The Deck - Douglas Wagg, Jr. (Wild Card, North Carolina)

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Since the release of CounterClock Season 1, Delia has received hundreds of requests from families of victims of violent crime. In November 2022, one message in her inbox stood out from the rest. It was from a middle-aged woman asking for Delia's help investigating the mysterious death of her 27-year-old brother from 1991. The message stood out for one big reason. The man's mangled body was found in an all-too familiar place to Delia. Eastern North Carolina.Thirty-three years after Douglas Wagg, Jr. turned up on a lone stretch of railroad tracks in the middle of the night in rural Martin County and over a year since Delia took on the case the scope of what was really going on in the area during the 1990's has come into view. Who was Doug? How did he end up so far from home? Who was he last seen with? Was the train really what killed him? Why was his case never investigated?The journey to find the answers to those questions has revealed a web of small town secrets that feel like fiction, except they're not. Over the course of the Season 6 investigation Delia has interviewed more than 45 people, spoken with convicted murderers in prison, and traced the origins of a disturbing pattern of behavior within local law enforcement that may have resulted in a decades-long cover up of multiple deaths. The investigation into what happened to Doug Wagg appears to be just the tip of a very large, very complicated iceberg that someone has worked hard to keep hidden for more than three decades.Access to all episodes of CounterClock Season 6 is now available at the $10 and $20 tiers in the Crime Junkie Fan Club App.  For even more time with CounterClock, follow us on social media.Instagram: @counterclockpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CounterClockPod | @audiochuckFacebook: /CounterClockPodcast | /audiochuckllc

Hi, deck listeners, Ashley Flowers here, and I am dropping in your feed today to remind you that there are already eight episodes of the newest season of Counter Clock out right now. And trust me, this is one you do not wanna be missing. In season six, investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra has been probing into the suspicious death of Douglas Wagg Jr. after he was mysteriously found

on a stretch of railroad tracks days after leaving his home just to run an errand. But here's where things get wild. Delia's look into this one mysterious death led to so many more twists and turns. Honestly, you're not gonna know which way is up. And as she's been looking for the truth, she has found a whole pattern of suspicious deaths,

a string of crimes and corruption, and a tangled web of small town secrets that has her questioning the very place she calls home. This is truly one of the wildest seasons yet, and I know you guys will be just as invested as I am. So if you're not already hooked and up to speed, I'm gonna play the trailer for you right now. But then make sure you head over to the counter-clock feed

to catch up on the first eight episodes that are already out and waiting for you right now, but then make sure you head over to the counter-clock feed to catch up on the first eight episodes that are already out and waiting for you. And don't forget to follow the show so you don't miss new episodes that release weekly. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can join the Crime Junkie fan club to binge the full season right now. Here, take a listen. ["The Uncanny Counter-Strike"] Busy track.

Still is. And they were on a pretty tight schedule. I mean, you could pretty well set your clock by. In the early morning hours of July 8th, 1991, something was on the railroad tracks just outside the town of Williamston, North Carolina. Everything goes through your head. This was not supposed to be there.

That something turned out to be a someone. There was no movement at all. He said, your son Doug is dead. There's really no way to word it, how feel when you lose somebody you're thinking you're going to spend the rest of your life with. For more than three decades, questions about what happened to 27-year-old Douglas Wagg, Jr. have gone unanswered. Why was he down here?

What was going on with Dougie? Where was he? I don't know anymore now than I did 32 years ago. Doug's family never got a straight answer from police about what led up to his demise. And that's because law enforcement chose not to seek answers. They said, I don't know what you think you're doing in my county working my crime scene, but this was an accident. For them not to have followed through with what they were required to do, to me is negligence.

The longer I've studied Doug's case, the more I've realized the investigator's decision three decades ago doesn't make any sense because the circumstances of Doug's death don't make any sense. It's almost like somebody's trying to throw you off track from what might have really happened. It's not the train that killed him. He was killed somewhere else and he was put on those tracks. Over the last year, I've uncovered a web of small town secrets that many people have worked very hard to keep silent. The cell is confidential. Don't go asking questions. Do not go looking for answers.

The only answers is why. And why will get you in trouble more than once. The good old boy syndrome back then was running wild. Shady. They were shady cops back then was running wild. Shady. They were shady cops back then. I never expected that probing into one man's death would reveal a string of crimes. There was a lot of heroin, a lot of cocaine coming in. Missing people.

They went missing for inapparent reasons, and the truck went missing at the same time. He came to me in a dream. He said, Mom, I was killed, and don't let them get away with this. And at least nine deaths. When he's shot, we heard this. All of it has made me rethink everything I thought I knew about where I'm from. On the highway, you'd see a sign, welcome to Johnston County, KKK country.

So buckle up. This season is the most intense investigation yet. When you have one big thing, it makes you question everything. And just like me, you won't see the twists coming. All I could think about was this baby. He was a living testimony and they needed him gone. Has anyone other than me contacted you about this in the last 30 plus years? At some point in time, somebody was going to come asking questions.

Somebody was going to want to know what happened to their loved one because somebody was getting away with murder. Episodes of Counter Clock Season 6 begin releasing this May. Be sure to follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.