Dateline NBC - Talking Dateline: The Last Weekend

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Andrea Canning sits down with Keith Morrison to talk about his recent episode, “The Last Weekend.” This marks Dateline’s fourth episode in the mountains of Greeley, Colorado, where Keith traveled to report on the murder of Scott Sessions, a beloved local trumpet player. Keith shares his approach to storytelling and what he’s learned from some of his favorite crime novelists. 

Hey, everybody. We are Talking Dateline. I'm Andrea Canning, and today it is my turn to interview Keith Morrison. Hello, Keith. Hi. Who are you? I know. Well, you know, working around your schedule, you're so busy and popular. Such nonsense. It was hard to make this happen. Coming from you, such total nonsense. If this is what it takes for us to catch up, then I'll take popular. Such a nonsense. It was hard to make this happen. Coming from you, such total nonsense. If this is what it takes for us to catch up, then I'll take it.

There you go. I'll take it. We increase our Canadian content. Of course we do. We're 100% Canadian content right now. So we are talking about your episode called The Last Weekend. If you haven't seen this yet on TV, do that first and then come back here. If you haven't heard it in the podcast form and want to,

it's the episode right below this one in the list of podcasts that you can choose from. So, okay, something I learned just this morning about this episode and others is that this is the fourth Dateline in Greeley, Colorado. I know. What is in the water there? Well, I feel like we're beginning to know

Greeley, Colorado quite well, don't you? Have you done a story in Greeley? No, I haven't. I feel left out. Maybe you don't want Dateline visiting that many times. You know, it's like any other town, but things happen in every town around America or the world

for that matter. Greeley is more, seems to be more open to discussing with the public what occurs

in these situations. The police department is open and we have done other stories before which tends to lead us to the next story

in the queue. The next one that comes along, we know the people, we call them up. Going to Greeley is always kind of a, it's a nice drive. And it's a pleasant place to spend a few days. I like it. And, you know, one of the things, of course, about this episode is just the beauty of the area, the mountains. Exactly. It's so stunning.

And the topography does play a role in this one it does yes with with the body being found um yeah on the mountain um when scott is first uh discovered he really went out of his way kevin to take scott's body you know up on this mountain well yes they both did and the um but whose direction right the story is one which is unfortunately um all too common everywhere you go in human society i guess and certainly in america where um you know a guy will not take no for an answer and is a controlling person. And then things happen as a result, usually bad things. And in this case, bizarre bad things happen, which is why it became a story for Dateline. Okay, so I was a little, I got a little confused at the end. So Heather was somehow a part of this, but is the theory that she was coerced

or that she was afraid of... You get to the central point, I think. And to me, the whole lesson of this story is here was a good person, a good woman, who was trying to live a good life, who had got herself mixed up with a bad guy, and then forms a new relationship with this very nice man who plays the trumpet,

and the old boyfriend finds out about it, and he is there, and he has got her under his control again, commits this horrible act with her, the police think, right there in the house with him, probably as bait to lure Scott Sessions to his death. And then for the next several days afterwards, has to pretend as if nothing happened. But it sounded so much to me like a woman living in fear under the control of one of these controlling characters. As you know, Andrea, from doing so many of these stories, it is at the heart of so much of what we do. I was just shooting a story this week in Florida that was very similar where the woman got caught up in something very similar and said that it was the boyfriend, the on again, off again boyfriend

who was controlling her and putting fear into her. And how much of that is true? I don't know, but this is her story. So do you think then that it truly was Heather who lured Scott over? No, she was not in charge of her Facebook account at that point. So he was in charge, you think, from the beginning? I think. He arrived in town. He arrived in town in response to his understanding of what was going on. She was seeing another guy and he didn't like it. So he shows up and he devised a plan to get her house and toward his car when she doesn't know, isn't aware of the fact that she story and the disturbing nature of Heather and her relationship with Kevin. We just want to add that if you are in a situation like that and you are ready to get help, because there is a lot of help out there for men and women, The domestic violence hotline is 800-799-7233, 800-799-7233.

So if you need help, you can always reach out. Yeah, I take it you tried to interview Kevin? Yes, but many of these things, as you know, you make an approach, but if they don't want to do it, they don't want to do it they don't want to do it yeah it's interesting i've had a couple this year where the the men have actually admitted to to doing the killings which is very very rare because usually it's all deny deny deny

but you know even when you do get in front of them and they admit to doing it, as I discovered this year, they just kept, I don't know. I don't know what came over me. So even then it's hard to get answers. And as far as Kevin, I mean, for a small town guy, I mean, he's really going for the Oscar in that interview room. He was laying it on thick. I mean, you have to wonder what was going on in his head. He has, there are two things happening that were interesting to me. One is, as you can see the wheels turning as he's trying to come up with a story and a presentation of himself that's going to work. Either he's going to try to show them that he's crazy or try to show them that he really cares about what, you know, can I pull the wool over their eyes or do I have to act like I'm a complete crazy person in order to get away with this? And he didn't seem to know which one to opt for. One of my favorite fictional detectives, Inspector Magre, a series of books written in the sort of early and mid 20th century by Georges Simenon. One of the things he would always say

to the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes that he was trying to solve is, my job is not to judge, but to understand. And he even formed relationships with some of these criminals in an effort to not condemn them, but to understand what made them tick because that was the driving force of his career.

And in a way, I can see why that's exactly what we ought to be doing. Just try to figure out why people tick the way they do. You can't help but feel for the victims involved here because they were such, you know, they were good people. They were interesting people. And I think that the world is missing both their talents. And they would have been happy together. It's just very sad. Yeah, it seemed like a really sweet romance you know heather's coming off of a this this bad breakup with um kevin and for scott it felt like you know he's he's in his 50s right

he's he's not married and i kind of felt like whatever reason, you got that impression like these two had finally found each other. Sure. And that they were going to make it. He was finally going to get his chance, which he didn't think he was going to get. And she was finally out of that, as you say. I mean, when I think about those two coming together, it almost is like a rom-com at first. You know, the trumpet player meets the waitress. And it's very cute in the small town, the small

snowy mountain town. It sounds like you have ideas, Andrea, you worked that into a story. Well, it's like every Hallmark movie. Unfortunately, this one takes a dateline twist, which is not, does not, they never got the happy ending. No, but I was so struck by the place she worked and the people who worked with her, that cheers atmosphere in this, in this diner where she worked and the fact that she was so popular with her coworkers and with the customers there and knew them all by name and got herself all duded up to go to work. And. And it just was really attracted to that character. It sounded like the kind of person you'd want to know. And him, with a really remarkable talent at playing the trumpet, when you hear him play,

and unfortunately, because of copyright issues, we couldn't play most of his music. Oh, that's Bah Humbug. It is Bah Humbug. Or as we say in the podcast, Bah Humbug. You do that so much better than me. Nonsense. But the, you know, what a loss. Yeah.

And the way his dad described him and, you know, his sister with the trumpet, that that's when he was the happiest, when he was holding that trumpet. Yeah, he was. And in this case, you know, Scott was adopted and he made his parents very happy. You know, they got their little boy. You could really feel the love between Scott and his father. It was heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking. And I so felt for that man who, in short order, lost his son to murder. And then his wife died.

Two months later. You could see how proud he was of Scott. Sure. short order, lost his son to murder. And then his wife died. His wife was so many years. You could see how proud he was of Scott. Sure. And quite rightly so. So one of the things you learned is something about Scott's sister that she told you. Well, first of all, that he reconnected with her was very sweet.

And to see how much she cared and how much she loved the guy, understandably so, but to discover a brother you didn't know you had must have been such an emotional turn for her and for her life. And that she clearly loved him was obvious when she has his trumpet, wanted his trumpet, and wants to learn how to play his trumpet. To be somehow closer to the memory of him, it's a lovely thing. That's really nice. What sweet music she'll make, no matter how it sounds. That's true.

We all know what a novice trumpet player sounds like. We've all had kids who have tried to pick up the trumpet. I love that she's doing that. That's so great. Something about this story also was the ending. It just really tugged at your heartstrings. How did you feel about it when you watched it? Well, when you're telling a story, the end is probably the most important moment, right? So you want to be able to leave people with something they remember. I'm glad to know that you felt that that was accomplished. It was, that's what we try to do.

Yeah, it was the, you know, they had the memorial concert for him, which's what we try to do. Yeah. It was the, you know, they had the memorial concert for him, which I felt like, and for Heather too, which I felt was just so appropriate. It was. Not to get too,

you know, storytelling 101, but so you want that, you want that moment where it really tugs at you and maybe you feel a little dear because you it's you've every right to given what you've just witnessed but you don't want to go too far so it just has to be exactly the right amount and and getting the right amount without sort of making people think oh boy they're getting all sappy here one of the things we try to do at Dateline so much is for the viewers and the listeners to really understand who these people are and to get that, to color that picture of, you know, who was Scott, who was

Heather. And I really had this sense of them by the end. So when you do watch that memorial concert, it really pays off because you've gone on a journey with them. And unfortunately it was, you know, a sad ending to the journey, but you did a good job of like making me feel a journey with them. And unfortunately, it was a sad ending to the journey, but you did a good job of making me feel like I knew them. I just, I want to, of course, give a shout out to your excellent writing, Keith, and delivery. Don't stop. No. Because you do it like no one else. No, stop it. Stop it.

Speaking of shout outs, for anybody who may know those who work at Dateline, I was able to work with a wonderful producer named Rob Buchanan. Rob. Who's been around for many years and worked with him. He is a consummate pro and a wonderful guy. I love working with Rob. We always have fun together. I spent, I think it was two years ago, I spent my birthday with Rob. He made sure we all went out.

We were somewhere. I can't even remember where now. He ordered my favorite wine. He's a nice guy. But your writing, I was going to say, you know, you had some lines

that I picked up on such as the bacon perfumed the room. That wasn't my line. That wasn't, no, that wasn't your line?

Wasn't my line. Okay, so was Rob's line written for you? That was Rob, yeah. Well, good on Rob

for channeling his inner Keith Morrison, right? And I also like the line too, none of us are perfect. Absolutely. I think the reason that people watch the programs we do and are interested in the issues we talk about is that the human condition is so messed up. We're all trying to get through our lives and do good things and not do bad things and failing repeatedly, and we're the kind of people who have to look at what can happen and think, I'm not that or am I going to be a victim like this person I'm watching on television?

So it's a way of kind of assessing your own life in a way and understanding what it is to be a human being. The story itself was a fascinating police procedural with some difficulties along the way. You know, I used to read a lot of Scandinavian crime fiction. Really? Yes. And so they tend to be a little team of police officers trying to solve a terrible murder and running into all kinds of complications along the way. And this was like one of those in the sense that the process was so complicated and so, and they did what human beings do. They ran out of steam at one point. They had to take a break.

And then later on, they feel bad about having, you know, had we only done such and such, had we only followed up a little more. Right, because she was killed in that interim period, Heather. It made me think so much now in a lot of our datelines so often, there's this interesting tactic of how the police are onto people and they go behind their backs and they dig into their cell phone records and their Google Maps and the people have no idea that this is happening under their noses. And it gives the police vital information about their whereabouts without them knowing. But in this case, it kind of worked to the disadvantage in the way that Heather was killed during this period. It did. And one of the other complications, of course, is you can get all that information about a person, but you have to have probable cause to make an arrest. And that's a kind of a decision somebody at a higher level than most of the people involved in the gr going to find the fuel to be able to go back to that farm to burn Heather's body the way he had tried to burn Scott Sessions' body.

Finally, the detective catches up with him at a gas station and he has to make a decision. Am I going to approach that guy and try to put him under arrest? He might be armed. He might shoot me. He might shoot me. He might, God knows what might happen. But if I decide to arrest him, I'm kind of at this point making a decision that's above my pay grade.

And do I have the guts to make it? So that was an interesting story that he told. And the position that he was in was one, you know, you can certainly see what it would have been like. And that's when I find myself really getting into a story when you can put yourself in the shoes of all the people involved. What would I do? Yeah, what would I do? Exactly. Thank you. That was one of the moments that really had me riveted was this detective because I was scared for him because he's following this guy around who he thinks is a killer.

And this is country. This is back country. This is mountain territory. He's by himself. Yeah. Well, the other guy's armed and he's already killed at least one person and they think maybe two and they got to stop him before he does it again. Do you have any Scandinavian crime novel recommendations? Any favorites? Yeah, there are lots of good ones.

Is there one that jumps out in your mind that you really enjoyed? The man who became the kind of signature writer of that kind of fiction was Henning Mankel. So anything in that collection? Sure. And then the girl with the dragon tattoo is in the same genre. I was just going to ask you about that one. That was an intense book and movie. We're off topic here, Andrea.

Well, you know, it's Talking Dateline. So you talk wherever your talk takes you, right? Yeah, I guess that's how it works, isn't it? And I just wanted to say on a personal note, I posted a photo of us. It popped up on my memories from one of our holiday parties and I posted it and it got so many comments and I just wanted to tell you how many people love you and your family and we're sending such well wishes. And I just love our Dateline community and it just really warmed my heart to see all the kind things that they were saying about you and your amazing family. It's a good family. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm a lucky man in many ways. Yeah. And yes, we miss him a lot. Yeah. But that won't go away. This is an especially hard time of year as well when everyone is with their families. So you are loved, Keith Morrison, and your family. Thank you, Andrea. Same to you.

And have a wonderful Christmas season. Thank you. That is our talking dateline for the last weekend. And Keith, it has been such a pleasure getting to spend this time with you. It's wonderful to talk to you, Andrea. You take care. You too.