termination to begin with and he really had some animosity towards her. >> this is at doctor's house. somebody is after those doctors. >> four people are dead because of somebody's vengeance. >> revenge, that's your motive. >> that's our motive. >> it sent shock waves right away. >> no fingerprints. no bloody footprints. >> next, you know, they're constantly trying to figure out what's going on. >> tape on your fingers. park your car somewhere else, walk to the location. >> sort of a list that a killer would make? >> yes, it is. >> he said they had it coming. >> where's he going? what's he going to do? >> you want real life? you're getting real life. >> oh, god, what the hell do we have here? winter on the great plains can be long, bleak, and brutal. so in march, when winter briefly releases its grip for a day or two, even the trees seem to raise their limbs in celebration. march 13th, 2008, was one of those days of cautious jubilation in omaha, nebraska. 61 degrees and a light, velvety breeze. 11-year-old tom hunter wore shorts and a t-shirt to school that thursday. it was a little after 3:00 when tom, seen here on a security camera, got off the bus in the leafy dundee neighborhood and headed home to play video games, as he did nearly every day. it would be hours before tom's father returned home. but the house was not empty. 57-year-old shirley sherman, who scrubbed and polished the hunter home on thursdays, was still there. by sunset, both tom hunter and shirley sherman would be dead, murdered by a killer who was just getting started. who did it and why were questions that would eventually take omaha detectives all over north america and would take more than five years to answer. >> this one stood out, obviously, because of the brutality, for one. >> redact derek noyes was working 3:00 to 11:00 today. the 911 call came in from tom hunter's dad, dr. william hunter. >> dr. hunter came home and found shirley sherman and his son deceased and called 911. >> anything unusual with that call? >> there wasn't a lot of emotion shown, but he is a doctor, he is a pathologist, and he's seen a lot of death. and it was, i think to use a word, clinical. >> the detective and his partner were immediately dispatched to the hunter's stately home in dundee. >> nice part of town? >> it is. an older neighborhood, middle to upper class homes, very quiet. it's not a place where we have a lot of violent crime occur in our city. >> dr. moist still remembers the coppery scent of blood that hit him when he stepped across the threshold of the hunter home. >> there's a heavy metallic kind of humidity in the air, almost. you almost feel it. its presence, if there's a lot of it, and there was a lot of it at the hunter household. >> to the left of the front door, in the dining room off the main hallway, lay the body of the boy, tom hunter. >> he's lying on his face, his hands are down at his side, there was a fair amount of blood around his head. >> and down the hall, the body of the housekeeper, shirley sherman. >> she was found laying facedown with a large amount of blood underneath her. a stainless steel handle kitchen knife protruding from the right side of her neck. >> both victims had been killed in the same way. and oddly enough, there were no signs of struggle, no fingerprints, no bloody footprints. >> is this person careful or just very lucky? >> could be both. you know, it's not like it have. not every crime scene is going to yield fingerprints, not every crime scene is going to yield dna or trace hairs or those types of things. it's not uncommon for us to investigate these crimes and not have those things be present puch to make the case otherwise through other means. >> anything stolen? >> didn't appear to be, no. >> in fact, only things out of place were the knives. >> the knives came from inside the house? >> they did. >> unusual for a killer to show up planning to do murder and also planning to find the murder weapon at the crime scene? >> not necessarily. it might have just been an opportunity that he didn't feel that if, say, if he had been armed aarm ed at the time, he didn't feel he had to use it because you had such a young victim. >> right off the bat, you think you're dealing with a man here and not a woman? >> we didn't know. it was just as likely to be a woman as a man, but ultimately, we would believe because of the amount of force that was used and so forth that you were dealing with a male. >> by all accounts, dr. hunter was still in a state of shock when police took him downtown for questioning. >> when i came in, shirley was right there in the hallway between the back door and the front foyer. so the first thing -- i just said, where's tom. and i think i yelled out tom. >> do you have any idea who or why somebody would do something like this? >> honestly, i've been just racking my brain. i mean, i have a peaceful existence, almost ridiculously simple. >> dr. william hunter, known as bill to friends and colleagues, ran the pathology resident oloo nearby creighton university. his wife, claire, also a doctor at creighton, was in hawaii attending a conference. her husband had to break the awful news from her at the police station. >> how's your wife? >> crushed. >> is she going to be okay? >> he has a work mate with her. >> so she's not alone, that's good. >> the hunters had four boys, two grown, one in college, and tom. jeff, a student at the university of nebraska in lincoln at the time lived closest. he says it was about 8:00 that night when he happened to check his phone. >> i had all of these missed calls from friends, family. so obviously i knew something was up and i couldn't get ahold of my dad, couldn't get ahold of my mom. one of my friends called me and he told me to call my brother. >> your older brother? >> yeah. >> what did he say had happened? >> just somebody killed tom and i need to go find my dad, talk to my dad, get to omaha. >> how long a drive is that? >> it's like 45 minutes. >> those miles between lincoln and omaha seemed longer than usual that night. it's hard for jeff to remember exactly what happened when he got home. who told him what or when. >> that whole thing is a blur. i didn't sleep at all that night. you know, you're constantly trying to figure out what was going on. >> you lived in that same house in which this all happened, right? >> yes, my whole life. >> now jeff's mind was filled of thoughts of what had happened there and his brother, tom, who was eight years younger. >> he was kind of a smart alec. he was growing up with three older brothers, he was a smart kid, nuknew a lot and he just -i mean, he always had something to say for everything. >> it was the four of you, four boys, and he's the baby? >> mm-hmm. >> did he have trouble getting a word in edgewise sometimes? >> no, he was pretty good at getting his way. >> what was he up to in his life then? >> he went to a science magnet middle school, elementary combined with the middle school and he really liked science. he was always outside playing. that was his big thing. >> he was a big gamer, wasn't he? >> he was, but more times than not, he would be outside with neighborhood kids. >> but it wasn't the neighborhood kids that fascinated the cops. tom had a lot of friends he'd never actually met in real life. they were people he knew from the anonymous world of online gaming. it was those relationships that detectives wanted to know more about. coming up, a mysterioiouiou stranger and another murder. where would this winding trail of clues leave? >> a crime like this doesn't happen in dundee. it sent shock waves right away. >> when "haunting" continues. >> when "haunting" continues your name ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. 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[camera man] you can also get it from your pharmacist! talk to your doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. the hunter house was eerily still when detectives arrived. the only sound, music from a video game in the basement, which seemed to add a haunting sound track to the violent and disturbing scene. >> it had appeared that thomas was in the process of playing an online game on his xbox. you could see he had his pop and his chips in front of a chair right in front of the tv, probably like a lot of kids after school every day. and the game itself had timed out, but the music was playing, kind of ominously in the background. >> during bill hunter's interview with police investigators, they got straight to the point. >> does he play around on chat rooms or anything like that that you might be nervous about? >> i mean, i don't know. he's on -- his -- the only chat room i know he's on is whyville. >> whyville, it turns out, is an online game and chat room that attracts pre-teens. that wasn't all. tom's xbox, which allowed him to play and speak with other gamers online, was a concern. detectives wondered if tom might have inadvertently come into contact with an internet predator. >> we knew that he had a number of contacts and friends online through not only his xbox, but his personal computers, as well. >> and those people are essentially, in many cases, anonymous. >> to some extent, yeah, they are. >> so they might be kids or might just be saying they were kids. >> correct. and that's what we would come to find out, that he interacted with people all over the u.s. and in some cases outside of the u.s. through these interactive sites. >> did you or anyone in your family ever worry that tommy was meeting people online or talking to people online through the gaming community? people maybe you didn't know about? >> that didn't really come up until after the fact and we started thinking, maybe that was something that could have happened. but prior to, no. >> and you didn't know who those people were and he didn't either. >> no. >> detectives determined that tom hunter had interacted with close to 50 people online on a regular basis. >> tom was 11 years old. did he disclose that in his gaming activities? >> no, in fact, in some instances, we would come to find out that he portrayed himself as somebody who was older. >> which in turn could end up playing into this? >> yeah, absolutely. those were all avenues that we had to look at. maybe somebody began interacting with him inappropriately, thinking they were talking to somebody older. >> it would take months to track down tom's online contacts. more pressing is what detectives were hearing from the neighborhoods. several said they'd seen a stranger walking near the hunter home late that afternoon. >> tell me what the person neighbors described? >> an olive-come pleplected mal was heavyset, dressed in a collared shirt, some describe a jacket, possibly like an ill-fitting suit with a shoulder bag. and several people would correlate that individual to a silver honda crv. >> they identified the actual make of car? >> yes. >> that all seems pretty helpful. >> very. the same individuals would describe that that vehicle was missing a front plate, but they would describe the rear plate as kind of a white background with dark lettering and kind of describe multiple-colored sunset or a pastel sunset. >> so it's not a nebraska plate. >> out of state is what our feeling was, yes. >> based on neighbor's descriptions, police produced this sketch and four days after the murders asked the public for help. >> we received hundreds of phone calls about people knowing somebody that resembled that skre sketch. and each one of those leads had to be given some degree of consideration. >> reporter todd cooper covered the story for the omaha world-herald. >> dundee is a nice neighborhood in omaha, that's an affluent area. doctors and others. not mansions, but stately homes. a crime like this doesn't happen in dundee. and so it sent shock waves right away. >> more depth about the computer use. >> while the murders in dundee dominated the news, investigators were taking a second look at a less-publicized crime. months earlier, there had been another murder not far from dundee. in this one, an elderly female had been bludgeoned and stabbed in the neck. >> we had knives that were used from her residence in her murder. so we had similarities in that weapons were taken from her home and used against her and left at the scene. >> but you had somebody you liked for that? >> the detectives that investigated that case had identified a suspect very early on. somebody who was a family member of hers, who she had had a falling out with. >> and who didn't seem to have any connection with the hunters. >> none whatsoever. >> there comes a time in every homicide investigation where detectives have to focus on the victim's family and friends. as far as detectives knew, the hunters were a well-respect family. >> anything come out about the hunters that you didn't know? gambling problems, family problems? >> no. there wasn't some gigantic ghost in the closet that made us think, well, there is our motive right there. nothing like that. >> since bill and claire hunter were both doctors at creighton, he a pathologist, she a cardiologist, detectives wondered if someone at the hospital might have had a motive to harm them. >> do you have any patients that are upset with me? >> not as far as i know, honestly. >> how about your wife? >> i don't know -- i mean, usually not. >> everyone handles grief differently. after their youngest son was murdered in their home, the hunters seemed to want nothing more than to be left alone. >> we're kind of a private family, so not too keen on talking with media. >> on the other hand, the family of shirrlee sherman, the other dundee victim, desperately wanted to keep the case in the public eye. >> we wanted publicity. >> you really want this to be solved. >> yeah. >> oh, yeah. >> hell, yeah. >> they had their own ideas about who the killer might be and the more they talked, the more detectives wondered if perhaps shirrlee sherman had actually been the intended target. coming up -- >> at one point in time, she was thinking about getting a restraining order. >> a secret in the sherman family. >> we had an explosive relationship. she hated him because what he had been doing to me. >> and a new person of interest. >> immediately, there was a buzz. could it be him? 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[brokenhearted guy sobs] ♪ apartments-dot-com. the most popular place to find a place. instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders. try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h. because your derriere deserves expert care. try new soothing relief. now, there's skyrizi. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. 3 out of 4 people achieved... ...90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections... ...and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection... ...or symptoms such as fevers,... ...sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs... ...or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. i feel free to bare my skin. visit skyrizi.com. as a building contractor, brad wait spends a lot of time in his truck. he's haunted by the possibility that at the very time his sister, shirlee sherman was being murdered in march 2018, he was driving by, close enough, perhaps, to have heard her scream. >> i basically almost drove by hunter's house, and so it would have been at 4:00 that afternoon. i'd had no idea shirlee was working there that day. >> reporter: later that night, brad says he heard about the two murders in dundee on the 10:00 news. even then he says he didn't know his sister was a victim. that news came later, in a phone call from his brother, dan. >> danny called me. it was at 11 -- at 11:30 that night and told me what happened. >> reporter: dan waite says from that night on, the word "housekeeper" has been used as shorthand for shirlee as if her job defined her. >> they're always calling her the housekeeper, and it's -- she was only there for a couple hours every couple weeks or a week, you know. >> reporter: to her brothers dan and brad, shirlee was big sis. the family glue after their parents divorced when they were young. >> she was always in command and watching out for everybody. >> cracking a whip a little bit? >> mm-hmm. yeah, sometimes she would. and she would do that throughout her life, too. a lot. but very generous for helping wherever she could. >> she was the one that organized everything. she would call you before somebody's birthday and say, you know it's someone's birthday thursday. or she would get everybody to go in on gifts or help with the shopping and that aspect of it is -- you just don't realize it until it's gone. >> definition of mama bear, just not the family, the community, friends, in the neighborhood. just the way she was. >> for shirlee's children, kelly and jeff, she was the single mom who often worked two jobs and stretched every dollar to make ends meet. >> we were one of the poorest families in the neighborhood. mom worked bartending in the evening, cleaned houses during the day. >> gardening was her specialty. >> what'd she grow? >> everything. eggplant, tomatoes, five different varieties. >> feeding me was probably expensive. so she'd make her own spaghetti sauce. she canned her own cucumbers and make pickles out of them. >> after a lifetime of hard work on her hands and knees, jeff and kelly say their mom had cut back. the hunters were among a few clients she had left. >> she wanted to clean just a few houses that would allow her to pick up the grandsons in the afternoon and spend time with them. >> spending time with the grandchildren, it turns out, was relatively easy to do. >> she lived right next door to me. she talked me into buying this house so she could see her grandchildren. >> the situation was convenient, but kelly it was hard to have any privacy. her mother knew everything, who came, who went, and who stayed the night. and now the plot thickens. >> i was dating a married guy. >> let me guess. your mom didn't approve. >> no, not at all. we had an explosive relationship. >> meaning? >> meaning things got broke. >> kelly says that relationship became so temp pepestious, that shirlee got involved and tried keeping the boyfriend away. >> at one point in time, she tried getting a restraining order. she would tell me, he can't come over, and i would sneak him in. and one time she came walking around saying, i want his blood on this hammer. she hated him this bad. >> in spite of that, kelly stuck with the man, got pregnant and had a baby with him. >> it got uglier from there. she started the process of getting my house out of my name. >> so she could keep him out of the house. >> right. >> after shirlee died, what had been a very private and embarrassing family feud became fodder for public speculation. todd cooper, the reporter, says that starting on day one, kelly's boyfriend was a person of interest. >> immediately, the name of the boyfriend of shirlee sherman's daughter came up. there was a buzz. could it be him. like, could it have been him? coming up, another potential suspect. >> his name came up again and again. >> a doctor under the microscope. >> he had had some trouble during his time at creighton university. he was just a little bit more boisterous about his perceived treatment by creighton university and some of the staff there. >> when "haunting "continues. wlp b p b i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon. wsteaming up lingering odors.r is like a sauna febreze car vent clips stop hot car stench with up to 30 days of freshness. get relief with febreze. - ( phone ringing )es offers - big button,lized phones... and volume-enhanced phones.nes. get details on this state program. visit right now or call during business hours. and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. . hello. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. authentic wins the 146th kentucky derby saturday evening as thousands show up to protest for breonna taylor outside the event. protesters from multiple groups gathered outside churchill downs while many believe holding the derby is a distraction from the demands of justice. saturday morniarked the 101st df protests. now back to "dateline." prots now back to "dateline. by late spring 2008, two months after the murders in dundee, detectives had powered through and eliminated nearly all of their early leads in that case. the boyfriend of shirlee's daughter, the man who looked like such a good suspect on paper, seemed to have a solid alibi. according to time sheets, he was working at the time of the murders. >> he was fairly cooperative and we were comfortable putting him aside. we didn't have anything that would lead us to believe that he would know where she was that day and that he was in the area on the date those crimes occurred. >> the composite sketch generated leads and exactly zero suspects. >> there wasn't anything that you couldn't correlate to the actual perpetrator or the crime scene that day. >> as for tom hunter's online gaming contacts, detectives deciphered the ip addresses and anonymous screen names and tracked down those people. >> and as far as you knew, he'd never met any of those people in real life? >> correct. >> turns out none of those online contacts was anywhere near omaha on the day of the murders. detectives were making progress. but recorder todd cooper says the nervous citizens of omaha had no way of knowing that. >> all good police departments are pretty good at keeping that information close to the vest. we just kept waiting and waiting, but that question was foremost on everybodies mind. who could have done this? >> detectives returned to the theory that either dr. bill hunter or his wife, dr. claire hunter, might have been the intended victim. between the two of them, they figured, bill hunter's position at creighton made him the more likely target. >> he basically oversaw all the students that were going through this pathology training program at creighton university. and if there was disciplinary action to take, he would be the individual among others to have a direct impact on those students' lives. >> so potentially, a lot of suspects there. >> potentially, yes. >> so the detective went to the pathology department at creighton and started asking questions. >> were there any individuals interacting with these folks at the time this occurred that you believe could be responsible, for whatever reason, if there's a potential motive, what you think it might be? >> the detective says one name kept coming up. dr. michael bulinky. >> i can't give you an accurate answer as to how many, but his name kept coming over again and again. >> he was a former resident who left the pathology department and threatened to sue creighton a year before the murders at dr. hunter's home. >> he had had some trouble during his time at creighton university, but they weren't unlike other people's troubles, but he was a little bit more boisterous, against, about his perceived treatment by creighton university and some of the staff there. >> he got pretty angry? >> he had these issues with the staff at creighton university, but dr. hunter kind of went out of his way to assist dr. bx ulinky after he left the program. he wanted to see him succeed. he tried to go out of his way to make sure he was in a good enough standing to continue his career. dr. bulinky told detectives he had been working in pittsburgh on the day of the dundee murders. >> pittsburgh is like 900 miles from omaha so so you're not driving that in a day. you're not doing that without air travel, skpand air travel i something you can check. >> i believe we knew he had logged into his email account at his facility that day. >> but nobody actually saw him at work? >> right, but there is nothing to show that tl anything other than there. >> which is not an ironclad alibi, but it's not bad. >> and sometimes that's the reality of our work. >> that seemed to be the end of the line. dr. bulinky had been the investigator's last, best lead. unwilling to see the case go cold, shirlee sherman's family poodle the pooled their money and offered a award. >> there were some other people contributing, as well. >> which made it how big? >> 50 in all. >> we actually wanted it at $100,000, but they wouldn't allow that, because they thought it would be a bounty, which it was, in my opinion. >> when the reward failed the produce a break in the case, they hired a private investigator. >> part of the motivation of doing that was, we're going to send a signal, we're not going to let it cold case. >> you felt it was becoming a cold case? >> we felt it was becoming that way. >> in the end, the private eye didn't find anything that the detectives hasn't already studied and discounted. a year after the murders in dundee, the case went cold and most of the detectives moved on to other things. but for the families of shirlee sherman and tom hunter, there could be no moving on. >> how'd you see your dad change? >> it wasn't like he was depressed all time, he was himself, there was just obviously something kind of like you can always see behind someone's eyes that there's something there troubling him. and i think we all had that. >> five dreadful anniversaries came and went. the dead were still inexplicably dead and the case was still uninvolu unsolved. but through it aural, the detective says he stayed in touch with the hunter and sherman families. >> you kind of hear their frustrations when they call and they want updates and want to be kept in the loop, but as investigators, you can't give them -- they're looking for answers from you that you can't give them, not at the time. so we spoorexperienced the whol range of emotions from the family members, from frustration and anger to gratitude sometimes, because they knew that you were doing what you could. >> tough for you guys, too, because i'm sure you want to keep working on this, meanwhile, your boss is saying, here's another case, and another one. >> and that's why it went to the cold case unit. >> and that's how it stayed until may of 2013. the breakthrough moment came in brutal form. yet another double homicide in homicide. for detectives who had been at the hunter home five years earlier, this one felt uncomfortably familiar. >> i was like, oh, my gosh, this is -- this could very easily be related to the dundee homicides. coming up, it was a jolt of electricity and a big hit of deja vu. >> you could see the female victim lying in the living room. it was very clear there had been a struggle there from all of the blood. >> had the elusive dundee killer struck again? >> this is the same guy? there was absolutely no doubt about who was being targeted. >> it was chilling. >> when "haunting "continues. ♪ (peter walsh) people came and they met and they felt comfortable. it's what we did with coogan's. you felt safe and, if you were safe, you could be joyful. everybody has a coogan's. and almost half those small businesses, they could close if people don't do something. we have to keep our communities together. that's how we get through this. ♪ rioting is not protesting. looting is not protesting. it's lawlessness, plain and simple. and those who do it should be prosecuted. fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames. he can't stop the violence because for years he's fomented it. but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is. violence will not bring change, it will only bring destruction. it's wrong in every way. if i were president, my language would be less divisive. i'd be looking to lower the temperature in this country, not raise it. donald trump is determined to instill fear in america because donald trump adds fuel to every fire. this is not who we are. i believe we'll be guided by the words of pope john paul ii, words drawn from the scriptures. be not afraid. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. the piano movers were suspicious. their work order said they were supposed to make a pickup at this house in west omaha on tuesday morning, may 14th, 2013. but no one was home. >> when they went to the front door, they observed that the front security door was open slightly, and one of the movers noted a stainless steel handgun magazine lying in the doorway and they felt that that was of some concern since they weren't getting answer from the residents, to contact 911. >> when detective mois and his partner stepped inside, they found the body of an older man on the floor. the victim had multiple gunshots and a deep stab wound to the right side of his neck. >> off to the left, you could see the female victim lying in the living room, a large area of blood. it was very clear that there had been a struggle there from all of the blood that was apparent and where it was located on the walls and so forth. >> her arms and hands were covered with defensive wounds. and there was a deep gash on the right side of her neck. beside her lay two kitchen knives. for derek mois and his partner, it was a jolt jolt of electricity and a big hit of deja vu. >> we were like, this is something here. we have, you know -- it would seem, a connection. >> this is the same guy. >> this is the same perpetrator, yes. >> that's a pretty big moment. >> it was, very. >> just as before, nothing was stolen, and the killer left no fingerprints or bloody footprints behind. but these victims had obviously put up a fight. the additional gun parts found near the front door and the 9 millimeter gun clip with nine bullets remaining seemed to be proof of that. >> what do you make of the gun parts in the doorway? >> what it told me was that there had been a struggle for that gun. why would that magazine be ejected prosecute gun? that shouldn't happen in the course of normal firing of a handgun. but it made sense if you're struggling over that gun. >> this is not a faulty gun. this is a fight -- >> this is a fight. it was a violent struggle, a violent encounter. >> the victims looked as if they'd been dead for a day or two. detectives still didn't know who they were. but as they stepped outside, headquarters called. >> one of our sergeants that was doing research on who the homeowners to that location were, and she had identified roger brumback, a doctor at creighton university and was enjoyed within the pathology department. so now we have a second victim from the same office, in the same specific pathology training program that we had in the 2008 case. >> dr. brumback would have been a colleague of dr. hunter. >> yes. >> no question they would have known each other. >> no question. >> so tell me as an investigator what you're thinking then? >> well, it meant, specifically, if we see these similarities, obviously, we have to follow that. and that was going to lead us to creighton university medical center. so detectives immediately started getting subpoenas prepared to start looking at all the students that had been through that training program, the professors, and staff. >> it had been more than five years since the killings in dund dundee, but the creighton connection was lost on no one, least of all the families of the 2008 victims, shirlee sherman and tom hunter. >> we saw it on the news. people say dr. roger brumback was head of the pathology department at creighton university. >> i recognized that name right away and the fact that it was another pathologist from creighton killed with a knife, i automatically assumed it was related. >> roger brumback wasn't any pathologist. he was head of the department. he and mary brumback were both 65. in researching their final hours, reporter todd cooper learned the couple had been last been heard from at about 2:00 p.m. on mother's day. >> one of the first things we found out about was the face time conversation between both brumbacks and their daughter and they are roaring with laughter at one point, so much that the daughter took a screen shot of the conversation. that's the kind of stuff that humanizes this, that makes it -- you realize that this was just a lightning bolt in the middle of an otherwise normal mother's day. >> carol brumback, roger's sister, also spoke with her brother that afternoon. then two days later, a family member broke the awful news. >> well, he said, roger and mary were murdered. and i said, i said, what are you talking about? he said, they were murdered. >> what goes through your mind? >> you know, i had no idea. i had no idea, you know, what had happened. >> carol couldn't image who might want to kill her brother, although well off, she says he and mary had lived modestly. >> tell me about his marriage to mary. >> i just kind of knew that was a match made in heaven. >> and they seemed very happy? >> they were absolutely happy. mary just -- she did everything -- she did a lot of editing for a lot of roger's publications. >> shortly before the murders, roger had announced he would be retiring in june. he and mary planned to move back east. in fact, that's why the piano movers had come to the house that morning. now a town known for its steaks and insurance companies was once again buzzing with talk of murder. >> and there was absolutely no doubt at that point who was being targeted. it was chilling, just this sinking feeling of, oh, man, he's struck again. coming up -- >> he made comments like he was glad dr. brumback was dead. >> it almost sounds like somebody boasting about this. >> it could be, yeah. >> a new look at an old suspect. >> he called our office and said, are you guys going to need to talk to me again. >> we have two crimes and there potentially could be another. >> was another doctor in the cross harris when "haunting" continues? 33 33 tment than warfarin, i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? reeling in a nice one. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily- -and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. ask your doctor about eliquis. and if your ability to afford... ...your medication has changed, we want to help. ♪ if i could, baby i'd .♪ how can i, when you won't take it from me ♪ ♪ you can go your own way ♪ ♪ go your own way your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. . sometimes detective work is a lot like shooting pool. you play all the angles, make the easy ones first, and save the money ball for last. in the case of the omaha killings, the fwakbasic facts s out like bright balls on a billiard table. two double homicides, five years apart. both in the homes of high-ranking doctors in creighton university's pathology department. each victim stabbed through the carotid artery with medical precision. the next question, well, that seemed about as obvious as the ten ball in the side pocket. the last, best potential suspect in the 2008 murders was now top of mind for the 2013 case. dr. michael bullinky, but before detectives could get around to looking him up, something truly astonishing happened. >> after the brumback murders, he called our office because he had heard about the murders and said, are you guys going to need to talk to me again? >> he called you? >> he made comments like he was glad dr. brumback was dead. >> i'm glad he's dead? >> he made a comment to that effect, yes. >> it almost sound lis like some is boastinging about this. >> it could. and the same detectives turned around and started going through the same process, let's find out where he was on mother's day 2013. >> turns out dr. bullinky was living in the northwest, dividing his time between vancouver and washington state at the time of the brumback murders. when detectives reinterviewed him, they wondered if they were missing something. could their primary person of interest have somehow slipped in and out of omaha undetected? >> any indication he was in omaha? >> none. none. >> for his part, bullinky told the cops he had nothing to do with the omaha killings. in fact, he denies ever saying he was glad dr. brumback was dead. in the end, detectives had to scratch dr. bullinky off their list. back to the drawing board. if the suspect wasn't michael bullinky, detectives figured it had to be someone else with creighton connections. >> we knew that we had to look at everybody in the pathology department, all of the staff, everybody there. >> that means there are, what, maybe a thousand, a couple thousand persons of interest? all going in different directions? >> yeah. >> four days after the brumback murders, this investigation got one more jolt. another pathology professor from creighton reported around 2:19 p.m. on mother's day, someone had tried to force their way into her house, setting off the burglar alarm. fortunately, dr. shonda buttera and her husband were out for a mother's day lunch at the time. >> and of course, because her position, again, we're right back to creighton university and specifically right back to the pathology training program. we believe that this incident, as well, could be related. it made that theory of ours even stronger that now we have two crimes and potentially there would have been another had they been home? >> this is what dr. butra told nbc affiliate. >> there was no damage, no -- nothing was missing. everything was as it was. >> a week after the brumback murders, omaha police chief todd skmoter named a special task force dedicated to involving all four murders. >> i understand the fear and uneasiness in our community right now. i could feel it this morning when i spoke to employees of creighton university and allegiant health. law enforcement is doing everything to solve these crimes. >> that task force kin consisted of homicide agents and investigators with the nebraska state patrol. >> so this is a full court press. >> yes. >> so investigators once again dove into the creighton personnel files, looking for someone else who might have harbored a grudge against these doctors. >> you had already been down this road before and looked back a couple of years? >> yeah. now what was different is we were going to go back and bull the records from, i believe we started in 2000 to 2013. >> how many of you were sitting there and reading files? >> there were 21 of us assigned to the task force. and at some juncture, almost all of the detectives would get assigned files from creighton. >> in those personnel files were several names who looked promising. those who were nowhere near omaha near mother's day were eliminated. but a couple of weeks after the brumback killings, dr. mois says his boss handed him a three-ring binder from 2001. this one was the thicker that be the rest. >> what i took away after reading that file from front to back, in my mind, there was enough information contained in that file that it made a very real possibility that there was a motive to want to harm dr. hunter with hunter, brumback, or butra, that do department. >> he'd been a resident in the creighton pathology department. >> correct. >> and was dismissed? >> terminated. >> because of? >> unprofessional conduct towards another resident. >> dr. brumback, hunter, but rarks, any involved in that? >> all of them. his termination letter was ziped specifically by dr. hunter and brumback. that was of interest to me, but i saw very clear problems between dr. garcia and dr. butra, that they had had a very heated and confrontational relationship during his time within that training program. >> before arriving at creighton, it seemed anthony garcia had been well on his way to achieving the american dream. from a working class background in southern california, he'd finished medical school and embarked on what should have been a long and lucrative career. but then for some reason, his life began to be lit in large measure by the bridges he burned along the way. he'd been dismissed from other res residency programs, fired from some jobs, and several states denied him a medical license. >> it would appear that every time that dr. garcia would apply for a place of employment or licenseture as a physician in another state, creighton university would get notification of that, because they would get a request to verify dr. garcia's time that he had spent there. >> and creighton would respond, usually dr. brumback or dr. hunter, yeah, he was here, he was dismissed, he didn't do a good job. >> so that kept coming back to haunt dr. a garcia, that experience at creighton. >> how many times did that happen? >> i want to say at least seven or eight times. >> professional failure and need for revenge could be a powerful motive. now the detective needed to know if garcia had the means to commit murder. coming up -- >> we have records of dr. garcia purchasing specifically a smith & wesson sd9 9 millimeter shortly. the brumback murders. >> new information and new fears. were more creighton colleagues in jeopardy? >> you felt some urgency to arrest dr. garcia quickly. >> yes. >> because? >> we flknew he was a very real danger to anybody that he could have perceived that had wrongd him on some level. >> when "haunting" continues. m . >> when "haunting" continues ewww. dead skin cells? gross! so now, i grab my swiffer heavy duty sweeper and dusters. dusters extends to 6 feet to reach way up high... to grab, trap and lock away gross dust. nice! for dust on my floors, i switch to sweeper. the heavy duty cloths reach deep in grooves to grab, trap and lock dust bunnies... no matter where they hide. no more heebie jeebies. phhhhew. glad i stopped cleaning and started swiffering. i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon. 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[camera man] you can also get it from your pharmacist! talk to your doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. openness of the nebraska landscape that fosters a feeling of innocence. of simpler, safer times. in may, 2013, a double homicide in the home of an omaha doctor changed all of that. it was the second time, in five years, that a doctor from creighton university's pathology department had, apparently, been targeted for murder. in 2008, the victims were dr. william hunter's 11-year-old son, tom, and his housecleaner, shirley sherman. the latest victims were roger brunback and his wife, mary. on the day the brunbachs were last known to be alive, someone broke into the home of a third pathologist. now, detective and his team were on the trail of another physician, this one, with a possible motive for murder. in 2001, dr. anthony garcia had been let go from the creighton university pathology department, for unprofessional conduct. garcia had, since, moved to indiana. so the detective called the indiana state police. >> the indiana state police came back, that day, and said we have records of dr. garcia purchasing, specifically, a smith & wesson shortly before the brownback murders. well, obviously, that's very significant to us. >> yeah. >> now, he needed to know whether anthony garcia was in omaha on mother's day, 2013. with little to go on, the detective decided to follow the money. >> i wanted to find out where he had active credit cards and/or bank or checking accounts. >> a credit card issued to anthony garcia had been used twice in the omaha area on mother's day 2013. the first charge was at around 12:30 p.m. at casey's general store just outside omaha. this is store video of garcia buying beer. the second was two hours later, at a chicken joint in west omaha called the wing stop. the wing stop is about a mile from dr. butra's home. >> i was able to get a receipt that showed it at 2:26. well, i knew that dr. butra's alarm on her house had gone off at 2:19. and that was about a mile away from the restaurant. >> so your thinking is he tries to get into the butra house. he can't do it. >> correct. >> he leaves. maybe, knowing he's set off the burglar alarm. drives about a mile, to this wing restaurant. and? >> he makes a purchase. and we would come to find out that, while he was sitting at that location, he was searching for where dr. brunbach resided. >> based on those factors, investigators became convinced anthony garcia was their man. >> you felt some urgency to arrest him quickly. because? >> we knew that he was a very real danger to anybody that he could have perceived had wronged him, on some level. and we also had learned, through those search warrants by the indiana state police, that shortly after he returned to terra haute, he had purchased another firearm, another handgun. >> in july, 2013, investigators were ready to make their move. one team of detectives was sent to indiana to arrest anthony garcia. another flew to california to, simultaneously, search his parents' home. it was all supposed to be a coordinated operation. but on the morning of the planned arrest, the indiana team, suddenly, discovered their suspect had put them behind the eight ball. coming up. manhunt. >> our hope was that in the morning, he would get up and go home. and we could grab him there. but that morning, of course, when the fbi agents got out, he, again, was on the move. >> they're going 100 miles an hour. >> a doctor on the run. would the man who eluded investigators for five years slip away, again? when "haunting" continues. again when "haunting" continues. your name ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. ever since darrell's family started using gain flings, their laundry smells more amazing than ever. ah, honey! isn't that the dog's towel? hey, me towel su towel. there's more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. gain. seriously good scent. brumback and his wife, mary, were murdered in their home, omaha detectives flew to indiana, ready to make an arrest. their target was a former creighton med school resident, dr. anthony garcia. the detectives had arranged to have a s.w.a.t. team and forensic technicians, on hand, in terra haute when they made the arrest at garcia's home. but, once their plane landed, that plan changed. >> after we landed in indianapolis on sunday afternoon, and turned our phones back on. we would observe that, all of a sudden, dr. garcia's cell phone is no longer in terra haute and he was mobile. and he was traveling south, through illinois, which gave us, obviously, some concern. >> because you thought he was headed where? >> well, we didn't know, exactly. it was possible that he would return the next day. so we kind of put our plans on hold, hoping that he would return to his residence. and we would effect his arrest at his residence. >> fortunately, two fbi agents who had been working with the task force were closer to illinois. they eventually found garcia at a hotel off the interstate. >> our hope was that, in the morning, he would get up and go home. and we could grab him there. but that morning, of course, when the fbi agents got up, he, again, was on the move and headed south. >> they missed him. >> they missed him. >> and now, he's truly in the wind. >> yes. and we had done enough research to know that there were other individuals, throughout his career, that seemingly wronged him, that lived further south. and we were worried, where is he headed? >> reporter todd cooper would, later, learn that, for three hours, all agents had to go on were pings, every 30 minutes, from garcia's cell phone. >> they're going 100 miles an hour. the next ping comes in, a half hour later, and he's behind them. so now, we u-turn and we speed back, and they're scanning the southbound lanes. and they finally find him tucked in behind a semi, and, you know, the wave of relief that must have come over them. >> with the help of illinois state troopers, garcia was finally pulled over. although, it was only 8:30 a.m., he had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. >> the trooper said that his breath smelled of booze. and then, when he went to -- had to relieve himself that, that smelled of booze, as well. >> garcia was arrested on the spot for driving under the influence. from his car, police recovered a cell phone, a .45 caliber pistol, 50 bullets, a crowbar, and a sledge hammer. >> he told cops later he was on a trip to new orleans, but had no luggage. and then, the most chilling to me was, in that backseat, was an lsu lab skoet andcoat and steth >> investigators knew garcia had been fired from lsu shreveport. was he on his way to confront doctors there? only anthony garcia knows. he clammed up when omaha detectives tried to talk to him. >> we introduced ourselves as detectives from the omaha police department and that we were investigating homicides in our jurisdiction. and mr. garcia immediately asked for an attorney. >> that's it? >> and that's it. i mean, at that point, as an investigator, i can't continue questioning. >> later that afternoon, omaha police chief stepped before the cameras to make the announcement that his city had been desperately waiting to hear. >> arrested, this morning, was dr. anthony joseph garcia, for four counts of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit the murders. >> for the families of roger and marry brumback, of tom hunter, and of shirley sherman, the arrest was very welcome news. >> i'm at walmart with my kids, and danny calls me and says they made an arrest in the case. and i think i forgot about 20, 30 items on my grocery shopping list. because i was, like, real happy. i just rushed out of the grocery store and wanted to go home and watch the news. >> with anthony garcia's arrest, jeff hunter says he and his parents felt as if they could finally stop looking over their shoulders. >> i mean, for five years there, superparanoid. because i mean, for all we knew, all i always thought about was someone going trying to find my dad. because that was always my hunch that someone was after either my mom or dad. >> investigators dispatched to anthony garcia's home in terra haute, indiana, saw the outward sign posts of success. the house sat on a quiet street with a ferrari in the drive. but, inside, the house was practically empty. bare rooms. bare closets. and barely any food. in the living room, detectives found a table stacked with financial documents, mortgage information, and insurance policies. anthony garcia was broke. his home, facing foreclosure. >> well, it appeared to us that, he had made some deliberate attempt to, kind of, lay things out so people could get his affairs in order. and we see those things, as homicide investigators, when you investigate suicides. >> so wherever he was headed when you arrested him, maybe, that was going to be his last journey anywhere. >> that was our thought. that was going to be his endgame. >> in addition to the documents taken from garcia's home, investigators had to go through all the data collected from his electronic devices. cell phones, tablets, computers. and his icloud account. >> you could see, from his financial records, that he was regularly going to alcohol stores. that he was spending a lot of time at gentlemen's clubs, in and around terra haute. he was not working regularly. so it looked to us, collectively, like his life was -- was falling apart. >> hardly, what garcia's parents had envisioned for their son when he was growing up in southern california. anthony garcia's father, fred, worked for the postal service. his mother, estella, a nurse, had been born in mexico. it was a proud moment, they told reporters, when, in 1999, the eldest of their three children graduated from medical school. >> there's a great, poignant moment, where frederick garcia and anthony pile his belongings, what little he has, in a rattly, old van, and drive across the country from california to upper-state new york to start his medical career. how proud he must've been, at that moment. >> what started as the american dream was turning into something unthinkable. if convicted of murdering four people, dr. anthony garcia, now 40 years old, faced the death penalty. his alleged motive? revenge, for getting bad job recommendations. coming up. >> i looked my wife and said we got a murder case. you got to find a sitter for the kids. >> a husband and wife defense team. big-city lawyers with a few big surprises. >> there were so many other people with means, motive, and opportunity, that could have committed this crime. >> when "haunting" continues. d >> when "haunting" continues did you know that some aluminum- free deodorants only mask odor? secret aluminum free helps eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with three times more odor fighters. with secret, odor is one less thing to worry about. secret. here's what's happening in the united states. there are over 6.2 million confirmed cases of covid-19 the institute for health metrics and evaluation says over 400,000 people could die, by the end of the year. drugmakers competing to bring a covid-19 vaccine to market will issue a joint statement, next week, according to cnbc. they'll pledge not to seek government approval, until enough data has been collected to ensure the drugs are safe and effective. now, back to "dateline." as the father of four, bob mata appreciates a night of slumber. but on tuesday, july 16th, 2013, he woke up at 4:00 a.m., unable to sleep. the chicago-area criminal attorney checked his office voicemail. that's when he saw that someone from california had left him a message. >> guy starts out. well, my brother got arrested down in southern illinois for a dui. and i'm like, dui? i'm not driving down there for a dui. within the next minute, he says, but it sounds like what they're actually arresting him for is murder. so then, obviously, my interest was peaked. >> it was a stroke of luck. anthony garcia's family had been cold calling lawyers, looking for someone to defend anthony. bob mata was the first to call back. it was 2:00 a.m., california time, when he got anthony garcia's brother on the phone. 30 minutes later, bob mata was retained to handle his first murder case. >> i go upstairs. i wake my wife up, who is my law partner, and i'm like, we've got a murder case. got to get up and go to jackson county. got to find a sitter for the kids. within three hours, we're showered, dressed, and driving down the six hours to jackson county. at which point, we met with anthony. >> when anthony garcia's extradition hearing came up, the next day, the matas, mister and misses, were seated at the defense table. >> consented for authorities in nebraska to take you back to that state to deal with these charges. you understand that? >> yeah. >> i'm not going to answer any questions in regards to his state of mind, at this point. >> the matas brought in mata. >> i had never tried a case with my dad. and he is towards the end of his career. he had always said to me, if you get a juicy murder, that, give me a call. i'll try it with you. and i called him, half expecting him to be like, no, i'm too old, i don't want to do it. and he was on board, immediately. >> this ended up being that case. >> that was that case. right. >> drchl. anthony garcia insist he was incident. but the matas insisted coverage of the murders was giving jurors only one side of the story. >> they needed to hear that there were so many other people with means, motive, and opportunity, that could have committed this crime that makes much more sense than somebody waiting 13 years to murder somebody that they knew for a very short period of time. >> in pretrial hearings, the matas battled with prosecutors as if they were rival mma fighters. todd cooper remembers being in the judge's chambers, one day, when bob mata started shouting at prosecutors. >> there was a hearing where the matas appeared by telephone. and he was shouting, screaming. the judge started pounding on the handset. yelling, shut up! shut up! into the -- into the microphone. i mean, that -- that's a pretrial hearing. >> we were seen as the chicago lawyers who came in, stormed in, and, you know, outlaws. you know, they didn't line ke u at all. >> might it be easier to just list the people in omaha that you did not offend? >> you know, feelings, when it comes to a death penalty case, just don't come into play, at all. i mean, any lawyer that says they're worried about hurting people's feelings, when another human being's life is at stake, again, they should probably get out of the business. >> bob mata's quote is i have the luxury of taking a scorched-earth approach to this case. and so, he didn't care who he burned, along the way. >> in the beginning, the matas say anthony garcia was actively involved in his own defense. they say that changed, over time, as court delays stretched his time in pretrial isolation, from months, to years. garcia lost a lot of weight. and bob mata says his client's mental health deteriorated. >> the fact that he was in solitary confinement for three years, 23 hours a day, you know, mentally, no one can withstand that. >> prosecutors, who were also krch kr concerned about garcia's mental state, asked the judge to order a lengthy psychiatric evaluation. in the end, garcia was found competent to stand trial and a date was set for april 2016. then, this story took a most unexpected turn. >> thursday or friday, before that monday start of jury selection, allison mata says to us, and to two local tv stations, we have dna tests that prove that our guy was not at the hunter/sherman scene. >> allison mata spoke with wottv via skype. >> their physical evidence and the dna evidence establishes undeniably, unmistakably, and without doubt, those murders were committed by two people, not anthony garcia. >> the claim was based on what the matas believed to be a potential match between some unidentified dna found on shirley sherman's bandana and some dna taken from a suspect in another case. >> they are taking alleles from dna, bits and pieces, and coming up with a theory that never made it to trial. whi but she throws it out there, on the eve of trial. and prosecutors are incensed and it really chapped the judge. >> the judge took it as a clear attempt to send information to potential jurors that the state's case was suspect. as a result, the trial was postponed, again. and the judge, effectively, kicked allison mata off the case. >> the judge denies her application to practice in the state of nebraska. very controversial move. >> it was just. i spoke to the public, and that put, you know, information that could've, you know, been information to potential jurors. and that violated the pretrial p publicity rule. >> the matas wanted to fight allison's removal. but what their client anthony garcia apparently wanted was a trial. when the matas appealed over his objection, anthony garcia completely stopped talking with his own lawyers. >> he deteriorated, mentally, coming into the trial. to the extent, where he really hadn't -- i mean, he didn't say one word to us. this guy's mental state, at that point, was just gone. >> it was september, 2016. eight years after the first of four omaha killings. when dr. anthony garcia finally got his day in court. on hand to see it were the victims' families, who had waited the longest. >> my main thing is i needed to see the man who did it, and determine, for myself, if he did it. >> coming up. the trial begins with a lucky break. >> all of a sudden, you get handed the murder weapon? >> yeah. that was a gift. >> and a bombshell witness. a former stripper with a revealing story. >> she said i only date bad boys. >> and he said well, i'm a bad boy. >> when "haunting" continues. boy. >> when "haunting" continues than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. can it one up spaghetti night? 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that's easier? >> sure, that was a discussion we had many times. but the evidence, i think, would still come in, especially with the 200 case. so it seemed like the most logical thing is if we're going to do these, let's do them together. >> their theory was whoever killed the brumbacks, also killed thomas hunter and shirley sherman. revenge. and they pointed to something they found on garcia's tablet. >> one of the searches was just an interesting quote, that had the word revenge in it. so we were interested to know where that came from. and it's easy to find, when you'd google it. >> it was a quote similar to one in shakespeare's play, "the merchant of venice." >> if you harm me, shall i not revenge. >> not often, that the merchant of venice comes up in a murder trial. >> never before, in my career. >> but that's your motive. >> sums up the case. that's our motive. yeah. >> revenge? >> uh-huh. >> who carries a grudge for that long? >> not very many people. that's what's really, i think, interesting about this case is, you know, how could he do that for so long? but i think the fact that the harm that he thinks was caused by him by creighton followed him over the years. and that's why. >> they argued garcia killed because he was angry about his termination from creighton. and that it prevented him from being accepted into other programs, to which he later applied. >> as he continues to try and have some sort of a career, it follows him. every time he tried to get into a different program or get licensed somewhere, this creighton thing pops up. >> and prosecutors said items found in garcia's home indicated he was trying to destroy traces of his troubled past. >> here's this trash bag sitting in the sink. a chemical odor emanating from that. and it's all these papers in there. in these papers, after they're dried out, is the termination letter from dr. brumback and dr. hunter. handwritten notes. >> and there's something about putting tape on your fingers? >> tape on your fingers. park your car somewhere else. walk to the location. >> buy common shoes. >> buy common shoes. >> sort of, a list that a killer would make. >> yes, it is. >> prosecutors said the two sets of murders, five years apart, correlated with garcia's career struggles. the first, in 2008, came two weeks after he was fired by lsu shreveport. the second, in 2013, followed another round of unemployment and financial troubles. >> he's trying to get jobs at temporary agencies. he's having financial issues. his home is going to foreclosure. >> reporter: but they argued that garcia's original target on mother's day 2013 was dr. chanda butra, a professor at creighton who had written him bad evaluations. >> she was somebody that he really thought was too hard on him. was the cause of his termination, to begin with. and he really had some animosity towards her. >> two days before the attempted break-in, prosecutors said, anthony garcia used his phone to look up dr. butra's address. analysis of a scant bit of dna evidence taken from a doorknob at the butra home showed there was a significant chance that either garcia, or a male relative of his, had tried to break in. >> when that doesn't work, because they're not home, he then goes to wing stop right up the road. and goes to plan b, where he searches for the brumbacks address. >> this receipt shows his location at wing stop, at around 2:26 p.m. at 2:57, they said, garcia used his cell phone to look up dr. brumback's home address. as for the gun used in the brumback killings, prosecutors argued the gun parts found at the brumback house fit a gun, later found alongside a highway, about 20 miles from garcia's home. that gun was missing a crucial component. the barrel. meaning, a test bullet couldn't be fired. however, what was left was licensed to anthony garcia. >> all of a sudden, you get handed the murder weapon? >> right. yeah, that was a gift. i think it was divine intervention. yeah. >> the 2008 dundee case, however, had no physical evidence. what it did have was eyewitnesses. several described seeing a silver honda cr-v with an out-of-state plate. this is a picture of the car anthony garcia owned in 2008, when he was living in louisiana. it's a honda cr-v. >> the thing that was noticeable was it was silver. the people noticed it as a type of suv or a cr-v. >> and they mentioned out-of-state plates. >> out-of-state plates, right. >> there was also the description of the man people saw near the hunter home that day. an olive-skinned man, wearing a baggy suit. >> they were all seeing the same person, same vehicle, and the location. >> you're not convinced that's somebody who is lost and eventually finds their wau out of there. >> oh, no, it fits. and that's the person who did this crime, and it -- and it fits with anthony garcia, also. >> tying it all together, prosecutors called a bombshell witness. a former stripper, named cecelia hoffman. hoffman told the jury that, four years after the dundee murders, garcia made a shocking confession to her. she told the cops about it, in this audio recording. >> i remember he said it was a long time ago. he said i killed a young boy and an old woman. and i said why? i said why would you kill a young boy and old woman? and he said they had it coming. >> of all the pieces that we didn't have in the 2008 case, that was a big piece. >> prosecutors said hoffman had nothing to gain by publicly talking about her past life. >> she had two children. she had moved on in her life, and didn't want to go back in time. but -- but she did. >> reporter: but why would garcia make that confession to her? garcia, who was a regular at the strip club where she worked, wanted more than a lap dance. >> he was trying to impress her because she was trying to keep him at arms length saying, you know what, he was getting too serious. >> and she said i only date bad boys or something like that. >> you're too good for me. you're a doctor. i only date bad boys. and he said his response to her was, well, i'm a bad boy. i once killed a young boy and an older lady. >> prosecutors thought it was just what they needed to show garcia's guilt and weave all their evidence together. >> you know, one piece, by itself, probably isn't enough. but you put all those pieces together. why was he here, in omaha, on may 12th, 2013? and you have him searching for the butras address, two days before. and then, looking for roger brumback's address at 2:56 on the afternoon, that sunday, after he had gone to butras. it's a very good case. >> after 12 days, it was now the defense's turn. they would tell a different story. one that attacked the very foundation of the prosecution's case. >> coming up. a candid look inside the defense team. raw and real. >> you want real life? you're getting real life. you're flies on the wall, man. i am who i am. >> when "haunting" continues. i. >> when "haunting" continues i had shingles. horrible. a young thing like me? 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>> reporter: the team rented a home out in west omaha, not far from the dundee neighborhood. it was there that they plotted strategy. the first order of business? knock down the theory that anthony garcia killed two people, in 2008, and two more, in 2013, out of revenge. >> you got to get rid of her, like, stupid quote. >> who? what quote? >> the shakespeare quote. >> reporter: according to the defense team, anthony garcia had no motive to kill anyone. >> what's wrong with the prosecution theory that anthony garcia blamed the people at creighton for everything bad that had happened to him since he left creighton? and the idea that, when people would check out his resume, they would inevitably get back to creighton and they h'd get a ba report about him. >> the problem with the theory is garcia would be unaware of those communications. they don't let people in on those communications. >> reporter: on the other hand, they pointed out, dr. hunter had actually handed garcia this short letter of recommendation. after garcia was dismissed from creighton. >> it got him his next job, which he got a month after, two months after, he left creighton. >> for his part, anthony garcia seemed bored by it all. cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom. but if they had been, they would've shown what jurors saw. anthony garcia napping. >> he slept quite a bit during the trial. >> i'd say half the trial. and how do you think that that plays off to a jury? >> the 2008 case of tom hunter and shirley sherman was the most straightforward for the defense. >> there's no direct evidence against my client. there is no smoking gun. there is no dna. it's all pieces. and they're trying to put together this puzzle. >> reporter: on the stand, none of the prosecution's eyewitnesses could i.d. anthony garcia as the man they'd seen, eight years earlier. as for the silver honda cr-v, the defense pointed out that not one of the eyewitnesses ever mentioned the big, spare tire that was on the back of garcia's car. >> it was as big as all get out. i mean, it's enormous. never mentioned it, which to me, indicated that it wasn't my client's vehicle. that's the more likely answer. >> reporter: the 2013 brumback case was more complicated for the defense team. beginning with the fact that anthony garcia had been in omaha, on the day of the murders. >> how do you explain your client being back in omaha, and searching for the addresses of one person who was killed and one person whose house was nearly broken into? >> i don't know. that's a tough question. i mean, you're dealing with digital forensics. >> reporter: ultimately, the defense argued that because an investigator downloaded garcia's iphone data onto his personal phone, the evidence was open to tampering. >> you've got a cop, who's downloading what seems to be the most critical piece of evidence onto his own iphone. >> so it might've been a cop who did that search and not your client? >> i'm not going to suggest that anybody, you know, specifically typed the name in. i'm just going to say that the way that the state presented the case and, in particular, that piece of evidence was not exactly truthful. >> reporter: the defense attorney spent a lot of time talking about the gun found on the side of the road. and the ammo magazine at the brumback house. >> in light of the fact that we have the very damaging magazine [ bleep ] evidence, do we want to cloud it up by talking about a bunch of [ bleep ] that doesn't matter? >> right. >> f word probably -- >> you want real life, then you're getting real life. you're flies on the wall, man. edit it out, dude. i am who i am. >> reporter: in court, the defense argued prosecutors could not prove a link between the gun parts, found at the brumback house, and the gun that was licensed to anthony garcia. >> the parts found in the house are parts of a weapon that went through a catastrophic failure. the parts of our client's gun, that were found on the side of the road, showed no evidence of a catastrophic failure. >> and although, it's the right kind of gun to have committed the murders, it's not necessarily the gun. >> one of the right kinds of guns. >> you can't fire a test bullet from that gun, right? >> no. >> the chicago-based defense team worked late into the night. while keeping a close eye on their beloved cubs, who were in hot pursuit of a world series title. >> it's top second. cubs got man on first and second. one out. >> it was during these sessions, over lunch. >> there's no point in showing cards that don't have to be shown. >> during breaks. and at their rental home. that the defense team planned and prepped their expert witnesses. >> this really boils down to interpretation. and every single lab can interpret something differently. >> reporter: the dna evidence linking garcia to the butra break-in, they said, was flawed. and the prosecution's timeline for the brumback murders was suspect. >> the state's window for when this had to occur, because of where they had our guy, at certain times through cell phone records, it had to occur sometime between 3:15 and -- and 4:00. maybe, 4:15. >> reporter: according to the defense, the brumbacks were killed later. maybe, around midnight. long after anthony garcia had left omaha and headed for home. >> our pathologist made it very clear that, because of the rigor mortis, the conditions of the bodies, the homicides didn't happen when he was in omaha. >> in the dundee murders, perhaps the biggest hurdle for the defense was the testimony of former exotic dancer, cecelia hoffman. >> cecelia hoffman's statement was -- was huge. >> reporter: remember, she's the one who quoted garcia as saying -- >> he said, i killed a young boy and an old woman. >> reporter: but here's the thing. hoffman, later, said to a private eye, hired by the defense, that she remembered very little from that time. bob mata hammered at hoffman's credibility on cross-examination. >> the concept of that is just so insane to me, that this guy who's gotten away for, essentially, murder, is now going to confess to a stripper that he knows there's no way it it's is ever going to hook up with him. i killed an old lady and a young boy. i don't know. >> both cases summed up theides their cases for the jury. then, they placed anthony garcia's fate in the jury's hands. coming up. a toast from the defense. but that was before the verdict. what would the jury do? >> seeing my brother cry, seeing my mom cry. seeing the district attorney cry is a tough moment. >> when "haunting" continues. >> when "haunting" continues ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ applebee's. now that's eating good in the neighborhood. they're going to be paying for this for a long time. they will, but with accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. cut! sonny. was that good? line! the desert never lies. isn't that what i said? no you were talking about allstate and insurance. i just... when i... let's try again. everybody back to one. accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders. try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h. because your derriere deserves expert care. try new soothing relief. ♪ if i could, baby i'd ♪ how can i, when you won't take it from me ♪ ♪ you can go your own way ♪ ♪ go your own way your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. sometimes, justice is not what happens in a courtroom but, rather, what comes out of it. on the day lawyers finished their closing arguments in the anthony garcia murder case, a lot of people showed up to see what kind of justice would come out of courtroom 316. among those waiting were the families of tom hunter, of shirley sherman, and, yes, of anthony garcia. it was late afternoon when the jury got the case. then, the waiting began. huddled on benches, outside the courtroom, were reporters and spectators. the family and friends of the victims. prosecutors retreated to their offices, for what they hoped would be a short wait. but the defense was ready to blow off steam. the matas and their entourage settled in at a local bar, several miles from the courthouse. the jury would be out for a while, they thought. so they feasted and toasted one another. then, as the sound system began to play the opening cords of the rolling stones song "sympathy for the devil." bob mata said something he wanted everyone in the bar to hear. >> here's my song. >> after closings, you guys went out for some drinks. and we were there for that. sympathy for the devil comes on the sound system. and you say, hey, that's the -- that's our theme song here. that's what we're going for. that's what you wanted? sympathy for the devil? >> when i looked at the case that the state presented, it was pretty obvious to me they saw our sleeping client as the devil. so, yeah, i thought it was, i thought it was appropriate. not because i think he's the devil but they sure did. the state absolutely thought he was. >> the jury deliberated until 9:00 p.m., that first night, and all of the next morning. tension rachetitcheting up withy tick of the clock. then, the jury had a verdict. >> i thought the verdict, it would be good. but you don't know until you hear it. >> lining up alongside the families of shirley sherman and thomas hunter was the garcia family. >> they were very respectful during the trial. i will say that. i mean, they didn't -- they didn't ever say anything. >> like, some -- some families. >> right. yeah. there was none of that. >> once everyone had crowded inside, the verdict was announced. guilty. on all counts. >> i just breathed a sigh of relief. you just feel that -- that rush of emotion, not for us. you know, we try the case and we presented the evidence. but you -- you can't help but -- but be involved with these victims' families. and it's a great sense of relief because it's a great responsibility, i think, with the job that we have. and in getting justice. >> reporter: it was a moment, a long time coming, for shirley sherman's brothers, brad and dan and her son, jeff. >> reaction to the verdict? >> relief. >> lots of relief. >> you guys feel better? >> i think my sister deserved that her killer be brought to justice. >> reporter: jeff hunter was sitting with his mother and brothers, while that verdict was read. in that moment of joy and gratitude, he says, he thought of his little brother, tom. a kid, who never had the chance to grow up. >> gets me thinking what -- where he would be now, and what he'd look like now, what he'd talk like. what he'd be doing. >> the most emotional moment came later that afternoon, behind closed doors. when the victims' families met, privately, with the people responsible for bringing this case to an end. >> we basically gave them a round of applause when they came in because they did a hell of a job. it was nice, you know, the detectives. it's emotional seeing them emotional. they -- could tell they really cared about getting the right guy. >> tough to be there? or you're glad you were there? >> my family, we're not really emotional. so seeing my brother cry, seeing my mom cry, it's hard. and seeing the district attorney cry was a tough moment. >> reporter: while garcia's defense team faced a gaggle of cameras outside the courtroom. >> in terms of what we did, we did the best we could. >> reporter: anthony garcia's parents, who had spent much of their life savings on their son's defense, spoke briefly with reporters. >> rough for everybody. i know it's difficult for the other family, too. but it's very difficult for us, too, at this time. >> one last set of victims. >> he never once turned around and looked at them. not once. >> i felt sorry for his parents. i did. i saw -- i saw his dad's head down, a number of times. and -- and you kind of, in your mind, you don't know what they're thinking. but obviously, tell they were saddened, greatly. >> the matas have since withdrawn from the case. jeremy jorgensen was later disbarred for violating attorney rules of conduct. the state public defender's office was representing garcia when, in september 2018, a three-judge panel sentenced him to death for the murders of thomas hunter, shirley sherman, and mary and roger brumback. under nebraska law, a death sentence is automatically appealed. as for the families of his victims, they felt the hardest part may have been over. >> like, a weight lifted off your shoulders. there's not that constant cloud hanging over. everybody wants to talk about things like that. just, more open. better spirits. >> when they read the verdict, the deputies were taking him away. and allison mata was trying to convince the deputy or talk him into letting him speak to his parents because he won't never get to speak to them again. what about all the other victims here? they can't speak to shirley or thomas or roger or mary. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> she was crying and crying. i said what's wrong? and she says debbie's dead. we all wanted to believe that it was an accident. there's no possible way he could do this on purpose. >> reporter: a dark house. a husband with a gun. a wife, dead, on the floor. >> make sure that she is still breathing. >> i don't think she is, damn it. >> there was no question who killed her. the mystery was, why?

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