>> and did that upset you? >> very much so. >> reporter: so weeks later, two men arrived with a trailer. >> and did you watch them take the mercedes out of your garage? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: that, said prosecutor grace, is when they moved the mercedes into reina's storage locker. where, months later, detective labbe noticed one crucial little detail that survived the attempted cover-up. >> i was looking at the license plate, and i see that it's not there. there should be a california license plate. it's not -- >> you'd kinda think. >> it's gone. and i also see that there's one screw missing and one screw screwed back in halfway, and that screw came back positive dna to john creech. >> reporter: bingo. the unassailable link to pull together all that evidence -- phone records, chandy's testimony, the friends, the dna, and it all condemned john creech. but a surprise was coming for everyone.