Episode Transcript
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0:00
Hello. I'm Keith Morrison from Dateline NBC
0:02
with a special preview of our new
0:04
podcast. Murder and Magnolia's.
0:08
From a comfortable world of wealth and
0:10
privilege comes a dark tale of
0:12
desire, money, betrayal,
0:16
and the need to win at all
0:18
costs. Just how low
0:20
will a good person be willing to go?
0:23
Well, here is murder
0:25
and Magnolia's.
0:29
It had been a glorious vacation.
0:32
For two weeks, the Latham family,
0:35
among pleasant South Carolina, had
0:37
basked and simple summertime pleasures.
0:41
fishing, boating, water
0:43
skiing, swimming in the
0:45
cool, clear water of Lake Greenwood.
0:48
A large man made lake in the
0:50
western part of the state.
0:52
We had never in our lives taken a two
0:54
week vacation ever.
0:56
That's the voice of Nancy Latham.
0:59
And
0:59
this particular year, Chris was insistent
1:01
we take a two week vacation. Chris
1:03
Latham, the workaholic, finally
1:06
had the time.
1:08
He'd grown up nearby in
1:10
the town of Greenwood. And you
1:12
had a good vacation?
1:13
We had a great vacation. And
1:14
the girls, the teenagers, Well,
1:18
they spent those two weeks in July two thousand
1:20
eleven, perfecting their tans and
1:22
roaring around the eleven thousand acre
1:24
lake on Jetskin. He's not care
1:26
in the world. Idyllic? Oh,
1:30
yes. It
1:33
lives only in haunted memory
1:35
now. The last day of that
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splendid vacation. It's
1:40
peaceful mundane moments preserved
1:43
as if on an old film played
1:46
back in agonized
1:48
Technicolor again and
1:50
again. The
1:52
last moments of the time
1:54
before, we were at the lake
1:56
house. I was working up in
1:58
the house. That's
1:59
the voice
1:59
of Chris Latham. She
2:02
was
2:02
down with the girls and the water
2:04
jet skiing, you know, or whatever.
2:10
The sun was setting on that last
2:12
day. In the fading light,
2:14
an attentive observer could have seen the
2:16
lithium's pontoon boat drifting in
2:18
the middle of the lake hundred yards out or
2:20
more. May have
2:22
recognized it darkened silhouettes
2:24
of Chris and Nancy sitting
2:26
in that boat facing each other, and
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something in their posture is perhaps a quick
2:32
jabbing gesture this to kato
2:35
sound of a distant voice, sharp,
2:37
but too dim to make out the words.
2:40
What were they talking about? only
2:43
they knew. But
2:45
afterward, afterward,
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the rippling consequences of that twilight
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chat between husband and wife would
2:54
damage everyone they knew and
2:57
many. They didn't. It
3:00
was really a tangled
3:02
web. This
3:04
is the story of that moment
3:06
on the lake. and the strange,
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dark turn of sun bright
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lives. The line between good and
3:13
evil sort of runs through the heart of each person.
3:16
The truth be told
3:18
we were both horrible. I
3:21
think people are really capable
3:23
of anything
3:25
Thank you for listening. Search for murder
3:27
in Magnolia's to listen to the full
3:29
episode. Now, completely free.
3:32
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3:34
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3:37
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3:40
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