expensive lawyering dealing with misdeeds that go way beyond tapping an ex-wife s telephone. 1997, paul was arrested after an incident in san francisco one night. ugly accusation. rape, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, trying to run his alleged victim over with his pickup truck. the charges that could put paul in prison for a decade or more. instead, paul spent nearly three years driving back and forth between his place here in colusa and san francisco engaged in a series of court maneuvers. the result? paul simply got probation after pleading no contest to assault with intent to commit rape but denying blame for the offense. the other charges were dropped. but the conviction put paul on california s sex offenders list, searchable by county. a fear that someone in colusa was bound to find his secret paul went into compile near santa cruz. as part of the original plea
manila envelope and he says i think this is for you guys. it says colusa county sheriff s office. colusa, california. no street address. and in the upper left-hand corner, it says ayala case. and then there s eight stamps on it. which and it was pretty light. so it was way too much postage. reporter: because inside was just a single sheet of paper. an open letter to the cops. what did that letter say? basically, it was claiming responsibility for the bombing. reporter: the letter full of misspellings and bad grammar had been written on a label maker and photo copied. its author claimed to be a military-trained contract killer who had been hired to kill roberto over a mexico deal gone wrong. and that it was ms13 behind it. what the heck is ms13? it s a violent el salvadorian criminal street gang. and roberto was supposed to
particular may have had more than a million reasons to want roberto dead. once again, here s keith morrison. reporter: when people hear the words fortunes and california in the same sentence, their minds generally go to some sensation like google or apple. but just 50 miles from silicon valley is the sacramento san joaquin valley. the valley where fortunes were made long before the arrival of microchips and semi-conductors. the farm roberto ran, worth tens of millions of dollars. all going to just one extended family. the moores. they were very, very private. reporter: this is mary. part of the greater moore clan. her family, like many of the big farming families around here, keeps its wealth private, too. i knew that there was money there. but they didn t flaunt it in any way. and you weren t told about it. you just knew that it was there.
that was the question facing detectives after the manager of a multimillion dollar farm was killed in an explosion. the moore family had been rooted on their land for generations. but an investigation revealed volatile relationships and a deep seeded family feud that had been simmering for decades. now, police wanted to know, were the rumors just town gossip? or did jealousy lead to murder? here s keith morrison. reporter: there is an eden in the american west. a wide, flat earthen cornicopia, whose bounty fills the belly of millions. great farms employ legions of workers and enrich with the profits families that pass the land down. father to son. generation after generation. they live modestly here in california s central valley. multimillionaires and crop dusters and battered pick-up
investigators called it their smoking gun. but the evidence did not stop the rumor mill. was it just small town gossip or something else. here with more of our story is keith morrison. little colusa, california was dumb struck. paul moore arrested for the killing of roberto ayala. few even knew he was a suspect. mary, paul s cousin and pete s sister, got a barrage of texts at work. it was bitter sweet. there was a part of me that was relieved that it was over for pete or that he wasn t, you know, mixed in with it. and at the same time i was sad because it was my cousin that we grew up with, you know, and part of my family. my youngest sister mary called me on the phone and she said they just arrested paul for the murder of robert ayala. i was in the middle of the parking lot and i fell to my knees and just started screaming. reporter: but human nature is a funny thing.