Episode
Dateline: Secrets in the Ashes
Overview
A house fire in South Texas kills Patricia Leigh Mills while her young son miraculously escapes.
Details
- Series
- Dateline
- Season
- Season 34
- Episode
- Episode 13
- Air date
- 2026-01-23
- Runtime
- 82 min
Episode context
Secrets in the Ashes is Episode 13 in Season 34 of Dateline. It aired on 2026-01-23. The runtime is 82 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 12: The Trouble with Sarah
Sarah Hartsfield's husband Joseph died in 2023 after being hospitalized in critical condition for hypoglycemia—a dangerous drop in blood sugar. Investigators would soon find a web of suspicious deaths in Sarah's past.
Episode 14: Bringing Jay Home
A University of Mississippi student vanishes from his apartment. Friends and family fear that Jimmie "Jay" Lee's identity as a Black gay man may complicate the pursuit of justice.
More episodes from this season
Episode 11: The Farmer's Wife
After a 911 call reporting a home invasion, police discover Karina Cooper sitting on her husband Ryan's blood-covered body in their Traer, Iowa, farmhouse. In the aftermath of Ryan Cooper's murder, rumors sweep through the small town, but investigators must uncover whether the talk is gossip or a crucial clue.
Episode 15: Malice
In Georgia, Jake Embert's death by gunshot is quickly ruled a suicide. His family believes there is more to the story and searches for justice for years, enduring a legal saga that spans three criminal trials.
Episode 10: The Ruse
When Tom Perez Sr., a father from Fontana, California, fails to return home after a quick trip to check his mail, his son calls police for help—only to find himself the focus of their investigation until a stunning revelation upends the case.
Episode 16: The Professor & The Poet
A years-long international hunt after Sue Ann Marcum, an accounting professor at American University, is found murdered in her Maryland home.
Episode 9: Raising the Dead
In rural Wisconsin, Tanna Togstad and her boyfriend Tim Mumrue are found stabbed to death inside her farmhouse in 1992. Thirty years later, the daughter of one of the original suspects comes forward, reigniting the case all the way to trial.
Episode 17: Take Two
Rockland County podiatrist Ira Bernstein and his girlfriend Kelly Gribeluk are accused of plotting to kill his wife, Susan Bernstein. Just when the case seems closed… the plot reignites.
Episode 8: Running Man
Investigators discover a car engulfed in flames in a remote wooded area near the Blue Mountains. When first responders pull the body of a local mother from the wreckage, the question arises: was the crash an accident, or something far more sinister?
Episode 18: Savannah Speaks
In her first interview since her mother Nancy Guthrie disappeared, "Today's" Savannah Guthrie speaks out.
Episode 7: The Trouble in Bardstown
The disappearance of a mother of five sends shockwaves through the picturesque town of Bardstown, Kentucky, which witnesses five murders in four years. Frustrated with stalled progress, her family takes the investigation into their own hands.
Episode 19: Temptation
Never-before-seen footage of the au pair in the Virginia double murder case involving a father accused of killing his wife, Christine Banfield, and a stranger, Joseph Ryan.