all of your new best friends. one of them's missing. a body was found in one of their apartments. how am i doing right now? if i had to put it into one word, numb would be the closest. >> it's so hard. she was 23. >> reporter: she was a dancer. he was a veteran. >> does your son know who it is? >> this guy is potentially very dangerous. >> enter the actors.

>> he stages the whole thing. >> love triangle? >> that's what we thought. >> what was real? what was pretend. >> this is as diabolical as any case i've ever seen. >> was the missing man the killer? or was the real killer hiding center stage? >> that's when the light bulb went off. >> this son of a bitch is dirty. >> the curtain was about to come down. >> they're trying to say i'm somebody i am not. this is my name. this is my life. this is my entire future. >> reporter: places please. there is an empty theater. a script full of twists. a troupe of actors and someone who set the stage for an unbelievable tragedy. >> i'm buying it. i'm buying it hook, line, and sinker. >> reporter: all of it so well done. it was hard to tell what was real and what was an illusion.

>> i just remember his performance being very, very real. >> reporter: this is a story of a man who seemed to be at the end of his rope. >> it looked like he was having some sort of panic attack or heart attack. >> reporter: but on this stage at the final curtain, the darkness remained. because this story wouldn't win any awards. this was all real life. >> julie is my first daughter. she was my valentine baby. >> reporter: for june and masa kibuishi, a japanese couple who built their american dream here in orange county, california, their third child came as a pleasant surprise. >> doctor kept telling me it was another boy. but, voila, she was born on valentine's day. >> reporter: two big brothers

had preceded her. so naturally, it was julie who became an all-star softball player as a young girl. but her passion was dance. she grew into a beautiful dancer, and a remarkable young lady with the kindest of hearts. >> and that sometimes kind of frustrated me because, okay, you're too nice. but you know, that's how she was. >> reporter: and that is how she met sam herr, who, like julie, was a student at orange coast college. sam struggled a bit in school. julie would help him out. >> she told me about sam. he's like a big teddy bear and he's always nice to everybody and that's why we get together at his place a lot of times. >> reporter: sam was a war veteran. he'd fought in afghanistan and made it home to california after three years overseas. sam lived across the street from the college at an apartment

complex. >> it's not a dorm, but i would call it a college dorm. >> reporter: sam's good friend, ruben, often hung out there with sam. >> and the poolside always had people, you know, drinking and having fun. having fun at the pool. >> reporter: but despite his surroundings, sam was focused. >> he seemed more responsible. he seemed like he had, like, more of a plan on where he was going. he wasn't just kind of cruising on his g.i. bill and just having fun and getting drunk every day or anything. >> reporter: rachel buffett and her fiancé lived near sam. >> he was really nice to everybody and liked to have fun and hang out with everybody. >> reporter: and everyone liked to be around him too. but there was something about sam that very few people knew. he suffered from night terrors. a sort of psychic souvenir of the battlefield. sam did share that with ruben, who was also a war veteran. >> he'll tell me that, you know, sometimes he feels like -- he'll be sleeping and he'll wake up in his sleep and he'll be in a

foxhole. so he'll start screaming or looking for a weapon and he'll wake up sweating and, you know, just very stressed, i guess. >> reporter: that's tough. >> it is very tough. >> reporter: but, said ruben, sam seemed to be coping. and then came may 21, 2010. it was a friday afternoon. julie was going to hang out with her brother taka that evening. he was getting married and julie was helping with the wedding plans. >> and then after i was cooking in the kitchen, she said okay, bye, mom, i'm leaving. and then she -- she just went out the door. >> reporter: julie made it safely to her brother's home in long beach. they had dinner together. taka asked julie to be a bridesmaid at his wedding and gave her a tiara. but julie couldn't stay long because she told her brother her friend sam herr needed her. he'd been texting her all

afternoon. messages that seemed weirdly off kilter. can you come over tonight at midnight alone? going out for a bit. very upset. need to talk. then -- please. no sex. i need to talk to someone. julie texted back. lol, ew, sam, we're like bro and sis. no sex. and then sam texted again. i'm hurting with some bad fam crap. i can't be alone. no sex. please i'm begging as a brother. julie, as always, was ready to help. yeah, that's fine, sam. i'm here for you like family. she left her brother's home that friday evening and headed for sam's apartment. >> reporter: did you normally wait up for her? >> i normally do, but the thing was though, she was with her brother and then it happened to be saturday was my youngest

daughter's senior prom. and then when i woke up and didn't see her, i was like okay. >> reporter: by now, it was saturday morning. june texted julie. no response. then she called julie. still no answer. so june called her son taka. >> so when i called him, he -- he was like, what? >> reporter: taka told his mom about sam's texts. >> i started to get this little kind of my -- you know, weird feeling that, oh, i started to feel like okay. this is -- something's wrong. >> reporter: by now it had been almost 24 hours since she'd last seen julie. june started to panic. >> i probably called like 20 times for her cell phone. it's just kind of already that -- it won't go, like connected or anything. it just went -- no, i couldn't even leave a message. so i called the irvine police. and then -- >> reporter: what did they say?

>> oh, she's 23? okay. well, she might be in -- drinking at the bar, or like you know, it's -- excuse me. >> reporter: no, said june. not her daughter. julie was always quick to respond to her texts or phone calls. across town, about 20 miles away from the kibuishis. sam's parents, steve and raquel herr also worried because they couldn't get ahold of sam. >> i thought it was a little odd that when i called his phone, it went directly to the answering service on saturday. >> reporter: steve decided to check on his son. >> so i drove down there and knocked on his door and no answer. and i had the key to his apartment and so i walked in there and i looked in to turn on the light and the living room looked fine. i said, well, okay. sam? nobody there. >> reporter: and that's when he saw it. >> i was what -- what the -- what the hell has just ha -- what -- what is -- what's goin' on here? i freaked out. >> reporter: a father searching for his son finds something he

never expected. >> there's a body in my son's apartment. >> there's a what?! >> a body. a dead body. >> reporter: and no one can find sam. >> you think, "okay, this -- this guy is -- potentially very dangerous. he's out there on the street." with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. the chase freedom unlimited card earns you unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you buy. the cash back is unlimited and you can spend it on anything. like, whatever the next ad is selling. get the chase freedom unlimited card.

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reporter: it had been a beautiful california day in orange county. now the sun was setting, and in every sense, darkness was taking over. steve herr, who had gone to look for his son sam, didn't find him. but he did find something. >> there's a body in my son's apartment. >> there's a what? >> a body. a dead body. >> a dead body. is it someone that you know, sir? >> no, i have no idea who she is. i don't know what is going on. >> does your son know who it is? >> he's not here. jesus, honey. >> do you know where your son is? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: costa mesa police detective ed everett responded to the call. >> walk into the crime scene and

we have a 20-something-year-old female on the bed, and she's in a position that appears that she was sexually assaulted. >> reporter: police quickly identified the victim, sam's tutor and friend, julie kibuishi. before long, two detectives paid a visit to julie's mom. >> this one detective told me, okay, you're mrs. kibuishi. please you need to sit down. can you sit down? and then i know that he said like, okay, your daughter was found in this -- sam herr's apartment and then i think he said your daughter's body was found or something like that. and then i just -- i think i was screaming like, no, no, that's not my daughter. no. it's not my daughter. >> reporter: julie had been shot twice in the head. her pants were down to her knees

and someone had written on her sweatshirt the words "all yours "h" "f" you. she was still wearing the tiara her brother had given her the night before. >> i was still in disbelief of it was not my daughter. it just can't be my daughter. i wanted to see and they didn't allow me to see. they said i wasn't allowed to go. >> reporter: june could barely absorb what she was hearing. julie was dead. and the only logical suspect was her college friend, sam. >> she told me that he's taking the same class with her and that he told me that -- he's like big brother to me and to everybody in the class because he's a little older, and he came back from the -- afghanistan. >> this guy that she thought of as a big brother -- >> yeah. >> -- suddenly he's the suspect. >> that was just bizarre. but i still couldn't connect everything together. >> reporter: what happened in

sam's apartment that night was horrific. julie had gone there to help sam and now she was dead in his bedroom. and sam was somewhere in the wind. >> all of your new best friends that you hang out with every day, one of them's missing. a body was found in one of their apartments. this is something that, like, was affecting the whole atmosphere. >> reporter: detectives soon found out sam was a war veteran, heard the stories of his night terrors. they also found julie's phone in the apartment and saw sam's text messages to her. sam seemed plenty upset that evening. and when they searched his name in the law enforcement databases, they came up with a stunning result. >> he was arrested along with a lot of other people. a guy was killed. it was some sort of, like, gang thing. >> it was a gang -- a gang case. he was involved in a gang incident in, i believe it was ventura county, and ultimately went to trial. >> reporter: it happened in

2002. sam, just 18 at the time, was accused of luring another young man to a parking lot where the man was then attacked by more than a dozen others. while some of the attackers were convicted of murder and received life sentences, sam herr was found not guilty. >> he was innocent and it was proven that -- he's innocent. >> reporter: four years later, sam joined the army and put all that behind him, or so his father believed. >> that's why when i found julie, i knew that sam didn't do this. i knew sam would never do something like that. >> reporter: and steve tried to tell detectives. >> you said, sam couldn't do this and police said, a, he's missing, and, b, he was a suspect in a murder case once. >> correct. >> that doesn't buy you a lot of rhythm from law enforcement. >> no, and i understood that. i'm not that naive. i absolutely understood that. that's why it was imperative to start looking immediately. >> reporter: steve called sam's friend ruben to see if he had talked to sam.

and ruben told him a curious story. ruben said he'd been trying to get a hold of sam too, because sam was a no-show at a beach party. ruben called him. multiple times. no answer. until finally, someone picked up. >> i said, "hello?" and they said, "hey, hey bro." and i'm like, "who's this?" sam never calls me bro. right off the bat i was like, "who's this?" the voice was not the same. the voice was not the same. >> reporter: the voice on the phone said -- >> "i'm busy right now. i'm having a lot of problems with family. and i'm like, "what are you talking --" he hangs up on me. so i called again, no answer. >> reporter: ruben didn't think that was sam. but if not, who was it? and more importantly, where was sam? news of julie's murder was spreading, and soon reached an old army buddy of sam's named miles foltz. >> when i found out it was julie, i definitely knew sam had nothing to do with it because of

the way sam protects his friends and his family, and julie was one of them. >> reporter: miles was stationed in afghanistan with sam. they fought together. miles knew how sam was toward anyone he considered a friend. >> he wouldn't hurt her? >> no. not in a million years. i thought it was something in his past that they were trying to do something to him and -- and -- and try to get him and the reason why he -- his body wasn't there is because he was off running away from these people. >> reporter: miles feared sam was in danger. maybe sam's mom and dad, too. >> i wanted to make sure nothing happened to steve and raquel. so i went to their house and, you know, during the night i spent there i got my gun by my side just to make sure. i slept on their couch by their door. >> reporter: detectives needed to find sam fast, says orange

county homicide. prosecutor matt murphy. >> you got a dead woman in his apartment. he -- he's missing. and then you factor in afghanistan. and you start thinking, okay, he's a trained killer after he'd been -- he'd been accused of this before. and you think, okay, this guy is potentially very dangerous. he's out there on the street. >> reporter: then came a break. sam's atm card was being used. $400 withdrawn about 17 miles north of the crime scene. and security cameras captured the person who was waiting as the cash came out. it was the start of a whole new mystery. >> we were pretty confident he was our guy. >> reporter: but sam's father was convinced he wasn't. and determined to prove it, he turns amateur detective. >> i said, okay, we've got movement here. let me see.

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a race against the clock to stop the next massacre. >> give us the name of this guy. her family's getting killed. >> i got no problem coming after you. >> new chicago pd.

wednesday on nbc. reporter: julie kibuishi, her valentine girl, was pursuing fashion design while living at home. it was a mother's dream. >> i was planning a lot of stuff to do with her, so we're going to be the buddies to go shopping or -- that's what i told julie. we're planning to do that. that was right before it happened. it's so hard, you know? she was 23. >> reporter: 23 years young and her life taken from her in the most senseless way. >> she loved to kind of design things. so, she really wanted to be a stylist. >> reporter: now that would never happen. >> reporter: police were looking hard for sam herr. detective ed everett. >> he's on the run and he's in the wind and now it's our job to find him and see where he's at

and ask him, why? >> reporter: okay. not a whole lot of question of who the suspect was at this point. >> no. we were pretty confident he was our guy. >> reporter: steve herr was also eager to find sam but for an entirely different reason. to clear his son's name. so steve began his own investigation. >> reporter: why did you feel the need to do your own police work? >> i didn't look at it as police work. i looked it as i wanted to find some answers. i wanted to find sam, first of all. where could sam be? is somebody help -- is he running away? did he come up with some foul play? >> reporter: steve called sam again and again, but sam's cell phone was going straight to voicemail. >> i love you. let me know what's going on. what -- what's going on? >> reporter: then a big break and a puzzle. steve and sam had a joint bank account, so steve pulled the bank records. and found that sam's bank card was used at an atm in long beach and then again at a nearby pizza parlor.

>> so i said, okay. we've got movement here. let me see. >> reporter: so steve drove down to long beach to check out the bank. >> so i hung around for about an hour, see maybe i'd see sam or sam's car because sam's car is also missing. nothing happened there so i went to the pizza place and hung around there for about an hour. >> reporter: but there were no signs of sam. >> i took a two-mile radius from ecco's pizza and i checked all the hotels, motels around there. i didn't see sam's car. >> reporter: meanwhile, detectives did something steve couldn't do. they got the images from the atm's security camera capturing the person using sam's bank card. expecting to see a picture of sam herr. detectives were in for a shock. because whoever it was taking money out of sam's account, it wasn't sam. so who was it? cops staked out the atm, hoping the mystery man would return. they also went to the pizza

parlor where an employee told them that he thought he knew the person who bought the pizza and the detectives got a possible address. >> we're set up at that point on the house. we have surveillance teams behind the house on each corner of the house. we're geared up. we got our raid vests on. >> reporter: while surveillance teams hoped and waited detectives questioned people in sam's circle. neighbors rachel buffett and her fiancé dan wozniak already knew about the body found in sam's apartment. >> we had discussed the idea of it maybe being an accident. but like i said earlier sam seemed like a pretty intelligent person. if it was an accident, he wouldn't have taken off and left his apartment and tried to run. >> reporter: both rachel and dan told the detectives the last time they saw sam was friday, the day before the murder. he was with a friend, they said, a man wearing a black hat. but they had no idea what his name was.

it seemed to be a dead end. but then, back at the house the cops were staking out, a big break. a pizza delivery. >> reporter: how many guys you have at that point? >> probably have ten officers in the helicopter above and then we had long beach police department helping us with perimeter positions behind the home in case someone fled the house. guns out and ready -- ready to hit it like someone that committed a murder's inside. >> reporter: and that someone is sam herr. >> yes. >> reporter: cops moved in. but sam herr wasn't there. instead, they found him. >> i open up the door to see what's going on and that's when -- freeze. get on the ground. put your hands behind your back. >> reporter: what did this teenager have to do with a murder? much more than he knew. >> i trusted him, so i said, yeah. low you,♪

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reporter: it was early evening on wednesday, may 26, 2010. the streets in this nice

neighborhood in long beach, california, were quiet. 17-year old wesley freilich was hanging out with his friends. they had just finished eating a pizza ordered from the local pizza parlor when -- >> i hear this helicopter circling. mind you i'm, like, not really a nosy kid. but i like, well, what's up? what's going on with my neighborhood? so peek outside. i don't see anything. >> reporter: so wesley walked outside. >> and i legitimately see a dude in the helicopter pointing at me or pointing towards me. like, what the -- what the hell's going on? all right, go inside. yo, hey, hey, guys, there's this helicopter outside. and he's -- i think he's pointing towards me or something. something's going on. >> reporter: his friends made what seemed like a sensible suggestion. >> well, don't go outside then, stupid. like, don't go out -- like, there might be something going on. don't go outside. so i was like, all right. we're all inside. helicopter's still circling.

and i look out the window, two squad cars pull up. >> reporter: the scene was unreal. like something from a movie. wesley did not realize he'd been cast as the villain. >> guys, something's going on. there's -- something's happening outside. everyone goes to the window. i open up my door to go outside and see what's going on. and that's when, freeze. get on the ground. put your hands behind your back. >> reporter: cops arrested him. but, according to wesley he had absolutely no clue why. then police showed him a photo. >> and immediately when i saw myself at that atm i literally knew what had happened. >> reporter: detectives wanted answers. what was wesley doing with that atm card? >> initially he, kind of, portrayed to us, don't know what you're talking about. i didn't do anything wrong. once the gravity of the situation was explained to him,

he had a change of demeanor. >> reporter: the cops told wesley his pizza delivery had landed him in the middle of a murder investigation and manhunt. they believed wesley was hiding sam herr, possibly inside the house. >> once we told him it was involving a homicide, he immediately started crying. >> sitting in front of officers of the law handcuffed i'm obviously literally -- i'm sorry, i can't say something g-rated. but my balls are inside of me. i was [ bleep ] myself and i was nervous as all hell. >> reporter: it was what the cops were counting on. wesley started talking. but what he said was not what police expected. >> i didn't know a sam. >> reporter: wesley not only didn't know where sam herr was, he didn't even know who he was. but wesley did have sam's bank card. >> all i said was, yeah, i think the name on the card was samuel.

but i can't remember. >> reporter: as to why he had it, that was a very strange story, wesley claimed. he got the card from someone who told him -- >> that he worked for a bail bondsman agency and that he wanted me to withdraw money from an atm for legal reasons. that the gentleman skipped bail out of town and that they were required to withdraw the money. and so he was looking for a third party to withdraw the money. >> reporter: sound phony? like a con game? apparently, not to wesley. he said he knew the man who asked him to withdraw money, that he was a friend. >> he showed me paperwork. it looked legit. looks like federal police paperwork. so i assumed that he, you know, he was good. he wasn't lying to me. and i trusted him, so i said, yeah. you know? sure. >> reporter: so wesley said he took the atm card and agreed to withdraw the maximum allowed amount each day, just as his

friend had asked him to. his friend also said, it was fine to order a couple pizzas. >> your alarm's going off in your head. but you're hearing his voice on the phone telling you, it's okay. it's legal. a teenager, i -- i really, really trusted him. >> reporter: who was this friend? wesley said it was someone he respected. an actor who'd taught him theater. >> it was a good bond. you know, an older dude that i looked up to. an older cat. and was, like, definitely someone i talked to about certain things in my life. >> reporter: the actor's name, dan wozniak. sam herr's neighbor. what could he possibly have to do with any of this? >> reporter: busy acting and just days away from getting married. >> definitely excited, but a lot of stress. >> dan was now also a potential witness in a murder

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reporter: detectives on the hunt for their prime suspect, sam herr, traced his atm card to a teenager named wesley. wesley said he got the card from someone he respected, actor and director, dan wozniak. now police wanted to know who was dan wozniak, really? >> i turned to dan on certain occasions for some advice. >> reporter: wesley described him as a mentor. so did tessia guajardo. >> i looked up to him as, you know, my director and as a fellow actor. >> reporter: dan directed tessia in her high school play. she says the students all loved

him. >> i've worked with many directors, and he was by far my favorite to work with. he was professional and knew what he was doing. >> reporter: but it seemed that acting was what dan wozniak was built for. >> he was incredible. and, you know, with all the one on one teaching he, you know, gave us as actors, it was -- it was right on. >> i thought we put an end to treachery and chaos -- >> reporter: dan was prominent and very active in the local community theatre world, said his fiancee, rachel buffett. >> it's hard to fill the male roles in non-paid community theater. so he would get a lot of roles, do a lot of theater. much more than i ever did. >> reporter: that's how dan and rachel met. they were cast in a play together. >> good guy? handsome guy? >> i think the best way to describe him is jovial.

and although he didn't have awesome pitch or anything, he had a booming voice. so that right there is enough to get you cast in a lot of things when you're a guy. >> reporter: rachel, an actress herself, would also get the big roles. and side by side they'd take on the stage. tessia says they worked well together. >> dan is very big personality, and she was more, you know, "okay, let's -- let's get this done." so i felt like they complemented each other in that way. >> reporter: dan and rachel moved in together. >> were you in love? >> i would say shortly after we moved in together, that's -- that's when i realized, oh, yeah, i am in love with this person. >> reporter: and it wasn't long before dan proposed marriage to his leading lady.

the night of julie's murder, dan and rachel were performing together in another musical together called "nine." you can see their chemistry in this video shot by the husband of one of the other cast members. tessia, who went to see the play on closing night, says that dan carried the show. >> he was on an after show high. we all were. we were excited for him and he did an amazing job and he came out and greeted us and we were just laughing and hugging him. >> reporter: and with their wedding in less than a week -- >> definitely excited, but a lot of stress because i was doing everything myself. >> he was that typical guy that wasn't interested in like the details of planning the wedding? >> there was a couple things, you know, like, oh -- i don't know. like, make sure we don't have only chicken marsala, or, you know, like random stuff like

that. >> reporter: but just two days before dan and rachel's big day, young wesley, now in handcuffs and facing serious felony charges, was pointing the finger at his onetime mentor. remember, dan and rachel had already told police that the last time they saw sam was on friday, the day before julie was murdered, and they hadn't seen him since. so, how and why would dan have sam's atm card? someone had to be lying. and if that were dan, why? sam's dad steve got phone numbers from his son's friends of just about everyone they knew. and on that list was dan wozniak's number. >> so i said, i'm going to call him in the morning, see, just double check. >> reporter: and when steve got him on the phone, dan told him sam was nervous when they saw each other on friday. and i said, "what was he nervous about?" he said, i don't know. he was talking about family,

problems and stuff like that. and boom, as soon as he said he was talking about family problems, i said, excuse my language, this son of a -- is dirty. i'll never forget that. i said this guy knows something. i don't know what he knows, but he's lying about sam. >> reporter: authorities were developing their own theory about dan. prosecutor matt murphy. >> wozniak is the guy that's protecting sam. wozniak is the friend that's helping him get money out. >> reporter: so, police figured the best way to find sam was to talk with dan wozniak. >> i had nothing to do with it because my life was in danger with my wife. i'm sorry. >> reporter: was someone threatening dan? who and why?

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reporter: it was a wednesday evening in may 2010. dan wozniak was celebrating his upcoming marriage at his bachelor party. often described as a man's last night of freedom. suddenly, that became truer than

ever before when police crashed the party. >> dan wozniak was with a group of friends. >> reporter: detectives were following the murky trail of sam herr, a suspect in the murder of julie kibuishi. she was a beautiful and talented 23-year-old with dreams of becoming a fashion stylist. did you think you were gonna find sam herr in that restaurant? >> i was hoping we would. i was hoping he'd be with daniel. >> reporter: celebrating dan's upcoming wedding? >> yes. >> reporter: not that lucky? >> no. >> reporter: but they hauled dan in anyway. >> immediately when he saw me he turned pale. we could see the blood just draining from his face. >> reporter: the plan was to make dan talk and fast. so they hit him with a heavy charge -- accessory to julie's murder after the fact. and dan, now back at the station, rolled over like a trained seal. ed everett monitored dan's interview with detectives mike delgadillo and mike cohen

as dan readily admitted to a crime. >> he's alleging that he and sam came up with this conspiracy to commit fraud and use this wesley kid to implement it. >> reporter: dan said sam gave him his atm card and pin. the plan was to have wesley withdraw money and then sam would report the card stolen so the bank would have to reimburse him. but dan said before they had the chance to make real money something went wrong. >> i got a knock on my door, i want to say it was about 8:00, 8:30 in the morning. >> okay. >> opened the door it was sam. >> all right. >> i'm like, "hey, man what's going on? is everything good?" he's like, "not good we're i we're -- we're in trouble." i'm like, "what do you mean we're in trouble? what happened? he's like, i can't talk about it here. we need to get the [ bleep ] out of here. >> reporter: they rushed out of the apartment dan said. and as they drove sam dropped a bombshell. >> he's like, there's a dead body in my apartment. >> reporter: dan said sam told

him everything. >> he's like, "okay, basically as soon you left me i started doing some drugs and drinking heavily because i was very depressed about my family." >> reporter: according to dan, sam started looking at photos of his friend julie and became upset. then when julie came over. >> i said, "what did you do?" he's like, "i got a gun." he asked for sex, uh, he was pretty [ bleep ] up. she said no and then he just shot her twice in the head. >> reporter: dan said that at first, he couldn't believe it. >> i'm really like, "you're, you're totally [ bleep ] with me right now. julie's like a friend. why the [ bleep ] would you do this? he's like, "cause i was not in my right frame of mind." >> reporter: and then dan said sam threatened him. >> he's like, "you rat me out i'm going to [ bleep ] kill you." >> uh-huh. >> and better yet i'm going to start with your wife. >> reporter: dan said an angry and frightening sam needed help withdrawing all the money in his bank account to finance his escape. in return, sam said he would

slide dan a few thousand dollars to help with his wedding. and dan felt he had no choice. >> and then i said, after 30 days i'll have all your full money or whatever and then you're going get the [ bleep ] out of my life. >> reporter: then dan told detectives that he dropped off sam at a parking lot at a shopping center in long beach. and dan said that was the last time he saw sam. he later ditched sam's car and dan said he was sorry he had lied to police at first when he told them he last saw sam in the company of a man wearing a black cap. >> he doesn't exist. that's a lie. that's 100% proof lie. >> okay. >> and i apologize for that. >> okay. >> i just, i got so scared detective. >> okay. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: dan said he was frightened of sam, and he admitted he did need money for his wedding. >> i got greedy and i didn't want any harm to come or me or wife. >> okay. >> reporter: it seemed he had told them everything so far. but police pressed dan on the most important detail of all.

>> where, where do you think sam's at now? >> like i said the last place that i saw him honestly now. >> right. >> when i dropped him off at the los altos shopping center, bellflower and spring in long beach. >> reporter: dan was cooperative, but he said he didn't know where sam was. >> he can't tell you the location or he won't tell you the location? >> didn't know at that point. thought he wasn't gonna tell us. didn't want to. >> reporter: so they applied a little more pressure. >> what we're going to do is, this is a swab. we need to get a swab from you just to eliminate you. should only take a second here. >> oh, eliminate me? >> yeah, eliminate you from any, any issues. >> okay. >> and that's why i want to get a sample from your saliva. just to eliminate you, okay. i mean, it's -- it's in your best interest. >> yes, most definitely sir. >> uh, so basically just open your mouth for me. >> that's it. >> oh, okay. >> very painless.

very painless. >> reporter: when the detective explained what he planned to do with the dna sample, dan paid very close attention. >> you're being up front with us, you're being honest, you have nothing to do with anything, there should be no reason why we should find your dna anywhere in certain areas and stuff like that and that's why we're doing it. >> now i was in sam's apartment friday afternoon. >> okay. >> and i know i did use the bathroom. >> you did use the bathroom. >> i used the bathroom, um, and i went -- i'm not sure if i went on the patio or not. most of the time i do. >> okay. okay. >> reporter: dan seemed worried they might find his dna in sam's apartment. detectives wanted to know why. and the tone of the interview changed. >> i think you know a little more about this thing then you're divulging to us. >> no, i don't. >> i think there's a little a whole lot more. >> there may be but please

question me and any gaps that i, i want to fill. absolutely. >> as far as your participation in this thing. >> as far as my participation? >> yeah. >> okay. >> talk to me. >> i am, officer. >> huh? yes, i helped him get away. yes, i knew that he had killed someone, and yes, i knew that. >> stop. stop right there. stop right there. >> reporter: they circled back to the dna. >> we got your dna. >> yes. >> okay? where's that dna going to be showing up? >> in sam's car. >> what about on julie? >> no, it wouldn't be on julie. >> you sure about that? >> yes, i'm positive about that. >> did you see julie dead in the apartment? >> no, i did not. no, i did not. no. >> you better think about that. i'm going to give you time to think about it. >> i did not see julie dead in

the apartment. i didn't. >> were you there when she was shot? >> no, i was not. >> are you sure about that? >> you're really scaring me right now. >> i'm not trying to scare you. >> reporter: but dan did seem scared and angry. he insisted he only helped sam after the murder and then only under duress. >> no, i had nothing to do with it because my life was in danger with my wife. i'm sorry. >> how was your life in danger? >> he threatened it. >> we're going to give you time to think, all right. listen to me. >> yes, sir. >> all right. stand up. we're going to go back in there. >> reporter: detectives were frustrated but -- >> we were still hoping to find sam and thought he was going to lead us to sam. >> reporter: the interrogation, act 2. an actor confessing what he says was his role that night at sam's apartment. >> reporter: dan says he could