the premiums? that s correct. all of a sudden i saw that he was fearful of of his life. reporter: to detective perrault, this all added up to motive. 1.58 million reasons that daniel blizzard might want vern holbrook dead. but what was the link between daniel and adriana and luis? i m guessing the holy grail at this point in the investigation would be to find some like provable contact between daniel blizzard and adriana mendez? right. reporter: it turned out the holy grail was only a few blocks away. at the sunshine motel. i went to the motel and they told me that a big white guy would come in occasionally and pay adriana s rent for her. so you get the security video. right. and who is it? it s daniel blizzard. reporter: there he was. a week before the attack, blizzard paying adriana s bill at the sunshine motel. and perrault soon found more. text messages between adriana
reporter: in a seattle hospital, vern holbrook hovered in that gray area between life and death in the week after he was savagely beaten, his throat slit, during a routine real estate showing in may of 2013, detectives had quickly made 2 arrests. charged with attempted murder 38-year old luis gomez-monges, who denied any part in the attack. and his 23 year old girlfriend adriana mendez. who admitted luring vern to the meeting at luis s request and then witnessing luis assault vern. she said she had no idea why luis would do that. you believe that? no. reporter: and why did perrault not believe adriana? because in that same interview, she had also unwittingly dropped a bombshell when asked how of all the dozens of realtors in yakima, she just happened to call vern s company, aspen real
estate. i know a couple people that used to work there. who s that? daniel? what goes through your mind when she says that? well the bells and whistles definitely start going off. reporter: bells and whistles because after vern had been assaulted, his family had flooded detectives with calls. so you sit down and you start thinking to yourselves, who d wanna hurt him? one person. his name is daniel blizzard. reporter: daniel blizzard. that ambitious agent to whom vern was going to sell the company. someone vern had once trusted. did you think daniel had something to do with it? well, yeah i was pretty sure. reporter: why, with zero proof, would so many believe blizzard was behind the attack? detective perrault soon heard a story that went like this, in the fall of 2008, vern called employees like bookkeeper judy craven to a meeting.
motel. reporter: by the fall of 2013, three months after the attack, vern holbrook was in a coma. but somehow still alive. did either of you hold out any hope for a recovery? i think you always want to believe and have hope that someone s going to get better. i joked with hospital staff all the time. this guy s ornery. if anybody can come out of this, it s going to be him. reporter: and as the autumn winds rolled into the yakima valley detective sam perrault already had made three arrests. but there was one more to come. and to say it was a shocker, would be an understatement. there was one more name the detective had been hearing from vern s family. a lot of people have been saying a lot of different things. reporter: because it turned out that the plot s alleged mastermind, daniel blizzard, had, for several years, dated and helped support financially a woman who d once been as close to vern holbrook, as a child. this woman. remember her?
for vern holbrook s family, in an all night vigil at this trauma center in seattle. they d gathered quickly at vern s bedside after hearing he d been badly beaten. his throat slashed apparently, at a house he was showing to real estate clients. what were you told about his condition and his prognosis? they were worried about how much air he was getting to his brain. the vern that we all loved died that day. reporter: vern s former daughter-in-law jill remembers hearing of the attack and how it frightened the entire family. my son texted me that grandpa was attacked and that he was scared and he wanted me to come pick him up. reporter: and the task of quieting the family s fears and finding out who had attacked vern was now in the hands of this man. yakima county sheriff s detective sam perrault. did you know vern holbrook? i knew of him.