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48 Hours

The Unlikely Suspect | Fifteen

01 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the trigger warning for this episode?

0.925 - 12.442 Erin Moriarty

Before we begin, just a trigger warning. The following episode does include mentions of graphic physical violence and suicide, so please listen with care.

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15.606 - 23.658 Unknown

Hey, so, uh, if you do this, please form it, okay? So I have to read this stuff to you. Okay. You understand? Yeah.

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24.415 - 43.464 Erin Moriarty

On June 17th, 2013, almost two months after Chip Northup and Claudia Maupin were found dead inside the safety of their bedroom, investigators asked the police officer who worked at Daniel Marsh's school to bring the teenager into the station.

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44.505 - 50.895 Unknown

You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand? Yes. Anything you say moves against you in court. Do you understand? Yes.

51.449 - 79.347 Erin Moriarty

Daniel would be questioned alone. Even though he had just turned 16, California law states that minors can be questioned without parents present if law enforcement has reasonable belief that they were involved in a crime. At no point did Daniel request his parents' presence. When the officer read him his Miranda rights, Daniel waived his right to an attorney.

80.204 - 103.549 Erin Moriarty

And then Detective Ariel Panetta began the interview. Daniel was a little scruffy with long blonde hair, thin and wiry. He looked like a regular teenager, a little jittery and awkward.

104.65 - 109.755 Detective Ariel Panetta

What year are you?

110.377 - 118.83 Erin Moriarty

Officer Panetta told Daniel why they had asked him to come to the station.

Chapter 2: What led to Daniel Marsh's police interview?

118.87 - 136.317 Detective Ariel Panetta

Okay.

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137.09 - 151.111 Erin Moriarty

But instead of questioning Daniel about the murders, Detective Panetta started with the basics. School, friends, family. Daniel told the detective that his life was stressful.

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152.152 - 160.424 Detective Ariel Panetta

How have you been able to deal with some of that stress?

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160.444 - 187.736 Daniel Marsh

Honestly, I smoke pot. I don't do it for any other reason than to deal with It was actually Daniel who first brought up Chip and Claudia.

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188.297 - 192.443 Erin Moriarty

He was telling Detective Panetta about his parents' divorce.

194.718 - 205.696 Detective Ariel Panetta

So you, dad moved down to South Davis, you said it was a house, apartment? Yeah, it was an apartment.

205.716 - 222.042 Daniel Marsh

Okay. What was the address? I don't remember. I know that it was, like, I think there were neighbors with the people who got killed. Okay. Because I know, like, they were either next door or within, like, a few houses in there.

223.793 - 231.084 Erin Moriarty

Daniel told the detective that within a week after the murders, his father had moved out of the neighborhood.

232.185 - 249.21 Daniel Marsh

Well, it freaked him out, you know? I mean, you wake up and you find, like, the people next to you are dead. It's like, wow, that could have been us, you know? I guess it's just kind of scary in a way. It's spooky. Like, you want to just get out of there.

Chapter 3: How did Daniel Marsh describe his troubled childhood?

440.725 - 446.052 Erin Moriarty

Daniel said that his parents divorced after his mother had an affair with a woman.

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446.072 - 452.46 Daniel Marsh

It was actually my kindergarten teacher. Wow. Yeah.

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452.48 - 460.249 Erin Moriarty

In the interview, you're not just asking him about the crime at all. You're starting just talking to him. What's the purpose of the beginning of the interview?

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460.482 - 479.672 Chris Campion

Well, in any law enforcement interview or any interview, you try to get some rapport going to make the person feel at ease, right? And so that's what we try to do in these cases. And of course, during that time, when you get to know the person a little bit, I like to try to drop a few hints and some themes that I might come back to later on.

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480.142 - 493.178 Erin Moriarty

One of those themes Campion wanted to pursue was trauma. He guessed that Daniel might relate to hearing about how people struggle, like Daniel did, with mental health.

494.159 - 522.177 Daniel Marsh

Doing the kind of work that I do, there's, I see a lot of people who have had lives that are just devastating, devastated by all sorts of things. And the refuge is the key. And we all do that. I mean, from combat veterans in Afghanistan and Iraq who come back and they have these nightmares and they're haunted. PTSD and stuff. PTSD, right.

522.197 - 527.842 Daniel Marsh

We see those and we see them do just some horrible things because they just want the pain to stop.

527.902 - 530.304

They need the refuge.

530.405 - 541.908 Daniel Marsh

They need someplace to go where they can feel something besides what they're feeling. Does that make sense to you? Yeah, it's a way to escape, get some temporary relief. Right.

Chapter 4: What role did Special Agent Chris Campion play in the investigation?

1465.497 - 1476.332 Erin Moriarty

As another officer began opening the DNA swab packaging, Campion picked up Daniel's boots and began probing for more information.

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1476.372 - 1480.478 Detective Ariel Panetta

Anything unusual about these?

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1483.327 - 1527.935 Chris Campion

We started talking about his boots, which I think he realized were the same boots that he had worn. the night of the murders. And he realized he probably didn't clean those to remove all of the physical evidence. We started talking about his cell phone and the fact that cell phones are basically personal tracking devices. And, you know, we could track his movements on particular days and times.

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1528.575 - 1536.503 Chris Campion

So those factors, I think, started weighing on him that he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this. And the walls started closing in on him.

1539.686 - 1540.367

You guys are threatening me with .

1544.195 - 1559.373 Daniel Marsh

with getting arrested for doing murders. I am a . I am so scared right now. Of course I'm gonna do anything I can to try and say that I didn't do this.

1560.755 - 1568.704 Chris Campion

That was the first sign that he was getting over that wall, that he was getting ready to talk to us about what really happened.

1569.766 - 1575.735 Daniel Marsh

If you wanna help me, then don't ruin my life. Anything, send me to the psychiatric hospital.

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