"Fifteen: A Quiet Life Shattered" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 1) | Forensic Files

[Music] went to their bedroom. I opened the door and I just kind of stood over their bed
watching them sleep for a few minutes. My body was trembling. I was nervous but excited and exhilarated.
I was actually going to do it. I was there. It's finally happening. >> I will never understand how he did what
he did. >> My name is Victoria Herd and Claudia was my mother. I'm her eldest daughter.
My mom was my best friend. [Music] In 1995, Claudia Mopin packed up her bags and left her home in Fairfield,
California to move 30 m northeast to Davis. In her late 50s, she was looking to start a new life. She had been single
for a while and she had decided that she was ready to settle down. >> When I talked to Claudia's daughter,
Victoria, she was sitting with her own daughter and they couldn't stop giggling as they recounted the move.
>> I remember very well. It was very intentional. Oh, really? Yeah. She was ready to have a companion and she knew
that she wanted somebody smart and she knew that she wanted somebody who lived in Davis. Claudia was funloving with a
boisterous laugh. She wanted to be somewhere young, progressive, and full of life. And the city of Davis was kind
of a paradise. Located in the central valley of Northern California, it's home to the
University of California, Davis. It's also rich in farmland, nature preserves, and towering trees. There's greenery
everywhere. Claudia was also drawn to the spirituality there. She had been a spiritual traveler through many
different religions and denominations and she just had fallen in love with the Unitarian Church. So she said to me, "My
husband is at the Unitarian Church." And she was right. Only a few months later,
Claudia called Victoria to tell her that she had met someone there. His name Oliver Chip Northup. He was so smart and
brilliant and they were like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy meeting over the pews at the Unitarian Church. I mean,
was this true love? I think it was true friendship. I don't think it was youthful passion. Let's put it that way.
I think it was the recognition of a kindred soul. The next year, Chip and Claudia got married. The church was
packed. They blended their big, loving families in a joyous ceremony. Chip had eight children and Claudia had three,
>> two big families. What a gift. What an absolute gift. And we were older. We were adults when they got together. So I
think both families were very appreciative that the other had come into their parents' life.
Time passed and by 2013 they had been together for 17 years. Their family had grown to include a whopping 22
grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Claudia was 76 and Chip 87. >> They had an idyllic life. They did what
they wanted. They had so many loved ones around them. They had so many great neighbors.
They lived in Davis. Every evening, Claudia looked forward to being home with Chip. It didn't matter
what she was doing or who she was with. >> She'd say 9:30. Have to go home to Chip.
Our programs are on. Have to get my feet rubbed. And Chip would watch with his headphones and rub my mother's feet
every night. They adored each other in that way. They loved going to movies, holding hands, and just being with each
other, and being with each other's families. >> That's exactly how they were together.
On a beautiful night in April, home from a long day of activities, Claudia and Chip left their window open as they
drifted off to sleep in the cool of the evening. Hours later, a figure appeared outside
their window. >> When you think about the terror um that these two people just asleep in their
own bed where we all feel the most secure and you wake up to this horror movie happening to you.
>> I'm 48 hours correspondent Aaron Morardi. I've been reporting on murder cases for over three decades. So, you
probably think that after all this time, I've seen it all. And actually, I thought I had too until I encountered
two senseless, inexplicable murders, just the torture of the bodies, the postmortem cutting,
>> you know, putting in objects in their body >> and the mastermind behind them. Has
anybody even had the strength to do that? And and why wouldn't somebody want to do that?
>> This is 15 inside the Daniel Marsh murders, episode 1, a quiet life shattered.
Before we begin, just a trigger warning. The following episode contains references to graphic physical violence.
Please listen with care. My parents started the Unitarian Church here in Davis back in the 50s and it was
a very big part of my life growing up and and theirs and my father and mother continued to be active even after they
were divorced. >> This is Chip's daughter Mary Northup. When Chip met Claudia at the church he
helped start, he was actually married to his second wife, Maron, and was still on
good terms with his first wife. But Maron was now dying of cancer. >> He had supported her in her wish to die
at home. And it had been hard for him. Claudia had started attending church while Marlin was still alive. Um, and so
she watched my father go through this. And when Marlin died, she gave him a shoulder to cry on. I don't think her
intent was, "Oh, now I'll go grab him." As much just that she was that compassionate person and she saw this
and uh and and wanted to help him through that grieving. >> I think he was a little embarrassed
because it was barely 6 months after after his second wife had died, but we were all incredibly supportive.
Chip's son, Robert Northup, said that even though his father's relationship with Claudia moved quickly, the whole
family was on board. >> When you talk about Claudia, how would you describe Claudia?
>> An angel who walked the earth? >> Really? An angel. >> Why do you say that? Even just the sensation you could get
from a distance, just the the serenity in her face, the welcoming smile, the just putting people at at ease. Even
from, you know, 50 ft away, she could do that. >> Chip's family knew Claudia was good for
him. Chip was used to running nonstop, and Claudia reminded him to take time for the most important people in his
life. And she also often acted as sort of a a liaison ensuring that he remembered to communicate with people
and >> because I heard he worked a lot. >> Yes. Yes, he did. >> Chip had spent decades working as a
lawyer. Even after he retired, he still worked part-time as an appellet attorney
to keep his mind sharp. His daughter Mary said he was kind and dedicated to doing the right thing. Every once in a
while there was an injustice and it was important to him to make sure that when he found that he did the best he could
to get them a fair trial, to get them a fair hearing in the justice system. A lot of the times he told me, "I get one
or two years shaved off because there have been errors. That's a victory." >> Even in his late 80s, Chip stayed
incredibly active in the broader Davis community. He had been a proud member of the Rotary Club and the school board and
worked the Sunday barbecue at the county fair. He was also a founding member of a
local folk band, the Peuda Creek Crawads. [Music] >> He had a beautiful voice. He he really
had a beautiful voice that gave him the most joy. All my siblings, kids really loved. Whenever Grandpa Chip came, they
would say, "Sing us a song." And of course, he would carry his guitar with him. He got to that point.
>> Chip also performed music at his church, which was like a second home to both him
and now Claudia. So when they didn't show up to the service that second Sunday in April, friends and family knew
immediately that something was wrong. I can tell you what happened from my view. April 14th, uh, I was supposed to
be seeing my father at church. >> On the morning of April 14th, 2013, Chip Northup's daughter, Mary, and her
mother, Chip's first wife, Peggy, arrived at the Unitarian Church, expecting to meet Claudia and Chip,
there. He's part of this group, the musical group that they've been together since literally since the late 60s, part
of the church. And he didn't show up. And that was very unusual. It was unusual enough that my mother said to
me, you need to try to find your father. So, you know, I said, you know, you guys
have been divorced for 40 years. Let it go. But I it it saddened my brain. So I went to try to call him, but our church
is sort of out in the country here and didn't get any cell reception. So I let it go until we went home afterwards and
I called and I called his number and I called Claudia's number and they both went to voicemail.
>> How unusual is that? >> It was very unusual. Claudia always answered her phone. Peggy then called
her son Robert >> and I I tried to reassure her that she was overreacting that you know oh
there's all kinds of reasons he might have missed that performance and uh I dutifully went to check but I everything
I saw indicated they were out of town. >> It was evening when Robert rang his father's doorbell. No one answered. He
looked through the front windows and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. >> I didn't realize they had their car
locked in the garage. If they were home, the car would have normally been in the
driveway. And then there were some newspapers piled up, and I thought, "Oh, that's proof that they're out of town."
>> Robert decided if no one was home, it wasn't worth going inside, so he left. Another hour passed, but still, no one
could get in touch with Chip and Claudia. Around 7:30 p.m., Claudia's daughter Laura decided to visit the house. Like
Robert, she rang the front doorbell and again, no one answered. But Laura wasn't satisfied leaving it at
that. She walked around the back of the house. She saw a few lights on inside. And that's when she noticed that one of
the back windows wasn't just open. The screen had been meticulously cut. She stepped forward to get a closer
look. She could just barely see into Chip and Claudia's shared bedroom. But even in the dim light, she could see
something wasn't right. I think I think she saw blood stains, but she didn't see bodies. She saw
enough that she made a call to get other people over there. >> It wasn't clear to her what had happened
or whose blood it was, but it was enough to make her call 911. Several officers from the Davis Police
Department arrived at the scene. They tried to get into the house but couldn't gain entry through the front door. They
went around to the back to look at what Laura thought she had seen through the window. As they shined their flashlights
through the screen, it became very clear that they had stumbled upon a crime scene.
Inside were two bodies completely covered in blood. Police forced their way inside. Hours later, Laura got in
touch with her sister Victoria. And I pick up my phone and there's 12 missed calls from my sister. And so that was
really strange. I called her back and she was sobbing and she said, "Something's wrong with
mom and Chip." And I said, "What? What's wrong with mom and chip?" And she said, "Well, honey,
there's been a breakin and there are two dead bodies in the house." Victoria was in disbelief. I thought
somebody had broken into the house and Chip had killed them. I didn't think I really didn't think it was Mom and Chip.
And Laura didn't say that they were dead. >> Laura asked Victoria to pass the phone
to Victoria's partner, Casey. So, I'm starting to shake, right, and break down. And I run to Casey and I
hand her the phone. And I sat there just and I'm hearing Laura talk to Casey. And
I sat there and I feel myself like falling to the floor, but I don't know why I'm falling to the floor, but I'm
falling. And I I feel her spirit. It's almost like she's standing there and she says, "You have a choice in this moment.
You can stay on the floor or you can get up and face this with love. It was so clear from your mother.
>> From my mother. And I I was then I was like got up like her words infused me and I said, "Okay, let's go. Let's go
right now." >> Did you know at that moment I just knew that something was wrong?
Victoria and Casey made their way from Sacramento to Chip and Claudia's house. We went and made the turn onto their
street and the corner's van was there and I still didn't know. I get out of the car and I go marching to the police
officer and I said, "I'm I'm Claudia's daughter. I need to see Claudia." And he said, "You can't go in there. That's a
crime scene." and and I got angry and started pushing him and said, "I need to see my mother. I need to see my mother.
She needs me." >> No one would tell Victoria anything. Instead, she was told to get into the
police car and wait. >> My partner was pre-law, so she said, "Is she under arrest?"
And the officer said, "No." And then she we said, "Well, we're not getting in the
car. we'll meet you at the police station. And as we were getting into the car to go to the police station, I saw
the corners bringing out their bodies, and I still didn't know it was them. Victoria and Casey rushed to the Davis
Police Station, but still no one seemed willing to share any information with them. So Casey began asking yes or no
questions. >> She asked, "Is Victoria's mother dead? And then then they said yes and then I
lost it. My brain couldn't process that. I was in complete shock. She said, "Was
Victoria's mother shot?" And the officer said, "No." "Was Victoria's mom strangled?" The officer said, "No." "Was
Victoria's mother stabbed?" And then the officer lowered his head and I started screaming
because I couldn't imagine. I couldn't imagine it. It's impossible even now and everything we've been
through and seen to imagine anybody doing that to somebody who was so kind and so precious.
Meanwhile, Chip's children still had no idea that anything was wrong. Chip's daughter, Mary, hadn't heard anything
since her brother went to check on Chip the night before. The next morning, she turned on the TV
to watch the news. >> I noticed there was this shot with police caution tape and in from a tree
to the garage and it says double homicide in Davis. And I'm like, "Wow, that's that's unusual." So the next time
it came on, I looked at it again. I said, "That that looks like where my dad lived." So I I paused it and rewound it
and I at this point I'm calling the kids and my wife to come out and and look and
say, "Is that is that Grandpa Chip's place?" >> She was finally able to see the number
by the door and it confirmed the unthinkable. It was Chip and Claudia's house. She
called the police to see if they could tell her what was happening. >> It took him about 10 minutes before they
would tell me, "Well, yes, that is the house where they found bodies, but they wouldn't tell me it was my father." They
wouldn't tell me anything. They said I had to come down to the police station. But at this point, I started calling my
family because I didn't know. I didn't want the rest of my family to find out this way.
>> That's a horrible way to find out. I I I cannot I mean I literally nearly collapsed on the floor when I realized
that it was their house that I'm watching this on television. To start from there just made everything all of
the events that began to unfold worse and worse. It was very very unusual homicide.
>> What do you mean? The victims were an elderly couple, which didn't seem to make a lot of sense. It was uh it was a
very brutal murder. >> Lieutenant Paul Durishav was one of the Davis police officers who arrived on the
scene that April day. He would later become one of the leaders in the investigation.
>> The couple was still in their bed and you know, multiple cut stab type murder.
It was it was it was horrific. Much more so than let's say a a bullet wound. >> Chip had been stabbed 61 times and
Claudia 67. >> It was something that uh it was up close and personal. >> The cause of death was clear, but the
how and why would take a lot more time to determine. >> How did the killer or killers get in?
>> Yeah. Through the window. It didn't look like a typical burglary. There was no sign of ransacking and
nothing of value appeared to be missing. Both bodies were still in bed. No evidence that either victim tried to
escape. And there was another odd thing about the crime scene. Was there a lot of
evidence left behind by the killer? >> Not really. We were coming up pretty dry on the crime scene. Any fingerprints
that seem clearly connected? DNA left at the scene? >> No. >> Did you have the weapon?
>> We didn't have the weapon. No. >> Still, while the crime scene was unusually clean, the bodies were
anything but. Both victims had stab wounds everywhere in their necks, the torso, the legs. And that wasn't even
the most horrifying part. It was a very bloody scene, >> right? >> And there were some strange details,
too, weren't there? >> Yeah, there were um there were a couple objects inside the bodies. Um one of
them being a shot glass or glass of some sort >> put inside the body >> and a cell phone in the other. Right.
>> Right. >> I mean, who does something like this? >> Like I said, we we didn't know. The
first thing we thought is perhaps looking at people they know that are connected especially strongly connected
to the victims where there would be feelings involved. >> I mean it sounds like a lot of anger
toward these people. >> Sounded like it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. >> Police believe that whoever attacked
Chip and Claudia may have had a personal vendetta. >> I think even one theory was because he
was a defense attorney. um perhaps someone who was in his life as a client that you know felt like they were
wronged and he didn't do a good enough job fighting for them. Um so we were kind of looking at everything
>> but neither Chip nor Claudia had any obvious enemies in town. >> No, you know, everybody liked them. They
were involved in music. They were involved with a lot of people in the community and we were just coming up
with everybody who who really liked them. The police department had to start piecing together a story based on
statistics and crimes they had dealt with previously. They had to ask, "Was one of the victims having an affair?
Could they have had a falling out with a close friend or family member?" >> Usually to us when it's that violent, um
there's anger behind it, some type of feeling. Uh you'll see it with domestic violence, family related murders, things
like that. But usually we felt like, okay, maybe there's a connection between the suspect and and and the victims.
Here, >> with little to no evidence to lead them, the police started their investigation
by looking close to home, very close to home. >> I understand that they had few options.
They had very, very little in the way of good evidence to work with, so they had
to make the best they could with very few clues. Chip's son, Robert, was one of the first people they talked to
>> at that point. Then those clues pointed us. We we lived in the same town, not
very far away. We would have had we certainly no motive, but easily had the opportunity.
>> Coming up on the next episode of 15, inside the Daniel Marsh murders. And what did they think when they heard
you had just cleaned the carpet? It looked like I was covering up, removing evidence.
[Music] This series was reported by me, Aaron Morardi. Alan Pang is our producer. Mora
Walls is our story editor and Jamie Benson is the senior producer. Megan Marcus is the vice president of podcast
editorial for CBS. Special thanks to 48 hours executive producer Judy Tyiggard along with 48
hours producers Judy Ryback, Stephanie Slifer, and Greg Fiser from Goat Rodeo. This podcast was written and produced by
Cara Schillin, Max Johnston, Jay Venibals, Isabelle Kirby McGawan, Megan Nadulski, and Ian Enright.
Additional reporting and recording by Cara Schillin. Our executive producers at Goat Rodeo are Megan Nadulski and Ian
Enright. Original theme in music by Hans Delshi with additional music from Paramount. Final mix by Rebecca Sidell.
Then Fulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is Carara Schillin. I'm Aaron Morardi. If you're enjoying
this show, be sure to give it a rating and review. It helps more people find it and hear our reporting. If you liked 15
Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders, check out the rest of our 48 Hours podcasts by searching 48 Hours on your favorite
podcast app. Thanks for listening. [Music]

When Claudia Maupin moved to Davis, California, she's determined to find the man of her dreams. Sure enough, she falls in love with and marries Chip Northup, and together they merge their families. Life seemed happy and safe, full of love. So when the couple does not show up at church one morning, their family is worried. But they never expect that Chip and Claudia had been the victims of a double homicide inside their home.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Claudia Mopin and Chip Northup are brutally murdered in their home, leading to a complex investigation into the crime.

Key points

Claudia's New Life. In 1995, Claudia Mopin moved to Davis, California, seeking a fresh start and companionship.
A Joyous Union. Claudia and Chip married after a year of companionship, blending their families in a joyous ceremony.
A Terrifying Discovery. Claudia's daughter Laura finds a cut window and blood stains, leading to a 911 call.
The Unthinkable News. Victoria receives a shocking call about her mother and Chip, leading to disbelief and horror.
A Brutal Crime Scene. Police discover the bodies of Claudia and Chip in their home, leading to a tense investigation.
Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders. Explore the chilling details of the Daniel Marsh case in our next episode.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I will never understand how he did what he did.

0:32WatchAug 27, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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