Talking Dateline: Young Lords of Chaos

Keith Morrison and Josh Mankiewicz sit down to talk about Keith’s episode, “Young Lords of Chaos.’’ In 1996, a group of teens dubbed the ‘Lords of Chaos’ went on a crime spree in Fort Myers, Florida, culminating in the murder of their high school band director, Mark Schwebes. Josh and Keith discuss the choices the teens made as they fell under the spell of their charismatic ringleader, and the local reporter who found himself getting a little too close to the case. They’re also joined by the victim’s sister, Pat Schwebes-Dunbar, who shares how her life has been shaped in the 28 years since her brother’s murder.

Listen to the full episode of “Young Lords of Chaos” here: https://link.chtbl.com/dl_younglordsofchaos

This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

0:00:00 ▶

Hi everybody, I'm Josh Makowitz and we are Talking Dateline and our guest. Is Keith Morrison. Hi. Well, hello, Josh. Well, hello, Josh. That was very good. Thank you. Like you've been working on it almost. I have been. I have been. It took two tries but... Episode is uh it's pretty interesting it's it's about a group of phenomenally amoral teens who go on this crime spree Before committing murder. But the real sort of center of this is the reporter who ends up getting so close to the story. To tell whether he's observing it or participating in it or acting as an undercover agent. Do not listen to Young Lords of Chaos. It is the episode right below this one on the list of podcasts.

0:00:54 ▶

There and listen to it and then come back here. Now when you come back we will be catching up with the victim's sister, Pat Schwiebe's Dunbar. It's been 28 years. Since then, and she has a lot to share with us. So let's talk Dateline. Really kind of two stories. I mean, it's Jim Greenhill's story, you know, reporter in what I mean, he's drinking all the time. He doesn't sound like he's doing terrible. Terribly well in life. And then it's also the story of these kids, you know, weakness Couldn't stand up to somebody or people at that age so desperate to be included. That you sort of leave behind any sense of what right and wrong is. I mean, I got bullied a lot when I was little. I get bullied a lot here at...

0:01:49 ▶

- Well, for obvious reasons. - Yeah, and you are usually the ringleader of that. But. It did get bullied a lot when I was a kid. I went to, uh, I went to seven elementary schools. I was always the new kid at school. I was very, I was very small for my age. So I, I, I will certainly say I know what it was like to be the outcast in school like a lot of those kids were. And I was always delighted. Well, there anybody who was, you know, the cool kids sort of wanted to talk to me or hang out with me or have lunch with me. But I certainly wasn't out there committing crimes and, you know. Trashing things and doing things that were violent. I mean, Kim Foster is a guy I would have been afraid of. - Oh, sure. And there's a... Kevin Foster or somebody like Kevin Foster in almost every school. Usually that extreme, obviously, but somebody in that position.