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Criminal

La Brea Dave

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.739.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sgt. David Mascarenas was the Dive Supervisor for the Los Angeles Police Department. He’s been diving his whole life, and prides himself on never refusing a dive, no matter how treacherous. At least until the summer of 2013, when a murder investigation led him into the unusually murky waters of the La Brea tar pits. We first spoke with Sgt. Mascarenas in 2015. This week, we’re adding to the story with information about the crime he couldn’t tell us before. In 2011, a man named Alonzo Ester was shot and killed in LA. The LAPD received a tip that some evidence was at the bottom of the La Brea tar pits. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for this show comes from Krakan.

0:03.0

Krypto is like the financial system, but different.

0:07.0

It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,

0:11.0

or your outrageous food delivery habits.

0:13.7

crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time.

0:18.4

Krakhan, see what crypto can be.

0:21.3

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.

0:25.0

This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Back in 2015, we did an episode about an investigation that led

0:37.0

L.A. P. D. Sargent, Dave Masquerainus, to dive into the Lebraya Tar Pitts in Los Angeles.

0:44.0

It became one of her most popular episodes.

0:48.0

Because the investigation was still happening,

0:51.0

there was a lot the LAPD couldn't tell us about the crime they were investigating.

0:57.0

Since then, we've learned what happened and we wanted to let you know. First here's the original episode

1:06.2

Deep Dive. What are you most often diving for looking for weapons or bodies or?

1:17.0

Our basic search is for bombs, bodies, narcotics, and evidence.

1:22.8

Dave Masquerainis is a sergeant with the LAPD.

1:26.0

He's also the supervisor for their underwater dive unit,

1:28.8

where he's been diving for the last 18 years.

1:31.7

Our diving aspect is not like what most people think that you go down recreationally and you

1:37.0

can see a hundred feet and the water is warm and all that good stuff.

1:41.9

Our average dive, the waters are cold off our coast, so we're wearing,

1:46.6

you know, 7 millimeter, quarter inch wetsuits and most of the time our visibility is less than a foot.

...

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