Dateline: The Man Who Talked to Dogs - Who was Mark Stover and what happened to him? Disturbing details of the 2009 murder, revealed

Dateline Season 22 Episode 62, titled The Man Who Talked to Dogs, followed the case of celebrity dog trainer Mark Stover and how he met an unfortunate end. The official synopsis of the episode, as per IMDB reads,

“Celebrity dog trainer Mark Stover and his wife Linda build a thriving business and a beautiful home, but their dream life doesn't last; an affair leads to a bitter divorce, then Mark vanishes in a mystery with the makings of a Hollywood thriller.”

Mark Stover and Linda Opdycke seemed to have everything, till they did not. After their separation and divorce, Linda claimed that she felt scared and lived in fear of Mark, who had been procuring their wedding photos and appeared to be unable to let go of the past.

However, in a shocking turn of events, it is Mark who ends up being murdered and eventually it came to light that Linda’s boyfriend Michiel Oakes was behind his killing.

Let us now explore Mark Stover's case in details as presented in Dateline.

Mark Stover was a celebrity dog trainer as shown in Dateline

Known as the dog whisperer of the Pacific Northwest, Mark Stover was a prolific dog trainer who could tame and make any canine, regardless of their ferocity, obey him. Talking about Mark and his special skills, his friend and client Andrea Franulovich said,

“He was almost more dog than he was human. I would see him get down on all fours and look at the dogs right in their eyes and he just had this amazing connection, I think every once in a while you run across these people that are extraordinary. And Mark definitely was ... extraordinary.”

She further added,

“He just had this way to be able to walk in the room and just grab the attention from everybody.”

Mark’s skills made him a really great trainer and that explained the high profile client base that he had gradually built over the years, which included Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, members of Pearl Jam, Mariners outfielder Ichiro to name a few.

It was his training business that made him meet Linda Opdycke, daughter of the multimillionaire Wally Opdycke. Linda was looking for a trainer and while Mark appeared a little too rude and arrogant, his skills with dogs made her have faith in his abilities.

Dateline showed how they fell in love and built an empire together. Their business was thriving and after 11 years of a relationship, the couple got married. However, since their marriage, things did not go on smoothly as Linda said that Mark’s dark side began to emerge and ultimately, after three years of marriage, Linda decided to call it quits.

Mark Stover was murdered as shown on Dateline

After Linda decided to divorce and the couple separated, Mark allegedly went on a downward spiral and seemed to be unable to let Linda go. According to Linda, he became obsessive and was even stalking her. While Mark was finding it difficult to move on with his life, Linda found love elsewhere as a romantic relationship grew between her and Michiel Oakes, who was apparently her bodyguard.

While Linda accused Mark of stalking her and being afraid of her, in a surprising turn of events Mark was found murdered. As the investigation began, loopholes in Linda’s story started to emerge and it ultimately came to light that Oakes had killed Mark while meeting him at the latter’s house. The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to 26 ½ years jail time.

Dateline can be streamed on Peacock.

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