National Park After Dark - Introducing Valley of Shadows: The Devil’s Punchbowl

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Valley of Shadows is a new true crime podcast that digs into a nearly 30-year old secret buried in the California desert. On June 11, 1998, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Jon Aujay set out for a run in California’s Devil’s Punchbowl park — and never came back. Aujay has yet to be found. The Sheriff’s Department rules Aujay’s disappearance a suicide, but friends, family, and fellow deputies insist the story doesn’t add up. Instead, they believe Aujay may have stumbled into the Mojave Desert’s criminal underworld — where outlaw biker gangs crank out methamphetamine and local cops operate on both sides of the law. Through exclusive interviews, revealing wiretaps, and buried police files, journalists Hayley Fox and Betsy Shepherd explore one of Southern California’s most mysterious missing person cases. In Valley of Shadows, they ask: What is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department hiding? Find Valley of Shadows wherever you get podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Hey, everyone, Cassie and Danielle here. We've got a real treat for you today. a preview of a new true crime podcast, Valley of Shadows that has everything you love about National Park After Dark. It's an investigation into what can go wrong in the great outdoors, the secrets that are buried in the desert, and the people who want those secrets to remain hidden. Hosted by investigative journalists, Haley Fox and Betsy Shepard, Valley of Shadows explores

the unsolved disappearance of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy John Aegee, and the stench of corruption that's followed the case for near. 30 years. Through exclusive interviews, revealing wire tapes, and buried police files, Haley and Betsy enter into the criminal underworld of outlaw biker gangs, meth production, and crooked cops in Southern California's Mulhavi Desert, exploring one of the state's most mysterious missing person cases. And let me tell you, this story immediately grabbed us. It has the eerie combination of vast wilderness, unanswered questions,

and the sense that the truth has been buried on purpose. Valley of Shadows is the kind of investigation that stays with you long after you finish listening. In this preview, we hear how Aja, an ultramarathon runner and survivalist, went for a run in the devil's punchbow park and never returned. His body has yet to be found and the people closest to him insist the ruling of his disappearance as a suicide just doesn't add up. Instead, they believe Aja may have stumbled into the desert's criminal underworld and his own department is covering it up. Enjoy the episode. If you like what you hear, find Valley of Shadows wherever you get podcasts. And if you want to hear the whole story ad free right now, you can binge the series with a Pushkin Plus subscription. Sign up on the Valley of Shadows page on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. slash plus. This series includes content that may not be suitable for all listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

Is this okay? Yeah, I'll turn it down just a little bit because sometimes you get animated. I get pissed off, pissed off old cop. This pissed off old cop is Mike Bauer. Okay, my name is Mike Bauer, retired captain, L.A. Sheriff. I retired in 2002. My last assignment was Major Crimes Bureau, Detective Division, L.A. Sheriff. Bauer spent 33 years climbing the ranks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. And he looks the part of a retired captain.

His white hair and mustache are neatly groomed. And his eyes were permanently fixed. and a look that says, do not fuck up on my watch. And he's pissed off because of something that happened to one of his guys on his squad. Back in the summer of 1998. June 11th started off like a normal day in Los Angeles. June gloom and bad traffic. I got up early out of Long Beach and headed up the 605 and into East L.A., our office in East L.A.

Bauer was doing paperwork when a call came into the front desk. The receptionist answered. then she hung up and she comes down to get a cup of coffee across the hall. And I said, hey, who was that? It was John Ajae. John Aja was a 38-year-old canine cop. And he was calling to inquire about an upcoming job assignment. I said, well, I've been trying to get hold to him.

And she says, oh, well, maybe he'll call back. He never called back. John Ajae was working for the unit Bauer headed up at the time. the Special Enforcement Bureau, or SEB, for short. Which consists of seven or eight SWAT teams, and the SWAT teams were involved in tactical responses to high-risk situations in the field. SEB handled things like active shooter situations,

hostage negotiations, search and rescue. It was a job that attracted adrenaline junkies like Aj. He was an army paratrooper and a survivalist, And those military skills, along with his buzz cut and square build, made him a shoe-in for the sheriff's department. He was in the Army and Special Forces. He was working at the elite unit of the department. I have to call him a loner, but he was an elite loner because the guy was doing 50-mile runs. He was an animal. Adjah got his kicks by going on long runs through California's back country.

He'd go out deep into the wilderness to conquer the only obstacle course that still challenged him. And that's how Aja was spending his day off on June 11, 1998. He woke up, put on his running gear, and drove to one of his favorite parks, the devil's punchbowl. It's a rugged canyon where the Angeles National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Mojave Desert all converge. Aja entered the park just before noon, used a pay phone to call into the sheriff's apartment, and then he took off running. He never listened to any music, just the sounds of nature as he jogged along a maze of switchbacks and up a nearly 10,000-foot mountain.

By early evening, he looped back towards the parking lot. But as the sun began to set, the shadows of trees and rocks grew, until night engulfed the park. That evening, I got a phone call saying that Deputy OJ was missing, that he didn't come back to his vehicle and that they were going to start some more extensive searching for him. It's an all-out manhunt for John OJ. Every search and rescue team in L.A. County has been called in to help.

The 38-year-old went hiking Thursday in a rugged section of the Angeles National Forest known as Devil Punch Bulls Park. It's a beautiful but dangerous area, an area where it may be extremely difficult to find OJ. It's a pretty unique situation. The sheriff's department is called in to look for a missing hiker, who's one of their own. So the search and rescue team sent out to look for Ajae consists of his friends and colleagues. We took our teams out and deployed in two-man teams over the edges of the trails, into the little nooks and crannies and the gullies that he could have slipped and fallen into.

But searchers find no trace of Aja. It was as if he just vanished into thin air. And now, nearly 30 years later, the deputy is still missing. I guess I'll open a box. All that remains from Aja's life is packed into five cardboard boxes. The items are wrapped in plastic, and Bauer wears gloves as he combs through them. This is John's work jacket. And it's an SEB jacket with his name embroidered.

on it and Bosco, his dog. Bowers preserving Aja's belongings for future developments in the case. Okay, so here's his running shoes with his name on the back. Those should have some DNA in them. The artifacts also

tell us who Aja was. There's a photo collage full of happy memories. Him and his high school sweetheart Deb on their wedding day, a birthday party for their daughter, Chloe, who was just five when he disappeared. And puppy picks of Bosco,

OJ's department-issued canine. And next to these snapshots of domestic life, there's a steel ballistics helmet intended to stop rifle rounds, trophies for marksmanship, army fatigues, you know, tough guy stuff. Aja moved at a fast clip,

trying to balance the competing demands of home and work. But his life came to an abrupt and puzzling end. His death certificate says cause a death unknown, manner of death unknown. No body. The deputy's body has never been found, which raises a lot of questions from Mike Bauer. And a survivalist getting lost in the woods, another big question mark. Over time, the mystery of it all has turned into something else. Deep and unsettling suspicion about the Los Angeles.

County Sheriff's Department. The only law enforcement agency in this country that I know of, and I've looked around, who has a missing deputy sheriff and doesn't seem to care, what the hell happened? What's the answer? Who's motivated to find the answer? And that's Mike Hugh. When Mike Bauer first told me about Aja, I thought an unsolved disappearance involving a cop. That's unusual. But when he started talking about the show,

Sheriff's Department, his department. That's when I locked in, because you'd expect the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to turn over every stone to find their guy. So the claim that the LASD may have an interest in not solving the case? Now that's a story. So I called up my friend Haley Fox. Like me, she's an investigative journalist, and she knows a lot about the Sheriff's Department, because she's reported on it for many years. Hey, Betsy. How are you doing? I'm good.

I'm ready. Yeah, you want to do this? It's about time. We've been a little road trip adventure. All right, let's do it. We've teamed up on stories before and decided to get the band back together, to find answers about this missing deputy, and to take on the largest sheriff's department in the country.

There's a code of silence in law enforcement. You break that code of silence, and you're done. Hey, if don't fucking kill a cop and bury them, what are they going to do to me? It's an obstruction of justice of a very large scale. I'm Betsy Shepard. I'm Haley Fox. And this is Valley of Shadows, a show about crime and corruption in California's high desert. That was a preview of a new podcast we're loving Valley of Shadows.

Find Valley of Shadows wherever you get your podcast and binge the full series, add free with a Pushkin plus subscription. Sign up on the Valley of Shadow. page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm slash plus. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average. Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by.

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