school and a young woman of 20, cathy started to see a boy named albert. a boy she'd played with as a child, and was now interested in romantically. were they boyfriend and girlfriend? >> she said that they were, you know, seeing each other, but it wasn't anything serious or formal that i knew of. that's how she explained it to me, you know, he was a nice guy. >> reporter: cathy's plate was full that february of 1994. she was an honors student at cal state fullerton, holding down two jobs -- one at the local drugstore and another as a teacher's aide -- all to pay for college. and now she was also seeing a new guy. just a few days before february 14th, cathy told sister tina what she wanted for valentine's day. >> she said, "tina, i would just like it if somebody gave me a dozen red roses for valentine's day." and i said, "yeah, that's all you want?" she said "i would just like a dozen red roses."