The Night of the Audition

Dateline NBC

NBC News

True Crime, Culture, Social, Society & Culture, News

4.4 • 38K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Days after the biggest audition of her acting career, Shannon Madill Burgess fails to show up for a family gathering. Unsettling details emerge during the investigation into her disappearance. Keith Morrison reports.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tonight on Dateline.
0:03.0	My biggest nightmare was that one of my children would go missing.
0:07.0	I never thought it would happen.
0:09.0	Just beyond, beyond imaginable.
0:12.0	She was very committed to her acting career.
0:15.0	I believe you do good things.
0:17.0	But I'm not doing this again.
0:19.0	Was going to auditions all the time. I was really concerned something bad had happened.
0:23.6	No sign of her anywhere.
0:24.6	No sign of her, no.
0:25.6	We had reached out to a couple of casting agencies.
0:28.6	Every single possibility went through my head.
0:31.6	Maybe one of the people who took pictures of her had taken her.
0:35.6	Her husband was cooperative. He was phenomenal about being there for her and supporting her.
0:40.3	Did you know that they had an open relationship?
0:43.3	Yes. She was very open about her life.
0:45.3	She was married at the time and I was also married at the time.
0:47.3	What is it like to feel like you're a suspect?
0:50.3	Completely surreal.
0:51.3	Why is her phone moving?
0:53.3	Who was with this phone?
0:55.3	Was it Shannon?
	...

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