The Night Shift (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

0:00On an afternoon in December of 1991, a woman in small-town Utah opened up her mailbox. Inside was a credit card bill that was addressed to her husband, who had disappeared a week earlier. And the woman found this to be really strange, because as far as she knew, her husband didn't have a credit card. However, when she finally ripped open the envelope and actually read the charges, she realized that her missing husband might have been keeping an even bigger secret. But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place because that's all we do, and we upload two, three, even four times every week.

0:41So, if that's of interest to you, the next time you notice the follow button parked at the grocery store, make sure you park your car close enough to theirs so they are not able to open up their driver's side door. Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story.

1:18Adobe Firefly is the all-in-one creative studio with AI-powered image and video generation for today's creative process. Built for creators of every kind, Firefly helps you generate, edit, and experiment fast. Because the asks aren't getting smaller, the budgets aren't getting bigger, and the timelines, ugh, yeah, still tight. With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Unlock a better way to make with Adobe Firefly. Insurance isn't one-size-fits-all. That's why drivers have trusted Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years. Just tell Progressive what you want to pay, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget.

1:59Visit Progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company & Affiliates. Price and coverage match. Limited by state law. Around 6.30 p.m. on December 10, 1991, a 22-year-old security guard named Brian Ruff sat inside of a guard shack at the Kennecott Copper Mine in northern Utah, reading a college textbook. The shack was barely big enough for one person to sit inside of, and there were windows on all four sides looking out into the total darkness. The sun was already down, and this was a really isolated part of the mine with no lights or other buildings nearby, so apart from a little bit of moonlight on the snow, it was basically pitch black outside.

2:40Brian had worked as a security guard for this mine for a little over a year, but he'd only been stationed at this particular guard shack for a couple of weeks now. And in his opinion, it was the worst post he could have been assigned to. His job was to guard this chain-link gate on a remote service road that led into the canyons. This was a really out-of-the-way entrance into the mine, which meant that not a lot of vehicles came this way. So the job was basically just really boring. But it was also simultaneously very dangerous. The Kennecock Copper Mine was known as the richest hole on earth because of the huge amount of valuable materials buried there, including obviously copper and gold and silver.

3:23And that made it a big target for thieves. In fact, in just the past few months, more than$150 ,000 worth of material and equipment had been stolen from the mine. So as a result, Brian was a little bit nervous about being out here in the middle of nowhere. Not only because it was, you know, pitch black outside, but also he was unarmed and there were no security cameras. So if he did encounter thieves, he basically had to handle it by himself, armed with nothing more than a telephone to call for help. But on this particular night, his shift had been, you know, routine so far, slow and uneventful.

3:59So Brian was now just sort of passing the time studying. He was in nursing school and his final exams were coming up in a few days, so he was just sort of pouring over his textbooks and notes to prepare. While he studied, he took out his thermos full of soup that he had brought for dinner. And just as he began eating the soup, the phone on his desk rang. Now, Brian immediately did want to answer the phone because he knew very likely it was his wife, Jennifer. But at the same time, right now, things at home were not great. Jennifer worked as a nurse's aide, and Brian had also started working nights at the mine to help support the family while he went to nursing school during the day.

4:36But even with both of them working, it was hard to make ends meet. And now Jennifer was pregnant again with their second child, which was going to make things even harder financially. And the pressure of juggling school and work and parenthood had been putting a big strain on their marriage. And about a month ago, Brian had sort of reached a breaking point, and he'd actually walked out on his family. He'd left a note for Jennifer saying he just needed time alone to think. And then he had driven to his work, he had turned in his security badge and told his boss he quit. Then he had left town, and he'd spent almost a week in Las Vegas.

5:13And eventually, he'd driven all the way out to San Francisco. But while he was there, you know, having his time alone, he'd received word that his daughter was in the emergency room with pneumonia back home in Utah. And for Brian, it was like that was his wake-up call. He realized he could not live with himself if he truly abandoned his family. And so he drove right back to Utah to be with Jennifer and to be with his daughter, who would make a recovery. And, you know, Jennifer, she would take Brian back, despite, you know, him walking out on the family, at least for a short time. But her accepting him back into the fold did not sort of make them return to normal.

5:49In reality, you know, after he returned, there just was this constant sense that there was tension hanging over their relationship because of what Brian had done, you know, abandoning them. So now, in the guard shack, Brian took a deep breath, and then he picked up the ringing phone, and for a few minutes, he just chatted on the phone, until he suddenly saw something out the window. A flash of headlights coming up the road towards his guard shack. And so at this point, Brian said he had to go, he hung up and went right outside to meet the approaching vehicle. About an hour and a half later, so around 8 p.m., Brian's boss, Todd Fallows, pulled up to the gate next to the guard shack.

6:30The shack's lights were on, but he couldn't see anybody inside of it. And Todd found this pretty odd, because Brian wasn't supposed to leave his post under any circumstance. That was sort of like the main component to the job. You stay put. But making this even stranger was Brian's car was parked right next to the shack. And this shack is so far away from every other building that really there was no way for Brian to go anywhere without his car, especially not, you know, in the freezing cold like it was that night. So where was Brian? And so Todd, who was definitely feeling a bit apprehensive at this point, he parked his car, he got out, and he walked into the shack.

7:08And when he got in there, I mean, it's a very small space, but Brian, you know, was not in there. But there was a hat and a half-eaten dinner on the desk inside. And so at this point, Todd felt like, you know, we have an issue. Like, I don't know where Brian is. Something seems off. So he picked up the phone inside the shack and he called the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department. Less than an hour later, Detective Manny Lassig drove down a snowy desert road toward the Kennecott Copper Mine. Now, everybody knew this mine was a target for thieves. So when the sheriff's department got a call that a security guard had seemingly vanished into thin air in the middle of his shift, well, Detective Lassig went out right away to investigate because the thought was, you know, this could have been perpetrated by thieves.

7:54Maybe, you know, Brian's been kidnapped or something. When Lassig pulled up to the mine's main entrance, there was another vehicle parked right in front and it flashed its headlights at him. And then a man in a security guard's uniform rolled down the driver's side window and sort of waved Lassig over. And so Lassig pulled up next to this car, and the man in this other car told Lassig that he was Todd Fallos, the supervisor who had called in about the missing guard. Then, after that, Todd started up his engine and told Lassig to follow him. And so he did. He followed him off into the darkness, driving down this dark, winding road that led into the canyons.

8:30The Kennecott mine was three square miles wide, with rocky terrain and mountains on every side. So they were driving for a good 10 minutes before finally Lassig saw this light up ahead, which was the guard shack that Brian had been in. The two men pulled up near this shack and got out of their vehicles. And then Todd told Detective Lassig that this shack was where the guard, Brian Ruff, had last been stationed. And so Lassig, he turned on his flashlight and then aimed it at the ground right outside of the shack. But there wasn't much to see. It had been snowing all evening, so any footprints or tire tracks that might have helped them were now covered up.

9:07And so Lassig stepped inside of the shack. And at first glance, everything looked to be in order. There was no blood, nothing overturned, you know, no sign of a struggle. But again, there was a hat, Brian's hat, and also Brian's half-eaten thermos of soup, his dinner, that was still just sitting on the desk, which was pretty conspicuous. And so Lassig is kind of taking the whole scene in, trying to make sense of what could have happened, coming up with maybe some theories here, looking for any clues of where to look next. And as he was doing that, the phone on the desk rang and Detective Lassig just picked it up and he asked who was calling.

9:43And the woman on the line sounded very surprised and she said her name was Jennifer Ruff and she was trying to reach out to her husband, Brian Ruff. Lassig quickly explained that he was with the sheriff's department and that her husband Brian had at some point this night left his post and now couldn't be found. And so he was literally looking for her husband. And so he asked Jennifer when was the last time she had spoken to Brian. And Jennifer, you know, she was obviously taken aback by this news, but she said she had just spoken with her husband a couple hours ago. She said they were talking and then suddenly Brian had to hang up because he said he saw a car coming up the road.

10:19Lassig asked her if Brian had said anything specific about this particular car that was approaching or, you know, who was driving the car or anything. But Jennifer said no. He didn't say anything. Just the car was coming and he had to go. Lassig was obviously disappointed that there wasn't more information here. But he still thanked Jennifer and told her, you know, I promise I will be in touch with you as soon as I possibly can. I'm going to go out there and find your husband. Then he hung up the phone and he turned his attention back to the scene, you know, the inside of this very small shack.

10:51But just a few seconds after he had put the phone down, the phone rang again. And so Lassig picked it up again. And once again, it was a woman saying she was Brian's wife, Jennifer. And she was asking where Brian was. But as Lassig is listening, he's thinking, this woman doesn't sound anything like the woman I just spoke to literally a minute ago, who also said she was Brian's wife, Jennifer. And also, this second woman clearly doesn't have any recollection of the earlier conversation. Like, these are two different people who are both claiming to be Brian's wife, Jennifer. But obviously, there could only be one.

11:30So one of these women had to be lying, right?

11:37Good surprises? Free dessert. Bad surprises? Hidden fees. That's why University of Phoenix's Tuition Guarantee locks in your tuition rate from start to finish of your program, so you can focus on the sweet stuff. Learn more at phoenix.edu. Everybody learns a language for different reasons. Maybe you just want to watch K-dramas without subtitles, or you want to talk with family members but in their native language. Your life is unique, so your language learning should be too. I remember trying to learn a new language before a trip, and most of the systems that I tried felt pretty generic. But with Rosetta Stone, it was completely different.

12:13It adjusted to how I was learning, so it felt more like I was actually preparing to use this language, not just, you know, learning how to regurgitate it. Rosetta Stone Sapphire is designed for personalized learning, helping you go beyond generic lessons and focus on the topics that matter most to you. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. Mr. Ball and podcast listeners can get 20 % off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. You'll get unlimited access to all 25 Rosetta Stone languages, plus all the new Sapphire learning tools.

12:45Visit rosettastone.com slash mrballin to redeem your 20 % off. Again, go to rosettastone.com slash mrballin and start learning a language for real. We all have our own time-saving hacks for everyday life, and I'm always looking for little ways to save time. Whether it's just ordering things online instead of making another trip to the store, or taking care of a few small tasks while I'm already waiting on something else. Those little time savers add up pretty quickly. But if you're a business owner, how can you save time hiring? ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter has a new feature that quickly lets you see the most interested, qualified candidates first, so you save time by meeting the right people faster.

13:25And right now, you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash ballin. Their powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates quickly, and these candidates can tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job. No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. Save time and meet great candidates sooner with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash ballin. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash ballin. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. On a morning in mid-December of 1991, so just a few days after Brian Ruff's disappearance from his remote guard shack, and still he had not been found yet, Detective Manny Lassig sat down with a cup of coffee in the Ruff's dining room across from Brian's wife, Jennifer.

14:19The investigation had been moving slowly so far because for the first few days, everyone had been hoping that Brian would just return on his own. But as the days passed, and he still hadn't been heard from, that was looking less and less likely. By this point, Detective Lassig had traced the phone numbers of both women who had called the guard shack on the night Brian disappeared, claiming to be his wife Jennifer. And he had quickly found out that one of those calls was actually from Jennifer Ruff's work phone number, which meant very likely that was the real Jennifer Ruff. But Lassig was still trying to figure out why another woman had called and impersonated her.

14:58And also, like, the timing of the calls was odd. It happened one right after the other. It was just a very strange coincidence. So now, as Lassig sat across from the real Jennifer Ruff, he started out by asking her where she had been on the night Brian disappeared. She told him she'd been at the hospital all night working, and then she gave Lassig names of some of her co-workers who could verify that. At this point, Lassig completely pivoted and just asked Jennifer point blank, is there any chance your husband could have been having an affair? Like, were there other women in his life? Was he acting secretive or just odd lately?

15:34Anything to indicate, you know, that he was maybe unfaithful? The reason Lassig asked, obviously, was because of the second woman who he knew had called and pretended to be Brian's wife. You know, he had no idea if the real Jennifer knew, but certainly he did. And the real Jennifer, when she heard this question, she just sort of looked down and then she looked up and she said, yes, I am suspicious of that. She told Lassig that she and Brian had been having some real issues in their marriage lately. And in fact, just the previous month, Brian had sort of inexplicably, you know, ran out on the family because he needed time alone and he was gone and out of contact for that whole time until he just came back begging to be taken back.

16:15At this point, Lassig, when he heard that part, he sat back in his chair and wondered if he was just wasting his time on this case to begin with. Because if Brian had previously left and then eventually came back after being totally out of contact, well, what's to say he wasn't doing that right now? What if this was him again, sort of running off to be alone and he would just turn back up again at some point? But Jennifer must have noticed that that's sort of where Lassig's mind was going because she rushed to add in that, you know, the last time when he ran out for that week, he had left a note for her and even told his boss that he was quitting.

16:51Like there was some warning before he left. She sort of made it dramatic, but he definitely told people before he was going to be gone. In fact, she became insistent that really it was not like Brian to not give warning, you know, like for him to just vanish mid-shift like that, like he's done right now, that's not something Brian would do. You know, he's got some faults, but that's not something he would do. Detective Lassig asked Jennifer where Brian had actually gone when he disappeared that first time. And Jennifer answered him by handing him a piece of mail from a nearby table. She explained that it was a credit card bill that had come in the mail that week and it was addressed to Brian.

17:29And she explained that she was pretty confused when she got this because she didn't even know Brian had a credit card. But he apparently did, and he used it while he was away to pay for hotels and meals and other expenses. And so Lassig, he pulled out the bill and began to look it over, and he saw that a lot of the charges were made in Las Vegas and San Francisco. And the amounts that were being charged to restaurants and for room service seemed a bit too large for just one person. He looked up from the bill back at Jennifer, and just from the expression on her face, he knew that they had both drawn the same conclusion.

18:06Brian, when he was away for that week, likely had not been alone. Jennifer then grabbed another piece of paper from the counter and gave that to LASIK. This was a phone bill for the family's landline, with a full list of every call that had been made and received in the past month. Jennifer said there were definitely some numbers on this list that she didn't recognize, And she thought maybe one of them could be this person that Brian had been traveling with. And as Lassig looked over this list, one of the phone numbers immediately stood out to him. Because that woman who had called the guard shack on the night Brian disappeared and pretended to be Jennifer, basically called right after the real Jennifer, that one, that phone number that was used for the fake Jennifer was the number he was now seeing on this list.

18:55Later that same day, Lassig sat down in the living room of the house that was associated with that phone number, and sitting across from him was a young woman named Christy Bradley. Her husband, Dale Bradley, was also a security guard at the Kennecott mine where Brian worked. Now, at the moment, Dale wasn't home, but it wasn't really clear when he would get home, and Lassig was really anxious to interview Christy alone, so before her husband got back. So the instant they sat down, Lassig pretty much just cut to the chase. He told Christy that he was nearly positive she and Brian had been having an affair.

19:34And then before she could say anything, he pulled out that bill that Jennifer had given him and showed her all the evidence. Christy, when she saw this, for a second looked defiant, but then just broke down and admitted it was true. She said they'd been seeing each other for a while now, and in fact, the month before, they had run away together for about a week. But even though they had ultimately come back and they both went back to their respective families, she said that they had still been very much in touch. Christy said that was the reason she had called the guard shack on the night Brian disappeared.

20:07Just to call and just be in touch with him. That was it. But she said when the person answered, and it was a voice that was unfamiliar, it was Detective Lassig, she said that sort of on instinct, she just began to lie and pretended to be Jennifer, Brian's real wife, just so, you know, their affair would not come to light. But Christy made it very clear that she had not heard from Brian since he disappeared, and she had no clue what happened to him. At this point, Lassig sat back on the couch and just looked at Christy, kind of sizing her up. And he thought, you know, she seemed pretty genuinely worried about Brian.

20:40And even though the call she had made to the guard shack was ultimately very suspicious and pretty bizarre, her explanation for it did make sense. But at this point, he was certainly not going to rule her out as a suspect quite yet. Also, Lassig knew that Christie's husband, Dale, was also now clearly a primary suspect. Because, you know, if he had found out about this affair, he could have easily hurt Brian in retaliation. The following day, Lassig walked into an interrogation room at the sheriff's station where Dale was already seated and waiting for him. And the moment Lassig walked in, Dale immediately asked him if there was any news about Brian.

21:20Lassig said no, not yet. And it seemed to him like Dale's disappointment was genuine, like he was worried about him. Lassig sat down and he asked Dale about how long he'd known Brian for. And Dale said they had met maybe about a year ago when Brian started working at the mine and they'd become pretty close friends. They'd even hung out together outside of work. At this point, Lassig, almost to catch Dale off guard, he pivoted sort of abruptly and just asked Dale point-blank about his wife's affair. And Dale, when he heard that his wife was having an affair, seemed sort of stunned and he said he didn't know anything about Christy having an affair.

21:57At this point, Lassig just explained to him what his wife had already told him. And Dale appeared genuinely upset. Like the idea she was cheating on him was horrible, especially with someone he considered clearly to be a close friend. And so as Dale is sort of reacting to this really shocking news, Lassig asked him where he was on the night of December 10th when Brian disappeared. And so Dale, who again is sort of like dealing with the shocking news he's just been told, for a moment he just was unable to answer. He ultimately composed himself, and he said that actually his car had gotten stuck in the snow while he was at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, almost an hour away from the mine.

22:38And in fact, he had even had to call a friend to come get him out of the snow. And then he gave Lassig the name of this friend so he could call and confirm it. After taking down this friend's name, Lassig told Dale that he really wanted him to take a polygraph test, and also they would have to search his car. And Dale agreed to both, you know, with no hesitation. One morning, a few weeks later, Lassig walked across a parking lot toward an office building at the Kennecott Mine. So far, Brian had still not turned up, and the search for him had been frustrating, because none of the people Lassig had questioned so far had given him any useful information.

23:15Dale Bradley, along with his wife, Christy Bradley, had both taken polygraph tests, and both had passed. Lassig had also searched the red Mustang that Dale drove, but there was no evidence in it that linked Dale to Brian's disappearance. Plus, the friend who had helped Dale get his Mustang out of the snow had confirmed he had done that, so his alibi was solid. So at this point, Dale and Christy were sort of unofficially off the suspect list. Lassig had also considered the fact that maybe Jennifer, the real Jennifer, so Brian's actual wife, maybe she was involved in her husband's disappearance, despite how, you know, honestly she came across.

23:53Now, her co-workers had confirmed she had been at work all evening on the night Brian disappeared, but it wasn't impossible that she could have maybe been working with an accomplice or maybe hired somebody to kill Brian or something. But with no evidence against her and also no body, I mean, Brian has not been found here, all Lassig really had here was just a hunch that, you know, maybe she was involved, but who knows. However, just a few days ago, Lassig had received a new lead that sent his investigation in a new direction. That was why he was here right now at the Kennecott Mine to speak to Brian's supervisor, Todd Fallows.

24:32So Lassig went inside the building and made his way down the hallway to Todd's office. And when Todd saw the detective, he jumped up and he very eagerly greeted him and said he would do whatever he had to do to try to help find Brian. Lassig thanked him but told Todd to sit back down. And then Lassig sat down as well, and then he pulled out a tape recorder and he hit record. And then he told Todd why he was there. Two of Brian's fellow security guards had just been arrested for stealing precious metal and equipment from the mine and then selling it at pawn shops. In fact, the investigation had discovered that a whole ring of Kennecott employees were involved in these thefts.