4 October 2023
MANDAN, North Dakota It was a crime that would send shockwaves across the prairie. And that April morning the news quickly traveled across town: Four people had been found dead at a local business, RJR Maintenance & Management.
The four killed were Robert Fakler, a co-owner of the business, and three employees: Adam Fuehrer, and married couple William Cobb and Lois Cobb.
One of the people who heard the grim news was James Wolner, then working a day job but working at night on his personal project: The Dakota Spotlight podcast now a Forum Communications Co. production.
Listen to episode one of The Mandan MurdersGet Dakota Spotlight on your favorite podcast app
But on the day of the murders, then-database engineer Wolner picked up his recording equipment and decided to attend the press conference at Mandan City Hall, where the chief of police would make the first public statement about the murders.
The news was grim. Whoever was responsible for the murders remained at large. But there were clues, and the police chief thanked the public for their help even as he sought any information about that morning.
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Photo gallery – Dakota Spotlight Season 9 Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler stated in a press conference that the murders at RJR were something that no community could be fully prepared for. A Mandan Police officer securing the area around RJR on April 1, 2019. BCI forensic evidence truck parked outside in the RJR parking lot on April 1, 2019
Wolner confirmed there was video footage from the business, unknowingly seeking answers about what would become a crucial part of evidence in the future murders trials of Chad Isaak.
The 44-year-old chiropractor from Washburn, North Dakota was later found guilty of the murders. He ended his own life in prison on July 30, 2022.
In this first episode of the new season of Dakota Spotlight, Wolner traces his own journey as a podcaster and a journalist who has not been able to shake his experiences the day of the murders.
Wolner will preview this new season of the show, in which he’ll interview law enforcement about their investigation, talk to family members of those killed, dig through the mountain of evidence presented in court and seek to understand: Why did Isaak commit these crimes?
About Dakota Spotlight, Season 9 The Mandan Murders
On April 1, 2019, police responded to a suspicious incident at RJR Maintenance & Management in Mandan, North Dakota. There, they found four people viciously murdered, and the murderer at large. The crimes stunned and astounded the community and sent shock waves of terror across the prairie.
Authorities soon arrested a local chiropractor named Chad Isaak, who was later sentenced to life in prison for the cold-blooded killings. Isaak refused to admit guilt or provide any motive. He took his own life at the North Dakota State Penitentiary on July 31, 2022.
In Season 9 of the Dakota Spotlight true crime investigative podcast, host James Wolner will re-examine this recent case. His exploration is a personal one: He was working in Mandan at the time of the murders and joined the first police press conference, his first step into true-crime podcasting journalism.
Follow along as Wolner re-examines the morning of the murders, the hunt for the killer, his arrest and trial. He’ll seek to better understand the case and the killer’s motive, and remember the lives of those slain.
People in this episode Chief of Police Jason Ziegler: Chief of the Mandan Police Department, who fielded questions in the wake of the April 1, 2019 murders at RJR Maintenance and Management. Adam Fuehrer: A technician at RJR, killed on April 1, 2019. Robert Fakler: Co-owner of RJR with wife Jackie, he was killed on April 1, 2019. William Cobb: An employee at RJR and husband of Lois Cobb, he was killed on April 1, 2019. Lois Cobb: An employee at RJR and wife of William Cobb, she was killed on April 1, 2019. Chad Isaak: A 44-year old chiropractor from Washburn, North Dakota, who was found guilty of all four murders at RJR. He hanged himself in prison on July 31, 2022.]]>