"Fifteen: A Strange Tip" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 3) | Forensic Files

Before we begin, just a trigger warning. The following episode contains references to graphic physical violence
and suicide. Please listen with care. [Music] >> Hi, this is Corpal Allen. >> Hello,
>> this is Corporal Allen. Who am I speaking with? >> Uh, I want to remain anonymous. Is that
okay? [Music] For 2 months, police had relentlessly searched for the killer of Chip Northup
and Claudia Mppen. Officers had interviewed the family and people who knew the couple. They'd set up a hotline
to receive tips, but nothing had panned out. And then late on the evening of June 15th, 2013,
911 Dispatch received an anonymous call. They transferred it to the Davis Police
Department. >> Okay. Uh, what are you calling to report, sir? >> Um, the double homicide that happened in
April this year. To determine if the caller was a crank or not, Corporal Scott Allen asked the
person to share details about the crime. And then he introduced the caller to Corporal Kirath Breznik, who knew more
about the continuing murder investigation. >> Would you mind kind of giving me the
details of of the information that you have? >> Yeah. Um, the person who did it, he told me
everything. He told me everything he did step by step. >> The caller clearly knew a lot about the
murders and had information that the police hadn't shared with the public or even the victim's family.
[Music] He told me he stabbed her in like the stomach area like 20 to 40 times. He was
telling me he was just going at it and um well he said he he did that and she was screaming.
For weeks the authorities have been looking at friends, family, anyone who had crossed paths with Claudia and Chip
trying to piece together who might have brutally murdered this beloved couple. >> Uh I grew up with this person
>> here in Davis. >> Yes. And I've known him I knew him better than anyone else.
>> But what this caller revealed was beyond anything they had imagined. The person the anonymous caller knew
better than anyone else. Was named Daniel Marsh. He was 15 years old. >> He's a I think the word is psychotic.
Basically, he's the kind of person that likes to see something hurt. [Music] >> I'm 48 Hours correspondent Aaron Morardi
and this is 15 Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders, episode 3, A Strange Tip. After spending hours on the phone with
police, the clearly nervous anonymous caller finally agreed to come down to the police station to talk in person.
>> Can I get some water? >> Uh, yes, please. Water. >> The teenage tipster was Alvaro Garbe. He
arrived at the station early the following morning. there. Police led him into a small room and offered to grab
him some snacks. Alvaro was skinny with long black hair that was pulled up into a ponytail. He
wore dark frame glasses. A camera in the room captured Alvaro as he nervously rubbed his hands together and tapped on
the table next to him until the officers came back into the room. >> How old are you? I'm 17.
>> 17. Okay. Um, since we just met, do you mind if uh you spell me your name again?
>> A L V A R O. >> At first, investigators weren't sure what to make of Alvaro's phoned in tip.
Given his intimate knowledge of the crime, they had to consider the possibility that he himself could have
been involved. So they read him his rights. >> So um you have the right to be a found
anything you say can will be used against you in court of law. You understand that?
>> Yeah. Can't write your attorney um before during questioning if you can't afford one will be appointed to you no
cost. Do you understand that? >> Okay. >> Well I don't really but I've heard that
tons of times on TV. >> I later sat down with Alvaro Garab in 2018. 5 years after Chip and Claudia were
killed, Alva was then 22 years old with a full beard. They thought you were involved.
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I I mean, I retrospect, I totally get it. I mean, I'm like some random kid saying that
this person committed a crime. I'm like, you know, kind of freaked out at the time.
>> The story that he had shared with the police still haunted him. the story of his once close friendship with a teenage
boy named Daniel Marsh. [Music] When I first met him, he was very shy and very quiet.
>> Avaro met Daniel in seventh grade at Holmes Junior High School. Both of them were lonely, self-described outcasts who
bonded over their mutual love of the heavy metal band Disturbed. Like we just hung out a lot.
>> What would you do when you'd hang out? >> Just like play video games and then just
like watch music videos and go on YouTube. Like watch like the dumbest YouTube videos ever. And we just sit
there and laugh for like hours, you know, like those like like like can't breathe kind of laughing.
>> Alo said that he and Daniel became fast friends, almost family. Daniel would talk to him about his rocky
home life. When Daniel was 10 years old, his parents separated and his mother had
an affair with a woman. When his parents divorced shortly after, Daniel said he felt abandoned. Alvaro told me that the
situation infuriated Daniel, who over time directed his anger at the woman that his mother was involved with. He
hated her like abs. Like cuz he would tell me that I know this woman was involved in my parents' divorce and I
just want to like strangle her to death. I remember him saying that to me. >> Did you think he was serious when he
talked about wanting to kill her? >> No. I mean, I knew Okay. Well, I kind of empathize cuz I'm like, okay, I guess if
this one if there's a person individual that was was responsible for my parents divorce, I would hate them too, you
know, >> but enough to kill them. >> No. Well, he didn't kill her, but you know.
>> No, but he talked about it. >> Talked about it. Yeah. >> The conversations disturbed Alvaro, but
he remained close with Daniel. In high school, they smoked marijuana together, played guitar, and watched YouTube
videos. But eventually, Alvaro said Daniel started spending hours watching very disturbing content, videos of
torture and beheadings. As I warned you earlier, what you're about to hear is disturbing.
There was this one torture video that really like hit me that made me feel like more more uncomfortable and more
unsettled, which was a a video of this person um uh drowning somebody. They have like a video of somebody like, you
know, like a scarf on their face and just like putting them under a tub and just drowning them.
>> Alvaro was upset by what he saw, but he said that Daniel seemed to enjoy the videos.
He just sat there, you know, just kind of like, whoa, what's going on? I think like fascinated by it.
>> When we spoke, Alvaro explained that he thought Daniel's interest in violence
and hurting people was just a way to destress, not something he'd try to replicate.
>> That's how I took it. I never thought in reality this person was actually going
to go do something about it. You know, after Daniel's parents divorced, things became even more tense between Daniel,
his parents, and his mother's new partner. According to Alvaro, Daniel, then 14 years old, became fixated with
his weight. How thin did he get? I mean, was it really a problem? >> He got really thin. I think I have a
couple photos of him and I hanging out, and he looks like like bones. >> Daniel would starve himself for extended
periods of time, and he regularly talked about death. And was he taking medications? He was
taking anti-depressants. >> Did he talk about what was going on in his head and his thoughts?
>> He would tell me a lot about suicide. >> Daniel was sent to various therapists
according to Alvaro and doctors tried to deal with his behavioral and health issues.
In 2012, Daniel told a school guidance counselor that he fantasized about killing people. The counselor called
police who hospitalized Daniel because of the danger he posed to himself and others.
When Daniel would go through these depressive episodes, writing became an outlet for him.
>> And he was like, "Yeah, I've been doing a lot of writing lately." And I was like, "Oh, cool. What are you writing?"
I was like, "Uh, just stuff." And I was like, "Oh, okay. Like lyrics." And I was
like, "Nope." I was like, "Oh, okay." The police had shared with me pages copied from Daniel's personal journal
from this time period, and I showed them to Alvaro. >> You want me to go through this? Crazy
stuff. >> I know. Well, tell me why you say it's crazy stuff. >> Cuz it's like it's just just random
streams of consciousness. What the hell is this? >> Hard to read at all. That looks like
someone with a gun. >> Yeah. >> In his mouth. >> I pulled out one page that Alvaro had
already seen. Daniel himself had shown it to him. The page was covered with drawings of skulls mixed with references
to serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dawnmer and song lyrics about sex and murder.
This is kind of scary when you look at it, it >> Oh my gosh. Like, you don't even Okay,
so when I first saw this, I didn't think too much about it. Now I'm like 22 looking at this. It blows my mind that I
like didn't even like think about what like could happen. >> Another page was covered in expletives.
>> There's one that's uh like kill Daniel seemed able to keep much of that anger bottled inside.
In high school, he and Alvaro dated girls, and they all started hanging out together as a group.
But then over time, Daniel's girlfriend also observed troubling behavior. She called Alvaro.
I remember her just being like kind of panicky and just very like I don't think Dan's okay, you know? Like I I think
he's like messed up or like he's got like something going on where he's like he just like snapped at me.
Some of Daniel's journal entries involved his girlfriend. And these ones didn't just talk vaguely about murder.
They showed just how seriously Daniel was thinking about killing. Okay. Wow. >> What is that?
>> This is him planning to kill uh her ex-boyfriend. He keeps keeps writing, "I am ready."
In his original interview with police, Alvaro described the weekend of April 13th, 2013.
It was the weekend of Alvaro's 17th birthday, the same weekend that Chip and Claudia were murdered.
Alvaro spent the time playing video games. He went to Guitar Center with his family. His friend Daniel didn't join
him, but he did invite Alvaro to hang out that Sunday to talk about something important.
He said, "I want to tell you something important." >> Yeah. And he told me he had a he had an
interesting night and he wanted to talk about it. >> Avoid Daniel wanted to tell him about
the interesting night he had had hours earlier. >> Like he started off by like telling me
that he killed two people and then they told him, "I don't want to hear about it. I want to know about it."
According to Alvaro, Daniel said he killed two people. Alvaro didn't know what to make of what Daniel just told
him, and he didn't want to hear anymore, so he left. But Alvaro told me that the
next day, Daniel still wanted to talk to him. >> And then on Monday, uh, I go to school,
go to lunch, and I, uh, sit down with my friend group. Dan comes up to me, walks up to me, and
he like he's like, "Hey man, I need to talk to you." I'm like, "Oh, okay. What about?" And he's like, "Just just come
with me." And then like brings me up to the side by a locker room, and he's like, "Hey man, I made the news." And
I'm like, "Okay, what do you mean by that?" You know, like what do you mean you made the news? Oh, okay. Well, I'll
just talk to you about it later. [Music] Later on in social studies class, someone told Alvaro about a story they
had read in the newspaper. It was about a double homicide that had taken place over the weekend.
>> And I was like, "Oh, snap. All right." And then that's when everything kind of
just like turns into a movie. Alvaro began connecting the dots. Later, he received a text from Daniel to come
over to his house. And then when I go to his room, like, you know, like I just walk in, he's
sitting on on the on his um, you know, rolling chair, you know, by his computer and I sit on the side of his bed and
then he starts telling me like, you know, he's like, "So, uh, I actually did it." And then
I I don't like talking about this too much. >> I know, but tell me what you can just
describe what he told you he had done. >> So when uh he gave me basically I'd say like a
rundown of what he did. And this is what Daniel told him. That on Saturday, instead of attending
Alvaro's birthday celebrations, Daniel had put on all black clothing and a ski mask over his face. He told Alvaro
that he had grabbed his mother's 6-in hunting knife and then left his home in the darkness of the night.
>> He showed me the knife, the weapon. Um, uh, >> his shoes. >> Yeah, his shoes.
>> Daniel had thought of everything, Alvaro said, even wrapping the bottom of his
boots in duct tape so he wouldn't leave any footprints. >> In his rundown, he told me how he broke
into the house and then the entire act of uh, of killing those two people, like step by step, like every move.
>> Did it seem real at that point? No, no. Everything just didn't make any sense.
>> And why did he do this? Why did he tell you he was doing this? I >> I I have no idea. I honestly I think
about that a lot. >> Did he seem proud of what he had done? >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. He seemed very like
content and, you know, took a lot of I mean, it sounded like he took a lot of pleasure out of it. Did you get the
impression he was kind of bragging to you about what he had just done? >> Yeah, he was chuckling. He was laughing
about, you know, putting in objects in their body. >> The details were so upsetting to Alvaro,
so difficult to absorb, he didn't know how to respond to Daniel's story. >> I felt like throwing up, felt like
I couldn't feel anything. Felt very numb. And I just walked out. My head's just running, spinning, and then I'm
like looking at the door and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, like I need to get out of here." And like I I had this feeling
that the police are going to break in here and like I need like shaking. [Music]
Alvaro had told me that he was shaking and he felt like throwing up after hearing Daniel confess to the crimes.
But still, Alvaro didn't immediately go to the police. >> You knew he had just killed two people.
Why didn't you tell >> anybody? I I don't know. >> But you knew he might hurt somebody
else. >> It was just like one of those things that you just kind of I just wasn't facing it.
>> So, help me understand why not. Um, >> the two of you know, both of you, you both know.
>> Well, okay, you're in high school. How do you How do you approach this? >> You call the boys.
>> Yeah. Well, I mean, that's obviously that's easier said than done. I'm like freaking out about what's going to
happen. What if I call the police? How's that how's this going to affect me? Is this going to follow me all my whole
life? You know, is there any way I can do this anonymous? After Daniel told Alvaro about the
murders, Alvaro was too scared to go to the police. But the one thing he did do was cut off all contact with Daniel.
That's when I des like stopped talking to him, stopped texting him. I told him I needed space. Hey man, like hey, I
just like I need a moment, man. like I I can't just you know I didn't I tried my
best to not let him feel like I was disowning or like you know making him feel like I you're unfriending him. Try
my best I was just like hey man like I just need space you know like I didn't tell him why
>> he didn't want to call the police at first. Instead, Alvaro said he reached out to Daniel's father, Bill.
>> And, you know, I texted him. I was like, "Hey, man. Daniel was involved with that
with the the the double homicide. Uh, I don't know what to do. I'm thinking about calling the police or something."
Something along the lines of that. Bill and Alvaro's accounts of this differ, but according to Alvaro, Bill
was stunned by the accusation and refused to believe that Daniel could have committed such a crime.
And so Dan's dad said, "You're overreacted. He wouldn't do this." >> Yeah, >> he didn't believe you.
>> I mean, it's his son and it's just like, "No, of course he didn't believe me."
You know, >> so Alvaro kept his mouth shut and tried to go on with his life while police
began investigating the murders. But a few weeks later, Daniel approached him at school.
>> He came up to me and he was like, "Dude, like what what are you doing?" Like, you
know, like how come you're not talking to me? like why are you and I told him I I just I remember having just like this
like public you know just hey man I I don't want to be your friend you know like don't talk to me and then you know
he just like starts yelling at me and I'm like yeah whatever and I just like walk out of the school
at that point Alvaro had become scared of Daniel fearful to be around him he knew that Daniel regularly carried a
knife around so he told a guidance counselor that Daniel had one at school. Alvaro said that got Daniel expelled.
Afterwards, Daniel wasn't supposed to return to the campus, but he did. And while there, he approached Alvaro again.
And he's just like uh threatened to like attack me if I don't like, you know, talk to him. He wants to
know what's going on. Why is he why am I not speaking to him? You know, uh, that's basically it. And I just kind of
like freaked out and like ran. >> Soon after, Alvaro was on the phone with Daniel's girlfriend and suddenly she
started panicking >> and she's like, "Hey, uh, I think I think someone's in my house." You know,
cuz she hears noises in the backyard and, uh, and she's like, "I got to go." And she hangs up, right? She texted me,
"Dan, uh, Dan just broke into my house." I'm like, "How do you get in?" I'm like,
"Through the doggy door." And I'm like, "Whoa, okay." Uh, I'm like freaking out now. I'm like panting in my room. I'm
like, "I got to do something. I got to do this." You know? I'm like, "Uh, what am I going to do? What am I going to
do?" And that's when Alvaro grabbed a phone, called 911, and became that anonymous caller that
you heard at the top of the episode. Over the course of several more phone calls, he was eventually connected with
corporals Scott Allen and Kirth Breznik. Alvaro didn't want to give them his name, but eventually he became more
comfortable and started calling Corporal Breznik KB. Officer KB, she's very nice. She was
like, "Okay, well, in order for me to follow up with you, I need you to actually give me your name." And I'm
like, "Okay, all right. I'm going to come over to your house and we're going to talk about this." And I'm like, it's
like it's like 2:00 in the morning. I'm like, "Okay, gotcha." And like she comes
over, then we have a chat and then she takes me to the uh police department. Alvaro spent hours with police in that
interrogation room. He told them about what Daniel had confessed to him about his actions on the weekend of April
13th. He told me he got a Yeah. He got duct tape to put under his shoe. So then you
guys would like find his footprints or shoe prints or something like that. Mhm. >> He went there. Uh he uh he went to the
back of the house. >> It was the first real break in the case. Investigators had closely guarded the
details of Chip and Claudia's murders. And now inside that interrogation room, Alvaro was sharing gruesome details from
the crime scene. You cut both of them open just to see the insides or something.
[Music] >> Alvaro had told the investigators everything he knew. The police were
going to allow him to go home, but first they wanted to try something. They asked
Alvaro if he could call Daniel and ask him about the murders while police recorded the call.
>> Going back to uh a possible phone call or talking to Daniel. >> Yeah, I can do that.
>> Alvaro tried contacting Daniel, but Daniel didn't answer any calls or texts. And that's when investigators decided it
was time to bring Daniel Marsh in for questioning. That that you were there, that you did
those murders. Me? That's ridiculous. Why is it ridiculous? I'm a kid. [Music] Coming up next on 15. Inside the Daniel
Marsh murders. This series was reported by me, Aaron Morardi. Alan Pang is our producer. Mora
Walls is our story editor. and Jamie Benson is a 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
Carara 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.
Vendel 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]

Two months after the murders, a teenage tipster calls police with intimate knowledge of the crime and shocking details about who was responsible. But how did this high schooler know so much information, and why didn't he report it earlier?

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.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

A teenager confesses to a brutal double homicide, revealing chilling details to his friend before being reported to police.

Key points

The Anonymous Caller. An anonymous caller provides crucial details about a double homicide, shocking the police.
The Disturbing Interest. Alvaro describes Daniel's fascination with violent content, raising red flags.
Daniel's Confession. Daniel reveals to Alvaro that he killed two people, leaving Alvaro in shock.
Alvaro's Disturbing Revelation. Alvaro Garbe recalls his chilling conversation with Daniel Marsh about the murders.
The Final Call. Alvaro becomes the anonymous caller to report Daniel's actions after a panic.
Alvaro's Confession. Alvaro reveals shocking details about the murders during police interrogation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I want to tell you something important.

Daniel's ominous invitation to Alvaro.

14:15WatchSep 10, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.