UPDATE: If you missed the original broadcast of the Dateline show “Secrets on the Emerald Coast”, focusing on the murder of Fort Walton Beach’s Marie Carlson, you can watch a re-run online at www.nbc.com/dateline/episodes.
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FORT WALTON BEACH — A notorious Okaloosa County criminal case will be featured tonight on NBC’s longest-running prime time program, “Dateline.”
The show, set to air at 9 p.m., will document the case of James Flanders, a disgraced former Fort Walton Beach pastor who pleaded guilty in April 2016 to the October 2011 killing of his “sister-wife” and mother of his then-infant child, Marie Carlson.
Michele Nicholson, spokeswoman for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, said a production team from Dateline, including true crime correspondent Keith Morrison, traveled to Fort Walton Beach several times in January and February to interview officials and others about the case.
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“The Flanders case resonates across the spectrum because it involves a fallen ‘man of the cloth,’ a preacher who was trusted and admired, yet involved in a secret love triangle that led to death for one of those involved,” Nicholson said in an email to the Daily News. “People are drawn to true crime stories like this one because essentially they involve a yearning for justice, as well as some element of fear we can all relate to — how well do we really know someone?”
Carlson was 37 years old on Oct. 24, 2011, when her ex-husband reported her missing and a massive search began.
Flanders, who had fathered a child with Carlson while involved in a polygamous relationship with her and his wife, Tanya, moved to Arizona in 2012, shortly after the disappearance.
Flanders always had been suspected of possible wrongdoing, but without a body authorities struggled to build a case.
A break came when Carlson’s disappearance was featured on the television show “Cold Justice” in April 2015. Flanders was arrested a month later. He eventually admitted to killing Carlson by placing her in what he first said was a “bear hug,” but later said was a “chokehold.”
Flanders and his attorney, Glenn Swiatek, struck a deal with prosecutors to secure a manslaughter charge — downgraded from a second-degree murder — in exchange for telling investigators where he buried Carlson’s body almost five years earlier. Flanders revealed that he buried Carlson’s in the backyard of a home at 714 Revere Ave. he lived in when she disappeared.
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Authorities recovered Carlson’s remains on April 29, 2016.
Flanders, now 49 years old, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July 2016. He is being held at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton. Prison records show a scheduled release date of Sept. 28, 2029, two years less than his 15-year sentence.
Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason, who would have prosecuted Flanders had his case gone to trial, was among those interviewed for the “Dateline” program. She said she thinks the case draws national attention because of its unusual set of circumstances, including polygamy, the church, a baby and Flanders’ fleeing to Arizona.
Mason doggedly pursued the case against Flanders for five years, and is among those credited with its resolution.
“That is our job. That is what we do every day,” Mason said when asked why she fought to close the case. “People violate the law if they take a life, and we are going to do everything we can to bring them to justice.”
First Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Eddins also was interviewed for the show, as were Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nesli Suhi-Moore and retired Investigator Keith Matz. A producer for the show did not return a request for comment as to who else locally had been interviewed.
Tonight’s episode is titled “Secrets on the Emerald Coast.” Its description on NBC’s website reads, “A young mother disappears after leaving her newborn in the care of her local pastor and his wife. For five years Florida detectives search for her, but instead uncover a web of secrets and lies.”
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