Betsy Shepard

Yeah, I'll turn it down just a little bit because sometimes you get animated.

This pissed off old cop is Mike Bauer.

Bauer spent 33 years climbing the ranks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

And he looks the part of a retired captain.

His white hair and mustache are neatly groomed, and his eyes are permanently fixed in a look that says, do not fuck up on my watch.

And he's pissed off because of something that happened to one of his guys on his squad back in the summer of 1998.

June 11th started off like a normal day in Los Angeles.

June gloom and bad traffic.

Bauer was doing paperwork when a call came into the front desk.

The receptionist answered.

John Ajay was a 38-year-old canine cop, and he was calling to inquire about an upcoming job assignment.

John Ajay was working for the unit Bauer headed up at the time, the Special Enforcement Bureau, or SEB for short.

SCB handled things like active shooter situations, hostage negotiations, search and rescue.

It was a job that attracted adrenaline junkies like Ajay.

He was an Army paratrooper and a survivalist.

And those military skills, along with his buzz cut and square build, made him a shoo-in for the Sheriff's Department.

Ajay got his kicks by going on long runs through California's backcountry.

He'd go out deep into the wilderness to conquer the only obstacle course that still challenged him.

And that's how Ajay was spending his day off, on June 11th, 1998.

He woke up, put on his running gear, and drove to one of his favorite parks, the Devil's Punchbowl.