in this las vegas, you roll the dice for fun. in this las vegas, life is a roll of the dice. car thieves, conartists. how many people do you figure you guys scammed? or a suspected killer. and what was she doing at the time? >> crying, i guess. >> the odds are good if you did the crime, you'll do the time. >> i should have listened to my mom. that's what i should have done. >> caught by the cops. >> burglary, grand larceny. >> and maybe our cameras. >> are you charging me with something? >> i'm not charging you. i'm a correspondent from a

television news show. tonight all-new undercover journey through an underground world. plus a vegas crime unlike any you've seen before. we put you inside the case. >> it was pretty emotional. >> a single mom goes missing. a heartbroken daughter learns the truth. >> one day i want to share my story with the world. >> now police are on the trail of a killer. >> he buys a tarp, bleach and an ax. >> and our cameras are there as the mystery unfolds. every step of the wayp. >> holy cow. this was something you see in a movie. >> vegas undercover. good evening and welcome to "dateline." i'm chris hansen. this is one view of las vegas looking down on the strip. the view of vegas you get as a cop isn't as pretty, but it's just as riveting. and that's the vegas our cameras have captured. every day in this city, police

play a high stakes game of cat and mouse with conmen, crooks and killers. tonight you're in on the chase from that first 911 call to the final clink of the jail cell door. it all happens right before your eyes here on "vegas undercover." this lists every call, every police call. >> this is what we're doing right now at the las vegas metropolitan police department. >> reporter: sheriff doug gillespie, the man in charge, recently showed us a multioperational operation called the southern nevada counterterrorism center, also known as the fusion center. >> we have 14 agencies that are represented here. >> reporter: it's the clearinghouse for all data related to any criminal activity occurring in southern nevada. it's also a bastion of cutting edge technology focused on fighting crime and preventing terrorism. >> all crimes, all hazards. >> reporter: but most important, the information that comes through this facility helps police know where to focus their attention. >> this is at the fingertips of

our watch commander. >> reporter: it's information that also helps police decide where to carry out their undercover stings. like this fencing operation run by the vegas intelligence unit. for nearly a year this little shop just off the vegas strip has been a hotbed for criminals selling stolen goods. the store is meant to look like a business that sells car audio systems. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: but it's really a place where thieves know they can come to unload stolen goods. >> two on the car, two on the gun. >> reporter: the crooks think the men buying their loot are fellow bad guys. >> hey, bro, what's going on? >> reporter: but they're really undercover detectives with the vegas intelligence unit. >> i have two malibus. >> reporter: our cameras have been rolling and we've been watching it all go down from this back room. not only did the one guy have a stolen car he brought in, he has

five others to sell to the undercover officer. we listened as thieves describe how easy it is to steal cars. and guns. >> reporter: lieutenant dave lowe who oversees the operation says all of the suspects know this is a place to come to buy stolen imts. >> they let us know they have something they want to unload. in our conversations, we try to make sure that it's stolen. >> reporter: they have to make the first move. >> yes. >> reporter: they have to have possession of the stolen property before you have a conversation? >> absolutely. >> reporter: today, the undercover team is getting ready for the arrival of a new customer. we're waiting for a guy to come in named adam isaacson and he'll va nissan quest. a man who was just released from jail. he actually got on to this place

when he was in the county jail. >> and he met a fellow inmate who had also done some business here. >> reporter: and now, here he comes. 22-year-old adam isaacson driving the stolen car. he's brought along a friend. >> you got a gps for sale that i got earlier, too. >> reporter: adam says he's an auto detailer who apparently moonlights as a car thief. >> how long have you had it? >> like a week and a half. >> reporter: after negotiating a price for the car. >> we agree to five? throw this in, we'll make it 550 and you have cash. >> cool. >> reporter: adam stays to chat for a while. he starts to relax and reveal more about himself. he has a car detailing operation so he has access to a lot of cars. >> i figure i can wipe the prints off.

>> reporter: he brags to the undercover officers about his expertise at hot wiring fords. all makes and models. >> there's a whole environment. >> reporter: adam tells the detectives something else. one of the hot cars they bought at the storefront weeks earlier was owned by someone the police might actually know. that's right. a judge. a judge adam says he might be seeing soon regarding some earlier trouble he got into. adam and his friend leave, promising to be back soon. the police are planning on arresting adam and all the other suspects once the investigation is over. so for now, they let him walk. >> nice meeting you again. >> reporter: word of the fencing operation has spread quickly. one suspect referring others to the little shop. brad, for example, was the

shop's first mer. he sent in this woman. >> did brad tell you what this was awe about here? >> a little bit. >> reporter: then chevy brought some of her friends, including levi. and now levi is back. introducing the shop's next customer, 21-year-old courtney miller. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: today courtney has a freshly stolen truck for sale. >> it's going to be reported at 4:00. >> that's when they'll be home? >> yes. >> so this just happened today? >> yes. >> nice. are the original plates still on it? >> yes. >> she explained the truck belongs to her ex-boyfriend who recently dumped her. >> a guy that told me i was too young for him. >> to get back at him, she had friends rip him off. >> reporter: she negotiates a price. >> can you make it like 550 and call it a day? >> reporter: they agree on $550

for the $30,000 truck. >> i'm actually being generous because i would like you to come back. >> reporter: soon courtney's going to regret making an appearance at the storefront as she makes another appearance on "dateline." do you blame yourself at all? >> yep. i should have listened to my mom. that's what i should have done. just listened to my mom. >> reporter: and something courtney should not have done, challenge police to find her. >> catch me if you can. >> reporter: you said catch me if you can. >> those were my exact words. my sister's new boyfriend told her that he thinks sundays are just for watching football. believe that? [ thinking ] remain calm. answering incorrectly has... but i just -- [ thinking ] ...consequences. but you're smart, right? you ordered off mcdonald's dollar menu at breakfast. got the premium roast coffee, the savory sausage burrito. everything's so good and just a buck each. you made it happen, so... you got this. he's a jerk. [ thinking ] well-played. mcdonald's dollar menu at breakfast.

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it's now time for police to shut down the storefront sting operation. in all, they've recovered more than a million dollars in stolen cars, arresting 38 suspects. remember adam isaacson? >> all day long. >> reporter: he was arrested and taken to police headquarters. and as we had with the other suspects, we asked him if he wanted to see the tape of his appearance in the storefront. i've got some video from that investigation, adam. i'd like you to take a look, if that's all right with you. i showed him video of himself bragging about a car ha was stolen from the daughter of a judge. well, this car apparently belonged to the daughter of a judge? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: as it turns out, adam says it's a judge that's about to sentence him in an unrelated case. your new sentencing judge.

how do you suppose this is going to play in front of your new sentencing zwruj, you talking about having possession of her daughter's car. >> she's going to [ bleep ]. >> reporter: that's not going to go over very well, i'm thinking. >> no, it's not. >> reporter: at 22, adam has already done a stint in prison. he's clearly upset at being exposed. >> it's going to get mi killed. i'm going to die in prison. >> reporter: because of why? >> because of the videotape and everything else. it wouldn't matter. >> reporter: why would people come offer? >> people don't come after you. you go to prison. everybody thinks you told, you die, period, end of story. >> reporter: but i told adam it's clear he's not ratting on anyone. >> it's not so much you would be on television, it would be the suggestion that you were trying to rat out people to the police. >> stolen cars and blah, blah, blah and i'm sitting here talking to you right now. >> reporter: adam pleaded guilty

to his crimes at the storefront and will spend one to six years in prison. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you! >> reporter: and remember 21-year-old courtney who helped rip off her boyfriend after he dumped her? here she is at the local jail sporting a new hairdo. chris hansen, "dateline nbc." >> oh, good, in jail? >> reporter: we're doing a story on those convicted by the las vegas metropolitan police department. you surfaced in that investigation. >> yeah. >> reporter: we wanted to get your side of things. i mean, how did you get caught in the middle of all this? >> i honestly do not know. i had a friend that had a friend that knew some people that were dealing with cars and things, and he took me to them. and now i'm here. >> reporter: you had a friend who had a friend who knew some people. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: that sounds like the start of a bad story. >> it does not have a happy

ending. >> reporter: she says the beginning of her story isn't so happy either. courtney told me she's been smoking crystal meth for years, starting when she was a kid. how long were you on meth? >> i've been on it since i was 11 years old. >> reporter: since 11 years old? that is a tough, tough drug. i mean, both in how addictive it is and in what it does to your mind and body. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: but recently courtney says she was getting her life back on track. you go to college? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: what are you studying? >> criminal justice. >> reporter: criminal justice. isn't that ironic? >> exactly. very ironic. >> reporter: and now you're in jail. >> now i'm in jail. >> reporter: how does that happen? >> i honestly don't know. >> reporter: will you come back? >> of course. >> reporter: in the days after the operation ended, courtney found out the police were looking for her. >> she's supposed to be there at 10:00. we'll swoop in and pick her up. >> reporter: but this student of criminal justice obviously didn't study much on how you

should turn yourself in. >> i was sitting in a u-haul, going back up to my mom's house to pick up some clothes because i told them if they wanted me to turn myself in, to go pretty much [ bleep ] themselves because i wasn't going to turn myself in. catch me if you can. >> reporter: you said catch me if you can. >> those were my exact words. >> reporter: you have to know if you say that to police detectives, they're going to get you. >> they didn't get me right away. took them three days. >> reporter: courtney knows she was caught in a police sting, there was something she didn't know. that we had the undercover video to show her. can i show you something? >> yeah. i would love to see something. >> reporter: you would like to see it? >> yes. >> reported stolen. >> so this just happened today? okay. are the original plates still on it? >> yes. >> reporter: so what was going through your mind when you saw that videotape? >> i'm [ bleep ]. >> reporter: you blame yourself at all? >> yep.

>> reporter: i should have listened to my mom. that's what i should have done, listened to my mom. >> reporter: what did she tell you? >> why do you hang out with criminals? if you don't hang out with criminals, you won't go to jail. >> reporter: courtney pleaded guilty and will spend two to five years in prison. so where do crooks steal cars to sell? sometimes they take them right off the streets. we're right behind him now. as you'll see this time, police and our hidden cameras are watching. >> come on. >> reporter: coming up -- behind the wheel. then off the jail. >> put your hands up! [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts

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>> reporter: you're watching realtime video of a thief in the act of stealing a car. it happens over and over again. in fact, every 30 seconds another car is stolen somewhere in america. until just a few years ago, las vegas led the nation in auto theft. [ sirens ] but the police here responded with a specialized unit called viper. and soon the crime numbers began falling. >> state of the art bait car

program. >> reporter: we've been riding along with lieutenant bobby duvall who has been showing us specially designed bait cars rigged with cameras and on board computers to catch thieves. >> each car is represented up here by a color. >> reporter: here's how it work. two undercover dngtetectives dr one of the vehicles into a high crime area. get out of the car and appear to start an argument. in the chaos, they pretend to abandon the vehicle. a real life scenario that lieutenant duvall says happens more than you might think. >> we use real situations where people have had their cars stolen because they left it running. >> reporter: tonight it takes only a few minutes for the bait car to attract attention. at first, just one woman jumps in. >> door open. >> reporter: what she doesn't know is that the police are following her. we're right behind her now.

we're with them, watching and litteni listening everything she says. >> come on, fool. >> reporter: she picks up three friends. and rummages through a purse intentionally left by police. >> the bait car, the escalade was probably left for less than three minutes. a human got in, grabbed it, then picked up other people. >> dang. >> reporter: now they're at a red light. >> i'm going to park this for a minute. >> reporter: it's time for the cops to cut off the power to the suv. >> kill it, kill it, kill it. >> oh, no gas. [ sirens ] >> put up your hands. >> driver, put your hands out. let me see your hands. >> reporter: officers arrest all four people in the car and

charge them with grand theft auto. before they're taken off to jail, i get a chance to speak with them. starting with the driver, who goes by misty. i'm wondering if you just tell me what happened. >> yes, the lady was arguing with her boyfriend. >> reporter: the lady who was originally driving that car. she describes how after seeing the commotion and the abandoned car, her friends egged her on to take it. >> they wanted me to go get it. >> reporter: why did they want you to go get it? >> i don't know. >> reporter: well, they're your friends. so you just did. even though you didn't know. >> take the car and park it. >> reporter: why not just turn the car off and call police? >> i don't know. i was probably going to do that when i got here. >> reporter: what were you all saying to each other when you took off? >> nothing. just go park it. >> reporter: i could hear what you were saying. that's not what you were saying. >> i said look through her wallet. >> reporter: see if there's any money. >> yeah. >> reporter: you're looking for money. you're going to take the money if you found money. >> because i have no money. that's just --

>> reporter: i know, but you're not supposed to take money that's not yours, right? one of the other passengers, timothy dillon, who says his friend misty has it all wrong. she says, misty says, that you all said get in the are, get in the car, start it, drive around, pick us up. >> i have no idea. >> reporter: she claims that's what happened. >> i mean, she's got her opinion. i got mine. >> reporter: what's your opinion? >> she asked if we wanted a ride. >> reporter: i heard what was going on. and it didn't go down just that way. you want to give me another shot at this story here? >> that's the one i'm going with. >> reporter: the other two suspects are siblings. he says he knew this was a bad idea. >> i said i'm not getting in there. my sister's like, yeah, you are. >> i had some -- >> reporter: his sister loretta

admits she's been drinking. what made you decide it was a good idea to jump in there? >> to have a ride. >> reporter: to have a ride that on this night land her and her friends behind bars. all four suspects have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to less than a year in jail. what's going to happen to you now? >> i'm in trouble. >> reporter: you're in trouble. all right. coming up -- thieves so bold they stole jewelry from one pawn shop, then hocked it at another. how they were put on ice. >> the passenger seat up here wrapped in a towel. >> reporter: and later, shes with a single mother and aspiring writer. >> one day i want to share my story with the world. >> reporter: then she vanished in vegas. was it murder? we're with police inside the case. what happened to ginger candela? [ woman 1 ] we are the editors and founders of a food blog.

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>> reporter: two masked then, guns drawn, ordered customers and employees to the floor as they smash display cases, stealing jewelry and cash. it happens over and over again across las vegas at a chain of

shops called superpawn. robbery detective chuck mayo says all the robberies appear to share a similar pattern. >> they pull right up in front of the pawn shop and go right in, hit the pawn shop, run back out, get in that car and drive off. >> reporter: the men wear masks made from t-shirts. both carry guns and use pillow cases for their loot. at gunpoint forced the manager to open up the jewelry counters. >> yes. >> reporter: they sweep through there and grab. >> they use the pillow case and then make him open up the cash drawer. >> reporter: one time a surveillance camera caught the suspects fleeing in this white grand am. but who are they? the video from the pawn shops was of little use because these guys are wearing masks. >> correct. >> reporter: then a tip comes in. jewelry stolen from one pawn shop is actually being hawked at another. this suspect is identified on store surveillance wearing a gold chain stolen that very morning. police identify him. antonio richard, a seven-time

convicted felon. but is he one of the men wearing a mask during the robberies? >> i didn't have enough to get him identified from the victims in the pawn shop. so i had to do something in order to get these cases solved. >> reporter: the only way to know if he's one of the robbers is to keep richards under constant surveillance. so detective mayo turns to a specialized unit called the repeat offender program. a team that focusing on career criminals to catch them in the act. >> we'll look at their activities and see what they're doing. >> reporter: lieutenant ted lee who heads up this specialized unit says it's the career criminals who commit most crimes. >> unfortunately, that's their job. that's their business. that's all they really know. we're now actively following our main target. >> reporter: sergeant leveque and his team are assigned to watch richard every waking hour. it seems that he's living the

life, has a job as a courier. until a new tip. >> a new piece of information. >> reporter: an informant tells cop, richard and his associate, named eddie jefferson, are about to hit another superpawn. they give them a time and an address. >> they're in the alleyway directly south of the superpawn. >> reporter: the suspects show up, but before sergeant leveque arrives on the scene, the men are spooked when they see a store security guard. and they drive away. >> they're leaving the area of this pawn shop. [ sirens ] >> reporter: but police follow the men and arrest them a few blocks down the road. so were these the guys responsible for those armed robberies? remember that white grand am caught on surveillance? turns out richard and jefferson were arrested riding in a white grand am. crime scene investigators search the car. >> any kind of clothing, firearms, obviously. anything like that. >> reporter: and find masks made out of t-shirts just like the

ones used in the robbery. >> with the eye holes. >> reporter: a gun underneath the front seat. >> it's under the passenger seat wrapped in a towel. >> reporter: and a pillow case. just like the one robbers were seen carrying on surveillance tape. richard and jefferson were charged with several counts of robbery. a few weeks later, i went to the local jail to speak with antonio richard. hey, antonio. chris hansen with "dateline nbc." how are you doing? do you want to have a seat. how did it all start? >> just doing something just to be doing something. wasn't no reason about it. >> reporter: richard admits he and jefferson, a four-time convicted felon were the men behind the masks, but claims they had no intention of hurting anyone. >> it seems a little worse than what it really is. you know what i'm saying? >> reporter: in what way? >> our sbengs wasn't to the point that i was going to hurt someone. it was just to go in there just to try to make situations happen

and just come out of there as safe as possible. that's all it really was. >> reporter: richard says that he and his accomplice, who has pleaded guilty, netted more than $20,000 in stolen goods. what did you guys do with that money? >> just basically paying bills, trying to catch up on certain things. extravagant things. >> reporter: like what? what was the most extravagant thing you bought with that money? >> man, i went on trips. >> reporter: where did you go? >> i had been all through arkansas, texas, fixed my cars up, pay the bill, you know. just blow a lot. you know? just gamgamble. >> reporter: at 42 antonio richard has already spent more than ten years in prison. is prison a deterrent for you? >> you know, i don't like being locked up, but i stay locked up. you know what i'm saying? so apparently it's something that -- it must be something within me to where i must be liking this type of lifestyle or something. i really don't have the answers for some of the actions that i

have took that i would really like to know within myself. >> reporter: richard has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars. coming up -- he's in hot water. how many people do you figure you guys scammed? but says it's all his fault. >> i'm done. are you charging me with something? >> reporter: i'm not charging you. i'm a correspondent for a television news show. how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.95? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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>> reporter: is it free estimates for -- 82-year-old kay domme was looking for somebody who could maintain her property. you had landscaping work. so the flyer she found on her doorstep seemed looking into. >> i called. >> reporter: the landscapers soon went to work. did some landscaping. trimmed the bushes, cleaned up. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: and you wrote them a check for 120 bucks. you're watching the actual video from the day the men worked for kay. here they are blowing and raking leaves off her driveway. what none of them knew was that someone else was watching, too.

sergeant chris leveque and his team of undercover detectives. >> it's just a cat and mouse game really is the best way i can describe it. >> reporter: turns out police had been surveilling the men, gary stephenson and gary whipple for weeks and our cameras were along with them along the way. >> gary stephenson, one of our main targets, is wearing a dark long-sleeved t-shirt and tan cargo pants. there's our other guy. david whipple is wearing a dark blue short sleeve work shirt. >> reporter: so why would police follow two landscapers? because the cops already knew something else about these two. they were thieves. ♪ this is surveillance video of the men with another accomplice going on a shopping spree at a marshall's clothing store. >> that's surveillance video. depicted them clearly as being the ones prying off the security tags and putting stuff in the

cart. >> reporter: surveillance cameras track them as they load their cart, cutting off security tags and hiding merchandise in bags. what kind of stuff are they stealing? >> on that occasion, just clothing. i believe it was -- whipple had actually cut open a box of men's cologne and had taken some boxes of cologne. >> reporter: here they are another day at lowe's. stephenson and whipple pick up window screens, then simply walk out without paying for them. so when they were spotted blowing leaves in kay domme's neighborhood, cops suspected they were up to no good. and that's when the suspects approached kay. she paid them to do some yard work. but then they made their move. >> he got done the yard working. he told me to open up the farj door. >> reporter: the landscapers told her they'd checked her water heater and said it was broken. you believed them? >> i did. >> reporter: what kay doesn't know is that her water heater is perfectly fine. lo >> looks like he's going back up to the house.

>> reporter: so she agrees to pay them a thousand dollars to replace it. they load it into their truck and haul it away. >> and they're away going eastbound. >> reporter: but if the water heater wasn't broken, what were they up to? it seems these thieves got greedy because kay's water heater was still under warranty. they headed to the plumbing store. >> they said that they had a warranty heater replacement. >> reporter: by presenting this sticker to the manager of the store, they could keep kay's water heater and get a new one free. the plan, pocket kay's thousand dollars for a nonexistent repair. replace her water heater and keep the extra one for themselves. the cops have seen enough. and they move in. ♪ >> you know you are under arrest right now. burglary, larceny, grand larceny. >> reporter: as police sort out what happened to kay, they arrest stephenson and whipple

for stealing from those retail stores. >> we've been following you guys for quite a while. we watch you every morning. we see you doing your little shoplifting sprees. >> could have been someone that looked like me. wasn't me. >> do you have any twins? >> not that i know of? >> okay. >> reporter: a few weeks later gary stephenson game clean the police. and while out on bail, agreed to speak with us, too. when did this turn from a landscaping business into a criminal enterprise? >> about 2 1/2 years ago. >> reporter: stephenson says he and his partner chose their targets carefully, scamming the people they believed were the most vulnerable. the elderly. >> going into old folk folks' neighborhoods, kick somebody's water system over. they would end up hiring us and fixing it. >> reporter: there were other scams, too. you told these people you had a whole plan. >> exactly. >> reporter: but there were no repairs when they got up on the

roof. just a hosing. literally. >> spraying water. >> reporter: what k thdid that for the roof? >> nothing. just clean it. >> reporter: how many people do you figure you guys scammed? >> we scammed probably about a good 100, 150 people. >> reporter: all elderly? >> all elderly. >> reporter: you're okay with that? >> i was strongly against it. >> reporter: because because he says none of it was his idea. he blames this man, joe rydell, a career criminal that stephenson says forced him into a life of crime by beating him. i got to tell you if i'm living with a guy who is beating me, making me pull off scams, i'm out of there. why didn't you leave? >> my family. i didn't want nothing happening to my family. >> reporter: so who is joe rydell, this svengali who allegedly controlled the scammers? chris hansen, with "dateline nb nbc". have a seat. rydell is a three-time convicted

felon. we met him at the clark cot detention center where he was being held on another case. gary stephenson tld us that you basically were the man behind the scenes where you would send these guys out, targeting elderly people, ripping them off. >> never. >> reporter: did you ever send gary or a guy named dave whipple out to punch holes in people's water lines? >> never. >> reporter: to destroy their sprinkler systems so you could go get paid for repairing them? >> never. >> reporter: rydell says now that stephenson's been caught, he's just making up a story to cover his tracks. >> you know you are under arrest right now, right? >> reporter: why would gary stephenson say all this? >> because the guy's a crazy nut. >> reporter: he's a crazy nut. >> yeah. he has to lie to everybody else. >> reporter: but rydell says he never beat or threatened stephenson. in fact, he says he helped him. >> took care of him, lived with me. left every day.

that's what he did every day on his own. if he didn't like it, why did he live there for four years? >> reporter: we asked him about allegations that he's a white supremacist. that's when he decided to end the interview? >> what does that have to do with anything? >> reporter: nothing. >> i'm done. you are charging me with something? >> reporter: i'm not charging you. i'm a correspondent with a television news show. i'm not charging you with anything. anything else you want people to know about this case? >> it's bull [ bleep ]. come on! the dude went to jail for [ bleep ] stealing to make money for himself. he got caught. he started making all these lies about people. >> reporter: meanwhile, gary stephenson's partner has pleaded not guilty. as for gary, who pleaded guilty, what do you say to all those elderly people who you helped rip off? >> i said, i'm sorry for doing it. i was doing it -- i was made to do it against my own will. >> reporter: coming up -- away from the lights, dark and deadly nights in las vegas.

you saw the sexual assault. >> yes. >> reporter: what was she doing at the time? >> crying, i guess. >> reporter: and later, a murder mystery centers on a loving single mom. >> she was very energetic. she was outgoing. she was uplifting. >> reporter: the cops are working to catch a killer. >> it was pretty emotional. >> reporter: and our cameras are there every step of the way. [ female announcer ] imagine the possibilities with stelara®. for adults, stelara® helps control moderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®, your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer.

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hands up! hands up! >> let me see your hands! >> reporter: as you've seen the vegas police are on the case, cracking down on thieve, scammers and career criminals in sin city. but they're also on top of the worst sin of all. murder. how many of you guys went out to where the body is? for years we've been there as veteran detectives unravel murder mysteries in las vegas. >> very clean. >> reporter: now, we're back with the homicide unit. >> there's one on the other side of the building over there. >> reporter: lieutenant lou roberts is in charge of homicide. >> it's dark work and there's never any good news. >> reporter: what's the hardest part of this job for you? >> the families. i try to give them updates on the cases. that's a never-ending process. >> reporter: a never-ending process because there are

roughly 115 murders a year in las vegas. like this one. the case of the romeros, a married couple shot in their home during a robbery. >> the wife was shot in the face. >> reporter: 64-year-old julio roam romero was found dead in the bedroom. the wife told police what happened. she said a process server came knocking looking for someone who used to live at that address. >> she stated that the suspect came back later on that night. he was let inside by the husband. who subsequently shot the husband. and then dragged her into the closet where he shot her in the face. >> reporter: and basically left her for dead? >> and basically left her for dead. >> reporter: detectives look for court records and find the process server. they act quickly finding out where hover works. detectives tail him, then move in for the arrest. >> see your hands! let's see your hands! >> get your hands up!

>> now! >> reporter: and soon they learn that there's much more to this case. hover may have had an accomplice, someone who used one of the victim's credit cards. >> tell the young gentleman in the house to come back out here. >> reporter: his name is ricky freeman. police pick him up. freeman tells detectives he knows all about the shooting. then he volunteers even more horrifying information about yet another gruesome murder. >> metro police say two high profile murders are connected. >> reporter: freeman says he knows about the murder of prisma contreras. she'd been kidnapped randomly after finishing her shift as a waitress. that was a particularly brutal crime. >> yes. she was stabbed, sexually assaulted and then lit on fire. >> reporter: but it had remained unsolved until ricky freeman told police what he knew. hey, ricky. chris hansen with "dateline nbc." how are you doing? i recently sat down with ricky

freeman at the local jail, who is publicly speaking out about the chilling details for the first time. how did you meet gregory hover? >> i met him through a friend almost a year ago. he was barbecuing and he offered us to eat. >> reporter: freeman says he was 17 when he met hover, the 38-year-old process server. >> he worked for a legal company and delivered subpoena papers. >> reporter: right. >> he asked me if i wanted to go with him because he said i could drive for him. >> reporter: then came the night freeman says everything changed. the men were driving around when hover spotted a woman going to her car. >> he said he was picking up a friend, and then all of a sudden everything turned bad. >> reporter: but the woman wasn't a friend. it was prisma. he's accused of kidnapping herred a gunpoint. >> yes. >> reporter: freeman says hover ordered him to drive to a quiet area in the desert where hover raped and tortured the young woman before setting her body on fire. did you witness any of this? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: you saw the sexual

assault? >> yes. >> reporter: and what was she doing at the time? >> crying, i guess. >> reporter: crying? >> yes. >> reporter: what was going through your mind as this was taking place? >> how am i going to get away? how am i going to run? what am i going to do if he tries to come and tries to kill me just like he's about to do to her? i don't know. >> reporter: why didn't you just go in the other direction and drive to the police station? >> because i don't know where any police stayings are. i didn't see any police during the whole time of the drive. >> reporter: did you have a cell phone? >> no, he took my cell phone with him. >> reporter: why not go to a gas station or convenience store and call 911? >> because i stepped out of the car, he would have gotten out and shot me just as easily. >> reporter: and instead of going to police, freeman continued to hang out with hover and two weeks later it was freeman who drove hover to the romeros' home the night they were shot. >> he went into the house and he had to serve papers. that's what he told me. that he had to go serve them

papers. then he came back out and said that he shot them. i almost threw up. i thought i was about to die right then and there. >> reporter: but here's the thing ricky. had you gone to police after the first killing, romero would likely be alive today. >> yeah, but i had no chance to get to the police. i had no chance to call police. he was always watching me. he was always right there. >> please! >> reporter: weeks later, still healing and grieving from the loss of her husband, roberta romero came to court and pointed out gregory hover as the man who pulled the trigger. >> he's the one that killed my husband. he also shot at me. >> reporter: hover and freeman were charged with multiple counts of murder, rape and kidnapping. both men could face the death penalty. both have pleaded not guilty. >> because of him. >> reporter: what do you say too the victims' families? >> that i'm sorry for not being

able to stop him. i wish i could have. >> reporter: the romeros' case is one of about 115 murders that vegas homicide detectives will investigate this year. but none of them is like the case we're about to show you now. because on this investigation our cameras are there every step of the way. from the moment the crime is discovered to the moment the mystery is solved. and as you'll see, it all unfolds in realtime as it happens. >> the body appears to be wrapped in a sheet. fitted sheet. >> reporter: it all began in this quiet suburb of las vegas, as police made their way to 3136 westfield street. >> we'll figure out where we're going to start. i think the kitchen, little office area, go through there. >> reporter: all detectives joel kisner and dolphis boucher knew

was that the body of a female was inside the garage. >> master bedroom will be the last room we touch. >> joel, i'm trying to explain to you what happened. >> reporter: why were you called to this house? >> i had a call from a missing persons detective, a lady named ginger, her daughter had called and said they couldn't find her. >> reporter: ginger is 44-year-old ginger candela, an aspiring writer and single mother of two daughters. 23-year-old tabitha, her youngest, reported her missing. >> i told the officer that i had to confirm that she might -- she might be -- something might have happened to her. >> reporter: tabitha described her mom as a spiritual seeker and said it wasn't unusual for her to leave town once in a while. she'd been receiving text messages from her mother, including this one from two weeks earlier saying, just letting you know that i'm going to a meditation retreat tomorrow. can't wait. and a few days later, all is

wonderful. my body has no pain anywhere. i'm in bliss. you'll have to do this, too. love and life. but tabitha sensed something might be wrong when each time she tried calling her mother's cell phone, there was no answer. stranger still, no returned calls. but the text messages continued. you were starting to get a little worried about her? >> yes. >> reporter: finally, tabitha says she drove to her mother's house. >> there was nobody there. it really hit home when i saw the animal's food bowls. and i turned to the neighbor and i said, did she tell you she was going? because any time she went anywhere, always the neighbor or myself who fed the animals. >> reporter: so what did you do? did you call police? >> yes. >> reporter: detectives searched the house. slowly. methodically.

>> things were ransacked within the house. and there were a large amount of empty bleach bottles in the garage and a trash can that was filled with a funny looking liquid that smelled like bleach. >> reporter: and when they opened the lid of that trash can, they realized this was a lot more than a missing persons case. >> we saw what we believe was a forearm. and at that point, that's when we were certain we had a body. >> reporter: but they weren't able to determine if the body was ginger's. and the next day, they were still trying to identify the murder weapon. >> it's all obvious cutting utensils, probably big knives. >> do we think it could have been any of the kitchen knives? >> we haven't got that far. what kitchen knives we have right now are tiny steak knives that i see sitting out in the sink. >> reporter: a haz-mat team transported the trash can to the clark county medical examiner's office for analysis. getting to the body itself

wasn't easy. >> the trash can had to be cut open to access the evidence. so that's why the trash can's here in a couple pieces. >> reporter: why it is important to come here to the morgue in an investigation like this? >> there's evidence a lot of times associated with the body. if we don't come here to witness that first part to it, that can be crucial because we might miss something. >> reporter: and the more they investigate it, the more grisly it became. >> it was kind of a real surreal thing because i remember telling him, get off the phone. you got to come over here. she's been cut in half. those cuts on the leg looked to be consistent with torture. >> reporter: once they removed the body, they found clues that might help in the identification. the tattered remains of a leopard patterned sheet.

and a woman's ring. but again, was the victim, ginger candela? the ring found on the body was their best clue. could ginger's daughter tabitha identify it. >> tabitha is the daughter. she's the one here locally. >> reporter: it's been 40 hours since meese dpolice discover th. they need to ask tabitha if the ring was her mom's? who would speak with her, the coroner or the cops? >> do you want to speak with her? >> we've already told her. everything matches. >> i realize that. just that final. if you want, i'll send somebody directly to her residence. i won't do it by phone. >> reporter: for these veteran homicide detectives, it's a part of the job they never get used to. later that night, they met tabitha outside her mother's home. this is always the hardest part.

>> do you want to sit in your car? would you be more comfortable? >> i'm fine. >> reporter: our cameras stayed at a respectful distance. they asked her about those items found with the body. >> do you know what kind of sheets your mom has on her bed? something that's like a leopard design? >> yeah. those are the sheets. >> reporter: describe being out here with tabitha, ginger's daughter. >> that was the hardest night. because we found a ring her mom would have, and we were standing over there, and we talked to her. >> that's her ring. unless somebody else was wearing it and they coincidentally happened to have -- >> no. >> so we told her we found the ring. it was pretty emotional. do you need a hug? it's okay if you do. i have daughters. i'm okay with that. you know, she was crying, obviously. we didn't know she was alone. her mom was the only one here for her. and so we were concerned about, you know, did she have someplace to go. do you have somebody you can go be with tonight? i don't want you to be alone.

>> to be quite honest, i assumed she was dead. >> i'm sorry. we have to be the ones to tell you. >> reporter: detectives dolphis boucher and joel kisner were now resolved to find justice for tabitha. coming up -- >> he bought these here. >> reporter: detectives will find clues that put them directly on the trail of a killer. >> he buys a tarp, bleach and an ax. with the venture card from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a trip to vegas twice as fast! [ brays ] and since double miles add up fast, we can bring the whole gang. is caesar home? we get double miles every time we use our card, no matter what we're buying. thank you! thank you very much! [ garth ] it's hard to beat double miles! if anyone objects, let them speak now or forever hold their... [ bleats ] [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one. money magazine's best rewards card if you aim to rack up airline miles. what's in your wallet? cannonball!!

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it was that ring found on the body that finally convinced tabitha degreif that her mother ginger had been murdered. >> do you need a hug? it's okay if you do. >> they described the ring to me. then i knew because she had bought that ring. she said it was her marriage with god. >> reporter: tabitha says her mom's ring reflected her deep spirituality. a pursuit that had recently led her to explore the new age lifestyle. which took her to new places and led her to new relationships. . tabitha, how would you best describe your mother to somebody who has never met her? >> she was very energetic.

she was outgoing. she was uplifting. and everybody she would meet, no matter what your circumstance, they would encourage you. >> reporter: someone ginger met turned out to be her killer. someone who dismembered her body, disposing of it in a trash canilled with bleach and cement. >> going to go in to take a look. >> reporter: detectives joel kisner and dolphis boucher knew the suspect was still free, and they desperately wanted know who it was. this one had to be more difficult. >> to think that somebody could do that to another person. holy cow, it's got to be surreal. this is something you see in a movie, but you never expect to actually see. >> reporter: and as in the movies, sometimes clues surface at exactly the right moment. it's been 48 hours since ginger's body was discovered. the detectives continue to let

us stay close, as they try to figure out what happened. >> second night in a row, and probably the second night of several more days with very little sleep. >> four hours last night, four hours tonight maybe. >> maybe. >> reporter: a team of csi specialists were still combing through the evidence and found something important. >> there is some paperwork that we found in the trash exacompac that you might be interested in. >> okay. >> reporter: in her trash was a receipt from a local home depot showing somebody bought small items including many gallon of bleach. could that be somehow linked to the crime scene? and if so, who bought it? back at homicide headquarters, detectives identified the specific home depot where the items were purchased. home depot store 3316 and that's the address. that's the date and time. >> you want to go over there? >> yeah. >> let's go over there.

>> reporter: what detectives were after was store surveillance video documenting whoever went shopping for items they were now linking to the crime. why is it important? >> a lot of the video in town is time sensitive. unless you are lucky and get to the place in the right time, it's gone. >> reporter: and then you lose crucial evidence. >> yeah. there it is. >> reporter: we went to the home depot with them and headed to the back office to meet fellow detective chris bunting and the store's manager. they started by going through the store's records and learn there were a number of purchases made. >> she has all the transactions saved right now. >> these are all attendant transactions? >> this is everything we have for all the transactions on all three cards. there's three separate cards that were used. >> reporter: and there was good news for the cops. >> showing on video it was purchased right here at this store. >> reporter: home depot still had the video from each visit. but would the killer show up on

the screen? first, the only person they saw buying anything on the video was the victim, ginger candela. here she is alone, two months before her death, where she returns some items and chatted with the clerk. two days later, she was back. this time she bought some flowers in the garden section and again chatted with the clerk at the checkout line. but luckily, there was more videotape showing more of the purchases linked to those receipts. and that's when they saw him. >> on the 6th they come in here together. >> reporter: a dark-haired man shown here with ginger waiting by the shopping cart while she spoke with the clerk at the return counter. this video was recorded six days before police believe ginger was murdered. but is this man ginger's killer?

everything appears normal. the couple looks like any other shopping at the home depot. here they are leaving the store, heading out to ginger's car. these are the last known pictures of ginger candela alive. but it wouldn't be the last trip the dark-haired man would make to the home depot. one week later, he was back. this time alone. >> then he comes back alone on the 14th three separate times. >> reporter: and if you're a homicide investigator, what he purchased here at the self-checkout line might raise an eyebrow. >> he leaves and comes back at 13:44. he buys a tarp, bleach and an ax. this is when he's at the register. >> reporter: later that same afternoon, the man came back yet again. it was his third shopping trip of the day.

>> comes back at 17:54, and he buys a whole bunch more bleach. >> reporter: and he bought something else. >> what's this 96 gallon cart? >> that's the largest trash can that we sell. >> that's the trash can. >> our descriptions aren't always indicative of what the product is. >> i'm sorry. i'm smiling. >> reporter: detective kisner was smiling because he couldn't have come across stronger evidence. video of the man wheeling the trash can in which ginger's body was found, out to her car. most disturbing, police believe as this video was recorded, ginger had been dead for at least two days. detectives noted how calm the man appeared. >> very nonchalant. doesn't seem in a hurry. >> reporter: this is after ginger's killed he's buying all this stuff. does he seem distressed? >> no. you can walk us around and take a look at all of them. and the ax and those other

things, the tarp. >> reporter: they wanted to be sure they could match and document every item he purchased to those found at the crime scene. so they took a walk down the aisles of the home depot. >> maybe her credit card. >> he bought these here. >> reporter: so who exactly is this man on the surveillance video? >> this is just weird. >> reporter: it turns out, he had another starring role. >> i have a friendly fly. f

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detectives have just discovered damning evidence. surveillance video showing a man buying the bleach and trash can. >> he buys a tarp, bleach and an ax. this is when he's at the register. >> reporter: so who he is? one of the first leads would come from ginger's daughter tabitha. >> my mom made it a point for my sister and i to have her vital information. >> reporter: family gets in to mom's account and sees that her checks are being written out of order, which is unusual.

>> reporter: tabitha knew her mom's bank passwords. after she couldn't reach her, she went online and was immediately suspicious after seeing certain cashed checks. >> being her daughters, we can look at these and say obviously that they're fakes. that's not her hand writing, that's not her signature. >> reporter: the checks were written to someone she had never heard of. >> there were three checks written to a michael lane. >> reporter: had you ever heard the name michael lane? >> no. >> reporter: and there was more evidence found in ginger's mailbox pointing to the same person. >> we had a piece of mail here that the post office had delivered. it was a bank statement for michael lane. to this house. >> reporter: detectives identified this man, michael victor lane, a 37-year-old british national, who, according to immigration, had been in the country less than a year. was he the man seen in the home

depot video? our cameras were still rolling at homicide headquarters, now three days after detectives caught the case and nearly just as long since they'd slept. >> pretty tired today. sorry to wake you up this morning. >> do a little paragraph of who she is. >> reporter: but detectives dolphis boucher and joel kisner knew their suspect was still a free man and they were racing against time to find him. >> when we got this, we figured out it was a british national. there was a concern for us that, you know, this guy may be gone already. >> i got the guy from interpol that responded back to me. i'm going to give him a little information. >> reporter: they began to dig, building a profile of their suspect. >> this is just weird. look. >> reporter: and learned michael lane had left traces of himself across the internet. >> i have a friendly fly. >> reporter: like this bizarre video he posted on youtube. >> what's your name?

why are you here? what's your message? >> reporter: he appears soft spoken and gentle. almost like he wouldn't hurt a fly. >> i don't know what his game is, but -- >> reporter: on other sites, he presented himself as a spiritual healer and ordained minister of the online universal life church where his profile describes him as enlightened. he offered angel card readings and guided audio meditations like this one. >> try visualize yourself breathing. >> reporter: he was a member of dozens of online new age spiritual groups and social networking sites where he went by aliases, calling himself michael bodhi and chae saville. but most of all, lane made his living as a computer whiz building websites, which is exactly what he was doing in the months before ginger's murder, when he was living in southern california. it's where he met the reverend

danielle hewitt from the temple of light. tell me about the temple of light. >> temple of light is a spiritual wellness center. it's just a place to have a very personal relationship with the divine. >> reporter: how did you first come to meet michael lane? >> he came down here from ventura with my friend, and said your website really isn't very good. let me redo it for you. >> reporter: lane told her he lived all over the world, describing himself as a seeker who had recently arrived in the united states. >> he professed to be associated with a buddhist monastery. >> reporter: but the more she learned about her new programmer, the more suspicious she became. >> the fact that he lived in a hotel, that he had a rental car, that he had very little physical possessions, so he was really very transient. there was a lot more to him than met the eye. >> reporter: reverend hewitt said she quickly sized up michael lane as a phony. and your sense of his

spirituality? >> nonexistent. it was something he was putting on and he was professing to have interest in. he put himself out as a seeker. >> reporter: six weeks after meeting lane, reverend hewitt fired him. and that frightened her. >> our hearts were pounding. i'd seen him clench his jaw and the little vein coming out here when things didn't go his way, so i knew he had a temper. >> reporter: a few weeks after he was fired, lane attended this self-help conference and book launch called three feet from gold. here is a picture of him that day, taken with a man who wrote the foreword for the book. it was the same event where he met ginger candela, who took a picture with the same man. two weeks later, ginger would be dead. what happened between lane and ginger at that conference? do we know? >> not at this point. >> reporter: so they just met. >> they just met. and started some sort of relationship that progressed to him moving here and moving into her house.

>> reporter: lane moved to vegas with ginger and was living with her for less than one week when they met this woman. >> we're marketing a medical device out of japan. >> reporter: p.j. markets a ho listic drink called kangen water. >> wetter, healthier water. medical water. >> reporter: p.j. says lane met her online and contacted her describing himself as a mover and shaker in the healing scene. >> he was a motivational speaker, spiritual healer and was bragging about an aura machine that he had purchased. >> reporter: an aura machine. which allegedly did what? >> it reads the energy of a person's heat. >> reporter: he said he was interested in her product, and brought ginger along to her house to learn more about it. >> i invited them to our kangen water demo that night. and they both showed up that night. >> reporter: did they tell you what their relationship was?

>> very unclear what the relationship was. and they did mention that they had met at a conference in california. i remember thinking as a woman, something's going on with this girl. like she does not know where this relationship stands, she wishes it was more. >> reporter: in fact, p.j. says even though lane was with ginger, he was putting the moves on her. >> i was hearing from him in e-mails and facebook constantly, almost every day, if i was online, he would be popping up, instant messaging me. >> reporter: was he hitting on you? >> i felt like he was getting a little too close for comfort. >> reporter: soon lane showed up at p.j.'s house once again, but this time he was alone. p.j. remembered it was just days before thanksgiving. >> and we asked, oh, where's ginger? he said, she had business to take care of with her ex-husband in florida. >> reporter: but ginger was not in florida. detectives knew by that time, she was already dead. now, with evidence found at

ginger's house, the forged checks, the bank statement, and that surveillance video, detectives now believed michael lane is the man who killed ginger candela. in fact, police believe, as ginger's body sat in the trash can for two weeks, lane continued to live in her house. accessing her bank account. driving her car. all the while creating the illusion ginger was alive by texting tabitha, her daughter. >> we have people looking for him right now. we have a warrant. >> reporter: in fact, when they were at the crime scene, detectives told tabitha, if he tries texting again, play along. >> so if he texts, just text back like i said, something like, well, i hope you're having fun. i really miss you. >> reporter: but there was something else lane was doing at ginger's house. he was surfing the internet, looking for a date. so he contacted you? >> yeah. >> reporter: and did he know that you were --

>> yeah. >> reporter: transgender? >> definitely, he knew. >> reporter: coming up -- could this witness lead police to the suspect? >> we were able to show debby, is this the person you had the incident with? she deidentified him as that person. [ wheezing breaths ] [ woman ] the first time i smoked, i was 13. i was in a hurry to grow up and wanted to look cool. big tobacco knew it, and they preyed on me. i'm here to tell you that big tobacco hasn't changed. they continue to profit... by selling kids the same lies... to get them to use... the same deadly products. don't be big tobacco's next victim.

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we found some credit card information and whatnot. looks like he's using that still. >> reporter: it had been three days since ginger candela's body was discovered inside a trash can. and detectives now had a suspect. michael victor lane.

a self-proclaimed spiritual healer from the uk. lane calls himself michael bodhi or chae saville to the people he meets in the holistic healing scene and apparently makes his living building websites for them. but detective kisner finds that lane has been going by other names, too, on darker online forums. >> he advertising himself for bondage, sad o masochistic and transvestite, transgender type sites. >> reporter: he digs this. >> he calls himself master mike lane. >> reporter: master mike lane. and detectives found another piece of evidence linking lane to the murder of ginger candela when they located this transgender woman who calls herself debby. so he contacted you? >> yeah. >> reporter: and did he know that you were transgender? >> yeah, definitely he knew. >> reporter: police believe after lane killed ginger candela, he continued living in her house. and that's what -- when he

invited debby over. >> go over to his house. >> reporter: you spent the night? >> yeah, i spent the night. >> reporter: what debby didn't know is that as she and lane were inside the bedroom, ginger's body was already in the trash can in the garage and had been there for nearly two weeks. in the morning, she said she wanted to go home. got in the car and headed out. but soon she said lane became angry and went after her. >> he did not let me go. >> reporter: and you start fighting over the keys. >> over the key. >> reporter: you take off? >> i took off. >> reporter: he chases you. >> he chased me. i turned around. the car ran me over. >> reporter: a witness got the license plate of a maroon toyota and an ambulance rushed her to the emergency room. how long were you in the hospital? >> two days, two nights. >> reporter: detectives tracked down debby in order to confirm lane was the man she met at ginger's house. >> we were able to show deffi,

is this the person you had the incident with? she identified him as the person. >> reporter: back at oid headquarters, detectives were determined to catch lane before he struck again. where do you stand right now as we speak? >> we're in the process of trying to understand who he is and we're very concerned that there are additional victims out there. >> reporter: finally, after 72 hours on the case, a break. a big one. detectives got a call from the ventura county sheriff's office in southern california. they had found michael lane. >> they had an address. today they're going out specifically to confirm that address as where he's staying and hopefully find either that car or the car he's using. i told scott if they confirm it, they'd like us to come down and give them a little briefing. >> reporter: after three days with virtually no sleep, the t

detectives drove the 250 miles to california. >> it's day three. this morning, thursday morning, we found out that they had located michael and that he was staying in a hotel room, actually checked into the hotel room with our victim's stolen credit card. >> reporter: lane had been staying at this motel 6. parked outside the room was ginger's maroon toyota. >> this is ginger's vehicle taken out of las vegas by michael. the damage on the front end of it is the collision he had with the transvestite deffi. and he's also switched out the license plates on the car, which made it a little easier for him to hide. >> reporter: inside the car, ginger's passport and driver's license. and in the motel room, more solid evidence. property belonging to ginger. >> i figure is we use this table for collecting the stuff. >> here's all of her other

credit cards. >> nice. that's her blackberry cell phone that he stole out of the box. >> 18 credit cards and checks. >> reporter: and where was lane himself? the hunt was over. ventura county sheriff's deputies had arrested lane earlier at the motel room and transported him to police headquarters for interrogation. >> he was arrested for some warrants that we had issued for him regarding the incident with the transvestite that he tried to kill. and we have driven down here to ventura, california, where we're hoping he'll give us an interview. >> sorry it took so long. >> reporter: coming up -- the detectives finally get their chance to talk to michael lane. but does he know what they know? >> where were you staying in las vegas? >> in my friend's house in westfield street. >> and who is your friend? >> ginger.

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well, i mean, that's her blackberry cell phone that's broken that he stole out of the box. >> reporter: detectives boucher and kisner were going full speed for three days with one mission, to catch ginger candela's killer. >> we're basically working around the clock here. >> as the things happen, one came after another.

if the leads come, you have to follow them. >> reporter: being a homicide detective means much of the time your life is not your own. so when you can steal time with your family, you take it. it's memories like these that help the detectives deal with the grisly scenes they face every day. >> this stuff is a release. at least for a little while, i don't have to think about work. >> reporter: is that a hard transition for you to go from a crime scene like this to your daughter's basketball game? >> you know, this is what we do. we ask to do this. it's where we want to be. we want to be involved in this. so this isn't burdensome to me to be here because there's a purpose. >> the job serves a real important purpose. >> reporter: just ask ginger's daughter tabitha what these detectives meant to her. >> whenever i needed anything, they'd call me. i remember detective boucher actually called me and he was at

his daughter's ballet recital. and i said, go. whatever questions i have at this moment don't mean anything. >> reporter: but there was no time for family now. >> it's going to be a long night. >> reporter: back in ventura, all those sleepless nights were finally paying off. the detectives were about to meet face-to-face with their suspect michael lane. >> we're looking forward to talking to him and maybe getting more information. because there's two people that know and one's dead. >> reporter: lane was brought into the interrogation room and began. >> there's an arrest warrant for you out of las vegas for an incident that was involving i guess a hit and run of some sort is what it boils down to. we're the detectives from las vegas. >> reporter: he thought they were here to talk about the possible hit and run with that transgender woman deffi. he had no idea the detectives knew ginger was dead. >> where were you staying in las

vegas? >> in my friend's house in westfield street. >> all right. who is your friend? >> ginger. >> where are you from? >> london, england. >> specifically london. >> born in london, but, yeah. >> lane told detectives a bit about himself. >> i worked for computer companies, i've worked overseas. now my main work is life coaching and healing. >> how did you get into that? >> i've done it most of my life. meditation, study buddhism and just been around the world learning. >> reporter: he said people were naturally attracted to him. an ego was beginning to show. >> and immediately started finding people attaching to me and wanting, you know, basically to pay me for my services to help fix things in their lives. >> reporter: lane said he was about to enter a monastery when he met ginger. >> i was going to study for six months deep meditation. and ginger said, can you come

over to vegas because she's got many, many problems which she's now sorting out and going through of her own accord. >> reporter: he spoke as if gingerp still alive. >> right now she's in mount shasta at a retreat which i recommended to her so she can find her inner self more. >> reporter: could he be trying to make the detectives think he really didn't know what happened? >> she's spiritually very well developed. she's writing and i'm writing my book right now. we will a lot in common. we met at a book launch here in anaheim. >> reporter: boucher and kisner wanted to know if he thought the relationship would lead to romance. >> do you think she thought it was a romantic relationship? >> she was trying to be a bit more than friendly. which to me, i just have to back off and say, no, this is not working out. >> reporter: then they asked him about that car accident with the transgender woman. lane said it all began when he came upon a sexual surprise.

>> as soon as he was undressing and i realized it was a he was when i got really, really offended and said, we have to leave. >> reporter: he admitted they argued over car keys but said it was much ado about nothing. >> just literally pulled him out, when he grabbed the keys, got back out and drove off. no brutality. >> you didn't punch him in the face. >> not in a million years. i'm very easy going, very passive person. >> reporter: easy going, passive. all this from a man sochd cuspef cutting a woman in half. remember lane thought police were here to talk about the car accident. he still didn't know they found ginger's body. but it was time to put the squeeze on michael lane. they confronted him with those home depot receipts for bleach, a garbage can and an ax. >> okay. so you did buy all this stuff? >> yes. >> and where was ginger?

>> not there. >> where was she? >> out of town. >> but ginger wasn't out of town. and lane knew it. coming up -- michael lane now knows he's cornered. >> do you know where we're going with this yet? you want to just tell us? >> i kind of got a feeling. >> reporter: what will he do now? coming up next friday on "dateline," the man who talked to dogs. popular. successful. he bawas called seattle's dog whisperer to the star, yet friends said he was terrified. >> he was a shaken man. >> always looking over his shoulder. >> he wouldn't use cash. he would call me from pay phones. >> then he disappeared. a random accident or, like the dogs he trained, had he sensed danger no one else could see? maybe only the animals knew what really happened. >> the kennel dogs were very, very upset.

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murder suspect michael lane began to sense that detectives knew more than they were letting on. >> do you know where we're going with this yet? you want to just tell us. >> i kind of got a feeling, but it's -- you know. what's coming? >> ginger wrote you a check for three grand. >> yeah. >> because i just want to point

out to you that her name was a g and that's a j. she didn't sign this. we've been to the bank. she didn't sign this. >> reporter: it was time for detectives to let lane know he hadn't fooled anyone. >> ginger was found in that trash dumpster that you bought with cement with bleach. and we need you to explain why she's there. >> reporter: resigned, lane took off his glasses and gave up. >> i don't want to make excuses. i will stand up and hold my hands to whatever you refer to as god your creator and say yes and that's something that i did. i regret and will have to live with for the rest of my life. >> reporter: now calmly, step by step, lane took police through the anatomy of a murder. he said it began in a bedroom where he and ginger had try agreed to try an unconventional meditation technique. he would voluntarily cut off her

hair supply by pressing on her neck. in essence, choking her. we would try meditation through carotid control. with me just, you know, temporarily cutting off the blood supply to her brain so she would go into a status of where she was in rem sleep state, rapid eye movement. >> reporter: but for reasons he couldn't explain, he said things got out of control. >> i don't know what possessed me, i don't know what came over me. >> what did you do? >> i got the hard skillet from the kitchen and whacked her on the back of the head with it. i have no idea what possessed me to do it. and did this repeatedly two, maybe three times. something came over to me. i walked into the kitchen and i opened the drawer and i pulled out this thing and did it. >> reporter: the police now had their suspect describing the murder in vivid detail.

how did you react to that? >> couldn't. he's not showing any emotion. and if we show shock or disgust or any emotion whatsoever. >> reporter: he could clam up. >> it could scare him away. we will to act like it was nothing like it was nothing to him. >> she was still breathing and i could tell that her life had left her already and her body was just going through the motions. i can energetically feel that in people. i then proceeded to get the wire and just tied it around her neck until she stopped breathing. >> reporter: lane told detectives he stayed in the house with ginger's body for two days. that's when he decided to go shopping at the home depot, where he bought bleach, the ax and the 96-gallon trash can. >> i laid the trash can down and slid her into the trash can. by this time, i had not, apart from obviously doing the deed, i hadn't mutilated her, hadn't done anything to her at all. and just through my remedial

knowledge of watching movies and csi, had come across that bleach is a skin dissolver. i had remembered that dismembering things makes them dissolve faster. >> reporter: finally what police needed to know was why. what motive did michael lane have for killing ginger candela? >> he really offered no explanation. that was the worst part in the interview, although he admitted to everything, he had no reason for it. >> reporter: which is why we wanted to talk to michael lane ourselves. why would anyone commit such a crime? three months after his interrogation, michael lane agreed to speak the a "dateline" producer. we met lane with his attorneys dan silverstein and curtis brown in the clark county justice center. >> the thing, michael, is if you aren't comfortable with the setup right now. >> sure. >> this doesn't have to be here. the microphone doesn't have to be here. none of us have to be here.

strangely enough, lane claims he's as surprised as anyone that he could even carry out such an act. >> it was horrible. it was horrifying. scary to know that my person is capable of doing such a thing. it's not -- almost like a third person or a different character, you know. a role i played. inmates here, they say, you don't look like the type. the officers here, you don't look like the type. when they understand what case i've got, they go, what? wow. you think they're going wow, think how i'm going. >> reporter: but does he feel any remorse, sympathy for the family? >> the two people i would really want to understand why this happened more than any -- more than myself is her children. because it must be horrifying for them. absolutely horrifying. >> reporter: michael lane has confessed. but told us that he essentially feels your family's pain.

>> he can't feel our pain. there is no way. there is no way for to you feel that. >> reporter: prosecutors think the only justice for lane is the death penalty. >> a case in which another human being was stuffed in a trash can and cut in half. >> reporter: assistant district attorney john carlo pesci and robert daskas. >> the killing itself isn't what makes this case so compelling, it's what michael lane did to her after he killed her. we've never seen a case where somebody went to the lengths michael lane did to completely destroy and obliterate a human body. >> reporter: they're also outraged by his attempts to keep tabitha thinking she was alive while living with the body for two weeks. >> by sending texts and suggesting she was in a resort trying to find -- these are michael lane's words -- find

herself. all the while she's in a garbage can boiling in bleach, severed in half. that's why he should die for ha he did. >> he should have to face this consequence. that's one of the options available to the jury. he should have to face that. >> reporter: and though lane has pleaded not guilty, his arrogance is on display even as he faces the death penalty. he says he'll take whatever comes. >> my belief system allows me to accept any sentence that's given to me. it's very different. much to most people's surprise because they run around with their hands in the air screaming no, no, no. but apts down to my judge, jury and my peers. if it was up to me, sure, no, of course not. but that's not the law of the land here. it's the old saying, if you -- you can't do the time, don't do the crime. >> reporter: but lane's lawyers say there's an easier way to settle the whole ordeal. it is fair to say that if the prosecutor took the death penalty off the table, he would

plead guilty? >> yes. >> reporter: no question? >> no question. there could be a lot of time and energy and pain saved if the state would agree to just eliminate the death penalty, he would willingly spend the rest of his life in prison. >> reporter: does he deserve the death penalty? >> he deserves to pay for what he did. i'm not saying he deserves the death penalty. one way or the other. but ultimately, you can't take a life and not expect to pay for it. >> there's an indentation. >> right. >> reporter: such a horrific crime carried out in such an evil way, it shook even these hardened las vegas homicide detectives. what's it like for you to be out here right now in front of this house? >> actually, i want to go see my family, pretty much. just kind of sad. you know, ginger is going about her life for no other reason

than greed, it appears, he just kills her. kind of for nothing. >> i remember at one point she said, tab, one day i want to share my story with the world. it's kind of ironic now that it should have to be this one. >> reporter: that's it for this edition of "dateline." i'm chris hansen. for all of us at nbc news, good i'm chris hansen. for all of us at nbc news, good night. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> put an end to family's heartache and an unsolved mystery. death threats