Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200905

Still had to keep looking for what i had lost. Kathy had her, she had him. I put a lot of faith in god. And the killer, he never had a chance. In the small hours of the morning while the world is fast aleve, mary beth is awake, not because she wants to be but because some things stay with you whether you want them to or not, and for mary beth it is the time, 3 40 a. M. Every day i wake up around that time. It is embedded in my brain. That particular time stabbed her in the heart and pulled her awake, an internal clock permanently set to the worst day of her life that began with a phone call and a knock on the door and news of something that never should have happened to this family and girl. When she came inside the house, im home. Whats for dinner. She would still ask whats for dinner. Kathy torres grew up in a small town nestled amongst the sprawling cities of california. Even as a baby, she was a good baby. Mary beth is her mother. Always happy and running and always very loud and always smiling. That radiant smile shine d everywhere she went. Kathy was energetic. She was happy. She loves to laugh. Kathy was one of four siblings, marty and the baby, debbie. Tina was the eldest. She watched as kathy acceled in school. Kathy was exceptional. Kathy made her own way. She did not follow a role model. Nobody guiding her. Nobody pushing her. She used to hell her younger sister that she had to leave her mark in this world. Did you teach her that . No. That was just her. Kathy was different. Beautiful, smart and social and popular. You knew more about her dating life than your mom and dad did. Yes, i believe to some extent. Kathy dated a few guys in high school but nobody she was stuck on. 1994 out of high school and a young woman of 20 kathy started to see a boy named albert. A boy she played with as a child and is interested in romantically. She said they were seeing each other but wasnt anything serious or formal that i knew of. He was a nice guy. Kathys plate was full in february of 1994. Honor student at cal st. Fullerton, holding down two jobs. One at the local drug store and another as a teacher aide to pay for college. A few days before february 14th kathy told sister tina what she wanted for valentines day. She said tina i would like it if someone gave me a dozen red roses for valentines day. She never received a dozen roses from anyone but that year she was hopeful. Kathy went off of her job at the drug store. How was she that morning . Fine, routine. Tina was trying to catch up with kathy that day before she went to work and just missed her at home only to see her minutes later in traffic. We saw each other and she gave me the biggest smile that i will always remember. She saw me. We looked at each other. It was a beautiful smile. That smile and moment burned into her memory. Kathys shift ended about 8 00 that night. She was supposed to come home but mary did not see her. 9 00. 10 00. You are not worried . No. Probably went out after work. Yeah. Sunday morning came and still no kathy. Coming up, kathys family launches a search. I drove into the parking lot i said let me just see her car. And the fear and the frustration. It felt like you were out in this time warp even though there were no days or nights and you didnt want it to be dark because you want to keep looking. E you want to keep looking. Advil targets pain at the source. While acetaminophen blocks pain signals. The future of pain relief is here. New advil dual action. An extra 15 credit on car and motorcycle policies . Wow. Ok thats 15 on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . Idina menzel to sing your own theme song . Tara, tara, look at her go with a fresh cup of joe. Gettin down to work early following her dreams into taxidermy oh, its. Tax attorney. 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Mary called kathys friends and nobody had seen her and mary got in the car and scoured the streets searching for kathy and her red Toyota Corolla. She was a mom full of pain. She was a mom that was hurting because she was looking for her baby. She would say, just find the car. You find the car. It was like an equation, you find the car, you will find kathy. You get any sleep sunday night . No. You dont want to call the police because it makes it real. You are Still Holding on to the hope that she will come running in through the backdoor. Monday kathy still wasnt home and panic was setting in and mary called the Police Department to report her daughter missing. And the police said . You dont know, maybe she went off. She could have met some guy and they are in vegas. You are saying not possible. At that point you want to yell and scream at them and say that is not true. You dont know. Not my kathy. The Torres Family wasnt going to wait for police to catch up to what they already knew. Kathy wasnt someone that just disappeared. They went to reporters. This is one thing that nobody should have to go through. And took the search into their own hands. I told my mom to give me a picture. Mary worked the phones at home and younger brother marty kept watch. Soon it wasnt just the Torres Family searching. Police jumped on the case. We had strangers, people coming to the house asking what we can do and can we have some flyers to pass out flyers. Tina drove to the school where kathy worked and marys mantra echoed through her mind. Find the car and you will find kathy. I said let me just see her car. I knew a lot of things were going on in her life in that week prior. A lot of things was an under statement. Kathys family was worried about her state of mind after a strange and terrifying series of events that happened the week before she vanished. She came home the previous saturday in a bizarre state. She didnt get out of the car and my son went out to help her. That could not have made you happy. No it didnt. I have never seen her come home like that. Did you smell any alcohol . No. She did not smell like alcohol but something was wrong with her. Mary later realized kathys underwear was missing. What you are describing is what happens when people come home after they were date raped. They cant remember what happened. They are not wearing all of their clothes and are clearly under the influence of something. Yes. I was afraid maybe that had happened to her. She had no memory. She had no memory. Did you think of calling the police . Sadly, no. The next morning tina saw kathys car. I remember looking at the tires and saying what happened. How could this be the way they were slashed. It was deliberate. I just kept saying who slashed your tires. She said she didnt know. The worst was yet to come. Two days after kathy came home in the strange condition her new boyfriend apparently tried to commit suicide and even left a note that seemed to be in his own handwriting. All of this days before kathy disappeared. Albert hanged himself at work but he didnt die and lingered in a coma at the hospital. She was so upset and crying. Now the Torres Family was left to wonder if and how all of it connected to her disappearance. Felt like you were out in this time warp. No days. No nights. You didnt want it to be dark. You wanted to keep looking. The next big search was planned for saturday morning, february 19th. A week since she was last seen. We just got another box donated of flyers and everything was set. Around 3 40 a. M. Saturday, there was a knock on marys front door. Coming up, police find kathys car. Her shoe office the floor board and there was blood in the interior of the car. Interior of the car. [narrator] this is kate. Hey. [narrator] she takes two prescriptions. 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Another lifechanging technology from abbott. So you dont wait for life. You live it. [announcer] orderingng adinner for the family . reward it with free delivery and a side of quiet. Grubhub gives you rewards for rewarding yourself with food. doorbell rings grubhub the Torres Family planned a major search for kathy on saturday, a week after she disappeared. At 3 40 that morning, mary had a visitor. A Police Officer that asked for kathys keys. I gave him the keys and asked if it was kathys car. She didnt look at me but they told him to come and pick up the key and he left. Find the car and youll find kathy. It had become a family motto. When another officer arrived the Torres Family was waiting for what they dreaded all week. My mom asked him what happened. Did you find kathy. He looked at my mom and said im sorry. All i remember were the flyers on my moms table in the living room and feeling so much pain. I was yelling not my kathy. Mary beth had been right all along. Kathys Toyota Corolla had been spotted in a hospital parking lot with a plastic bag peeking out the trunk. Officers opened it and kathy torres was missing no longer. She was stabbed multiple times. There is no way to time the death but it is safe to assume she had been dead since disappearing saturday night on the 12th. Devastating for the Torres Family and for all that had been searching so tirelessly for kathy. She was a vibrant and intelligent young girl. Truly a tragedy. Detectives went to work. They set up a hotline. Do have you any information regarding the homicide of kathy torres. And scoured for clues. By studying the car and her body investigators got a sense of what happened. First, kathy was completely clothed. One more thing seemed clear. Most likely the attack started in the car. Pieces of the gear shift and Center Console were broken and blood in the interior of the car. Orange county prosecutor matt murphy reviewed the case. The steering wheel, above the glove compartment. Driver sidearm rest and the trunk release. One noteworthy place where there was no blood, the driver side seat lever. When police found the car the seat was way back. Not only operating the car but did it before the murder took place. That was touched and moved without a transfer of blood at all. The seat was moved back before the killing started. If so perhaps because kathy knew her killer and opened the door for him or her and found her right shoe on the floor board and the sock covered in dirt. She had fled from the vehicle on foot and likely caught and attacked again before ultimately being placed in the trunk of the car and died. She ran for her life. To detectives it wasnt a sex crime or a robbery. More than 70 stab wounds suggested Something Else. Nothing random about it. The most chilling clue a letter in kathys own handwriting. She is as in the letter 8 50. Just finished my shift. Everybody was crazy. Buying the v she is interrupted midsentence. Who had done that . Detectives were not sure. They believe the letter was intended for albert who at the time of the murder was lying in the hospital after a suicide attempt, never woke up and died two years later. You have to look at all of that and you have to ask is there something involved in that. It was almost too strange to imagine, except to police. There were rumors in the community that may have been the motive for her disappearance and motive. You need to look at the family. Members of the family were angry with kathy, thinking that she might have been the cause of his suicide. Because of his relationship with kathy and the fact that she wasnt as serious about him as he was with her. That had to be examined and looked at. So the investigation continued as people paid final respects to the friendly cashier they knew from save on. More than 1,000 people attended kathys funeral. Impressive. The kind of person kathy was. She touched a lot of people. They remembered her. Kathy hoped for a dozen red roses that february and instead her family remembered her with a head stone and her smile will shine forever. I didnt know how long i would have to wait. But i knew that we had to do everything we could to get the answer. Because . Because she was my daughter. Someone had taken her away from me and had done something hor toibl her and someone needed to be accountable. Nobody could have imagined at the time just how long marys quest for justice would take. Coming up, detectives have a few questions for one of kathys closest friends. The minute that i said no to her she blew up. She started cussing me out. She started cussing me out [ ] did you know you can shorten your cold with coldeeze® lozenges. Coldeeze® can shorten your cold by 42 . It releases zinc ions that some scientists believe inhibit cold viruses from replicating. Try coldeeze® the number one bestselling zinc lozenge. It only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. Tide pods childguard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. To close, twist until it clicks. Tide pods childguard packaging. Hello i am dara brown. Experts are warning labor day could trigger another coronavirus surge. Cases are high, businesses are opening up and children are returning to school as the season turns to flu season. Joe biden is defending the military against President Trumps disparaging remarks. Kamala harris heads to wisconsin and she and mike pence will be campaigning in the Battle Ground state on monday. Now back to dateline. Kathy torres had been murdered and stuffed into the trunk of her car. Police were considering what role her new boyfriend albert and his attempted suicide may have played. But now Unanswered Questions and a take shaken. Kathy was a happy person. That was armando lopez, kathys brotherinlaw. That was not the only connection between the two families. Kathy had dated armandos younger brother, sam off and on and the families lived down the street from each other. You can see one house from the other. Exactly. She is going out with sam. That house wasnt just another on the street. It was family. Right. Right. Police spoke with members of the lopez family. Sam knew kathy the best. How long have you known kathy . Geez, over five years. They interviewed him down at the station. That person would always have a smile. Given their friendship detectives were curious about what kathy might have shared with sam about albert . I think albert tried to commit suicide. Was she confiding in you . The only thing she mentioned about him is that he hung himself and she was sorry for him doing that because she felt like it was her fault. We never set down she was smoking marijuana. Kathys family said that for her that would be out of character. Sam told detectives he had last seen kathy thursday the before she disappeared and paged him several times that day and when they finally i said the minute that i said no to her she blew up. She started cussing me out. You know if i dont get it from you i am going to get it from somebody else. Kathy got in her car and took off. I cant go chasing after her. I never thought this would happen. Sam shared his suspicions about what happened to kathy, the same rumors about albert that were circulating. But hey, it is a possibility that somebody else from his family. But why the coincidence. After he hung himself this happened. Why . Police also asked sam where he was when kathy disappeared. Last saturday . Sure. We are asking everyone. I was helping a friend of mine move. Sam said he and javier helped a friend move. From there i went to my girlfriends store. I was there until they closed. 8 00. If we had to contact everyone and get their names, addresses and phone numbers they would confirm . Sure. And sure enough they did. Javier told investigators he was with sam and that sam had picked him up at his house in anaheim and driven him to another friends house in fullerton. So if you believe sams alibi he couldnt have been the thing interrupting kathy when she was writing that note. Right. Nevertheless pressed sam for more details. Sam gave those clothes to the police and let them search his house too and willingly gave samples of hair and blood. But something about sams behavior the week kathy went missing bothered her family and mary said she repeatedly paged sam looking for kathy. Did he call you back . Not at first. But eventually, yes. He hadnt seen her. To all appearances that was true. The physical evidence seemed to confirm it. His clothes had no dna of kathys on him. But that behavior of sams also bothered police and they focused on him. But when investigators took suspicions to the d. A. The outcome wasnt what they expected. Coming up. Sam has a new woman in his life who soon discovers his old life. Police had suspicions about sam lopezs involvement in the neighborhood of his former girlfriend and neighborhood kathy torres but no physical evidence tied him to the murder and he had a solid alibi, sam was with his cousin, javier. Did you think kathys disappearance had anything to do with albert . No. Just two tragedies happening at the same time but not connected. Even though that bothered them, police were forced to agree but that left the investigation with nowhere to go. Whoever killed kathy was out there walking around. Yes. Still out there. Enjoying the sup. Breathing the same air you are breathing. Yes. Do you think about that a lot . I did. Sunny days turned dark. Seasons changed. Still the Torres Family was left wondering who had killed kathy. What never changed was mary. Steadfa steadfast. She said remember, mary. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Dont let anyone tell you different. You keep going. That is what i did. Mary and her family sought the attention of the media, spoke with the governor about kathys murder and even contributed to reward funds. You were doing everything you could think of. Yes. Yes. You have to. You dont have the same or the resources to do it on your own. You look and you knock on a lot of doors trying to keep it out there. They spent thousands of hours all in the hope that kathys case would not lie forgotten in a miling department. I work they would see me sitting at my desk when they walked in to city hall. Every new police chief would get a meeting with you you were a pest . I was a squeaky wheel. I went with her a couple of times. We just want to let you know we represent kapthy torres. We have not forgotten. The Community Learning center was dedicated in cathys name. And a tree was planted in cathys memory across the street. They planted it in a way from where my mom could see the tree. Sam lopez could see it too and was living in the same home police searched after cathys murder. A search that turned up nothing. Sam was also move pentagon on with his life. In may happened he walked in with his friend and i just remember thinking that he was cute. She was a hostess then. I offered him some free food and then we started talking. She felt the spark right away. I did think i would marry him when i first saw him. You were taken with him right away . I was. Sam and tina started dating. But in a small town it wasnt long before tina heard the whisper rumors. I found out my sister went to school with him and asked her. That is when she told me that he was the one they suspected. In the murder of cathy torres. He hadnt told me that in the first couple of weeks i was dating him. Sam emphatically denied any involvement in cathys murder but the idea spooked tina. I said i was dating somebody else. You were freaked out by that . Yeah. But it was too strong. Something in her heart said that sam was isnt. I gave him a call. I started to date him again. You are an attractive woman. I have trouble believing there were not guys already that were not already suspects in a Murder Investigation happen investigation. I was ready. This is who i want to be with and have kids with. And they did. A year later he sayed home. If sam had anything to do with cathys murder he didnt act like it living down the street from cathys mom, mary. She would sit outside and stare at us and i felt like she did it to make me uncomfortable and him too but i am sure she didnt want him to be happy if she thought he had anything to do with her daughter. Like the hatfield and mccoys . There was no communication. No associations with them. They became estranged. That made it difficult for tina who was still married to sams older brother, armando. The fact was police had no solid leads and were not even close to arresting anyone. But then two years after cathy torres was murdered an unexpected meeting put this investigation into the fast lane. Coming up an explorer with a familiar last night inspires a renewed search for a killer. That is a weird coincidence. We dont believe in coincidences. A tip that captures one investigators attention. That had to make everybody sit up straight. It did. Straight. It did. Omparing rates with progressives home quote explorer. International hand model jonjon gets personal. Your wayward pinky is grotesque. Then a high stakes pattycake Battle Royale ends in triumph. You have the upper hands its a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. Only on the upper hands. Its a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. brad operator how dgot another vacancycom find at fifth and pine. Ickly . brad oh, thats good. Apartmentsdotcom. The most popular place to find a place. [camera man] actually anyone 50 or over is at increased risk for shingles. The pain, the burning my husband had to do everything for weeks. And the thing is, theres nothing you can do about it [camera man] well, shingles can be prevented. Shingles can be whaaat . [camera man] prevented. You can get vaccinated. Frank they have shingles vaccines whaaat . Thats what i said. Were taking you to the doctor. Not going through that again. [camera man] you can also get it from your pharmacist talk to your doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. Unstopables inwash scentr booster. Or pharmacist downy unstopables. It was 1996, two years had passed since the gruesome murder of cathy torres. I had been to several places and knocked on many doors and all that i ever wanted was the truth to come out as to what had happened to cathy. The case had gone cold, but the memory clung to the breeze in this small town. Darren wyatt was a Patrol Officer back then and one afternoon his shift brought him to the park, across the street from where cathy had grown up and was about to bust a drug suspect when the guy started talking. He is playing the game. I will tell you whatever you want to know. Ask the right questions and i will tell you and you wont take me to jail. Almost as a flippant remark, i said tell me who killed cathy torres. A shot in the dark and a tactic he picked up at a seminar. A Patrol Officer next to me started to kick his foot with an explorer scout riding with him. A young hispanic female. It was debbie torres, cathys younger sister who just heard you ask that question. You had no idea . I had no idea. Debbie torres, cathys baby sister was now 14 years old and eager to assist police because of everything that her family had been through. She remembered that we needed help. People came to help us. She thought it was her turn to help others. That is why debbie was in the park that afternoon and how she heard darren mention cathys case. That is a weird coincidence. We dont believe in coincidences. It felt more like fate and months later in january of 1997 his lieutenant suggested darren apply to the homicide unit. I ended up putting in for that job and being selected. Wasnt long before he cracked open the doors that housed the homicide files. I remembered the dinse dent with debbie about a year earlier. I pulled it out on free time. The cathy torres case had been cold for a good three years. Essentially no work had been done on it for the last two years. From the beginning Police Suspected cathys onetime boyfriend sam lopez had something to do with the murder but nothing connecting him to the crime. No witnesses. No d. N. A. Sam had the solid alibi. Tina was still married to sams brother and the two families intertwined as cathys family continued to search for answers. April 1997 i got a phone call. Cathys mom, their first conversation of membership. Mary told darren how she had seen reports centered around investigating cold cases and cathys case had been mentioned. She said if they are using my daughter for publicity they are going to work it and it is your job to make sure that happenings. It allow period darren to you have mary and the family who is persistent. It did give me a lot of leverage. Darren poured through the files and hunted down new leads. Then a tip came in out of nowhere. A repossession guy calls the police saying i repoed the car and there is a foal i dont. There are articles in there about this murder from 1994. There are receipts from save on. Save on. The drug store chain cathy was working at the time she was stabbed to death. That had to make everybody sit up straight. The guy whose car had been repossessed was released from state prison and now in custody for threatening someone with the knife. The first thing you wanted to know where he was whatever is going on with the guy he is not the guy. He is not pnchlly but is he related to. Why is the stuff in the trunk of his car. You say why would you have articles about cathy torres murder. Thats all my wifes stuff. He separates himself from it raising more suspicion. Could you tell if he was connected to anyone in the case . Not initially. Really had to dig deep tore see what the connection was. Darren finally located the convicts wife. She was uncooperative. She said she went to high school with cathy and closer examination we saw the receipts were from a different save on than the one that cathy worked on and it was her keep sake file. She saved the articles before she knew someone that got murdered. You are back to basically no suspects. Back to the same. Robber at the same time darren had to admit that sam did not fit anyones profile of a murder suspect. No criminal history. There are no indicators he was anything other than a normal 22yearold kid. Doesnt sound like a killer. Absolutely not. Detectives interviewed sam on two separate days, first on audiotape when cathy went missing. And later this time on the video, after her body was found. He had always been cooperative. He voluntarily gave head hair samples. Blood samples. He gave fingerprints. At the end of that he said whatever i can do, i will do. As he read the file darren read there were other things sam didnt do. For example sam lived right down the street but cathys family said he never stopped by during the frantic week they were searching. He did speak extensively with police. I dont think anybody thought sam was telling the truth. Sam told detectives cathy came to him looking for weed. There is no indication any of that was true. Calling into question sams story. It does. Coming up. As darren digs deeper into the case telling behavior from sam in the old interview tapes. He never shows any emotion about the fact that she has been brutally murdered. And he learns cathy and sams relationship was anything but straightforward. She mentioned some guys name i get pissed off, okay. When dateline continues. , oky when dateline continues ay its the faster way to clean as you go just spray, wipe and rinse it cleans grease five times faster dawn powerwash. Spray, wipe, rinse. Thats very common to have a gum Health Concern as well. You know, i talk to dentists every day, and theyre able to recommend sensodyne sensitivity gum. Its really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions. To be able to recommend one product robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Homicide cop daron wyatt was deep in the cathy torrez murder case. He was looking closely at the behavior and statements from sam lopez, cathys neighbor and exboyfriend. Cathys family says he never stopped by the house in the days they were searching for her. And daron noticed an inconsistency in sams account of the days right before cathy disappeared. I called her house eight times in a row. Mary, however, says sam was the one calling her home looking for cathy. He called how many times . Quite a few times looking for her. Reporter mary says sam sounded okay at first, until she told him where cathy was. I said she was at the hospital and she wasnt back yet. Reporter at the hospital, visiting albert, her boyfriend, who had attempted suicide. Sam okay with that . No, he got upset. Reporter sam told police he was just worried about cathy, especially after he spoke with her that week. She was crying on the phone, saying, you know, i messed up, i never tried getting him hurt and all this stuff. And i told her just calm down, because when youre depressed, you do dumb things. Reporter remember, this interview happened while cathy was still missing. Sam seemed to be implying she might have hurt herself or that another boyfriend might be involved. I mean, look, she, shes had, i know shes had a lot of problems in the past with boyfriends. Reporter then there was the second interview, the day cathys body was found. Detective wyatt studied that tape, too. There was one thing that was important that sam didnt display that you would expect to see in a case like this. Which is . Emotion. He showed more emotion over the contents of a coke can. He picked it up when they left the room, and hes reading the coke can and the ingredients and the number of calories. And at one point he puts that down and picks up a baseball hat he had been wearing, sees dirt and brushes it off and starts swearing about the fact that theres dirt on his hat. Oh [ bleep ]. But he never shows any emotion about the fact that this gal has been brutally murdered, no emotion whatsoever. And thats a big red flag. Its huge. Reporter daron went deeper into sam and cathys relationship. There were a lot of things that brought them together. They dated in high school. They listened across the street. Cathys older sister was married to sams older brother. They had this long on again off again relationship in which, what, he couldnt let go of her or she couldnt let go of him . I think a lot of it was mutual. Reporter even after cathy started dating albert and sam had another girlfriend, too, they continued to see each other. And daron found evidence that in sams mind, his relationship with cathy was far from casual. Mary gave me a shoe box full of letters that were written between sam and cathy, and the content of these letters showed a very jealous guy. A guy who would get angry any time somebody flirted with cathy. Reporter sam didnt try to hide the fact that he was prone to jealousy. She knows, every time she mentions some guys name, i get pissed off, okay . 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 didnt 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 cathys car. One was an open container ticket for Drinking Alcohol in a parking lot, the other for failing to stop at a stop sign. The cop who pulled sam over for not stopping said sam flew through the intersection, and when he approached the car, the cop said it looked as if sam and cathy had been arguing. But he did say cathy looked fine. Nobody was quite sure what happened after that, except they apparently parted company, sam in his car, cathy in hers. Then cathy arrived home, too out of it to realize shed been driving on slashed tires. Tina saw the tires the next day. I just kept saying, what happened to your tires . Who slashed your tires . Reporter and shed say . And shed say she didnt know. She she just knew that she had gone out with sam that night. Reporter daron wyatt now believed sam drugged cathy, possibly assaulted her, and slashed her tires. The next day, cathy called tina with more details about her strange night with sam. He had told her lets run off, lets get married. Lets run off and lets elope. And she told him, youre joking, this is not you know, what are you talking about, are you serious . Reporter remember, cathy was seeing another guy, albert, who only days later tried to kill himself. Tina says cathy thought about sams proposal all that week. Ultimately, cathy decided, says tina, that she was so broken up about albert she was going to tell sam the answer was no. Shes crying, and then she said, im going to tell him this saturday that im not gonna take off with him, that i will not elope. That was wednesday. Home. Reporter sams admitted jealousy, cathys doting on albert, a rejected proposal. All of it seemed to add up to motive. But motives dont prove murder. There was still no physical evidence tying sam to the crime. All the blood on the car had been tested, and it was all cathys. But then, while combing the case file, detective daron wyatt learned something shocking. There were blood and hair samples that had never been sent to the crime lab. And when those samples were analyzed, they pointed to a whole new suspect. Coming up, new dna and a new man in the hot seat. He sat there and put his fist in front of his mouth to keep himself from talking. When dateline continues. When dateline continues looks like they picked the wrong getaway driver. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Accident forgiveness saturpain happens. Aleve it. Aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. When pain happens, aleve it. All day strong. Start your day with secret. Secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. With secret, youre unstoppable. No sweat try it and love it or get your money back. Back in 1994, Police Suspected sam lopez of killing his sometime girlfriend, cathy torrez, but they couldnt make the case. One big reason, sams cousin, javier, who told detectives he was with sam the night of the murder. Javier was sams alibi. So he wasnt suspected of being part of the murder, or even being at the crime scene. Thats right, yeah. They were looking at javier solely as an alibi witness who was lying to cover for sam. Reporter thats why, as detective daron wyatt now discovered, even though investigators in 1994 took blood, hair, and fingerprint samples from javier, theyd never had those tested. They had sent all of the evidence related to sam lopez to the crime lab his fingerprints, his hair, his blood but they hadnt sent anything related to javier lopez to the crime lab. Reporter daron sent javiers samples, now three years old, to the crime lab. Two months later, the phone rang. They had positively identified a fingerprint on the trunk of cathys car, left there by somebody closing the lid of the trunk. Reporter javiers print was on the trunk of cathys car . Yes. Reporter weeks later, another call from the lab. A bloodstain on the car had tested positive for both cathys dna and javiers. And the detective found there was Something Else another major piece of evidence investigators had initially overlooked. When you look at the crime scene photos, in the trunk of the car, something jumped out at me. And it just it hit me like i got punched in the face. Was there was arterial spurt on the sidewall of the trunk panel. Reporter meaning only one thing cathy was still alive when she was placed in the trunk of the car. So if javier put her there, he could be charged with murder. Why not grab javier up that day and say, okay, your dna and fingerprints were at the scene. We didnt know that until just now. Youre going away for murder unless you Start Talking . Well, lets say that we did that and we bring him in and he says, well, yes, my fingerprint was there because i helped her push her car out of the street a week before. Or when i was helping her change a tire, i cut my finger and i bled on it. Reporter so instead of approaching javier, daron wyatt spent nearly five months carefully watching him and sam. He learned the two cousins were unusually close. Sam lived in a onebedroom little bungalow with his wife and his baby at the time, yet javier was there all the time, sleeping in the same essentially the same room. Reporter eventually, daron wyatt felt he had enough new information to get a search warrant. There was a loud pounding on our door. Reporter tina montelongo remembers it clearly. When i opened the door, there was about five Police Officers there. The one in the middle was wyatt. He put us against the wall and patted us down. What was sams demeanor while all that was happening . He was calm, you know. He really was. I was freaking out. Reporter he wasnt worried . No. No. Reporter maybe he had no reason to be. Police didnt find anything in the house linking sam to cathys murder. They even sprayed his truck with luminol looking for signs of blood. We took the seats out, we did everything we could. And there was nothing. Reporter Police Briefly detained sam, but he was back home by morning. Now daron wyatt focused on javier. We really approached it very low key. We think that you can really provide some great information for us. Would you mind coming down with us and talking . Reporter they brought him down to the station and listened patiently as he distanced himself from cathy torrez. Hed never been shopping with her, never changed a tire on her car, never carried groceries. We went through the whole litany of things that and hes all, oh, no, no, thats all true, im a million miles away from her. Right, right, separated himself. Reporter but in so doing, javier ruled out any innocent explanation for finding his dna and fingerprint on her car. So when police told him thats exactly what they had found it was like vapor lock. And then all of a sudden he said, well, you know, this one time i was at the video store, and i saw sam and cathy there together. And i went and i sat in cathys car and sat in the backseat and waited for them. And they came out, and then i left. And that was really his only contact that he can give us with cathys car. But he doesnt fold up like a house of cards and say, all right, fine, you got me. Youre right. But josh, youve watched probably thousands of these interviews. And sometimes what people dont say is just as important as what they do say. Reporter what javier either would not or could not say were these words i did not kill cathy torrez. He says, i dont know who did. Thats not what i asked, javier. Did you kill cathy torrez . I dont know who did. And we play that several times to where hed finally say, i didnt do it. You didnt do what, javier . I didnt do what you say i did. Cant say the words killed cathy . Correct. Then it moved to, did you put cathys body in the trunk of the car . I dont know who did. Finally he sat there and he put his fist in front of his mouth to keep himself from talking. Reporter but javier had already managed to talk his way into an arrest for murder. Nearly four years after cathys death, he was booked into the Orange County jail. Cathys family was stunned when they heard the news, tina included. Remember, she was still married to armando, who was sams brother and javiers cousin. That was a shock. That was a shock to us. You cant see that coming and police didnt tell you . Right. That was part of their investigation, and we had no knowledge of that. Reporter but they were relieved. At last, the case was moving forward. Daron wyatt was confident he had enough evidence to prove javier lopez had killed cathy torrez. But once again, the Orange County District Attorney did not agree. The d. A. Decided not to charge . Correct. And so, javiers set free. Javier walks. Coming up a detective who refuses to quit. I said, i have a cold case i need you to take a look at. Reporter now has another good reason not to. My first daughter was born. And i remember going to mary shortly after that looking in the eye and saying i know. I know now how you feel. When dateline continues. Inf fitness. Its every class you can imagine, live. Welcome back to the mirror. Youve got this john. And on demand. Its boxing. Cardio. Yoga. And more. Its an interactive, goal crushing. Whole family. Whole body fitness machine. Its so cool the future of fitness is at home. The mirror. 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This drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures; use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. Protect him with all your heart. Simparica trio. Hello. Im darryl brown. The Unemployment Rate fell to 8. 4 less month, adding 1. 4 million jobs in august. Jobs report signaling an economic slowdown as an increasing number of americans reported they had been laid off permanently. And President Trump under fire after the atlantic reported that multiple sources claimed he referred to american soldiers who died in war as, quote, suckers and losers. The president is vehemently denying the report. Now back to dateline. Detective daron wyatt never believed javier lopez acted alone. Even when he arrested javier in 1997 for the murder of cathy torrez. He thought javiers real role was helping the prime suspect, javiers cousin, sam lopez. Tina montelongo, sams thenwife and javiers friend, wasnt buying it. Can you conceive of javier going through with a murder or being involved in it because of his loyalty to sam . No. I dont see that. If sam did it, would javi help him just because theyre close family . I dont see that. Reporter neither did the d. A. , who decided there was not enough evidence to file charges. How do you tell mary bennett, we had javier, but we had to let him go . It was extremely difficult. There was a lot of crying on both sides. Reporter daron knew exactly what releasing javier really meant. What walks out of the jail along with javier is any leverage you had to get him to name sam . Yeah, absolutely. Reporter and now you really are back to square one . Yes. Reporter is that the end . To some people. Reporter but not to him. And not to mary. You put a lot of faith in daron. I put a lot of faith in god. Daron was his tool. Reporter but for the time being, it seemed darons hands were tied. After all, the case had been rejected by the d. A. s office twice before. This case getting a lot of baggage over the years . Yeah, it did. Reporter and so if you go ahead with it, youre not only going ahead with the case, youre also kind of insulting the d. A. . Yeah. Reporter years went by. The cathy torrez case grew colder by the day. And so did the marriage between cathys sister tina and sams brother armando. You and armando got divorced. Yes. Reporter this have something to do with that . Definitely. It was all intermixed. Reporter daron wyatt was promoted to detective sergeant and his caseload shifted to other types of crime. But he never forgot his promise to mary, in part because of a milestone in his own life. My first daughter was born. And i remember going to mary shortly after that and looking her in the eye and saying, i know i know now how you feel. I know it. I can feel it myself. Im a dad now. You havent given up. I wont give up. Reporter in 2003, nine years after the murder, daron once again approached a friend in the d. A. s office. I said, ive got a cold case that i need you to take a look at. And he physically stops walking and he says, if its the case im thinking about, im not going to touch it. Reporter but daron was persistent. Eventually he persuaded his friend to take cathys case back to the d. A. s homicide unit, the same unit that had rejected it twice before. This time, though, Something Different happened. A prosecutor unfamiliar with the case agreed to take a fresh look. His name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. The first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. Reporter which means they tried very hard to make a case, and they couldnt do it . They tried very hard. Thats right. And they figured, based on their review, that they couldnt do it. Reporter and some of the reasons were apparent from the getgo when you look at it on its face, this case is a real tough one. Reporter for one thing, there was so much evidence they didnt have against sam. There was no murder weapon here. We had no witness. We had no confession. We had no dna. So you can look at it that way, in a conventional review. And yeah, it looked really tough. Reporter but what really made this case a prosecutors nightmare was the fact that all the physical evidence pointed away from the man they thought was the killer. Any defense attorney would ask, if police found javiers dna and fingerprint, why would they charge sam . Were you surprised you didnt find sams dna there . Yes. Reporter he thought newer, better tests might find sams dna, but it was too late for that. Cathys family had sold the car. The case against sam would have to be entirely circumstantial. Murphy felt the key to that was somewhere in those interviews sam gave to police. But here, too, there was a problem. When you look at the interview, everything that sam lopez said seemed logical at the time. And everything seemed to make sense. Reporter picking apart those interviews would be critical. This is one of those cases where you have to look at the details. And its truly one that you have to look at each detail in light of every other detail. Reporter and when you rearrange the letters of little tiny details it spells larry montgomery. Absolutely. Reporter larry montgomery. Or as hes known here at dateline, the evidence whisperer. Coming up she didnt ask you to marry her . No. A human lie detector goes to work. The guilty person knows a lot. All that information is in his brain and it can slip out. When dateline continues. Lozenges. Tis coldeeze® can shorten your cold by 42 . It releases zinc ions that some scientists believe inhibit cold viruses from replicating. Try coldeeze® the number one bestselling zinc lozenge. 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Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Prosecutor matt murphy thought daron wyatts investigation of cathy torrezs murder was compelling. But he knew that making the case against sam lopez wouldnt be easy. The d. A. s office had declined to try it twice before. So murphy called for help from a detective whose legendary skill with cold cases has earned him a reverential nickname. Larry montgomery is the real deal. I mean, guy is the evidence whisperer. Another nickname for him is st. Larry. Reporter larry sees things other people dont see . Larry sees things that many people dont see, yeah. And he looks at it from a different perspective. Reporter they both felt the key to the case lay in sam lopezs own words, his taped interviews with the original detectives. And they thought the perfect man to listen to those interviews was the evidence whisperer. Guilty people have tells, just like in a poker game . Absolutely. They dont have that innocent mindset, and they they have other fears. They fear being caught. They cant get their stories straight because theres too many details. Reporter montgomery spent months carefully listening and relistening, watching and rewatching, hours of sams interviews, looking for the tells. How long have you guys been dating . Its its an offandon thing. Onandoff thing. Okay. Reporter tell number one, how sam talked about his relationship with cathy. See, i was going out with somebody. And then she would call me up. And we would just, like calling each other, going out to eat, places like that. Nothing serious at the time. Sam definitely was trying to limit his connection with cathy, give the impression that its not that big of a deal. Reporter remember, cathys sister, tina, had told detectives sam had proposed to cathy just days before she disappeared, but when police asked sam about that, he denied it. You didnt ask her to marry you, then . No reporter later, he changed his story but seemed to say that getting married was cathys idea. A lot of people hit me up already. They said that that that we were supposed to elope, okay . This is what she okay, but look. She had a crazy idea to go to mexico, okay . Just the two of us. Reporter then there was sams claim that cathy never tried to contact him after she disappeared. I thought she was going to page me on friday. She goes somewhere, and she never paged me on friday. We know that cathys mom paged him 20 or 25 times in a matter of at least a couple of days, trying to get him to contact her because hes so close to cathy and shes missing. Reporter montgomery noted a key detail about those pages. Marys home phone and cathys home phone are the same number. Theyre the same numbers. Reporter so seeing that number on his pager, how did sam know it wasnt cathy . If he knew she was alive, he would know he got 20 or 25 pages from cathy, or at least think that. If hes guilty and he killed cathy, he knows those 20 or 25 pages were not from cathy. Reporter that was tell number two. Then montgomery noticed how, in his second interview, sam referred to cathys murder. You know . But then this happened and shoot. He doesnt use the word murder, doesnt say anything like that. Its like, this happened, as if its small. Its not that big of a deal, its not horrendous. He doesnt want it to be horrendous because he did it. Reporter tell number three. And then larry caught Something Else in the interview sam did before cathys body was found. Listen carefully. So you went out with her the saturday before the thursday . Right. Okay, and where did you go . In other words, a week before she was she disappeared. Reporter before she was, what . Dead . Murdered . Either way, larry thought sam knew more than he was telling. The guilty person knows a lot, cannot forget all that he knows. So when hes talking, all that information is in his brain and it can slip out. Reporter another reason to think sam knew much more than he was saying . In his second interview after cathys body was found, police spoke with sam for 90 minutes before he asked them a single question. And when he finally did so did you do you guys know how she was killed . Uh, yeah, we do. Reporter larry noticed a telling statement. I thought you were never going to ask. Well, i didnt want because i dont want memories to come back, you know . Well, thats an interesting statement, i dont want memories to come back. What memories does he have that he doesnt want to remember . If hes innocent, he has memories of cathy, good times, what they did. People would want those memories to come back. Yeah. If he had a memory that he killed her, that certainly is a memory he doesnt want to relive. Reporter after listening to the interviews time and again, the evidence whisperer had no doubt sam killed cathy. But could the team prove it beyond a reasonable doubt . Ultimately, in coldcase murders, time becomes one of our friends, because technology changes. Reporter at the time of the murder, dna tests could only be done on big samples like blood spatter. But in the years since, analysis became possible for touchdna, the microscopic calling cards many of us leave behind just by putting our hands on something. If sam and javier did place cathys body in the cars trunk, maybe, thought larry, there would be touchdna on her clothes. You search for dna in the areas that might be grabbed, especially areas that might be grabbed that dont have blood on them be from cathy. So you looked, what, on the ankles and under her arms . Ankles, arms, i think under the legs. Daron wyatt sends out the evidence for touch dna. Are you optimistic, or are you thinking, shot in the dark . No, i was not optimistic. I was not optimistic. Because what . Because on this particular case, it seemed like for the beginning phases, everything that could go wrong pretty much went wrong. Reporter but he also knew he was working with a cop on a mission. Daron wyatt was not going to quit until i filed this case or i died, or he died, i guess. Daron was absolutely dedicated to this. Reporter the truth was, if murphy declined the case a third time, the cathy torrez file would almost certainly go from cold to dead. What would he decide . No one understood the stakes better than cathys mom. Daron had told me that we were going to meet with the d. A. My interpretation of it was that he was going to tell me that there was nothing they could do. Coming up a key piece of evidence arrives, better late than never. How long had they known that . A couple of months at least. And they what, forgot to call . But is it the smoking gun . When dateline continues. Here are a couple answers. Lysol disinfectant spray and disinfecting wipes together can be used on over 100 surfaces. And kill up to 99. 9 of viruses and bacteria. Unfortunately, we cant answer every question you have right now. Lysol. What it takes to protect. With acetaminophenction fights pain in two ways. Advil targets pain at the source. While acetaminophen blocks pain signals. The future of pain relief is here. New advil dual action. An extra 15 credit on car and motorcycle policies . Thats great thats 15 on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . John stamos to knit you a scarf . All finished, jean. Enjoy thank you. I give. The stitch work is impeccable. Its just a double fleck pattern with a reverse garter stitch. No big deal. Is your hair this soft . Softer. Geico. Save an extra 15 when you switch by october 7th. Oh. Oh, darn wha let me help. Lift and push and push there. Its up there. Hey joshie. Wrinkles send the wrong message. Help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. It was an Early Morning in 2007, 13 years after cathy torrez had breathed her last. I was having coffee at a mcdonalds before work and i was reading my bible. It was a little bit after 7 00 when i saw that i had a call from him. Reporter from daron wyatt. Mary knew he was scheduled to meet with the d. A. My first thought was he was going to tell me that the meeting was canceled, again. Reporter but that was not the message, not at all. He said, im standing here in front of sams house and we are making an arrest right now. Theyre making an arrest. Yes. And you thought . And i got up, and i think i screamed there at the mcdonalds. Reporter years before, daron wyatt had made a promise. Now, he felt, he was keeping it. That had to feel pretty good. Yeah, there were tears of joy this time. Reporter sam lopez was arrested and charged with cathys murder, but he wasnt alone. Just as prosecutors now believed he wasnt alone the night he stabbed cathy to death. Sams cousin javier was also arrested and charged with murder. Police also arrested sams older brother, armando, who was once married to cathys sister tina, and had helped search for cathy. Its just a tragic loss. It hurts. Everybody loved cathy. Reporter armando was charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping cover up the murder. We believe that he was telling people who had information that could help convict sam not to cooperate with the police. Reporter cathys sister had to ponder what that might mean about her former husband. Betrayal of the worst kind. Reporter betrayal of her, betrayal of you . Exactly, everything. Your family . My family. Trust, betrayal, everythings broken beyond belief. Reporter sam and his wife had also separated by this point. She was at work when her sister called her and told her police had once again come for sam. Whatd you think when you heard sam was arrested . The same that i always had. Like, here we go again. Nothing to it, and hell be out soon. Yeah. Reporter after all, theyd detained sam once before and had to release him. But as daron wyatt now explained to sam lopez, this time was different. Ive told you before that we wouldnt give up until we were able to bring resolution to this case, and thats where were at now. Reporter but just when it seemed the case was buttoned up, daron got a surprising call. Remember the request for touchdna daron had submitted months earlier . The crime lab finally called back. And the crime lab says what . Hey, did we tell you that we found javiers dna on cathys body . What . Yeah, we found javiers profile on her sock, on the back of her knee, and under her right armpit. Did we tell you . No, we didnt tell you. How long had they known that . A couple of months, at least. And they, what, forgot to call . I think the examiner who had been doing it was waiting for additional results and didnt realize that she hadnt notified us. So the idea of touchdna paid off . It did. Reporter but not quite the way they had all hoped. Unbelievable that you would get touchdna evidence back that long after the fact. Right. But bad news, it doesnt have sam lopezs name on it. Right. Thats right. Reporter so the strongest physical evidence was still against javier. But it was sam who had the motive, and he was the first one going on trial, even without a trace of his dna anywhere. It had taken 13 years to arrest sam lopez. It would take another eight to bring him to trial. And just months before that trial began, matt murphy learned that sam had a new defense he is so good, and i would be lying if i said my heart was not in my throat. Reporter sams defense attorney Lew Rosenblum was the former assistant d. A. Who supervised the homicide unit. In fact, he was the original prosecutor who back in 1994 didnt think there was enough evidence to charge sam. Not only that, lew was the man who brought matt into the homicide unit. Lew took me under his wing and trained me how to do homicides. Whats it like to go up against your mentor . Well, its terrifying to go up against your mentor. Reporter neither one of them had ever lost a murder case. But someones winning streak was about to end. February 10th, 2015, 20 years after cathy torrezs murder, sam lopez went on trial. At the end of this case, you are going to hold that man accountable for exactly what he did. Reporter the very first witness matt murphy put on the stand was cathys mom, mary. It seemed a safe way to start. There is a Cardinal Rule that you dont ever do a hard crossexamination on a mother. Reporter but matts mentor broke that rule. He really pressed her on some of the details. And scored some points. Scored big points. I mean, scored bigtime points. Reporter mary initially told the jury sam only responded to one of her pages, but under crossexamination mary revealed hed actually returned three pages. They were trying to paint a picture of sam that he did absolutely nothing, and that is not true. Its one of the only cases ive done in my career where i realized, he understands this case as well as i do. Reporter it was mentor against pupil, and the stakes couldnt be higher. Coming up its as cold blooded as you can possibly get. Where is the evidence . A 20year search for a killer draws to a close. But as always, the jury gets the last word. When dateline continues. I see whats possible, instead of whats here. Others see cracked concrete, broken backboards, rundown courts. I see a way to bring pride back to communities. Art can change it all. Bright colors, a bold vision, and it can be somewhere that brings people together. For games or hangouts or whatever. A place that makes people proud like this is my neighborhood. Thats why i made project backboard and a site with godaddy. How will you make your mark . Make the world you want. Matt murphy was facing the biggest battle of his career against his former mentor, famed prosecutor turned defense attorney Lew Rosenblum. But youve only heard one side. Reporter the same man who back in 1994 felt there was not enough evidence to charge sam lopez was now defending him. It was an epic showdown in a packed courtroom. Two of the best attorneys in the nation battling one another over a highstakes murder with absolutely zero physical evidence on the defendant whos being tried. And it was teacher versus student. Reporter sam had been a suspect for 20 years. And during that entire time, his attorney said, police had it all wrong. The detectives made up their mind about who did this murder within hours. We had a bad feeling about you, they said. Were gonna prove it. And they spent the next 21 years, over and over, trying. Reporter the defense argued sams behavior didnt prove anything. Not only was sam in touch with cathys family the week she disappeared, he also participated in the search, putting up a flyer at his girlfriends store. And that business about him not showing any emotion in the interview with police . It is very easy to sit back and say, he should have done that. He should answer this way. Look, hes stretching. Hes yawning. Hes reading a coke can. Obviously hes a sociopath. Where is the evidence . Reporter step back from those supposed tells, the defense said, and youd see the man sitting in that chair was not lying to cover up a murder. He voluntarily gives hair, blood, prints, shoes, clothes, everything they want, not a man whos hiding. Thats a man who wants to prove his innocence. Reporter and the defense said, after 14 years of tests, not a single forensic link not his fingerprints, not his dna had ever been found tying sam to cathys brutal murder. Everything that they expected to find of my client everything none of it was there. Why . Because theyre wrong. Reporter the fingerprint and dna at the crime scene made it obvious. The wrong man was on trial. Javier lopez is all over this. Prints, dna, because he was the one that did it, not my client. Reporter but prosecutor matt murphy argued that javiers dna and fingerprint were really evidence against sam. Remember, from the beginning, javier had been sams alibi. He paged me, saying, you know what, i need a ride. Reporter the prosecutor argued that if they were together and javiers dna put him at scene of the crime, then sam had to be there too. His alibi is at the murder scene. And for sam lopez, i think thats just devastating evidence. Reporter and he told the jury it was the first of many instances where the most powerful evidence of guilt came from sams own words. Its sams actions and its sams statements. Reporter so he gave you the case against him. The best evidence that we have in this case, and that we had, was sam lopez himself. Reporter sam was the one who told police he had a jealous streak. Every time she mentions some guys name, i get pissed off, okay . Reporter cathy was seeing another guy albert. The prosecution said sams jealousy was triggered the night he took cathy out and saw that hickey. What effect is that going to have on a guy who gets pissed, his own word, pissed, if she even mentions another guy . What is he gonna do when he sees a hickey . Reporter what he did, matt said, was slash cathys tires. Obviously somebody had would have to be very angry at her to slash her tires. If those tires were slashed, ladies and gentlemen, theres only one suspect. Theres only person that did it. Reporter murphy said sams anger continued to build as cathys attention turned to albert the same week when sam asked her to elope. A proposal she told her sister tina she was going to reject on saturday, the day she was killed. So now its not just a hickey. Its a denial of a proposal, and its all because of another guy. Reporter the result, the prosecutor said, was an attack so savage cathy stabbed more than 70 times that it could only be the work of a jealous lover. Every one of those cuts meant something. Every one of those stab wounds meant something. Reporter and the finishing blow she was alive, and sam lopez cut her throat. Its as coldblooded as you can possibly get. Reporter the 21st anniversary of cathys murder fell during the middle of trial, a day that reminded cathys family once again of all they had lost. Whatd your family do that day . We went to the cemetery. As we go every year in february. We take her red roses that she wanted for valentines day that year. Reporter for 21 years the torrez family had demanded answers. Two days after deliberations began, the jury reached a verdict. I couldnt breathe. I felt just tightness inside. And when the clerk took the folder, i started my prayer. The lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. We the jury find the defendant, Samuel Agustin lopez, guilty of murder in the first degree. Once i heard that, then i just all i remember is that i held my hands up to my chin like this and i just thanked god. Reporter daron wyatt was watching mary in that moment. This was everything to her. And i wanted to look in her eyes when they came back and see that she knew that i fulfilled my promise. Reporter for sams exwife, the news was devastating. I cried. Reporter for your daughter . For sam . For both. Reporter doesnt sound like it shook your faith at all in him. It didnt. Reporter after the verdict, people in placentia strung little white hearts on the tree that was planted in cathys memory. Did she leave the mark on the world that she always wanted to leave . Yeah, she did. We have letters of coworkers, of students she worked with. Reporter people you didnt even know. People we didnt even know that were able to come back and tell my mom or tell one of us, you know, we miss her at savon. She was always smiling. Shed always help us. So what they did to her, all those stab wounds that she got, multiply those and those are her marks. Reporter for 21 years sam denied he inflicted those stab wounds, denied he killed cathy. But at his sentencing sam did something unexpected. I would like to apologize to the torrez family and to everyone for all of the harm and grief that i have caused them. This was a horrible act that never should have happened. It is entirely my fault. I take full responsibility. Reporter sam lopez was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison. Javier pleaded guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact. He served eight years and is now out of prison. Sams brother armando pleaded guilty to dissuading a witness and was sentenced to one year probation. And mary bennett is still facing the rest of her life without cathy. In 1994, i was given a sentence, and there was no parole from it. To live my life without ever seeing cathy again, without ever seeing her beautiful smile or having her come running in through the door and saying, whats for dinner . And theres no i will never have any kind of parole from that. That is my life sentence. Reporter shes serving it one night at a time, because the wee small hours of the morning still call to mary bennett, reading the bible and waiting for dawn, while the whole wide world is fast asleep. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. It was just chaos. A day at the mall deseconds into mayhem. As armed men turn shoppers into prey. Lots of screaming. Lots of gunfire. They had a demeanor like they owned the place. Panicked moms protecting their kids. I just kept telling them to be quiet, like a mouse. Hes going to cry. This is it. Kids forced to protect one another. You grabbed your brother. Yeah. And just ran. And from out of the