friend on the force, but got no response. in the meantime, to keep her on the hook, he had arranged a second meeting. you can see them together on this gas station security footage. she brought me a picture in a ziploc bag. reporter: a picture of the target? along with the phone number from the target. now i come to realize i do have something that is potentially serious in my hand, and i don t know exactly which way to go. reporter: finally, his cop friend called him back and directed him to ramapo, new york police. detectives robert fitzgerald and peter louzan were assigned to the case. the thing we needed to do was to get marckensy s cooperation. reporter: since the woman trusted marckensy, detectives wanted him to keep playing the role of the bad guy. he didn t hesitate. that s got to be really daunting. it was kind of cool you know in a way. you know, that s like 007 type thing. reporter: detectives then devised a plan.
paul told a friend, also a policeman, by the way, two slightly different stories about his whereabouts the day of the fire. first conversation, day of the fire, reported the cop friend, paul said he wasn t home all day. then, second conversation, next day, paul said he stopped briefly at home en route to his hookah cafe. as we say, odd. but people s memories can be tricky. was that one little difference enough to add up to suspicion of murder? police apparently thought so, especially once they added that to the rest of what they discovered. paul was arrested. i m going to wait for my attorney. what s that? i will wait for my attorney. okay. they charged paul zumot with arson and murder, which struck
reporter: after she left, marckensy immediately texted his friend on the force, but got no response. in the meantime, to keep her on the hook, he had arranged a second meeting. you can see them together on this gas station security footage. she brought me a picture in a ziploc bag. reporter: a picture of the target? along with the phone number from the target. now i come to realize i do have something that is potentially serious in my hand, and i don t know exactly which way to go. reporter: finally, his cop friend called him back and directed him to ramapo, new york police. detectives robert fitzgerald and peter louzan were assigned to the case. the thing we needed to do was to get marckensy s cooperation. reporter: since the woman trusted marckensy, detectives wanted him to keep playing the role of the bad guy. he didn t hesitate. that s got to be really daunting. it was kind of cool you know in a way. you know, that s like 007 type thing. reporter: detectives then
these guys are, like, top black ops. reporter: was she interested? she was reporter: after she left, marckensy immediately texted his friend on the force, but got no response in the meantime, to keep her on the hook, he had arranged a second meeting you can see them together on this gas station security footage. she brought me a picture in a ziploc bag reporter: a picture of the target along with the phone number from the target. now i come to realize i do have something that is potentially serious in my hand, and i don t know exactly which way to go reporter: finally, his cop friend called him back and directed him to ramapo, new york police detectives robert fitzgerald and peter louzan were assigned to the case the thing we needed to do was to get marckensy s cooperation reporter: since the woman trusted marckensy, detectives wanted him to keep playing the role of the bad guy. he didn t hesitate that s got to be really daunting it was kind of cool you know
paul s behavior into context. maybe he wasn t any more to blame than she was. their relationship was chaotic. there s no disputing that, absolutely. but he was no more violent in the relationship than she was. whether it be physically, verbally, emotionally. as police gathered evidence, bit by bit, asking around about paul, one of them noticed something a little odd. paul told a friend, also a policeman, by the way, two slightly different stories about his whereabouts the day of the fire. first conversation, day of the fire, reported the cop friend, paul said he wasn t home all day. then, second conversation, next day, paul said he stopped briefly at home en route to his hookah cafe. as we say, odd. but people s memories can be tricky.