About this episode
Keith Morrison sits down with Lester Holt and Dateline senior investigative producer Dan Slepian to talk about their episode, “The Ruse.” In August of 2018, Tom Perez Jr. called the Fontana, California, police asking for help finding his father. As police began investigating the case, they started to suspect Tom Jr. was hiding something — possibly involvement in his father’s disappearance. Over the course of 17 hours, investigators interrogated Tom and he eventually confessed to his father’s murder. But then, in an astonishing turn of events, Tom Perez Sr. turned up alive. Tom Jr. had confessed to a murder he didn't commit. Lester and Dan talk about the evidence that led police to believe Tom was guilty of a crime that hadn’t been committed, and the interrogation techniques that led to his false confession. Later, they play a podcast-exclusive clip from interrogation expert Steve Kleinman. Then, Lester and Dan answer your questions about the episode from social media. Have a question for Talking Dateline? DM us a video to @DatelineNBC or leave a voicemail at (212) 413-5252. Your question may be featured in an upcoming episode. Listen to the full episode “The Ruse” on Apple: https://apple.co/4pYP30T Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1K4SvFqpY0tXhcCjVM0rAl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.