. i couldn't believe it. the first thing out of my mouth was there's no way he did this. there's no way. they have the wrong guy. >> her mother was nearly killed by a bomb. >> i remember coming out to the truck, put in the key and then kaboom. the police told me this bomb was meant for you. >> they say to you, who does not like you enough to try to kill you? >> i could think of no one. >> but police could and if the target was a surprise, so was the suspect. >> i was like, whoa, it's you. >> but he claimed he was framed and a man named indian joe could prove it. even he admitted his story

sounded crazy. >> if i were the guy out there watching dateline i wouldn't believe this. it's like watching a tv show. >> and you're telling us to search for the one armed man. >> yes. >> we found indian joe. >> that's all true? >> yes. all true. >> what else would we find? >> there's a maniac out there. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's a story of deadly intent. >> you're looking at the life of the hoglan family of san francisco. played out in moments stretching across the years. that's the mom, connie just after she gave birth to son jonathan. >> okay. looking over here guys. good one. >> here he is six years later after losing a tooth. >> hey, jonathan. that's a great smile you have

there. >> this is oldest daughter, jill, learning to play golf. >> that was a nice one, jill. >> and this is her little sister. >> today the kids are grown. jill has a child of her own. jacqueline is married. and jonathan has graduated high school. and looking back, the childhood they describe is one of stability and routine. >> just normal happy family i'd say. >> yeah. go to church on sundays. we would have movie nights or family vacation that we would take. usually disney land which is our favorite. everything was as a family. everything was perfect. >> they loved each other and they had a great marriage. >> exactly. >> the patriarch of the family, larry, was a leader in their church and professional photographer who can be heard off camera. >> here comes jill. >> gently directing his children through these precious kodak

moments. >> that was good. keep going. >> i remember getting sick of it because i wanted to have fun because we had to always pause and take a picture which got annoying after awhile but looking back it's nice to see the pictures, i guess. >> reporter: the mom, connie, loved being with her kids so much, as they grew older, she found a job taking care of toddlers at this daycare home. but on september 23rd, 2010, as connie was leaving her job for the day, her life and family were quite literally blown apart. >> a thunderous explosion rocks an east county neighborhood. >> the first thing i said to myself was oh my goodness. what was that? >> reporter: teddy williams is the owner of the daycare home. >> so i ran out the gate. i come to this point and i stop because connie's car is rolling at full speed and smacked into

my van. i ran around her truck and this is where i found connie right here on her side in the street. >> reporter: connie was her best friend. >> connie was laying on her side curled up in a ball. i rolled her over. there was glass. there was shrapnel and metal everywhere. >> reporter: she knew all the family cell phone numbers and she was the one that broke the news. >> i was driving and she said there was an explosion and my mom's truck blew up. so i immediately pulled over, stopped, and called my dad to ask him what's going on. what do we do. >> what did he say? >> he said i just heard too. i don't really know all the details. >> reporter: the family gathered at uc san diego medical center where connie had been taken for emergency surgery. >> we got to quickly see her

rush from the hallway into surgery. it was probably ten seconds and i just remember telling her i love you and her being awake but kind of being out of it. and that was it. >> seeing her like that and all the wires coming out of her and the bags hanging and the blood and all of that, it was very shocking and taken back. i almost felt sick. >> what did you think had happened? >> i thought her truck malfunctioned. we didn't know. was it an accident or was it the gas tank? what's going on? i didn't know what exactly had happened. >> reporter: by now, though, investigators knew this explosion was no accident because they found bomb fragments imbedded inside connie's truck making it clear this was an intentional act, a car bomb which got investigators wondering if it was the work of terrorists. >> almost immediately when we came on scene, we made a plan of how we wanted to sweep the area.

what we were doing was looking for secondary devices so we didn't walk into an area and actually get hit by another device of some sort. >> reporter: robert luke of the san diego county sheriff's bomb squad and atf agent matt beals were the lead investigators. they quickly learned that something about the daycare may have made it a target. >> well, in that particular daycare center we were aware there were other law enforcement officials that had their children in that particular home during the day. >> reporter: was it possible someone was out to kill cops and their kids? if so, connie who always parked in front of the daycare home could have been the perfect yet unwitting delivery system for the bomb. >> looking for any known or suspected domestic terrorists or possible watch list type people that may be in the area. >> no question that this was an ied? an improvised explosive device?

>> no were. >>. >> reporter: and suddenly they had more questions after they ran connie's address and discovered in her neighborhood two weeks earlier police had found another bomb. >> police make an explosive connection. this was personal. when we come back, had

>> reporter: when connie's truck exploded outside a san diego daycare center, investigators suspected terrorism. a suspicion that only grew stronger when they realized that this bomb may well be related to another unexploded bomb found two weeks earlier lying in the street just blocks from their house. >> this is a device we had not seen in the united states. >> reporter: detective chris everett and bomb squad commander john wood had taken the earlier call. between them, they have investigated and disarmed hundreds of explosive devices but this one was a first. >> these particular devices had only been seen in war countries, afghanistan and iraq. >> reporter: the small but

powerful device was hidden in a fed ex envelope. but what really got everyone's attention was the detonator linked to a cell phone. >> and that to you says what? >> this is somebody that can build a bomb and sit from anywhere in the world and set it off. >> a bomb squad investigates a suspicious object. >> reporter: taking no chances they sent in a robot to disarm the bomb. >> fire in the hole! >> reporter: a firefighter was then put in one of those famous suits to make a final safety check and found the cell phone detonator had 18 missed calls. only a broken wire had prevented the bomb from going off. >> we were like, wow, this is for real. >> reporter: police ran the phone numbers of course, but they belonged to untraceable throw away phones available almost anywhere. the bomber or bombers had left

no trace of themselves. >> no fingerprints, no dna. >> reporter: the only real clues were found on the fed ex envelope. duct tape and soot suggesting the bomb might have fallen off of the underside of a car. and two weeks later when connie's truck blew up at the daycare home, investigators immediately wondered, were these two sophisticated bombs really the work of terrorists? or was all of this personal? >> we went through all of the gametes and we had a lot of people going out and chasing every lead there was. >> reporter: and while he was still at the crime scene, detective luke had what seemed to be an odd visit from an old colleague, the former commander of the san diego fire department bomb squad. that's luke to the left of your screen and he's on the far right. >> he was the first one to

contact me as soon as i got on the scene and i said what are you doing here? he told me he retired to colorado, came back to visit some friends here in town and he heard about the bomb and he came over to try to assist us. >> reporter: and there was one more thing. >> he turns out to be an acquaintance of the family. so he knew the victim and the husband. first thing that popped into my mind is we have a bombing here. we have a bomb guy on scene that's retired and now he's also has something to do with the family. >> that was a curveball. >> reporter: the current bomb squad commander john wood was also at the scene and had the same unsettling concerns. >> he's sitting there going wow, why did he show up. >> this guy used to have your job. >> exactly. he appointed me after i left. >> so everybody here knows him. >> yeah. >> trusts him? likes him? and he's a friend of the family and he would know how to make that device?

>> exactly. >> reporter: he had a tip offering up a potential suspect. connie's ex-son-in-law that may have had it in for the family. >> that was a lead we needed to go after immediately. >> he was the only person that didn't like connie or larry? >> exactly. or so we were told or lead to believe. >> reporter: so he headed for a meeting to the son-in-law. >> he didn't have a negative thing to say about connie in anyway, shape, or form. >> reporter: just as important. he had an alibi. he had receipts to back up he was at a store at one time and clearly not in san diego. not in california. his alibi all checked out. >> reporter: all of which put the guy that fingered him under more suspicion. meanwhile, they put the truck up for a closer inspection.

and then they saw an outline the size of a fed ex envelope framed in traces of duct tape. the impact of the earlier unexploded bomb hardening their suspicion that who ever built the bombs was targeting connie or her family. >> this appeared to be directed at one person. whoever the driver of that truck was, in this case, connie. >> reporter: back at the hospital, the hoglan family, holding a vigil by connie's bedside was unaware there was a criminal investigation underway until they paid them a visit. >> they asked if she had any enemies. if anyone would want to hurt her, if we could think of anybody. and i couldn't think of anybody. there wasn't anybody. >> the only thing stranger than hearing that your mom has been the victim of an explosion is hearing that it was not an accident and that it was directed at her specifically.

>> i said, what? i didn't believe it. i didn't understand it. i just started crying because i didn't know who could do that. who would want to do that. >> reporter: what made a strange case all the more baffling occurred four days after the bombing when a large fed ex box was delivered to this san diego area high school addressed to one of their students. his name, jonathan hoglan. that got san diego's bomb squad scrambling and it got the town's attention. coming up, connie hoglan, wife, mother and survivor. >> i remember coming out

. >> reporter: september 2010 may well be remembered as hoagland month for san diego's busy bomb squads. this picture perfect family suddenly seemed to be the target of a relentless campaign of terror. first there was the cell phone device placed inside a fed ex pack found just down the street from the hoagland home. then there was the pipe bomb that detonated inside connie hoagland's pick up. and now, there was a mysterious

fed ex box addressed to jonathan hoagland but delivered to his high school. >> i guess it had something to do with the car bomb that happened last week. it may be from the same person. so we're not sure. >> immediately the school is shutdown because now we still weren't for sure who was going to be involved. >> reporter: the box was removed and destroyed. inside investigators were hoping to find some evidence that could lead them to the bomber. instead, they found party favors that jonathan had forgotten he had ordered for a high school dance. >> something he was in charge of getting and he didn't remember it. >> but it shows everybody's state of mind at the time. >> it was rough. school closed down and bomb squads coming out and everything. >> reporter: while this event turned out to be a bust in terms of finding any workable evidence, luke and beals believed the bomber had to be somebody that knew the hoaglands, knew where they worked, where they lived, knew

their routines and had access to their cars. the only problem is that connie, a devout christian and mother of three had no known enemies but they had one witness that might be able to shed some light on that part of their investigation. a witness they had yet to question. connie hoagland. >> always i had a sense that she was going to live. i don't know why. but i always knew that she was going to live. i just didn't know how. >> reporter: sedated and in icu after having gone through seven different surgeries to save her right foot and left leg and yet, somehow, still alive. >> i remember coming out to the truck, put in the key, and then kaboom! a huge explosion. it scared me. first i thought maybe the air bag went off. >> smoke, flames? >> smoke started filling up and i looked out the door to -- and

i noticed the truck started to move. and my feet and legs hurt really bad. i could tell, oh, that hurts but i thought have to get out of the truck. so i pushed the door open, started to get out. i did not want to see my injuries. it felt so bad. i felt like my feet were blown off. >> what did you think had happened? >> i don't know. just laying there i just thought it was a random act. >> reporter: so she was stunned when investigators first spoke with her in the hospital. >> and the police told me this bomb was meant for you and that was weird. i couldn't even digest that. you're kidding me. >> and they say to you, who does not like you enough to try to kill you. >> they did ask that. i could think of no one. i really don't have any enemies. they said it's somebody who knows the code on your truck. it's somebody who knows where you work. >> who knows your routine?

>> yes. but still nothing. >> that's not too many people. >> no. but -- >> that's like, what? your husband, your kids and a couple of close friends. >> that's true. but who would do that? not them. >> and standard police procedure is to say after that, so how's your marriage? how is everything in your marriage? >> i said everything is fine. >> reporter: but in her heart, she knew that wasn't quite true. after 25 years of marriage, larry seemed to have grown tired of her. >> the last few years weren't that good but i thought we were still committed and just hanging on to the commitment at that time. >> did he act like he didn't care about you anymore? >> yes. >> that has to be heartbreaking. >> yeah. it was. >> did you ever think about leaving larry? >> it never crossed my mind. in the church, divorce is really frowned upon. if you can work it out, work it out. >> how was larry at the

hospital? >> pretty standoffish which was normal for us at that time. >> reporter: the truth is there's a lot of bored husbands out there but true ever go on to try and assassinate their wives but connie didn't believe that was the case here. neither did detectives. >> when you first meet larry, was he a suspect? >> no, he was the victim's husband. we didn't focus on larry that much. >> reporter: so eric, the former bomb squad commander remained on everyone's radar screen. he was constantly by larry's side at the hospital and still wanting to pitch in on the investigation. >> i called an investigator friend of mine and i said can i come in and talk with you. >> reporter: detectives thought the time had come to bring him in for questioning. but before they could speak with him, they received another phone tip. one which would send this investigation in a whole new direction.

>> a new direction, a new suspect, and finally, an arrest. >> you got this whole package right there so it's all right in a nutshell. that's what says hook him. is this the bacon and cheese diet?

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kill mild mannered connie hoagland were hitting nothing but dead ends until they got a call from the business partner of connie's husband larry. >> he says, hey, i found bomb making instructional videos and internet searches on our office computer and i didn't make the searches. >> reporter: it seems larry had been looking for some unusual things on the internet. >> we looked at the stuff he had looked at and then it was like, wow, this is the exact same bomb we found. >> reporter: but they found more than just a list of incriminating websites. >> during the search we find love letters between him, larry hoagland and a woman by the name of leann. >> reporter: he had been cheating on his wife with a woman that lived across the country. >> what did she tell you? >> she and larry had been in a relationship for several years. >> reporter: larry and leann it

turned out were once high school sweethearts. in 2007, leann, recently divorced and living in pennsylvania wondered if it was too late for larry and her to take another crack at love. >> she was able to track him down on the internet and placed a call to him one day when he was at work and from that it was like a spark, just rekindled into a fire. >> reporter: according to leann, larry told her he too was getting a divorce and soon the two were texting like hormonal teens. >> you have been my dream girl for as long as i can remember being in love. life is like dry brown toast without you. lee an was equally smitten. i lost you once and don't want to lose you again. >> she was preparing him to come be her husband and part of her life for the rest of her life. >> reporter: while he carried on with leann, back home he was

growing distant from connie but never mentioned getting a divorce or separating. in fact, he still kept up his family routines. even going to church with them every sunday. >> my dad was a church board member. my mom was really involved with bible studies and women's groups. it was a big part of our lives. we didn't know anything was wrong. i always thought everything was fine and great. >> so larry was leading a double life and lying to both the women in it. >> exactly. >> he had two complete lives and lived them as one. it was really weird. >> reporter: connie remembers that time well but for different reasons. larry told her and the kids that he had gotten a big photo contract in pittsburgh and for the next three years larry split his time between california and pennsylvania. >> he said he had a friend out in pennsylvania named bob and he would go out there and do work for him. >> we had no reason not to trust

him and believe him. >> reporter: but here's what connie and the kids didn't know. larry was finances his secret life with extra mortgages on their san diego home. >> i thought we were doing fine. i thought it was going to be a good time in our life. >> but then suddenly there was no money. >> suddenly it's like what? bankruptcy? >> you had to declare bankruptcy. >> i didn't want to but larry said we need to do this. so i just went ahead with it. >> you went along. >> yeah. i trusted him. i thought he knew better than i knew. >> reporter: and detectives learned while larry was deceiving connie and bleeding his own family dry, he was also playing leann telling her the timing wasn't right for them to get married because he couldn't afford to go through with his divorce. as proof, larry even sent leann this secretly recording meeting with his lawyer. >> spousal support at.

>> 900. >> child support at $1,000. >> 1900 total. >> yeah. >> why is that so high? >> that's the guideline figure. >> leann's response to this video text after text basically telling larry to put up or shut up. i have heard it all so many times. i am tired of it all. if you love me like you say, we still wouldn't be doing this. i am ready to move on. two weeks after that text, larry was in pennsylvania trying to patch things up with leann when the cell phone bomb was discovered in the hoagland neighborhood. >> i'll telling matt, matt, we got him with a girlfriend in pittsburgh. we've got all of this stuff going on. we're finding love cards and all of this is building in one day. so you've got this whole package right there. so it's all right in a nutshell and that's what says, hook him. >> reporter: larry was arrested that night. but at that point, the hoagland family had no idea he was even

being investigated. so when jacqueline got a 2:00 a.m. call from her sister, jill, with news about their dad, she was blind sided. >> my sister said he's been arrested. he is in jail. and i couldn't believe it. and i think the first thing out of my mouth was there's no way he did this. there's no way. they have the wrong guy. >> reporter: the evidence against larry was circumstantial. no fingerprints. no dna. nothing to physically connect him to either bomb. and that made investigators take another look at eric who was asked to come down to his old fire station for an interview. this was not going to be a friendly chat with his old work buddies. >> when they asked me if i would be willing to take a polygraph, i said, wait a minute, you guys know we. me. you should know better than that. and then i realized the best way

to make sure that i'm clear in their eyes is to take a polygraph. right after it was finished they said, well, you passed. >> reporter: he was nothing more than the right guy in the wrong place. >> everything came up clean. it was just convince. >> reporter: they were now convinced larry was the bomber and he was in it alone. but larry hoagland, the husband, father of three, and man of god had a ready explanation when he sat down with me. he had been framed. >> i did not try to kill my wife. there's somebody out there who is responsible for this and there's a maniac out there. coming up, larry hoagland tells his side of the story and even he admits it sounds crazy. is it? >> if i were a guy out there wa

as a parent, you always want to know where your kids are. especially when they are on the web. so ask them about the sites they visit, the social networks they're on and help them monitor what they post. you can help them stay safe. the more you know. after his arrest, larry hoagland was booked into san diego county's curiously named george bailey detention facility. a different george bailey you may recall was jimmy stewart's character in "it's a wonderful

life" which described larry hoagland's life at one point. good friends, a loving family. the respect of his community. by the time i sat down across from larry, much of that had evaporated. he stood accused of trying to kill his wife with a pipe bomb and his first words to me were that police had the wrong man. >> i did not try to kill my wife. i'm addiment about this. >> reporter: the only thing larry said was true was that he did have an affair. >> i was cheating on my wife. i was cheating on my family. >> you were in love with somebody else. >> i was. yes i was. to be perfectly frank. >> and you were, what, going to ask your wife for a divorce. >> yes. >> and walk out. >> yes. that was it. i let a lot of people down and i deceived a lot of people. i did. >> is that the worst sin you have committed? >> yes.

besides adultery, yeah. >> because what you're in here for pretty much tops all of that. >> i did not try to kill my wife. i did not. i had nothing to do with what happened to connie. there is somebody out there who is responsible for the whole thing and there's a maniac out there. >> the whole thing meaning trying to kill your wife and framing you for it. >> yes. >> larry, who has motive to do that? you wanted out of your marriage, you had a girlfriend. you were planning to leave your wife and your family. and you didn't want to pay the alimony and you tried to kill her. >> alimony it was nothing. and i tell you all these things because it's the truth. i'm not going to stand behind and start explaining details after details. i just have to tell you, it's the truth. that's all there is to it. >> briefly tell me -- and i say briefly because i don't know how much time we have. who framed you and why would

they do that? larry wasn't able to explain it briefly so i'll do it for him. his story goes like this. larry claimed there were a number of transients that parked their motor homes around his studio and he left them piggy back off his wifi at night and that one of those, a guy named jerry did the bomb making internet searches. not larry. >> you believe that jerry, with his wifi internet access is responsible for the computer searches that were found in the investigation. >> i believe so. >> and, in truth, when cops arrested larry, they knew there was no physical proof connecting him to those internet searches. so they continued to dig. >> larry had a lot of stuff, pocket trash, business cards,

business paper, receipts. i wouldn't have wanted to sit on his wallet. >> while going through that wallet, he found this phone number written on a slip of paper. >> i said, holy cow, this first number is the bomb phone number. i keep going through the contents of the wallet and here's the second number. >> reporter: that's right. larry hoagland had, in his wallet, the numbers of both cell phones used as detonators on the first bomb, the one that didn't explode. >> that's an unbelievable piece of luck. >> i'd like to call it investigative genius. but yeah, it was fantastic. it was good to find that. >> and that ties larry to the unexploded bomb. >> exactly. >> it does. >> if you're thinking it would be hard to explain away that evidence, then you don't know larry hoagland. >> how did those numbers get into your wallet. >> jerry gave them to me. that man gave them to me. that's why i say he has everything to do with this. >> he gave you those phone numbers and said this is how you reach me. >> yes.

>> and then gave you another one because he had a second phone. >> he said here's my wife's phone number and i said okay, fine. so i grabbed and piece of paper and wrote it down. >> all of it to frame you for murder to what possible end? for what conceivable reason? how does that benefit him? >> it's obviously we have this person on your hands here. >> tell me what you know about jerry. >> i know very little about jerry. i know what he looks like. >> what? >> 6 feet tall, dark hair, wavy hair. longer than yours. wavy like yours. late 20s, early 30s. always needed to shave. >> larry said there was one transient who could back up his story. >> and his name is? >> engine joe and he hangs out there and he has been there for quite sometime. >> if we find joe, he'll be able to lead us to jerry? >> i certainly hope so because joe, to my knowledge, knows

everybody in that neighborhood. >> it sounded like a crazy story and larry well knew it. >> if i were the guy out there watching dateline, i wouldn't believe this. i would be the first-person to say, oh, this guy is full of bologna. it's like watching a tv show. >> it is like watching a tv show and you're telling us to go search for the one armed man. >> yes. it's a good anlage. yes. >> so we went to try to check out larry's story. was he telling the truth this time? or was it a lie just like the ones he told his family? we combed an area around his old photo studio. an industrial area near the freeway full of warehouses and allies in search of anejo that might lead us to larry. >> indian joe.

>> coming up, larry hoagland's wild story seems to be checking out. >> he left it on all night for us. we could do our oh! progress-oh! -oh! -oh! oh! oh! ♪ what do you know? oh! ♪ bacon? -oh! -oh! oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying "progress-oh!"

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>> reporter: larry hoagland in jail for allegedly trying to kill his wife with a pipe bomb had an alibi that sounded like a movie plot that he had been framed by a mystery man using larry's wifi. larry told us a man named indian joe could confirm his story. >> how's it going. >> you're joe. >> yes. >> and much to our surprise, indian joe turned out to be real. >> he left it on all night for us. we could do our e-mails, surf the net, whatever. it was kind of nice. >> nice guy. >> nice guy. really a nice guy. kind of really quite. >> reporter: so far this part of larry's strange story checked out. but what about the crucial part that larry promised would

exonerate him and prove he had been framed. >> larry tells us about a guy named jerry who was like you, somebody that came up, parked nearby, used the wifi signal. a guy about ix feet tall. dark hair like mine but maybe darker than mine. wavy hair, slender build. ringing a bell? >> somebody fitting that description, no. i have known everybody that comes around and there was nobody fitting that description. >> do you know anybody named jerry? >> no. there was nobody with that name during that time period that he was here. >> because that's fairly important to larry who is now behind bars. >> i know. after i heard the situation come down i actually asked the other people. did you get on the internet? did you look up how to build a pipe bomb? did you try any of these things? and everybody said no. why would i do that? and it was like this is just --

i'm afraid it's just fantasy. >> that was not the news larry was expecting to hear, or was it. >> we found joe. >> wonderful. >> we talked to joe. >> great. >> he's never heard of jerry. >> anybody that resembles my description of jerry? anybody at all? >> so now you're not sure the guy's name. >> i've never been completely sure of his name. i called him jerry. anybody that resembles jerry? i wasn't positive his name was jerry. >> joe says he doesn't know anyone like that. can't help us. and he wasn't unhelpful. he was actually quite willing to talk with us. he says he doesn't know anything about it. >> that's very disheartening. >> is there really a jerry? >> yes there is. yes there is. there's a man out there who is responsible for this. and i'm not him. >> i got to ask you, i mean, did

you think about just getting divorced? >> yes. >> i mean, if you had just gotten divorced none of this would have happened. you wouldn't be in there. i wouldn't here talking to you. you would be in pennsylvania with your girlfriend and your wife would be angry at you. >> which would not have been the right thing to do to leave my family in hindsight. >> but it beats murder. >> reporter: our interview finally ended and as he was being lead away, larry conceded to his guard that we weren't buying his story. >> they think that i'm a lying scum bag and i was. >> reporter: while he admitted to being a liar he never admitted to the bombing attempts and even connie didn't believe her husband of 25 years would try to kill her. not until larry called her shortly after he was arrested when connie was still in the hospital.

>> he said i want you to know i have been having an affair before it gets out and he said since the accident i've been dedicated to you. and then he said i didn't do it. and when he said he was dedicated to me it's like a lig lightbulb went off like he's lying and i knew, you know what, he did it. >> just from that one phrase that he was dedicated to you. >> right. weird. because i knew he wasn't. it's like my mind was open at that time. it was like, whoa, it's you. >> reporter: 19 months later, connie painfully pulled herself into court and testified against the man who had once promised to love, honor, and cherish her as long as they both shall live. >> my ears were ringing. it was so loud. >> reporter: larry's defense? the same story he shared with us. he had been framed by the

mysterious jerry. to no one's surprise t jury didn't buy it. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause find the defendant lawrence gerald h hoagland guilty of the crime of attempted murder. >> reporter: a month later at his sentencing connie and the kids read victim pact statements. it was the first time any of them had spoken to their dad since his arrest. >> larry is no longer my father and i am no longer his daughter. i haven't spoken to larry in almost two years. and after today, i will never see or speak to him again. >> larry, you disgust me. he does not deserve or have the right to refer to us as his family anymore. when larry dies in prison, no one will shed a tear. >> i exercise my devine right to watch my hands of you. your soul is of no concern or

consequence to me and now you, you will leave your hell. >> reporter: words some dads might consider a punishment harsher than a life in prison which is the sentence larry received. life plus 13 years. >> do you feel like you're better off now? >> oh, yeah. a lot better. >> i know it's weird to think that after all of this, but we are. we're closer and we know each other better. and we have seen each other at our lowest. but we're closer and we're all stronger as a family. >> reporter: 2 1/2 years after the bombing, connie was up and walking unassisted. heading to the podium to receive the citizens of courage award from the san diego county d.a.'s office. >> i can walk, yes. >> reporter: for having the guts to face her husband, her

attempted killer in court. >> when you went into court and stared him down, what was larry thinking? you tell me. >> i think he just still thought that i didn't think he did it. >> i sort of get the feeling that maybe larry thought that you were the kind of person who wouldn't have the strength to testify against him. >> i think you're right. i think he just didn't know me as well as he thought he did. >> boy, was he wrong. >> he was. he didn't know me at all. >> that's all for now. i'm lester next at 11:00, back home, the little boy who walked around for more than three hours alone. what is next in the police investigation. and good luck niners, the expectations for the 49ers

. nbc bay area news, starts now. good evening, and thank you for joining us. i'm chris sanchez, diane dwyer is off tonight. a 5-year-old boy is back homeñi safe tonight after an intense search in oakland. daryl carter iii was reported missing from a popular park where he was attending a function. and now there are questions on how he disappeared in the first place. >> my grand