i m craig melvin. and i m natalie morales and this is dateline. i felt like this was the on that i have been waiting for maybe it was too good to b true oh. did he love me or was this all a game a beautiful businesswoman falls for a dashing doctor but her daughters have doubts. i had lots of suspicions. she thinks his fingernail are dirty. this knit does not look to her like the hands of an actua doctor who was this guy? his nickname was dirty john . this woman knew him all too well i started snooping and found everything this reporter made some unnerving discoveries too. he scared a lot of people he swindled a lot of people. the story of his dirty deed riveted the nation in a hi podcast. this is dirty john . but dirty was about to turn dark he s got duct tape, he s go all the tools ready to kidna her. will this mom and her daughters learn the truth in time she was in a panic. she said, i saw john outside i a car. a story ending in sa
protective as usual, had no the other mother was a newlywed the therapist debra had seen recommended to keep he relationship separate from her family but of course christmas wa coming and they were very important family traditions like the one where terra would have our own special time with nieces and nephews of her extended family so they made a deal. john would stay in a different room while terra had the kid to herself she was going to be able to enjoy the kids and he had to sort of stay away. didn t work out so well what actually happened well, he walked in with all the presents and of course the kids congregate all around him he went straight up to them, h gave them gifts. like being santa claus, o something? something like that yeah. did he do it on purpose of course, thought terra that made me so upset terra was very emotional, i
consciousness. four days later, dirty john wa dead right after the attack, newpor beach detective rick henri found john s killer, terra, at the hospital her dog, still guarding her. she told me the whole story the whole story is a pretty complicated mess yes as doctors treated terra moons, detective henry began investigating. the whole family waited, and worried. what were you afraid of well, i didn t know if they would for sure know that it wa him attacking her, and it wa self-defense so, you are afraid they might charge her with something? yes there is a process the la must follow. careful consideration. august became september, october, november. debra didn t know it, but th detective had discovered something. in the trunk of john s car - we found a backpack wit numerous other knives inside we found a zip ties, we foun
see everything that was goin on, so i saw him stab her. that woman being stabbed wa terra, who, with her dog cas had just stepped out of her ca to find someone waiting. dirty john he said, do you remember me he looked me right in the eyes there was no pause, no time to think terra sitting here talking about it was still strugglin with what happened still visibly keeping an emotional distance as it happened to somebody else he was trying to push m into the car, he actually ha the trunk wide open. trunk he wanted to in the trunk of his car? yes john was six to, a foot taller than terra as he pushed her he began hitting her with bag. something hard in it it just felt like i was getting punched over and ove again. but it wasn t that. there was a knife in the bag cutting her, slicing into her. and i put my arm up with my
john was killed. by the time i took the patient out of the room, i was i tears. yeah i wasn t in tears because he died, i was in tears because i had to tell his children and that made me very sad, t have to tell them. it was awful her daughters, 16 and 21 at the time said they regretted not being able to show him how well they turned out in spit of him and now, debra still struggles with guilt i would have never in m entire life put my kids in fea or in danger that was the last thing on m mind, that he would be going after one of my kids we feel lucky, in a way i feel very lucky i believe terra saved many lives. saved my life, many othe victims. terra was diagnosed wit ptsd she still has some healing t do, but she returned with us t that parking lot