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Dateline NBC

The Phone Call

Dateline NBC

NBC News

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

4.438K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2021

⏱️ 81 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Kathleen Schroll makes a phone call that names her killer right before her death, it leads to the arrest of a father for murder. But two trials and 12 years later, authorities begin to wonder if he was the victim, not the villain. Natalie Morales has chosen this episode as one of her most memorable episodes.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, I'm Natalie Morales. One of the most powerful and emotional

0:03.7

deadlines I worked on the phone call takes place in Kansas City, Kansas. A couple

0:09.1

was found shot to death in their home. Suspicion centered on one man who had

0:13.9

plenty of reason to be angry. But was it all as it seemed? It's a mystery that

0:19.1

had everybody asking, not just who was the killer, but who was the real victim.

0:24.1

It's a story also about the power of the human spirit and the length some will

0:28.9

go to to ensure justice is served. It was early spring, a Monday morning in Kansas

0:37.8

City, Kansas. Two teenagers were trying not to be late for school. You shoveling

0:43.0

some cereal down to each hour is getting dressed and then dad would start the car

0:48.5

and wait for us to come out and get in. Their father drove the family van just

0:54.6

down the cul-de-sac to the bus stop an unremarkable day until it wasn't. I was

1:02.8

fiddling with something not paying attention. My dad stopped the car and I looked

1:07.9

up and there were people getting out of a car that was pulled up in front of us

1:11.7

with guns. Melody was 14 at the time, Ben 17. There was an immediate onset of fear.

1:21.4

I mean I don't think you can feel anything else when two people jump out of a

1:25.6

car and point guns at your face. Y'all don't need to make sure that they could see my

1:30.0

hands so I was leaned over. My hands visible to the windshield and then I saw a

1:36.0

black and white cruiser pull around the corner and I felt such relief. But the

1:44.5

police were there to help. They were there with handcuffs. I remember kneeling

1:50.1

in front of the van with a shotgun pointing at the back of my head as several

1:53.6

officers surrounded me. Did they say what they were doing? Nobody said anything

1:57.8

as to what was going on. Are you crying or emotional or fearful? I was focused

...

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