hour-long journey to his neighborhood where a trash truck used just the schreubin s garbage to a nearby parking lot. we would have them dump it in somewhat of a people, regardless of the size. right on the tarmac? scatter everything out, sit down on our knees and look at every piece of paper that looks like a do you mean of some kind. reporter: and that s how dove s team found this coffee-stained phone bill showing call after call from schrauben to sandra s son, tom in arizona. and that number, tom s number, how often would that pop up? i think the average we figured out was about 24 times in a billing cycle about a month. almost every day? every day, correct. it was almost like going through a crime scene and finding pieces of evidence. it s an excitement that you
himself up. i believe there was a del taco place. there he went inside to clean himself up. the information he provided, if we could corroborate what he said, would blow the case wide open. t.j. garrick was questioned and denied everything. he said he wasn t in the car and he didn t kill jack jessee. flvs no evidence to indicate involved at all. police let him go. investigators focused on building their case against tom and sandra by documenting money transfers, phone calls, air travel. so when you add all that together, what d you think? whe together, what do you think? i thought we were starting to put together a pretty good case. good enough that murray had tom and sandra arrested. and in the summer of 2009, 11 years after the murder, the mother and son team went on trial for the murder of jack jessee. going to court was like going to my dad s funeral every day. i mean it russ really was. you re around people that you know killed your dad.
she looks at one and says this is my son s friend. reporter: listen to it again. this is my son s friend. reporter: this is my son s friend. one phrase in hours of material but it got dove s mind racing. if the bartender was right that the killers were friends of sandra s son, could that slip of paper hold the key to the case? dove tore through bags of evidence, and there it was. the day planner. seized five years earlier just after the murder. i went through that day planner for probably a day or more. went through every scratch, piece of paper, every notation, there was everything that was put into place in that day planner was looked at. there was a small piece of note paper with the name which appeared to me at that time to say schreiber with no telephone number or no significance to it. just said schreiber, that s all it said? i thought schreiber, yes. reporter: but where would he find this schreiber? doug went back to sandra s interview.
later. what story did he tell you? that schrauben, for whatever reason, had confided in him and told him specific details of the murder of jack jessee, including his involvement. that was a huge, huge quantum leap for us in putting this case to rest. reporter: now the time had come to spring the trap. brett schrauben was arrested and soon thereafter sandra jessee herself was in handcuffs. finally to be held accountable for jack jessee s murder. that was wonderful. best three-day weekend i had. oh, me too. that was a pretty good day, yes. reporter: didn t last. for one thing, tom was not arrested. insufficient evidence, said the prosecutor. and then as he rolled out the case against the others, that little ball came off the track again. this time it happened at sandra s preliminary hearing. judge ruled there wasn t enough evidence to hold her. she was free to go. oh, i sobbed all the way home.
after two years of work, they had generated enough evidence to fill this mail cart. all apparently for naught. the suspect and his key to cracking the case had skipped the state, and detective dove s jurisdiction. we were so close. reporter: the jessee family sensed dove had been beaten and sandra jessee had won. had gotten away with murder. i put his pictures away. i couldn t it s tough. because he was so he was so fantastic. put his pictures away? i had to. it just was too much. couldn t look at them? i couldn t look at them. reporter: at the dove home, tom s wife patty began to worry about her husband s health. he tends to hold things in. you can t hold in that kind of frustration and emotion without starting to affect you. with that kind of stress, it takes a toll on them physically and mentally. that s what you worry about? uh-huh, exactly what i worry about. reporter: because she knew if he didn t solve the jessee case, he might die trying. he s li