promised a christmas gift, worrying washington that they could launch a long-range missile. welcome back. the mystery of line shockner s murder was being unraveled by long beach police. they arrested nick harvey, who admitted to stabbing lynn. thanks to an undercover sting operation, they believe they also tied lynn s death to another man, frank jaramillo. investigators believed they had one more dot to connect. now it was time to go after a person they suspected of masterminding the crime. returning to our story, here again is keith moirsson. reporter: nearly a month after lynn schockner was cut down at her own back door, her killer was behind bars, but her husband, fred, was still a free man and back in the family home with charlie. the press was in the dark.
reporter: but frank kept going at him, and fred finally let something slip. i m scared, fred. i don t know, i understand you re scared, too. you have to understand. we would not be in this position if it wasn t for her. if it wasn t for lynn, we would not be here. that s true. and if it hadn t been sloppy on nick s part we wouldn t be here either. reporter: fred referring to nick harvey, the hired killer. for the first time connecting himself to lynn s murder. but frank kept going after him, as if he knew they needed more. we would not [ bleep ] be here if it wasn t for you. we would not be here. we wouldn t. and we wouldn t be here if it wasn t for the way things were [ bleep ] up by nick. it s not a question of being [ bleep ] up. what s done is done, okay? if he [ bleep ] up, he s doing you a favor, not me. he was doing you a [ bleep ] favor. if he [ bleep ] up and got caught, that s him. he s doing time for you, okay,
and that she was so nervous about doing it and didn t know if it was the right choice or what to do about it. reporter: what d you think? my first thought was very excited, because it was just great to be able to think of getting away from him. reporter: and then, finally, more than a year later lynn hired family law attorney lisa brandon. what did she tell you she wanted from you? she wanted a fair division of the property. reporter: but, said lisa, fred controlled all the finances. so she didn t know how much money they had as a family? no, no idea. reporter: how much money did they have, this family? well, including the equity in the home, probably $6 to $7 million. reporter: which in a legal separation by california law would be split down the middle. but lisa said lynn told her fred would never part with any of that money. lynn also told her about fred s physical abuse.
compelled to watch his family s darkest secrets spill out. then in the end he would get the opportunity to speak directly to his father here with the conclusion of our story is keith morrison. you hold your breath. the world kind of stops. a hushed courtroom in long beach, california. fred schockner, charged with commissioning the murder of his wife, caught on tape blaming a sloppy hit man, took the stand in his own defense. he was very defiant. and completely maintained his innocence until the end. i mean, in the face of this overwhelming evidence he maintained his innocence. it was all a tragic misunderstanding, said fred. he didn t pay for murder, just for a used bmw. and all those calls to his alleged co-krntd, el cubano, that s what they were wait for it.
and so with a pending separation lisa worried about lynn and charlie s safety. i wanted her to move out of the home with charlie. she wouldn t do it. she wouldn t leave her home. she wouldn t disrupt charlie. he was just starting high school. they d lived in the neighborhood forever. so she was a sitting target. reporter: did she understand that it was dangerous for her? yes, yes. reporter: and yet, she went ahead and did it anyway? that s how important getting out of that relationship was to her. she was willing to risk her life, and she told me that. reporter: lisa told lynn she should at least get a restraining order against fred. it wouldn t make a damn bit of difference. reporter: that s what she told you? uh-huh. if he s going to kill me, he ll kill me. restraining orders won t stop him. reporter: too late now, of course. but what about charlie? the detectives, worried about his safety, called lynn s brother, mark, he d gone back across the country to georgi