Introducing Valley of Shadows: Corruption in California’s Mojave Desert
Death of an Artist
Pushkin Industries
4.6 • 877 Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Valley of Shadows is a new Pushkin true crime podcast that digs into a nearly 30-year old secret buried in the California desert. On June 11, 1998, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jon Aujay went for a run in California’s Devil’s Punchbowl park...and never came back. Nearly 30 years later, the mystery surrounding his disappearance has only deepened. Some say Aujay is just another missing hiker, claimed by the inhospitable landscape of the Southern California desert. Some say he took his own life out there. But there’s another theory that many of Aujay’s friends and LASD colleagues are convinced is true—that he was the victim of foul play, and that his own department is covering it up. Through exclusive interviews, revealing wiretaps, and buried police files, investigative reporters Hayley Fox and Betsy Shepherd uncover vestiges of the Wild West in a small California town, where outlaw biker gangs crank out methamphetamine and local cops operate on both sides of the law.
(00:01:04) Find Valley of Shadows wherever you get podcasts. Binge the entire season of Valley of Shadows, ad-free, by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the Valley of Shadows show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, Betsy Shepard here. I'm dropping into your feed to bring you a preview of my new |
| 0:06.4 | podcast, Valley of Shadows. It's about an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy named John A.J., who went missing in the |
| 0:13.5 | Mojave Desert back in 1998. Nearly 30 years later, the Sheriff's Department says that |
| 0:19.5 | Ajay's disappearance is still a mystery. But whistleblowers say, the sheriff's department says that Ajay's disappearance is still a mystery. |
| 0:22.8 | But whistleblowers say the sheriff's department is covering up what happened to the deputy, |
| 0:27.8 | that he was murdered in the desert, which is a place where meth labs, outlawed biker gangs, |
| 0:33.2 | and dirty cops go unchecked. The show's got it all, and I think you're going to dig it. |
| 0:39.9 | Find Valley of Shadows wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:43.6 | Pushkin Plus subscribers can binge the entire season right now ad-free. |
| 0:48.7 | Sign up on the Valley of Shadows show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm slash plus. |
| 0:57.2 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 1:00.2 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 1:03.0 | This series includes content that may not be suitable for all listeners. |
| 1:07.4 | Listener discretion is advised. |
| 1:10.9 | Is this okay? |
| 1:12.3 | Yeah, I'll turn it down just a little bit because sometimes you get animated. |
| 1:16.2 | I get pissed off, pissed off old cop. |
| 1:19.4 | This pissed off old cop is Mike Bauer. |
| 1:22.8 | Okay, my name is Mike Bauer. |
| 1:24.2 | Retired Captain, L.A. Sheriff. |
| 1:25.9 | I retired in 2002. |
| 1:29.3 | My last assignment was Major Crimes Bureau, Detective Division, L.A. Sheriff. |
... |
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