Is There A New Dateline on Tonight? (February 28, 2025)
Dateline's Blayne Alexander reports on a chilling murder case that shook a rural Texas community.
NBC News’ Blayne Alexander is making her Dateline correspondent debut with a story full of unexpected moments and exclusive interviews.
Alexander joined anchor Lester Holt and correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison, and Dennis Murphy on Dateline’s team in October 2024. "This is a journalist's dream, for a number of reasons," Alexander said on TODAY when the news was first announced. Since then, she’s scooped up some advice from Dateline’s veterans and has shared on footage of her "out in the field" reporting on new Dateline stories.
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Read on to learn all about Alexander’s Dateline debut, the tragic story she’s reporting on, and how to watch Friday’s episode on NBC.
Is there a new Dateline on tonight, February 28, 2025?
Yes! A new episode of Dateline airs on Friday, February 28, at 9/8c on NBC.
Blayne Alexander makes her Dateline correspondent debut in Friday’s all-new episode, “The Haunted House Confession.”
Dateline’s upcoming episode reports on the murder of 25-year-old Rhonda “Chantay” Blankinship. In May of 2016, Blankinship vanished after going for a walk in North Lake, a quiet, rural neighborhood in Brown County, Texas where she lived with her grandparents. Her body was discovered two days later in a dilapidated house a few miles away.
“The few people who know it’s here call it the haunted house,” Alexander says in a preview for Dateline’s Friday episode. “But one night, the horror became real … The killer was probably among them. The search for justice would lead to a different house. Not in the woods or the brush, a house of worship.”
More than a year after Blankenship was killed, Ryan Riggs confessed to the murder in front of his congregation during a service at North Lake Community Church, KBTX reported. Blankinship attended the same church. In 2019, Riggs was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
During “The Haunted House Confession," Alexander speaks with investigators, fellow members of the church, and more.
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How can I watch Dateline?
How can I watch past episodes of Dateline?
Over a dozen past seasons of Dateline are available to stream on Peacock right now. Currently, you can watch hundreds of old episodes from Seasons 18 to 32, as well previously aired episodes from Season 33.
Last week’s episode of Dateline (“A Walk Through the Woods”) reported on the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, a case that gained nationwide attention known as the Delphi murders. “The high-profile case takes a stunning twist after detectives reveal Libby captured a video of the killer shortly before her death — a crucial piece of evidence that helps police track down the murderer,” the episode’s synopsis reads.
To keep up with Dateline in between new episodes, sign up for the show’s official newsletter and listen to the Dateline NBC podcast every week.
