anything. it s just like, you know, i can t even leave the message. so i called the irvine police. and then reporter: and what did they say? oh, she s 23? okay. well, she might be in drinking at the bar, or like you know, it s excuse me. reporter: no, said june. not her daughter. julie was always quick to respond to her texts or phone calls. across town, about 20 miles away from the kibuishis, sam s parents, steve and raquel herr also worried because they couldn t get a hold of sam. i thought it was a little odd that when i called his phone, it went directly to the answering service on saturday. reporter: steve decided to check on his son. so i drove down there and knocked on his door. no answer. and i had the key to his apartment. so i walked in there and i looked in to turn on the light.
man was then attacked by more than a dozen others. while some of the attackers were convicted of murder and received life sentences, sam herr was found not guilty. he was innocent, and it was proven that way. you know, he s innocent. reporter: four years later, sam joined the army and put all that behind him, or so his father believed. that s why when i found julie, i knew that sam didn t do this. i knew sam would never do something like that. reporter: and steve tried to tell detectives. you said, sam couldn t do this. and police said, a, he s missing and, b, he was a suspect in a murder case once. correct. reporter: that doesn t buy you a lot of rhythm from law enforcement. no, and i understood that. i m not that naive. i absolutely understood that. that s why it was imperative to start looking immediately. reporter: steve called sam s friend ruben to see if he had talked to sam. and ruben told him a curious story. ruben said he d been trying to get ahold of sam, too,