with cathy and the fact that she wasn t as serious about him as he was with her. so that had to be examined, it had to be looked at. reporter: so the investigation continued, as people in placentia paid final respects to the friendly cashier they knew from sav-on. more than a thousand people attended cathy s funeral. pretty impressive. the kind of person cathy was. she touched a lot of people, and they remembered her. reporter: she left her mark. she did. reporter: cathy had hoped for a dozen red roses that february. instead her family remembered her with a headstone. your smile will shine forever. that wasn t the only promise cathy s mother made. i didn t know how long i d be i would have to wait. but i knew that we had to do everything that we could to get the answer. reporter: because? because she was my daughter. and someone had taken her away
memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. a hickey. on her neck? on her right here. covered up with her bra. you mean way down here on her shoulder? right here. right here. reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. i didn t want to hit her up, like, tell her, hey, you know, who were you with last night? whatever. reporter: but that night, police records showed sam received two traffic citations, both while driving cathy s car. one was an open container ticket for drinking alcohol in a parking lot. the other for failing to stop at a stop sign. the cop who pulled sam over for not stopping said sam flew through the intersection, and when he approached the car, the cop said it looked as if sam and
reporter: that led the detective to take a fresh look at those bizarre events the week before cathy disappeared when she came home impaired and then had her tires slashed. she never regained full memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. a hickey. on her neck? on her right here. covered up with her bra. you mean way down here on her shoulder? right here. right here. reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. i didn t want to hit her up, like, tell her, hey, you know, who were you with last night? whatever. reporter: but that night, police records showed sam received two traffic citations, both while driving cathy s car. one was an open container ticket for drinking alcohol in a
there were rumors within the community that that may have been the motive for her disappearance and murder, was that, hey you need to look at the rangel family. reporter: members of albert s family, the rumors said, were angry with cathy, thinking that she might have been the cause of his suicide attempt. because of his relationship with cathy and the fact that she wasn t as serious about him as he was with her. so that had to be examined, it had to be looked at. reporter: so the investigation continued, as people in placentia paid final respects to the friendly cashier they knew from sav-on. more than a thousand people attended cathy s funeral. pretty impressive. the kind of person cathy was. she touched a lot of people, and they remembered her. reporter: she left her mark. she did. reporter: cathy had hoped for a dozen red roses that february. instead her family remembered her with a headstone. your smile will shine forever.
pissed off, okay? reporter: that led the detective to take a fresh look at those bizarre events the week before cathy disappeared when she came home impaired and then had her tires slashed. she never regained full memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. a hickey. on her neck? on her right here. covered up with her bra. you mean way down here on her shoulder? right here. right here. reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. i didn t want to hit her up, like, tell her, hey, you know, who were you with last night? whatever. reporter: but that night, police records showed sam received two traffic citations, both while driving cathy s car. one was an open container ticket for drinking alcohol in a parking lot. the other for failing to stop at a stop sign.