point of killing sam? i don t know. reporter: detectives mcdonald and szalbirak realized they needed to pay danielle dreher another visit. we re going back to find out what is your intent? what is your involvement with this? coming up did someone have a million reasons to commit murder? there was a substantial amount of money that she was going to gain if sam turned up dead. when dateline continues. emerge restored, replenished, fortified. emerge everyday with emergen-c. packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good every day? emerge and see.
danielle went on to say she had no idea michael planned to talk to sam that day. so michael never said anything about going over there? no, he didn t. but detectives were skeptical. they wondered if danielle knew more about michael s intentions than she was letting on. at this point, i don t know whether to believe her or not. you re not done with danielle dreher? oh, no, we re not done with her. for the moment, szalbirak left her at the hospital to be with sam s family. it was up to danielle to reveal the identity of the shooter and explain the sordid details of how she was connected to him. she said, i need you to sit down. i have something to tell you. and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. first, cindy learned sam and danielle were getting a divorce. then that both danielle and sam were having affairs. most shocking of all? it was danielle s lover who shot sam. did i just hear what i just
fear and closed his eyes and just fired his gun. then he, you know, comes toward me and i just you know, i just i closed my eyes and i just pulled the freaking trigger and i m so sorry. with all the things he s telling you he s in a relationship with danielle, do you start to think we need to talk to danielle dreher. yes, so the next step was let s hear danielle s story. so detective szalbirak left michael and headed to the hospital where danielle had been waiting for updates on sam s condition. all she had been told was that sam had been shot. no one told her by whom. when i got over there, she was crying. she was very upset. detectives recorded the interview. we re trying to piece what all happened. okay, let me get calm here. at first detective szalbirak didn t reveal he knew about danielle s lover michael mitt minor or that it was michael
szalbirak continued their investigation. they had their shooter, but they also had lingering questions about whether danielle may have somehow been involved. obviously, one of the first things that comes to mind, the wife has a hand in this. she s linked. she s got to have something to do with it. reporter: and as mcdonald and szalbirak sifted through the evidence, they became more confident they were on the right track. what they discovered stunned even these two seasoned investigators. for over a month danielle had been spying on both sam and dianne. danielle was just totally obsessed with what sam was doing, which went beyond anything that i ve seen before in investigations. reporter: what s more, it appeared to them that danielle had persuaded michael to help her. they had basically stalked them. they actually put a tracker on their vehicles. reporter: this is spy equipment? correct. reporter: sheriffs deputies
reporter: now it was up to mcdonald and szalbirak to find out if all those spy games somehow developed into a conspiracy to commit murder. i became very suspicious that she had a part in this homicide. reporter: detectives sat down with danielle and recorded interviews with her on three separate occasions. from the very first interview, danielle willingly acknowledged that she and michael had been tracking sam and dianne. where did you put the tracking device on the vehicle? i put it up under the driver s side rear wheel. okay. and i ve been tracking him for about a month and a half. reporter: danielle also admitted to helping michael take those surveillance photos. who took the pictures? michael did. okay. whose camera? mine. reporter: but danielle denied that all this elaborate spying escalated into a murder plot.