i m craig melvin and i m natalie morales. and this is dateline. the neighborhood ha everything a burglary wanted t find, private yards, wealthy homes and she had the worst o possible luck, in that h picked her yes i d like to report an attempted break in - a mother, home alone. cops raced to her front door a she walks into an ambush in he backyard how does somebody die in matter of seconds with officer around her home? it was surreal, it wa awful. your first thought of tha time it s a burglary gone wrong. but the burglar caugh red-handed starts pointing fingers. this is a guy who aspire to be a hit man - she was a sitting target. does it now mean that you charge them all with effort now the detectives lay a trap we triedd to play cat and mouse. we re getting reall paranoid about being - one are you wired will they catch their prey? you hold your breath, the world s gonna stop this. you never think it s goin to be you. oh no
Wanted the burglary staged. This is a guy who aspired to be a hit man. She was a sitting target. Reporter didnt 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 its 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 doesnt 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 feet away. We had to be told a few times just to g
So maybe thats 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 treelined streets. Violent crime is unheard of in bixby knolls, which is just the way they like it here. Maybe thats why if they grew up here or moved here, they rarely leave. Like rachel kerns. Everybodys very friendly. Always waving. You dont 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 didnt have to worry about anyone ever hurting us or coming after us. It was a really safe neighborhood. Report
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. Doesnt 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 its 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 doesnt 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 get it in our heads what happened. Reporter what happened
Reporter the conspiracy. This is a guy who aspired to be a hit man. She was a sitting target. Reporter so doesnt 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 its 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 doesnt 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 feet away. We had to be told a few times just to get it in our he