want to be very careful about the next thing that comes out of your mouth, because if you threaten my wife and my child again, I will kill you. And he did attempt to go after my contractor's license. Is that when you sent him threatening texts? I didn't do the threatening texts. I sent him an email that had told him that I was going to expose him.

Kahn had found out the truth about one of Chris Sr.'s most closely held secrets. He never was a Navy SEAL. He had never even been in the military. Was never a special ops contractor. His stories, his image, his militarized security drills were nothing more than fantasy. I was going to expose him to a gentleman who was a Navy SEAL and who exposed people who were being frauds.

And then, weeks after that confrontation, somebody fired two high-powered bullets into Chris Northam Sr., the type of bullets you'd use in an AR-15, which just happened to be the kind of rifle owned by Chris Senior, except his was missing. Did the police search your house? Yes. And search your car? Yes. And search your phone? Yep. Search everything you owned? Computer, everything. How many times did they question you? Three times. What were you afraid of most? Having something pinned on me that I had nothing to do with and losing my family.

And then, finally, after months, he was cleared. His father-in-law, his wife, several members of the family, they all said he had been at the barbecue when this incident would have happened. So Ron Kahn couldn't have done it. But what about Chris Sr.'s married female friend, the one whose cell phone pinged near Skim X around the time of the murder? Her phone was the only one that was even close to the scene, but at the same time her phone continued traveling to her residence and was never activating that cell tower for more than 30 seconds to a minute.

And within a minute, it just didn't seem possible to me. Not enough time to commit a murder and clean up the crime scene, so it couldn't have been the woman. Then, what about the South African investors? scene, so it couldn't have been the woman. Then what about the South African investors? Did you consider the possibility that maybe one of those people arranged for the killing? We did look into that, but there was a couple problems with that.

Number one is a lack of motive. They want their money back, and if they kill the head of this company, then they most likely wouldn't get their money back. FBI was able to confirm that neither of their passports had been entered in the United States during this time. The investigation dragged on for months, while police worked one false lead after the other. And the family?

What's your gut feeling about what happened here? My gut feeling has been the same since the day it happened. I don't think it was on the whim. Would it be fair for me to say that you believe he was targeted? Absolutely. In September, four months after the murder, Detective Leatherman phoned Chris Jr. yet again, just trying to help him remember something he might have missed. Averill overheard part of the conversation. I couldn't hear it all, but I could hear some of the questions. Like a question about Chris Sr.'s missing AR-15.

Chris said he opened the gun case that morning and pulled out his dad's gun and had touched the gun. Which seemed very strange indeed to Averill. Because on the day of the murder, just minutes after the shooting, Chris told her his dad no longer owned a gun. And sure enough, here's where he says that during the 911 call. Is your fiance armed with a weapon? No, his dad's gun the day

of the murder... It was confirming for me right then, that day. Confirming? Yes, she said. Because the awful suspicion had been growing for a while. Chris had let things slip, she said. Things about the murder that didn't add up. Chris must have killed his own father. So, did she rush to share her suspicion with Detective Leatherman?

No, she did not. Because, I didn't want to be the one to point the finger. But you wanted her finger pointed? I thought justice was taking it. You just kind of wanted to stay out of the way and let it happen without getting hurt in the process.

Which, perhaps, made a kind of sense to Averill. But what she did next made no sense at all. I just, I don't get it, and I'd like you to explain it to me. Because how could you get back with him and, like, marry him? Married to a man she's convinced is a killer. I just didn't know which way was up, which way was down. And Averill is about to reveal the biggest secret of all. All these months I've blocked that phone call out. We first heard about the murder of Chris Northam Sr.

when an odd letter came in the mail, four pages, single-spaced, from someone who said she needed to talk to us about the Northams, about Skimmix, about skimmings, about the investigation, but most of all, about Averill. I think she just got caught up in something that she did not know how to get out of. This is the author of that letter, Felicia Lund, Averill Easley's mother. She had this life that was promised to her, this marriage. And she wanted it.

And she definitely wanted it. As Felicia saw it, Averill had fallen under Chris Jr.'s spell. How I can describe this, I mean, this is going to sound, is brainwashed. Because if you knew Chris Jr., he's very charming. He's very believable. Which may explain April's faith in Chris early on, but doesn't explain why five months after the murder, when she suspected Chris of killing his father, she went ahead with the wedding. I don't get it, and I'd like you to explain it to me.

Because how could you get back with him and, like, marry him? Um... You were pretty sure he did this. Am I right? Absolutely. So I ask you again, what were you thinking? Terrified. Of what?

I was terrified of being judged. By whom? Everyone. Explain this to me. No, no, it's okay. I just don't understand. I don't... It was just... I was being flooded.

I just didn't know which way was up, which way was down. So there was April, sharing a house, a life, with a man she believed to be a killer. That must have been pretty weird. How do you manage that? I would just go to bed earlier than him. But what would you talk about? We didn't talk.

The marriage lasted about six weeks. But because of avaral suspicion, or because the money ran out... She got a call from their landlord one day, and she said, rent hasn't been paid for four or five months, and we're going to lock you out of the house tomorrow. And she had no idea whatsoever that this was happening. So I got in my car and I drove to her house and she opened the door and she immediately started crying and we started hugging. And that's when we got that letter from Felicia, about eight months after Chris Sr.'s murder, a murder that, at the time we taped these interviews,

was still unsolved. So what now? Well, um, I don't know. Chris is still out there. I know. Scared of him? Yes. Yes. We look over our shoulders.

And it was during this visit, Averill told us that long-suppressed memories were just beginning to surface, like what Chris Jr. said on the phone the day of the murder. I blocked it out. All these months, I blocked that phone call out. I had a breakdown one night, and it all came flooding. And when it came flooding back, what did you remember particularly?

I shot my dad. That's right. Sitting here eight months after the murder, Avril told us she now remembered that Chris confessed to her moments after his dad was shot. I blocked it all out. I blocked it all out. Well now, if that's true, it meant she blocked out that confession instantly because she made no mention of it when she called 911. Instead, she told a very different story. And Averill repeated that same different story a minute later when she spoke to a second 911 dispatcher. Who's the one who heard gunshots? You or him?

Chris did. Okay, so your fiancé was there at the business and he heard gunshots inside the business? As he was driving away, he heard the gunshot. April. April. Okay. I'm Detective Dave Harder. And it's the same story she told police later that day.

He said, I heard a gun go off on the phone. Seven months would pass after the money was gone and her relationship with Chris Jr. was over. Before April, with her mom by her side, told police about Chris Jr.'s alleged confession. And what did he tell you? He was in that panic. And he said they had been fighting,

and I shot my dad. Okay. As you look back now, how upsetting is it to you when you look at yourself of those months ago when you didn't tell them what you knew? I regret every moment of it. Every moment.

I wish I would have been stronger, I guess. Sitting here now, Averill told us, she'd just like to put Chris Senior's murder behind her. Negative thoughts, as the secret teaches, are bad for the psyche. I have to move on with my life. Even though this is horrible, I still have to continue to live and better myself, Not fall apart.

Moving on with her life, though, was going to be tough. One week after we taped the interview with Averill, Chris Jr. was arrested and charged with murdering his dad. And then the police made another arrest.

The person they'd come to believe was Chris Jr.'s accessory, Averill Easley. Investigators believe it might have been more than one motive for this killing. He was very flirtatious towards Averill. He made some inappropriate comments in the past about dating him instead of his son. Little Roseville, California reacted with something like horrified fascination to the arrest of Christopher Northam Jr., charged with the first-degree murder of his own father.

The same day, Averill Easley walked out of her morning exercise class and encountered some very serious-looking men. And they said, are you Averill Easley? And I said, yes. And he says, turn around, Averill Easley, you're under arrest. Everyone that I knew at the gym was there. And they all watched, said Averly, as she was carted off to be booked for being an accessory after the fact of murder. And then they put her in jail.

It's filthy. It's somewhat unhumane. It was freezing cold. There was nowhere to sit. Averill spoke with us a few days after her arrest. She was out on bail. I don't want to go back. Because I told the truth. I'm now in trouble.

No bail for Chris Jr., though. So his brother Cody volunteered to speak for him. My brother is not a murderer. I mean, how do you even argue an innocent person's innocence? How do you do that? What else can you say other than they're not that kind of person? They're not that person. And anyway, why would Chris do it? Well, very interesting story behind that, said Prosecutor Dave Tillman. The investigation revealed from several witnesses that Averill was a woman who liked to be well kept. She was a woman who liked fine things, good food, nice clothes. They lived in a nice place.

And Chris was the individual to provide her those things. And to keep Averill in a lifestyle to which she'd grown accustomed, said Detective Leatherman, Chris Jr. took to embezzling money from the company. An average of over $13,000 a month out of the business for at least a year. Wasn't hard. Chris Jr. was in charge of the corporate account. So as he bled the business dry, his dad was none the wiser. On the day of the homicide, they actually had less than $40,000.

The only money left, millions of dollars in Chris Sr.'s life insurance policy designated, should he die, for his sons. So by eliminating dad, he was going to get a million dollar life insurance policy, another million for the company, and be CEO. Or could there have been another kind of motive altogether? Chris Sr. was what, 43, 44? 44. You're 34.

Chris Jr. is like 24, 25. 24, 25 at the time, yeah. You could just as easily have had a relationship with Sr. because that would be more the regular way things usually are. Yeah. Remember Ron Kahn, the contractor who'd once been a suspect? He wasn't blind, he said. He saw the way Sr. looked at Averill.

He was very flirtatious towards Averill. He had made some inappropriate comments towards Averill in the past about dating him instead of his son. A real man? Exactly, yeah. Hmm. Yeah. And all the while, said Kahn, Sr. treated Jr. like a pathetic little boy, a loser. Chris Jr. was there and was given tasks. And when his father wasn't happy with those tasks, he would belittle him and make him write reports on why he did this wrong. Belittle him in front of other people? In front of everybody, yeah. The irony, said Kahn, Averill

didn't appear to be attracted to either father or son. There were comments made by her about wanting the money and that she was with Chris for the money. The only reason she was with a young man over 10 years younger than her was for the money. Do you want to tell me what you think of her? What I think of her? Yeah. I do, but I don't think I can. Oh, OK. For their part, the extended Northam family

seemed to regard Chris Jr. as a victim, siding with him over the actual murder victim, Chris Sr., which put the prosecutor in a strange bind. It's a difficult dynamic when the victim's family is firmly behind your suspect and asking that you not only give your suspect a break, but let him go. And anyway, circumstantial evidence on a true whodunit with no forensic evidence is tough. And then there was the issue of Averill. Do you think she knew more than she was saying?

I think she knew more than what she was saying. Yes. How hard did you try to turn Averill to get her to reveal all. The problem was when someone tells a number of stories and then tells you one more, you might like it the most, but do you really know it's the truth? So after four years of back and forth, Prosecutor Talmad agreed to let Chris Jr. plead out. In the end, he pled guilty to manslaughter and using a firearm,

and he received 13 years in state prison. Fair? I truly believe that he did much more than what he pled to, but it doesn't matter what I feel. I have to be objective and say what's best for the system, what's best for the county, and what's best for the victim's family. And Averill? There was never any concrete evidence. best for the county and what's best for the victim's family. And Averill?

There was never any concrete evidence. There was a lot of suspicion that she knew about it beforehand, but there was no hard evidence. The most we could prove was that she knew what happened afterwards and had intentionally told lies to the police to try to protect Chris Jr. Averill also reached a plea deal for being an accessory after the fact,

but as a misdemeanor, not a felony. 60 days suspended sentence. After nearly five years, her case was finally behind her. It's all over. It's all over. It's all over. But in spite of that official admission, said Felicia, She's definitely not guilty.

And she did a plea or else we were going to go to trial. And of course, you know, trials are scary. You never know what a jury is going to do. So her attorney advised her to take a plea. I'm so sorry. We wanted to talk to Avril again, get her take on the whole twisted affair. April, is this it for you? Yeah. Can we talk to you briefly? Not right now. But she was in a hurry, had a new boyfriend, had plans to get married. This was the last we saw of her. Do you think you've really ever heard the truth from her?

No. Not at all. Gosh, has she paid her debt to society then? In my opinion, no. Two men, one woman. And yes, there were secrets, all right, which might never be revealed.