jorge saw something in the passenger seat. it looked like a body. it was just stiff, like a stick, you know, a long stick. and you said it was wrapped up? wrapped up in a blanket. reporter: eventually jorge got rid of gavin s cell phone, but that very night, said the prosecutor, creech called a friend from the powerhouse gym, stan mcquay. he asked if he can come over and if he can park his car in my garage. was the body still in it at that point? yes. reporter: mcquay allows creech to keep the body and the car at his house for five to six days. really? yes. reporter: and that s when creech turned to reina lim, the nurse who lived with them and took care of chandy s grandmother. creech got reina to rent a van. and then he uses the van to drive up to the angeles national forest, and he finds a secluded area to bury gavin smith s body. reporter: where buddy the dog later found it. but the mercedes-benz was still
welcome back. nearly three years after gavin smith s disappearance, john creech was charged with his murder. police believe john carried out the rage-fueled killing as revenge for gavin s affair with john s wife chandy. several of john s associates admitted they helped john hide evidence. but investigators did not think they had the whole story just yet. and there was one person who could give it to them directly. so they figured out a way to get it. once again, here s keith morrison. reporter: detectives john o brien and ty labbe had a problem. an important witness who wouldn t talk. chandrika creech had clammed up. but there s more than one way to get a story. they found an associate of john creech s, someone who knew chandy. they convinced him to wear a wire and meet with her. it worked. do you want the whole story? yeah.
in stan s garage. and did that upset you? very much so. reporter: so weeks later, two men arrived with a trailer. and did you watch them take the mercedes out of your garage? yes, i did. reporter: that, said prosecutor grace, is when they moved the mercedes into reina s storage locker. where, months later, detective labbe noticed one crucial little detail that survived the attempted cover-up. i was looking at the license plate, and i see that it s not there. there should be a california license plate. it s not you d kinda think. it s gone. and i also see that there s one screw missing and one screw screwed back in halfway, and that screw came back positive dna to john creech. reporter: bingo. the unassailable link to pull together all that evidence phone records, chandy s testimony, the friends, the dna, and it all condemned john creech. but a surprise was coming for
to track her phone and followed her only because he was worried he said. and then he saw her car parked near gavin s and thought it best to talk to them, but he didn t sneak up on them, he said. so i knock on the hood of the car. was chandy sitting on the lap of this guy? she was sitting on his lap. they just kept talking, so i la walked over to the passenger t side door, and i knocked on the window.er what did they do? chandy opened the door.dir. and what did she say to you? what the [ bleep ] are you doing here?he reporter: he started to argue with chandy, he said, and then gavin joined in. a i walked around the door, and i m leaning down to tell him to mind his own business. as i m leaning down to tell hima that is when he leaned up and punched me. he punched me. pulled me in by my sweater. put his hand up on my throat. he s choking me in my throat. reporter: it was gavin who threw that first punch, he saida so, of course, he fought back. s do you recall how ma
gavin ever. reporter: still, attraction is a powerful thing, isn t it? early in 2012, john and chandy were separated but still living together. and gavin and lisa were separated, too. and that old magnetic force, gavin met chandy on that secluded road. did the two of you become romantic? yes. did that include kissing? yes. and while you were kissing gavin, did something happen that caught your attention? yeah. what happened? just something like popped up, like appeared. was that something the defendant, john creech? yes, yes. reporter: gavin didn t have a chance, she said. he repeatedly punched him in the face. reporter: so then she ran back to her car, terrified. i wanted to get away. i was scared. reporter: but before she