El plan | Dateline en español

Episode Overview

• This Spanish-dubbed Dateline episode ("El Plan"), hosted by Julio Vaqueiro and narrated by correspondent Dennis Murphy, investigates how a cross-country child custody dispute between a couple in Sodus, New York, and an ex-girlfriend in the Texas Panhandle escalated into the execution-style double murder of Joshua Niles and 24-year-old Amber Washburn on October 22, 2018. (No commercial sponsors, funding, or business ties are disclosed by any speaker.)
• The narrative traces the investigation from the immediate crime scene in northern New York—where 4-year-old nonverbal autistic son Josh Jr. was left unharmed in the backseat—through local false leads to a wider conspiracy involving two Texas police officers.
• It highlights how digital, financial, and routine patrol footprints—specifically a 4:00 AM single-car ditch accident in Emporia, Kansas, bodycam footage, rental car policies, and DNA on a discarded mask—unraveled a plot designed by law enforcement veterans to be untraceable.
• This summary is essential for true crime followers and students of criminal justice interested in how cross-jurisdictional cooperation, cell phone warrants, and interrogation techniques expose premeditated conspiracies.

Key Concepts

• The Sodus Crime Scene and Immediate Response: On October 22, 2018, around 2:00 PM in Sodus, northern New York, neighbor Tiffany Thayer went to her kitchen to get candy for her 2-year-old son and saw Josh Niles leaning against his truck talking to an unrecognized man while his girlfriend Amber Washburn (who was 24 years old, loved gardening, and worked professionally in a bakery) pulled into the driveway bringing 4-year-old Josh Jr. home from school. Hearing a gunshot, Thayer saw Josh grabbing his chest and Amber backing up her car before the shooter turned and shot Amber in the head. Sgt. Matt Carr, who was supervising an eviction a few houses away, responded and was approached by people on the street (hedging, "En ese momento espero que sean vecinos, no estoy seguro de quiénes son"). Carr found Josh dead, half-hidden under his pickup truck with multiple gunshot wounds (shot 10 times, with multiple shell casings on the ground), and Amber dead, slumped over the center console of her car across the street. In the car seat directly behind Amber was Josh Jr., alive, unharmed, and holding his chicken nuggets ("croquetas de pollo"); because parents noticed Josh Jr. was on the autism spectrum around 1.5 to 2 years of age and he is nonverbal, he could not tell police what he saw. When notifying Josh's mother, Barb Niles, of the death, Barb hedged on the officer's exact wording: "Creo que dijo que falleció o algo así..."
• Initial Forensic Clues and Containment: Witnesses described the shooter as wearing a black sweatshirt and green cap, fleeing through backyards. Lead Detective Robert Milby hedged on the shooter's escape direction ("No teníamos una idea inmediata de a dónde había ido esa persona. Teníamos una dirección general..."), and police placed the Sodus Central School District on lockdown and used "reverse 911" (mass emergency messages) to tell residents to shelter in place. Home surveillance systems captured a person of interest in a black sweatshirt walking toward Josh and Amber's house at 1:57 PM (about 10 minutes before the murder) and again at 1:58 PM. A police dog sniffed out a black Under Armour balaclava/mask costing about $30 to $40 approximately 27 meters east of North Street in Elmwood.
• The Custody Battle and Escalation of Motive: Josh had two older children with ex-girlfriend Charlene Childers, a former animal control officer in Dumas, Texas, and private security worker who lived in Texas (described across the broadcast as over 2,700 km, >1,600 km, 2,730 km, and 2,400 km away). Their past was volatile: Charlene claimed Josh had anger issues hidden by marijuana use, once threw a stool near their 9-month-old daughter's head, and beat her; police records show Charlene called 911 on Josh multiple times, and in one incident, Josh was arrested and pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment ("detención ilegal") after Charlene claimed he tried to strangle her. Conversely, Josh's family (Amanda, Nicole, and Barb Niles) claimed Charlene was the instigator who constantly called 911 and wasn't happy unless Josh was angry. Under their custody agreement, Charlene had the kids during the school year and every other Christmas, while Josh and Amber had them for the summer. However, Charlene was married to Tim Dean, a former Sergeant in Dumas, Texas, and former Chief of Police of a 3-officer department in Sunray, Texas (population 1,900), who worked for Frito-Lay at the time of the crime. After Charlene recorded Tim on a cell phone slapping his 3-year-old daughter (from a previous marriage) in the face, Texas Rangers arrested Tim for child abuse; he resigned as Chief of Police, lost custody of his daughter, and had to move out. Because Tim lived with Charlene's two children, Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) alerted Josh, who took the children for the summer, petitioned for full custody, and was awarded full custody by a New York judge a few months before the murders. At an August custody hearing, Charlene told the court she was divorcing Tim Dean to get her kids back, and the court said they would review custody once the divorce was finalized.
• Eliminating Local Suspects: Phone records and conversations confirmed Charlene was in Texas on the day of the murders. Investigators looked at Charlene's New York boyfriend, Casey Miller, who lived near Sodus and had previously been arrested for having a relationship with Charlene when she was 14 years old and he was 19. After routine police questioning, Casey bragged to friends he hadn't spoken to in years that he was a "suspect" in a double homicide and tried to hide a gun—a pink 9mm semi-automatic Glock belonging to Charlene (who had a Texas permit, not a NY permit). Although it was the same caliber (9mm) used to kill Josh and Amber, ballistics testing ruled out the pink Glock as the murder weapon, and Casey's work alibi was confirmed.
• The Unraveling of an "Untraceable" Plot in Kansas: A warrant for Tim Dean's cell phone records revealed that two days before the murders (Saturday, October 20, 2018), at 4:00 AM, Tim called 911 in Emporia, Lyon County, Kansas—640 kilometers from his home—after crashing a rental car into a ditch 60 centimeters off the road while making a U-turn. On bodycam with Deputy Corey Nicolet, Tim said he worked for Frito-Lay, had been a police officer for 10 years in Dumas and Sunray, was arrested by Texas Rangers after getting a target on his back over "public corruption cases," was getting divorced, had a shotgun and a concealed weapon in the car, and was driving to visit a family friend "up in New York." Mechanics at K&S Eastside Service Center (the towing company) told Deputy Nicolet that Tim unloaded a bag with large AR-style rifle magazines, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a black vest; the mechanic hedged on the exact type of vest and its weight, saying he wouldn't call it bulletproof by any means, but a sport shooting vest, didn't remember if there were pouches, and thought it possibly weighed 2 or 3 kilos ("No diría que era a prueba de balas de ninguna manera, pero era un chaleco de tiro deportivo... No recuerdo si había bolsas, pero era todo negro. Y creo que posiblemente pesaba dos o tres kilos..."). Shop surveillance video from Saturday, Oct 20, 2018, at 13:24:48 showed Tim picking up a concealable bulletproof vest and 12-gauge shotgun. A taxi driver took Tim and his unloaded shotgun to a Motel 6, and an Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee stated Tim tried to rent a car but was denied and got angry because he only had cash and no credit card. When Tim crashed in Kansas at 4:00 AM, Charlene drove 5 hours (over 800 km) there, picked him up at the motel, took him to the airport, and gave him her debit and credit cards to rent a second car—a new silver Hyundai Veloster—which license plate and surveillance cameras tracked driving into northern New York.
• Interrogations, Confessions, and Police Conspiracy: After the murders, Charlene traveled from Texas to New York, hugged Amber's mother, attended the funeral, and wept on camera at the candlelight vigil demanding "justice." However, Det. Milby noted that in an early phone call, Charlene claimed she learned of Josh's death on Facebook by seeing a photo of his house and address—a lie, because only the street name, not the house photo or number, had been made public. On October 29, 2018 (one week after the murders), 5 New York detectives drove 24 hours to the Texas Panhandle; SWAT used explosives to blow open the front door of Tim Dean's 1950s single-story house, and Tim surrendered and was arrested on pending child abuse charges. Questioned by an FBI agent and a Texas Ranger, Tim claimed he drove far away and turned off his phone intending to shoot himself in the head so no one he knew would find him, and denied killing Josh and Amber. Investigators discovered the first rental car crashed in Kansas was rented under the name of Bron Bohlar, a 34-year-old Texas police officer with 11 years of service in Cactus and Sunray. Bron initially claimed he rented the car as a favor because Tim's credit cards were maxed out and 2 months behind, and didn't know Tim was going to New York, but Bron took a polygraph test and failed it miserably. Faced with conspiracy charges, Bron confessed the murder was planned in Tim's garage while Bron was on duty in uniform with his patrol unit in the driveway, that he heard Tim say "Maldito, vas a morir" ("Damn you, you're going to die"), and that he rented the car so Tim's name wouldn't be traced when going to New York to kill Josh. Interviewed 8 days after the murders until 1:30 AM, Charlene initially lied, claiming she drove 5 hours (over 800 km) to Kansas just to help Tim rent a car for his Frito-Lay job, then confessed after being read her Miranda rights. She stated that while driving back to Texas after losing custody in August, she told Tim "he has to go," and Tim agreed to kill Josh; two months later, after visiting her crying son in NY, she told Tim it was necessary to kill Josh. When asked by Dennis Murphy if it would have been fine if only Josh died because "that was the plan," Charlene hedged and contradicted herself: "Era el plan. Sí. Bueno, no. Es decir, sigue siendo... sigue siendo un shock que realmente ocurriera. Sí estaba planeado que sucediera."
• Forensic Confirmation, Convictions, and Aftermath: On November 5, 2018 (two weeks after the murders), Charlene Childers and Tim Dean were charged with murder. While in jail, Charlene wrote letters to Tim calling him the love of her life while her boyfriend Casey Miller visited her 60 times in prison. Tim Dean's DNA was found on the Under Armour mask recovered a block from the crime scene. Police never found the murder weapon, and Assistant District Attorney Christine Callanan hedged on its origin: "Se cree que el arma fue sustraída del departamento de policía de Sunray." Charlene pleaded guilty to manslaughter ("homicidio") in exchange for testifying against Tim at trial. The jury deliberated for 4 hours and convicted Timothy Dean of double murder, sentencing him to life in prison ("cadena perpetua"). Bron Bohlar was convicted of second-degree conspiracy and sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison. Charlene Childers was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Following the convictions, Josh's sister Nicole was granted custody of Josh and Charlene's two children, and Amber's parents (Chris and Marcia Washburn) took custody of 4-year-old Josh Jr.

Quotes

• At 0:00:01 - "Soy un ser humano. Lo lamento más de lo que puedo expresar. Cada día lo sufro, me duele." - Charlene Childers opening the broadcast with an expression of remorse that is later challenged by prosecutors and the interviewer.
• At 0:02:17 - "Volví a asomarme por la ventana de la cocina y vi a Josh agarrándose el pecho. En ese momento Amber había dado marcha atrás con su auto y justo cuando iba a pasar junto al tirador, este se giró y le disparó en la cabeza." - Neighbor Tiffany Thayer providing eyewitness testimony of the execution-style double murder from her kitchen window.
• At 0:03:47 - "Honestamente te digo que todavía puedo ver al niño en el asiento trasero agarrando sus croquetas de pollo, eso todavía puedo verlo vívidamente." - First responder Sgt. Matt Carr describing finding 4-year-old Josh Jr. unharmed in the backseat directly behind his murdered mother.
• At 0:14:32 - "Había varios casquillos en el suelo que nos indicaban que quien quería matar a Josh Niles estaba allí para asegurarse de que no hubiera posibilidades de que sobreviviera." - Lead Detective Robert Milby explaining how the ballistic evidence (Josh was shot 10 times) pointed to a targeted assassination.
• At 0:23:03 - "Quienquiera que lo haya hecho ha conseguido que mis hijos crezcan sin padre. Y eso es algo que no debería pasar a un niño jamás. Por eso ahora lo más importante que tengo que decirles es que se debe hacer justicia. Mis hijos necesitan ese cierre." - Charlene Childers speaking on camera at the victims' candlelight vigil in New York before her involvement in orchestrating the murder was exposed.
• At 0:26:55 - "Nos enteramos por otras personas que él se consideraba una celebridad. Estaba bastante impresionado con el hecho de que era lo que él llamaba un sospechoso. Solo tratábamos de reconstruir el caso. Él se autodenominó sospechoso y empezó a contactar a gente con la que no había hablado en años para decirles que era un sospechoso." - Det. Robert Milby describing the counterintuitive behavior of Charlene's New York boyfriend, Casey Miller, who bragged about being questioned before being cleared by ballistics and a work alibi.
• At 0:41:22 - "Vigílalo. Tiene un arma de fuego. Lleva un arma oculta. Se está divorciando, es de Texas y solo está dando vueltas." - Kansas Deputy Corey Nicolet on bodycam at 4:00 AM, noting the suspicious circumstances of Tim Dean's roadside ditch crash two days before the New York murders.
• At 0:47:01 - "Entonces, ¿a dónde ibas?" / "Bueno, tengo un amigo de la familia al que iba, iba a visitar, pero..." / "¿Dónde queda eso?" / "Eso está allá arriba, en Nueva York." - Exchange between Deputy Corey Nicolet and Tim Dean on Kansas bodycam footage, providing the critical link placing the Texas ex-police chief en route to New York.
• At 0:53:23 - "Salí de mi casa con la intención de ir muy lejos y ponerme una jodida bala en la cabeza para que nadie que me conozca tenga que encontrarme y lidiar con eso." - Tim Dean during his interrogation with an FBI agent and Texas Ranger, attempting to explain away his cross-country trip and turned-off phone as a suicide mission.
• At 0:59:39 - "Bron tiene que tomar una decisión. ¿Quieres ser un buen testigo o quieres ser acusado de conspiración para cometer dos homicidios?" / "Definitivamente no quiero eso." - An interrogator giving Texas police officer Bron Bohlar an ultimatum after he failed a polygraph, leading to his confession that he rented the car to hide Tim's trail.
• At 1:05:58 - "Llamé a su madre y ella dijo: '¿Charlene?' 'Sí, ¿qué sucede?' '¡Josh está muerto!' Me caí al suelo. ¿Qué diablos está sucediendo? Todavía se siente como una horrible pesadilla. ¿Cómo? ¿Quién? ¿Por qué? Es lo que quiero saber." - Charlene Childers recounting her fabricated reaction to learning of Josh's murder during her police interrogation.
• At 1:11:17 - "Acababa de perder a mis hijos, al menos por el año escolar, y le dije: '¿Sabes qué? No puedo con esto, ya no soporto la depresión y la tristeza, necesito a mis hijos, ellos son mi vida'. Y él me miró y me dijo: '¿Qué hacemos?'" - Charlene Childers confessing how the murder plot began in August while driving back to Texas after losing custody to Josh.
• At 1:18:50 - "Sí, absolutamente. Siempre utilizó a los hombres en su vida. Utilizó a Tim para matar a Josh. Es decir, mantuvo dos relaciones activas durante todo el caso. Seguía escribiéndole cartas a Timothy Dean diciéndole que era el amor de su vida, pero además Casey Miller la visitó 60 veces en prisión." - ADA Christine Callanan explaining how Charlene manipulated the men around her even after her arrest.
• At 1:23:02 - "¿Sientes remordimiento?" / "Mucho." / "Debo decir que no se nota. No sé cómo debería verse, pero no creo que lo esté viendo ahora. Pareces conforme con lo que sucedió." / "En el exterior, quizás." - Correspondent Dennis Murphy confronting Charlene Childers about her lack of visible remorse during her prison interview.

Takeaways

• Cross-reference Child Protective Services (CPS) and family court records during homicide investigations, as sudden custody changes—such as a parent losing custody due to a partner's child abuse arrest—can reveal powerful motives thousands of kilometers away.
• Do not equate a person's bizarre post-crime behavior with guilt without forensic verification; as demonstrated by Casey Miller bragging about being a suspect and hiding a pink 9mm Glock, ballistics testing and work alibis are necessary to separate attention-seeking behavior from actual culpability.
• Pull cell phone tower and call records early for all associates of a primary person of interest, even when the primary suspect has a verified alibi in another state, to uncover proxies or co-conspirators traveling on their behalf.
• Review routine out-of-state patrol interactions and bodycam footage when tracking a suspect's timeline, as minor incidents like a 4:00 AM roadside ditch crash can inadvertently capture a suspect's destination, mindset, and inventory of weapons.
• Audit third-party financial and rental transactions during conspiracy investigations, since rental car company policies requiring credit cards rather than cash force conspirators to leave paper trails through accomplices.
• Monitor what crime scene details are released to the public and media; when a witness or family member claims to have seen unreleased details (such as a specific house photo and street number on Facebook), use that discrepancy to expose deception during interrogations.
• Leverage polygraph failures and conspiracy charges strategically when questioning third-party facilitators (like Bron Bohlar) to secure eyewitness testimony regarding premeditation and planning before confronting the primary masterminds.
• Combine neighborhood canvassing, residential surveillance cameras, and K-9 searches along escape routes immediately after a shooting to recover discarded clothing (such as the Under Armour mask), providing direct DNA links to out-of-state suspects.