On the Dateline episode “A Dangerous Man,” Keith Morrison reports from Spokane, Washington, where businessman Doug Carlile was murdered in his home on December 15, 2013. Doug’s wife Elberta was there that night. She said she saw a man dressed in black and wearing a facemask before she ran upstairs to call 911. But Doug Carlile had been fatally shot and the gunman had fled before the first responders arrived. Police found a leather glove at the crime scene and the DNA found on it matched that of Timothy Suckow, who was in contact with Doug Carlile’s business partner James Henrikson. According to the Carlile family, Henrikson had wanted to buy Carlile out of the business but when Carlile refused, Henrikson threatened to kill Carlile. Just days before his death, Carlile told his family “If I disappear or wake up with bullets in my back, promise me you will let everyone know that James Henrikson did it.”
Henrikson was eventually found guilty of paying Suckow to murder Carlile (among other things), but Henrikson’s sentencing wasn’t easy. He was moved from the Spokane County jail to the Yakima County Jail due to an escape attempt. Prosecutor Aine Ahmed said Henrikson’s plan was “to raid the U.S. Marshal’s van during transport, spray the van with lighter fluid and light it on fire.” In May 2016, Henrikson was sentenced to life in prison. Dateline NBC airs Fridays at 9pm on NBC.
