but there was no mistaking their love. >> she wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for me. >> and when her daughter became a mom, life itself seemed perfect. but, not for long. >> the sergeant said please tell me that this isn't true. he said i can't. >> but who wanted her daughter dead? she had lovers, not enemies. >> -- how would you describe her relationship? >> friends with benefits. >> the question for police, which friend was the father and which the killer? >> it doesn't seem as if she only made the best choices. >> no. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. single mom torino was surrounded by love. in addition to her baby dean, she had a boyfriend, a best friend, and a mother who adored her. the grown-ups worked as a team carry 14, but when tragedy struck, the tories mother realized the only way left to help was to fight for justice. here is josh mankiewicz with complicated. >> in some families, the birth of a child can change everything. >> i wouldn't of carrot if we had a boy or girl. but it was going to be nice to have a little boy. >> dana eras was over the moon when her first grandchild was born. dean robert spring stewed came into this world on september 26, 2005 weighing seven pounds, stretching out to 20 and a half inches. >> he was beautiful. i was madly in love with him. >> her husband,, roitfeld the same way. >> you were charmed? >> i was absolutely shocked. yes. >> the baby's mother, dane's daughter tory the no, was just 21 and not ready for the challenges of parenthood. but, as they begin grew from a newborn into a happy instant with a sweet smile, tory grew as well. >> he was something that we didn't know we were missing until he came and it was one big fat wall of love. and he opened up my daughter. it is like you could see her heart go huge. it was a beautiful sight to see, watching her become a mom. i think every mom should be able to see that with their child. >> all of that joy turned to horror on the evening of july 26th, 2006. >> my sisters roommate, i don't know what happened to her. >> take a deep breath. take a deep breath so i can understand. >> i don't know, i don't know. >> we tell a lot of sad stories here on dateline, while this one is not easy to tell, it might make you think about the relationship you have with your kids or your parents. what happened here in san diego turned a happy mother and grandmother into a fighter who now wants the world to know what happened to her family, because, she says, there are lessons here. they are about life, trust, and they're about the choices that we make. what she has learned might be a gift to someone else's family. >> before we go ahead i want to ask you something. are you sure you want to do this? >> yes. >> this is not going to be pleasant. >> i think it's important. i think it's important to do. tori could've been any girl. >> but, of course that she wasn't any girl. she was dana's. >> tori was the perfect daughter for me. she wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for me. and, from the minute she was born we were two peas in a pod. she was perfectly flawed, i believe. >> most mothers probably would argue that their daughters don't have flaws. >> no, she had. flaws >> dana says that story would get so focused on a goal that she sometimes ignored signs of problems along the way. >> stubborn? >> yeah. >> it doesn't seem as if she always made the best choices. >> no. there is a flaw there. >> tori best friend daniel mullin always remembered how tori always seemed to fall for the wrong guy. >> what kind of guys was she going out with? >> to me they weren't stable guys. >> bad boys? >> kind of. >> guys that weren't that nice to her? >> not that nice to her and not that nice in general. >> maybe that shouldn't be a surprise, given that our relationships as adults oftent e witnessed as children. tori was a barely two when her father left and cut all ties with her and dayna. and though stepdad roy filled issues later on and certainly loved her, tori spent years dealing with her mother's issues. >> i will say this, from the jump, i am a recovering alcoholic and, up until she was 16, her life was fairly normal. and then i crashed. i think i've always been an alcoholic, but it came to a head at this point. >> although you are drinking, you are functioning? >> i was functioning. but then i could no longer function. >> and then what? >> then i just couldn't stop, i woke up and i had a drink. and i would take my daughter to school. >> gronk? >> yeah. >> as many children of alcoholics do, tori helped her mother cover-up the drinking, hiding bottles, denying there was a problem. for a while, that worked. but, at 16, tori felt she couldn't take it anymore. >> tori said i love you, but when you drink. i will not want to destroy your life. i found a place to interview for a recovery home and you get one shot. and if you fail at this i'm not coming back. i need my mom back. >> that had to feel good knowing that, whatever mistakes you might have made, you raised a daughter who had that kind of backbone. >> i was very proud of her. >> and, so dayna what often we have for nearly a year. roy moved away to deal with the family collapse in its own way, and tori, still in high school, lived with friends and worked as a waitress. when dayna emerged nine and a half months later dry and sober it was tori turned to be proud. >> i wanted her to see that you could stand back up when you fall and you could get your life back together, we put our marriage back together. we put your family back together. >> over the next few years, tori and dayna became closer than ever. then, one day tori came home with some news of her own. >> she came to the house and she said i need to talk to you. she kept humming and hawing and i said speak to doubt and tell me and will deal with whatever it is. she said i'm pregnant. >> it should have been the beginning of a happy new chapter in the lives of both mother and daughter. but, sometimes, as we told you earlier, the birth of a child can change everything. >> coming up, and so can a phone call. >> he said haven't the police contacted you? i said why would the please be calling me? >> when dateline continues. dateline continues [♪♪] did you know, there's a way to cut your dishwashing time by 50%? try dawn powerwash dish spray. it removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time. dawn powerwash has 3 cleaning boosters not found in traditional dish soaps that remove food and grease 5 times faster. and, because it cleans so well you can replace multiple cleaning products for counters, stoves, and even laundry stains. try dawn powerwash dish spray. brand power, helping you buy better. after advil dual action back pain: yo. who. haha. 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[rewind sound] before advil: [grunts] oh. advil dual action back pain fights back pain two ways. for 8 hours of relief. my mental health was much better. but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia. td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements. report fevers, stiff muscles, or problems thinking as these may be life threatening. sleepiness is the most common side effect. it's nice. people focus more on me. ask your doctor about #1 prescribed, once-daily ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ josh mankiewicz (voiceover): when she became pregnant, tori was living with her boyfriend, neil springstube. >> when she became pregnant, also under the same roof, tori's best friend tori was living with her boyfriend neil springstube. also on the same roof, tory's best friend daniel home. when tori brought baby dean home, these 3:20 something roommates share the parenting. >> they took different chefs. one worked one shift, someone worked another, and daniel was always carrying him in the baby pouch. where normally the mom is carrying the baby in the baby pouch, daniel will be doing that. >> you are pretty gentle with a baby from the beginning? >> yeah, is my little buddy, is my best friend. >> really? >> i watched him every day when everyone was at work. that means doctor's appointment, visits, going to the store. he was my right hand man at the. time >> then it was amazed and amused by the three way childcare that tori had figured out. >> the three of them were comical. and dean was just filled with love. >> but by the summer of 2006, when baby dean was ten months old, tori and neil had broken up. daniel had moved home with his mom, though he continued to help out daily with deans care. mother and baby were living in low income housing in a rough part of san diego. but, even, so grandma dayna still thought life was good. the last time you saw them they were all in the pull together? >> she had gotten into a bikini, she was very proud of. that >> she lost the baby weight? >> yeah. and daniel was in the pool with dean and roy was in the pool with dean. and dean had learned how to splash. he realized it was his hand that was making the water splash and he would just roar with laughter and thought it was the funniest thing. and i said, isn't our live perfect? we have come full circle. doesn't it sound like music from heaven when he left? >> that was what? >> that was a sunday the 23rd of july. >> three days later, on a wednesday night, dana was struck by a news story about a mother and her baby. >> that night is on the news that, i think they said a mother that was a 27 and a child that was eight months had been murdered. >> one of the roommates came home to the south crest complex before nine and -- >> apart from that family, that is horrible. i went to bed, thought nothing more of. it >> but the next day, dana got a call from tori's workplace. she hadn't shown up. she called daycare, baby dean wasn't there. so she called daniel mullen who is with tori and dean nearly every day, and daniel, in an almost matter of fact way, told dayna the worst news she had ever heard. >> he said haven't of the police contacted you? i said why would the police be calling me? and he said, the mother and child on the news last night was tori and dean. >> it was too terrible to hear. >> i was engulfed in need, and i know that when i went back, the line was dead. >> dayna called police to find out more. they confirmed the news that both her daughter and grandson were dead. they held back the details because it was a gruesome crime. but, soon enough, it dayna would hear it on the news. tori had been beaten, both she and ten month old baby dina had been strangled. dean was still in his crib. >> i call the sergeant and said, please tell me that this isn't true. he said, i can't tell you that. and then the nightmare began. >> by the time dayna had learned what happened to her baby grandson and daughter, please had already gone through the apartment, dusting for parents, searching for dna, looking for anything that might explain this double murder. >> first of, all what can you tell from the crime scene? >> just that it appeared to be a violent assault. >> lieutenant kevin rooney supervisors the san diego police homicide unit. >> there is no forced entry into the apartment, but it was not uncommon for tori and her to her mates to leave the door unlocked. >> sexual assault? robbery? what did you guys think? >> she was glad with a bra, but there were some tears to her clothing, so at the beginning we were open to the possibility that maybe it was an intruder who attempted to rape or. >> but this is an attempted rape that went wrong, why kill a ten month old child who's not gonna be able to testify? >> exactly. a ten month old boy who doesn't speak? >> right away, the cops started bringing in tory's friends. >> you didn't kill, or did you? >> i talked to her wednesday went. >> tory's best friend daniel, the one who had taken such good care of baby dean, was also brought downtown. >> that is your typical interrogation? >> a little tiny room, a light on me, talking. >> what did please ask you? >> they asked me where i was. >> take your fingerprints? >> yes. >> confiscate yourself? and >> yes. >> did you feel like a suspect? >> i didn't feel like i suspect the first night. >> that changed? >> that changed big-time. >> dateline returns after the break. after th break. e only maternal given between 32 through 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect babies against rsv from birth through 6 months. 6 millions breaths to meet your baby. know you've helped protect them against rsv. abrysvo is not for everyone and may not protect all babies of vaccinated mothers. don't get abrysvo if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. people with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to vaccination. the most common side effects among pregnant women are headache, pain at the injection site, muscle pain and nausea. in clinical trials with abrysvo, low birth weight and jaundice were reported more frequently than placebo. every breath matters. talk to your obgyn or other healthcare provider about pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo. why are we the only birds heading this way? or other healthcare provider about pfizer's [ screams ] we're trying to get to jamaica. stay close and... everything will be all right. i'm ok. i'm ok. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): tori and dean were gone. san diego detectives were piecing together tori's life. >> tory and dean were gone, san her mother dayna was planning a double final farewell. diego detectives were piecing together tori's lies. her mother dayna was planning a double final farewell. >> how do you get through a funeral for your only child and her brand-new baby? >> in a days. >> did you think about drinking again? >> never. >> because it seems like that would be something you think about. >> i would never dishonor that way. i made mistakes when she was growing up with my drinking, i wasn't going to make it again. >> but dayna was aching. she bought 43 books on grieving, hoping in vain that one would reveal a clue to living through the bird rule murder of a daughter and grandson. she also looked for answers from the san diego police, but didn't find them there, either. they told her that she was working the, case which is typical police procedure. >> frustrating? >> extremely. >> and that made you angry? >> i was angry from probably week two. i felt that they were sweeping tori and denied or the carpet. >> so this grieving mother and grandmother decided she had to do something. maybe what you did was a form of a therapy. maybe it wasn't just that she needed to screen something at someone, at the top of her lungs. >> we're not going away, we're just getting bigger and we're getting louder. >> she organized candlelight vigils. she worked with groups like crime stoppers and put out playing cards with tory and these photos. guards that said, please call if you know anything. and, in frustration, dayna held a press conference right in front of the headquarters of the san diego police. >> nobody deserves to die in this way, and certainly not an infant who cannot get away. he couldn't speak, he was a baby. >> all along, she kept calling lieutenant kevin rooney, asking for details. and he wasn't giving up anything. >> we were investigating a murder. there were many details and progress that we won't reveal. dana was very angry. i understand. >> she feels like you guys are getting no? or >> she was very upfront about that. >> police were making progress, but progress in a real homicide rarely happens as quickly as it does in a tv crime drama. subpoenas have to be issued for things like cell phone records and computer hard drives. and all of that would take weeks, if not months to come in. >> what police did learn quickly buttery was that she did not seem to have any enemies. she did, however lead a very complicated life. tory was juggling not just work and motherhood, but also three men. her boyfriend, neil springstube, powell daniel, and the old boyfriend dennis mickjal potts. they quickly established than it was in florida at the time of the murders, so that left to. >> give me a brief capsule of each one of them. >> dennis knew tory since high school, they attended the same high school. they had as what was described as a not exclusive relationship, for whatever reason they were constantly drawn back to one another and did have a sexual relationship that existed over the years, since school. >> daniel mueller never qualified as a boyfriend. maybe he was too nice, or just two shy. >> daniel knew her for a long time, from when they had that earlier job together. he described him as best friends, but he wanted more. i believe that he loved her and wanted a romantic relationship with her. >> you knew that sometimes made daniel, if not, angry at least unhappy? >> it sure seemed as though, of the three people, the three men in her life, he seemed to be the one on the outside looking in. >> however, in the weeks before tori was killed, things are beginning to change between tori and daniel. she seemed open to the possibility of making their relationship more than just friends. but she wasn't sold on it. >> she wasn't quite into that whole idea as you were? >> i don't think so, no. >> did that bother? you're >> not really. >> i don't believe you. >> i was upset that she still talked to dennis and other people, but i knew how she was before, so i kind of had to accept her for how she. was >> daniel had spent years being forgiving of tori's weaknesses. despite that loyalty, dayna told detectives that something didn't seem right to her about daniel, specifically how he knew so much so soon about the murders. you had to, during that time, sort of flashback to how much more daniel was into daniel then tori was into daniel. >> it scares me the way that he knew that they were dead in the way that he told me they were dead. that kind of scared me, is what i told police. >> in turn, police made sure that daniel knew that he was in their sights. the cops start coming at you pretty hard? >> yes. >> frightening? >> after they told me that i was the main suspect, yeah, a little frightening. >> they said you are the main suspect? >> i believe i was the only suspect at that time. >> with the pressure, on daniel told the cops that he didn't do it and he wanted to help find out who did. he shared with them these unusual text messages that he received from story, a little before seven pm that night. daniel said it was soon after he got back from work from a break. it was also around the time that police believed tory and dean were killed. >> that's why i left my phone with him that night, because i said i got a lot of texts before. i don't know if that has anything to do with. it >> there is some scary guy standing by my car, looking into my place, right one. daniel told the police that was odd because tory didn't think of her shared apartment as her place. he also told detectives about another text he thought was even stranger. >> dean was sleeping like a dead dog. >> she said that dean was sleeping like a dead dog? >> yeah. >> was that the way she talked? >> not at all. >> and an age demographic that was reduced to text messages, emotions as a complex and different as love and hate, desire and friendship, tori's texted words to daniel are suddenly full of mystery. she texts you at one point i love you, i want to be with you and then she says my plans with dennis fell through why don't you come over? >> yeah, it's funny because i never knew they were going to meet. >> tori had told daniel that she is going to see her mom, dayna, that evening, but in reality she was going out to dinner with dennis mickjal potts her old flame from high school, the third man in her life. >> coming up, a lover caught in a lie. >> that had to make you very suspicious. >> absolutely. >> will it lead to a killer? >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues >> i'm katie phang, here's what's happening. detective -- supreme court's temporally holding a lower courts ruling, allowing a woman to have an emergency abortion. kate cox sought to end her pregnancy when the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal disorder. the united -- the united states has vetoed a u.n. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in gaza. the secretary general warns continued hostilities could destabilize the region. and ethan crumbley, a michigan teenager who shot and killed four students at oxford high school in 2021 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. now back to dateline. now back to dateline urdered in their home. >> welcome back to craig -- detectives suspected the motive might lie wine tory and her infant son dean were murdered in their home, detective suspected the motive might lie in tori's dangled love life. dayna i thought so too. in fact, she had her sights on one man in particular, and was about to launch a plan to expose it. back to josh mankiewicz with complicated. >> the police investigation of the double murder of a mother and her child had focused on two men, tori's best friend daniel moen, and her old boyfriend, dennis potts. tory had met dennis in high school in vinita, california. well off enclave southeast of san diego. known for its golf course and host trials. they had gone out for a few months their senior year, even though they didn't run in the same circles. dennis's father was a corporate executive, his mother a realtor. tori's father wasn't around, and her mom was in rehab. denise gutter went to high school there at the same time. >> it was a brokerage school, in my opinion i was among the middle class, i guess, but it was definitely a middle to more wealthy high school. >> in that rarefied world, dennis potts stood at the top. in high school, that means money, new cars, prestige. tori did never needs those. >> tori saw the idea of someone who is popular in school, or somebody who had it well off and maybe that was what attracted her to dennis. >> while they're dating relationships didn't last, their sexual relationship did. on again off again. it survived both high school and several other relationships. >> how did tori describe her relationship with dennis potts? >> pretty much just be friends with benefits. >> they would hook up, this was back in high school, and then afterwards? >> high school, all the way through, as long as i knew her for. >> he was always in the background? >> correct. >> he was, apparently, in the background when tori was living with neil. in fact, once a paternity test showed that tori's then boyfriend, neil springstube, wasn't baby deans of all. they're tori told her mother it must be dennis. >> so they did a mail in paternity test to the same place that her and neil did and the result came back that dennis wasn't the father. >> so tori i asked denis for another test. the results were the same. dennis was not the father. >> she calls me at work and is hysterical. then she says, dennis wants kneeled to take another test because he thinks he falsified it. i said tori, neal wanted nothing more than to be dean's father. he wouldn't falsify a paternity test. there is something wrong with dennis. >> dayna urged tori to go to court and have a judge's order a paternity test, but tori was reluctant. >> she didn't want to hurt anyone else. she said i already heard neil, and i chose to have been, and i don't have the right to ruin anyone else lies. i already ruined meals. and -- >> your answer was, okay, there is someone else who is responsible here? >> roy stepped up and said this is not about you, it is about dean. >> so tori agreed. she asked dennis potts for a third test. >> i was friends with her and, after seeing it on the news i had no idea that the child was murdered to. >> yeah, he. was >> the, that was just a big, big. shocker >> police were also talking to dennis. two days after the murders, dennis potts came downtown to have a conversation in that same small room in which daniel mona had spent so much time. >> where did dennis potts said he was that night? >> he said he had spent the timeframe that would include the time of the murder between five in the afternoon and eight in the evening at a friends house, a fellow by the name of maxwell corn. >> did you check with maxwell corn? >> we did. >> he backed that up? >> he vouched for him. >> and of story? >> no, no far from it. >> cops know there aren't that many reason why people killed. it often boils down to one of three things. love, pride, money. to police, unrequited love looked like a possible motive for daniel moen. but maybe pride or money figured into a possible motive for dennis potts. >> >> tori calls me and says i think you're the father, but it shouldn't happen like this. >> how old was dean at that point? >> oh jeez, for five months? >> what did dennis potts he tell you about his paternity and the whole issue of child support? >> he claimed he had only had sex with her one time during the period that she probably would have conceived the child. used a condom during that encounter, denied being the dad, said he was supportive of tories efforts to figure out who the father was. >> we did two tests. one where i swab myself, swab the baby. and one where she swab me and the baby. i opened the envelope freshman front of her and sealed them up in front of her and then i mail them out. >> okay. >> came back, you're not dad. >> did you buy that? >> just to be on the safe side we asked him for a dna sample that we could use for comparison. >> it's real simple. >> a swathe, okay. >> it's real simple. >> now, if i compare this video, if i compare what we just hear, to dean, what will i tell you? >> it should tell you the same thing as our fraternity test told us, if not all be surprised. >> dayna had long been suspicious of dennis potts, because she believed dennis had somehow manipulated those protests. in her frustration, and hearing nothing from lieutenant rooney and his investigators, she went to tv station nbc and give them a tip, one that would become big news as soon as it ran on tv. check out a guy named dennis potts. >> so you put dennis's name out there? >> yes i did. >> with that information, a producer from half and the went to the home where dennis lived with his parents. >> where was he the night of the murder? >> he was right here. >> didn't have a date with her that night? >> and the police come to see you and you're thinking what? he's going to give you a thank you? and what did you get instead? >> very angry. >> you are not happy? >> no, no not at all. i said i can't have these details out there and if it means that i don't tell you another thing until this thing is resolved one way or another it is what i'll do because my obligation is to your daughter and your son. >> did she understand that? >> i think she. did >> they hadn't solve the case, but rooney's crime lab did solve one issue. dayna had been right. a test ordered by the police the courts went out differently. dennis potts dna proved that he was the father of baby dean and his dna didn't match the dna sample that had been sent to the mail order paternity testing company. the crime lab said that dna sample came from someone else. >> it was his friend, maxwell corn, who vouched for him being at his house during the timeframe that we knew tory was murdered. >> that had to make you very suspicious. >> absolutely. >> soon, another promising lead. text messages to tori on the day she was murdered. coming up -- >> it just seems so out of left field to care whether she is alone at her apartment. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues all of the things that you're looking for in a pad, that is always discreet. - this is thin. - my pad is thick. let's put it to the test. let's do it! look how it's absorbing! and locking it right on in! - look at that! - no liquid, no nothing. totally absorbed! - you feel no wetness. - oh my gosh! are you a believer now? 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(crying) and with ring cameras, capture all the holiday magic. with ring, you're always home for the holidays. shop limited-time holiday deals today at ring.com. my mental health was much better. but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia. td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements. report fevers, stiff muscles, or problems thinking as these may be life threatening. sleepiness is the most common side effect. it's nice. people focus more on me. ask your doctor about #1 prescribed, once-daily ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ josh mankiewicz (voiceover): holidays and birthdays came and went. >> holidays and birthdays came dayna herroz spent time with her daughter and grandson and went. dayna herroz spent time with her daughter and grandson at the cemetery. >> hi my angel babies. >> she wasn't close to being able to move on. >> i'm sorry. i didn't protect you. >> but please had moved on, daniel mullen was no longer a suspect. investigators were now focused on dennis potts. the prime suspect continued to live at home with his parents and a fiancée, and spent much of his time with the man who was his alibi for the murders, max coren, his best friend. they even got marching tack twos. lieutenant kevin rooney and his team kept working the case when the cell phone records finally came in. detectives were able to see how tori's last day had taken shape. >> what did you learn about what tori's plans were for that evening? >> it was her belief that dennis had made reservations at the cove, a nice restaurant at latoya. she arranged for a babysitter that she was going to drop dean of two and there was this exchange of calls and text messaging that went on, some of which we were able to recover. >> all along dennis had maintained he and tori never did see each other that night and never intended to. >> so you guys didn't have any plans, per se, oh no nothing certain stone. >> their texts told difference dory. a little before noon on the day she died, tori texted dennis, okay, i'll see you at five. are you bringing my surprise? what is it? his response isn't known, but the texting continued. at 1:47, she wrote, can i be casual in jeans? at 4:32 she wrote, are you still coming? he wrote right back. i will be there at 5:15. you home alone? >> she seemed giddy, in the words she used, she was excited about going out to dinner and that she he said that she had a present for her, and of course asked, are you alone? in retrospect, it just seems so out of left field and inappropriate to care whether she is alone at her apartment. >> the homicide teen also learned a little more about where dennis was. again, from his cell phone records. >> dennis said that nobody else had his phone, nobody else used his phone and he was with max coren from five until late at night. >> with this phone at max corn's house? >> i don't think so. 's phone moved around between five and eight. there are number of calls that were made that did not use the cell site in vinita where max coren's home was. the last call that was made used a cell tower in national city, that was very close to tori's apartment. >> if identified his phone and says it picked off a tower at his apartment, then please say that he couldn't -- so police applied pressured max. >> >> the news gunter remembers how and high school, max and dennis were well known for watching each other's backs. and for not taking the high school life too seriously. >> max and dennis, i would say, that overall there wasn't a lot of accountability. it was kind of a -- deal with the consequences later. >> it was at denis's parents house that police finally found the break they needed. >> we eventually ended up serving a search warrant on their home and the computer and other things -- >> when they dug into dennis is hard drives, they found searches he'd done that what he was thinking and when >> on june 24th, he asked the internet for help on this topic, committed murder. june 26th, one month to the day before the murders, dennis surges court ordered paternity test procedure. later that same day, he asked for information on how did she do a swathe of paternity test. two days later, dennis wants to know the best way to kill someone. two days after that, he's asking about getting away with murder. july 7th, dennis looks up information on getting that of child support. july 19th, performing chokehold and later, how to kill someone. july 25th at 4:16 in the afternoon dennis searches cyberspace again his topics, knocking someone unconscious and knocking someone in the head. the next day was july 26 2006. tory and dean were murdered. >> coming up -- interest, a trial, and a dramatic order from a judge. >> he left the bench, came back, you could tell he'd been crying. >> when dateline continues. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. caplyta can help you let in the lyte. ask your doctor about caplyta. find savings and support at caplyta.com. my husband and i have never been more active. ask your doctor about caplyta. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. shingles doesn't care but, shingrix protects. shingrix is now zero dollars for almost everyone. ask your doctor about shingrix today. lowe's knows you need to save money this holiday so... you can get more of what you want. with our lowest price guarante. this holiday if you find a better price we'll match it. get more for your home and your family. you got this. we got you. 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(vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. that's up to $1700 in value. only on verizon. the power goes out, and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book. who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up. plus, now through december 31st, eligible xfinity rewards members can get 25% off a storm ready wifi device. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): january 16, 2008, 18 months after tori and baby dean were murdered, >> january 16th, 2008, 18 a very long investigation paid off. months after torrey and baby dean were murdered. a very long investigation paid off. dennis pots and his best friend max corn were arrested. dennis charged with the murders, a max charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. it would be another 18 months until janice pots went to trial. his attorney, carrie armstrong, says his client is guilty only of not being ready to be a dad. >> mr. pots, now admits having fake those tests. >> he does, he admitted that to me near the beginning of the case, and actually, as you probably know by now, testified to that during the trial. >> on the stand, dennis told the jury he thought baby dean looked like him and said that he suspected that if he didn't do something, he was going to have to deal with the obvious. >> i don't want to use the term bind some time, but i need to figure out what i was going to do here as far as raising the child or making child support payments. >> dennis tried to explain away the online searches, saying that he was interested in esoteric topics like mixed martial arts, that involve knocking somebody unconscious. he said he'd written a paper about euthanasia for a community college class ones and said that he'd like to write went on a murder next. so we typed and how to kill someone, committed murder and getting away with it. the problem was that dennis wasn't in school at the time and hadn't signed up for any sort of writing class. on the stand, dennis also denied being a double murderer. i >> never thought about killing tori were dean in any sense. it's not usually a thaw that comes in anyone's head. i mean, not any sane person. >> what's wrong with the theory that dennis pods didn't want to be responsible for this child because it would embarrass him in front of his family and in front of his girlfriend and wasn't his plan and he didn't spend the money, and he did everything he could to fake a couple protests. and now it looks like tory was gonna agitate for a test that was gonna be pretty much bulletproof, it pushed him too far and he killed or? i >> never disputed the that was a strong theory by the prosecution. i argued that there was a stronger reasonable suspicion that somebody else committed the murder and that was -- >> argued that daniel moe and had even more motive, that she rejected him despite that he helped out with baby dean, that he came over every day to bring him to daycare and used his money to buy baby supplies. and of course, all of that was true, even the love. and maybe even the rejection. at trial, the defense said that you did it. >> i was there scapegoat. we >> are here? >> very hard to hear. but daniel had an alibi that unlike the one given biden's pots, didn't rely on the word of close friend. here is daniel on the store security camera on the night of the murders. and his cell phone pinned on the tower near where he worked. daniel was never charged. in the end, it was clear he wasn't guilty of killing both a woman and a baby he loved. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant, dennis potts, guilty of the crime of murder. >> a jury believed all the guild rested with dennis potts. >> it's families plenty of money, whatever child support tory was asking for wasn't going to break them. better to commit murder than pay the money? >> maybe he was too smart for his own good. maybe he thought it was going to work. maybe he really didn't want to be attached to whether it be tori or kherson for the next 18 years. he had a girl becoming his fiancée, and it was a nice thing to do in the side, but i think we got a lot more complicated. >> and there might have been more dennis's plan. remember those strange texts daniel receives the day of the murder? police think that was dennis who had already killed tori and been using her phone to lure daniel to the scene. what would've happened if daniel had shown up? that was something only dennis knows. >> there's no question that they lied -- >> in a separate trial, max coren was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice and sentenced to three years. dennis potts was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, which is exactly what tori's mother wanted. >> before this, i believed in the death penalty. i would've been gung ho for this guy to get the death penalty. >> not anymore? >> two easy. two easy. >> you want to live with this? >> absolutely. >> at sentencing, dana gave the judge a photograph of eu tori and been together in their casket. we're not showing that to you here. dana wants to make sure that photo hangs in dennis pots's cell for the rest of his life. she requested exactly that from the trial judge. >> he left the bench. he came back, and you can tell he'd been crying after seeing the photo. he was wiping his eyes. said it's so ordered. >> she says she now understands why the investigation took so long. and she's very appreciative of everything lieutenant rooney and his team did. they now works with a group called parents of murdered children, helping others understand as much as can be understood and cases like these. daniel moe and now has a child of his own, yet he finds himself still missing that first baby that came into his life. >> i think about dina lot when i'm playing with my own daughter, to think what he could've been. he never got to start talking or really getting on walking or doing all those things, so every time my daughter does something new to me, i think what would he have been like when he was getting to that age. >> dana still struggles with her own guilt after pushing her daughter to take dennis to court for that paternity test. >> she would've let that go, wouldn't she? >> she would've let it go, yeah. she'd still be here. >> i know there's no way you could've known what was coming next. >> she would rather believe there was a more spiritual reason for what happened. i >> believe they're in heaven, and i believe that god called them home. and i think dean came to take his mom home. and our children are on loan to us. i just forgot that. >> dana says she's tries to remember only the happy times, the joy she experienced so briefly of being a grandmother. how they died, she says, was just a moment. how they lived is what she wants to remember. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> reporter: happy saturday and welcome to