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Dateline NBC episode titled "Secrets on the Emerald Coast" takes us back to the disturbing disappearance, followed by the murder of Florida resident Marie Carlson in 2011. The late Deputy Sheriff's life had been tumultuous ever since she got married to a guy named Jeff Carlson, which eventually prompted her to start over by moving to Fort Walton Beach, a scenic gem on the Emerald Coast.
Sadly, little did she know that her new chapter involving James Flanders, a church pastor, would only invite more trouble and also turn out to be fatal over the course of time. According to Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison's reports, Marie's sister Esta was the first person who found something fishy in the case when the former left a mysterious text to her close ones in October 2011, mentioning that she was on the move away from Panhandle, Florida.
It was not until five years later that Marie's mysterious disappearance got a breakthrough, but it only brought further bad news as James Flanders was found guilty of her murder. Here's an official synopsis of Dateline episode Secrets on the Emerald Coast, per IMDb:
"When a young mother disappears after leaving her infant in the care of her local pastor and his wife, Florida detectives search for her for five years, uncovering a web of secrets and lies."
5 harrowing details about the Marie Carlson case from 2011, revisited on Dateline
(1) Marie Carlson's broken marriage was the start of all the problems
Though Marie Carlson's origin is rooted in the Philippines, she grew up in the United States and always aspired to become a law enforcement officer. Her spirited, ambitious nature drove her to the level of a Deputy Sheriff, and she had an even longer way to go until things went awry following her marriage to Jeff Carlson.
Marie got an early divorce and, with the hope of restarting her unstable life, she left her husband 8 year old daughter back in Kentucky and came to live at Fort Walton Beach, Florida. There she came across a local church pastor named James Flanders, who was associated with Calvary Emerald Coast, and the former took shelter at the father's house. However, it only brought in more unrest in Marie's life after she got romantically involved with James.
(2) James and his wife Tanya offered shelter to Marie but it ended up in a polygamous relationship
After Marie moved to Florida following her broken marriage, she was looking for a place where she could get the comfort to restart her life in peace. As reported on Dateline, Marie got offered a place to stay by James and his wife, Tanya on a temporary basis.
But once the three of them started sharing a house, things got complicated, and Marie and James got romantically involved with each other. Over the course of time, Marie got pregnant with James' Child and eventually gave birth to her second daughter, whom she named Grace. Per Dateline, Marie shared a polygamous relationship with James and Marie which became the root of all problems.
(3) Marie Carlson went missing in October, 2011
According to Dateline, the alarms on Marie's close ones went off on October 19, 2011, when some of them received a disturbing text that read she was on the move again and had left Florida a day before. Suspecting foul play, her sister, Esta, filed a missing persons case on October 24 after having failed to establish any contact with her.
The authorities set out to investigate the case promptly and they discovered Marie's deserted car by the airport with no records of her boarding any flight over the past few days. Sadly, per Dateline, the case went cold with forensics and text and call records hitting a dead end till the first breakthrough came in 2015.
(4) Digital records and witnesses revealed dark secrets about Marie's relationship with James
Four years after Marie's disappearance, the first major breakthrough came from cell phone records on her computer and statements from parishioners. The detectives eventually learnt that Marie was not at all satisfied with her polygamous arrangement with Tanya and James.
The statements from parishioners further revealed that Marie and James were not in a great place with their relationship, which often resulted in violent arguments (like the one they had the day Marie went MIA). Furthermore, the phone records from her computer brought to light a harrowing revelation - the device was sitting right in the middle of Fort Walton, all the while she remained missing. It soon became evident that she never left Florida at all, and the whole thing was an orchestration.
(5) James murdered Marie in cold blood and buried her in his house's backyard
The shocking revelation eventually led to James' arrest on May 5, 2015, on grounds of second-degree murder, and at the time he was residing in Cochise, Arizona. As reported on Dateline, he subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges of manslaughter and confessed to having choked Marie to death following a heated argument.
The arrest came as a joint announcement from the following governing bodies:
- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office
- The Arizona Department of Public Safety
- The U.S. Marshal led Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Task Force
James also reportedly told the authorities that he had buried Marie's remains in the backyard of their house which the investigators, unluckily missed during their initial searches. Following his statement, James' case went into trial where he received a sentence of 15 years in prison, and per Dateline, he is currently serving his time a Florida's Maddison Correctional Institution. The disturbing case of Marie Carlson caused a huge media outrage at that time, and till date, it haunts the residents of Florida to their cores.
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