valley of shadows

Apple podcast #1 Series

On June 11, 1998, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jon Aujay went jogging in the Devil’s Punchbowl — a rocky canyon at the edge of the Mojave Desert — and was never seen again.

The Sheriff’s Department quickly ruled Aujay’s disappearance a suicide, but how could the LASD reach that conclusion without a body, a note, or evidence of any kind? Many of Aujay’s family members, friends, and LASD colleagues don’t buy it. Instead, they are convinced that he was murdered and that his own department is covering it up.

Hosts Betsy Shepherd and Hayley Fox dig into decades of confidential reports and talk to whistleblowers about what the sheriff’s department has kept hidden for more than 25 years. And they follow the mystery through the tumbleweed towns of LA County, where outlaw biker gangs crank out methamphetamine, and deputies operate on both sides of the law.

Told over 8 episodes, Valley of Shadows takes us into the Devil’s Punchbowl and follows the hairpin turns of the Aujay case to uncover what really happened to the missing deputy.