Face of the earth. Reporter a baffling disappearance. Where was he . My dad is not just a missing person, he has three sons, he has a wife. I was very afraid that something terrible was wrong. And i got scared. Reporter the clues, a missing mercedes. A handprint in blood. And a Musical Chairs of secret affairs. We have multiple love affairs . Yes. Theres more women, theres more lovers involved in this whole thing. Reporter was this beauty hiding something deadly . I wanted to get away. I was scared. Reporter how would this hollywood story end . I was in fear for my familys life im too young to lose my dad like who are these people . Reporter dark valley. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Success seemed to find davin smith. A star athlete in college and then an actor turned hollywood movie executive who always made time for his adoring kids. So when gavin vanished his loved ones were at a loss. At first investigators were, too. Unsure if he up and 4re679 or if gavin was a victim of foul play. Soon his wife revealed that the missing father held dark secrets, and all was not as sunny as it might have appeared. Heres Keith Morrison. Reporter there is a kind of peace here. Here in her own chosen exile. The vast pacific for company. How else to live with whats impossible to understand or forget. What began that Sunny Afternoon far away in southern californias san fernando valley, early may 2012. Something was really wrong, but a lot more wrong than i could imagine. Reporter it was the boy who knew it first, knew something was wrong. His dad was supposed to take him to school that morning. But after school i was to go to the school and pick him up after basketball practice. When i showed up, he said, daddy didnt pick me up this morning. And i said, what . He said, daddy didnt show up this morning. Reporter it can happen. Busy families. People forget. The boy got to school some other way. He said he called a friend from around the corner. Reporter or sometimes things fall apart. The situation sounded too crazy. Love affairs, love triangles, drug dealers, it just sounded too outlandish. Reporter once those stable, loving pieces have flown apart, how do they come together again . Somebody is going to walk away from this who maybe you wish wasnt going to walk away. Exactly. How do people sleep at night . How do they live with themselves . Reporter but that afternoon lisa smith knew instantly, something must be wrong. Her husband gavin was a dedicated father. Nothing that would keep him from picking up his kid ever. Reporter because gavin was so good at these things, said his sister tara addeo, he was so impressive, so tall. You both got the tall gene, right . We did. Whole family. Whole family. Reporter gavin was the tallest, 66. He walked in a room, you noticed him. You wanted to gravitate to him. He was a magnet. Reporter he played basketball for legendary coach john wooden, ucla, 1975. He was a forward. It was woodens final championship team. Just to be on that team was pretty fantastic, it was a once in a lifetime. Reporter and then he drifted a bit. Worked as a golf caddie and this being los angeles, and he a goodlooking, towering athlete. People noticed him, movie people. They gave him a couple of roles. And he got the bug. Reporter the acting bug. First as a body double back on the Basketball Court in the movie inside moves and then as a bartender in cobb. Congrats, al four pieces in National Magazines this month. Reporter when he met lisa, he was acting, but also waiting tables. He twinkled. He was just charming. I was thrilled that he asked me for my number. Reporter they married. Had three sons together. And with a growing family to support, gavin gave up acting and took a job on the business side at Twentieth Century fox, eventually as a Film Distribution executive. Fox is a Wonderful Company to work for, and he loved it. It was film. Reporter first place lisa called when gavin failed to pick up their son. Was he at work that day . They told me he just hadnt shown up to work. Gavin, in 18 years had never ever not shown up to work. Reporter so then lisa, very worried now, went to the lost hills sheriff station to report gavin missing and waited and waited. Days later, gavins family went on nbc4 in los angeles to plead for help. Im not going to stop until i find him, so please help me find him. If you guys just want to each pick up one of these streets. Now im in panic mode. Weve got to do something. What did that feel like being in that spot . Oh, it was surreal. Reporter the smith family put together a 20,000 reward for any information leading to gavins whereabouts. Nothing turned up. And i would think with every hour that went by, it would be more and more dire and darker for you, right . Its very dark. Its very, very dark. Reporter it wasnt just the family having dark thoughts. They dont normally call a couple of seasoned homicide detectives to look into a missing persons case. They do when there are some suspicious circumstances. Reporter and in this case, they called in sheriff detectives ty labbe and his partner john obrien. His phone was missing. There was no use of it. We checked his Bank Accounts from the time that he was missing. We checked his medical insurance to see if he had checked himself into a hospital. That never showed any activity. He was completely dropped off the face of the earth. Reporter but then, out of nowhere, a sighting. Hundreds of miles north of los angeles, a businessman visiting californias Central Coast said he saw gavin smith and a beautiful woman at a cashonly taco restaurant in morro bay. I happened to click on the link, saw the photo, and i said, oh, boy reporter the waitress corroborated the story. He was sitting here, she was sitting right here. Reporter gavins sister tara raced up the coast to the restaurant. And i said, heres my brothers picture. Did you see him . And . No. That was truly heartbreaking to me. Reporter it was all a big mistake. But it wasnt the last of the sightings. People seemed to see gavin smith everywhere. Because he kind of stands out in the photo, you know, big, white smile, tan face, tall guy, pretty much every tall, tan, blondehaired man was getting spotted as being gavin smith. Reporter weeks, months passed. No sign of gavin. And with no answers, lisa was forced to reveal something publicly, something painful and maybe crucial. Coming up what happened to gavin smith . It didnt make sense to me. Its so i just kept no. It cant be. It cant be. Said i think this is suicide and then we go i think this is a murder. Our gut instincts were going different ways. I wondered if she had something to do with this. It crossed our minds all the time. Somehow, it kept playing back, why wont you search . Why . When dark valley continues. Frustrated that clean clothes you want to wear always seem to need an iron . Next time try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. Just toss it in the dryer to bounce out wrinkles. We dried these shorts with bounce wrinkle guard, and a pair without. The bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. Its the worlds first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets. It also comes in unscented. If you dont love bounce wrinkle guard, well give you your money back. Welcome back to dateline extra. Gavin smiths family was distraught after the 57yearold larger than life dad vanished. How could the hard to miss 66 disappear . Detectives were about to discover secrets. Gavin had a troubled part. Continuing our story, heres Keith Morrison. Reporter gavin smith, as just about anybody could see, was his familys golden boy. His sister tara grew up in his aura, idolized him. He, of all people, should not just up and vanish. It didnt make sense to me. And so i just kept, no, it cant be. It cant be. I just kept hoping. I did everything i could. Reporter but even as she ran down leads herself, it seemed to tara that lisa, her sisterinlaw, gavins wife, wasnt searching. So he disappeared, and you couldnt give up on the possibility he was out there somewhere and lisa could. And i wondered whether there were ever sort of dark nights to your soul where you thought i wondered if she had something to do with this. It crossed our minds all the time. It just did. I mean, did i think that she could ever be the one responsible, the physical . No. But somehow it kept playing back, why wont you search. Why . The only way somebody doesnt look for you is if you already know definitively yeah. Theyre no longer living. And you must have a reason for knowing that. Thats what i would assume. Reporter and it turned out lisa did know something, just not what tara suspected. There were secrets, which lisa and gavin kept hidden. I was the love of gavins life. He adored me. Our family was exactly what he wanted to have. He just got lost. Reporter lost. It all started in the early 80s, even before she met gavin, when he was a stuntman on the tv series remington steele. He played a shooting victim falling from a second story window. The stunt went wrong, and he broke his back. He would get pain pills for his back. So usually percocet, Something Like that for pain. When that didnt work anymore, he was prescribed oxycontin, and he was addicted to it. Reporter he went to a Drug Rehab Center called the Matrix Institute here in the san fernando valley. He clearly stopped using. He was feeling healthier than he had felt in years. Reporter but when detectives john obrien and ty labbe learned about gavins addiction, they had to consider a raft of new possibilities. He disappeared. Maybe he overdosed. We didnt exactly have any of those answers. Driving all over the valley, we would have moments in the car of where we looked at each other and said, i think this is a suicide. And then an hour later, wed interview somebody or something would happen, and wed go, i think this is a murder. And our feelings and our gut instincts were going different ways very early on very fast. Yeah. Its got to be pretty unusual though . It was very confusing. Reporter confusing for lisa too, because here was another secret, the smiths were underwater on their mortgage. On the verge of losing their home. We were in a horrible position financially. Reporter lisa discovered that before he disappeared, gavin had been taking money from his retirement account and recklessly blowing through his sixfigure salary. And there were other signs of strain in the family. In april 2012, a month before gavin disappeared, his son evan wrote this message on twitter. Thoughts and prayers out to my amazing mom and brothers, please. My dad decided to leave the family last night. Real family sticks together. Sister tara spoke with gavin at the time. He was struggling with losing what he had come to know and love for so many years, and that was his family unit. Uhhuh. And he didnt want to hurt those boys. And thats what he kept saying, i dont want to be without them. Reporter but as much as he loved his boys, detectives learned, gavin had been unfaithful to his wife, had been seeing a woman named melanie, and now that gavin had disappeared without a trace we went to talk to her and to see if she had any information. Did she . No. The relationship had ended, and she had not talked to him, and she had no idea where he was at. Reporter but though melanie was the reason gavin moved out of his house a month before he vanished, she was not his first affair. There had also been a woman named chandy. That relationship was years in the past, but phone records showed gavin called her on may 1st, the day before he disappeared. Cops tracked her down, too. What did she tell you . She acknowledged the prior affair, and she said that she had not been in contact with him for some time, but then they started communicating via email. And that would explain the fact that he called her on the phone . Yes. Reporter but chandy said she didnt see him may 1st, hadnt heard from him since. Last sighting . A colleague saw him driving his black mercedes. We felt that the vehicle was still out there somewhere. Reporter so find the car, and maybe find out what happened to gavin. And nine months after gavin vanished, they finally got the break they were looking for. I said, im here to talk to you about your daughter. And he started crying. And he said, she saw everything. Reporter coming up. We waited until she showed up and kind of surprised her. Very nervous. Startled. A new witness and a game changer of a clue. I kissed my partner on the cheek. It was pretty exciting. Big piece of evidence. Huge moment. You think you cant be shocked. But you can be. When dark valley continues. Everything your trip needs for everyone you love. Expedia. For everyone you love. Us lives here. Where we can be surprised by others. And ourselves. For a better us, donate to your local y today. Welcome back. As california investigators tried to make sense of gavin smiths mysterious disappearance they learned that gavin had troubles he kept hidden. The man who seemed to have it all struggled with adridiction d serious financial problems. Detectives were far from answers, but that would change when someone gave them a name that led to a crucial discovery. Heres Keith Morrison with more. Reporter like it or not its a fact, an element of human nature. Some people have affairs. Some of them just flings and others a lot. As they poked through his life. One name kept popping up. Chandy. Her full name, Chandrika Creech. Shed already told the detectives that she and gavin had an affair years earlier. And that he called her right before he vanished. But now, nine months after gavin disappeared, the detectives got a tip. Her father knew more. Chandys dad started telling a tale about something his daughter may have seen, and he was distraught and wanted to talk about it. And he said, well, you know reina . I go, yeah, i know the name. Reporter reina lim. She lived with chandy. She took care of chandys grandmother. Chandys dad said reina knew something, something important. And he goes, i think she knows where the car is. Reporter the elusive mercedes. Detective labbe and his partner john obrien drove out to see reina. We just waited till she showed up, and we kind of surprised her. Thats what you guys do, right . You know sometimes it works better that way, yeah. She was very nervous and startled and wasnt quite sure what to do. But ultimately she provided us with the paperwork for the storage locker. Reporter reinas storage locker. It was a kbig one. 10 feet by 20. We rolled the door up and the only thing in it was a black Mercedes Benz with no license plates on it. Wow. Huge moment. Reporter a black mercedes sedan. Had to be gavin smiths. I kissed my partner on the cheek. Thats a true story. It was a big piece of evidence. And we were able to get closer and able to see that our entire crime scene, in our opinion, was inside that car. Reporter crime scene . Yes. Suddenly all other theories seemed to fall away. The passengers seat was completely covered in blood. And at one point it was very eerie when you looked at the blood and you could see a handmark of gavin smith as he died in that seat. Reporter soon the news reached gavins family. Tara was devastated. Theres no going back from that. There is no going back. You accepted it . You know, youre forced. You know, trauma happens to people all the time. You dont think its going to happen to you, but it does. You know when you already expect the worst, you think that you cant be shocked, but you can be is all i can say about that. Reporter but if gavin was dead, and certainly it looked that way, where was his body . How did his car wind up in the storage locker . And above all, who would have wanted him dead . Reina lim certainly seemed an unlikely suspect. She told them she had rented the storage unit for someone else. Meanwhile, detectives looked further into chandys affair with gavin and discovered the two had met in rehab and in december 2010, less than two years before gavin disappeared. Lisa found out about it. I was heartbroken. Reporter so she took an extreme step to save her family. She and two of her sons, then 14 and 20, went to the creechs house to speak to them, family to family. And i was really upset when we were driving there. So i stayed in the car, and i let my sons go in the house. Reporter but they didnt meet chandy in there. They met her husband. His name was john, john creech. Not pleasant. When they came out, they were both crying. Reporter they told their mom creech threatened to kill gavin if he didnt stay away from chandy. So 17 months later, he vanishes after calling chandy . Lisa had a very bad feeling. Everything changed right then for me. Reporter detectives were suspicious too. Remember, chandy told them she didnt see gavin that night. But there was evidence to the contrary. Cell phone records showed that gavins phone and chandys were in the same place that night. A little triangulation narrowed down just where. We came upon this street here. And we thought this was a good spot. This was a likely spot. Yeah. Reporter a likely spot for a tryst, that is. Met for sex or confident or something. Quite a lot to learn from those phone records, but there was more. A third phone. John creechs phone. In the same spot, on the same night. And this was eerie, creechs phone seemed to be moving in sync with gavins. John creechs phone and gavin smiths phone paralleled each other. Together together. Together. Sometimes hitting off the exact same towers or parallel towers. Wow. What was that like . That was an eyeopening moment. Reporter but when they interviewed john creech. He denied ever meeting gavin smith. He said he knew who he was, that he was having an affair with his wife in the past. Reporter so, despite their suspicions, there was not much police could do because one thing we didnt have was gavin smith. Reporter that is, they had no body. No way to prove who killed gavin or that there was a murder at all. That is, until a dog named buddy went for a walk. A reallife dog detective who make as deadly discovery on a deserted trail. Coming up and he just looking at the bush. So we go up there, and were looking, and its like, wow. What is that looks pretty strange. And a young woman suddenly finds herself in the middle of this mystery. I discovered he had scraped on his hands and on his arms. When dark valley continues. Whats going on . Oh, darn let me help. Here we go. Lift and push and push there. Its up there. Oh, boy. Hey joshie. Wrinkles send the wrong message. Help prevent them before they start with new downy wrinkleguard. Hey bud. Hey, pop pop so you wont get caught with wrinkles again. I felt awful. Because of my psoriasis. I was covered from. Head to toe with it. I was afraid. To show my skin. Every time i moved my arm. My skin cracked and bled. It really hurt. Then i started. Cosentyx. That was four years ago. How are you . Now, i dont really think about it. See me. Cosentyx works fast to give you clear skin that can last. Real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting. Get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections. And lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine, or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me. I look. And feel better. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx could help you move past the pain of psoriasis. The hours top stories President Trump is spendinged holt day at maralago and took time on Christmas Eve to air grievances about the impeachmen nancy pelosi accusing her of hating the entire Republican Party. And a Shopping Mall trouble. Police fired tear gas. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Once police discovered gavin smiths missing mercedes theyre case came together and it pointed to foul play. They found gavins bloody handprints in the car and it looked like someone attacked him. But the trail had not led them to gavin. That is, until one curious dog picked up a scent. Heres Keith Morrison with more. Reporter rocky ramos liked to drive his truck up to the outskirts of the Angeles National forest. A place where people tend to toss things like old tvs. Maybe some furniture. Rocky liked to poke around up here. Always with his dog buddy by his side. Hed be mad if i didnt take him. He runned unto a bush and i go, buddy, stop. He wont leave or anything and we go up there and looking and its like, wow. That looks pretty strange. Reporter buddy had made a grim discovery, a human skull. I was just totally amazed. I was without words, you know . I didnt know what to think. Reporter when police arrived, they found a shallow grave nearby. Thats where they found him. Reporter him. The coroner soon confirmed it. After 2 1 2 years, here was the body of gavin smith. The clothing was still intact. And he had been wrapped in his own blanket that he had in the trunk of his car. Reporter the coroner also found the cause of death, and it was grim. Blunt craniofacial trauma, that is multiple blows to his face. He was beaten to death. It was repeated hitting in order to do that much damage. Very violent. Reporter there were also fractures to the right forearm. Possibly defensive wounds. Gavin had tried to fight, but clearly he was no match for his killer. Whoever did this was strong, very strong. Powerhouse gym was very gossipy. So if you told the wrong person something, your secret would be all over the gym. Reporter lauren, just 18 years old back then, asked us not to use her last name. Not after she found herself in the middle of a Homicide Investigation when police came across her while doing surveillance on john creech. Lauren used to work in the pro shop of the powerhouse gym in chatsworth, california. And thats where she first met creech. He was beautiful. He was tall, and he was muscular. And a lot of women especially wanted to date him, a lot of men wanted to be him. Reporter lauren fell for him. He told her he was separated from his wife chandy, but that didnt stop chandy from calling lauren. She texted and called me and was very belligerent and rude. Reporter angry, perhaps, that her husband, then 39, was dating a high school girl. In fact, sheer coincidence, lauren went to high school with gavin smiths sons. So she knew when he disappeared in may 2012. But made no connection between that and something she noticed about her boyfriend john creech. I discovered he had scrapes on his hands and on his arms. She didnt think he had anything to do with the disappearance. Reporter but when detective obrien heard about creechs scrapes, he immediately thought of gavin smiths wounds. He needed to talk to john creech again, and he found him in jail serving eight years on a cocaine charge. His second conviction for dealing drugs. Not exactly an upstanding citizen. But could they prove he murdered gavin smith . We went to him, didnt ask him any questions, just put a picture down in front of him of the shallow grave with the wrapped up body. How did he react to that . Very wide eyed, and the first phone call he made was to his attorney. Thats hardly a surprise . No. Reporter but other phone calls were surprising. Like the record of calls the detectives found in creechs cell phone from the night gavin vanished. John creech was on the phone a lot. He was calling multiple people very intensely. So like three or four or five calls to the same person over and over. Exactly. Reporter some of those calls were to creechs buddies from the powerhouse gym. We did a multilocation search warrant, and we hit everybody that we believed might have helped on that evening. We hit all those houses all at once. Reporter one by one, those buddies turned. They told detectives how a frantic creech showed up late that night. How he persuaded one friend to get rid of gavins cell phone. Got another friend to hide gavins car and body in his garage. And yet another told detectives she saw chandy and john creech burning their own clothes in the fireplace after gavin was killed. This was a strange case. Reporter prosecutor bobby grace. You dont normally find a body two years later after somebody is killed. You dont normally have key witnesses who dont come forward until years later. Reporter in january 2015, nearly three years after gavin smith disappeared, creech was charged with first degree murder. He pleaded not guilty. And chandy, well we didnt know if she set it up or if she had something to do with it. Reporter coming up, an undercover sting and chandys the target. I was like stop it i was like screaming my head off. And then he comes out of the car and he says then a stunning moment in the courtroom. I wanted to get away. I was scared. I was afraid of what i would see. When dark valley continues. So were making it easier than ever to become part of our family. Thats why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. The chevy price you pay is what we pay. Not a cent more. Family is important to us. And we want you to be part of ours. So happy holidays. And welcome to the family. All the chevy family get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. You have a brother in the second battalion . Theyre walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow mornings attack. If you fail, we will lose sixteen hundred men. If were not clever about this. No one will get to your brother. I will. Welcome back. Nearly three years after gavin smiths disappearance john creech was charged with his murder. Police ble believe john carried out the killing as revenge with the affair with his wife khanchan c. One person could give the truth to them directly. So they figured out a way to get it. Once again, heres Keith Morrison. Reporter detectives john obrien had a problem. An important witness who wouldnt talk, Chandrika Creech had clammed up. But theres more than one way to get a story. They found an associate of john creechs, someone who knew chandy. They convinced him to wear a wire and meet with her. It worked. Do you want the whole story . Yeah. Reporter once chandy felt safe, she spilled it. All of it. How she and gavin met in secret at that secluded culdesac, got close in gavins car. And then all of a sudden the door opened, and johnny just goes and i just like pushed myself out this way. Got out the drivers side. Reporter creech burst in like a machine, said chandy. Started slugging, wouldnt quit. And i was like, stop it, youre going to kill him i was like screaming my head off. And then he comes out of the car and hes like, youre next. And then i drove off. Reporter she was terrified, she said. Afraid hed kill her too or tell the cops she set the whole thing up. So did she . Again and again the detectives listened to the undercover tape. I believe 100 that she did not know that was going to happen, and she did not set it up. Reporter but, they wondered, did she help cover it up . Its a serious business, covering for a crime that awful. But chandy had a card to play. She agreed to testify. Members and alternate members of the jury. Reporter and in june 2017, john creech went on trial. On the face of it, it looked like a solid case. The phone evidence, the coverup, the truly appalling crime scene in gavins car. But did it add up to first degree murder . Gavin smith had been dead five years. He was killed in his mercedesbenz in an act of almost stunning brutality. By the defendant john creech whos sitting here in the courtroom. This became gavin smiths tomb. Reporter but what happened wasnt merely an outburst of rage, said prosecutor bobby grace. No, he said. Creech had been plotting for two years ever since he found out about chandy and gavin. After that day back in december 2010, when at their mothers request, gavins sons met with john creech at his house. We just wanted to make sure that my dad was not in harms way. Were you sobbing and crying . Yes. And what were you saying to the defendant . I was just begging him not to harm my family. Reporter but they testified creech told them that they did the right thing. He ended up saying that we saved his life by coming that day. You saw the statement reporter but there were rules. Thats what chandrika, now divorced from john creech, said when she finally took the witness stand. As long as their father stayed away from me and had no communication whatsoever, their father would be fine. Did he say what would happen if he did . That he would kill gavin smith. Reporter the affair ended. But, chandy said, the threat remained. He did not want me to see gavin ever. Reporter still, attraction is a powerful thing. Isnt it . Early in 2012, john and chandy were separated, but still living together. And gavin and lisa were separated, too. And that old magnetic force, gavin met chandy on that secluded road. Did the two of you become romantic . Yes. Did that include kissing . Yes. And while you were kissing gavin, did something happen that caught your attention . Yeah. What happened . Just Something Like popped up, like appeared. Was that something the defendant, john creech . Yes, yes. Reporter gavin didnt have a chance, she said. He repeatedly punched him in the face. Reporter so then she ran back to her car, terrified. I wanted to get away. I was scared. Reporter but before she drove away, she looked back. John had gavin pinned down. Reporter later, she said, creech wanted her to drive him back to the crime scene, help him take gavin to the hospital. A block and a half away, she refused to go closer and dropped creech off. Why didnt you take him all the way back to the scene . Because i was afraid of what i would see. Reporter gavin was dead by then. And the prosecutor told the jury creech wasnt going to any hospital. He was setting out to recruit help for his coverup. So the first person he calls is jorge valles. Reporter jorge valles was the first of a series of friends who told an incredible tale. Did you ask any of these people at central a question . What were you ultimately thinking . They all ultimately said that they were trying to help johnny. Because hes such a nice man. Because he was a nice guy. Reporter nice . When creech showed up at jorges house that night, he was driving gavins black mercedes, and jorge saw something in the passenger seat. It looked like a body. It was just stiff, like a stick, you know, a long stick. And you said it was wrapped up . Wrapped up in a blanket. Reporter eventually jorge got rid of gavins cell phone, but that very night, said the prosecutor, creech called a friend from the powerhouse gym, stan mcquay. He asked if he can come over and if he can park his car in my garage. Was the body still in it at that point . Yes. Reporter mcquay allows creech to keep the body and the car at his house for five to six days. Really . Yes. Reporter and thats when creech turned to reina lim, the nurse who lived with them and took care of chandys grandmother. Creech got reina to rent a van. And then he uses the van to drive up to the Angeles National forest, and he finds a secluded area to bury gavin smiths body. Reporter where buddy the dog later found it. But the mercedesbenz was still in stans garage. 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 reinas storage locker. Where, months later, detective labbe noticed one crucial little detail that survived the attempted coverup. I was looking at the license plate, and i see that its not there. There should be a california license plate. Its not youd kinda think. Its gone. And i also see that theres 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, chandys testimony, the friends, the dna, and it all condemned john creech. But a surprise was coming for everyone. Raise your right hand. Coming up i was scared for my life. A dramatic tale from the stand. He punched me, pulled me in by my sweater, put his hand on my throat, hes choking me by my by my sweater, put his hand on my throat, hes choking me by my throat who attacked who . And who would the jury believe . My skin was just crawling when dark valley continues. D. The excellence is reaching dreams and chasing them at the same time. Welcome back. A california jury heard the prosecuti prosecutions case against john creech, accused of killing gavin smith. They climb john fatally beat gavin as revenge for an affair for johns wife and presented a mound of evidence, but the defense was lying in wait, waiting to unleash a surprise. Testimony from the defendant himself. Heres Keith Morrison. How to defend a man like john creech. Well, said defense attorney irene nunez, it was all very simple. Creech never intended to kill gavin smith. This was was a case of selfdefense. He had to defend himself against this intruder, an intruder into his marriage. Reporter and, she said, only one person could tell that story. Who is the first witness that you want to call on behalf of the defense . My client john creech. Reporter his attorney began by asking him about that meeting with gavins sons. At any point did you tell them that you were going to kill their father . No, thats absurd. Reporter and two years later, when it all happened, he and chandy were separated, he said. Though they still lived in the same house, and he still worried about her, thought she might be drinking and driving. So he installed an app on his phone, he said, that allowed him to track her phone and followed her only because he was worried, he said. And then he saw her car parked near gavins and thought it best to talk to them, but he didnt sneak up on them, he said. So i knock on the hood of the car. Was chandy sitting on the lap of this guy . She was sitting on his lap. They just kept talking, so i walked over to the passenger side door, and i knocked on the window. What did they do . Chandy opened the door. And what did she say to you . What the [ bleep ] are you doing here . Reporter he started to argue with chandy, he said, and then gavin joined in. I walked around the door, and im leaning down to tell him to mind his own business. As im leaning down to tell him that is when he leaned up and punched me. He punched me. Pulled me in by my sweater. Put his hand up on my throat. Hes choking me in my throat. Reporter it was gavin who threw that first punch, he said. So, of course, he fought back. Do you recall how many times you hit him . Four, five. And when you were doing that, what were you thinking . Im just thinking how in the [ bleep ] that i get in this situation. You know, i was scared for my life. Reporter and then gavin then got out of the mercedes, said creech. And there was something in his hand. It was like a ten to twelveinch stainless steel thing that at the time i thought was a knife. We fell in the ground, and we went at it for about ten or fifteen seconds exchanging punches. At some point did you get that weapon . I kept punching him until he let go of it. Okay. And whatd you do with the weapon . I threw it over the back wall of my property. Reporter such a weapon was never recovered, by the way. But creech insisted there was one, a multipurpose tool of some kind, and it was gavin who provoked the fight. I was defending my life. I didnt go there looking for a fight. I was just defending mine. I think he lied about everything that he said. Reporter on crossexamination, the prosecutor went straight for that socalled multipurpose tool. So tell us why in the world would you get rid of this weapon that gavin smith had used to attack you with . Why would you get rid of it . Well, i didnt get rid of it. I threw it behind my house where i knew it would be all right. Why would you do that, sir . Why wouldnt you just leave it where it was . Well, i can play armchair quarterback all day about things, but at the time it seemed like the right decision. Reporter creech admitted he made some wrong decisions too. Like asking friends to help him dispose of gavins phone and car and body. I take full accountability for everything after fact. If i could change it, i would. Sir, actually you never took full accountability because you never came forward to the police, did you . Not on advice of counsel, no, and i still take accountability for that. Reporter lisa smith was in the courtroom to hear creechs testimony. My skin was just crawling. It was really hard. It was really hard. Hes a cruel man. Reporter jury deliberations stretched across two days. Then, the verdict. We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant john creech not guilty of the crime of first degree murder of gavin smith. Reporter not guilty of first degree murder but the jury wasnt done. Guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter. Reporter the verdict, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. In other words, they believed john creech killed gavin smith in a moment of blind passion. I was devastated by the verdict. I am still devastated by the verdict because he did absolutely plan on murdering my husband and thought about it for years and did it. Reporter what about creechs friends jorge and stan, who helped creech cover up the killing . They both had significant criminal liability. So why werent they charged . Because we needed them to be able to tell the story about how this man was killed and what happened to him. Reporter so they both got immunity. Same thing with chandrika, who helped burn bloody clothing and never called the police. It seems to me that everybody got deals and everybody got off. And that gavin was a victim long after he was murdered, and so were we. Reporter john creech is sentenced to the mx maam for manslaughter, 11 years in prison. The d. A. In detroit, michigan, indicted mr. Creech on federal Drug Trafficking charges. If convicted, his exposure is anywhere from 5 to 40 years in prison. In june 2019, creech was found guilty. He was given ten years, ten months, a sentence he will serve concurrently with his time for manslaughter in the california state prison, and lisa smith has done her best to restart life. She and the boys are in hawaii now, far from the wreckage of the california life that never was quite as perfect as it looked. Painful to remain there. So starting fresh. This is our sanctuary. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. Ashlea was a wild and funny texan who everyone seemed to love. Caring, loving, compassionate. Why did she have this strange premonition . She always felt like she was going to die young. The call came on black friday. She said ashleas apartment is on fire. When the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. This was no accident. They had conducted surveillance add her apartment. They go back to the place where she worked . Yes, sir, they were going after tens of thousands of dollars. Sdwr was money the only oative or was there Something Else . There were a lot of rumors going around that ended up being true. Couldnt believe someone could do that to her. Pure evil. Black friday. Hello, and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Life was going well for Ashlea Harris. Add her job, she was thriving, and her personal life was filled with friends, fun, and romance. When ashleas body was found in the charred wreckage of an apartment fire, the loss was devastating. Investigators believe the blaze was not an accident. It would take a determined detective to find the key that would unlock this mystery of what happened to ashlea. Heres Keith Morrison. A hot august night in texas, 2014. The lone figure knew where to go, know where the store kept the cash, grabbed 18,000. And was gone. But it was only money. And no one got hurt. Not that time. Anyway. The story begins here in ft. Worth, texas, which turned out to be the perfect growing up place for a rough and tumble free spirit named ashle harris. I was around 10 when she was born, so perfect age to pretend she was my baby. Melissa is ashleas eldest sister. She marched to the beat of a different drum. She would wear just things that did not match. Her hair was just didnt seem combs. She was never the Little Princess type. No, no. There were three girls in the family. Ashlea was the baby. Their mom, monica, remembers how she loved sports and music and art. And bingo. It was our mom and daughter bonding time. She just would get all giddy and excited. By the time she got to high school, ashlea had lots of friends. Even a boyfriend. And she was devoted to her two dads. Her father tommy and her stepfather chuck. Both retired police officers. Didnt she talk at one point about getting into your line of work . She was interested in policing. I think that she took a unique interest in it. After high school, she ended up working for a short time at blockbuster video. Thats where she met a customer named laura love. And i walked around the store for a little bit. And kept looking at her because shes so beautiful. Laura wanted to meet the girl behind the counter. They became friends. And then something more. We hung out for a few months, for like eight months before it ever really got there. By that, she means she and ashlea fell in love. It was a lot of growing up. She had to work through her feelings. Being gay isnt necessarily an easy thing, and it definitely wasnt easy 14, 15 years ago. Oh, no, it wasnt. Was there a coming out period during which she i believe it was 2004. She come over to the house. And she goes, mama, i got something to tell you. And chuck, i just want you to know, i was gay. And i said, well, ashlea, i already knew it. But you need to give me some space. I need some time. So monica took some time. Prayed about it. Came to this conclusion i cant imagine god giving me this child and living with her and raising her, that he would want me to stop loving her. Wouldnt make any sense at all. Yet, for a long while, monica wasnt comfortable with ashleas new relationship. Laura said she and ashlea were good together. She was always very giving and very what else can i do for you to make you happy. The romance losted more than three years, and then it was over. And they remained friends. And laura remembers how happy ashlea was when she started working at American Eagle outfitters at the mall in ft. Worth. Ashlea loved it. She was an assistant manager and good at it said her boss chris cravy. Just her personal, caring, loving, compassionate. She just loved life. Yeah. And she loved taking videos of her life, lots of them at work. Im extremely tired. And this right here is not even helping. Look at my eyes. Horrible. She had this laugh. It was so infectious. They werent all like that, however. Employee Lindsey Greene said another assistant manager, carter, was very different from ashlea. Taught me how to love myself to a point. Carter just taught me workrelated things. Not a jokester. Right. But ashlea, polar opposite, and popular. Im so hood. So work was going well. Her love life, not so much. And then one night, ashea went out with friends and April Moffitt was there. I was their waitress, and she was having a bad night. And i was trying to pull her out of her shell. She wasnt having it. So i just, fine. April gave up on her grumpy customer. Until months later they connected on social media. They met for a dog walk. Ashlea brought her dog. April brought cooper. And everyone clicked. What was it like when you first started going out with her . She has a magnetic, like, force to her. Like its hard to not instantly love her. So by the summer of 2014, life was good for ashlea. Her social life, her job, though she did hit a bump of sorts in august when someone stole 18,000 from the store safe. It was ashlea who realized theth theft had occurred and reported it to you. Correct. She even helped id the suspect. With her interest in police work, she thought she might have a calling here. She wanted to go on to Loss Prevention and work for our home office at American Eagle. She was 31. She had all kinds of plans. But on the morning after thanksgiving, black friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, chris phone rang at home. It was our other assistant manager. And chris, ashleas apartment is on fire and we cant get her on the phone. I threw clothes on as fast as i could get, started driving to ft. Worth and following the smoke trail and sirens. Coming up, no one would have guessed where that trail would eventually lead. We were asking if we could talk to ashlea or where she was at. They said shes unavailable now. And ash leas friends werent the only ones with questions. Police swur shuffling us into the office. Lenge. We are solving problems that improve lives. Male anchor . An update on the cat who captured our hearts. Female anchor how often should you clean your fridge . Stay tuned to find out. Male anchor beats the odds at the box office to become a rare nonfranchise hit. You can give help and hope to those in need. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Reporter it was the morning after thanksgiving, black friday. Laura love had only one thing on her mind. Black friday was my favorite day of the year. Im i loved to shop and save money. Reporter but lauras black friday was about to turn very dark, indeed. I got a call from a friend of ours, and she said, ashleas apartments on fire. Reporter ashleas friends arrived at her apartment parking lot to Something Like chaos. There was multiple police cars. Crime scene was there. Reporter ft. Worth detective Jerry Cedillo and his partner ernie pate sped over there, too. There was a crowd that was startin to gather. And next thing you know, we have about 40 to 50 friends and family and coworkers. And then we had residents that were just, you know, lookin from balconies, so we had quite a crowd out here. Reporter by now, firefighters had squelched the flames, and the detectives walked up the steps to ashleas door. When you went into that apartment, what was that like . It was um it was very disturbing. Reporter a womans lifeless body was lying face down on the bedroom floor. We waited until she was turned over and we got a good look at her face. And she was also identified by some of the tattoos. Reporter and then they knew. The victim had her name tatooed on her rib cage, Ashlea Harris. Outside ashleas friends were totally in the dark. We were asking, um, if we could talk to ashlea or where she was at, they just said that shes unavailable right now. Reporter ashleas boss, chris cravey had just arrived and was trying to get some answers. For a couple hours, we just assumed that she was being taken care of. Reporter and while they waited for information, investigators were realizing this was no accident. It was obvious that she had been beaten due to the amount of blood that we found. And then we observed that her arms were bound behind her back, and her ankles were also bound. Reporter it looked, said the detectives, like ashlea had been fighting back against a truly vicious attack. She had been beaten and possibly tortured. We later discovered that her neck had been slit. Reporter not only that, the fire looked suspicious, so veteran arson investigator, wallace hood, was called to the scene. I noticed that there was fire damage on the bed, and i also noticed that there was some fire damage to the victim. And i also saw what looked like a bottle of alcohol. Fire damage actually on the victim. So, like, somebody set fire to her . There was some it looked like there was some burn marks on her. What did you ultimately determine about the fire and how it got started . There were several points of origin, and thats an indicator of an intentionally set fire. Sure. So somebody took that rubbing alcohol, poured it here, poured it over there, poured it here . Yes, sir. Reporter chris cravey, standing in the crowd outside watched his worst fears roll up in front of ashleas apartment. I think it hit me like a sack a bricks once i saw them start taping it off for a crime scene. And when the coroner pulled up, my heart broke. I lost it. Reporter and then the detectives, looking very stern, came outside to ask some pointed questions. Did someone know something, see something . At that point they start the police start shuffling us into the office. And they tell us that even if we try to leave we could be arrested. I mean, that told you something very bad happened in there . Yeah. Reporter one person not in the crowd that morning was ashleas girlfriend, april moffit. About 1 00 p. M. April got a text from one of ashleas neighbors. Hey, have you checked on your girl . There was a fire in her apartment. And immediately i thought nala, ashleas dog. Reporter april assumed ashlea wasnt at home. And i was like, holy crap. Reporter and then she got a message from another friend saying simply, call me. And i called her and i said, where is ash like where is ashlea . Where is nala . And she was like, nalas fine. And i was like, well, where is ashlea, and she was like, ashleas gone. And it didnt register. Yeah. Like gone, what do you mean gone . Yeah. And then i said, well, is ashlea okay . And she said, no, april. Shes dead. And i was sitting on my bed and i i threw my phone on the ground like thats not real. Reporter when reality settled in, april and all of ashleas family and friends. Even the police had to wonder who would do such a thing to such a good, sweet, person . Ashlea harris had no enemies, did she . Was someone stalking Ashlea Harris . Coming up. What did you see . I saw a vehicle parked there i had never seen before. Someone else had seen it before. I said i know whose car youre asking about. When black friday continues. Fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . And i approve this message. Climate is the number one priority. I would declare a state of emergency on day one. Congress has never passed an important climate bill, ever. This is a problem which continues to get worse. Ive spent a decade fighting and beating oil companies, stopping pipelines, stopping fossil fuel plants, ensuring clean energy across the country. How are we going to pull this country together . We take on the biggest challenge in history, we save the world and we do it together. Welcome back. Investigators immediately suspected the fire that raged through ashleas apartment was arson. But who would want her dead . Enter one eagleeyed excop who tipped police to something he saw the morning of the fire. Little did they know just how helpful his information would turn out to be, and as the crowd just beyond the police tape continued to swell, word was now spreading to ashleas family. Once again, heres Keith Morrison. Reporter ashleas mother and stepfather were out of town when the news began arriving in awful, jagged bits. First they heard about the fire, and monica prayed ashlea wasnt hurt. Then ashleas father, tommy harris, called. I saw chuck gettin off the phone. And i saw him wipin his tears. And i knew that my prayer wasnt answered. Reporter chuck couldnt reach ashleas sister, so he left a message. And not two minutes later, my husband called me. And he said, where are you . I need to come to you. And i said, what is wrong with my mom . What happened to my mom . And he said, its not your mom. Its ashlea. And it just comes like a blow. Reporter back in ft. Worth, police were still rounding up people gathered outside ashleas apartment. Not among them was april. April, in fact, hadnt seen ashlea for a few days. Their romance had hit a bit of a bump. That night we we talked briefly about me coming over after i got off work. But then i went home. Reporter but someone else was there. Her name was alexis torres. Alexis torres was the last person to see ashlea alive, and was the actual last person to leave her apartment. Reporter that is certainly somebody youd wanna talk to. Obviously. Yes, sir. Reporter alexis said she and ashlea had gone to an early thanksgiving dinner with friends in ashleas complex. So you had thanksgiving dinner, and that was i think it was from 12 . Reporter sure. And then hung around for the afternoon . Yes. Reporter but ashlea had to work that night. Ashleas shift was supposed to be from 7 00 p. M. Until 3 00 a. M. And alexis agreed to come over during the time she was working to basically take care of ashleas dog. Reporter then alexis told the police and later us that she went back one more time after ashlea got home from work. How long did you stay . I stayed for an hour. Reporter that would make it 4 00 a. M. If alexis was telling the truth, the police had the beginning of a timeline. But before they could check her story or anyone elses for that matter, a neighbor gave them even more to work with. An excop named steve lee had noticed something about 6 30 that morning. So youre out here on on the deck having a cigarette. What did you see . Saw a vehicle parked there that id never seen before. Reporter what was that vehicle . It was a black, older infiniti sedan. Reporter to the observant excop that seemed worth noting. Did it stay there for a long time . It was there when i left for work at about 7 40. Reporter detectives also talked to a neighbor who lived directly below ashlea. He had heard noises, heavy breathing coming from ashleas apartment just before 8 00 a. M. A few minutes later the fire alarm started goin off. Water started comin down into his apartment. Reporter and thats when the neighbor saw a black infiniti g35 driving away. Armed with this new information, cedillo went back to alexis torres. I asked her if she knew anyone or if ashlea knew anyone that drove a infiniti g35. I never gave her a color. I simply asked her about a g35. Alexis said, no. After he was done asking the questions, i walked outside and sat down on the brick. And i believe it was chris that was there. Reporter that would be chris cravey, ashleas boss at American Eagle. Alexis told him that police were asking about an infiniti sedan. And chris made a beeline for detective cedillo. I approached him. And i said, i know whose car yall are asking about. And he says, i just wanna make you aware that i have a former employee that did drive a infiniti g35. Reporter her name, he said, was carter. Carter cervantez, that businesslike assistant manager who worked with ashlea so then i ask him, you know, what color is the g35 that she drove . And he mentions that its a black one. Reporter what was that like, to hear that . Well, it beats hearing the color red or white. Reporter and, by the way, chris told detective cedillo, carter left American Eagle because she was fired. Cedillo filed that away and sorted through the crime scene and talked to witnesses. And a day that began at 8 30 that morning didnt end until 1 00 am. Did you get any sleep . No, sir, i didnt. Reporter the story about Carter Cervantez and her black infiniti was just bugging him. Well, im thinkin about the case and im thinking, where do i go from here . Reporter might have tossed and turned all night thinking about that. But something inside him said, nope. Im not gonna be able to get any sleep. I might as well go back out there and see what i can find. Reporter wouldnt be his first wild goose chase. He had carters address. So, wee hours of saturday morning, he drove over there and what do you know . I saw a black infiniti backed in, right in front of their apartment. Reporter but he didnt knock on her door. I was going to go ahead and basically sit here and watch the vehicle to see if it moved. Reporter for more than four hours, he sat in his car, cold but patient. Then about 8 00 a. M. Saturday morning, he saw the lights of the infiniti flash as if someone was unlocking it remotely. I see the male enter the drivers seat of the vehicle. I then see a female enter the passenger side of the black infiniti. Reporter they drove off. The detective followed. And after a few minutes the infiniti pulled into, of all places, the hulen mall. There they are. Theyre going back to the place where ashlea worked, where the American Eagle was. Yes, sir. Reporter but what would they be doing there . Well, that was the that was the Million Dollar question. Reporter coming up i ask him, what are you doing here at the mall . He said that he had dropped his girlfriend off to pick up some papers. Routine errand or Something Else . You didnt see her at all in there . No, sir. Did anybody see her . No, sir. When black friday continues. M building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband for massive capacity and ultrafast speeds. Almost 2 gigs here in minneapolis. Thats 25 times faster than todays network in new york city. So people from midtown manhattan to downtown denver can experience what our 5g can deliver. woman and if verizon 5g can deliver performance like this in these places. Its pretty crazy. Just imagine what it can do for you. You sureyes. Ut this . [ suspensful music playing ] no we need to keep moving. The whole things coming down. Come on i cant see. I cant see you need to trust me. Jump some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Im Ayman Mohyeldin with the hours top stories. President trump took time from his holiday to talk about impeachment. He accused nancy pelosi of hating the entire Republican Party. Britains queen is expected to acknowledge a bumpy year. Noticeably absence, prince harry, meghan markle, and prince andrew. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. After a sleepless night, detective Jerry Cedillo was hot on the trail of a promising lead. It had been less than 24 hours and he had a hunch. Rather than continue to toss and turn in bed, he decided to follow his gut. Now the detective was following a black infintig35 and it would take him somewhere very interesting. Here again is Keith Morrison. Reporter on the saturday morning after black friday, 2014, homicide detective Jerry Cedillo followed a black infiniti into the parking lot of the hulen mall. He watched as the passenger, a woman dressed in darkish clothes, headed inside. She fit the description hed been given of 25yearold Carter Cervantez, a former coworker of Ashlea Harris. The male driver stayed in the car. Cedillo called his partner, ernie pate asked him to check up on the guy. When i approached the car, then the person identified themself as David Mallory. Reporter David Mallory was carters livein boyfriend. He too was a former employee of American Eagle. I ask him, what are you doing here at the mall . He said that he had dropped his girlfriend off to pick up some papers at aeropostale where she was a manager. Reporter so perhaps it was just that. David giving carter a ride to pick up some paperwork at her new job at aeropostale. Cedillo decided to go inside. The mall was open but the stores were still closed. And i happened to go up to aeropostale and there is a manager thats actually in there working. And i was able to confirm that Carter Cervantez did not work for him and he doesnt even know who she is. Well, so much for that story. Yes, sir. Reporter cedillo turned his attention to finding Carter Cervantez. No luck. You didnt see her at all in there . No, sir. Reporter did anybody see her . No, sir. Reporter so, cedillo had a disgruntled employee coming back to the mall where shed been fired. Her boyfriend was telling lies about a job she didnt have, and a car that looked like hers had been spotted at the scene of a murder. Detective pate still had David Mallory out in the parking lot and was looking for a reason to hold him. He said that he had a drivers license. But he didnt have his drivers license with him. Reporter reason enough. He arrested mallory and brought him in for questioning. But carter . Seemed to have vanished. Wasnt anywhere in the mall. But then police went to her apartment complex, and there she was. Where was she in the apartment complex . Well, she initially was in the in the laundry room. Reporter calm as you please, she agreed to answer questions without a lawyer down at the station. Do you go by carter or carol . Carter. Reporter somehow shed switched her dark clothes for bright pink scrubs. So how did you end up in ft. Worth . I had a job opportunity with American Eagle outfitters. Reporter ah, yes, carters American Eagle connection, detective cedillo had already heard a thing or two about that. Carter had worked in the ft, worth store for about four months and was businesslike. But, unlike ashlea, she wasnt a very friendly assistant manager. She did, however, make an impression on some younger clerks like liza schoenthal. Carter was very smart. Very deep. She was good at reading people and knowing how to converse with them. You could tell that she was well educated. Just had a lot more to her than most sales retail managers do. Reporter but detective cedillo knew Something Else about carter and David Mallory. Something very important. Reporter remember that burglary at American Eagle three months earlier . Carter and David Mallory were the primary suspects. And Ashlea Harris was the one who discovered the money missing. And when ashlea came in to open the store, she found the safe open. Reporter ashlea knew that it was carter who closed the night before. And when she showed her boss the security video view of the burglary. She pointed at the monitor and she said, thats David Mallory. And i said, whos David Mallory . And they said, its carters boyfriend. Reporter the math was easy, ashlea figured carter set up the burglary and david carried it out. Carter got fired. David sort of disappeared. And both heard that it was ashlea who identified them. They hadnt been charged. Not yet but the case was basically actively being investigated when this happened. Reporter and now three months later, here was carter talking to the police who were growing suspicious that she and her boyfriend were connected to ashleas murder. Why am i here . Reporter cedillo started off easy. So were you raised in amarillo or just no. Im originally from lubbock. Is your family still here . Yes. Mom and dad, brothers and sisters . I dont have any brothers but i do have two sisters. And they all still live in lubbock. Have you seen mom and dad in a while . No. I talk to them every day on text message and snapchat, but i havent been home. Reporter more friendly questions. Where did you go to school . West texas a m university. Reporter cedillo asked about thanksgiving. Small talk. Whatd you make . I made turkey, and there was stuffing and mashed potatoes. And green bean casserole and this cabbage bacon salad that my mom really likes to make, but i dont think david liked it very much. Reporter except this wasnt really small talk. Detective cedillo was paying close attention. Alright. So lets start with this morning. Okay. All right. This morning. Okay, what time did you get up . About 7 30. 7 45. Okay and then what happened then . And then we talked and i went back to sleep. When i woke up he wasnt there. Okay. Reporter hed heard enough. I know thats a lie. No, its no, its not. Do you know why i know its a lie . Why do you know its a lie . Because i saw you come out of your apartment and get in the passenger seat of that car and i saw him drive out of there. Thats why i know its a lie. Reporter cedillo was tough. But Carter Cervantez wasnt giving an inch. Announcer coming up, if carters lies werent reason enough for suspicion, this was. She starts wiping down the bottle. She was afraid that we were gonna obtain her dna. Reporter and what was this all about . And who was it for . There was an actual human grave thats been dug. Fresh grave. Fresh grave. When black friday continues. Welcome back. Detective Jerry Cedillo was growing suspicious carter was involved in killing her former coworker. While questioning her, the detective had caught carter in a boldfaced lie. Why was carter so defiant, insisting police had it all wrong . A security video was about to clear things up, and reveal a potential motive. Here again is Keith Morrison. Reporter it was late saturday morning, the day after black friday. 25yearold Carter Cervantez was talking to detectives and lying though her teeth. I know what i did this morning. I know where i was. I know where i went. Reporter detective cedillo certainly knew where she went the hulen mall. But she kept insisting shed been at home all morning. Youre about to make the biggest mistake of your life. Do you understand me . Reporter and she still wouldnt confess to it . She wouldnt budge. I got up, i went and put the laundry in, and i went and checked my email. Thats all. You found me in my apartment complex. Reporter then when the detectives stepped out of the room, she did Something Interesting maybe incriminating. She took a drink, puts the bottle down. She picks it up again and before she can take the second drink, she stops midair, spills water on herself. Puts the bottle down and just stares at it for about 10 to 15 seconds. She then reaches over and grabs a tissue from the table and starts wipin down the bottle and then wipes down the mouthpiece. Reporter what did that say to you . Well, that she was afraid that we were gonna obtain her dna from the bottle. Reporter after that police let her go. David mallory, too. But detectives had a theory cooking that carter and david killed ashlea, out of revenge for being fired for the burglary. But they also wanted ashleas keys to the American Eagle. Because they were planning to rob the store again. Those keys were the only thing missing from the murder scene. And when store manager chris cravey looked at his Surveillance Video from earlier that morning, he told police what they wanted to hear. Reporter describe what you saw on the videotape. Somebody dressed in dark clothes with their face wrapped walk right up to the store and try to get in with keys. Reporter that, he said, was carter trying to pull off another, bigger burglary. Police just knew one day after killing ashlea and taking her keys, carter was trying to break into American Eagle where this time, tens of thousands of dollars the black friday profits were in the safe. But the key didnt fit, because after ashlea was murdered, chris cravey changed the locks. I wasnt gonna take any chance on whether it be a deposit or them harming somebody else in the store. We needed to lock them out. Reporter the detectives pulled the Surveillance Video, and look at this carter, slipping away from the mall, having already changed from her sweat clothes into pink scrubs. Had to be trying to fool potential trackers, they thought. This was after she would have spotted police talking to david in the parking lot. Then she walked all the way home. Over the next few days, police got a warrant for carter and davids cell phones. That camera app, so useful. Well, we learned that they had conducted surveillance at ashleas apartment weeks before that. They had a picture of her apartment. Her actual door to her apartment, and they had pictures of her vehicle, the white dodge ram pickup. Reporter in early december, 2014, Carter Cervantez and David Mallory were arrested and charged with the murder of Ashlea Harris. Cold comfort for ashleas sister. Its just such a loss and its so pointless. I just dont understand how people could do that. Reporter they were tried separately, but the cases against them were virtually identical. Assistant d. A. Kevin rousseau led the prosecution. On states exhibit 1 reporter ashlea deenor assisted. From the witness stand detective cedillo helped lay out the case. Were you able to conduct a search of her apartment and her vehicle, things like that . Yes, sir. And did you find a receipt that proved to be helpful . Thats correct. Reporter a sales receipt showed some odd purchases on carters credit card. She had purchased two shovels. She had purchased a tarp. She had purchased gloves. Reporter why was that significant . Because of a discovery way out in the texas scrub. A discovery worthy of a horror movie. And the key to finding it was right there on carter and davids cell phones. They would text each other longitude and latitude coordinates, and it led us to a remote area near abilene. Reporter what was there . As soon as we got to where the spot says, youre there, we look up and theres an actual human grave thats been dug. Reporter fresh grave . Fresh grave. Reporter prosecutors believe the original plan was to kidnap ashlea, kill her, and put her body in that grave. She was killed in her apartment, the prosecutors thought, because she fought so hard. What is that . This is a glock 19 semiautomatic pistol. Reporter in fact, investigators believe Ashlea Harris was pistol whipped. So when this glock 19 was found in the black infiniti, prosecutor deener had it tested. The results were both sad and conclusive. It came back positive with ashleas dna on the gun, so that was very significant. There was blood adjacent to her bed. And blood splattered on the bed. This was not an easy death. Reporter hearing all this was so hard on ashleas mother monica and loved ones like april. I thought i could handle it. Huhuh, nope. So i went out and i went back into the room where monica was. And she was consoling me. And she shouldnt be consoling me. Reporter the brutality of the murder was never far from the prosecutors minds. I think i just thought how painful and how awful the last few minutes of her life wouldve been on this earth reporter how terrifying. And absolutely terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Reporter even that, they said even that appeared to be part of the plan. This wasnt just about robbery, or even revenge, said prosecutor rousseau. It was discussions that Carter Cervantez had had with people where she expressed certain i guess you would call them fantasies involving killing people. Reporter liza schoenthal remembers one such discussion at work. It was just us. And we were folding clothes, and she mentioned that she had thought about killing someone before and whether or not she could watch them die. Reporter as if the murder wasnt shocking enough, prosecutors were pretty sure ashleas murder was a thrill kill planned by a sadistic young woman who thought she was smarter than everyone else. But tiny, meek, Carter Cervantez admitted none of that. She still had a plan, concocted all by herself, to explain why she, too, was a victim. Coming up, a vicious killer . Reporter you wanted to see the Death Penalty . Death penalty was what i wanted. Announcer or a young woman forced into a life of crime . Were you in pain . Yes. I was screaming. When black friday continues. Tmobile 5g goes miles. Beyond the big cities to the small towns. To the people. Now, millions of americans can have access to 5g on tmobile. And this is just the beginning. Tmobile, the first and only nationwide 5g network. Male anchor . An update on the cat who captured our hearts. Female anchor how often should you clean your fridge . Stay tuned to find out. Male anchor beats the odds at the box office to become a rare nonfranchise hit. You can give help and hope to those in need. A president who abuses power. And obstructs justice. The impeachment of donald j. Trump. He was supposed to protect our constitution. Not trample on it by asking Foreign Countries to undermine our democracy for his personal political gain. Trump broke his oath to america. Members of the house and senate must now do their constitutional duty. If you agree, sign our petition at need to impeach. Com need to impeach is responsible for the content of this advertising. Looking around here i see tablets, laptops, printers, smartphones. Theyre all connected to the internet. Theyre all connected. Can your network handle all those devices . Sometimes. Comcast business runs on the nations largest gigspeed network. So you can get the bandwidth you need to power all of your devices at peak performance. If all of my devices could have that kind of speed, i would be dancing get started with secure 35megabit internet and one voice line for just 64. 90 per month. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Welcome back. Prosecutors had presented their evidence against Carter Cervantes for the murder of Ashlea Harris. There was the surveillance carter and her boyfriend conducted on ashleas apartment, a purchase of a tarp and shovels before the killing and ashleas dna found in carters infiniti. Carter would take the stand to tell her side of the story and she was about to point the finger in an unexpected direction. Now with the conclusion of our story, here is Keith Morrison. Reporter when people talk about the trial of Carter Cervantes this is what they remember. State your name for the record, please. My name is carter carol cervantes. Reporter Carter Cervantes took the stand. Gone was that criminal mastermind. Here sat a helpless victim. She gets up on the stand and it was insane. Reporter carter said it was all her boyfriend, David Mallory, controlling every aspect of her life. I was very afraid of david. How frayed of him were you . I thought he was going to kill she. Reporter this is where carters defense truly began. She told the jury she was a woman enslaved by her sadistic lover. He was telling me what to drink, what to eat. And he made me have sex with him and in the movie theater. Reporter and he had that gun, the glock, she said, used it like a threat, and it scared her. I did not feel comfortable with that weapon. Reporter she told the jury she was asleep at home when ashlea was being murdered. She didnt know where david had gone but he wound up with a set of American Eagle keys. He gave me some gloves, told me to put them on and he handed me a pair, a set of American Eagle keys and he said go in and open the gate and bring me that. Reporter then she said he pulled out the glock. And he just pointed it at me. Pointed it at you . Yes, across his body. I shook my head that i wasnt going to do it. And he said you dont understand. There is somebody sitting outside your parents house right now. If you dont go in i am going to kill them and im going to kill are you i so thats why she tried to rob the store. A couple hours before she showed up on the security video. David made it very clear how far he would go to make sure, absolutely sure, that she would do what he demanded. Somebody pushed me down right when i got into the apartment. Reporter during the night, before the breakin attempt, she said, david brought strange men into their apartment. She heard an angry voice above her. He said, ill make her follow directions. Reporter and then her story got even more harrowing. And took off my sweatpants, pulled them down to my ankles and then they raped me. Reporter raped twice, she said, sobbing, by two different men. Were you in pain . Yes. I was screaming. Reporter prosecutors, kevin roussou and ashlea diener, seemed to taken aback as the rest of the courtroom. I know what i think. This is not true. Reporter and they needed to regroup fast. This is the biggest lie she has ever told. We know that. You never know what the jury is thinking. Reporter carter had an explanation for just about everything, even that moment during her interrogation when she wiped the bottle. She wasnt wiping off her dna. No. She said the smell from the bottle reminded her of being raped. And i was telling myself, its just water. Its just water. Its not them. But i could still smell it. She said she suddenly was over come with the smell of semen in the air and it had something to do with drinking out of this bottle of water. I thought that took some work. That is one heck of a lie. It was at that point that i put my pen down and said, i am not writing this. I am not going to write this down. Reporter his voice dripping with sarcasm, prosecutor roussou took her story apart. He showed the jury a picture. Is that the gun that you are talking about that you were uncomfortable with being in your apartment . Yes. Thats the one laying beside you while you are having Morning Coffee . Yes. Reporter then he drove down into the heart of carters story. Just who were those mysterious rapists . They all spoke in a way that i would describe as ghetto. So in your mind these are black people, black men . No, sir, i did not say that. Reporter but, said the prosecutor, thats exactly what she was suggesting. If she was playing that card, i was going to make her spell it out. Is ebonic a term that is commonly associated with africanamericans in this country . I dont know where its commonly associated. I associate it with a certain type of speech that i associate with the word ghetto. Reporter if she was hoping to play to some random jurors random bias, she guessed wrong. The jurors didnt believe it. They found her guilty in less than two hours. As for David Mallory his attorneys argued he had nothing to do with the murder. He was involved with carter, yes, but not with any killing. The jury didnt buy that either. Rendering a guilty verdict in no time at all. The verdicts were some consolation for those who loved Ashlea Harris. I so miss her. She saw the best in everybody, even when you couldnt see it, she could see it. She had such a billing heart. And this world is worse off. Reporter both David Mallory and Carter Cervantes received mandatory sentences of life in prison with no possibility of parole. It wasnt enough for ashleas mom and stepdad. You wanted to see the Death Penalty . Death penalty is what i wanted. Its what monica wanted. But it wasnt to be. Reporter and now they claim the memories of their ashlea. Tell me about the last time you saw your daughter. Physically in person. It was november. Reporter about a week before she died, ashlea had invited monica to play bingo. Monica was busy, almost said no, but something told her to stop what she was doing and go. And, oh, is she glad she did. And i walk into the bingo hall and, oh my god, there sat that litle girl of mine. And i smile at her and i walk over and kiss the side of her neck and i tell her how much i love her. Reporter you remember every syllable, every moment of that day, dont you . Yes. Reporter these days monica is making new memories at the bingo parlor. Remember how skittish she was around ashleas girlfriend at first . No longer. Now they are family. When monica and i go get our nails done, they always say, oh, your daughter is so pretty. She never corrects them. As far as she is concerned, she gained several daughters. Reporter and when they are all together, ashlea is there, too. Thats all for dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. I got a phone call. Somethings wrong with brandy, she is not moving and the car is running. Emergency vehicles, officers, and thats as far as i could go. There is my baby and i cant do nothing about it. Announcer she was a hard working young wife and mom. Sweetest girl you could ever ask to meet. Announcer minutes from home when she saw the headlights. Somebody was tailing her. My sister is in her driveway. Reporter you bury your litle girl and then its a Murder Investigation . Yep. Reporter there were two people brandy feared. One in town. She thought she was being followed. Announcer one thousands of miles away. Josh was still in alaska. Announcer and then there was the new man in her life. Anybody close to brandy we needed to take a hard serious look at. Announcer no fingerprints, no dna, and no arrests for years. You are grieving. How do you put that awful time together . Day by day. Announcer then hints emerge of someones dark past. You have robberies going on, a homicide. Announcer and one brave woman willing to talk. She told me the same thing happened. Announcer the question wasnt just who murdered a young mother. It was why. There was no money. There just wasnt a reason to do it. She didnt hurt nobody. Why did they have to kill her . Announcer out there in the dark. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. 25yearold brandy daniels had just left work and was driving on an isolated road when she got the eerie feeling that someone was following her or could she have been imagining things . Sadly, brandys hunch proved to be right. She was found slumped over in her car, shot dead before she made it home. But why would anyone want to kill the young mother . Investigators spent years trying to answer that question, searching for a motive and the killer. Here is Dennis Murphy. Reporter it was a chillier than usual monday night in may 2014 as brandy daniels drove home from her shift at kohls. Zanesville in eastern ohio is the not too big, not too small city where you can be off the downtown grid and into wooded Rolling Hills in just a few minutes. And out there in the dark, thats where this 25yearold single mom was heading, back home to her daughter waiting to be tucked in at brandys moms house out in the country where she had been living lately. Brandy had been through a rough few months. Years, really. One of the reasons things were finally turning around was that soothing voice on the cellphone this night. Her fiance talking her home. I am just talking to her as she is driving home, trying to drive a stick shift, talking on the phone. Reporter the fiance is craig barry, her older boyfriend. I am a hairstylist. Have been for years. Reporter one day brandy walked into craigs salon. We hit it off. Reporter women are funny about who they will turn their head over to . We turned out to be good friends. Most beautiful eyes. Reporter like the song, brandy turned out to be a fine girl for craig and that right away mutual attraction grew into something more serious. Thats my heart immediately. It was connection like i have never felt. It kept getting bigger and bigger every time we talked. We were lacking at houses. Reporter you were fixing to marry . Oh, yeah. Reporter mollie edwards, brandys mom, thrilled at the arrival of craig in her life. Just when you needed something nice to happen. Craig, what did you think of him . He was really nice. He put her first. He put her first. Reporter growing up, brandy wasnt much for barbie dolls, but give her a sketch pad and pencil and she was lost for hours. She loved to draw. She had an eye for realistic wildlife portraits. She took every art class there was. If it had anything to do with art, she took. Reporter she enrolled at her local college, zane state. She left school to marry josh daniels, a parttime student. She had news for mom. She said she was pregnant. Reporter you must have been torn up . I was. That was my baby. Reporter brandy, husband josh, and the baby daughter were living nearby. You couldnt ask for a better mother. If it was something that she needed or litle girl needed, the baby got it first. Reporter and how did grandmother like her new baby . The baby got everything, yes. Reporter the marriage, after seven years of trying, floundered. She filed for divorce. She seemed to be in a rough patch of her life . Yes. Reporter but on this may night driving home from work with fiance craig in her ear he heard brandy starting to sound edgy. She says somebody was tailing her. These people need to get off my butt. If im just like i texted her, you know. Whats up . So about ten minutes passed by and i called her sister and said is brandy home yet . She goes, no. I said, well, her call dropped on me and she should have been coming in the door by now. She said you want me to check . I said, would you . Reporter brandys kid ster tess headed up the halfmilelong drive to look for her. Her sister calls me back and is losing it. She was at the top of the driveway. And she says i see her car, her headlights are on, but its not moving. Heads slumped down. Then she is hysterical. And i said ill be there. I said you need to call the cops. 911. Reporter the muskingum 911 center fielded the car. My sister is in my driveway and her head is bloody and she is not moving. I just need someone to come quick please. Im just scared. I need someone to come now. Stay on the line while i get the squad on the way. Reporter fiance craig was on his way, too. There was his girlfriends litle nissan sent ara in the drive. I pull behind the car. There is a sheriff there already. I see her in the drivers seat and i said, whats wrong . He goes, i think shes been shot. Reporter nothing can prepare you for that . No. She was dead. Thats what he told me. Reporter he told you that at the scene . Yeah. Stay away. You dont want to contaminate the crime scene. Reporter no bridge ahead into the abyss . Yeah. Blew me out of the water. Reporter brandys mom was leaving the bottle factory where she worked. 11 05 i got a phone call and i went running out to the truck. Tess said something was wrong with brandy. Reporter you see emergency vehicles, officers . Right off into the driveway and thats as far as i could go. Reporter the car with the drivers side window down, the vehicle stalled in first gear, and brandy inside looking rag doll. Shot three times execution style. The detectives were arriving. Who would want brandy dead . Its always the husband, right . Maybe not this time. Coming up josh was in fact still in alaska that night. Reporter thats a good alibi . Yes. But there was someone who lived right in town. Did you wonder what was going on with the boyfriend . When out there in the dark continues. Inues. Female anchor its 6 39, time for news update male anchor . An update on the cat who captured our hearts. Female anchor how often should you clean your fridge . Stay tuned to find out. Male anchor beats the odds at the box office to become a rare nonfranchise hit. You can give help and hope to those in need. Welcome back to dateline extra. Whoever shot brandy daniels aimed to kill. She was discovered in her car shot ex discussion style. It would not take long for police to turn their attention to two people very close to brandy. Her estranged husband and her fiance. One of them showed up at the crime scene and turns out the other was thousands of miles away. They would talk to each of them soon, but the investigation was just minutes old and detectives first wanted to know what the scene could tell them. Here again is Dennis Murphy. Reporter it was may 5th, stwort. Of the car was at the head of the driveway, lights on and two county detectives arriving to try to figure out what had had happened to the young woman dead in the drivers seat. Detective mike ryan and captain steve welker in the first minutes of what would be a years long investigation. Mike and i arrived at about the same time. Reporter did the scene explain itself to you . We could see the basics of what had happened. Reporter their victim, brandy daniels, had been shot three times at close range. Crime scene techs would recover three shell casings and a clip for a semiautomatic pistol. Brandys pictures and phone were beside her. We eliminated robbery almost immediately because there was an amount of money there that somebody would have tuck. Reporter as the csis took photos, gathered blood, dna, brandys mom, sister, and fiance watched on in blank horror. What do you remember about the rest of that night . Sitting in the vehicle behind her car just watching it. Reporter and there is your girl gone . There is my baby and i cant do nothing about it. It was 2 00. Went to the house. 4 00 detectives came down to the house, said that they removed her in the car. Reporter who would benefit from a single moms death . Of course, the questioning turned quickly to the soon to be divorced husband, the father of the litle girl. Brandys mom told them about josh daniels, said he was a personal trainer at the gym and an obsessive weight lifter. Are when you ran him through the computer, did he have priors . He did not. He was not on law enforcements radar. Reporter not on law enforcements radar, but nonetheless somebody they wanted to talk to right now. But there was a problem. A big one. There was every reason to believe he wasnt in the driveway that night but 4,300 miles away in alaska. Josh had moved up there to be near his mom and he found work in the oil fields. Josh was, in fact, still in alaska that night. Reporter thats a pretty good alibi . Yes. Reporter because there is domestic trauma doesnt mean you necessarily have suspect, does it . Not necessarily. But its a good idea to eliminate the husband as a suspect in the getgo. Reporter detective ryan called josh daniels on alaskas north slope. Can you discern demeanor or attitude through the phone line . Not really. I wasnt detecting shock or grief or anything like that. Reporter nothing to hang your hat on . One of the questions i asked is who have you been talking to here in zanesville . He gave me a list of half a dozen people. Reporter he said he returned to zanesville as soon as he could. Fwu there was a person much closer that the cops had to figure out. Craig barry, the fiance. He is the last person known to have talked to her . Yes. Reporter did you wonder what was going on with the boyfriend . He has 20 years on your victim, right . Yes. Reporter he is a person of interest until hes not, im guessing, huh . At that point anybody close to brandy we need to take a real hard serious look at. Reporter within hours of brandys death, craig got the thirddegree. Asking you hard questions . Where have you been . What are you doing . Reporter did you think, wow, they think im a suspect. Oh, yeah. Thats common, right. Reporter and a cop is in your grill . They asked for my cell phone. I handed it over. Reporter how long did that last . I got home at 5 30 that morning. Reporter the legwork began in earnest, starting with where she was last seen alive. You are talking to your victims coworkers. What is the picture coming together there . They describe brandy as a very good young lady, a douevot mother in a marriage she wanted to get out of. Reporter patrol officers traced the route from kohls to the murder scene, hoping to find a security cam that recorded brandys car headed home. The boyfriends story is there is a guy on her bumper. That image doesnt show up anywhere . No. Reporter when the lab results came back, disappointment. No useful fingerprints or dna. And the long slog of getting search warrants to recover date from the cellphone and the towers the signals bounce off of had only just begun. Josh returned to zanesville from alaska. They met him downtown at his lawyers office. He was fully cooperative. The detectives asked for his cellphone. He and his attorney voluntarily turned it over. Reporter now you can check out his demeanor. What are you seeing . He was very cool and collected, looked confident. Reporter with the data from his phone on the way to the lab josh returned to alaska with his 8yearold daughter. Mollie and her family had buried their brandy, but no one was coming to terms with the magnitude of this crime. Did the officers tell you anything about how the case would go . They figured that it would be summed up in a couple of days. Reporter if only. Coming up, a new suspect. But he has an alibi. I went to my girlfriends house and stayed there. Reporter was he telling the truth . The texts tell the tale. You are sure he was not in the house . He was not in the house then. There is a window of opportunity in there in which he could easily have done this crime . Yes. When out there in the dark continues. In the dark continues. clients voice remember that degree you got in taxation . danny of course you dont because you didnt your job isnt doing hard work. Its making them do hard work. And getting paid for it. vo snap and sort your expenses to save over 4,600 at tax time. Quickbooks. Backing you. Welcome back. Zanesville, ohio, police found in physical evidence at the crime scene where brandy daniels had been shot and killed. They had just interviewed her estranged husband two turned over his cellphone willingly and detectives were about to get a tip that would lead them to another cell phone. They found themselves following a digital trail and it was telling them a story. Dennis murphy with more. Reporter brandy, the young mom found shot to death in the front seat of her car in the family driveway. Detectives put her fiance craig through the ringer, but his story, including the part about his last text to brandy, checked out. Within two or three days we were sure that he was cleared. Reporter but craig wasnt a total dead end. The fiance did have a tip for the detectives. He told them they should check out a fellow gym rat of josh daniels, a guy who gave brandy the creeps, someone with an unusual first name. Sirius. Sirius underwood. When they ran the name investigators found the son of a local preacher who had some juvenile offenses. He graduated from zane state, had a good job with a local manufacturer and seemed to charm every woman he met. Four days into their investigation detective brady lillard found sirius at a girlfriends place. I asked to look at his cellphone, take it back to the office, and download it. He agreed to let me do that. Reporter how did he present himself . Kraum. He claimed he didnt know brandy was killed. Just calm, cool, and selected. Reporter sirius came to the sheriffs office. While the squads phone expert examined his cell, sirius explained how he knew brandy danielss husband josh. I worked out with him. Reporter he said he hardly new brandy. I didnt like meet her, meet her. I seen her one time. Reporter as for his pal josh in alaska, sirius said they hadnt been in contact in a while. When is the last time he sent you a text, called you . Two or three weeks ago. This week . No. Reporter he said he had been with his girlfriend around the time cops believe brandy died. I went to my girlfriends house and stayed the night there. Reporter officers returned siriuss iphone and thanked him for coming in. Wendy lemon, the girlfriend and siriuss alibi, was next up on the detectives list of people to talk to. Wendy, a mother of five, said she met sirius at the same place brandy and josh got together. Zane state college. I just knew from the moment i met sirius that was just a new friend. Happy. Always smiling. Reporter the midlife single mom back to college and deans list student sirius were ambassadors for their school. They were just looking for a face for Zane State College that would be friendly and that would be outgoing so we could go to different events in the community as well as giving tours on campus. Reporter sirius had found time to work as a Campus Security guard and thats where he met josh who did the same thing. Sirius was an overachiever, even featured inbo brochures about t college. They became a couple. One year for my birthday he totally set up an entire day skydiving. Happy birthday it was so amazing. So awesome. We took motorcycle rides and went on picnics. Reporter now wendy found herself caught in the undertoe of a Homicide Investigation. Cops had her downtown the same day as sirius. I want to let you know you are not under arrest, okay . Reporter detective ryan asked about the night of the murder. He used wendys text with sirius to refresh her memory. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. Reporter did wendys texts that night fit in the timeline they were building of brandys murder . And did they speak to sirius whereabouts. 11 00 you were sure he was not in the house . 11 00 he was not in the house then. Reporter sirius arrived, wendy said, after this 11 00 text. Sirius had given the cops wendy as his alibi and she inadvertently only made detectives talk a look at him. He could easily have done this crime. Reporter there was another thing. The squads phone expert filled them in about some internet searches he found on sirius device. He opened every news article that had to do with the homicide. Reporter interesting because earlier in the day he claimed he didnt know brandy was murdered. Question. Was sirius the gunman in brandys driveway . He seemed to be no more than a casual friend of joshs from the friend. When the i. T. Guys cracked joshs phone history, it told a different story. What did he delete . Text messages. Reporter to who . Sirius underwood. Sirius underwood was by far the one he was in contact the most. Reporter whats your thinking . When we first talked to josh he never mentioned sirius underwood. Why would they be lying to us about that . Reporter why indeed. The story told by the phones the concealed relationship fed a growing theory of the crime that they were looking at a Long Distance killing between alaska and ohio f that was their case, technology would be as valuable as dna or bloody fingerprints. The first big question, did the killer arks suming he was a man have a fphone on him during the shooting. We had tons of and im not exa exaggerating, thousands upon phone calls that hit these towers. Reporter in that electronic haystack a sharpeyed cop noticed a call around the time they believe brandy was killed. It was that made from a number with a 310 area code. Normally, thats southern california. The county law men traced that 310 number back to an anonymous disposal phone. A burner purchased in zanesville a week before brandy died. I get the call records for the 310 area phone and start combing through those. He only called two people. A second burner phone and josh daniels. Those were the only two. Reporter was this their breakthrough . That burner phone at the right time, right place had called joshs phone in alaska. Then the phone texted another extraction of joshs phone and they retrieved something josh thought he deleted. A voicemail that was left on josh danielss cellphone from this california area code. Whats up, man . Its me. Hit me up on this phone right here whenever you need to talk about something. Reporter detective hittles ears perked up. I listened to it and now i know that that phone, 310, is sirius underwoods. That is his voice. Reporter the detectives wanted another technically deeper dive into siriuss iphone. He came downtown again as requested. While the cops were preoccupied chasing down a search warrant for his device, he outfoxed him. He found a computer and remotely wiped his phone clean. I could see that it had been reset, factory restored from the icloud. Reporter whatever story he was going to tell, you werent going to hear it . Nothing left on the phone. Reporter it was like a evidence locker going up in smoke. Their whole tech crime trail poof. Detectives were sure sirius underwood and josh daniels were behind brandys murder, but could they prove it . We knew at that time we had a serious problem with our evidence. We were not dead in the water, but definitely struggling. Coming up, a stalled case. Are you starting to lose faith in your police, the investigation . It was stressful. And then a threat convinces a woman to talk. What did he say happened to brandy . He killed her. He killed her. When out there in the dark continues. Here in the dark continues. When out there in the dark continues. When out there in the dark continues. Most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. But to businesses, were a reliable partner. We Keep Companies ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. woman and build ai customer experiences. second woman we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. Almost all of the fortune 500 partner with us. woman when it comes to digital transformation. Verizon keeps business ready. The top stories. Pope francis delivered his Christmas Day message to the world at st. Peters square. He urged catholics to let the light of the holiday root out darkness and conflict around the globe. President trump attended Christmas Eve mass in florida not before hurling insults at House Speaker nancy pelosi accusing her of hating the entire Republican Party and predicting she will lose her leadership position. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Detectives were zeroing in on two men in their brandy daniels Murder Investigation. Brandys estranged husband josh and his buddy sirius underwood. But there was not enough evidence to make an arrest just yet, and then a Long Distance phone call came in and the information they were about to get would be a game changer. Once again here is Dennis Murphy. The next thing we have got to do then . Reporter investigators were pretty sure they had the right guys for brandy daniels murder and they learned how awful her marriage to josh was. Cops found a 911 call brandy had made six months before her murder. Im in an abusive relationship and im afraid to go home and tell my husband that i want to leave but he wont let me, and it gets physical. Reporter brandy didnt request a deputy that night, but she did file a restraining order against josh when she left him. Cops knew joshs buddy from the gym sirius was likely involved in the murder. They couldnt tie the two together despite some suspicious phone traffic between the pair. And additional difficulty in the investigation was the fact that josh was still living in alaska, about as far away as you can get from ohio and still be in the same country. Josh daniels was here starting a new chapter, living in wasilla about an hour outside of anchorage with his mother and stepfather. Keeping tabs on him from thousands of miles way were the Zanesville Police and they were seeing some patterns. When he wasnt working a job in the north Slope Oil Fields he was partying, pumping iron, and chasing women. Back in zanesville, meanwhile, the cops kept the pressure up on the person of interest they had in their zip code. Sirius underwood. The detectives were all over his girlfriend wendy. Every time that i had a litle spat or whatever, i was frustrated or disgusted with sirius, he would always show up again just wondered if maybe you remembered something. Reporter trying to find you at a vulnerable moment and you are going to spill . I already told you every single thing. Its never going to change. If you dont lie, you dont have to cover a lie. Reporter brandys mother was losing faith in the cops making an represe an recht. Every time wed hear something, we would talk to them, still need to get more evidence. Reporter but something was about to happen and it was enormous. Call it a good luck bolt from the land of the midnight sun. Alaska was calling. It was three months to the day after brandys murder when the ohio investigators got a phone call from wasilla. It was a woman on the line saying that she had been seeing josh daniels and she had a story to tell the police. Something he had told her. Well, when detectives heard that, they were on the plane to alaska within hours. The young woman explained she and josh had been engaged at the time of brandys death, but he had commitment issues. He lied all the time. He was dating multiple people. Reporter she had the detectives undivided attention as she related what an intoxicated josh told her on the fourth of july. He told me saying that happened to brandy happen to me. Reporter what did he say happened to brandy . He killed her. Reporter he said that, i said i killed her . Do you remember what his exact words were. He said he killed her and was afraid. Did he say who killed brandy . He said some black guy at the gym. Reporter it looked as though the detectives were ready to put a bow on their investigation. Take the blizzard of messages between the two men, mix in the fweeography of the cellphone towers that put a suspect burner phone tied to sirius near the crime scene, and now add in the story of the woman from alaska who had apparently heard a confession and you should be rather to swear out arrest warrants. Not quite. When the detectives got back to ohio their first stop was at the office of states attorney mike haddox. They come to you and say are we there yet . Yes. Reporter you tell them no . I want to make sure that before we took the case to a grand jury that we had a motive. Obviously, in the case of josh daniels, the husband, we had a motive. Marriage was breaking up. He had been violent with her in the past. Reporter but he was thousands of miles away in alaska at the time . Correct. He didnt pull the trigger. When we came up with sirius underwood, the most obvious is there has been some sort of a payment. We spent about a year looking through Bank Accounts, couldnt find any. Reporter almost two years went by, and nothing. How do you put all of that awful time together, molly . Day by day. Reporter are you starting to lose faith in your police, the investigation . It was stressful. Mike ryan, he would call and i said, have you heard anything . We still have to get some more evidence. More evidence. Reporter but its funny how things sometimes work out because the investigators were about to get another bolt out of the blue lead like the one from alaska. It began with, of all things, a message to the Facebook Page of the zanesville pd. The tipster had volunteered that her husband was part of a stickup gang. We came in, spoke with her and obtained valuable information for this investigation. Reporter phil michael, a detective for the zanesville pd, had been working two years on a string of armed robberies when he got the facebook tipster in for an interview, guess who she identified as two members of the robbery crew . Sirius underwood and josh daniels. If the tipster could be believed, they had been bandits together two years before brandy would be found shot to death. The woman confirmed something detective michael had suspected but had been unable to prove. The robbery of a local Department Store had been an inside job. Josh daniels had been working there and handed over 7,000 to a masked gunman. If we had been here on january 1st, 2012, what might we have seen . You can see an individual come from the southwest side of the parking lot. He stuck the gun in joshs face. Reporter shows a pistol . Yes. He was knocked down. Reporter the tipster claimed that josh wasnt the victim of the robbery, but actually won of the participants. And that his pal sirius had been the mastermind not only of the Department Store job, but the prime mover in a crime wave, responsible for multiple armed robberies, most captured on Surveillance Video. The two bodybuilders secret sideline was a serious revelation. Drug dealers or robbing tumbleweed restaurants or they are hitting gabriel brothers. But during the day he is the sweetest guy, loves the women, they love him, hell train with you, poster boy. Just an allaround great american. Reporter the cops believe that linking sirius and his partner in crime josh daniels to the violent robberies would help nail the two for brandy danielss murder. We are going to try to confront yosh. Reporter back to alaska. When josh landed at anchorage international, Airport Police whisked him into their office. Detective michaels showed josh photographs of the Department Store robbery suspects. Have you ever seen him before . Around the store, anything like that . No. Reporter detective michael then handed josh another photo. Have you ever seen sirius underwood . Yeah, i used to work with him. Would you have talked to sirius that day, would he have called you or texted you anything like that . Hmmum. Reporter really . The cop accused josh of lying of being up to his eyeballs in the robberies. If you came up with some dumb ass scheme to take money . Reporter josh stuck to his story and lawyered up. The detectives flying them ohio knew they had more work to do, but in any conspiracy there is a weakli weak link. They just had to pick their man and break him. Coming up, who would crack first . We get the phone call saying, hey, lets make a deal. Lets talk. The issue that we had was, you know, who do you make the deal with . The guy that had his wife killed or the guy that shot her pointblank range in the face . When out there in the dark continues. Welcome back. Investigators were confident sirius underwood was the triggerman who fatally shot brandy daniels at close range and despite living thousands of miles way in alaska, brandys husband josh was involved in the plot to kill. But it was the discovery of another series of crimes that Police Believe gave them a motive and brought them closer to arresting both men. Heres Dennis Murphy with more. Reporter a dogged investigation with a generous dollop of luck had revealed that josh and sirds weius were more algorithm buds spotting each other reps. They were Armed Robbers together. Detectives surmised brandy must have known about sirius and her husbands part in the holdups. For the states attorney the homicide case had achieved critical mass. What was the final green light . We found these two guys were criminal conspirators, violent criminals in several robberies. There was our motive. And once i felt that we had the motive for sirius underwood to be involved in this murder, we were go. Reporter which is joshs wife might be a risk for him . Thats correct. Reporter she might snitch him out. She might snitch him out. Reporter haddox convened a gran jury. Ron welch and ron lytle would present the case. There would be a lot of convoluted storytelling and evidence for the jury to follow. Robberies, the homicide, the cellphone data, how you link these people up. You will have multiple snitches who are going to be testifying, who all have their own issues. Reporter the grand jury sat for three months and heard more than 100 witnesses. In march 2016 it returned indictments against josh daniels and sirius underwood. At the request of authorities in ohio, the Alaska State Troopers located josh at his mothers home in wasilla. Once ohio gave the green light to the troopers to move on their suspect, they did. The cuffs went on without incident. A bulked up josh was put in the back seat of a cruiser and driven downtown. Detective michael confronted him. You have been charged with several counts, including robberies that occurred at gabriel brothers, tumbleweed, the one that you are going to do at campbells, and the murder of your soon to be exwife brandy. Reporter josh was shown a graphic crime scene photo of poor brandy. This is what you are responsible for. This is what happened to your ex. Im willing to talk to you to get your side of the story if you are willing to talk to me. I think you are a good investigator, but im gonna have an attorney. Reporter okay. Thats fine. Reporter in zanesville, police surrounded sirius underwoods car and arrested him. His interrogation didnt last long. Weve had a grand jury and you have been indicted. For what . Aggravated murder, aggravated robberies, attempted robberies, weapon under disability, tampering with evidence. Josh daniels is also arrested. Josh is out there talking. I think its the proper thing to tell you that you have the opportunity to tell me, too. Would you like to talk to me about this . No. I want a lawyer. You want a lawyer . Yeah. Reporter josh waived extradition and was brought back to ohio. Brandys mother got word at the end of her shift. I get a phone call. You need to get down here now. Reporter there you are in a courtroom. Whats going on . Josh is there doing his plea. Then they go over details that we werent aware of. Reporter so its got to bring the pain back again, huh . Yeah. Reporter how did he look to you in the courtroom . Not a care in the world. Reporter wendy was in the courtroom was al. This is big news. He is charged. Do you believe he killed Bradley Cooper . No. I dont. So much going for him and he had worked so hard and i would just say why . What did he have to gain from doing Something Like that . Reporter over the next few months, welch and lillattle prepared their cases. They laid out their case on index cards. Motive was looking more complicated than ever. In opening arguments they would have to explain to jurors who these defendants are. Sirius, the overachieving charmer, and bad husband josh who will been abusing anabolic steroids for years. He was roided out. He was out of his mind using steroids, serious as a sociopath. For josh it was a status of being enraged and jealous. I think he still loved her and she was just done with him. Reporter josh sat behind bars for seven months. Deprived of elephant doses of steroids, his chemically enhanced muscles deflated like spent balloons. They found the weak link. We get the phone call from joshs defense attorney saying, hey. Reporter lets make a deal . Lets talk. The issue we had was who do you make the deal with . The guy that had his wife killed or the guy that shot her pointblank range in the face. Reporter the states attorney agreed to a plea deal but josh daniels would have to tell all. Making a deal with the devil. Who will get burned . Coming up, one down, one to go. Reporter what was the weakness in the case . You have josh come in as the witness. Josh. The jury wouldnt reporter as part of pleading guilty to murdering his wife brandy, josh daniels had to admit what hed done provide what lawyers call a proffer. He was brought to a Conference Room at the prosecutors office. When was the first time that this idea came about . Ive known sirius underwood for a while we were havin a conversation one day at at his apartment. And i was tellin him about, how hard this was on me me and brandy splittin up. How pissed off i was that that she was seein that guy, craig. And he made the comment, well, [ bleep ] that [ bleep ]. Lets just off her. And, you know at the time, bein emotional and mad, you know, i i made the decision that maybe that wouldnt be a bad idea. Reporter josh helped him stalk his wife. Sirius asked me where she lived. And i told him. And he asked me about her work schedule. And i told him. Reporter and, it wasnt just brandy josh wanted dead. I told him w see if he could go over to her boyfriends house, craigs. See if he can find where he lives. And break into his house and kill both of em. Did he . Huh . Did he find out where he lived . Yeah. Did he try to break into the house . No. Not that i know of. Reporter they schemed together on the eve of the murder. He asked me a day before, are you sure that you want this done . And id been drinkin. And, you know, i had alcohol problems and steroid problems and i was just mad. I said, yeah. How did it go down . I told him when she was getting off work. I would text sirius and and just say the word close. He just said that, ive ive got this. I see her car. I dont know actually what took place on the night, i know she was shot. So i dont know if he parked his vehicle somewhere and came runnin outta the bushes. I never talked to sirius after the murder actually happened. He certainly confirmed with you that it happened. He said, done. Reporter they asked just could josh live with himself after killing the mother of his child . I thought that, you know, it would just go away. And that this day would never come. That me gettin arrested would never happen. After brandys death, became an alcoholic. Drinkin every day. Taking hero using heroin, downers. Just anything to numb that pain. Reporter the killer husband sounded almost contrite. If i could go back and i could change it, i i would. Brandy didnt deserve what happened to her. She was a good girl. And ultimately, years down the road, havin brandy gone, seein how that affects my thats gonna affect my daughters life. Shes not gonna have her mom. And knowin that i played a part in that, i cant i cant live with that. Reporter with josh about to throw himself at the mercy of the court, prosecutors still had the accused triggerman to deal with. But sirius was hanging tough, not saying a word. So with only one of the two accused going to trial, the states star witness would be josh daniels. As prosecutors prepared him to testify, they were still trying to wrap their arms around sirius motive for the murder. Reporter whats he telling you . When i pushed josh on why, why would he do this . And he says, thats what dudes do for dudes. Thats what sirius told him. Hes like, youd do that for me . And he just said, thats what dudes do for dudes. Reporter kill your wife . Right. Reporter crunch time for the prosecutors. Sirius trial was looming. And, they were far from confident. Reporter what was the weakness in the case . Youre still gonna have josh come in as your witness. Josh the jury wouldnt like him. Youre asking the jury to rely upon somebody thats admitted to having their wife executed. Thats a tough pill to swallow. Reporter so within that there might be wiggle room for sirius . Right. Reporter just days before sirius trial was scheduled to begin. I was writing my opening. I got a text message from the defense attorney saying, you guys do an alford plea . Reporter sirius lawyer was proposing a plea deal. An alford plea the screwball pitch of american jurisprudence. Alford plea, to civilians, to layman, has a very sketchy kind of feel to it. Do you wanna take a crack at trying to explain what an alford plea is . Sure. It basically is when somebody says, im willing to say that you have lots of information, and im gonna plead guilty, but im not gonna say i actually did anything wrong. Reporter and i say, huh . Right. Reporter and then i turn to ron and say, how does this go again . So, hes gonna take responsibility without saying he did it. Reporter the states attorney signed off, and the trial judge accepted sirius underwoods alford plea. Sirius was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 38 years. A sentence hes appealing. Josh daniels got life with the possibility of parole after 28 years. Not enough time for some of brandys loved ones. Reporter so where do we stand now . Theyve theyve both been dealt with . Yeah, i guess. Reporter your opinion, do you think they both got off easy . Yes, they did. Theyre still breathin, shes not. Reporter josh and sirius are serving their sentences in separate maximum security prisons. Brandys parents are raising her daughter. The family is left with a snapshot album itself getting older but the young woman pictured in the pages inside staying the same, never to have her own album of her daughter graduating, getting married. Time ran out for brandy on a dark hilltop before she could kiss her daughter goodnight. Reporter thats all for this edition of dateline. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. It was a whirlwind love affair. I felt like this was the one that id been waiting for. Maybe it was too good to be true. Did he love me, or was this all a game . Reporter a beautiful businesswoman falls for a dashing doctor, but her daughters have doubts i had lots of suspicions. She thinks his fingernails are dirty. This does not look to her like the hands of an actual doctor. Who was this guy . His nickname was dirty