reporter: but if gavin was dead and certainly it looked that way, where was his body? how did his car wind up in the storage locker, and above all, who would have wanted him dead? reina lynn certainly seemed like an unlikely suspect. she tells them she rented the storage unit for somebody else. meanwhile, they looked into the affair with gavin with chandy and discovered they met in rehab. less than two years before gavin disappeared, lisa found out about it. i was heart broken. reporter: so she took an extreme step to save her family. she and two of her sons then 14 and 20 went to the house to speak to them family to family. i was really upset when we were driving there, so i stayed in the car and let my sons go in the house.
plotting the rage-fueled killing for years to seek revenge on gavin smith for having an affair with his wife. but the defense was about to present a very different story. here s keith morrison with the conclusion of dark valley. how to defend a man like john creech? well, said defense attorney irene nunez, it was all very simple. creech never intended to kill gavin smith. this was a case of self-defense. he had to defend himself against this intruder, an intruder into his marriage. and, she said, only one person could tell that story. who is the first witness you are going to call on behalf of the defendant? my client, john creech. his attorney began asking him about that meeting with gavin s son. at any point did you tell them you were going to kill their father? no, that s absurd. two years later when it happened, he and chandy were separated. though they lived in the same house. he still worried about her,
and i was like, i pushed myself out this way, got out the driver s side. reporter: creech burst in like a machine, said chandy, started slugging, wouldn t quit. i was like, stop it, you re going to kill him. i was like screaming my head off. he comes out of the car and he goes, you re next and then i drove off. reporter: she was terrified, he said, afraid he d kill her, too, or tell the cops she set the whole thing up. so, did she? again and again the detectives listened to the under cover tape. i believe 100% that she did not know that was going to happen and she did not set it up. reporter: but they wondered, did she help cover it up? it s a serious business covering for a crime that awful. but chandy had a card to play. she agreed to testify. members and alternate members of the jury reporter: and in june, 2017, john creech went on trial. on the face of it, it looked
i was just begging him not to harm my family. reporter: but, they testified, creech told them they did the right thing. by coming that day. he ended up saying we saved his life by coming that day. reporter: but there were rules. that s what chandrika now divorced from john creech said when she finally took the witness stand. as long as their father stayed away from me and had no communication whatsoever, their father would be fine. did he say what would happen if he didn t? that he would kill gavin smith. the affair ended, but chandy said the threat remained. he s not wanting to see them ever. reporter: still attraction is a powerful thing, isn t it? early in 2012, john and chandy were separated but still living together and gavin and lisa were separated, too. and that old magnetic force. gavin met chandy on that secluded road. did the two of you become romantic?
without a trace we went to talk to her to see if she had any information in. reporter: did she? no, their relationship had ended. she did not talk to him. she had no idea where he was at. reporter: but, though melanie was the reason gavin moved out of his house the month before he vanished, she was not his first affair. there had also been a woman named chandy. it was years in the fast, but phone records show he called her, may 1st, a day before he disappeared. cops tracked her down, too. what did she tell you? she acknowledged the prior affair and said she had not been in contact for some time and they had been talking via e-mail. reporter: that would explain the fact that he called her on the phone? yes. reporter: she says she hasn t heard from him since. last sighting a colleague saw him driving his black mercedes.