death. >> did you feel that you were in danger? >> i did. >> there's blood on the floor. >> this was 100% driven by greed and money. >> i thought to myself what did we just get ourselves into. >> they are basically murdering anything and anybody they can. >> outside of "game of thrones," it's not what we really expect. how many murders can you have in one family? >> she just had to come here. had to see it. had to feel what happened in this dark, empty parking lot, so far from home. >> i feel somewhat numb. it was just so senseless. i'm angry. i'm very angry. >> her name is sherry jackson. she has been looking, searching. she's come half a world away for this one moment. >> well, this is our last hope. >> to finally solve the mystery that has haunted her. what happened to her big brother? what did they do to larry? larry risken. >> he loved life, just being around him and in his presence, you, too, would feel carefree. >> larry risken was a navy man. joined the service after high school and rose through the ranks to become a commander, a leader of men. went to the gulf war. and back home in olympia, washington, his sister sherry heard all about it. then sherry heard about her. >> someone set up this blind date at a barbecue in california. >> was it like he fell for her right away? >> yes. >> did he have much experience with women? >> no. >> her name was sonia, sonia rios. a very pretty woman from the philippines who opened a beauty salon in the los angeles suburb of lomita. did he know she was 16 years older than he was? whatever. didn't matter. >> he was naive. >> it's not the image you have for a navy commander. >> his kindness made him naive. >> larry had always been close to his family. visited whenever he could. but, said sherry, after sonia came along, larry stopped coming. >> sonia would be sick, she'd have a headache. >> some excuse having to do with her. >> every time he had planned to come home. >> a year or so in, larry and sonia got married. they settled into sonia's house in lomita, across the street from nicole and jim thompson. >> she was very pleasant, are very generous, very nice. >> she seemed quite normal. it looked like just a normal marriage. >> although there was this odd thing about it, given larry's authority at work. >> although he was a commander in the navy, she was is the stronger one of the two. >> far off in olympia, sherry got the same impression. to her, it seemed almost sinister. >> she had complete control over him. complete control. >> one weekend when larry was away on duty, sherry and a friend came to l.a. and stayed with sonia, until she locked them out of the house and then blamed sheer he rei. >> she told larry some story that was not true, and larry never followed up on it. >> was that the final break? >> yes, because we didn't speak after that for awhile. >> awhile stretched into years. more than a decade of cold, stoney silence. so sherry wasn't there when larry retired from the navy, and she heard very little about his new career as a high school special education teacher. >> he loves kids. he loved his job with students. >> fellow special ed teacher ilene stevens. >> as you got to know each other, did he talk about his personal life? >> he talked about his family. he hadn't seen them in years. he wasn't allowed to. >> as ilene and larry grew closer, he shared more and more secrets. >> it was not a good marriage. no sexual relations. she had emmass emasculated him so much that he wouldn't speak much. >> sonia did make one thing clear. she wanted children. >> it seems like she hadn't been forthright about her age because she wanted to give the impression she was able to have children. >> but larry had found an alternative. he had gone to the philippines often to see sonia's relative, and larry had come to love her brother's two grandchildren. their names were quincy and jetmark. jetmark still remembers vividly. >> he's a nice man who loved kids, he friendly. stew how did you feel when you were around him? >> i feel safe and secure with him. always happy when i'm with him. >> jetmark and quincy's parent hoped sonia and larry could provide a better life in the states, so the family supported larry's offer to adopt them, and sonia agreed, as long as she could handle the adoption process. but a year passed, then two, more than three, and the process sonia promised didn't happen. >> he found out that she was sabotaging the adoption for the kids to actually come. so there would be a date, and then that date would come and go, and he finally figured that out. >> it was sort of his last chance to have children at that point. >> he was very upset about that. >> so upset, he demanded a divorce, and sonia agreed, but with one stipulation. >> sonia came over, and she said, larry's going to go to the philippines, and we have a taxi business there, and he's got to get that taken care of. >> which he agreed to do. after all, he wanted to see quincy and jetmark, and quincy's 16th birthday was coming up. but sonia, she didn't want to go. >> exactly. i brought that up. that's her family. why doesn't she go. >> and he said what? >> no, i need to go. it was whatever sonia decided. >> but before leaving for manila, larry needed to take one other trip. back home. back to olympia for the first time in 13 years, for a family reunion. >> it was great. he was very happy to start another chapter in his life without her. >> without her, but with the niece and nephew he still hoped to adopt. sherry listened and worried. >> this was not going to be an easy divorce. larry would say everything's okay, i'm going to go to the philippines, and when i get back, we're going to go through the process of divorce. he trusted her. and when i tack him to the airport, i really, really thought, i'm never going to see him again. >> coming up -- >> what? oh my god. >> a murder. >> i said, you had something to do with it, i know you did. >> then -- >> for the rest of your lives. it hurts. >> then three. >> there's blood on the floor. oh, my gosh. >> when "date line" continues. e . some thi stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today, for the potential for fewer injections. (luke) this will be a gold mine of local intel. just you wait. ask your retina specialist about eylea hd (marci) right. so, tell us about this corn festival? (stylist 1) oooh you got your corn pudding... you got your corn chowder... (marci) so... is it safe around here? (stylist 2) sometimes. (luke) if a family of eight were to need a cold plunge, where would they find it? (stylist 1) ...and then they dip it in butter, then bam, it goes right in. (stylist 2) ...really cute vampire bar. (stylist 1) the reverend does like a blessing on the corn. (luke) donut shops. how far from here? (marci) no eyebrows? (luke) think of how light it'll feel in the summer. we've got to run. eleven thousand more neighborhoods to go! (vo) ding dong! homes-dot-com. [coughing] copd isn't pretty. i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. because breathing larry risken landed in manila and headed south to the town of tanza to see quinzy and jetmark, those two kids he so desperately hoped to adopt-- larry risken: say happy birthday, quinzy. keith morrison: --where he attended a sweet 16 birthday party for quinzy. larry risken: you're going to have some cake and ice cream. keith morrison: during the party, you say happy birthday, quincy? you're going to have some cake and ice cream. >> during the party, larry noticed that jetmark's cousin had an eye infection. >> larry thinks that she must go to the hospital to have it checked up. >> as the party broke up and larry got everybody ready to leave, one of the parents called sonia back in the states. >> and said, we're going to the hospital at that moment. >> something you knew. >> yeah. because we're about to bring my cousin to see the doctor. >> so larry put the girl in a jeep, and then he and jetmark and a few family members headed to the hospital. they parked in the back. they went inside. after the girl was treated, everybody left the er and paled back into the jeep. it was just before 7:00 p.m. then someone approached us. >> someone approached you how? >> at our side, with a motorcycle. >> add suddenly the world exploded. one of the two men on the motorcycle started shooting, point blank, into larry's head, into his stomach. shock, then chaos. the killer sped away. in the confusion that panicked, jetmark reached for larry. >> i tried to stand him up from the seat, but i already see the blood coming. i was thinking that he was still alive. i am shouting out, "help, help." >> it seemed like forever to get larry back into the emergency room. >> i was praying that he would be alive. that's why i can't forget what happened that night. >> larry risken never had a chance. he was just 43. moments earlier, jetmark had felt so safe and secure with larry, awaiting a new life with him in california. >> i never felt that again, when he's gone. >> back in lomita, it was the middle of the night when nicole and jim thompson got a call from sonia. >> she goes, larry's been shot, and he's dead. and i went, what? oh, my god. i said, you want me to come over? and she said, yes, please. >> she was shaking. i put my arms around her, and she kept rocking back and forth. >> later that morning, sonia had nicole call sherry in olympia to give her the news. nicole left a voice mail. >> the woman said, i'm sonia, larry's neighbor, i need you to call me. and i knew. i went into my coworker, and i said, i'm going to return a phone call, and this person is going to tell me my brother's dead. >> which is exactly what happened. >> and i said, hi, sherry. i'm sorry to give you bad news. and she just said, she did it. i know she did it, she did it. >> it was sherry who called the police in lomita, told them to rush over to sonia's place. after they arrived, an officer called sherry back. >> i said, well, put sonia on the phone. and she was just, i believe, acting. my husband, my husband is dead. and i said, you had something to do with it, i know you did. >> the thompsons didn't quite believe that. not then. but, the very next day, sonia again asked jim to come over. >> she goes, can you help me go through these papers? i'm looking for life insurance policies. and that really stunned me. he had been gone, maybe 30 hours tops, and she's looking for insurance papers. and i thought, nah, i'm not doing this. >> the former navy commander gunned down in the philippines was front-page news in southern california, rate in reporter larry altman's part of town. and one of his first calls was to the newly widowed sonia risken who, to his utter surprise, was already back at work. >> she told me that she hadn't had a report yet, but that tourists get robbed, and that, perhaps, was what had happened. >> was it? thousands of miles away in the philippines, police detective javier was just starting an investigation. >> did anybody see this happen? >> yes, there is some witnesses. they cannot remember the place. could not identify them. >> no. >> no identifiable suspects meant no arrests. and the investigation quickly went nowhere. 8 the murder of larry risken, the execution, really, here at a hospital parking lot, of all places, was devastating for his family back home in the states, but to add insult to the injury, because his wife sonia had jurisdiction over the body, she elected not to bring it back for burial. instead, had him cremated, and ensured his ashes remain here, with somebody. >> when we found out that sonia had him cremated, and the he remains were not coming back, that was yet another slap in the face of sonia controlling everything. >> the family still held the funeral and left a headstone with a small empty niche. some day, they told themselves, they would retrieve larry's ashes and put them here. >> for his remains to be in the philippines, it's unthinkable. >> how much of this was kind of a middle finger to you and the family? >> a lot. a big one. >> whatever sherry's suspicions about sewn i can't, there wasn't much she could do except hope and pray that the tiny police department across the world would solve the case. but she didn't know, of course she didn't that sonia had a history. dive back in time, peel away decade or two, find another mystery, another man. and another murder. coming up -- >> she add previous husband what was killed 19 years earlier, in the philippines, in a similar manner. >> the dark story of husband number one. >> i said don't go, and then he hung up, and then he was dead. >> when date line continues. 8 date 8 detect this: living with hiv, craig learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, or if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. dovato may harm n baby. most cde effects are headache, nausea, ea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. detect this: you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about dovato. norman, bad news... you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. i never graduated from med school. what? but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... that's like $20 a month per unlimited line... i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? larry altman had no idea that spring morning in 2006, not a clue as he drove to his office larry altman had no idea that spring morning in 2006. not a clue. as he drove to his office at the paper, sure, he had broken a story about a murder halfway around the world, of that local teacher and ex-navy commander larry risken. but that was three days ago. he moved on. but then he got to the office and -- well, "surprise" would be far too mild a word for what he heard about sonia. >> i had several messages that she had a previous husband who was killed 19 years earlier in the philippines in a similar manner. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> wow! i managed to get a name for the first husband. earl john bourdeau. >> took a minute to sink in. sonia had another husband, and he, too, was shot to death in the philippines? how messed up was this crazy story? and who the heck was earl john bourdeau? altman dug through the newspaper's archives looking for any old story about the man, or the murder. >> we couldn't find anything. and so i just did a google search and came up with bourdeau in iowa. >> the bourdeau family live in davenport, iowa, along the mississippi river, in the very same house where earl grew up. back then, they called him duke. a handsome, friendly, midwestern kid. this is his brother dennis. >> he was the pride of the family. >> your big brother. >> yeah. yep. i looked up to him a lot, and we were kind of each other's protector. >> duke joined the marines during vietnam but was stationed in the philippines, where he met a pretty young filipino named sonia who sang at a nightclub near the base. and she was worth writing home about. dennis kept the letters. and it wasn't long before he got a call from duke. >> he said that he had gotten married. >> holy cow. what, did he fall in you love at first sight? >> i think he must have. it was almost a big secret. >> a few months later duke brought the secret bride back home to iowa to meet the family. but the bourdeaus and sonia never clicked. and maybe that's why after duke's hitch in the marines ended the newlyweds settled in southern california. a few years later, sonia opened a hair salon while duke worked at a bakery. >> what was their relationship like? >> it looked like it was real good. they were holding hands. >> all lovey-dovey. >> yeah. she definitely was the boss. no doubt about that. >> sound familiar? sonia ran the show, and duke, the ex-marine, found himself taking orders all over again. >> he definitely was scared of her. >> scared of what? she was just a paint-sized thing, right? >> that she was going to get mad and blow p up, then he wouldn't be able to do things. >> but somehow his strange and secretive marriage survived over two decades. dennis urged him, get out, and finally sonia agreed to a divorce. but -- and the this may sound very familiar -- first, duke would have to go to the philippines, without her to sell her little taxi business there. >> he was very, very depressed. he's like, i've got to go, she's making me. >> duke kept begging his brother to go with him, but dennis couldn't get a passport untime, so duke went alone. there was a plane change in hawaii. >> and he called me, then he called sonia and told her that he didn't want to go any further, and she said, you had to go. >> you had to go or what? >> that's what i told him. don't go. he said, i'm not you. that was his last words to me. i'm not you. and then he hung up. and then he was dead. >> coming up, another murder in the philippines. then, the danger travels home. >> i got maybe 200 death threats. >> what would they say on the phone? >> you've had it, watch every step you make. it was almost like they were watching. >> when "dateline" continues. watching. >> when "dateline" continues. provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. want more from your vitamins? get more with nature's bounty. from the first ever triple action sleep supplement, to daily digestive support, to more wellness solutions every day. get more with nature's bounty. ugh, when is my allergy spray going to kick in? -you need astepro. -astepro? it's faster, bro. 8x faster than flonase. it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's mom to you. astepro starts working in 30 minutes. astepro and go! ♪you're the one that i want!♪ nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease and more... all in one delicious, monthly soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. have heart failure with unresolved symptoms? it may be time to see the bigger picture. heart failure and seemingly unrelated symptoms like carpal tunnel syndrome, shortness of breath, and irregular heartbeat could mean something more serious, called attr-cm a rare, underdiagnosed disease that worsens over time. sound like you? call your cardiologist and ask about attr-cm. it was an august night, humid, hot, when duke bordeaux landed in manila, then he drove south own it was an august night. humid, hot, when duke bourdeau landed in manila. then he drove south to a town called general preas. it was about midnight when duke arrived at this little house. duke was exhausted. he crashed on the couch, fell into a dead sleep, and then he was dead. when police arrived, they found duke lying in a pool of his own blood. he had been shot to death. and soon the awful news made its way to iowa. >> it haunts you the rest of your life. you just dream about when he calls, begging you to go someplace, and you didn't do it. >> that survive's guilt is a real thing, isn't it. >> yeah, it is. it hurts. you let him down and you let your parents down. >> what happened in there? who killed earl john "duke" bourdeau? >> john bourdeau was smarter. >> a private investigator, he once worked at the equivalent of the fbi. >> someone wept inthied, they thought it was a burglary. >> but it didn't make sense. there was no sign of a break- in, and duke was the only one shot. pretty much execution style. the police here in the town jumped on the bourdeau case right away, and pretty soon they had identified some suspects, brought them in, charged them with murder. three of those people, three of those men were members of sonia's family. and then two more were picked up. so five members of sonia's family were charged with murdering duke. here's the criminal complaint. one of sonia's brothers had fresh human blood on his shirt and pants. the evidence police had gathered seemed overwhelming. case closed. but soon after, said detective javier -- remember him? soon after, there was a little surprise. >> they file a case against the suspects, but it was dismissed. >> why? >> for the reason that sonia risken failed to attend the preliminary hearing. >> did you get that? because sonia was next of kin, she had to attend the hearing here at the local courthouse to make the charges against her family stick. so no sonia there meant no charges. case over. local authorities said there hands were tied. that was the official version, anyway. didn't wash, said this ex philippine investigator. >> i think that there is some magic happened. >> magic? >> you can easily pay people around to be silent. >> pay to make it go away. >> yep. >> according to him, who has worked in law enforcement over three decades, that magic is not so uncommon. a thousand dollar payoff and, poof, it all goes away. >> so that wouldn't surprise you at all. >> oh, no, that's expected. >> back in iowa, dennis is convinced that duke's execution was ordered and paid off by sonia. >> sonia had so much power. everybody was afraid of her. >> almost like a little godfather or something. >> yeah. if she said something, people moved. >> sonia moved fast, too. she scooped up her dead husband's entire six-figure estate. >> her attorney told me, everything goes to sewn i can't. don't bother her or don't call her. >> dennis called a lawyer in the philippines, spent thousands on his own investigation, he said, hoping he would at least put some heat on sewn i can't. but instead, said dennis, he became a target. >> i got maybe 200 death threats, just by phone. >> what would they say on the phone? >> your family has had it, you've had it, watch every step you make. it was almost like they were watching. >> and this happened to you why? who was doing this? >> i believe it was sonia's family, because i had done some things that scared sonia. >> like reporting her to the police and the fbi. dennis said he also showed them death threats he got in the mail. and then one day he was fishing near his home, and -- >> all of a sudden, something is hitting beside us. i could see a guy across the lake, and he key see the muscle flash. >> the mystery shooter missed, said dennis, but that wasn't the end of it. later, he set happened again, right outside his own garage. >> they were standing back, almost where you were, for those two bullets. >> who were these people? >> i don't know. but these are -- >> these are the two bullet holes there. there's one here. >> dennis documented everything. said he told the fbi repeatedly. but nothing happened. and years passed. the bourdeau case faded away, far away in the philippines, until well over a decade later dennis got that call about larry risken. >> did he tell you how he died? >> he told me how he got shot in the head, too. >> just like your brother. >> yeah. >> did you immediately think, oh, boy, she's done it again? >> yeah, i did. >> maybe now, hoped dennis, all the renewed interest insonia might finally reignite the investigation interest his brother's case. >> i thought sonia was going to be hung from the highest tree and serve a lifetime behind bars. >> understandable, if naive. coming up -- >> had she been arrested, larry risken would be alive today. >> you looked into her past. >> oh, yeah, very extensively. >> what other secrets might sonia be hiding, when "dateline" continues. be h iding "dateline" continues. an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga, like: hazy or blurred vision, so it's hard to see fine details, colors that appear dull or washed out, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge. if you think you have ga, don't wait. treatments are available. ask a retina specialist about fda-approved treatments for ga and go to gawontwait.com [♪♪] looking for a moisturizer that does more than just moisturize? 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(vo) ding dong! homes.com [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. the u.s. says there was no ukrainian involvement in the attack on a concert venue in a moscow suburb, refuting vladimir putin's earlier claims. authorities have respected four suspected gunmen. at least 133 people were killed. and president biden signed the funding bill to keep the government open. the senate passed a $1.2 trillion spending package that will fund the government until september. for now, back to "dateline." two military men, two murders, nearly two decades apart. at the center of it, the woman who was married to both of them. sonia risken. reporter larry altman knew he had a hell of a story on his hands, and soon formed a headline grabbing nickname for sonia. >> the black widow of lomita. >> that caught on. >> that did catch on. >> nicole and jim thompson saw the headline, heard the story. it was hard to believe this was sweet little sewn i can't, their nice neighbor they were once so friendly with. but not any more. >> for her to send two husbands back to the fill babies and both of them get murdered, that changed the relationship permanently. >> i'm going to keep my distance. i said this is way too coincidental. it's just too weird for me, and i don't want to be a part of it. >> but up in olympia, washington, sherry jackson hadn't seen larry's stories about the black widow. and so when philippine authorities called her and told her that sonia had a previous husband, and that he was murdered, too? >> it was a huge shock. when i heard that, i literally dropped to my knees. >> then, sherry called dennis bourdeau. the similarities were eerie. the same circumstances, the same straight-out executions. and after they talked, she felt even more certain sonia had ordered larry's murder. >> did she kill larry for his money or was she angry at him, or both? >> she was a woman what needed control, and that would certainly jeopardize that. >> not to mention the money. and so for a second time, sonia was in line to inherit a murdered husband's estate, including a big life insurance payout. for then, the insurance company got a little suspicious and hired a private investigator named bill marshall. >> the insurance company called me one day and said, bill, i got a doozy of a case four. >> so his contact gave him a name. sonia risken. and a little back story. and set him loose. and, oh my. >> this woman had a history of fraud. >> you looked into her past. >> oh, yeah, very extensively. she had burned down a hair salon that he she owned at one point to collect the insurance. >> did she wind up collecting the money? >> she did. >> collecting, yes. paying taxes? well, according to marshall, sonia did most of her business transactions in cash to avoid paying the irs. and she launched frivolous lawsuits and stole social security numbers. sonia did get caught for a couple of her scams, was ordered to pay restitution. >> what did she get financially for the murder of larry risken? >> hundreds of thousands of dollars. she owned two properties, one in apple valley, which was worth about half a million. one in lomita, four or 500 dread thousand. >> so these may have been co- owned, but -- >> right. with him out of the picture, she owned them both. >> the insurance company prevented any payment to sonia. but he didn't stop there. sherry and her family were so impressed with his work, that they, too, hired him to investigate. not money, but murder. >> what were you hoping he with accomplish? >> to tell us the final days of what happened with larry in the philippines, and are these the people that killed her first husband. we wanted to get to the bottom of all that. >> by then, marshall was hooked. for month, he ran an operation from california to the fill pane town of tanza. he watched sonia's house, even got a haircut from her. here's the receipt. hoping to learn anything more about sonia and her activities. but he also haired investigators in the philippines, including bong oteza. he poured through police files, found new witnesses, and provided open what he believed was the murder of larry risken. it all led directly to sonia and her family. >> the brothers are the ones that did it, or they hired a killer. but definitely it's within the -- they defended their financial ability to sonia, so they will do whatever she requested. >> it looked like they gathered very damming evidence. >> so they put you him on trial, right? >> witnesses got cold feet and retracted their statements. >> almost like a replay of what happened after duke bourdeau was murdered, when police charged five members of sonia's family, but then let them go. what was certain, somebody paid to make both cases go away. and he didn't buy the line detective javier was selling. >> the court dismissed the case. >> do you think there might have been any corruption? anybody get a little money under the table? >> i don't think so. >> payoffs or not, it all led bill marshall to a disturbing conclusion. larry risken didn't have to die. it wasn't just that fill pane authorities he released the suspects. the fbi also knew about sonia. remember? duke bourdeau's brother dennis reported her to them years earlier. >> had she been arrested, larry risken, i believe, welcome back alive today. >> we asked the fbi for a response, but they declined to comment. back then, sherry turned over marshall's findings to the fbi, hoping that this time they, along with investigators in the philippines, would finally crack both larry and duke's cases. >> i was under the impression there was now going to be an investigation to where she was responsible for these two murders, and that she would have to have pay for it. >> but weeks passed, then months. nothing changed. it was business as usual at sonia's salon, and she remained free as a bird. then christmas came. the first christmas without larry. not a peep from the fill panes or the fbi. >> i tried to get information, but it's an investigation, and there wasn't much anyone was going to tell me. >> and then, just after new year's, an email arrived. and then another. and then more e-mails. sent, apparently, by a secret relative of sonia. now, what could that mean? coming up, mysterious messages with a sinister offer. >> he was offering to kill her. >> wow. >> basically to pay someone to kill sonia. >> soon, there would be murder number three. >> please send somebody, please. >> what did we just get ourselves into? >> when "date line" continues. t . d se for your plan benefits. get credit every month to pay for healthy food... -hmm! utilities... and more over-the-counter items at no extra cost to you with unitedhealthcare. after advil: let's dive in! but...what about your back? it's fineeeeeeee! 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wifi?rtunity. wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. the basement. so i can finally throw that party... and invite shannon barnes. dream do come true. xfinity gives you reliable wifi with wall-to-wall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. maybe we'll even get married one day. i wonder what i will be doing? probably still living here with mom and dad. fast reliable speeds right where you need them. that's wall-to-wall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. the murder of larry risken in this hospital parking lot soon faded into local history, and two decades of life and constant noisy traffic prthe murder of larry riske in this hospital parking lot soon faded into history, and two decades of life and constant, noisy traffic had pretty much erased any memory of the cig this house of a man named duke bourdeau. just two more mysteries competing for attention in the vast archipelago of humanity in and around this huge city of manila. this is arguably the most densely populated city in the world, and somewhere here, among all of these people were the killers of larry risken and duke bourdeau, though true al mystery. but to add to the mystery, somewhere here also were the remains of larry risken. somebody had them, but where, and who. back in olympia, washington, larry's family still had slim hope they might eventually see sonia caught and convicted. but for now, their priority was bringing larry's ashes home, giving the man a loving sendoff, formal burial. but even that seemed impossible. >> there will be no closure without my brother's remains back here. and i was just losing hope that anything was ever going to happen. >> it was all going to go away. >> it was just all going go away. >> sure seemed that way. and yet here was sonia still living the southern california good life, driving her core vet, running her salon. >> she never mentioned wanting to find a killer, nothing. >> and she never seemed angry at the fact that her husband was murdered, or getting justice never came up. >> but then, nine months after larry was murdered, as sherry was about to give up, a strange thing happened. or things. e-mails suddenly popped up in sherry's computer. and they talked about sonia being responsible for my brother's murder, and he was offering to get my brother's ashes back. >> he signed them john bourdeau. but wait, earl john duke bourdeau was long dead, so who was the guy sending the e- mails? >> i had learned that sonia's first husband adopted a child by the name of john bourdeau when they were first married. >> yes, sonia had a secret son, buy lodgely cal son born in the philippines before sonia married duke. we couldn't find any adoption papers, but the boy assumed duke's last name, considered him his stepfather. >> i never knew that until after my brother passed away. >> you never heard a thing about him? >> no. >> larry risken apparently didn't know sonia had a son, either. so sherry, a little suspicious about these uninvited e-mails, wrote back, all chummy, as if she and john bourdeau were online buddies. >> my goal was to try to get my brother's ashes back, so i was just kind of stringing him along. >> but the more sherry corresponded with this john bourdeau guy, the more she worried about what sort of person he was. >> there were quite a few e- mails asking for money. a lot of money. $35,000 to recover larry's ashes. >> it was very, very unsettling to receive e-mails. it was so outlandish that it was hard to make sense of. >> outlandish? the unsolicited e-mails were about to get down right frightening, and soon sherry and detectives would after new mystery on their hands. coming up, another cold-blooded killing. >> shot, execution style. >> like a bull let in the back of the head? >> yeah. they walked in, fired the shot, and walked out. >> and another dark tale about to unfold. >> how many murders can you have in one family? >> when "dateline" continues. ? >> when "d ateline" continues. oi serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. control of crohn's means everything to me. ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. breathing claritin clear is like... 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(music) have heart failure with unresolved symptoms? it may be time to see the bigger picture. heart failure and seemingly unrelated symptoms, like carpal tunnel syndrome, shortness of breath, and irregular heartbeat could be something more serious called attr-cm, a rare, underdiagnosed disease that worsens over time. sound like you? call your cardiologist, and ask about attr-cm. callkeith morrison:ist, continuing with our story, they call her the black widow of lomita california. everybody was afraid of her keith morrison: sonia risken, two husbands both they call her the black widow of alito california. sonia risk him with two husbands both murdered in the philippines. >> i said you had something to do with it. i know you did. >> murder number three in the victim will leave everyone stunned. who could be behind this killing? >> i knew this had something to do with emails. >> they're basically murdering anything and anyone they can. >> sherry jackson's inbox was flooded with emails from john bordeaux. offering what she so desperately wanted, the return of her brothers remains from the philippines. but the offer came with a price. and it was exorbitant. she was not willing to pay it. so this john bordeaux had to be a con artist or worse. and then? another email. he was worse. john bordeaux offered to add an extra service and it had to do with his widow. >> he was offering to kill the widow or to pay someone to kill sonia. >> first extortion and now murder. >> did you feel in jeopardy? >> at this point anything could happen. >> and sure enough something was happening. and it was not pretty. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so. please send somebody. >> something big had happened. >> we are on the way. >> reporter larry altman was at work when he got a call from a local that said we have a murderer out here and it's the woman with the two dead husbands. and i shouted into the phone are you kidding me? the body of the 60-year-old filipino hairstylist was found in her home with the black widow suspected of arranging the executions of not one but two separate husbands had met exactly the same fate. l.a. county sheriff's homicide detective mike rodriguez was on his way home when his commander called. >> he said can you call this reporter? his name is larry oldman. >> as you are going to the murder scene? >> i was thinking to myself this was on protocol but he said there was a tremendous back story and i called and he provided the tremendous back story. and i thought to myself, what did we just get ourselves into? >> detective mike rodriguez raced through traffic unaware that he was driving into the most convoluted case of his career. it looked like she had been shot execution style. with a bullet in the back of the head? >> yes. it's not like they ransacked and robbed her. her house was very neat and organized. it was a house where you could tell that not many people entered it. despite what we learned with the nature of her personality which was very guarded and suspicious of others. whoever did this, didn't break down any doors. >> they walked in, fire the shot and walked out again? >> that's what it would seem to be. >> she was ambushed and shot in the head just like her two dead husbands. rodriguez took a look around the house. her purse was still there with $1700 in cash. no one in the neighborhood saw anything. jim and nicole thompson were out of town. >> she said sonia has been killed and we said what? i was shocked. first of all, you don't think murder in your own neighborhood. >> this is a justice had been done. and the black widow was gone. that fate got her. >> some of her relatives also showed up in what was now a full-blown crime scene. one was waving his fan hands and cannot wait to tell us what he thought had happened. >> who was that? >> her nephew, eric delacruz. >> this is another member of her sprawling family. a special member as it was obvious he was her favorite. >> they treat each other like grandmother and grandson. >> she talked highly of eric. very proud of him. >> proud because he was a sailor aboard the uss ronald reagan. he had just arrived back home after a tour of asia when he heard his beloved great aunt sonia the woman he called grandmother had been murdered. he told detectives that he just knew what happened. >> he said that john bordeaux was a bad guy and if something happened to her he was the one that did it. >> john bordeaux was not hard to find. he was the one that discovered sonia's body and called the cops. bordeaux was at the crime scene when they arrived. and rodriguez immediately noticed a subtle but significant clue about this mother son relationship. >> there wasn't a single picture of her son john bordeaux anywhere. it was as if he did not exist to her. so those were concerns with us right away. police took their own pictures of bordeaux when they brought him in for questioning. >> was he in an emotional state? >> to me it was more like anxiety. i was wondering if he was even telling the truth. we were trying to figure out if he really was the biological child of this woman. >> he was born in the philippines and sonia was just a teenager. rodriguez got the distinct impression that this was a complicated relationship. >> he was brought over from the philippines as a young boy. and that's when he took on duke's last name. john bordeaux swore that he hardly knew larry risk him. it was a topic that was strictly off-limits. bordeaux is behavior and story seem suspicious. days later they brought him back again. this time for a polygraph. >> were you involved in the shooting of sonia? >> i would never hurt my mother. i love my mother. >> what was a big resentment you had against her for a long time? >> though he said they sometimes didn't communicate well things have gotten better. but they kept pushing. either you or the shooter or you are involved. >> i'm not changing my answer. i did not kill my mother. i'm not involved in my mother's death. >> do you think is involved? >> her husband's sister. >> sherry jackson? really? but then nobody seem to hate sonia more than sherry hated sonia. nobody except for maybe dennis bordeaux. coming up? who else might want sonia dead? the list was long. she certainly had a motive. >> her and about 100 other people. and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today, for the potential for fewer injections. 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( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. hi, i'm chris and i lost 57 pounds on golo. golo isn't complicated. because breathing should be beautiful, i don't have to follow a restrictive diet, and i don't have to spend a lot of time making meals. using golo was truly transformative. it was easy, and inexpensive. keith morrison: secrets, so many secrets. sonia risken had taken them to her grave. at the top of that dismal list, what did she do secrets. so many secrets. sonia had taken them to her grave. but at the top of that dismal list, what did she do to her two husbands? and who killed her? and why? a few days after her death several fbi agents showed up at her house. >> i came home from work and there were cars parked at the ends of the alley. and one by my garage. i pulled my truck in and i was thinking what's going on? they asked me if i knew sonia reskinned. and i said who? this it's on your bordeaux? and i said if you had the opportunity? i said in a heartbeat. >> that probably wasn't the wisest thing to say to the fbi. they covered the bases and he had an alibi. he was cleared. but remember sherry jackson had despised sonia for years and believed that sonia ordered her brother's death. so mike rodriguez paid her visit searching her computers questioned her and discussed those emails that offered her a way to murder sonia. >> when we reviewed the emails you have emails that basically solicit her death? >> she did certainly have motive. >> but just like dennis, she was cleared and quickly at that. >> she was a law-abiding citizen. she never entertained having sonia killed. she forwarded it to authorities and the fbi. in fact she forwarded them to the fbi the moment she received it. as always the fbi kept a lid on their investigation which was frustrating for sherry. it wasn't something discussed with us. >> frustrating? >> very. >> despite all of her hatred of the woman sherry was not happy that sonia was murdered. >> i wanted her to have to pay for what she did. and now she's dead. there is no satisfaction for me in that. >> do you care if they figure out who killed her? >> yes. because the person that killed her had something to do with these emails. it was just a big web. >> maybe john bordeaux could untangle it. remember detectives gave him a polygraph shortly after his mother was murdered. in his answers did not sound believable. rodriguez met with him again in front of his house. >> i don't expect you to believe me. >> but bordeaux did not break. he stuck to his story that someone else must have murdered his mother. >> there are suspicious things about the way you act. >> you have an email account bearing his name. it doesn't look good for you. especially was sonia's own relatives with the great-nephew who called her grandma leading the charge. derek delacruz who kept insisting that john bordeaux did it. he did it. he's a drug guy. >> eric was determined to get justice for his beloved grandmother sonia and even paid a visit to her neighbors looking for a further leads. >> he was distraught. a quivering voice and tears in his eyes. the more he dug the more certain he was that sonia's own son john was the killer when he called and met with detectives sharing those insights he's just gonna say he's not guilty. the maybe eric was right about john bordeaux. he kept insisting that nobody else had a motive or means. or the opportunity to kill sonia other than her very own son. >> why did you arrest on bordeaux? >> he is the one that discovered the body and had a beef against this woman who should've been loving. >> there was not one thing that jumped out that crossed that bridge that we would arrest him. sometimes it's better to take your time and being communication with folks. maybe let that anxiety level go down a little or lay in the weed so to speak see you can do your investigation and confirm things. >> something told rodriguez to hold off. to wait. and sure enough there was another big clue courtesy of the black widow herself. coming up, there was an individual who showed up to her shop and she could see him in the parking lot on the phone asking for haircut. she becomes suspicious because he has very short hair already. could this color be the killer? >> she said i wrote on the number and here it is. we fully expect to see this person's phone in the records linked up with having some kind of communication with the most likely suspect. likely suspect. my name is oluseyi and some of my favorite moments throughout my life are watching sports with my dad. now, i work at comcast as part of the team that created our ai highlights technology, which uses ai to detect the major plays in a sports game. giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport. keith morrison: the black widow of lomita was dead, but her body was hardly cold when police found a curious piece of evidence left behind by sonia herself. a few days before her death, sonia had called police to report two strange incidents at her salon. the black widow was dead but her body was hardly cold when they found a piece of evidence must high by sonia herself. they called police to report to strange incidences at her salon. the first? an individual that showed up to her shop. she could see him on the phone in the parking lot and he was asking for haircut. she becomes suspicious because he has a military -like haircut. and she says i only give haircuts to my usual clients and you are not one. and she sent him away. this is where we begin to hear from deputy district attorney john lewin. this was the second incident at sonia salon. >> two days later he comes back and according to sonia he calls the police and shoots at her. >> he just came in and tried to shoot me. >> when the police come she says i don't know him. but it is the same guy who came two days ago. and he called me on the phone and i wrote down the number. here it is. >> this is it. the actual notes that she made of his cell phone number. they identified it as belonging to fernando romero. >> fernando romero? who is that? >> other than the phone number, we didn't know who this person was. and neither did sonia. but she was determined to protect yourself >> she said i've got a gun but it's locked up. do you think we could get some bolt cutters and cut the lock? i opened it up and it was a dirty harry gun. and i said that was an awfully big gun for you. and her attitude was that she was going to show that guy. she wanted something big and showy. something powerful. she was a very shook up. most people be scared but she was angry about being shot at. >> even her 44 magnum could not save her. one week later she was dead. so was the mysterious fernando romero the killer? was it john bordeaux? was it possible they were both involved? at this time romero had vanished. they may never have found him except cell phones. such handy little crime- fighting tools aren't they? all detectives needed was a warrant and soon they were looking at his cold history. >> we fully expected to see this person's phone records linked up with having communication with our most likely suspect on bordeaux. >> what did you find? >> we were really frustrated because obviously you're looking at a lot of numbers that you're not familiar with the probe we haven't slept much in that week chasing a lot of different needs and we didn't see his number. not on those records. >> this was supposed to be there big break. finally connecting the dots back to bordeaux. but not anymore. but then? it was moments later by chance i got a phone call him on my cell phone. the caller i.d. pops up and i see that phone number. i could not have scripted it any better. who was it? sonia's loving nephew eric delacruz. >> why was he talking to fernando romero of all people? and not just once but often? especially in the hours just before and after sonia's murder. and then a week later the fbi popped up that they had been doing a deep dive into all of those emails that sherry was supposedly getting from john bordeaux. they isolated the internet protocol address which is a complicated code of numbers the track where emails originate. some of those addresses were from ports in asia. in hong kong. in korea. they were navy addresses. they knew he was a sailor on the uss ronald reagan. so the ntis was sent to check out eric. and before long they had a call back. >> by chance they asked if we'd ever heard of an individual by the name of fernando romero. i did three cartwheels and i said yes. we have a phone number that comes back to an individual name romero that we cannot seem to identify. >> former fbi agent roman christiansen was part of the sense investigation. and imagine this? he was also assigned to the uss ronald reagan in the same department as eric delacruz. they would've seen each other all the time. they actually hung out together. >> was it possible that they were actually plotting a murder? and doing it from a ship at sea? >> we basically looked at where the ship was at the time that those emails were sent. digging through the data it would take the ntis some time so all detective rodriguez waited for those results he kept stringing them along. he didn't give them any hints that he and not john bordeaux was now the prime suspect. >> it was almost like champing a cause together that he was on our team. and while all that was going on in cis did figure out exactly where he was when those emails supposedly from john bordeaux came into the inbox. >> he was in port in south korea at the exact dates and times that those emails were sent to sherry jackson and her family. so who would have had access to the navy network? who would've been in japan and hong kong and korea? that person was eric delacruz. sending extortion emails is one thing. but hatching a murder plot to execute the woman that cared for more than her very own son? families, they can be so interesting. especially hers. coming up a chilling motive for murder in the family. >> sonia was killed late on friday night. on monday morning guess who shows up at sonia's lawyers office before it even opens? eric delacruz. he wants to know how much is getting in the will. but sonia had one last card to play from beyond the grave. more when dateline continues. n sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. want more from your vitamins? get more with nature's bounty. from the first ever triple action sleep supplement, to daily digestive support, to more wellness solutions every day. get more with nature's bounty. ugh, when is my allergy spray going to kick in? -you need astepro. -astepro? it's faster, bro. 8x faster than flonase. it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's mom to you. astepro starts working in 30 minutes. astepro and go! ♪you're the one that i want!♪ nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease and more... all in one delicious, monthly soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. after advil: let's dive in! but...what about your back? 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[splash] before advil: advil dual action fights pain two ways. advil targets pain at the source, acetaminophen blocks pain signals. advil dual action. here is your news update. there was no ukrainian involvements in the moscow suburb refuting an earlier claim by vladimir putin. 11 people including four suspected governor gunman with 133 people that were killed. major league baseball have announced investigations following show hail tony and his interpreter who was fired after he alleged he was the victim of a gambling related theft. now, back to dateline. it was starting to look like a mortar plot that span the globe. much of it orchestrated aboard a navy ship thousands of miles in the area with a black widow took a bullet to her brain. john lewin believe the man behind it was eric delacruz. his motive? was simple. the same as the woman that he called his grandmother. money. >> sonia was killed late on friday night. on monday morning guess who shows up at sonia's lawyers office before he even opens? guess what he wants to know from the lawyer? how much am i getting? what am i getting? how much is in the will for me? >> that was what they wanted to ask? >> the lawyer said in his long career he had never had anything even remotely close to that happen. to his utter surprise he got nothing. sonia left money and property to her son john bordeaux. >> he wanted to make sure that john bordeaux didn't get anything. and what better way to remove him was to have him sit in jail for crime that he didn't commit. then eric got another nasty surprise as he played innocent with the detectives. my partner pulls out a picture of fernando romero. and eric goes off the rails to the point where you cannot speak >> this guy can't be involved he's in the navy. fernando romero. >> he was very shocked. and at that point he blurts out and he's my friend. he didn't do something to my aunt. i did my own investigation and they cleared him. he gave us a bunch of denials of wife fernando romero could not have done this. and i think he knows now that that is a link to him. they let them go and let them stew as they worked together a little more evidence before they tracked him down at a navy base in virginia with another little talk. time to play the email card. those extortion emails that he sent. >> now we know without a shadow of doubt that you were sending those emails from john bordeaux. they could trace it when you are in japan it is undisputed will. you're no dummy but this is the most important day of your life. they knew they would arrest him of course but they didn't rush it. instead they tracked a cell phone as he drove from that navy base back to his home in california. and in his driveway that's where they slept on the handcuffs and rodriguez had one more check with his former investigative partner. >> i walked up to him and i told him you're under arrest. he just kept mumbling to me that i had the wrong person. surprise traveled fast to the thompson's. if you gave me a list and who would be at the bottom? it would be eric. that boy came to my house and was quivering and tearing up about his grandmother. it could not be him so finding out that they arrested him was shocking. it's just not in his character he loves his grandma. he was destroyed over her murder. now he's the one you're saying is the actual murderer? truth is sometimes strange infection. >> the same day fernando marrero was arrested and they were both charge of first- degree murder. john lewin theorized that eric delacruz arranged the hit and fernando romero did the dirty work. >> my guess would be that delacruz let him in the house and romero shot her in the back of the head. >> as the trial approach they wrestled with the unique problem because the person murdered was herself suspected of killing two husbands for money. >> i never had a victim like sonia rios. cold-blooded lee and callously murdered both of her husband's supposedly? how do you even contemplate that? she was a horrific individual and it created an issue for me with the trial because she was a victim at the same time. a victim who might make the accused killers seem very sympathetic especially to a jury. >> coming up? the treacherous family saga they are murdering anything they can. how many murderers can you have in one family? >> what would the jury do? >> i did not try to present her as anything other than she was. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga, like: hazy or blurred vision, so it's hard to see fine details, colors that appear dull or washed out, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge. if you think you have ga, don't wait. treatments are available. ask a retina specialist about fda-approved treatments for ga and go to gawontwait.com [♪♪] looking for a moisturizer that does more than just moisturize? try olay regenerist for 10 benefits in every jar. olay visibly firms, lifts, and smooths wrinkles, by penetrating the skin, to boost regeneration at the surface cellular level. try olay. ♪you're the one that i want!♪ nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease and more... all in one delicious, monthly soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. 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(vo) ding dong! homes.com [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd keith morrison: february 2011, the black widow case went to court. eric delacruz along with his navy pal february 2011. the black widow case went to court and eric delacruz and his navy pal and accuse partner in crime were tried together for the murder of sonia briscoe. but the case person in a predicament for john lewin because sonia herself was an alleged killer and equally devious having apparently ordered the murders of two husbands. >> i do not try to present her as anything other than she was. a cold-blooded killer. if you're looking at poetic justice she got what was coming to her. >> and now they were determined to see that the killers got what was coming to them as well for the extortion the killing and the evil plan to frame her son for everything. the defense argued there was no murder weapon no dna and no eyewitnesses that put them at the scene. but the jury didn't buy that. they deliberated for less than a day finding romero and delacruz both guilty of murdering son of us go. >> it is ironic that sonia murdered two good men who are nothing but good to her. eric murdered someone who is nothing but good to him. in the end, did sonia really just reap what she shut which she sewed? >> the presumed shooter was sent away for 26 years to life. so was eric delacruz who masterminded the murder of the woman that he called grandmother. for her money. which in the end he never got. >> he went to such extremes for money this was not only the person that killed sonia but he is also the person that was trying to extort money from my brothers remains. >> the trail runs deep in that family. >> there basically murdering anything and anyone that they can to enhance financial well- being. sonia and her family murdered earl bordeaux and larry risk and and eric delacruz ends up murdering his beloved great aunt so how many murderers can you have in one family? for one member of the family the verdict meant vindication. john bordeaux the once estranged son who might've been charged with murdering his own mother had cleared his name. >> he was obviously still petrified of myself and other law enforcement. i told him that i was sorry that i did what i felt was best for the case. and i hoped that he understood that. he said he did but how are used not still affected or traumatized by something like that? because he was within that family public enemy number one for a while. but the verdict offered little consolation for chip for sherry jackson or dennis porto. and no justice for their brothers. with sonia dead there probably never will be. dennis can only imagine now what is lost is lost. >> i go out every couple of weeks and i put flowers on the grave. i just wish she was here. >> in olympia an empty place in the family plot was all that sherry could see if she could only find her brothers remains and give him a proper burial she could feel something like peace. >> is it worth going to the philippines to try and find him? >> i believe his remains are still there. >> but she worried too because maybe the people pull the trigger in the parking lot killing larry might come back after her if she came snooping around. >> those people are scary? >> knowing what has happened over there with two people being murdered? it's scary but it's important that he be brought back here. >> in june of 2019 sherry jackson left for a country that had haunted her for so long. two begin the most daunting quest of her life. coming up? an emotional meeting and an impossible mission. can she bring her brother home? dateline continues. dateline continues. utilities... and more over-the-counter items at no extra cost to you with unitedhealthcare. after advil: let's dive in! but...what about your back? it's fineeeeeeee! 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[♪♪] if you're only using facial moisturizer in the morning, acetaminophen blocks pain signals. did you know, the best time for skin renewal is at night? olay retinol24 renews millions of surface skin cells while you sleep. wake up to smoother, younger-looking skin with olay retinol24. ugh, when is my allergy spray going to kick in? -you need astepro. -astepro? it's faster, bro. 8x faster than flonase. it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's mom to you. astepro starts working in 30 minutes. astepro and go! keith morrison: sherry jackson steeled herself astepro starts working in 30 minutes. as the big jet sank slowly into the hot damp air of the philippine summer, manila. sherry jackson put herself as the big jet sank into manila. the city that drew her like a nightmare to the place where her brother died. as if walking in his last footsteps would bring them closer. and help heal what had long felt unhealed level. >> i realize this was larry's last walk. when he came here he had no idea what was going to happen to him. >> we were coming here anyway so we brought sherry along. no turning back now. until now she had only imagine the place where her brother had died. but here on the ground? it was all too real. >> a lot of anxiety. >> she had arranged a kind of buffer for that on this first anxious day. a slightly odd family reunion of the people that she had never met. the family that never was. the two kids that he wanted to make his own. adults now with children of their own. they open presents and shared memories of larry. she told them how she had longed to find what was left of him. his remains, his ashes. and work to bring them home. >> do you think we'll actually find him? >> she'd heard it had been passed around sonia's relatives on order of eric delacruz. >> he said to give it to my aunt. where was aunt susan? they did not know. in a city of cemeteries and 20 million haystacks his ashes could be anywhere. her dream of finding them became an impossible errand. so she looked form another way. she came to the place where he was last alive. the hospital parking lot where on sonia's orders someone executed her brother. >> i feel somewhat numb. that i am actually here and standing where he was murdered. it was so senseless. i am very angry. >> the dark empty parking lot did not speak. there was nothing here. then a few days before departure there was a tip. he got an address for auntie susan. the last relative who was known to have larry's ashes. she lived one hour away from the hospital parking lot. and here it was, the biggest house on the block. >> this is the last hope. we don't know what is in there. but i say, let's find out. >> we knocked and we waited. and we waited. but we could see there had been no one here for a long time. >> i will never know. >> so what you do about that? if you can't get it? >> i guess i have to let it go. >> that is tough. >> then as if on cue the day darkened and the rain came. so, is there anything called closure? that much overused word? on her last day in the philippines sherry got a wreath of flowers boarded a boat and took her grief out into manila bay. her own personal memorial. >> i am not leaving with his ashes. so this was something i felt i could memorialize him in that way. since he is still here. >> she hopes he would be proud of his little sister. but she doubts he would be surprised about the fact that she was searching for whatever bit of dust was left of him. he would probably tell her, if such a fantasy was possible, he had lived all along in her heart. nobody touch anything. it was just like, oh wow. he did it and he took off. we don't