The Night of the Audition

0:00Tonight on Dateline. My biggest nightmare was that one of my children would go missing. I never thought it would happen. Just beyond, beyond imaginable. She was very committed to her acting career. I believe you do good things, but I'm not doing this again. Was going to auditions all the time. I was really concerned something bad had happened. No sign of her anywhere. No sign of her, no. We had reached out to a couple of casting agencies. Every single possibility went through my head. Maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her. Her husband was cooperative. He was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her.

0:41Did you know that they had an open relationship? Yes, she was very open about her life. She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time. What is it like to feel like you're a suspect? Completely surreal. Why is her phone moving? Who was with this phone? Was it Shannon? My stomach dropped. He had written, I love you on the mirror, and he was covered in blood. An aspiring young actress poised for her first big break till someone played a killer part. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.

1:21Here's Keith Morrison with the night of the audition.

1:36In a million years, Lisa Medill could never have seen herself doing this. Mother of four adult children in boxing gloves? As if she could punch away her anguish, exhaust her body, calm her mind, get through another day. Unless you've lived through it, you cannot comprehend it. It's a nightmare. And it goes on. It doesn't stop.

2:05I am interning for my radio and television program. It began, the nightmare, just after this video was recorded. That's Lisa's youngest. She was 25 then. An aspiring actress and comedian, Shannon Medill. This was her audition for a breakout role in a new TV series. Hey, Wesley. Yeah? Could you, if it's not too much to ask, could you help me with this trivia video? You can kind of get a sense of her personality. Some suggestions? A feisty and quirky free spirit. She'd lose her keys and misappointments. But she never missed a chance to be the center of attention. From the time she could walk and talk, she loved a spotlight and a microphone.

2:57She was happy to perform for everybody. She was always telling jokes. She was just one of those people that you liked being around because she brought a really positive energy to everything. Older sister Erin was convinced that Shannon was going to be a star. Did that really seem possible? She was that good? I thought she was fantastic. She was more than happy to do anything and everything that would get her name out there. She was funny. Her personality was amazing. And she was fantastic to work with because she was happy to just go with the flow and do whatever was required. And her husband, Josh Burgess, was there to support her.

3:37I basically kick ass for you day and night because I believe you do good things. But I'm not doing this again. That's Josh on the right, helping Shannon play a scene for an audition reel. You're lucky I'm amazing.

3:53This was home. Calgary. A bustling metropolis bursting at its seams here in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies. A city with possibilities, where great things could happen. More about me. I love plants. I have lots. The audition, Shannon's audition, was on the 26th of November, 2014. A couple of days later, Shannon was supposed to meet with one of her brothers for dinner. She was a no-show. Older brother, Tyler, wasn't surprised. I recall at the time kind of thinking, like, you know, it's not unlike her to flake out or disappear. I even remember saying, like, give her a little bit, she'll probably turn up shortly.

4:41But she didn't. Erin called and texted Shannon. No answer. Not that day, or the next, or the next. Everything goes through your mind. I mean, Calgary winters, and especially on those highways, they can be deadly. And at the end of that November, a blizzard had just blown through town. But then an answer, apparently, to their little mystery. Josh told Erin that Shannon was 200 miles away in Edmonton, where he texted she apparently got a big roll. And snowstorm or not, she had to go. But because of the snowstorm that had happened on the Friday, she was too afraid to take her car. So she got a ride from a friend, except just like Shannon, she didn't say who.

5:31Josh didn't seem too worried, but Erin was. So she called the police and filed a missing persons report. I was really concerned that obviously something bad had happened, and that's why we couldn't find her anymore. So you fear the worst, but you hope for the best. Of course, they had to explain to the police that Shannon was unpredictable. Maybe she was in Edmonton, or maybe somewhere else altogether. Detective Christina Witt. It wouldn't be unheard of for Shannon to kind of go off the grid for a period of time. Not that she had done that a lot, but her sister had felt maybe she was being dramatic and just needed to take a break.

6:13Just the same, police sent a couple of officers over to Shannon and Josh's house. They asked for consent by Josh to do a search of the residence, a walkthrough. On that walkthrough, they didn't see anything suspicious. By then, said Josh, it was four days since he'd last seen or heard from Shannon, and that was the night she recorded that audition. Since she was busy, Josh had gone out that night. He said just around midnight, he got home, he saw Shannon on the couch, and went to bed. Next morning, she was gone. But this seemed weird, though maybe not if you knew Shannon. Josh said she left a pair of jeans behind, and her phone and wallet were still in the pockets.

6:59It wasn't the first time something like that happened, said Josh. Her family agreed, but each day that went by was worse. I wondered how that must have been for you on those first days piling up and then weeks. What was that like, that period? Oh, it was dreadful. It was the worst thing that I've ever had to live through. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I was just walking in a daze the whole time. I was trying to function, but it wasn't working very well. Police took Shannon's cell phone for analysis. They also conducted multiple searches, starting in Shannon's neighborhood. It's protocol to do a 500-meter search on the outer perimeter of the residence, just to see what they can see.

7:44And, you know, they started canvassing the neighborhood, asking neighbors questions, trying to collect CCTV, those kinds of things, and then identifying who else they can speak to for witnesses. No sign of her anywhere? No sign of her, no. You can't do anything about it until she's found. There's just nothing that you can do. The police were great. They were doing as much as they could. But at that point, there were really no leads. And so she's just disappeared. The family had to consider a terrifying possibility. She had actually threatened to commit suicide a couple of months prior. The police came to assist when she was standing on a platform, debating jumping in front of a train.

8:30So I knew that she did have low moments, yes. The Bow River that flows through town. Could Shannon have gone there? The family was worried, did Shannon drown in the river? so there were searches going on on the riverbanks. Then, almost a week after Shannon missed that family dinner, Josh called Aaron and said that his credit card company had alerted him that someone used his card in New York City. At that point in time, anything, there were all kind of possibilities. We were concerned that maybe she was in New York. Where was Shannon Medill? Possible clues would start to appear. A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree.

9:17And what did he have to do with it? Was she married at the time? She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time. What did love have to do with it? He had written, in blood, I love you on a mirror.

9:45December dawned confused among the Medills of Calgary, Alberta. For five days, they'd been trying to track down their Shannon. They even got the police involved and the media. Though, as the family told the assembled reporters, they hoped she was alive and well somewhere. I just want to make sure that she understands that, even with all this media attention, that she's not in trouble, nobody's going to be mad. Just please let us know that you're okay wherever you are. This is Shannon's husband. Shannon's husband Josh was there, but he was too upset to say anything. You know, he's miserable and didn't want to be out in public and was kind of dealing with the grief of her being gone.

10:30It's a cliché to say it's always the husband. No one said that about Josh. Quiet, steady Josh, the IT consultant, the soft-spoken yin to her funny, noisy yang. They had started dating four years earlier. She needed somebody who could actually be there for her on a more emotional level. And Josh was that for her. He was very supportive of everything she did. And he was there to try to help her achieve her goals. And I think that's what really drew her to him. And she did truly love him. I think she saw him as being her forever. He was a shoulder she could cry on if she had to, or if she was in a depressed mood, he was there for her, etc.

11:15Yeah, he was there to help her out constantly. When she had down days, a lot of comedians, as I'm sure you know, tend to suffer from some depression. It's probably why they're so funny, is they're constantly trying to make sure that nobody else has to feel that pain. And when she would go through those dark moments, he was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her. Did you see him very much? Yep, saw him on a regular basis. He would come to things, even if she wasn't available, he would come to family events on his own. Which is like becoming part of the family. He was part of the family.

11:46He officially joined a family seven months earlier when he and Shannon got married. You know, he was quiet and shy, a very nice person. If Shannon's family had anything negative to say, it was that Josh was too much of a church mouth. But Shannon, they described her as having a fiery personality. And that if anyone was going to start an argument between the two of them, it would be Shannon. And that Josh would just go with it. And that Josh was a really nice person, kind of a gentle soul. And Shannon was the one that was more of a kind of aggressive, get-going kind of personality. That's the picture they painted of Josh.

12:27A gentle soul who sadly seemed to have no idea what Shannon was up to. There was that business about Josh's credit card turning up in New York City, but it couldn't have been Shannon using it there. Her passport was still at home. And another week went by. And then? The police called and asked me to provide every single photographer that had taken headshots of her. And that's when I realized that they were debating if maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her. And why might they think that? Because of a very strange development in a local Calgary park, which had the makings of some bizarre ritual.

13:09A tree had been carved, the bark had been carved away, and a picture was posted on the tree. And the hair color and the skin color of the neck matched Shannon's. So there was concern. A hiker came across the image and got it to police. The original was not saved, so Detective Witt used AI to produce this virtual copy. There was actually a second photo, and it was of a female in a field holding a dove in the air, and there's a string connecting the dove to this female, and that female looked very similar to Shannon. So a team of Calgary cops spread out all around that big park. They spent two days searching the place.

13:52Trying to figure out if someone, you know, had harmed her and were going to find her body in the park, or was this some elaborate stunt to get media attention? We had no idea. And after the first two days of searching, some students came forward. They'd seen it on the news, and she purposely came forward to the police and said, hey, those pictures were ours. Was that an art project or something that the students had put on? It was. They were art students. It was a project. Another blind Allie. My biggest nightmare was that she was still alive, locked in a basement and being hurt. And I became really obsessed with trying to find her.

14:31And it became all-consuming for me. Can anybody really understand what it's like to be in that awful place of not knowing? Only people who have lost someone, because that ambiguous loss is, it eats your soul. It was about then that police encountered quite another possibility. This guy. I was asked, you know, questions with a harder edge, like, you know, where were you and who were you with?

15:14Complications. One in particular. Maybe it mattered to the search for Shannon Medill. Maybe not. She'd confided in Erin and her mom a secret of sorts. a secret that would take the investigation in a new direction. Just months after they were married, Shannon had persuaded Josh to try an open marriage. She was the one who wanted it? She was the one who requested it, yeah. What did you think? I'm pretty open-minded. I have a couple of different friends who are in open relationships, and they've made it work really well. I told her I had concerns because one of the most important things is a lot of open, honest conversation, and I wasn't sure if they were both mature enough for that.

15:58Did you know that they had a kind of a, at one point, at least had an open relationship? Yes, she had spoken to me about that. She had, huh? Yeah. Yeah. She was very open about her life. Maybe a little bit too open with her life. I don't know how I would react if one of my children said, I have an open marriage. We see other people. I was nonjudgmental. I did say that I'd known other open marriages and that they hadn't worked. But when your children are in their 20s, 30s, you don't really have any control over what they do. You have to sit and listen and hopefully be the shoulder to cry on if they need it or just listen and not judge.

16:39What did you think privately when you weren't judging? That it was a big mistake is what I thought. Josh didn't seem to think it was a mistake. He rather liked the arrangement. Was up front with the police from the very beginning. Josh was the person that let them know, you know, we're in this open relationship. But, as we say, complications. For police, it meant looking into an entire reservoir of possible suspects. There were other men, any one of whom could have taken Shannon away somewhere, or might have done something to harm her. Josh said he knew who the men were, and he gave the police a list of names.

17:20I think we ended up doing seven interviews of other men who had been involved in her life. Did the police ever come to talk to you? The police did. A detective contacted me and asked me to come in for an interview. Hello, everyone. My name is Ian Wallace. Yeah, I'm fun tonight. Ian Wallace is a local stand-up comedian. He had met Shannon a few months before she vanished. They worked on a sketch together. And then, well, one thing led to another. She was married at the time, and I was also married at the time. Ah, did you both know that? We both knew that immediately. Ian was also in an open marriage when he met Shannon.

18:00What was it about her? How would you describe her way of being, her character, her demeanor? Very lively, very energetic, and I could tell right away that her sense of humor was very keen, and maybe even a little edgy, which, you know, that's me as well. she just was bouncy in her movements and just very just lively and I think it would be hard for anyone to not be drawn in by that. Did you fall in love with her? I think I did I mean I did Ian said he talked to Shannon the last day anyone saw her, the day of her audition and then a few days later. I got a message on Facebook from Josh that Shannon was missing and that the family, you know, was freaking out and didn't know where she was and that you needed to know if I knew anything about where she was or where she might be.

18:55And that's when I really started to worry and panic even a little bit. Had you met Josh at that point? Josh and I crossed paths, and I mean that quite literally. One time, Shannon and I were headed to watch a movie at her place, and Josh was headed out, I think, to see somebody that he was dating. And we literally just sort of said hello to each other at the doorway. Was that awkward? Yeah, it's always awkward when you're, you know, in that sort of situation of meeting someone else's partner. The dominant feeling is that you're both maybe kind of worried that the other one is angry or going to be confrontational or jealous or something like that.

19:36But that wasn't really the experience I had with Josh. It was just, hey, you guys have fun tonight. You know, I'll be home at whatever. And just like, that's all it was. Was it? Police weren't so sure. They called Ian in for a second time. That interview was much more, I think, interested in establishing where I was around the time of Shannon's disappearance. So I was asked, you know, questions with a harder edge, like, you know, where were you and who were you with? What is it like to feel like you're a suspect in a serious investigation like that? I mean, it felt completely surreal. It was almost like one of those experiences where you kind of watch yourself from outside your body, where I was just kind of like, this is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me.

20:20Do you remember the look in the officer's eye? Yeah. I mean, you get a vibe, I think, when somebody is trying to size you up and maybe even throw you off kilter a little bit to see how you'll react. It felt intense while it was happening. But Ian was far from the only romantic interest attached to that complicated little household, or the only person of interest. Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious.

21:06All they could do was tell themselves comforting stories. Their Shannon had to be alive somewhere. It was nearly a month since she had disappeared. Christmas was coming. She would turn up, as if their love alone could bring her home. We'll find her. We'll figure this out. I think we were consoling each other. We were all together, and it was a family affair. We had to stick together to get through it. what were those holidays like? I mean, the holidays were obviously the worst. Josh came over, bearing gifts and sharing worry. And meanwhile, the police kept looking and getting nowhere. Except one piece of the story that kept nattering away in Detective Witt's brain.

21:53That open marriage. I got the sense that it was okay for them to see other people as long as it didn't get serious. But the thing was, maybe it did get serious. For Josh, at least. There was this one particular woman. Shannon had taken issue with the woman that Josh was seeing because she felt it was getting serious. So the police asked Josh about that, and he said, yes, it was true, he'd been seeing her for months. So could his girlfriend be involved? She became a person of interest. And, of course, they had questions for her, too, such as, did she have any idea where Shannon was? No. Where was she the night Shannon was last seen?

22:43On a date. Who was she with? Well, it was Josh. Had she met Shannon? Yeah, a few times. Did Shannon approve? Her mom knew the answer to that question. From what she told me, he had broken the rules of the open marriage. I guess you set some boundaries and some rules, and he had broken those. Shannon thought Josh's affair had gotten way too intimate. So, according to her family... She wanted him to break up with her, and he didn't want to do that. Instead, Josh told her he wanted to end his marriage to Shannon. How did you hear about that? She phoned me. Just was in tears and couldn't figure out what was going on and, you know, went through the whole, I don't know what to do, mom.

23:35And that happened on October 26th, so about a month before she went missing. And she was devastated when he asked for the divorce. Obviously, that's also a very critical time in a domestic relationship. It can be dangerous. But I think it added stress to Shannon and that stress was playing out in different ways in her life, I would say. How did she feel about all of this stuff with Josh? She was really devastated. We were hanging out and she was talking about how she had such mixed feelings. She was so angry and so hurt, but also things were going so well for her outside of this marriage that she just, she didn't know what she wanted to do.

24:13Did you stay in touch with Josh during this, during that time they were going through those troubles? Did you talk to him much? I did, actually. Josh and I were friendly. And when she called me to say that they were getting a divorce and he'd asked for it, my very first text after I got off the phone was a message of support to Josh. I've actually been through a divorce myself, and I know how hard it is on both people. Shannon was shuttling back and forth between acting gigs and overwhelmed emotionally by the chaos in her personal life. And then, just like that, Josh apologized. Told her he didn't want a divorce after all.

24:50Once they made the decision to try to work on their marriage, Shannon requested that he actually end the mistress relationship so that they could focus on the marriage and really focus on what brought them together in the first place. And so, to Shannon's great relief, they decided to return to a more traditional marriage. Shannon was all in. So was Josh. She thought. Unfortunately, Josh lied to her and to the mistress, telling Shannon he was leaving the mistress to work with her. and then was meeting up with the mistress saying, I'm planning on leaving my wife soon. Shannon found out, was devastated all over again, and soon she was gone.

25:30Too proud to face the humiliation? Perhaps. Despite the turmoil in the marriage, Shannon's family did not believe Josh harmed her, not her quiet, steady church mouse. I never felt that he was involved. I just couldn't imagine that somebody who loved her would have done something to her. I did not have any interactions with him that would have said, he's capable of something like this. But Detective Witt was focused less on personality and more on the puzzle she was trying to put together. And perhaps unwittingly, the girlfriend had handed her a missing piece. She said she had been texting with Josh at 3 a.m.

26:14that morning, whereas Josh had told us when he got home, he went straight to bed.

26:33It was spring. Shannon Medill had been missing since November. Her family suspended in a never-ending state of dread. I mean, the hell that you were going through, I don't know what anybody can possibly understand, but... No, not unless you live through it. It's interesting. There's a lot of activity at the very beginning. And then as the leads fall away, you hear less and less and less. You know, you start to wonder if she'll ever be found, if this is just going to be a giant mystery for the rest of your life. And you just hope that they find something that will bring this all to an end. Where was Josh when all this was going on?