Episode Transcript
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0:01
Hey listeners, as you all know from
0:03
my interviews here on Dark Arenas, the
0:05
world can be a dark place. And
0:07
through my years as an investigative journalist,
0:09
I thought I had a pretty good
0:11
understanding of the depths of the criminal
0:13
justice system, the problems, the scandals, and
0:15
the issues, especially in the place I
0:17
call home. But then I started
0:19
investigating a case that turned that
0:21
assumption upside down. Over
0:24
the past year, I've turned back the
0:26
clock to the early morning hours of
0:28
a summer day in 1991 just outside
0:31
of the tiny town of Williamston, North
0:33
Carolina. When a train conductor
0:35
noticed something laying across the train tracks,
0:38
but that something turned out to be
0:40
a someone. 27-year-old
0:42
Douglas Wag, Jr. and questions about how
0:45
or why he was found, where he
0:47
was, have never been answered, which
0:49
may have been intentional. The
0:52
longer I've been studying Doug's case,
0:54
interviewing investigators, key witnesses, loved ones,
0:57
and even my own father, the
0:59
more small town secrets, missing
1:01
people, and conspiracy theories I've
1:03
uncovered. And I'm confident that
1:05
just like me, while you're listening to
1:08
this story, you won't see the twist
1:10
coming. I'm gonna give you a
1:12
little sneak peek with the trailer for Counterclock Season 6.
1:15
But as soon as you're done, there are
1:17
four episodes waiting for you in the counterclock
1:19
feed. And you can even
1:21
join the Crime Junkie Fan Club app to
1:23
binge all episodes now, or
1:25
listen to new episodes of Counterclock
1:28
Weekly, wherever you're listening. Busy
1:36
track, still is. And
1:42
they were on a pretty tight schedule. I mean,
1:44
you could pretty well set your clock by them.
1:48
In the early morning hours of July 8, 1991,
1:52
something was on the railroad tracks just
1:54
outside the town of Williamston, North Carolina.
2:00
was not supposed to be there. But
2:02
something turned out to be a
2:04
someone. There was no
2:06
movement at all. You
2:10
said your son Doug is dead. There's really
2:12
no way to word it how you feel when
2:14
you leave somebody you think you're gonna spend the
2:16
rest of your life with. For
2:19
more than three decades, questions about what
2:21
happened to 27-year-old Douglas
2:23
Wagg, Jr. have gone unanswered.
2:26
Why was he down here? What was
2:28
going on with Dougie? Where was he? I
2:31
don't know anymore now than I did 32
2:33
years ago. Doug's family
2:35
never got a straight answer from police about
2:37
what led up to his demise. And
2:40
that's because law enforcement chose not
2:42
to seek answers. I
2:44
don't know what you think you're doing in my
2:47
county working with my crime scene, but
2:50
this was an accident.
2:53
For them not to have followed through
2:55
with what they were required to do, to
2:58
me, it's negligence. The
3:01
longer I've studied Doug's case, the more
3:04
I've realized the investigator's decision
3:06
three decades ago doesn't make
3:08
any sense because the
3:10
circumstances of Doug's death don't make
3:12
any sense. It's almost
3:14
like somebody's trying to throw you off tracks
3:17
from what might have really happened.
3:20
It's not the train that killed him. He
3:22
was killed somewhere else, and he was put
3:24
on those tracks. Over
3:28
the last year, I've uncovered a
3:30
web of small-town secrets that many
3:32
people have worked very hard to
3:34
keep silent. The foul
3:36
is confidential. Don't
3:38
go asking questions. Do
3:41
not go looking for answers. The
3:43
only answer is why, and
3:45
why I will get you in trouble more
3:47
than once. The good
3:49
old boy syndrome back then was running
3:51
wild. Shady, they were
3:53
standing cops back then. I
3:57
never expected that probing into one...
4:00
man's death would reveal a string of
4:02
crimes. It was a lot of
4:04
heroin, a lot of cocaine, and the other. Missing
4:08
people. They went missing
4:11
for inapparent reasons, and
4:13
the truck went missing at the same time.
4:16
He came to me in the dream, he'd
4:18
say, Mom, I will kill you, don't let him
4:20
get away with this. And at
4:23
least nine deaths. When
4:25
he's shot, we heard this. All
4:29
of it has made me lose me. Everything
4:31
I thought I knew about where I'm from.
4:34
On the highway, you'd see signs,
4:37
Welcome to Johnson County, KKK country.
4:40
So buckle up, this season
4:42
is the most intense investigation
4:44
yet. When you have one
4:47
big thing, it makes you question everything.
4:50
And just like me, you won't see
4:52
the twist coming. All I
4:54
could think about was this baby. He
4:57
was a living testimony,
5:00
and they needed him gone. Has
5:02
anyone other than me contacted you about
5:04
this in the last 30 plus years? No.
5:08
At some point in time, somebody was going to get an
5:10
asking question. Somebody was going
5:12
to want to listen to the love of him because
5:14
somebody was getting a little nervous. Episodes
5:19
of Counterclock Season 6 begin
5:21
releasing this May. Be sure
5:23
to follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
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