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Hi, I'm Josh Mankiewicz from Dateline

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with a special preview of our

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new podcast, Mortal Sin. It

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was the morning after Christmas, 1997. Bremerton,

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Washington, just across Puget

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Sound from Seattle. Holiday

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lights twinkled in the foggy air.

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A building contractor named Jeffrey Richardson

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was up early. He

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was headed to his assistant's home to pick up

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some paperwork. He

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pulled up to the man's house on Jensen Avenue at

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about 7 a.m. As

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he got out of his truck, Richardson

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heard a loud crackling noise from

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somewhere behind him. Then,

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what sounded like glass breaking. That's

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when he saw it. Flames and smoke

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leaking out of a window at the house across

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the street. He

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banged on the door and yelled,

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fire. There

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was no response. Engine

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three from the Bremerton Fire Department rolled

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up in five minutes. Firefighters

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contained the blaze and made their way

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to the main bedroom. It

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had been completely scorched. The

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ceiling joists were black with soot and

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ash, and they were starting to

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collapse into the room. On

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the charred bed, investigators saw

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a body in a sleeping

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position. At about 10.15

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a.m., a 27-year-old man named Nick Hackney arrived. He

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identified himself as a pastor from

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a church on nearby Bainbridge Island

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and said he'd been on a hunting

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trip earlier that morning. Nick

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looked at the smoking wreck of a home

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and told a cop, that's

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my house. And

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then he heard the grim news. There

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was a body in the bedroom. Nick

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hacked me, put his head in his hands.

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And then he said he knew who

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it probably was. His

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28 year old wife, Dawn. Word

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quickly spread among Nick's flock at his

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church. Nick's young wife

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of just seven years was gone.

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It was all so heartbreaking,

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so shocking, so dreadful, and

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so unfair. They

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didn't know the half of it. This

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is a story about religion.

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They're singing their hymns, they're saying their prayers, and

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they're getting caught up in something just a notch

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at a time until it seems, what, it's

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too late to turn back. It's

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about the power of prophecy. And

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one of the charismatic gifts is the gift

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of prophecy, where you hear an inspirational word

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from the Holy Spirit or from the

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Lord. She made a comment

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to him. She said,

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I'm ready to go. She

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said, if I were to die, I'm ready.

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Oh, and it's also about sex. A

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lot of it. So

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you could serve God by

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providing physical comfort to one

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of his servants. Right. And

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finally, this is a story about

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murder. There is God,

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there is also a devil. And

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this was the devil? Yes. Thanks

3:37

for listening. Search Mortal Sin

3:40

to listen to the whole episode

3:42

now completely free, or

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subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple

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Podcasts. Subscribers get early

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access to new podcasts, and

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can listen to all Dateline

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podcasts ad-free. Thanks. and

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