reporter: the jack jessee investigation had been six years of dead ends, bad breaks, blind alleys. now on the trail of a suspect, tom dove was about to start a new game, one where he could write the rule book. but it would be very complicate. because doug wanted more than just a getaway driver, he wanted everyone connected to jack gemsy s murder. the only way we could tie them together in this conspiracy was to do a wiretap. reporter: but wiretaps are notoriously difficult to get. dove needed permission from a judge, and to get that, he needed to prove schrauben was still in contact with tom and tom s mother sandra. it was a catch-22. so time to get creative. it had been my experience when i had worked in the narcotics section of the sheriff s department that often people throw away valuable evidence. reporter: dove asked his fellow detectives to help him
of the dumbest thing i have ever seen in my life, because immunity does not cover writing books to make money about how you committed a capital crime. and being the getaway driver in a bank where murder occurs makes the driver liable for murder in the first degree. patty, you ve never been tried for that? no. president carter commutes her on the bank robbery charge. he doesn t commute her on any other case. she s still got this murder case hanging over her head. patricia hearst had written her book, and so most of the details were out there to kind of lead them where to find the evidence. but the years kept going by and by and still nothing had happened. it took a long time before i felt like i was the victim. you know, i have a life now and children and i just want to move ahead. she seems to have gotten
get his cooperation? i thought it was outrageous. but it s not a perfect world. and the people who are likely to have some of the best, most detailed information about what takes place inside a conspiracy is a coconspirator. we needed brett schrauben. so what was the story? the story was a pretty pretty detailed and amazing story. reporter: schrauben described the whole affair on tape, laid it out in all its chilling tale. anatomy of a murder. the conspiracy was launched, he said, with a phone call from tom. he told me he d offer $50,000 to kill his dad. reporter: he met with sandra in a parking lot. she gave him a $5,000 deposit. she wanted jack dead and she wanted it done at the house and to look like a robbery. she told me she would leave for x amount of time and that s when it would need to be done. reporter: schrauben said he hired his good friend, a local drifter, to be the getaway driver. and on the afternoon of august
reporter: the jack jessee investigation had been six years of dead ends, bad breaks, blind alleys. now on the trail of a suspect, tom dove was about to start a new game, one where he could write the rule book. but it would be very complicated. because doug wanted more than just a getaway driver, he wanted everyone connected to jack jessee s murder. the only way we could tie them together in this conspiracy was to do a wiretap. reporter: but wiretaps are notoriously difficult to get. dove needed permission from a judge, and to get that, he needed to prove schrauben was still in contact with tom and tom s mother sandra. it was a catch-22. so time to get creative. it had been my experience when i had worked in the narcotics section of the sheriff s department that often people throw away valuable evidence. reporter: dove asked his fellow detectives to help him because he decided to search
tom dove was about to start a new game, one where he could write the rule book. but it would be very complicate. because doug wanted more than just a getaway driver, he wanted everyone connected to jack gemsy s murder. the only way we could tie them together in this conspiracy was to do a wiretap. reporter: but wiretaps are notoriously difficult to get. dove needed permission from a judge, and to get that, he needed to prove schrauben was still in contact with tom and tom s mother sandra. it was a catch-22. so time to get creative. it had been my experience when i had worked in the narcotics section of the sheriff s department that often people throw away valuable evidence. reporter: dove asked his fellow detectives to help him because he decided to search schrauben s garbage.