but then this happened and shoot. he doesn t use the word murder, doesn t say anything like that. it s like, this happened, as if it s small. it s not that big of a deal, it s not horrendous. he doesn t want it to be horrendous because he did it. reporter: tell number three. and then larry caught something else in the interview sam did before cathy s body was found. listen carefully. so you went out with her the saturday before the thursday? right. okay on, and where did you go? in other words a week before she was she disappeared. reporter: did you hear that? a week before she was she disappeared. reporter: before she was. what? dead? murdered? either way, larry thought sam knew more than he was telling. the guilty person knows a
just routine. nothing out of the ordinary. reporter: tina was trying to catch up with cathy that day before she went to work, but just missed her at home, only to see her moments later in traffic. we saw each other and she gave me the biggest smile that i will always remember. she saw me. we looked at each other. it was a beautiful smile. reporter: that smile, that moment, burned into her memory. cathy s shift ended at about 8:00 that night. she was supposed to come straight home. but mary didn t see her. so 9:00, 10:00 comes, you re not worried? no, i wasn t worried. reporter: saturday night she probably went out after work. yeah. reporter: but then sunday morning came, and still no cathy. cathy s family launches a search.
reporter: and what you wanted to know first was, where were you on the night cathy torrez disappeared? correct. reporter: and where was he? he was in state prison. reporter: so whatever s going on with this guy, he s not your guy. he well, he s not personally. but is he related to does he know? what s the connection? why is this stuff in the trunk of his car? reporter: when you say to him, why would you have articles about cathy torrez s murder and receipts from sav-on in the trunk of your car, his answer s what? that s all my wife s stuff. he disowns it. he separates himself from it, which now raises a little bit more suspicion. reporter: could you tell if he was connected to anyone in the case? not initially. i really had to dig a little bit deeper to see what the connection was. reporter: daron finally located the convict s wife. she was uncooperative at first, which again, now, this is raising suspicions again. ultimately she did come in and talk t
but at the same time, daron had to admit that sam certainly did not fit anyone s profile of a murder suspect. no criminal history. there was no indicators that he was anything other than, you know, a normal 22-year-old kid. he didn t sound like a killer. no, absolutely not. reporter: detectives had interviewed sam on two separate days, first on audiotape when cathy went missing. he voluntarily gave head hair samples, he gave a blood sample, he gave fingerprints. and at the end of that, he ultimately said, you know, whatever i can do, i ll do. reporter: but as he read the file, daron learned there were other things sam didn t do. for example, sam lived right down the street, yet cathy s family says he never stopped by during that whole frantic week when they were searching. he did speak extensively with police. i don t think anybody thought that sam was telling the truth. remember how sam told detectives cathy came to him looking for weed? but there was absolutely
cathy had so much to live for and was a very happy person, a people s person. reporter: that was armando lopez speaking back in 1994. armando was cathy s brother-in-law, tina s then husband. but that wasn t the only connection between the two families. it turned out cathy had dated armando s younger brother, sam, off and on. and the families lived right down the street from each other. you can see one house from the other. exactly. reporter: and she s going out with sam. uh-huh. reporter: you marry his older brother. uh-huh. reporter: so that house wasn t just another house on the street. right. reporter: it was family. right. right. reporter: police spoke with members of the lopez family. sam knew cathy the best. how long have you known cathy? jeez, i ve known her for over five years. reporter: they interviewed him down at the station. yeah, i really had fun with her. like i said, that person, i m serious, would always have a smile.