From Valley of Shadows: The Devil's Punchbowl

About this episode

The episode investigates the mysterious disappearance of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jon Aujay in California's Devil’s Punchbowl park nearly 30 years ago.

Valley of Shadows is a new Pushkin true crime podcast that digs into a nearly 30-year old secret buried in the California desert. On June 11, 1998, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jon Aujay went for a run in California’s Devil’s Punchbowl park...and never came back. Nearly 30 years later, the mystery surrounding his disappearance has only deepened. Some say Aujay is just another missing hiker, claimed by the inhospitable landscape of the Southern California desert. Some say he took his own life out there. But there’s another theory that many of Aujay’s friends and LASD colleagues are convinced is true—that he was the victim of foul play, and that his own department is covering it up. Through exclusive interviews, revealing wiretaps, and buried police files, investigative reporters Hayley Fox and Betsy Shepherd uncover vestiges of the Wild West in a small California town, where outlaw biker gangs crank out methamphetamine and local cops operate on both sides of the law. Find Valley of Shadows wherever you get podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Topics covered

• true crime
• mystery
• disappearance
• investigation

Keywords

• Devil's Punchbowl
• Jon Aujay
• Los Angeles County Sheriff
• foul play
• biker gangs
• methamphetamine

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Valley of Shadows

Books & works: Valley of Shadows, The Devil's Punchbowl

Places: California, Los Angeles County, Southern California, the Wild West

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