Introducing Lost Hills Season 2

In January 1981, Verna Johnson-Roehler and her young son, Doug, drowned while boating thirty miles off the coast of Malibu. Verna’s husband, Fred Roehler, was the sole survivor and only witness. 

Initially, the deaths were ruled accidental. But a phone call from a Malibu neighbor changed everything. Was Fred a monster, masquerading as the perfect Malibu dad? Or was an innocent man convicted by his gossiping neighbors?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Pushkin. Once upon a time in Malibu, there was a
perfect family, the Railers. They were the picture postcard Christmas

(00:39):
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

(00:59):
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

(01:20):
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

(01:43):
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.

(02:03):
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

(02:23):
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

(02:44):
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

(03:07):
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

(03:27):
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.