Where Is Michael Oakes Now? Mark Stover Body Was Found and Dateline Has A Deep Dive Into The Case
Dateline: Unforgettable featured the story of Mark Stover in their latest episode, The Man Who Talked To Dogs. Where is his killer Michael Oakes now?
Celebrity dog trainer Mark Stover was shot to death in 2009, and there was a significant amount of mystery surrounding the incident. One of them is the fact that his body has not been found until now.
NBC Dateline: Unforgettable featured the story in the show’s second season, and a fractured love story between Mark Stover and Linda Opdycke seems to be the center of the mystery. An unsuccessful marriage, messy divorce, and death threats all compiled to the incident that took Stover’s life.
Dateline: Where Is Michael Oakes Now? Mark Stover’s Killer Still In Jail
Michael Oakes pled guilty to the first-degree murder of celebrity dog trainer Mark Stover.
The case dates back to 2009 when the authorities found Mark Stover’s dog with a bloody face due to a gunshot. They couldn’t find Stover’s body but found .22 caliber bullets and guns in possession of Michael Oakes.
The trial happened, and Oakes testified that he was the one behind the murder. The 42-year-old told the jury that he did it in self-defense as Stover shot him first.
According to him, he was wearing a kevlar vest, and the gunshot didn’t kill him. Also, he assumed that Stover was also wearing the vest but it turned out he was wrong.
The jury didn’t believe him because there were many loopholes in the story. So, they found him guilty anyway. He was given a prison sentence of 26.5 years.
As of now, Michael Oakes is spending his sentence in Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. But several reports are saying that he might get out early.
I don’t believe anything Linda or Michael claimed about Mark Stover. https://t.co/5IyEfJLQoV
— Under Reconstruction: M.D. Esq. (@0fficialMDEsq) August 4, 2022
Michael Oakes and Linda Opdycke: Behind The Murder of Mark Stover
The judge and the jury thought that the killing of Mark Stover was a pre-planned murder.
Over the years, people have come to believe that it involved Stover’s ex-wife, Linda Opdycke. A daughter of a multi-millionaire businessman, Linda and Mark went through a messy divorce. The former complained that she had to face abuse from her husband.
Even after the divorce, Mark would stalk his ex-wife. He was given a year-long restraining order as well. But his family claimed that he had moved on.
In the latter stages of his life, Mark was engaged to a different woman. He would often say that his ex-wife was about to get him and the felt threatened for his life, which happened in 2009.
Michael Oakes was tried and convicted for the murder, but Linda wasn’t. But many people believe that she orchestrated the murder as Linda and Michael were dating.
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Was Mark Stover’s Body Ever Found?
No.
Another mystery of the case is that Stover’s body was never found. Even after the conviction, Oakes wouldn’t say anything about Stover’s body. This led people to believe that they had done something very bad with his body.
Although there are a few reports saying Mark’s body was found, it isn’t. According to Dateline, the body is still missing and there’s no proof of what exactly happened to Mark Stover.
It probably was Michael Oakes who killed him. But there are a lot of things about this case that don’t add up.
