Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Introducing... Witnessed: Fade to Black

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

When LA screenwriter Gary Devore mysteriously disappears in the summer of 1997, weird coincidences lead family and friends to believe he may have been a victim of foul play -- possibly because of his mysterious ties to the CIA. Gary was on the way home from finishing his latest script, which was allegedly going to be based in part on real events that occurred during the American invasion of Panama, and that script vanished along with him and his vehicle. In Season 5 of Witnessed: Fade to Black, host Josh Dean — along with journalist Evan Wright and producer Megan Donis — investigates one of the most infamous cases in Hollywood history, revealing at the same time the incredible rise of CIA influence in the film and TV industry.
 Available November 1st, wherever you get your podcasts.  Witnessed: Fade to Black is part of The Binge—a new podcast channel from Sony Music Entertainment. Subscribe now to unlock all shows on The Binge - All Episodes. All at Once... and you’ll be the first to access Fade to Black as soon as it drops on November 1, 2023.  A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production, in association with Stowaway Entertainment. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gary DeBore had it all. A successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter, a beautiful wife, his dream home, good friends. But everything changed the night of June 27th, 1997. I didn't understand that people go missing this way. It's a very odd thing. You have no idea what it's like to lose a human being on your watch. Gary DeVore was on a road trip, driving home from New Mexico in the middle of the night. His wife Wendy was waiting up for him and their home overlooking the beach near Santa Barbara.

Gary called a few times to check in along the way and everything seemed normal a few times to check in along the way and everything seemed normal until his last call. And I said, Gary, are you okay? And he said, I'm pumping pure adrenaline here. And I said, Gary, and he said, gotta go. Writers pick their words very carefully. I'm pumping pure adrenaline here is not a normal thing that he would say ever. That last ping from his cell phone came from a remote denny's on Highway 14 in the middle of the California desert. Nobody ever saw Gary Devora alive again. The search is on tonight for a local screenwriter who never arrived back home from an out-of-town trip.

Highway Patrol and the LA County Sheriff's Department have both been on the lookout for any sign of DeVore's car, and so far they tell us they have nothing to report. It's light-guarred divorce and we've vanished into thin air. Gary was a hit machine. He'd written for the biggest action heroes of the 90s. Wesley Snipes, Tommy Lee Jones, John Claude Van Damme, and when it looked like his actual life had morphed into one of his thrillers, Hollywood wanted to help. The minute that I heard that Arnold Schwarzenegger was active in trying to find Gary, I thought

he would. I had the biggest action stars in Hollywood searching for my husband. The thing is, it wasn't just Gary that went missing that night. When he vanished, he had the only copy of his latest screenplay with him. And this screenplay, it may have contained secrets about the US government that transcended the world of make-believe. Secrets that certain officials may have wanted buried. Given Gary's connections, it wouldn't have been a stretch.

The CIA had had an office in Hollywood that set up in the mid-1990s. Gary told me that this script was going to blow the lid off the CIA. I absolutely think it's the Department of Intelligence. I have no doubt. You should never have written it, and it did have classified information. This thing with the CIA, you don't want to get involved with those people in a negative way. He didn't care, he'd challenge anybody. He was tough, I don't know what to say, he was a tough guy. He wouldn't have gone easily.

So the disappearing was just the weirdest thing. The speculation over divorce fate continues to this day. Was he a secret operative with a double life, victim of a drug cartel assassination, or was he just a careless driver on a treacherous piece of highway? The evidence is elusive. When they pulled the car out with the skeletonized body inside, I said there's something wrong here, it's not him. It's not him, because he's wearing a seatbelt. And then, I see there are no hands. Where are the hands?

Where are the hands? From Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment, this is Witnessed, Season 5, Fade to Black. The mysterious disappearance of screenwriter Gary Devore and the rise of the CIA in Hollywood. Coming November 1st, subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes or listen weekly, wherever you get your podcasts.