tv CBS 2 News 10 CBS October 8, 2016 10:00pm-10:30pm CDT
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because we wanted to find sam. >> reporter: in a cold, matter- of-fact tone, wozniak told detectives where to find sam, at least pieces of him. after shooting the war hero, wozniak dismembered him with an ax and saw and then tossed some of the body parts across this park, not even bothering to bury them. >> i was in shock. and then, to hear the grizzly part of the dismemberment and then discarding the body parts in the park and then his just overall attitude was just chilling for me. >> they said, "steve, we've got to come over. we've got to see you." they pulled up, and they came in, and they said, "sam was murdered." >> that's when i ran upstairs to the room, and i lost it. >> reporter: the detectives didn't tell the grieving parents the grisly details of their son's murder until the next day.
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"steve, before you find out by the news, sam was dismembered." that... that's when i just went off the end, deep end. i was angry. i was angry. >> reporter: the police were able to find all of sam's body parts except his hand and head. >> the next day, the saturday, was his birthday, and i was praying for them to find sam's head. a father has to pray on his son's birthday that they find his head go ahead and tell me how i feel. >> reporter: sam's head was found in the park under scattered leaves on his 27th birthday. his hand was never found. >> it is beyond ghoulish. if there's a word in the english language that sums that up, i don't know what it is.
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a hero's burial with full military honors. his alleged killer, daniel wozniak, was immediately charged with two counts of first-degree murder. daniel's brother, tim, and rachel buffett would also be arrested not for murder but as accessories after the fact-- tim for hiding that backpack; and rachel, cops say she lied to them... >> is that your true name, mr. wozniak? >> reporter: ...either to protect daniel oto >> we always felt rachel was a part of this. she was living with him. >> reporter: do you think that rachel was involved in this from the beginning? >> yes. yes, that she knew about it. she knew about it before this happened. >> i absolutely feel like i was duped by dan. >> reporter: while awaiting trial, rachel-- by then, out on bail-- made that appearance on "dr. phil," telling everyone she didn't know a thing. >> did you know that he had any
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>> not until after the police did. >> reporter: steve herr was not about to let rachel buffett go on national tv without confronting her. >> i was aghast when i get a call saying you're going on tv. my son is dead. he was cut up into pieces, and you to come on here and... and go on the tv stations, "poor me," that offends me. >> i understand. and maybe i made a bad judgment call by coming on here, but i didn't come out when everything first happened and said, "oh, look at this horrible situation. i'm the victim." you know, you didn't see me selling my story to hollywood to make a movie. >> not yet. >> reporter: no hollywood version could be worse than what you're about to hear. coming up... ...you'll see the killer describing how and why he did
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>> reporter: this is the face daniel wozniak presented to the world... >> goddamn! i'll just say orange county. >> reporter: ...a happy, fun- loving actor... >> yay! >> reporter: ...hamming it up alongside fianc?e rachel buffet. a real nice guy. but that is not who he is, says prosecutor matt murphy. so, what's the real face of daniel wozniak? >> the real face of daniel wozniak is dark and manipulative and flat-out evil. >> reporter: a man so evil planned and executed two savage murders. why? to pay for his honeymoon. >> reporter: desperate to impress his bride, the groom-to- be set his sights on friend and neighbor, sam herr, who he knew had saved all that money as a soldier. >> who would've known that because he had built up a certain amount of money that that was going to cost him his life?
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money and be penniless. he'd still be alive. >> reporter: wozniak told the police that he lured sam to the attic of this theatre pretending he needed help moving something. sam being sam obliged, says mom raquel. >> he loved to help people, but he also was very naive. he just trusted people. >> reporter: he trusted wozniak enough to turn his back on him. that's when the actor shot him. >> reporter: wozniak stole sam's phone and credit cards, then left his body in the attic, then-- unbelievably-- performed his starring role in "nine" that night. kara kessener was the stage manager. how did he seem?
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he seemed fine. he did a great job. >> ( singing ) >> reporter: this is the actual performance. castmate deborah kennedy: >> i remember getting goosebumps and going, "yeah, daniel, nail it." >> reporter: it was that good? >> yeah. >> ( singing ) ( applause ) >> reporter: after the performance-- by then, about 10:30 p.m. on friday night-- daniel and rachel returned to their apartment. then, he turned to covering up sam's phone, pretending to be sam. >> that just kind of killed me when i found out that, you know, that she thought it was sam that was texting her. and, of course, she was the one, the first one to go and help him. >> reporter: julie, wearing the tiara she was to wear in her brother's wedding, went to sam's around midnight.
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she followed him in. >> reporter: he led her into the bedroom. >> reporter: he then wrote "all yours, 'eff' you," and cut her pants off. >> he wanted to set up sam. he wanted to make sam look like ra police would be looking for him. >> reporter: why? >> because the man has no heart and he has no soul, and he loved the idea of how clever he was. >> reporter: his murderous plot didn't end there. the next morning, saturday, he returned to the theatre where sam lay dead and began the devil's work of hacking his body apart, an act he tells the
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>> how tragic was this murder plot? a greedy groom, the pursuit of ill-gotten gain, dismembers a young man and discards him like a piece of garbage. >> reporter: the prosecution deemed the crime so heinous, it warranted the death penalty. but wozniak's defense team was not rolling over. in spite of his confession to police, wozniak pleaded not guilty. incredibly, it would take five and a half years to go to trial. >> no victim's family should have to be put through that. none. >> they're in contempt of court, from my perspective. >> reporter: the families blame defense attorney scott sanders for filing numerous motions accusing prosecutors and the sheriff of misusing informants to elicit damning evidence against his clients... >> you've got an informant. he's talking. >> reporter: ...even though prosecutor matt murphy told the court he was not going to present evidence from any
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while the families waited, daniel wozniak made the most of his newfound celebrity... >> i want people to know that i'm a good guy. >> reporter: ...appearing on the show "lockup." >> i enjoy long walks on the beach. i'm an aries. ( laughs ) >> for five-and-a-half years, i have watched that man come into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, bounding in with a smile on his face like tigger the tiger. >> reporter: what is up with that smile? >> daniel wozniak's smile is a point of manipulation. you know, he gets things that way. >> reporter: do you feel like sam and julie have been forgotten in all... >> yes. >> reporter: ...of this? >> unless we mention their names, for five years, for over 100 hearings, their names are not mentioned. we've addressed the court a number of times. this case is about samuel herr and julie kibiushi. you've got to put their names. >> reporter: last december, finally, their names would be spoken. >> sam herr and julie kibuishi. daniel wozniak murdered them both, and, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to get to a penalty phase.
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on trial for the double murder of julie kibuishi and sam herr. if found guilty, a jury could sentence him to die. not good enough for this prosecutor. >> the death penalty is not enough for daniel wozniak on this. for justice to be done in this case, personally, i'd prefer proof of hell. i'd prefer proof that there's... that there's something that is awaiting him after he dies. there are searches on google. >> reporter: matt murphy presented the evidence, painting a chilling portrait of a killer with no conscience. ways to kill people," and sandals resorts. this is a guy who's planning to murder two human beings so he can have an awesome honeymoon down in... in mexico. >> reporter: then, there was the physical evidence: the gun he stole from his own father to kill his victims and that backpack jammed with evidence. >> now, from a forensic, cold, sterile analysis of evidence, it doesn't get any better than that
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on 23 witnesses over four days, including wesley freilich, who was arrested but never charged for his role in daniel wozniak's scheme. what was it like to see daniel in court? >> disturbing. he was smiling at me. the man that murdered two people just sat there and just gave you this little... just, like, this, like, acknowledged little smirk. just... >> i think this is daniel wozniak, the play, you know? it's just this continuation of him being on stage. >> reporter: the defense declined to put on any witnesses. after a five-day trial, daniel wozniak's fate was in the hands
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my life. the justice for it runs my life. >> and has the jury reached a unanimous verdict? >> yes. >> reporter: after waiting five and a half years... >> the people of the state of california plaintiff vs. daniel patrick wozniak. >> reporter: ...it takes the jury just two hours to reach a decision. >> we, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, daniel patrick wozniak, guilty of the crime of... >> reporter: daniel wozniak sits emotionless as a jury finds him guilty of murdering sam herr and julie kibuishi, a verdict that but it's not enough for the herr and kibuishi families. >> what he did to sam-- and then, of course, what he did to julie-- it warrants the death penalty. the quicker, the better. >> reporter: just two weeks later, the same jurors are back in the same courtroom for what's called the penalty phase. they will have to determine whether wozniak should be given life in prison or be sentenced to death.
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tried seven other death penalty cases in his career, says his strategy is simple. >> it is: get kibuishis and the herrs on the witness stand so that the jury can understand their pain. ladies and gentlemen, he knew that sam and julie were loved. now, you get to think about those people, and you get to think about those moms and what they have gone through. and you get to assign a weight to that. and that's the beautiful thing about a penalty phase, because it's not his show anym it is sam and julie's show. and it's about the families now. it's not about him. >> reporter: six people testify on behalf of sam and julie, but not one of wozniak's family members ever showed up to support him. the only one to speak about wozniak's character is a convicted felon, a friend he made in jail. >> by all accounts and everything that we did in the investigation, he has very nice parents, and that might be why they're not here. they're nice people. they gave him every possible advantage, which, to a certain
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that makes this case so heinous. >> when you're making a determination about death... >> reporter: wozniak's defense attorney, scott sanders, tries to shift blame to rachel buffett, wozniak's former fianc?e. but, remember, she's not been charged with committing or planning the murders, just as an accessory after the fact. >> you'll see very soon, she's the smarter of the two by far. >> their strategy is: try to get as much attention away from daniel wozniak and what he did. >> reporter: pin it on rachel as much as they can. >> yeah. they need a villai >> reporter: it takes a week before the case goes again to the jury. matt murphy recalls what he was feeling at that moment. are you optimistic? >> oh, gosh. no. i.... they call it p.a.p.v. psychosis. >> reporter: what is that? >> post argument, pre-verdict psychosis. every prosecutor turns into woody allen underneath their skin when a jury is out. everybody is neurotic, and they're self-doubting and self-
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something to screw it up. >> reporter: to everyone's surprise, the jury comes back quickly, in just a little over an hour. >> we, the jury in the above entitled action, determine that the penalty to be imposed upon defendant daniel patrick wozniak to be death. >> it's been a long five and a half years we kind of waited for this day. >> reporter: and it wasn't over yet. be sentence wozniak, sanders demanded more time to explore the informant issue and argue against the death penalty. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: it would take eight more months before the families finally got their chance to address the court and the man who murdered their children. steve herr stood surrounded by combat veterans who had served with sam. >> you, dan, are a coward and a poster boy for the need of the effective death penalty in
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my only regret? that this state won't let me kill this coward myself. thank you. >> reporter: next, it was julie's mother's turn. >> you took her precious life, and then you disgraced her. why? what did she do to you? how could you do anything like that to my baby? >> reporter: judge conley then turned to daniel wozniak and read his decision. >> it is the order of this court that you shall suffer the death penalty. >> reporter: the trial of daniel wozniak finally ends, but the feelings of loss only deepen. >> this is her sheet. i can still scent...
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>> reporter: what do you miss? >> i miss my boy. it's an honor to be a father. it's the best thing in the world. >> reporter: forever the herr and kibuishi families will be linked, always remembering, never forgetting their beautiful children, sam and julie. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> a new season, two cold cases. a young mother vanishes. one year later, an accidental butt dial to 911. will it solve the mystery of what happened to shelly?
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>> i slit her throat. >> the clues, this sketch and this letter. >> i want to find out who good evening.today the university of today the university of iowa hawks took on the gophers in minneapolis. minneapolis.sports anchor mia o'brien is here now- now-to bring us the highlights from today's iowa win. mia. this game important for a variety of reasons jenee but especially -- emotionally, following a homecoming loss a week -- this is -- game is implications -- there's bragging rights... rights...there's floyd of rosedale on the line!!!first quarter no score -- bo bower pokes the football out from rodney smith's grasp -- turnovers would be the story of this game -- more on that later....orrrr how about the very next turns would be the starty re -- story of the game.
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not showing any rust after the suspension. we jump to the fourth quarter, a 7-six 6 barn burner for the pig. hits the edge and flying down the sideline. 54 yards to the house t. proves to be the difference maker as fosse bests minnesota 14-seven. 7. >> you're happy any time you win. any time you win a good thing. they also learn they don't come easy no matter who you're playing. that's part of the deal. the biggest thing i was really happy for our guys. i thought we improved today. we showed a lot of resilience. . >> the hawks are on the road next weekend as they head to purdue. highlights later in sports.
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looking for a suspect who they say shot and killed two officers and wounded a third. they responded to a family- dispute call this afternoon. the condition of the living officer is not known. wedge of the officers who die -- one of officers who died was jose vega. the other officer had just returned from maternity leave. old baby. the police chief is advising people in the area to lock their doors and not let nair -- anyone in. matthew continues to threaten the u.s. more than a million people are without power in florida. people with flooded and have no powers -- power in states.
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in a decade. reports of 300 up to nearly 900.officials say rural and up to nearly 91. -- 900. it's difficult to get the exact number. there's no one yet. a u.s. military trent trent -- transplant plane dropped off food and water. meteorologist. >> it's starting to pull away from land and it's starting to pull to sea. it's is you -- such a unique system. it moved up the coast and impacted so many coastal cities and made landfall as a category 1. now it's foaf -- moving away. three still going to be some
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there's strong winds wrapping around the storm. but the rain will come to an end in the carolina's. matthew will continue to pull away and the late -- latest cone shows it will continue to weaken and will continue off to the west away from the united states in the coming days and we'll likely see it with tropical characteristics and won't be any impact to land. yesterday we saw this to the bahamas but even if it heads that way, it won't cause any problems. it will influence our -- our winckel weather. we'll have good weather staying for the weekend. it's going to be another cool one. temperatures falling down into the 30s and close to 40 degrees by morning. . we continue now with more of the corridor's top story.
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