Dateline Originals - Dateline Missing in America - Ep. 16: Running Man

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Tyler Goodrich left his home in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 3, 2023, and hasn’t been seen since. On the night of his disappearance, Tyler and his husband, Marshall Vogel, were arguing, and Marshall called 911. Home security video shows a figure running from their house minutes after the call. Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz speaks with Marshall, as well as several of Tyler’s family members and close friends. Tyler is about 6’1” and 185 lbs. He has pale skin, red hair and freckles. At the time of his disappearance he was 35 and had a red beard. Anyone with information about Tyler’s case is asked to call the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at 402-441-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 402-475-3600. Get more information and see pictures of Tyler Goodrich here: https://www.nbcnews.com/datelinemissing          This episode was originally published on July 23, 2024.

It was Tyler Goodrich's 36th birthday, and in his hometown of Bennett, Nebraska, that meant it was time for a party. Good to see you again. Good to see you. There was an Oreo cake, Tyler's favorite, and of course, this. Happy birthday, dear Tiger. Happy birthday to you. Love you, son. This party was like any birthday celebration, except for one huge thing. The guest of honor wasn't there.

Tyler Goodrich had disappeared five months earlier on November 3rd, 2023. He's still missing, and the people he loves most can't make any sense of it. Lonnie Goodrich is Tyler's father. Every night before I go to bed, I stand at the window and I beg him for answers. I beg him to come home. Tyler's sister, Felicia Nicholson, is struggling to adjust to this new reality. I'm so frustrated and angry that somebody knows where Tyler is. Somebody knows something. This disappearance has baffled investigators. It has also brought a community together. People were making yard signs and printing flyers. You couldn't drive down a single street without seeing Tyler's face. I mean, you still can't. I'm Josh Mankiewicz,

and this is Dateline Missing in America. This episode is Running Man. We first covered Tyler's case in December 2023. Please listen closely, because you or someone you know may have information that could help Tyler's family and friends find the answers they're still looking for. Anyone who knows Tyler Goodrich will tell you, being a wallflower is not in his wheelhouse. At 6'1", with red hair and a red beard, he stands out in most crowds. He's also an extrovert, with a capital E. Anywhere he went, he would talk to a stranger. He was a social butterfly. Amanda Meyer met Tyler in second grade in Bennett, Nebraska,

which is just outside Lincoln. They remain best friends. We were the two redheads in our class, so we kind of stuck out like sore thumbs. And Tyler used to chase me around the playground and that's kind of how our friendship started. Rachel Barth has known Tyler since kindergarten. They've stayed close too. I remember like him riding his bike, you know, to my house or we'd see him at the park and, you know, everybody knew Tyler. Back then, fewer than 600 people lived in Bennett. Tyler's dad, Lonnie Goodrich,

taught sixth grade at the local elementary school. Tyler is his oldest son. He was into all things that boys do and snakes and baseball and ran around the neighborhood. Decades before DoorDash existed, Lonnie says Tyler operated his own kind of delivery system. We'd be out in the garden and next thing I know he'd be putting stuff in a wagon and he'd say, Dad, I'm taking this to the neighbors. We had some, quite a few elderly neighbors and he said, they don't garden anymore, so I'll take it around. Then he didn't come home till the wagon was empty. This was stuff that otherwise would have ended up on your table. Exactly. So he was giving up things he enjoyed. He sounds very generous. He was.

After high school, Tyler worked as a Nebraska State Corrections Officer and served in the U.S. Army Reserves for eight years. Amanda says at his core, Tyler remained the same bubbly person who had chased her on the playground. He matured, of course. He had his struggles that he went through as well, but he was still that person, that fun person, that happy person. Tyler was in his mid-20s when he took a big step. He came out to his family. Dad Lonnie says he wasn't surprised.

I suspected it by the time he was in sixth grade. It's one of those things I kicked myself for because I never brought it to the front. I waited for him to tell me. Lonnie says not long after that conversation, Tyler introduced his family to the man he would later marry. His name was Marshall Vogel. They seemed incredibly happy. They came to all the family stuff in those early days when they were dating. Tyler's sister, Felicia Nicholson. Marshall was a good fit for Tyler. They were comfortable bantering back and forth, which kept Tyler's big personality in check sometimes. Part of that big personality was drinking, sometimes too much. And Tyler made a big change after meeting Marshall. He gave up alcohol. After nearly two years of dating,

the couple married in 2017. They eventually bought a house in Lincoln on three acres with room to keep horses and goats. It was close to both their families. And they also adopted two boys. Tyler loved being a dad. It was something he wanted for a long time. Amanda also lived in Lincoln. She and Tyler played in a volleyball league together. On Friday, November 3rd, 2023, Amanda says they chatted in the afternoon

about their weekend plans. We said our byes and have a good weekend and, you know, see you Monday. That evening, he disappeared. On Saturday, November 4th, everyone in Tyler's inner circle, including Amanda, heard the news that left them stunned. I got a phone call at 10.48 Saturday morning. I was told that Tyler had gone missing and that a missing persons report was filed. Tyler's husband, Marshall, had made the report.

He told Lonnie it had happened the night before. Tyler didn't come home. He left the house and didn't come back. There was more. Marshall told Lonnie that in the minutes before Tyler left, the couple had been arguing, and things grew so tense that Marshall called 911. It was all a lot for Lonnie and the family to absorb.

While the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office began an investigation, Tyler's family and friends called his cell phone repeatedly. We did it all day long and always went straight to voicemail. That was an ominous sign for everyone who knew him, including Amanda and Rachel. Because it's not like Tyler to have his phone off ever. Things were not adding up and were very out of character. Soon something else really didn't add up. Tyler, an avid runner at 35, had registered for a half marathon on Sunday, November 5th, and he didn't show for the race. That's when concern turned to panic for just about everyone in Tyler's life. Rachel is director of communications

for the local airport. I have really close media contacts in Lincoln. Within hours, Amanda and I were printing posters, walking around, putting them on people's cars. The social media page got started. The response was quick. Volunteers turned out to search for Tyler on foot, focusing on a sprawling park where he often ran.

Local media started covering the story. And soon, Tyler's smiling face was also on yard signs, car magnets, and flyers. At the same time, the sheriff's office expanded its search using drones, dogs, and a helicopter. Deputies scoured the couple's home and property and the surrounding area for any sign of Tyler. His family and friends put their regular lives on hold. There's lots of days in November that just blur together and just one big nightmare. Those first weeks of searches was horrible. I mean, in the worst fields, the worst areas, tree lines, thorns, you know, I mean, you got beat up. It was hard walking. They found no sign of Tyler anywhere. Family and friends kept looking, but one person did

not participate in any of those searches. Tyler's husband, Marshall. His absence was something armchair detectives on Facebook and other sites noticed. They started posting comments, wondering if Marshall already knew what had happened to his husband. What really set the internet on fire, though, was a news briefing the sheriff's office held four days after Tyler's disappearance. Marshall Vogel and his family are no longer cooperating with the sheriff's office on this investigation on trying to locate Tyler. As Marshall will soon tell you,

a bail like that is hard to unring. The damage was kind of already done there. When Tyler Goodrich disappeared in Lincoln, Nebraska after arguing with his husband, Marshall, a lot of people wondered if Marshall knew more than he was revealing. Of course, in a case like this, it's police procedure 101 to question the spouse. When we talked with Marshall, he had a lot to say about Tyler. It's still hard for you to talk about, isn't it? Yeah. Every day is. You think about him a hundred times a day.

It's a cliche that opposites attract, but for Marshall and Tyler, that may have been true. What drew you guys together? Why did it work? Tyler is a very driven person. Puts his mind to something, he's going to do it. You know, I always really kind of admired that. I'm more kind of free-spirited, go with the flow. We evened each other out a little bit on that front. And then everything changed on that Friday, November 3rd, 2023. Marshall says he and Tyler had planned to spend a quiet evening watching a movie with their youngest son. Our oldest was at work. We had pizza, whatever that movie was, and we watched it. And then our youngest went upstairs, and we, Tyler and I, got into an argument. That argument was not over little things like who should take out the garbage.

Marshall says he and Tyler were talking about divorce. It sounds like you guys were doing well. What went wrong? From the outside looking in, we were a perfect family. But behind closed doors, some of the communication barriers or how we interacted with each other was hard to do. You weren't communicating well enough. What does that mean? Because generally, not communicating is a reason to work on things, but it's not necessarily a reason to end things. Tyler and I had different views on how we kind of did our day-to-day. The big thing and the hard thing was how we parented our kids. Marshall says he wanted to end their six-year marriage. And when you told him you wanted a divorce, how did Tyler react?

I think he kind of thought that we would fix it or I would back down. And I just knew at that point that I couldn't back down. He says their argument on that night got heated. What's going on to make you call 911 in the middle of that conversation? At the end of our argument, Tyler pushed me. He pushed me in the face and the chest. And it didn't hurt, but it still happened. And so I called 911.

According to Marshall, while he was on the phone with the dispatcher, Tyler left their house at 7.40 p.m. You could hear him go. I could hear the garage door open. And when I was on the phone with dispatch, I walked down to the basement, assuming that he had taken his car and he didn't. The car was still there. So he opened the garage door and walked out. Yeah. The lead investigator on Tyler's case told us deputies arrived within 10 minutes of the 911 call,

took a statement from Marshall, and looked around for Tyler. They didn't find him. Where'd you think he was? I thought he didn't want to be here when the sheriff's department was here, or got here. And then I thought he was going to come back after sometime during the night. Marshall says he didn't want to be there when Tyler came back, so he and the boys didn't sleep at the house that night. They stayed at his mom's home nearby.

Marshall says he went back to the house briefly that evening, around nine o'clock, to retrieve his older son's laptop. How long are you in the house? Under 10 minutes. Any sign that Tyler has returned since he left? No. Not that I noticed or saw. Everything looked exactly the same. That next morning, a Saturday, Marshall says he went back home again to feed their animals. Right about seven or so to do chores, to feed the horses and the goats and stuff.

Still no sign that he's been back? Nope. Nope. And at that point, I reached out to some of our close friends. By then, more than 12 hours had passed. No one had seen or heard from Tyler. Are you worried at this point? Yeah. Yeah, I'm starting to get worried.

At 9.35 that Saturday morning, Marshall dialed 911 again, this time to report Tyler was missing. Two days later, deputies showed up with a search warrant. They left with Marshall's phone and other electronics and asked him and the boys to come to the sheriff's office for a talk. Marshall decided to hire an attorney first. I wanted to make sure that when the boys were interviewed, that they were going to be interviewed by a trauma-based interviewer. You know, that was after all weekend long, I had sheriff's department. I mean,

they were all over our property. And yeah, I wanted to protect me and the boys. The next day, the sheriff's office opened its news briefing with this. Marshall Vogel and his family are no longer cooperating with the sheriff's office on this investigation on trying to locate Tyler. Those 21 words fueled a storm of internet chatter about Marshall. So the extent of your non-cooperation was you saying, I'm going to wait to sit down and talk with you until I have an attorney present. Yes. With his attorney present, Marshall did speak with investigators a few days later.

While he was being interviewed, the boys were questioned at a family crisis center. Following all of that, the sheriff's office issued another statement. Last Thursday, Marshall Vogel, his husband, came to the sheriff's office and was 100% cooperative in talking with us. He is considered a witness. He is not a person of interest. When the sheriff's department first said that you were not cooperating, that really lit up social media. Yes, it did. And even though the sheriff's department later reversed themselves and said, actually, now he is cooperating. I'm thinking people don't remember that as much as they remember the first one. No, the damage was kind of already done there.

In the weeks after Tyler went missing, Marshall stayed home with their sons and did not participate in any of the searches for his husband. He told me the reason is simple. He needed to make sure the boys were okay. Marshall said it was also for their sake that he didn't speak with reporters in those early days. Early on, I asked the boys if they would be okay with me doing interviews, and at that point, they told me not to. Well, okay. Let me just tell you from experience, when the spouse doesn't talk and isn't present during the searches, what that leads to is people saying, well, he was involved. He's got something to hide. And that is as inescapable these days as the sun coming up in the morning, because that's where people's minds immediately go.

And I can understand that. And, you know, I did what I could from here. But I just I just knew that I needed to be here with our boys. And I understand that people think that looks funny. But I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that they're okay. Seven weeks after Tyler went missing, the city of Lincoln glowed with holiday lights. Tyler's smile still flashed from posters and yard signs. The searches had slowed to a trickle, but the online rumor mill was still churning, and internet sleuths kept pointing the finger straight at Marshall.

There's something else to know about that final argument between Marshall and Tyler, something many people have found puzzling. Marshall recorded it on his phone. Why did you record that conversation? Because things were tense in our house, and we would get into arguments where then the next day or, you know, the next week, I would be told, I never said that. I didn't do that. I kind of recorded it for my own sanity so I could listen back and say, no, you did. And I'm not crazy right now.

We have not heard that recording. Investigators haven't released it. Law enforcement, along with family and friends who have listened to it, describe it as a conversation or discussion, not a shouting fight. Some say Marshall and Tyler get angry at times, but there's no yelling. The recording sparked more speculation. Then Marshall fanned the flames even more. Three days before Christmas, he decided to respond with his own Facebook post. It was Marshall's account of what happened the night Tyler disappeared and everything he'd done to cooperate with the investigation.

The post began with a bombshell. Quote, Tyler was sometimes physically and emotionally abusive towards me. After years of this, we were discussing divorce, unquote. Marshall went on to say, quote, there are recordings that document Tyler was becoming increasingly verbally abusive to me and the boys, unquote. You posted on Facebook saying that Tyler was occasionally emotionally and physically abusive. Yes. Yes.

Tyler would get mad. He would get mad at us. And that made it extremely difficult at times. And I'm not saying every day was like that because it wasn't. But when it was, it was really hard. He would get angry. So we're talking about emotional abuse. Are we also talking about physical abuse? Are we talking about violence? No, not towards the children.

Towards you? That has happened in the past, yes. We have not found any records of domestic violence involving Tyler and Marshall. The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office told us there had been no previous law enforcement contact at their address for domestic violence calls. In that Facebook post, Marshall said Tyler had been arrested for domestic violence during a past relationship. According to county records, in 2014, three years before he married Marshall, Tyler was charged with third-degree domestic assault. The charge was ultimately dismissed. Tyler's friend Rachel Barth says that incident occurred before Tyler achieved sobriety. That's back when

like, you know, Tyler had, was drinking and realized that maybe he wasn't the best version of himself. I think all of us can attest we're not perfect. And so Tyler realized that he stopped drinking, became, you know, a better version of himself. Amanda Meyer says that arrest in 2014 changed the way Tyler dealt with conflict. Which is why Tyler would remove himself from situations, which is why he would leave the home. Because he had a past lesson that he took very hard, and he was doing what he needed to do in order to prevent ever having to relive something along those lines. What she's describing would explain Tyler's leaving the house after a verbal disagreement escalated. At the same time, Marshall's Facebook post

infuriated many of Tyler's friends and family. I think we all took it very personal. I thought he took some low blows to the family, which was not fair. Tyler's sister, Felicia, said she found Marshall's post deeply offensive. Regardless of what the truth is, because we may never know exactly what happened,

calling Tyler out on that serious of an allegation when he's not there to tell the other side of the story is very disrespectful. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. In the post, Marshall even mentioned Tyler's dad and said he was aware of the abuse directed at Marshall. Lonnie says that's not completely accurate. There was a time that Marshall called me and

accused Tyler of doing something. And I called Tyler immediately. He said, it's nothing. Nothing happened. It's being made up. And he handed the phone off to the person he was with who said, I was there. Not one thing happened. Tyler was being accused of what in that conversation? Being abusive, doing some physical harm. Marshall's Facebook post did not slow down the online chatter. So in March, hoping to put to rest speculation about his involvement in Tyler's disappearance, Marshall volunteered to take a polygraph administered by the sheriff's office, and he passed. A few days later, his attorney released a statement saying the results showed no deception

was detected, and the sheriff's office once again said Marshall was a witness and not a person of interest. I thought that would tame down some of the online stuff. And then it was, you can't trust polygraphs. Then what do you want me to do? The sheriff's department asked you the question that I'm going to ask you now. Did you have anything to do with his disappearance other than that you were there when it happened? And I said the same thing I told them. No, I, after he left out of the garage, I have no idea what happened.

And you don't know where he is? No, no. Investigators don't know either, but one clue they discovered has proven tantalizing to internet armchair detectives. A grainy bit of video showing a shadowy figure running from Marshall and Tyler's house the night of Tyler's disappearance. Was it Tyler? Or perhaps someone chasing him? If it isn't Tyler, then there was somebody else outside their house at that point. Exactly.

Ask anyone who knows Tyler Goodrich, and they'll tell you he wasn't wired for sitting still. More often than not, he was running full marathons, half marathons, or training for whatever race was next. And investigators found one key piece of evidence that may show Tyler on the run the night he disappeared. The footage is from a security camera mounted on Tyler and Marshall's house, and it shows a figure that appears to be wearing shorts, dashing from that same house on Friday, November 3rd at 7.40 p.m., just minutes before deputies responded to Marshall's 911 call. The sheriff's office released the video to the public. And here's what lead investigator Jeremy Schwartz said about it in a podcast

produced by their department. Based on all the information that we collected from showing that video to family and friends, we're confident that that person on video is Tyler. The footage is shot from a high angle and the blurry figure is holding a glowing object investigators believe is Tyler's phone. The image looks almost ghostly. Marshall and Amanda have no doubt that figure is Tyler. Yes, that's him. I know it's him. I do fully believe figure is Tyler. Yes, that's him. I know it's him.

I do fully believe it is Tyler, just based off of his run. Tyler's dad, Lonnie, is just as convinced. That figure is not his son. Who do you think it is? I don't, you know, I don't know who it is. And if it isn't Tyler, then there was somebody else outside their house at that point. Exactly. Any thoughts on who that could possibly have been? I wish I did. I don't have any real thoughts of who it could be. Tyler's sister, Felicia, doesn't know what to make of it. I think it's impossible to tell if it's Tyler or if it's not Tyler.

In a press briefing shortly after Tyler's disappearance, the sheriff's office confirmed what Tyler took with him when he ran off that night and why that was concerning. We believe he had his phone at that time and his wallet. The reason we are so concerned is he has gone off the grid. His phone is not on, and we do not, we know that he has not had any financials. As in any missing persons case, investigators have formed theories. Could Tyler have decided to run off and start a new life?

Did he fall while running in the dark and hurt himself? Had someone hurt him intentionally? Or what if Tyler was hit by a drunk driver, who then panicked and hid his body? There is no proof of any one of those theories. Right now, that's all they are. And one particular search may offer another clue. Three weeks after Tyler disappeared, Felicia arranged for a dog handler to bring her scent tracking and trailing dogs to Marshall and Tyler's property. Marshall bagged up some of Tyler's belongings for the dogs to sniff. And off they went on a very specific and erratic path. Both dogs separately stopped where the trail ended in almost the exact same spot on the road. Suggesting that maybe that's where Tyler got into a car. Right. Could be. Something was significant about that spot in the road for those dogs.

Felicia says that spot is about a quarter mile from Marshall and Tyler's house. She also told us the sheriff's office does not consider the search credible because so much time had passed. I asked Lonnie if he has a theory. What do you think happened? I don't know. I wish I did. I would guess, you know, something happened along the road and a terrible mistake was made and somebody tried to cover it up and, you know, I have nothing to base it on. I don't know. Happy birthday, dear Tyler.

There's a video of Tyler's 36th birthday party on the family's Let's Find Tyler Facebook page. It was held at a church. First of all, thank you all for coming. Anyone that's watching online, thank you. Lonnie told us that for months after Tyler's disappearance, he was consumed with anger, but says he found some peace that day. He told everyone there that whoever is responsible

for his son's disappearance, he forgives them. I want you to know, in God's house, I'm telling you I forgive you. I just want my son back. I knew it would be on Facebook, and I wanted to get the message out. Lonnie says he doesn't know who exactly needed to hear that message. There is no one specific. I have no idea, you know, what happened to Tyler. So it was a general forgiveness. These days, Rachel Barth, Tyler's take-charge friend,

is feeling lost. It's gotten to a point where it's just like, we don't know what to do. And so when I hear Tyler's name or see one of his posters, I just get really sad. And it's not that I'm giving up on my friend. I just am out of ideas and I don't know what to do. Amanda Meyer used to speak with Tyler every day. He laughed all the time. So when somebody brings up Tyler, that's all I can really think about anymore is just his laugh. Felicia and Lonnie told me they no longer believe Tyler will be found alive. Lonnie says too many occasions his son would never miss have gone by with no word from him. Things like Christmas and family birthdays.

When Tyler sent a card, there was always a separate message and he poured his heart out, no matter what the card was for. I miss that. This was a man who was connected to his family. Even if you were walking away from his marriage, you wouldn't walk away from all of you. Never. Marshall was not present at that birthday party. He says Tyler's disappearance and its aftermath have created a bitter rift between the families. You think Tyler's family stoked some of that anger toward you on the Internet? Yes, I do. Maybe not intentionally at first.

I asked Lonnie and Felicia about the speculation that has, at times, been posted on the Facebook group the family set up to find Tyler. It has more than 26,000 members. Some of that has been very, very difficult for Marshall and for the boys who have gotten some of that blowback from other students and other people. I wonder whether you regret that. I don't Facebook, so I've never made a public Facebook comment. I have never accused anyone. So honestly, I have no regrets because I cannot control what anybody else says. I have tried to make it clear in any message I've made that I am not pointing the finger at anyone because I don't know who to point a finger at. Yeah, social media has been a blessing to Tyler's disappearance with giving us a way to

gather volunteers and conduct searches. And there's multiple Facebook groups out there as well, one that's ran by family and friends and several that are not. And yeah, the comments have been difficult. I know the one page is set up directly by the family and they try to get any of that stuff off the page. This created a huge divide in what had been one family. You and Marshall are not speaking anymore. Yeah, there's very limited interaction. Tyler's family and Marshall do agree on one thing. They want his case to be solved. For now, Marshall says he's focused on raising their two sons while simultaneously holding on to hope. We talk about Tyler a lot. Tyler's the cook in the family. And so that has been an adjustment, I think, for all of us.

They asked me to make scrambled eggs. And they said make them how Tyler did. Well, I don't know what that is. You think he's still alive? I have to. There's nothing telling me that he's still alive? I have to. There's nothing telling me that he's not. There's no proof saying he's not. So, I'm going with that.

Until somebody tells me 100% that that's not the case, I'm going with that. Tyler Goodrich's case is considered an active missing persons investigation. To solve it, deputies need leads to follow. Here's how you can help. Tyler is about 6'1 and 185 pounds. He has pale skin, a lot of freckles, and red hair. At the time of his disappearance, he had a red beard. He has tattoos on his right calf and shin, and on the left side of his ribcage. On our website, you can see photos of Tyler, and the video that investigators believe shows him running from his house the night of his disappearance.

If you have any information on Tyler's whereabouts, please contact the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office at 402-441-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 402-475-3600. To learn more about other people we've covered in our Missing in America series, go to datelinemissinginamerica.com. There, you'll be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Thanks for listening.

See you Fridays on Dateline on NBC. Missing in America is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Kate Vidick and Veronica Mazzica are the producers of this episode. Brian Drew is the audio editor. Kiani Reed is associate producer. Bradley Davis is senior producer. Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer.

From NBC News Audio, sound mixing by Bob Mallory. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.