during that tumultuous time, steve s divorce, carol s murder, his arrest. renee had always stood by steve and his family. but there was the feeling diabetes. feeling we were convinced she wasn t telling us. during the trial, renee broke up with steve. so on the eve of her testimony, sash a interviewed renee again about the anonymous email. what he discovered explosive is not too big a word. coming up steve was terrified, we were terrified. the email trail, the money trail. a winding trail of surprises was about to change this case. that was a doozy of a mistake. uh-huh. the first full
reporter: mornings dawned cooler in the arizona mountains, the summer flags in the town square were stored away for another year. and the murder trial of steve democker ticked into its fifth, fitful month. the prosecution had amounted to circumstantial bits and pieces to that point. and investigator mike sechez knew that steve was likely to mount a strong defense. mr. democker is a very intelligent individual. mm-hm. but he s also a very narcissistic personality. you put those together and you can make it difficult to solve a crime. narcissistic? that s what it seemed like to the detective. also seemed to him like steve s girlfriend, renee girard, was protecting him. knew more than she was telling. then renee broke it off with steve. and sechez interviewed her one more time. and remember the anonymous e-mail that claimed carol s murder was linked to an illegal drug ring? oh boy.
they were together during that tumultuous time, steve s divorce, carol s murder, his arrest. renee had always stood by steve and his family but sechez had a feeling. we were pretty convinced that she knew more than she was telling us. reporter: sechez knew something else too. during the trial renee broke up with steve. so on the eve of her testimony sechez interviewed renee again about that anonymous e-mail. what he discovered? explosive is not too big a word. where did that mysterious steve was terrified. the e-mail trail. the money trail. a winding trail of surprises was about to change this case. gold!
reporter: mornings dawned cooler in the arizona mountains, the summer flags in the town square were stored away for another year. and the murder trial of steve democker ticked into its fifth, fitful month. the prosecution had amounted to circumstantial bits and pieces to that point. and investigator mike sechez knew that steve was likely to mount a strong defense. mr. democker is a very intelligent individual. mm-hm. but he s also a very narcissistic personality. you put those together and you can make it difficult to solve a crime. narcissistic? that s what it seemed like to the detective. also seemed to him like steve s girlfriend, renee girard, was protecting him. knew more than she was telling. then renee broke it off with steve. and sechez interviewed her one more time. and remember the anonymous e-mail that claimed carol s murder was linked to an illegal drug ring? oh boy. she told me that mr. democker had informed them during one of their in-person visits at the
testified for the prosecution, steve allowed his cell phone battery to die. something he never normally did. in general, there was usually a battery in his phone and an extra battery either charged or being charged. did you ever know him to be to not have a phone at the ready if he needed to use it? he didn t. reporter: renee also revealed that a month after the murder, steve told her something that in hindsight seemed very significant. in the evening we would take a walk on the golf course and he picked up a bag on the way out the door one evening and as we were walking told me about the bag and what he was going to do with it. reporter: a getaway bag. which she said he buried on a golf course. and sure enough, with renee s help, detectives found the bag on the golf course. inside were cash, clothing, and a cell phone, and a pen light.