Josh Mankiewicz

Dec. 22, 2025, 10:34 AM EST Murder is a wrecking ball. No one knows that better than those struggling to find a way to go on with their lives after someone else has died by violence, someone who was a crucial part of the very life survivors now struggle to reconstruct. It’s the club that joins you, the one no one wants a membership in. I suppose it’s a natural thing to want to believe that there’s something out there called ‘closure’.

A soon-to-be bride is caught in the middle of a twisted murder plot that has detectives questioning if she played a role in it. Orange County, California. Not too far from the coast, you'll find the Camden Martinique apartments. Occupied mostly by students from nearby colleges. Rachel and Dan acted in community theater. That's how they met, on stage. A few years later, they reconnected.

Dr. Steve Pitt was brilliant. He was a forensic psychiatrist with an ability to see inside the criminal mind, and he regularly used his talents to help law enforcement across the country. He was also funny, thoughtful, and a great guy. And he was my friend. We met when I interviewed him for a Dateline story two years ago. I could tell we were going to become better friends as time went by. Except now Steve is dead, murdered outside his office in Phoenix.