Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, the Heiress and the Bodyguard
Presenting Up and Vanished Weekly: Peter Van Sant discusses Mark Stover
Tue, 03 Jun 2025
When celebrity dog trainer Mark Stover mysteriously vanished, authorities were left with many unanswered questions. Soon into their investigation, they unearthed a dark love triangle, with Mark placed squarely in the middle. So what transpired on the morning of October 28, 2009, that left one man dead and another claiming self-defense? And more importantly, was Mark Stover the hunter or the hunted? Listen in as Peter Van Sant sits down with journalist Maggie Freleng and the two go behind the scenes of "Trained to Kill: The Dog Trainer, The Heiress and the Bodyguard," a culmination of Peter’s years-long investigation into this twisty case. From Tenderfoot TV - new episodes of "Up and Vanished Weekly" with Maggie Freleng and Payne Lindsey release every Wednesday on all listening platforms. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What happened to Mark Stover?
Mark's friends and family say he's moved on from Linda. He's in a serious relationship. He's in a good place. Things are looking up. The new woman who he's with says he was nothing like Linda described and that Linda was the one causing problems. To me, this is a nightmare with children involved, guns involved, and desperate people.
And this is where things begin to really digress. Here's Rob with more.
According to Michael Oakes, once he became involved with Linda, Mark's harassing behavior shifted towards him. He claims that over time, Mark began threatening him, and he began to fear for his family's safety. Michael said that eventually Mark contacted him and asked him to meet at his house on the morning of October 28, 2009. Mark was expecting Michael to bring Mark and Linda's wedding photos.
Even though Michael didn't have the photos, he felt he could reason with Mark and convince him to let things go. According to Michael's accounts of events, around 2.30 AM that Wednesday morning, he left Linda's home in Winthrop, Washington, roughly four hours from Anacortes. Around 5.30 AM, Michael stopped at a Walmart in Anacortes.
He purchased a backpack, some weights, shin guards, rope, and a camo sweatshirt and pants. He would later state that he purchased the supplies to climb and hide in a nearby water tower in case things escalated. Shortly before 6 a.m., Michael parked his black SUV outside of Mark's property and walked to Mark's house. Once he was inside, Mark confronted him about the photos.
When Michael told him he didn't have them, Mark told him to wait in the hallway and went outside. When Mark came back, he had a gun and shot Michael, striking him in the Kevlar vest he was wearing. Michael wrestled the gun away from Mark, shooting him during the frenzy.
When Michael realized Mark was dead, he felt nobody would believe his story, so he began to load the body into Mark's white station wagon. Around 8 a.m., one of Mark's employees arrived and saw Michael loading Mark in the vehicle, so he quickly left.
Around 11.45 a.m., Michael transferred Mark's body to his SUV before eventually dumping the body in the waterway behind the nearby Northern Lights Casino. Michael parked Mark's station wagon in the casino parking lot before arriving back at Linda's home around 11.30 p.m.
The following morning, authorities received calls from Mark's girlfriend and his employees with concerns that something had happened to him. When they responded to Mark's residence, they discovered the gristly scene, which included blood in the bedroom, hallway, porch, and driveway. They also found that Mark's dog, Dingo, had been shot multiple times, but had somehow survived.
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