Pushkin. Once upon a time in Malibu, there was a perfect family, the Railers. They were the picture postcard Christmas postcard family of two very handsome, intelligent people with four kids that were just delightful. They lived a sun kissed life in the midst of one of the most hedonistic, freewheeling subcultures in America, Malibu in the late seventies and early eighties. The seventies became pretty crazy. Rock star Robbie
Robertson was out there. There was a lot of drugs and a lot of everything, and so was movie star Ali McGraw, Neil Young. There were most of the Eagles that was Peter Paul and Mary and Chris Christofferson. But the Railer family was solid, wholesome in a Brady Bunch kind of way. Fred the dad, was a widower, Verna the mom, was a widow. Between them, they had four kids, ages six to eleven. They were living the dream until
it all turned unfathomably dark. On January second, nineteen eighty one, on a sailing trip off the coast of Malibu, something tragic happened. We had just gotten passed what they called bird rocks, and the dogs started to go over the side. Their boat overturned in the frigid water Verna and her eight year old son drowned. Fred was the only survivor and the only eyewitness. There was little physical evidence, and the deaths were initially ruled an accident, but then the
Malibu rumor mill got going. Did Berna ever tell you that she had heard all the rumors, the suspicions that various people had about James death. I think that whole thing was just a cover up of how he is. I think Frederick Rayler's a sociopath. The first thing I thought was an accident of my ass. Okay, it just couldn't have been. They were scheduled to be cremated, and I said, hold and hold everything. You've got to do some kind of investigation. I think there was a murder
committed today. Fred has been in prison for forty years for a double homicide. He and the rest of his family all insist was a tragic accident. Did the perfect family man murder his wife and stepson? Or was an innocent person convicted on small town Malibu gossip. I'm Dana Goodyear from Western Sound and Pushkin Industries. Lost Hills is back with season two. Dead in the Water was the Malibu dream worth killing for Lost Hills. Dead in the
Water launches December first. Wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to pushkin Plus and you can hear the whole season. Add free and get early access to the final two episodes. Find Pushkin Plus on the Lost Hill Show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin dot fm.