expected. 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. 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. [noise] >> 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 somewhere. >> was it like he fell for her right away? >> yes. >> did he have much experience with women? >> no. >> her name was sonia. sonia real's. a very pretty woman from the philippines. who owned a beauty salon in the los angeles suburb of lomita. did he know she was 16 years older than she was? whatever. didn't matter. >> he was naive. >> it's not the sort of image you have a mind for a navy commander? >> right. 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. she would sabotage 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, 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 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 sherry. >> 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 a while. >> a while? stretched into years. more than a decade of cold, stony 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 loved kids. he loved his job with students. >> fellow special ed teacher eileen stevens. >> as you got to know each other, did he talk about his personal life? >> yes, he talked about his family. he hadn't seen them in years. that he wasn't allowed to. >> as eileen and larry grew closer, he shared more and more secrets. >> it was not a good marriage. no sexual relations. she had emasculated him to a point that, honestly, i don't think he would speak much. >> larry did make his feelings known about one thing. he wanted children. but sonia, remember, was way older than larry. well into her 40s when they wed. >> 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 relatives, and larry had come to love her brothers two grandchildren. their names were quinzy and jetmark. jetmark still remembers vividly. >> he's a nice man, who loves kids. friendly. >> how did you feel when you are around him? >> i feel safe and secure with him. always happy when i'm with him. >> jetmark and quinzy's parents 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. in 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 would have finally figured that out. >> it was sort of his last chance to have children at that point? >> yes. 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 is 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 quinzy and jetmark, and quinzy's 16th birthday was coming up. but, sonia? >> she didn't want to go. >> exactly, i brought that up. it's her family, why does 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 gushed, 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 took him to the airport, i really really thought, i'm never going to see him again. >> coming up -- >> i want, what? oh my god. >> a murder. >> i just said, you had something to do with it. i knew you did. >> then, wto. >> it onto the rest of your life. it hurts. >> then, three. >> my mom is laying on the floor. there is blood on the floor. oh my god. >> when "dateline" continues. from over 200 allergens. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. mom! i got the job! yeah, i feel like its all coming together. introducing the all-new 2024 chevy trax. with all the tech. here we go. we're going home monty. and all the room... for all of life's firsts. your first new car is here. the all-new chevy trax starting under $22,000. dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. and can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not or sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. type 2 diabetes? 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ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. with gold bond... you can age on your own terms. retinol overnight means... the smoothing benefits of retinol. are now for your whole body. plus, fast-working crepe corrector diminishes wrinkled skin in just two days. gold bond. champion your skin. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. >> larry risken landed in manila and headed south to see quinzy and jetmark, those two kids he so desperately hoped to adopt. >> say happy birthday, quinzy. >> where he attended a sweet 16th birthday party for quinzy. >> you can have some cake and ice cream. >> during the party, larry notice that jetmark's cousin had an eye infection. >> larry think that he must go to the hospital to have her checked up. >> we go see doctor? >> as the party broke up and larry got everybody to leave, one of the parents called sonia back in the states. >> and he said, we're going to the hospital at that moment. >> so, sonia knew? >> yes, because we were 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 piled back into the jeep. it was just before 7 pm. >> then someone approached us. >> someone approached you how? >> at our side, with a motorcycle. >> and 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, and chaos. the killer sped away. in the confusion and panic, 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's still alive, and i'm shouting, help. help. help. >> it seemed like forever to get larry back into the emergency room. >> i was just kept 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 has been shot and he's dead. and i went, what? oh my god. i said, you want me to come over? she said, yes, please. >> and 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 am 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 is 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 just 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 said, can you help me go through these papers? i'm looking for the life insurance policies. and that really stung me. he'd been gone maybe 30 hours tops, and she's looking for insurance papers. i said no, i'm not doing this. >> a former navy commander gunned down in the philippines was front page news in southern california. right 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 seleno xavier was just starting an investigation. >> did anybody see this happen? >> yes, there is witness but they cannot remember the face of the suspects. >> could not identify them? >> yes. >> no identifiable suspects meant no arrests. and the investigation quickly went nowhere. >> the murder of larry risken, the execution really, here in 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, and instead had him cremated and ensured his ashes remained here in the philippines with somebody. that news reached larry's family as they were preparing for his funeral. >> when we found out that sonia had him cremated and the 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. someday they told themselves, someday they would retrieve larry's ashes and put them here, at home. >> for his remains to be in the philippines is unthinkable. >> how much of this was a kind of middle finger to you and to the family? >> a lot. a big one. >> whatever sherry's suspicions about sonia, there was not much she could do, except hope and pray that that tiny police department halfway around the world would solve that case. but she didn't know. of course, she didn't. that sonia had a history. dive back in time, peel away a decade or two, find another mystery. another man. and another murder. coming up -- >> she had a previous husband who 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 he hung up. and he was dead. >> when "dateline" continues. oney - is that the plan? 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(vo) save with myplan. starting at... just $25 when you bring your own phones. guaranteed for 3 years. its your verizon. i may be known for my legendary football career, but truth is, i love a bunch of sports. the only trouble is knowing where to find them. that's why i got xfinity. so, i can easily find and watch whatever sport i'm into all in one place without missing a thing. even if it's football, australian football, or football football. in a word—it's fitz-credible. i got to trademark that one. this season, eligible xfinity rewards members can get up to $100 off nfl sunday ticket from youtube. sign up for xfinity rewards now. >> larry altman had no idea larry altman had no idea that spring that spring morning in 2006. not a clue. as he drove to his office at the paper. yes, sure, he'd 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'd 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 had 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? >> oldman dug through the newspaper's archives looking for any old story about the man, or the murder. >> we couldn't find anything. so, i just did a google search and came up with bourdeau in iowa. >> the bourdeau family lived in davenport, iowa, along the mississippi river, in their 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. [laughs] yeah. i looked up to him a lot. we were kind of each other's protectors. >> duke joined the marines during vietnam, but was stationed in the philippines. where he met a pretty young filipina named sonia, who sang in 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. he fell in love at first sight or something? >> 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 bourdeau's and sonia never clicked. 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 back then, at the beginning? >> it looked like it was real good. they were holding hands. >> all lovey-dovey? >> yeah, she definitely was the boss. there was 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 pint sized thing? >> that she was going to get mad and blow up and 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 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 goes, i got to go. she's making me. >> duke kept begging his brother to go with him. but dennis couldn't get a passport in time. 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, he had to go. >> he had to go or what? >> that's what i told him. i said, don't go. and 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. my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ non-drowsy claritin knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. some people just know what road to take. those are the people who know to choose allstate. the service road is faster. gps: turn left. not happening. he knows better than any gps. and he'd point you in allstate's direction. go all the way down the road, past the big gray warehouse. gps: take the next exit. you're not from around here, so you don't know the back roads. i don't want to be late for the party. i'm gonna save us five minutes. some people just know what road to take. gps: you're on the fastest route. those are the people who know safe drivers save 40% with allstate. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> our top stories -- tropical cyclone lee brought heavy rain, seven-mile-an-hour winds and coastal flooding to parts of new england and canada. storm made landfall in nova scotia on saturday afternoon. did to the uaw negotiations wrapped after 13,000 workers walked out at auto plants in three separate states. they are striking for equal pay and's gm and slanted. there was a move on raises. president biden saying that he hopes for, quote, win-win agreement. now, that today line. day line >> it was an august night. humid, hot, when duke bourdeau landed in manila. then he drove south to a town called -- it was about midnight when duke arrived at this little house. sonia's family lived here. 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'd 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 and begging you to go someplace, and you didn't do it. >> survivor'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 murdered in cold blood. >> bong oteza is a private investigator who once worked for the philippine equivalent of the fbi. >> somebody went inside the house. they thought it's just a burglary or a home invasion, something like that. >> 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. the case closed. but soon after, said detective -- soon after, there was a little surprise. >> they filed 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 their hands were tied. that was the official version, anyway. didn't wash, said ex philippine investigator bong oteza. >> i think that there is some magic happened. >> magic? >> you can easily pay people around just to be silent. >> pay to make it go away? >> yes. >> according to bong who's worked in law enforcement over three decades, that magic is not so uncommon. 1000 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 was convinced duke's execution was ordered and financed by sonia. and that she paid off whoever she needed to. >> sonia has 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 sonia. don't bother her. don't call her. >> dennis called a lawyer in the philippines. spent thousands on his own investigation, he said, hoping he at least put some heat on sonia. 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 is doing it? >> i believe it's sonia's family because i had done some things that scared sonia. >> like reporting her to the local police and the fbi. dennis said he also showed them death threats he got in the mail. then one day, he was fishing near his home and -- >> all of a sudden, something is sitting beside us. i could see a guy across the lake and then you can see the buzz of flash. >> the mystery shooter missed, said dennis, but that wasn't the end of it. later he said, it happened again. right outside his very own garage. >> they were standing right back almost where you were, for those two bullets there. >> 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. years passed. the bourdeau case faded away. far away in the philippines. >> until, well over a decade later, dennis got that called from reporter larry altman about the murder of larry risken. that was the first you heard she even had another husband. >> yeah. >> did he tell you how he died? >> he told me just how he got shot in the head, too. >> just like your brother? >> yeah. yeah. >> did you immediately think, oh, boy, she's done it again? >> yeah. i did. >> maybe now, hoped dennis, all the renewed interest in sonia might finally reignite the investigation into 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 yes, very sensibly. >> what other secrets might sonia be hiding? when "dateline" continues. 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the woman who is married to both of them. sonia risken. reporter larry altman knew he had a hell of a story on his hands. and soon came up with a headline grabbing nickname for sonia. >> the black widow of lomita. >> that caught on. >> that did catch on. >> nicole and jim townsend saw the headlines. heard the stories. it was hard to believe this was sweet little sonia, their nice neighbor they were once so friendly with. not any more. >> for her to send two husbands back to the philippines 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 circumstance. the same street out executions. after they talked, she felt even more certain sonia had also ordered larry's murder. >> did she kill larry for his money or was she angry at him? or both? >> she was not going to let him walk away. and she was a woman who 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. but then the insurance company got a little suspicious and hired a private investigator named bill marshall. >> the insurance company called me one day, said bill, i got a doozy of a case for you. >> so, marshall's 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, yes. very extensively. she had burned down her hair salon she owned at one point burned it down to collect the insurance. >> she ended 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 bogus bankruptcies and stole social security numbers. sonia did get caught, for a couple of her scams though. 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, a home in apple valley, which i think is worth about half of -- half a million. a home in lolita. there were expensive automobiles. >> so these may all have been cool and but now she all of them. >> with them with him out of the picture they all belong to her. >> marshall turned in his report. and the insurance company prevented any payments to sonia. but he didn't stop there. sherry and her family were so impressed with marshall's work, they too hired him to investigate, not many, but murder. and just maybe solve the mystery about what really happened to larry risken and who was responsible. what were you hoping he would 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 of that. >> by then, marshall was hooked. for months, he ran an operation from california to the philippine town of tansa. he watched sonia's house in lomita. her hair salon. even got a haircut from her. here's the receipt. hoping to learn anything more about sonia and her activities. and he also hired investigators in the philippines. including bong oteza. bong poured through old police files. found new witnesses and cultivated conduct confidential sources. pried open what he believed whether it's the secret true story of the murder of larry risken. and 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 family circle. and they depended for financial stability on sonia. so, they will do whatever sonia requests. >> marshall believe police in the philippines had much the same information. >> it looked like they gathered very damning evidence against sonia's brothers. >> so, they put them on trial, right? >> witnesses suddenly got cold feet and retracted their statements. >> oh. >> and interestingly, sonia showed no interest in pursuing the investigation. >> almost like a replay of what happened after duke bourdeau was murdered, years earlier. when police charged five members of sonia's family but then let them go. bong was certain somebody paid to make both murder cases go away. and it didn't buy the line detective javier was selling. >> the general police station filed a case. but the court dismissed the case. >> did you think there might have been any corruption in that? anybody get a little money under the table? >> i don't think so. >> payoffs are not, it all led bill marshall to a disturbing conclusion, larry risken didn't have to die. it wasn't just that philippine authorities released the suspect, 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, would be 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 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 philippines or the fbi. >> i tried to get information but it's an investigation and there wasn't much anyone was going to tell me. >> but then, just after new years, an email arrived. and then another. and then more emails. sent, apparently, by a secret relative of sonia's. 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'd be murder number three. >> please send somebody. please. oh, my god. >> what did we just get ourselves into? >> when "dateline" continues. ontinues after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. -what even is this? -don't touch my things. gross. janice, when you bundle your home or renters with your auto, progressive provides 24/7 protection for almost everything you own. -but do you really need... -my weighted hoop? it's for my snatched waist. that's my dog chaise lounger. foot treadmill. that's my tuesday chalice. purse that says purse. hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber. i can't live without oxygen. solid gold coffee machine. -lake making kit. -really? -can progressive cover that too? -yes, but -- -hi it's janice. i'll take 5. is my voice on tv right now? 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(dog bark) it's simply fresh meat and vegetables, with all the nutrients dogs need— instead of dried pellets. just food made for the health of dogs. delivered in packs portioned for your dog. it's amazing what real food can do. >> the murder of larry risken in this hospital parking lot soon faded into local history. and two decades of life and constant noisy traffic had pretty much erased any memory of the killing in 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, 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. so, truly a 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 anse was bringing larry's ashes home. giving the man a loving send off. a formal burial. but even that seemed impossible. >> they'll be no closure without my brothers remains back here. and i was just losing hope that anything was ever going to happen. >> it was all just gonna go -- >> it was all just going to go away. >> sure seemed that way. and yet, here was sonia, still living that southern california good life. driving her corvette. running her salon. >> she never mentioned wanting to find a killer. nothing. >> 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. emails suddenly popped up in sherry's computer. >> 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 emails? >> 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. a biological 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. >> and 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 emails 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 emails asking for money. >> a lot of money. $35,000 to recover larry's ashes. >> it was very, very unsettling to receive emails. it was so outlandish that it was hard to make sense of. >> outlandish? the unsolicited emails were about to get downright frightening. and soon, sherry and detectives would have a new mystery on their hands. coming up -- another cold blooded killing. >> shot execution style. >> like a bullet in the back of the head? >> yes. >> they walked in, fired the shot, walked out again. >> that's what it seems to be. >> and another dark tale about to unfold. >> how many murders can you have in one family? >> when "dateline" continues. keith morrison: continuing with our story, >> continuing with our story, they call her the black widow of lomita california. they called her the black widow of lomita, california. >> everybody was afraid of her. >> sonia risken, two husbands, both murdered in the philippines. >> i, literally, dropped to my knees. i said, you had something to do with it. i know you did. >> soon, murder number three. and the victim will leave everyone stunned. >> she's on the floor. oh my god! >> who could be behind this killing? >> if i knew that the person who killed her had something to do with these emails. >> they are basically murdering anything and anybody they can. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> sherry jackson's inbox was flooded with emails from a john bordeaux, offering what sherry so desperately wanted to return her brother larry's remains from the philippines. but the offer came at a price, an exorbitant one, that sherry was willing to pay. so, this john bordeaux had to be a con artist, maybe worse. and then, another email. he was worse. john bordeaux offered to add an extra little service, and it had to do with larry's widow, sonia. >> he was offering to kill her. >> basically, to pay someone to kill sonia. >> first, extortion. and now, murder. did you feel in jeopardy yourself? >> i did. because at this point, anything could happen. >> oh, and sure enough, something was happening. and it wasn't pretty. >> sheriff's deputy, may i help you? >> my mom dropped on the floor. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so. can you send somebody, please? >> something had happened. something big. in lomita -- >> we are on the way, sir. >> oh my god! >> reporter larry altman was at work. got a call from a local. and said -- >> we have a murder out here. and it's that woman with the two dead husbands. and i shouted into the phone, are you kidding me! >> sonia risken has been murdered. >> the body of the 60-year-old filipino hairstylist was found in her home. the black widow of lomita, the woman suspected of arranging the murders of not one, but two husbands. she had met exactly the same fate. l. a. county sheriff's homicide detective mike rodriguez was on his way home, when his commander called. >> and he said, can you call this reporter, larry altman. >> as you go down to the murder scene? >> i'm thinking, it's very of protocol, and he says, well there is a tremendous back story to your victim. i called mr. altman, and he provided us with a tremendous backstory, and i kind of thought to myself, what did we just get ourselves into? >> detective mike rodriguez raced through l. a. traffic, quite unaware that he was driving into the most convoluted case of his career. what's happened down there? it looked like she was shot, execution style? >> like a bullet in the back of the head? >> it's like they came in and ransacked and robbed her house. her house was very neat, very orderly. it was a house where you could just tell that not many people -- just go in -- >> how many people entered that house, despite what we learned from the nature of her personality, was very guarded, very suspicious of others whoever did this. they didn't break down any doors. >> that's what it seems to me. >> sonia was ambushed, shot in the head, just like the dead husbands. rodriguez takes a look around the house. sonia's purse was still there, 1700 dollars in cash in it. around the neighborhood, nobody saw a thing. jim and nicole thompson were out of town. got word from jim's dad and mom. >> she said, sonia has been killed. and we were like, what? i was shocked. i couldn't believe it. first of all, you don't think of a murder in your neighborhood. >> the video was kind of spinning it like, justice has been done. and the black widow is now gone. >> fate got her. >> some of sonia's relatives also showed up at what was now a full blown crime scene. >> one of them was literally waving his hands at the crime scene tape, and couldn't wait to tell us what he thought had happened. >> who's that? >> her nephew, eric delacruz. >> eric delacruz, another member of sonia's sprawling family, a special member, actually, obviously, he was his favorite. >> they treated each other like grandmother and grandson? >> she talked very highly of eric. you know, she was very proud of him. >> proud because eric 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. and he told detectives, he just knew -- >> told us that john bourdeau, sonia's son, was a bad guy. and if something happened to sonia, that he was the one who did it. >> john bourdeau wasn't hard to find. he was the guy who discovered sonia's body, and called the cops. he 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 bourdeau. it was as if he didn't exist to her. >> those where the concerns with us right away. >> so, police took their own pictures of bourdeau, when they brought him in for questioning. was he in an emotional state? >> more of anxiety. to me, it's like, is this guy telling us the truth? and we will really trying to figure out, if he was really her biological son. >> bourdeau said he was born in the philippines. sonia was just a teenager then. rodriguez got the distinct impression that this mother son relationship was complicated. >> he was kind of like an outcast to the family, he was brought over from the phillipines. >> and that's when he took on duke's last name. >> and that's when he took on duke's last name. >> but john bourdeau swore he >> but john bourdeau swore he hardly knew this mother's next hardly knew this mother's next husband, larry risken. husband, larry risken. off limits with her -- off limits with her -- [inaudible] [inaudible] >> still arguing about that question. >> bourdeau's behavior and story seemed suspicious. so, just days later, they brought him back again. this time for a polygraph test. >> were you involved in the shooting of sonia? >> no i would never hurt my mom. >> what was the biggest resentment you had against her? >> and though bourdeau said sometimes they didn't communicate, things had gotten better. but they kept pushing. >> [inaudible] were you involved? >> i will not change my answer. i did not kill my mom. i'm not involved in my mom's death. >> who is it that you think is responsible? >> number one person who is responsible is her husband's sister. sherry jackson. >> wait a minute! sherry jackson, really? >> but then, nobody seemed to hate sonia more than sherry hated sonia. nobody, except maybe, dennis bourdeau. >> coming up -- >> yeah, if i had the opportunity to kill her, in a heartbeat. >> who else might want sonia dead? the lists were long. >> they certainly had a motive, didn't she? >> yes, her and about 100 other people. >> when dateline continues. introducing the all-new 2024 chevy trax. with all the tech. here we go. we're going home monty. and all the room... for all of life's firsts. your first new car is here. the all-new chevy trax starting under $22,000. dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. and can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not or sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. type 2 diabetes? 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they asked me if i knew sonia risken, and i said, no. >> who? sonia risken? >> they asked me if i knew sonia bourdeau, and i said, yeah. they said if you had the opportunity to kill her, would you? i said in a heartbeat. >> probably not the wisest thing to say to the fbi. it made him an instant subject. the fbi questioned him, and he had an alibi. they cleared him. >> remember, up in olympia, washington, sherry jackson has despised sonia for years, believing sonia had ordered her brother's death. they paid her a visit, searched her computer, questions are. also, they discussed those emails that offered sherry away to murder sonia. >> when we reviewed the emails from the john bourdeau account, you have emails that basically solicit sonia's death. >> so that would be sherry taking revenge through john bourdeau? >> yes. on that john bourdeau account. >> she certainly had a motive, didn't she? >> yes, her and about 100 other people. >> but just like dennis, sherry was cleared, and quickly. >> sherry's a law-abiding citizen, other than she had no law for sonia. she never entertained having sonia killed. she did the right thing. she forwarded this to the fbi. >> in fact, sherry forwarded those john bourdeau emails to the fbi, the moment she received them. >> come on, we don't need three dead people. it needs to stop. >> if only the fbi kept a list of our investigation, which was frustrating for sherry. >> we were keeping our eyes on what's going on. i was trying to get information, but it wasn't something that was discussed with us. >> pretty frustrating for you? >> very frustrating. >> even more frustrating for sherry was what happened to sonia. despite all her hatred of the woman, sherry was not happy that sonia was murdered, not at all. >> because, i wanted her to pay for what she did. and now, she is dead. so, there is no satisfaction in that for me. >> did you really care whether or not whether they figured out who killed her? >> yes, because i knew that the person who killed her had something to do with these emails. it was just a big web. >> that maybe, john bourdeau could untangle. remember, detectives had given him a polygraph test, shortly after his mother was murdered. and his answers didn't sound believable. >> i didn't shoot my mom. >> he didn't do very well. >> so, rodriguez met with him again, in front of his house. this time, he grilled him. >>listen to me if you had anything to do with it, now is the time to tell me. >> you know, i don't expect you to come here. this is my home. [inaudible] >> but bourdeau didn't break. he stuck to his story that somebody else must have murdered his mother. >> i have nothing to hide. >> okay. but you have to admit, there are some things that are very suspicious about the way you act. >> he didn't exactly pass the polygraph. you have an email account bearing his name. >> yeah, wasn't good for him? >> correct. >> especially with sonia's own relatives lining up to accuse him, and leading the charge was the one sonia received gear more than our own son, the great nephew called her grandma, eric delacruz. he kept insisting -- >> john bourdeau did it. he had to do it. he's a bad guy. he's a drug guy. he did it. >> eric was determined to get justice for his beloved grandmother sonia. he even paid a visit to her neighbor, jim townsend, looking for these. >> he was distraught. he had tears in his eyes and a quivering voice. his voice was like, do you know anyone, do you know killed my grandma? >> the more eric does, the more certain he was was that sonya's own son was the killer. and he called and met the detectives office offering his insight. >> my grandma died. >> right on, man. do you think her son did this to her? [inaudible] >> and maybe eric was right about john bourdeau. he kept insisting, no one else had the motive, the means and the opportunity to kill sonia, other than her very own son. why didn't you arrest john bourdeau? he's the guy who discovered the body. he is the guy who was standing with this woman -- >> there wasn't one thing that jumped out, that kind of crossed that bridge, that we would arrest him. sometimes, it's better to take your time, to be in communication with folks. and maybe, let them, let their anxiety level go down a little bit, kind of lay in the weeds, so to speak, so that you can do your investigation, and you can confirm things. >> something told rodriguez to hold off. but not now, wait. sure enough, there was another big fat clue, courtesy of the black widow herself. >> coming up -- >> an individual shows up to her shop. and she can see him in the parking lot, on the phone, asking for a haircut. she becomes suspicious because she saw this guy having short hair. >> a mystery man stalking sonia. >> could this caller be the killer? >> she said, when he called me, i wrote down the number, here it is. >> we fully expected to see this person's phone. records linked up as having communication with our most likely suspect, john bourdeau. >> john bourdeau. >> when dateline continues. my husband and i have never been more active. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. shingles doesn't care but, shingrix protects. shingrix is now zero dollars for almost everyone. ask your doctor about shingrix today. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> the black widow of lomita jkeith morrison: the blacke widow of lomita was dead, was dead. but her body was hardly called was when police found a curious piece of evidence left behind by sonia herself. a few days before her death, sonia called police to report two strange incidents at her salon. the first one -- >> an individual shows up to her shop. and she can see him in the parking lot on the phone, because she is on the phone with him, asking for a haircut. she becomes suspicious, because she said, this guy has short hair like a military haircut. >> he didn't need a haircut. >> and she tells him, i only give haircuts to my usual clients, and you're not one of them. and she shoos him away. >> this is where we can to hear from deputy district attorney, john lewin about the second incident and that is at sonia's salon. >> two days later, that same guy comes back, and according to sonia, who calls the police, he shoots at her. >> they aimed the gun on my head. they were robbing you? >> i don't know, i was just coming in, and they stop me. >> when the police come, she said, i don't know the guy. but the same guy who came two days ago, it was the same guy. and when he called me, it was on the phone. i wrote down the number. here it is. >> and this is it. the actual note sonia made of the guy's cell phone number. >> she identified that as belonging to fernando romero. >> fernando romero? who is he? >> other than the number we didn't really know who this person actually was. >> and neither did sonia. but she was determined to protect herself. >> the next day, she said, you know i've got a gun. but it is locked up. she says, you know, jim could get some both cars and cut the lock. >> and it was a 44, magnum gun. the dirty harry gun. it i said, sonia, it's an awfully big gun for you. it's a cannon. and her attitude, i'm gonna show this guy. she wanted something big and showy and powerful. after being shot, she didn't seem shook up. most people would be like shaky and very scared. she was angry about it. >> but even sonia's 44 magnum couldn't save her. just a week later, she was dead. so, was the mysterious fernando romero the color? or john bourdeau? was it possible they were both involved somehow? this time, romero, whoever he was, had vanished. never found him. except cell phones. handy for a crime fighting tool, and they? all detectives need was a warrant. and pretty soon, they were looking at romero's call history. before we expect to see this person's phone, records linked up as having communication with our most likely suspect, john bourdeau. >> john bourdeau. >> what did you find? >> we were frustrated. you're looking at a lot of numbers that you're not familiar with, okay? he probably hadn't had slept much and that we, chasing a lot of different leads, and doing a lot of different things. we didn't see john bourdeau's number on those records. >> this was going to be their big break. finally, connecting the dots directed to bourdeau, not anymore. >> but then, it was moments later -- >> despite chance, i get a phone call on my cellphone. and the color i. d. of the phone number pops up. and i see that phone number on his records. i couldn't have scripted it any better. >> who was it? >> sonia's loving nephew. eric delacruz. >> eric delacruz? really? 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. week later, the fbi -- doing a deep dive into all those emails sherry was supposedly getting from john bourdeau. and they had isolated their ip, or internet protocol addresses. a complicated code of numbers to track where the emails originated. >> some of these ip addresses where from ports in asia, hong kong, korea. these ip addresses our navy ip addresses. >> they knew erik delacruz was a sailor on the uss ronald reagan. so, rodriguez enlisted the ncis they wanted him to check out eric. before long, he got a call back. >> the ncis, by chance, ask us, had we ever heard of an individual by the name of fernando romero? and i said, yes. we have a phone number that comes back to an individual named romero, that we can't seem to identify. >> former ncis agent romy christian was part of the investigation. and imagine this -- >> romero was also assigned to the other one of reagan. in the same department as eric delacruz. >> wow! so they would have seen each other all the time. >> absolutely. they lived in the same building. they actually hung out together. >> was it possible those two were actually plotting america? and we're 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 all the data would take the ncis sometime. while detective rodriguez waited for the results he kept stringing eri along, he did not catch the hint, that he, not john bourdeau was the suspect. >> we were championing across together that he was on our list. >> you just do what you're doing. >> yes, sir. >> and while that was going on, the ncis figured out exactly where erik was, when those emails supposedly from john bourdeau hanged in charities inbox. >> he would import in japan, and hong kong, and south korea, at the exact date and time that these emails were sent to sherry jackson and her family. >> wow! >> so who would have had access to a navy network? who would have been in japan, hong kong and korea, during that timeframe. and that person was eric delacruz. >> sending extortion emails was one thing. but while eric was hatching a murder plot, to execute, the -- who seemed to care for him, families, they can be so interesting, can they? especially hers. >> coming up -- >> a chilling motive for a murder of the family. >> sonia was killed late friday night. on monday morning, guess who shows up at sonia's lawyer office? >> eric delacruz. >> guess what he wants to know from the lawyer? how much am i getting from the well? >> but sonia would have won last card to play from beyond the grave. when dateline continues. ucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ ♪ non-drowsy claritin knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear. the sleep number climate360 smart bed is the only smart bed in the world that actively cools, warms and effortlessly responds to both of you for up to 44 minutes more restful sleep per night. save $1500 on the sleep number climate360 smart bed. ♪ ♪ ♪ shop now at sleep number.com. of the year. >> it was starting to look like a murder plot that spanned the globe. much of it orchestrated long in advance aboard a navy ship, thousands of miles from that little house in lomita, where the black widow took a bullet to her brain. deputy john lewin believed the man behind it was eric delacruz. eric's motive? simple, thought lewin. the same as the woman he called his grandmother. money. >> sonia was killed late friday night. on monday morning, guess who shows up at sonia's lawyer office, before he even opens? >> eric delacruz. >> eric delacruz. guess what he wants to know from the lawyer? >> how much am i getting. what am i getting? how much am i getting in the will? >> there was no other questions asked. >> no, that was it. the lawyer said that in his long career, he'd never had anything even remotely close to that. >> but do eric's utter surprise, he got nothing. sonia left her money and her property to her son, john bourdeau. >> he wanted to make sure that john bourdeau didn't get any thing. and what better way to remove him from the problem? having him sit in jail, for a crime he didn't commit. >> then, erik got another nasty surprise. as he played in with the detectives. >> and my partner sent out a picture of fernando romero, and eric goes out to the trails to the point where he can't even speak. he is so spun up >> you think -- [inaudible] >> do you know that guy? >> who was that? [inaudible] >> fernando romero. >> pretty shocked. he's very shocked. >> and at that point, he blows out -- he's my friend. he didn't do anything to my aunt. i did my own investigation, and i cleared him. and mr. delacruz gave us a bunch of denials of why fernando romero couldn't have done this. i think he knows now that's a link to him. >> they let him go, then, let him stew. as they gathered just a little more evidence. and then, they tracked eric down at a navy base in virginia. and they had another little talk. time to play the email card. those extortion emails he sent to sherry. >> so, now we know, without a shadow of a doubt, you are sending to john bourdeau emails. [inaudible] and this is undisputable thing. >> eric -- this is the most important day of your life. [inaudible] >> they knew that -- but they didn't rush. they said they tracked a cell phone, as he drove from that navy base in virginia, back to his home in california. and there is where they slapped on the handcuffs, and rodriguez had one more chat with his former investigator partner. >> when i walked up to him, i pulled him. you are under arrest. >> how did he take it? >> he just kept kind of mumbling to me that i had the wrong person. >> surprise travels fast to the thompsons in lomita. >> if you said, give me a list of who was very at the bottom of your list, that's erik. i'm like, no, you don't understand that boy came to my house, and was quivering and tearing up about his grandmother. it could not be him. finding out that they arrested him, completely shocked. >> it can't be him. it's not in his character who loves his grandma. he is destroyed over her being murdered. is he the actual murderer? no way. but truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. >> that same day fernando romero was also arrested. and both he and eric were charged with first degree murder. prosecutor john lewin theorized eric delacruz arranged the hit, and fernando romero did the dirty work. >> romero is the one that pulled the trigger. my guess would be that delacruz late romero in the house and romero shot her in the back of the head. >> as the trial approached, lewin wrestled with a unique problem. >> because the person murdered was herself suspected of killing two husbands for money. >> i have never had a victim like sonia rios. so cold blooded lee and callously have murdered both of her husbands. i don't -- how do even contemplate that? she was an absolutely horrific individual. and it created an issue for me with the trial. >> because she is your victim at the same time? >> villainous victim. >> a victim who just might make sonia's accused killers seem very sympathetic, especially to a jury. >> coming up -- >>sonia's treacherous family saga. >> they are basically murdering anything and anybody they can. how many murderers can you have and one family? >> what would a jury do? >> i did not try to present her as anything other than what she was. >> when dateline continues. flonase all good. also, try our allergy headache and nighttime pills. ♪ i gotta good feeling about this, yeah ♪ flonase all good. ♪ i'm with it ♪ ♪ i gotta good feeling about this ♪ ♪ yeah, ♪ ♪ so let's get it ♪ ♪ i'm feeling good vibes ♪ dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. and can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? 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>> for one member of sonia's family, the verdict meant vindication. john bordeaux, sonia's once estranged son who might have been charged with murdering his own mother, had cleared his name. >> did you talk to him after the trial? >> yes. he was obviously still petrified of myself and law enforcement. and i told him that i was sorry. that i did what i thought was best for the case. and that hopefully he understood that. he said that he did. but how do you not still be affected or traumatized by that? because he was in that family, public enemy number one. >> but the verdict offered little consolation for terry jackson, or dennis bordeaux, no justice for their brother. and with sonia dead, they're probably never will be. and dennis could only imagine now what is lost is lost. >> i go out every couple of weeks and i put flowers on the grave. just wish that he was here. but in olympia, an empty place in the family plot was all that sherrie could see. if she could only find her brother's remains. give him a proper burial, she could feel, she thought, something like peace. was it worth going to the philippines to try to find him? >>yes, because i believe they're still there. >>she worried too, because maybe the people who pulled the trickle in that parking lot getting larry might come after her. if she came snooping around. >> must of been a little scary? >> yes, knowing what has happened over there with two people being murdered. >> it's that important to you? >> very important that he brought back here. and in june of 2019, sherry jackson left for the country that had haunted her for so long. to begin the most daunting quest of her life. coming up. >> i'm still somewhat numb, but i am actually standing where he was murdered. >> an emotional meeting and an impossible mission. >> this is our last hope. we don't know what's in there but i say let's find out. >> can she bring her brother home? >> when dateline continues. on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. -what even is this? -don't touch my things. gross. janice, when you bundle your home or renters with your auto, progressive provides 24/7 protection for almost everything you own. -but do you really need... -my weighted hoop? 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[sneeze] (♪♪) astepro allergy, steroid free allergy relief that starts working in 30 minutes, while other allergy sprays take hours. with astepro's unbeatably fast allergy relief you can astepro and go! my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. ask your asthma specialist here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> sherry jackson stilled herself as the big jet landed into the philippines. summer in manila, the city that drew her in like a nightmare. and the place her brother died. as if walking in his footsteps would bring him close. help heal what long felt unhealable. >> when i got off of the plane, i got very emotional. because i realize that larry's last walk, when he came here. he had no idea what was going to happen. >> we were coming here anyway. so we brought sherrie along. no turning back now. until now, had only imagined a place where her brother larry died. but here on the ground, it was certainly real. >> here we are. >> lots of anxiety. >> she had arranged the kind of buffer, on this first anxious day, a slightly odd family reunion. for the people that she had never met, a family that never was. . quincy and jeff, to kids that larry wanted to make his own. they were adults now. children of their own. they open presents. and shared memories of larry. >> that was the last time i saw him. and she told him how they long to find what was left of larry. his remains, his ashes, bring him home. >> do you think we will actually find them? >> he said he heard the ashes had been passed around among sonia's relatives on orders from the man who orchestrated her murder. eric della cruz. >> said give the ash to my aunt. auntie susan. >> where was she? didn't know. in a city of ants and cemeteries, 20 million haystacks, flurries ashes could be anywhere. the dream of finding them, an impossible peril. so she looked for them another way. , she came to the place he was last alive, the hospital parking lot. where on sonia's orders, somebody executed her brother. >> i feel somewhat numb that i am actually standing where he was murdered. >> a place you never thought you'd be? >> right. just so senseless. i'm angry, i'm very angry. >> but the dark empty parking lot did not speak. there was nothing here and then a couple of days before departure, a tip. got an address for that auntie susan woman. the last relative known to have larry's ashes. she lived an hours drive from the parking lot. and here it was. the biggest house on the block. >> well, this is our last hope. we don't know what's in there. but i say let's find out. >> we knocked, waited. and waited. we could see nobody had been here for a long time. >> i'll never know. i'll never know. >> what do you do about that? if you can't get it? >> i just have to let it go. >> and then, as if on cue, the day darkened and the rain came. so is there a thing called closure? that much overused word. on her last day in the philippines, sherry got her flowers. boarded a boat and took her grief out to the manila bay. her own personal memorial. >> i am not leaving with his ashes, so it was just something i felt to memorialize him in that way. since he is still here. >> she hopes he would be proud of her, his little sister. but she doubts he'd be surprised. she's been searching for whatever bit of dust he was left in. and so he'd probably tell her, if such a fantasy were possible, that he lived all along in her heart. >> i am not leaving with his ashes, so it was just something i felt to memorialize him in that way. since he is still here. >> she hopes he would be proud of her, his little sister. but she doubts he'd be surprised. she's been searching for whatever bit of dust he was left in. and so he'd probably tell her, if such a fantasy were possible, that he lived all along in her heart. >> please, please have somebody come here right away. >> it was disturbing, a young, handsome police officer. a young, beautiful wife. >> someone i talked to almost every day is gone. it does not make sense. >> when you hear suicide? >> no, no way. >> things about it started stinking. >> she had met another man? >> yes, a big, messy triangle. >> how many other women besides you was he having an affair with? >> ten. >> ten? >> you've got so many