Firefighter didn t disappoint. he had hired a sand sculptor to build a rather large sand sculpture of a treasure chest and then he it placed the engagement ring in the box. so there was some real pirate booty in there? right. he pulled the ring out, got down and proposed toler. sam is a romantic. isn t he. the newlyweds would become equally successful at work. sam rose to the rank of lieutenant at the young age of 33. he loved the fire services. absolutely loved it. loved being a paramedic. danielle was just as ambitious, finding her stride in the administrative office of a local office. she became the regional marketing director for the whole hospital corporation. sam and danielle didn t have children but they had the next best thing, sam s great niece aubrey cake. you re like the daughter we never had. they always told me that. aubrey who attended college
Her upstairs neighbor, dianne mcknight also tried to aid the victim. there was just blood everywhere. and i didn t i just didn t know what to do. i ran back into my apartment and got towels. as the minutes ticked by, trish began to worry the shooter might still be in the area. then all of a sudden, you start to think, wow, i wonder where the person is that did this and for all i knew, the person upstairs shot him. but those questions would have to wait. soon paramedics arrived on the scene. they learned the victim was one of their own. it was firefighter sam dreer. the paramedics immediately little airlifted him to the nearest trauma center as word of the shooting spread. and it s danielle. she s screaming into the phone. you have to come. he s been shot. he s been shot. and i said who s been shot? and she screams out sam.
At trial, the defense argued danielle never asked michael to steal anything. the jury didn t agree. she was found guilty as charged and sentenced to four years in prison. this was a very satisfying verdict, to see the woman be punished for her actions. reporter: is the murder of sam dreher an open case or a closed case? no. it s a closed case. reporter: but not for cindy, who continues to mourn the loss of her brother. she keeps his uniform close by for comfort and, with it, a lifetime of memories. he was loving. he was caring. he was the peacemaker. he was always doing for others. he was just sweet. reporter: cindy once felt the same way about her sister-in-law danielle. now there s bad blood between the two. cindy fought danielle in court over benefits from sam s life insurance. they ultimately reached a confidential settlement. cindy also keeps a watchful eye on danielle. according to cindy, danielle was dating another man before she
danielle went on to say she had no idea michael planned to talk to sam that day. so michael never said anything about going over there? no, he didn t. but detectives were skeptical. they wondered if danielle knew more about michael s intentions than she was letting on. at this point, i don t know whether to believe her or not. you re not done with danielle dreher? oh, no, we re not done with her. for the moment, szalbirak left her at the hospital to be with sam s family. it was up to danielle to reveal the identity of the shooter and explain the sordid details of how she was connected to him. she said, i need you to sit down. i have something to tell you. and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. first, cindy learned sam and danielle were getting a divorce. then that both danielle and sam were having affairs. most shocking of all? it was danielle s lover who shot sam. did i just hear what i just
Fear and closed his eyes and just fired his gun. then he, you know, comes toward me and i just you know, i just i closed my eyes and i just pulled the freaking trigger and i m so sorry. with all the things he s telling you he s in a relationship with danielle, do you start to think we need to talk to danielle dreher. yes, so the next step was let s hear danielle s story. so detective szalbirak left michael and headed to the hospital where danielle had been waiting for updates on sam s condition. all she had been told was that sam had been shot. no one told her by whom. when i got over there, she was crying. she was very upset. detectives recorded the interview. we re trying to piece what all happened. okay, let me get calm here. at first detective szalbirak didn t reveal he knew about danielle s lover michael mitt minor or that it was michael