>> reporter: homicidal violence. there was no shortage of names on the police list of potential suspects who were capable of that. but one name stood out. a name and face detective babcock knew quite well from an encounter in 1999, when babcock was working the vice unit in albuquerque. >> the vice unit was watching a particular prostitute. see a vehicle pick this girl up. drive to a remote location. we approached the vehicle, open the door, the first words out of this girl's mouth, who's a known prostitute, was that he was trying to kill her. >> and the man in the car was? >> lorenzo montoya. >> reporter: lorenzo montoya, a short, powerfully built man in his 30s who was known to have an equally short temper and a taste for prostitutes. babcock said he saw marks on the woman's throat and that she told him montoya looked like he was enjoying it. >> did you believe her story? >> yes. >> so lorenzo was arrested for