>> reporter: that led the detective to take a fresh look at those bizarre events the week before cathy disappeared when she came home impaired and then had her tires slashed. >> she never regained full memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. >> reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. >> a hickey. >> on her neck? >> on her -- right here. covered up with her bra. >> you mean way down here on her shoulder? >> right here. right here. >> reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. >> i didn't want to hit her up, like, tell her, "hey, you know, who were you with last night?" whatever. >> reporter: but that night, police records showed sam received two traffic citations, both while driving cathy's car. one was an open container ticket for drinking alcohol in a