Narrator: JOSH DUFORT WAS THE KIND OF PERSON EVERYBODY LOVED.
HE WALKED INTO A ROOM, AND HE LIT IT UP.
Narrator: HE HAD DREAMS OF BEING AN ACTOR.
HI. MY NAME IS JOSHUA ALLEN DUFORT.
IT ALMOST FELT LIKE
HE WAS DESTINED TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF HIMSELF.
Narrator: BUT THEN, THE 23-YEAR-OLD WAS MURDERED.
I HAD JUST SEEN HIM LAST NIGHT.
LIKE, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?
Narrator: THE NIGHT HE DIED,
JOSH LEFT SOME TERRIFIED VOICEMAILS.
THERE WAS SO MUCH RUNNING AND HEAVY BREATHING.
Narrator: BUT POLICE HAD LITTLE TO GO ON.
WAS IT A ROBBERY GONE BAD?
OR DID JOSH GET INVOLVED WITH THE WRONG PERSON?
SHOCKING SECRETS AND A PLOT TO CLAIM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
HOW DO YOU NOT CONNECT INSURANCE FRAUD
WITH THE MURDER OF MY BROTHER?
Narrator: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO JOSH DUFORT?
♪♪
JOSH DUFORT HAD EVERYTHING GOING FOR HIM.
JOSH WAS THE MOST CHARISMATIC, OUTGOING, LOVING,
ADVENTUROUS PERSON YOU'D EVER MEET.
Narrator: HE GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN MICHIGAN,
BUT MOVED TO LAS VEGAS TO PURSUE AN ACTING CAREER.
HE REALLY WANTED TO MAKE IT BIG AS AN ACTOR.
THAT WAS HIS NUMBER-ONE GOAL.
Narrator: JOSH ALSO HAD A PASSION FOR BOXING,
AND THAT'S HOW HE BECAME FRIENDS WITH DON JUAN FUTRELL,
A PROFESSIONAL FIGHTER KNOWN AS "DJ"
WHO SAID HE WANTED TO HELP JOSH GET ON HIS FEET.
DJ WAS TRYING TO "MENTOR" JOSH IN MANY FACETS.
HE WANTED TO GET JOSH INTO BOXING.
HE WANTED TO GET JOSH
INTO ANY ENTREPRENEURIAL SITUATION HE COULD.
HE SOUNDED LIKE A GREAT GUY,
FROM EVERYTHING THAT JOSH WOULD TELL US.
AND IT SEEMED LIKE THIS GUY KNEW HOW TO GET THINGS DONE.
Narrator: JOSH AND DJ TALKED ABOUT
STARTING A T-SHIRT BUSINESS TOGETHER,
AND SINCE JOSH DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY,
DJ SAID HE WOULD HELP HIM GET INSURANCE.
Johnathan: DJ TOLD JOSH THAT UNDER STATE LAW,
HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE
FOR THEIR SMALL BUSINESS.
Narrator: STILL, SOMETHING ABOUT DJ
MADE JOSH'S LOVED ONES UNEASY.
THIS GUY WAS BEING REALLY GENEROUS
FOR SEEMINGLY NO REASON.
Narrator: THEN, ON THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 7, 2010,
JOSH WAS OUT AT A PARTY WHEN DJ CALLED
AND ASKED HIM TO COME AND WORK OUT.
HE ABRUPTLY SAYS, "YOU KNOW, I GOT TO GO WORK OUT WITH DJ."
AND THAT WAS ALL THERE WAS. HE JUST LEFT.
Narrator: LATER THAT NIGHT,
JOSH'S GIRLFRIEND TRIED TO CALL HIM AND GOT NO ANSWER,
BUT SHE DIDN'T GET WORRIED
UNTIL POLICE CALLED HER EARLY THE NEXT MORNING.
I ACTUALLY WOKE UP TO A CALL FROM THE POLICE,
ASKING ME IF I RECOGNIZED THIS PHONE NUMBER,
AND THEY RATTLED OFF JOSH'S NUMBER.
THEY WERE SEARCHING A MISSING-PERSON'S CASE,
AND JOSH MIGHT HAVE SOME INVOLVEMENT.
Narrator: BUT THERE WAS NO MISSING PERSON.
THE POLICE WEREN'T YET READY TO REVEAL WHAT THEY'D FOUND.
SHANNON JUMPED INTO HER CAR AND STARTED SEARCHING FOR JOSH.
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, SHE GOT HORRIFYING NEWS.
A JOGGER HAD DISCOVERED JOSH'S BODY
DUMPED BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD,
ABOUT THREE MILES FROM DJ'S HOUSE.
SOMETIME OVERNIGHT, HE'D BEEN BEATEN AND STRANGLED.
Shannon: I SCREAMED.
I FELT LIKE MY LIFE WAS OVER, TOO.
I JUST KIND OF COLLAPSED AND FELL TO THE GROUND.
I HAD JUST SEEN HIM LAST NIGHT.
LIKE, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?
Narrator: HOW HAD THINGS GONE SO TERRIBLY WRONG
IN JUST A MATTER OF HOURS?
ONE THEORY WAS THAT JOSH WAS ROBBED ON HIS WAY TO DJ'S HOUSE.
BUT THAT THEORY DIDN'T ADD UP.
Shannon: WHEN THE POLICE FOUND JOSH'S BODY,
NOTHING WAS MISSING, SHOES ON,
AND HE WAS STRANGLED WITH HIS HEADPHONES TO HIS iPOD,
AND THEY WERE LEFT THERE, AS WELL.
Narrator: THAT NIGHT, SHANNON AND JOSH'S FRIENDS
GOT TOGETHER TO CONSOLE EACH OTHER.
THEY INVITED DJ TO JOIN THEM, BUT THEY FOUND HIS BEHAVIOR ODD.
I MEAN, EVERYONE THERE IS OBVIOUSLY DISTRAUGHT AND CRYING,
BUT HE SEEMED ALMOST EMOTIONLESS.
HE WAS VERY MONOTONE,
SPITTING OUT THESE THINGS YOU SHOULD BE SAYING --
"OH, I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED.
THIS IS SO CRAZY."
AND THEN HE LEFT.
Narrator: BEFORE LEAVING,
DJ SAID HE WANTED TO PLAY THEM SOMETHING,
SOME VOICEMAILS JOSH HAD LEFT HIM THE NIGHT HE DIED.
JOSH HAD GONE HOME TO CHANGE INTO RUNNING CLOTHES.
WHEN HE ARRIVED AT HIS APARTMENT,
HE SAW SOME MEN STANDING OUT FRONT, AND HE CALLED DJ.
HE SEEMED TO RECOGNIZE THEM AND THOUGHT DJ WOULD, TOO.
Shannon: THAT WAS WHAT'S, TO THIS DAY, SO CONFUSING.
HE KNEW WHO THEY WERE,
AND HE KNEW THAT DJ KNEW WHO THEY WERE.
HE'S CURSING UP A STORM.
HE'S JUST PISSED THAT THESE GUYS ARE AT HIS PLACE.
Narrator: ON THE WAY TO DJ'S HOUSE,
JOSH LEFT TWO MORE VOICEMAILS.
BY THEN, HE SOUNDED FRANTIC.
HE'S SAYING THAT THOSE GUYS ARE CHASING HIM
AND THAT HE NEEDS DJ TO HELP HIM.
EXTREMELY SCARED AND ON THE VERGE OF TEARS,
CRYING AND SCREAMING OUT HE NEEDS SOMEONE TO COME GET HIM,
THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND HIM.
AND EVERYBODY, JUST GUFFAWED, BLOWN AWAY.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHO ARE THOSE GUYS?
Narrator: THE NEXT DAY,
POLICE SEIZE COMPUTERS AND A CELLPHONE FROM DJ'S HOUSE,
INCLUDING THE VOICEMAILS.
AND THEN, THEY FOUND SOMETHING SHOCKING.
I WAS LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHY IS HE TIED INTO DJ WITH THIS?
THERE'S SOMETHING FISHY GOING ON.
Narrator: INSIDE DJ'S HOUSE,
POLICE DISCOVERED PAPERWORK FOR TWO LIFE-INSURANCE POLICIES.
THEY WERE TAKEN OUT IN JOSH'S NAME
AND WERE WORTH A WHOPPING $1.75 MILLION.
THE BENEFICIARY WAS NONE OTHER THAN DJ HIMSELF.
JOSH'S FAMILY WAS FURIOUS.
Johnathan: JOSH WAS UNDER THE ASSUMPTION
HE WAS FILLING OUT FORMS FOR HEALTH INSURANCE.
HE WAS ACTUALLY FILLING OUT PAPERWORK FOR LIFE INSURANCE.
Narrator: WHEN DJ TRIED TO COLLECT THE MONEY,
THE INSURANCE COMPANIES REFUSED AND FILED A LAWSUIT AGAINST HIM.
IN A SWORN DEPOSITION, DJ CLAIMED HE HAD NO IDEA
HE WAS THE BENEFICIARY UNTIL AFTER JOSH'S DEATH.
AND THERE WAS ANOTHER STUNNING SURPRISE.
DJ AND JOSH WERE LISTED IN THE POLICY AS "DOMESTIC PARTNERS."
Shannon: ABSOLUTELY NOT.
DJ JUST COMPLETELY LIED AND PUT THE DOMESTIC-PARTNER THING
SO THAT HE COULD HAVE SOME SORT OF LEGAL TIE TO JOSH,
LISTING HIMSELF AS THE BENEFICIARY.
Narrator: JOSH'S POLICIES WERE BIG FOR A STRUGGLING ACTOR,
BUT DJ CLAIMED TO INVESTIGATORS JOSH EARNED $180,000
SELLING THEIR T-SHIRTS ON THE VEGAS STRIP.
THERE WERE ZERO T-SHIRTS. T-SHIRTS NEVER HAPPENED.
I DON'T THINK JOSH EVER SAW 180K IN HIS LIFETIME.
DJ WAS LYING.
Narrator: THEN, INVESTIGATORS DISCOVERED
A RECORDING OF JOSH'S PHONE INTERVIEW
WITH ONE OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES.
SOMETHING DIDN'T SOUND RIGHT.
WHEN THEY ASKED QUESTIONS, LIKE,
WHAT ARE YOUR PARENTS' NAMES OR WHEN YOUR BIRTHDAY IS,
THERE WAS HUGE PAUSES, STUTTERS, "UMs."
Narrator: THAT'S BECAUSE IT WASN'T JOSH.
THE RECORDING WAS NOT JOSH, AT ALL.
IT WAS DJ'S BROTHER.
Narrator: WHEN THE INSURANCE COMPANIES CONFRONTED HIM,
DJ'S BROTHER ADMITTED HE HAD PRETENDED TO BE JOSH.
Shannon: THERE WAS COMPLETE IMPERSONATION OF JOSH
FOR THE LIFE-INSURANCE POLICY.
IT WAS A LIE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.
Narrator: BUT NEITHER DJ OR HIS BROTHER
WERE CHARGED WITH INSURANCE FRAUD
BECAUSE THEY NEVER COLLECTED MONEY.
AND ALTHOUGH POLICE CALL DJ A PRIME SUSPECT IN THE MURDER,
THEY SAY THERE'S NO HARD EVIDENCE
LINKING HIM TO JOSH'S DEATH.
Johnathan: HOW IS THAT NOT OBVIOUS?
HOW DO YOU NOT CONNECT INSURANCE FRAUD
WITH THE MURDER OF MY BROTHER?
THEY RUN HAND IN HAND.
Narrator: DJ HAS NEVER SPOKEN PUBLICLY.
BUT JOSH'S LOVED ONES ARE CONVINCED
HE HIRED THE MEN WHO MURDERED JOSH IN AN EFFORT TO GET RICH.
I THINK THAT THE PEOPLE WHO MURDERED JOSH KNEW DJ.
I THINK THEY WERE PART OF HIS PLAN.
THEY FOLLOWED HIM DOWN A DARK AREA OF TOWN,
STRANGLED HIM TO DEATH, AND LEFT.
IT WAS JUST A HIRED JOB TO KILL JOSH, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Narrator: SEVEN YEARS LATER,
NO ARRESTS HAVE BEEN MADE AND NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN FILED.
Shannon: JOSH DIED FOR NOTHING.
NOBODY GOT ANY REWARD FROM IT, NOBODY WENT TO JAIL FOR IT.
NOTHING IS CHANGED EXCEPT FOR THE WORLD LOST JOSH.
♪♪
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