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wanted the burglary staged. this is a guy who aspired to be a hit man. she was a sitting target. reporter: didn t that mean that you can now go out and charge them all with murder right then? i have no facts. reporter: so detectives lay a trap. the hunt. trying to play cat and mouse. he was already really paranoid about being setup and he held up a note that says are you wired. reporter: will they catch their prey? you hold your breath. um, the world kind of stops. reporter: you never think it s going to be you. oh, no, no, no, no. reporter: no. the young man is right. in fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesn t happen to anyone. no. never. never would have thought i would have ever seen anything like this. reporter: no. and not here. not in this neighborhood. in this house. but certainly not, surely not, at the very moment when at least three policemen were just outside the front door and just over the backyard wall not more t ....
so maybe that s why, one november morning a contact within the police department came over to me in the midst of this sort of press conference and said, you need to go to bixby now, and i was a reporter: taken aback, because bixby was not a name you heard on the crime beat. so it was very clear to me something major was going on. packed up my stuff, ran out the door, and got to the scene. reporter: the scene was in bixby knolls, quiet, affluent, leave it to beaver homes on carefully tended tree-lined streets. violent crime is unheard of in bixby knolls, which is just the way they like it here. maybe that s why if they grew up here or moved here, they rarely leave. like rachel kerns. everybody s very friendly. always waving. you don t get that a lot in southern california. reporter: rachel still lives in the house she grew up in. we were able to play as kids at all hours of the day. we didn t have to worry about anyone ever hurting us or coming after us ....
pointing fingers. he wanted the job done, wanted the burglary staged. this a guy who aspired to be a hit man. she was a sitting target. doesn t that mean that you now charge them all with murder right then. i have no facts. trying to play cat and mouse. he was already really paranoid about being setup and he held up a note that says are you wired. will they catch their prey? you hold your breath. the world kind of stops. you never think it s going to be you. oh, no, no, no, no. reporter: no. the young man is right. in fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesn t happen to anyone. no, never. never would have thought i would have ever seen anything like this. reporter: no, not here. not in this neighborhood, in this house. but certainly not, surely not at the very moment when at least three policemen were just outside the front door and just over the backyard wall not more than 30 feet away. we had to be told a few times just to ge ....
reporter: the conspiracy. this is a guy who aspired to be a hit man. she was a sitting target. reporter: so doesn t that mean that you can now charge em all with murder right then. i have no facts. reporter: so detectives lay a trap. the hunt. trying to play cat and mouse. he was already really paranoid about being setup and he held up a note that says are you wired. reporter: will they catch their prey? you hold your breath. um, the world kinda stops. reporter: you never think it s going to be you. oh, no, no, no, no. reporter: no. the young man is right. in fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesn t happen to anyone. no. never. never would have thought i would have ever seen anything like this. reporter: no. and not here. not in this neighborhood. in this house. but certainly not, surely not, at the very moment when at least three policemen were just outside the front door and just over the backyard wall not more than 30 fee ....
tragic case of a burglary gone bad until the alleged burglar starting talking. they wanted the job done, wanted the burglary staged. he was a hired killer. and this was a hit. now police had to catch the mastermind behind the murder. they were a very unlikely trio. so with the help of an undercover cop and hidden cameras, they set a trap. one thing that s really great about police work is that you don t have to tell people the truth. would he walk into it? the first thing he did is he held up a little note that says, are you wired? or walk away a free man? i thought he was going to walk. i m lester holt, and this is dateline. here s keith morrison with in broad daylight. reporter: you never think it s going to be you. oh, no, no, no, no. reporter: no. the young man is right. in fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesn t happen to anyone. no. never. never would have thought i would have ever seen anything like this. reporter: no ....