lessons to accept and move on. >> i know it happened, and i know it is influencing me, but it is not defining me. >> but there is one thing that defines him. his mother's character, and that follows him everywhere. >> my mother was just ethereal. she holds a special place. she is just everything you think of as good, everything you think of as kind. everything that is just great about people, that's what she embodied. and i carry that with me. me. hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline." it was a whirlwind love

affair. i felt like this was the one that i'd been waiting for. maybe it was too good to be true. did he love me, or was this all a game? >> a beautiful businesswoman falls for a dashing doctor, but her daughters have doubts. >> i had lots of suspicions. >> she thinks his fingernails are dirty, this does not look to her like the hands of an actual doctor. >> who was this guy? >> his nickname was arty john. >> this woman knew him all too well. >> this woman started snooping. >> this reporter made some unnerving discoveries too. the story of his dirty deeds riveted the nation in a hit podcast. >> this is dirty john. >> but dirty was about to turn dark. >> he's got duct tape, he's got all the tools ready to kidnap

her. >> would this mom and her daughters learn the truth in time? >> she was in a panic, she said, i saw john outside in a car. >> a story ending in savagery that would stun even police. >> there's no way he gets away with it. their harrowing search for answers would reveal a double life and expose a dangerous man, but would the truth be discovered too late? here's keith morrison with "the women and dirty john." with the truth be discovered too late? here is keith morrison with "the women and dirty john." in the beginning was desire

. natural, human desire for connection, for love. and so, she aimed her arrow at that online ocean of intimate strangers and found him. >> hi, i need an ambulance right away and the police. >> it was summertime when the awful climax came. late afternoon, a marmalade sun beating down on the parking lot of a rental apartment complex in newport beach, california. that is when they heard it. >> and she says, this woman is just screaming. >> the whole complex must have heard it, terrifying, howling, desperate. >> is she okay? >> there was a man down there, they could see him, he had a knife, setting the screaming woman, and nobody was helping her. >> i understand, we have officers on the way.

too late for me too late. >> the ambulance is here doing cpr on somebody. >> the bloody ending. but the story, the whole, terrible tale is much deeper than that one thing. dreadful, though it was. >> it is a story about trust and betrayal, and it is a story about family. >> about a woman, two protective daughters, and what those daughters did when the man came into their mother's life, before the death in the parking lot. >> hi, i'm christopher gottfried. >> the story became a podcast produced with the number one podcast in the country at the

time, voted by entertainment weekly, usa today, and the guardian as one of the best of 2017. downloaded 28 million times in the first year of its release. the story and the man at the heart of it was called "dirty john." >> a very creative, super manipulative, aggressive medic, charming he was a nightmare to everybody. >> but not to her. to debra newell of orange county, california, the man who presented himself on the dating website, dr. john meehan, anesthesiologist, looked really promising. >> he was the total package. a doctor, intelligence, family man, loved his kids. >> not that attracting men had been difficult for debra, or any of the women in the family, according to her daughter, terra. >> man kind of locked to them. >> what is it about the women

in your family? >> they have really great hearts, and they are pretty decent looking. >> good women, happy, successful, attractive. >> i love those barstools. >> debra owned a thriving interior design firm and a moving company, and a silk flowers business. had dozens of employees, certainly no money worries, but she was in her 50s. marriage is behind her, and she was looking. each potential mate carefully vetted by her watchful daughters. >> we were very judgmental of all the men that she dated. >> a little too judgmental? maybe. >> me and my sister could go over the top sometimes, just very protective over my mom. >> but now, debra wanted a romance , just for her, on her terms. >> i had always done everything for my children. so i felt like it was lead

time. >> and this guy on the website was me time to a tee. >> he was just back from a year in iraq, where he was volunteering with doctors without borders. >> he was charming, kind of old- fashioned. when he asked her out, he did not just meet her somewhere or wait in her car. >> he asked to come upstairs to get me, that is what a gentleman does. >> he took her to a fancy place for dinner and all manners paid the inconsiderable bill. on the second day, he arrived in medical scrubs, yet come straight from an operation and he was handsome, and tall, and very fit, and very into her. >> he swept me off my feet, said everything right, took me everywhere i wanted to. >> did you have that walking on air feeling that you get? >> i fell in love. >> she called me one day and told me that she met someone

amazing and that she really liked this guy, she wanted me to meet him. >> but, true to form, perhaps, debra's daughters acted as they normally did to a new man in their life, especially terra's sister. >> she did not like him immediately and i thought, oh, she will eventually like him, he is a lot of fun. he will win them over. >> debra rented a house, part of their new start, in a picturesque part of newport called balboa island . and she ran her business with a new likeness and at night was loved by this accomplished doctor, this sensitive man. >> what did he do for you? >> everything from run errands for me, to a back road every night. just would listen to my dad. we will take walks every night. he held my hand. he was everything you would ever want. >> pinch yourself, you've got it, finally. >> yeah. >> and then, just before thanks

giving, as terra helped her mother move into the balboa house. >> he started moving his stuff in too. >> terra did not like it, not a bit. she confronted her mother . >> i told her, it looks fishy, i don't get it. she told me, i needed to mind my own business and he came up behind her. he was saying that you are just trying to get your mom all to yourself. and i started to scream back at him, no, john, that is what you are trying to do. >> the next day was thanksgiving and debra, quite head up, told her suspicious daughters not to bother showing up for dinner. >> neither one of you. >> neither one of us. >> what was that like? >> really hard. >> hard for deborah too, but she needed her own life. she and john asked a counselor for advice. >> and the counselor suggested that i have rules for the

girls. >> boundaries. >> the therapist said, look, you have a right to be happy, this is your relationship. jon's position was, the therapist was absolutely right. >> debra wait her options, listen to her family, or get rid of the what felt like the best thing to mature life in years. she chose love, or it certainly felt like it. what is the old expression? till death do us part. >> the bond between mother and daughters already fraying might just break thanks to a startling decision by debra. coming up. >> i knew my family would be not very happy with me. >> the daughters fight back by doing some digging into john. >> she bought these trackers work on the cars and she put one on my mom's tesla and found out where john was going. when "dateline" continues. . arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients.

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las vegas, nevada, the great temples to gambling will happily take your money, of course, and perhaps you leave the city a little poorer. you want to bet your heart in las vegas, well, if you are in a better mood, and debra

newell was. >> i felt adored, and i thought, well, if he is the love of my life, i'm ready. >> they had been dating two months when she went to vegas on business december 2014. john meehan went along . >> we went to a courthouse and just got married before a judge. just like that. >> married. nobody there but them, and their secret, they decided, said, trying not, they would not tell anyone. >> i knew my family would be not very happy with me. >> what it feels like? >> very mixed emotions, little empty, knowing that they are not on board with this. >> that is on one side, but on the other, this rush of happiness? >> yes. >> so, debra's daughters, protected as usual, had no idea their mother was a newlywed.

the therapist they racine suggested she keep their relationship separate from her family, but of course, christmas was coming and there were very important family traditions, like the one where terra would have her own special time with the nieces and nephews of their extended family. they made a deal, john would stay in a different room while terra had the kids to herself. >> she was going to be able to enjoy the kids and he had to sort of stay away. >> didn't work out so well. >> what actually happened? >> he walked in with all the presents, and of course the kids congregate around him. >> he went straight up to them, gave them gifts. >> like being santa claus or something? >> something like that, yeah. >> did he do it on purpose? of course not, terra. >> that made me so upset. >> terra was very emotional and i thought, suck it up, it's christmas, have fun. >> heed not only stolen their christmas, thought the

daughters, but both worried he was stealing there too trusting mother, taking advantage of her. she just let him drive her car. why would he need to? wasn't he a prosperous doctor, an anesthesiologist? couldn't he afford a car? well, there was a reason, debra told them, that while john was in iraq, working with doctors without borders, he was robbed. >> his house, his clothes, his cars. he was working with an insurance company on getting the claim. so, i let him borrow my car. >> john would get all of his money back soon enough, said debra. to terra, it sounded like a shaggy dog tale. >> at that time, i had lots of suspicions. >> that is when she and her sister decided to do some snooping. >> she bought these trackers for cars and went and put one on my mom's tesla to find out where john was going.

he was going to multiple doctors offices. >> not so unusual, perhaps for an anesthesiologist. the sisters noticed something. >> he was there for not that long of time. >> not long enough to conducting medical procedures, so what were those visits all about? seemed like a man trying to get access to something, like maybe drugs. it was just a hunch. they went to debra with that and said, maybe he is an addict . debra refused to entertain their wild suspicions. >> beef is more like, stop interfering in my life? >> somewhat. i have fallen in love. >> debra's daughters were not about to be put off. >> one of her daughters is particularly suspicious . she doesn't know why he wears surgical scrubs everywhere. it seems to be a cost he is wearing. she thinks his fingernails are dirty. he does not look to her like the hands of a surgeon.

>> coming up, troubling revelations about john. discoveries that were about to go from disturbing, to terrifying. >> i said, he's very, very dangerous. when "dateline" continues.

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becaukeith morrisonappen (voiceover): terra newell and cash, her miniature australian shepherd, terra newell , and cash,

her german shepherd, were inseparable. >> he has unconditional love, and he wants to be there no matter what. >> terra went to cosmetology school, but chose to work with four legged clients instead as a dog groomer . >> what do you like about dogs? >> i really like that they are innocent. they don't have any evil in them, unless they were taught to have evil in them. >> and terra was something of a student of evil. she was a fan of the tv show, "the walking dead." zombies. she had a feeling that evil was lurking in the life of john meehan, so did her sister. they knew he was hiding something, said reporter christopher godfrey, and they

were determined to find out what it was. >> they hired a private investigator to look into his past. >> debra, meanwhile , was in love. the newlyweds and settled into a simple life on newport's balboa island. debra, convinced she'd found the perfect man, even when things sometimes did not make sense, like the time she picked up the mail and saw a strange return address on a letter to her husband . >> you opened a letter to him? >> yes, i did. i was so curious. he was irate. that's fraud. i can't believe you did that. >> what got her attention was me that letter was from an inmate at the orange county jail. >> did you read the letter? >> i did. it was talking about how lucky he was that he had found love and that his life had turned around. i'm thinking, life had turned around? so, i questioned him and he said that he writes and sins

care packages to people in prison. >> sounded plausible enough to debra, but not to the sisters , especially not once their private investigator began reporting his findings on john meehan. >> they learned he was not a doctor. he was not an anesthesiologist. >> john had worked as a nurse, but not recently, and he has certainly not been in iraq with doctors without borders. instead, just before he met debra-- >> they learned that one of his recent addresses was the orange county jail. >> john was not a center of care packages, he had been an inmate. and then in march 2015, four months after john moved in with debra, the sisters snooped around the balboa house and jackpot! they found a stash of paperwork john had left there.

legal documents, police reports. >> reports that he stopped other women and that other women had restraining orders on him. >> john's papers outlined a long, criminal history, multiple arrests and incarcerations, drug convictions. alarming stuff. >> and debra was hesitant to believe this stuff. she believed john. >> even after her daughters told her what they'd found, debra went straight to john and he said , they had the wrong guy. >> he said, there are going to be other allegations that other john meehans did. i thought, well you have got a point. >> john said, he was a victim of mistaken identity in some cases, and in others, he was framed. >> and he said, i was set up. and i said, but you lied to me. he goes, because i knew you would never date me if you knew the truth. and i said, you are right, i wouldn't have. >> the thing is, john was so sad

. it seemed so sincerely contrite. >> he started crying, and crying, and trying here he said, please forgive me. i love you so much. i could never live without you. >> and it was true, he made her feel like she was the only woman in the world, and when they were alone together, she felt truly loved. >> i'm thinking, okay, 90% of meat does not believe him, but there is that 10% that maybe he is right. i'm going to throw away the person i fell in love with without trying to work it through? >> so, she accepted his explanations and she forgave him. >> there was always a reason. >> yes. >> in march, so after they found that stash of neighbors, they discovered their mother was married to the guy. that was it. they were fed up. refused after that to speak to her. >> this is a very big, bad

problem in your life. >> yeah. >> just how big and how bad, they did not know yet. but buried in that stash of john's papers was the name of someone who did, a detective way off in ohio. one of the sisters picked up the phone, called him. >> what did you think when you got her call? >> i said, he's very, very dangerous. you need to talk to your mother. you need to have her call me. i will tell her everything. >> that is, a strange and disturbing tale that begins with her. >> coming up, thousands of miles away, this moment also had questions about john. >> i started snooping, and i found everything. >> and when she spoke up, that is when things got really scary. >> i want you to enjoy your time left on this earth, okay? because that is what it is

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hi, richard lewis with a news update. jerome powell saying, the time has come for a interest rate cut. this means, lower borrowing costs for consumers. inflation: the job market softening. the cut is likely when the board meets in september. independent candidate rfk junior suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed donald trump friday saying, his name will be removed from the ballot in battleground states. multiple members of the kennedy family denounced this decision, calling it a trail. for now, back to "dateline." "" suspicions about their mother's new husband, john meehan, had driven debra's daughters to become amateur detectives. so far, they had discovered a hornets nest of deception.

not only had john lied about being a doctor, several women had restraining orders against him and he had served time for multiple crimes, yet, debra was still standing by her man . now, a woman from john's past was about to tell an even more disturbing tale. was never in danger? here is keith morrison with "the women and dirty john." who was this man that had stolen debra's part, this john meehan? tonia had no idea either when he stole her heart decades ago. >> he was playful, in engaging, playful, smiling. >> it was the late 1980s. tonya wasn't young nurse in dayton, ohio. john was in law school there, until he met her, that is, and said, he had a kind of epiphany. >> he said, i'm not even sure i'll be happy being happy as a lawyer, i'm going to be a nurse as the system is.

my job fell to the ground because i thought he was a law student. >> in fact he wasn't, he had been kicked out, but he did not tell her that. so, in her blissful ignorance, she married him in her family's church in 1990. >> mr. and mrs. john meehan. >> and she helped put him through nursing school. they had two daughters before things stopped adding up. >> i found out he was having an affair. >> tonia wondered what else did she not know about her soon to be ex-husband? like, why did he refuse to invite his family to their wedding? why not let her meet them? she decided to call his mother. >> i said, dolores, i am tonia, i married to your son, john. the phone was quiet for a minute and she said, oh tonia, i knew you would call me

someday. my heart was racing and my knees were shaking just to make the phone call. she just unloaded on me all the details of trouble in the past. >> according to his own mother, john had been cheating, stealing, and flying for years, even lied to tonia about his age, knocked off five years and he had been convicted of cocaine trafficking. >> she said, do you know if he is still using drugs? i said, what? >> in something like shock, tonia became a sleuth . who was this man? >> i started snooping and i found everything, under my nose the whole time. >> evidence of a criminal double life and something else. >> a cedar box full of fentanyl percent, and some other things that weren't controlled substances. >> she started watching that cedar box. >> and things did come and go. now i thought-- it's a stash, yeah. >> was using his position as a nurse to steal drugs marks

>> like getting a ticket to be in the candy store all day long. >> right. it is like having an arc alcoholic as a bartender. >> she told the authorities, she had to, it was the law. >> he had to be stopped. he was going to hurt patients. he turned on me. he flipped like a switch. >> now, the man she once thought she knew turned scary, threatening. she began recording their phone conversations. >> listen to me, tonia. i've got a big smile on my face, and you know why? because it's going to get done. >> was going to get done, you are not making any sense. >> you will understand when the time comes, that's all i got to say. when it happens, tonia, you see it in your eye, you remember . >> remember what, john? >> just keep that in mind, it was me. tonia, enjoy your time left on this earth, because that is what it is going to come down

to. >> he was arrested for making threats against tonia in june 2001, was convicted of menacing and was put on probation. >> he wasn't the man she thought he was? >> that is exactly right. there was another version of john. >> dennis was a police detective back then and investigated the source of the drugs tonia found in the cedar ox. he started at john's house and found the gun, illegal because john was on probation. so, he was arrested again and sent to jail. >> when he went to jail i called the supervisor and said, you got an individual beer, john meehan, and he's going to try to con you out of drugs. he says that he already has. he claimed he fell out of the top bunk and he got pain medication. you are dealing with an attic, a very smart, articulate attic. >> eventually, john did jail time for stealing jokes in ohio and michigan, and tonya felt guilty, wondering if she had missed warning signs, wondering

what else john might have hidden from her. never thought about the clue, way back at the beginning on her wedding video. >> the groomsmen who had had some drinks and have their arms around each other, they are talking about how they met him. one of the groomsmen says-- >> john meehan's nickname is filthy john meehan. >> filthy john over the years became dirty john, and the nickname stuck. >> you found out later on there was a story to that. >> yes, he was basically conning little old women out of money for jobs he did not do and also he had a way with the ladies. >> john supplied the opioids that killed his own addicted brother. he was alone with his sick father when the old man died rather suddenly. john was not charged in those cases, but there were others said lucan. as years went on, he developed

a certain criminal specialty. >> he would go on dating websites and would find women that usually had good financial backing. he always told people he was a doctor. >> he seemed like an ideal catch i suppose for a lot of these women. >> he was a true conman. he would take their money, and when they would find out about him, john would threaten them, he would terrorize them. >> how bad was he? >> john was the most dangerous, treacherous, manipulative, deceitful criminal i had investigated in four years of law enforcement. >> once terra learned about john's past, she was consumed, worried . >> i was very distraught at the time. >> because this dangerous man was now married to a very successful businesswoman, who happened to be terra's mother. >> he could not get enough of

me. >> that is a good feeling. >> it is. >> the trickery of love. trickery, but something far worse than that was coming soon. coming up, one of debra's daughters is about to make an onerous discovery. >> she was in a panic she goes, i saw john. i say, where? and she goes, outside of the car. >> are this families fears about to come true? when "dateline" continues. en ". with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy.

arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. keith morrison (voiceover): debra newell had fallen in love with a con man. debra had fallen in love

with a conman. and when her daughter had spoke with an detective who had been investigating john meehan for years-- >> this guy is bad news, you need to get your mother away from him. >> never bought a house near las vegas, where john could live away from the family. she splits her time between there and orange county. the daughters went into rescue mode. one thing they found especially alarming, was yet another police report about dirty john this one from just two years earlier, much closer to home. the police in laguna beach had rested arrested john meehan for stalking a woman. he had an office space in which they found cyanide and two loaded

guns. >> what did all of that say to you? >> he might be a killer and she has to get all of all of this. has to go. >> john had an explanation, of course, even for that cyanide. >> he said he had multiple sclerosis and he at the cyanide around just in case it got too painful for him. >> this time, however, john's story did not rain true, not even to debra. >> he still continue to treat me incredibly well, but he tried to isolate me from everyone . especially my family. >> and now, afraid, she reconciled with her daughters and read everything they had uncovered about john meehan's past. >> i assumed by this time, you did not feel in love with him anymore? >> no. >> what did you feel? >> confusion. i thought, how can this man fake it to this degree? did he love me or was it all a

game? i realized, i was his newest victim. >> in april 2016, 16 months after marrying john meehan, she fled from the home they shared in vegas back to orange county and from a safe distance, she filed for an annulment. she soon discovered just as tonia had discovered years before, that john could turn on a dime. he started by trying to ruin her reputation, sent weird and inappropriate emails to colleagues and clients. >> did he send photographs to anybody? >> he sent nude photos, yeah. >> that is a nightmare for any woman. >> yeah. so many things he did. he burned my car. he took it, stole it, set it on fire. >> did he threaten you physically? >> yes, but not in a direct way. he would say, boo, i know where you are, it is not going to be long. >> the same way he would threaten tonia. >> enjoy your time left on this earth, because that is what it is going to come down to.

>> i went into hiding. i bought a dark week wig, change my clothes, bought a rental car, stayed in different hotels. i went everywhere that he would not suspect. >> how long did that go on? >> six months. >> wow. >> now, stories john had told her before she left played over and over in debra's worried mind, disturbing stories. he had told similar ones to tonia years before, stories about the mafia. >> they want to get back at you, they take money from you or something, they don't kill you, they kill someone you love, because you live in pain the rest of your life knowing your actions caused the death of a loved one and i don't have them. i learned that from him. >> the man debra once loved, she now feared. >> that had to be a very, very strange feeling? >> very much. scared for my life. >> not just her own life. >> i was afraid he would kill

my mom. i was also afraid he would kill me, my sister, or someone. >> after all, they had ruined all his plans. in the summer of 2016, debra began staying in secret with her other daughter, hoping she was safe there. and then, it was the night of august 19th. >> she came home, and she was in a panic. she said, i saw john, i saw john. i said, where? she goes, outside, in the car. >> watching? he was supposed to be in las vegas. why was he back in orange county? she did not have to wait long to find out. >> someone's been stabbed. >> someone's been stabbed? coming up, the evil that have been gathering for almost two years explodes into broad daylight. >> he has planned this out. this was a revenge killing. >> other shattering end that would stunt even police, when "dateline" continues.. tinues.

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welcome back. debra newell had finally accepted the unsettling reality, that her husband john meehan was a dangerous con man. welcome back. debra newell had finally accepted the unsettling reality that her husband, john meehan, was a dangerous conmen . she had filed for an unknown annulment, fearing for the lives of her and her children. then, her daughter saw him lurking outside their home. he came prepared. this story had a twist in store. here is keith morrison with the

conclusion of "the women and dirty john." 5:00 p.m., a 14-year-old named skyler was returning home from her junior lifeguard training, when she heard a woman screaming out of the parking lot of her newport beach apartment building. >> i had never heard anybody else scream like that before. >> a lot of people would dive under the covers and say, i hope that stops. >> once i found out what was going on, i knew what i had to do. >> she raced to the parking lot, her mother called 911. >> okay. we have officers on the way with lights and sirens. so she said that she saw blood? >> i don't know, somebody yelled. >> skyler reached the parking lot, saw a man and a woman she did not know. >> as i was running, i could see everything going on. i saw him actually stab her. >> that woman being stabbed was terra, who with her dog,

cache, had just stepped out of her car to find someone waiting , dirty john. >> he said, do you remember me? he looked me right in the eyes. >> there was no pause, no time to think. terra sitting here struggling with what happened, still visibly keeping an emotional distance, as if it happened to somebody else. >> he was trying to push me into the car and he actually had the truck wide open. >> so he wanted you in the trunk of his car? >> john was 6'2", a foot taller than terra. he began hitting her with a bag with something hard in it. >> it felt like i kept getting punched over and over again. >> but it wasn't that, it was a knife in the back, cutting her, slicing into her. >> i put my arm up with prayers above my heart, and i tried to get away from him. i was screaming. he put his hand over my mouth,

and i bit as hard as i could. >> cash, the dog, barked furiously, bit into john's ankle. >> i got thrown onto the ground somehow, and i was pedal kicking him, trying to block the knife when he is stabbing me . and i kicked the knife out of his hand, and it landed on my right hand side. >> and full of adrenaline, she did something astonishing. >> i picked up the knife, and i started just stabbing him. and i pushed him down. i stabbed him at the top of his head, and the last time was in the eye ball. >> did you aim for that? >> i did. >> like how you deal with zombies. >> you have to kill them in the head. like you have to kill their brain. >> the police arrived, they are

dash cam video picked up skyler, the junior lifeguard, leading a very shaken terra to the curb, were still terrified, she called her mother. >> [ crying ] i might've killed him, i'm sorry. i knew this was going to happen. did i not tell you he was going to try to hurt us? >> she said, mom, i just killed your husband, i'm so sorry. i'm thinking, what? >> debra raced over there. >> you could see police cars , fire engines, it was crazy. >> they would not let you in. >> they said it was a crime scene. >> john meehan never gained consciousness. four days later, dirty john was

dead. right after the attack, newport beach detective rick henry found john's killer, terra at the hospital, her dog is still guarding her. >> she told me the whole story. >> the whole story is a pretty competent amiss. >> as doctors treated terra's wounds, detective henry began investigating. the whole family waited and worried. >> what were you afraid of? >> i did not know for sure if they would know it was him attacking her and it was self- defense. >> you were afraid they might charge her with something? >> yes. >> there is a process they must follow with careful consideration. august became september, and the detective had discovered something, in the trunk of john's car. >> we found a backpack with numerous other knives inside, we found zip ties, duct tape, we found his passport. >> it took some organization. this was a revenge killing. >> orange county deputy district attorney matt murphy

said the evidence spoke for itself. >> a young woman in the hospital , sitting on her bed, talk about a picture saying 1000 words. it screams out that this is an innocent woman who came very close to being murdered by a really bad guy and fought bravely and survived. >> the prosecutor said, it was an easy decision, this was self- defense, case closed. >> did a feeling come with that? >> a sense of relief it was finally over. >> john meehan's ex-wife, tonya , was working when she got the news. >> do you remember that moment? >> yeah, it made me trouble. i was in the middle of the case and it popped up on the screen as a notification, john was killed. by the time i finished with the patient, i was in tears.

i was not in tears because he died, i was in tears because i had to tell his children. i had to tell them, it was awful. >> her daughters, 16 and 21 at the time said, they regretted not being able to show him how well they turned out in spite of your. now, debra still struggles with guilt. >> i would have never , ever in my entire life put my kids in danger. that was the last thing on my mind is that he would be going after one of my kids. >> you felt lucky? >> i felt very lucky. i leave terra saved many lives . saved my life, saved many other victims. >> terra was diagnosed with ptsd. she still has some healing to do, but she returned with us to that parking lot. >> i don't want to poke and prod too much, but what happens inside your stomach when you're here? >> i get a lot of anxiety, i

have flashbacks of me running down the ramp, just like going to the cement. >> she gamely showed us the spot where she looked death in the eye and stroke back. this was not an easy thing to do. >> i'm just taking it all in right now. >> i think you are a tough cookie, right. >> that is what a lot of people say. i guess so. >> and dirty john meehan is an ever more distant memory now. his trail of victims safe from his terror, thanks to a young woman and a little dog who fought for her life and won. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning, thanks for watching. watching. good morning, welcome to the saturday editio