>> we believe that. if you believe in angels, there is one dancing up there, i promise you. and every time we have class she's dancing. that's all for now. good morning. this is "dateline." i'm freaking out. i walk in and my sister is not there. her door is open, her lights are on. her bed is undone. everything was horrible. and i felt it. >> she had been front lines in iraq. >> pretty amazing. i felt her as a strong soldier. >> something had her terrified

at home. >> i'm scared. i don't feel safe. >> a desperate call to police and then she vanished. >> something made her pretty scared. >> yes. >> no way to say what that was. >> right. >> what happened to this beautiful army sergeant. that question would launch a spell binding mystery. >> there were a number of potential suspects, absolutely. >> was there a killer out there. could police catch him? they had to plan a virtual genius. >> one detective said you're not going to believe this. welcome to da"dateline." she was a fighter. even her military experience would not be enough to prepare her for the evil she battled back home. here's mystery in orange county.

>> orange county california, a place of sun, fun and privilege. it's where the real housewives first aired their dirty laundry. it's where the kids from the oc showed us all what temperature cool really was. around here, you get the sense that everyone is rich and white and lives in a mansion. with a view of the pacific, but step back from the coast and you'll see the orange county that isn't on tv. not as wealthy, not as white. full of those who came here from somewhere else chasing a better life. and finding it in places like santa ana, a mostly working class community in the shadow of disney land. the part of the oc that people know to survive, they'll have to work hard. maribel arrived here as a baby

leaving mexico behind. she would not only survive here, but thrive. to tell you the truth, this should be the story of a woman who washinged hard to change her life. and in doing so, carved a path for others to follow, but this story is going to end differently. there are some parts of life that hard work just can't fix. >> i was just scared. i'm just calling to let you guys know, if something happens, i did it because i was just trying to end myself. >> all i'm trying to say is i'm warning. i'm honestly, i will fight for my life. i swear i will kill him.

tell me about growing up with maribel. what was she like? >> troublemaker. mom wanted her to stay at home. and she wanted to go play baseball. >> tomboy. >> yes, yes. >> her sister, lucy, saying tomboy maribel also had a spark. >> she would come in and introduce herself. >> make friends. she was easy to talk to. >> you saw boys interested in her. >> definitely. >> from an early age. >> early age. >> and that never ended, did it. >> no, no. >> little sister remembers how maribel was also in charge of watching out for her while their single mother worked two jobs to make ends meat. >> you were how much younger. >> seven years younger. >> a lot of girls wouldn't want their sister tagging along. >> no, she didn't want to, but she had to.

>> even as a child, she figured out a different world existed and she wanted to live there. >> she knew at a young age there was a lot more to life than what we had around us. things you can do and go to school and opportunities and live in a nicer house. >> she saw all of that. >> definitelydefinitely. she knew she would have to work hard to get what and where she wanted. after high school, she worke instead security at krt and latched a long-term plan to become a cop. she'd need a college degree and ma meant money. she became private first class ramos. she joined the army, hoping to use the gi bill. her first day was august 8, 2001 and just 34 days later the whole world changed. >> we all sort of recoiled in horror. you probably also thought that's going to affect my sister.

>> yes. i turn on the tv and it's crumbling. first thing i thought was oh, my gosh, my sister is going to war. >> they worried. maribel was like a rock. >> aaron: did maribel say about going overseas. >> she didn't express her feelings about it. she was like this is what's happening. you need to talk to mom. >> maribel went to war in iraq. >> what was it like to see her in uniform. >> it was pretty amazing. >> this was maribel's niece. >> you were proud of her. >> yes >> maribel learned to jump out of airports and manned the guns for armed convoys. saw more than her share of combat. also made certainty. when her tour in iraq ended, she

reenlisted in another. she seemed fear less. >> other people did die. other friends of hers. >> in 2009 after two tours in iraq, maribel left the army and set part two of her plan into action. enrolling in college, but adjusting back to civilian life wasn't as easy as maribel had expected. like a lot of war veterans, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder or ptsd. >> she had seen some terrible things. >> did she ever talk about that. >> not with me. >> instead she focused on her family, her niece, giselle. >> she kind of adopted you as this project. >> yes. >> why did sthe do that. >> i think because she wanted me to have the best. >> as giselle grew older, the

self improvement message sometimes came complete with pushups. after all, maribel was all army. >> when i would get in trouble, she would make me do exercise in order to work off the punishment. >> and all this time, maribel was hammering away at giselle, you're going to finish school. you're going study hard. you're going to have a career. >> yes. this is what you're going to do and she would tell her. and she would say, yes, tia. >> maribel got a dog and rented a two bedroom apartment in the city of orange, which she shared with a roommate. a quiet chemist casey joy who had a dog. >> i thought it was a perfect match. he seems quiet. not going to have all these people coming over. >> by may 2013 everything seemed great. maribel was leading by example

finishing up her career. giselle was following in her strong footsteps. >> she was dropping off money at my house because i had gotten good grades. she had just got her hair done, died and styled because for her graduation. >> she looked great. >> yes >> and she was happy. >> yes she was. >> that's why it made no sense when just days later, maribel ramos, soldier, student, loving aunt, simply disappeared. coming up, what had happened to maribel ramgs. >> nobody had heard from her. >> nobody. >> when "dateline" continues. it was really easy. easy. that'd be nice. phone: for help with chairs, say "chair." phone: for help with bookcases, say "bookcase." bookcase. i thought this was the dresser? isn't that the bed? phone: i'm sorry, i didn't understand.

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may 3, 2014 was a friday. a day that should have been easy for maribel ramos. school was nearly over. graduation was close. that morning, things weren't right. >> i got a text from casey at 10:00 a.m. and said your sister didn't come home. >> they had been roommates for more than a year now. casey felt protective of maribel. he told lucy he already called police to report her missing. >> orange police dispatcher. >> this is not an emergency. i have a roommate. she's 36 years old and she didn't come home last night. >> so what i did is i texted her

at 11 and i said happy friday because we usually text each other anyways. that was my way of connecting and she didn't text me back. >> unusual. >> yes. >> she still wasn't worried. she knew her combat hardened sister could care for herself. then the evening came and friday night was softball night. she loved to play and never missed a game. this friday night, she didn't show. now, lucy's phone was ringing. maribel's teammates on the line. >> they told me, go to the house. the police are there. do not take giselle. i'm freaking out and i walk in and my sister is not there. her door is open. her lights are on. her bed is undone. my head started spinning. everything was horrible. i felt it.

>> detective joey ramirez got the call that evening and also had a bad feeling about everything. >> sounds like you were taking this seriously from the get go. >> absolutely. >> why couldn't she just be off by herself or with some other friends or maybe she lost her phone and forgot to call. >> that was our hope that she was just missing and come walking through the door. family and friends express that she was very responsible. >> and nobody had heard from her. >> nobody. >> so ramirez and his team went into action. if she left, she left on her own accord. her car was there. her keys were gone. phone was gone, but her toothbrush was there. so was her big purse she used when she had a lot to carry. casey returned home hours after police first got there. he again told the cops what he told them that morning.

that maribel was missing. lucy and the softball team went to the station hoping for answers. morning came and there weren't any. channelling her big sister, lucy decided to stop waiting and make her own luck. >> i woke up on saturday and thought wow, this is seriously happening. i posted a picture of her on facebook. and it was immediate. people went into action. >> friends from the university got together. family members, her roommate. a lot of people who maribel had touched wanted to help. they hung flyers in english and spanish. they reached out to reporters. >> it's very not like her after eight years of service in the army to just disappear. >> unusual thing was the next day, friday morning, she was not here. >> i helped mid mom pass out flyers around school. pretty much anything i could do. >> did you think they would find her. >> yes, i did. >> giselle was 14 at the time,

but detective ramirez who has been a cop for more years than giselle has been alive, was not as hopeful. >> she's not using her cell phone. not taking any money out. no one has heard from her. when you've picked up no tries of her after a couple of days, you still think you're looking for a living person? >> the percentages are starting to drop. not in our favor. >> by then, you've called all the hospitals. >> all hospitals, jails. >> there's an alert out that any police officer, what, in southern camera sees her. >> correct. and the media was also helping. >> and nothing. >> nothing. >> nomar bell on security tape from any nearby store. police checked all of them. they found only this image from the security camera outside the manager's office for her apartment complex. it's maribel paying the rent. it's may8:18 p.m.

the night before anyone realized she had disappeared. maribel seems to be alone. so what the cops needed to do was talk to everyone who was anyone in maribel's life. turns out, there were a lot of people they suddenly needed to get to know. including a current boyfriend. an ex-boyfriend. and someone maribel had just met. a guy she had made a date with online. a guy whose name maribel had apparently kept completely to herself. coming up, that haunting phone call. >> i'm just scared. >> something had happened to make her pretty scared. >> yes. >> when dateline continues.

>> no way to say what that was. >> right. >> what had happened to this beautiful army sergeant? the question would launch a spellbinding mystery. you've got a roommate, a boyfriend who she's maybe about to dump. you've got an ex-boyfriend who's suddenly back in her life. >> there were a number of potential suspects, absolutely. >> was a killer out there? >> she was in danger. >> could police catch him? he had a lot of ground to cover and a strong sense time

was against him as he tried to figure out what had happened to maribel ramos. >> she just vanished. >> yes. >> how often does that kind of thing happen. >> doesn't happen often. >> started investigating the men in her life. >> did you know she was doing online dating? did she talk about that? >> yeah, she did. >> maribel sometimes met guys through a website called plenty of fish. that's how she found paul lopez. they had been dating for a few months, and paul had even joined her weekly softball game. lopez was the last person maribel talked to on the phone. now police wanted to talk to him. >> you know you're not under arrest or anything like that. >> i wouldn't think so. >> ramirez sat across from paul and asked about his relationship with maribel. >> nothing's been exclusive. it's just been dating. >> okay. you date other people too? >> me, yeah. >> you don't know if she dates other people or not? >> i don't ask, don't tell. >> and he asked lopez where he

was on the night maribel disappeared. >> did you come into orange at all on thursday? >> no. >> police also had to consider this. maribel had told lucy that things weren't working out with paul lopez. >> she wasn't a match with paul. so she was online talking to people. >> it wasn't clear if paul knew, even as they kept dating, that maribel was back on plenty of fish and had met a new man. he was a photographer who'd worked a lot with the military. it was a connection for both of them. how did she describe that guy? >> she said, oh, i met someone. he's very interesting. we have lot in common. >> and you thought what? good? >> i thought, great. >> they planned a date for cinco de mayo. but two days before that date was to happen, maribel vanished. so police talked to that photographer. and made a recording of the conversation.

>> you're saying you never actually met her in person. >> no. >> so he said, anyway. there was also an ex-boyfriend who had been calling. police needed to check him out. and there was this lead. >> there was a person at cal state fullerton that was in the veterans association with her that had given her a bad feeling. he may have wanted to pursue some sort of dating relationship. >> but gave her a bad feeling how? >> she wasn't interested and she didn't give him any attention, yet he didn't go away. >> so he made her feel uncomfortable. >> correct. >> and by now, detective ramirez had learned something else. just a little over a week before she vanished, maribel ramos had called 911. >> hi, it's not an emergency but i just -- is there a recording? >> is there a what? >> is this conversation recording? >> yes. every conversation is recorded. >> maribel wanted it on the record. she wanted police to know she was very afraid of someone.

>> i'm just calling to let you guys know that if something happens, i did it because i was trying to defend myself. >> she might have been afraid, but this army-strong woman who had always taken care of herself feared she might be the one putting the hurt on her attacker. >> all i'm trying to say is that, i'm warning -- honestly, i will fight for my life. and i swear, i will kill him. >> something had happened to make her pretty scared. >> yes. >> there was nothing on the call to say what that was. >> right. >> what was she afraid of? not clear. who was she afraid of? that was another story entirely. coming up, another man in >> did her roommate know something that police didn't? when "dateline" continues.

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hello. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. former deputy chairman rick gates has pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the as well as lying against investigators. agreed to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation. in south korea the president's daughter ivana trump is leading the u.s. delegation for tomorrow's closing ceremony at the olympics. today met with olympians and had dinner with south korean's president last night. now back to "dateline." welcome back. i'm craig melvin. maribel ramos joined the army to put herself through college. days through the graduation ceremony, she vanished. earlier she had called police and said she was afraid for her life. what was it or who was it that had her so concerned. here again the mystery in orange county.

>> by now, posters blanket the city of orange. maribel ramos was missing and her family was frantic. >> as soon as i got the call she didn't show up for her baseball game, i got the worst feeling in the world. >> putting himself out there with all the rest was maribel's roommate, k.c. joy. >> she's the only family i have. she's my best friend. that's all. >> k.c. had moved from tennessee to southern california for a job. he had no family and few friends here. so he turned to maribel, and she was happy to include him. she even arranged for k.c. to tutor her niece in math. >> he seemed nice, respectful. he liked to be involved with the family and my aunt. >> he didn't have family of his own so he kind of attached himself to yours? >> yeah. >> but they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend? >> no. >> even so, in photos, maribel and k.c. seemed to be having a great time. they even went on a cruise

together. soon, police would be talking with k.c. joy. >> do you have a business card, sir? >> yeah. >> so i keep track of names straight. >> yeah, that's a good idea. >> formalities over, detective ramirez started asking about maribel. >> as you know, right now, there's some people, some family and friends that are worried about maribel, your roommate. >> i was her friend and i care about her very much. >> but he said he had no idea what happened to her. >> so when was the last time you saw her? >> about 9:00 p.m. about 9:00. then i went out. >> that was thursday night, may 2nd. the next night when the cops were called to maribel's house, k.c. wasn't there. he explained he had been so worried that he did his own investigation, watching his own front door from his car parked out frt. >> iaw in vies, detective movies of a crime scene,

whatever. i want to see who's going to knock on my door. i just parked my car in front with a notebook. had binoculars -- >> you were doing your own surveillance? >> yes. >> it sounded a little odd. maybe k.c. had just seen too many crime movies. but if he had, then he'd probably know cops don't miss little details like -- well, like this. >> he was sitting across the table from me wearing short-sleeved shirt, jeans on and sandals. instantly i can see he has scratches on both his arms. he's got a scratch across his forehead from his hairline to his eye. >> how did you get all these scratches on you? >> we go to the park all the time. you go exactly -- we pick up, by the pond, we pick up fishing line all the time. you go there. -- >> can i see? >> fishing lines.

>> those are from fishing lines? >> no, no. i will explain. >> k.c. explained he was walking the dogs when he saw a fishing line in a bush. worrying about the ducks in the park getting caught in the line, he reached in to remove it and got all those scratches. you've been around long enough, you can tell the difference between scratches that a person might get, you know, reaching into a bush, or from an animal, and scratches that somebody would get during a, you know, an actual fight with another person? >> right. some of the scratches on his arms did look like scratches that would be from something other than fingernails. but there was one particular set of scratches on his right bicep that to me clearly looked like scratches from a hand. >> and that says to you he was in a fight?

>> it does. >> when was the last time you guys had any sort of an argument? >> actually that thursday. >> this thursday? >> that was the last night anyone saw maribel, the night she was caught on camera paying the rent, which k.c. said was what they were arguing about. >> well, what happened? tell me about that. >> because i was -- i'm supposed to move out. >> it turned out k.c. had recently lost his job and could no longer pay his share of the rent. maribel had asked him to move out. that was reason for concern, of course. and so was this. detective ramirez had learned about the 911 call maribel had made 11 days before she disappeared. and he knew that in that call the man maribel said that she might have to kill was k.c. joy. >> his full name is kwang choi joy. >> weren't the police out to

your house recently because you guys had an argument? >> we'd been drinking that night. she started yelling at me. >> k.c. said it was all just a drunken misunderstanding. >> i don't like you, i'm not attracted to you. i said, maribel, we had a great time tonight. what's the problem? >> what was the problem? detective ramirez heard from maribel's family something very interesting. k.c. joy had wanted to be more than just roommates with maribel ramos. lucy told us the same thing. when did it become apparent to you that k.c. sort of had a crush on your sister? >> he called me, and then he just said, i'm like in love with your sister. so i was like, oh, this is great. >> because you knew your sister wasn't in love with him. >> yes. and that's a bad situation. so at that point i'm like, okay, k.c., you know, you're a good man and i'm sure you'll find somebody out there for you, but -- >> but it's not going to be her.

>> yeah. >> now the woman k.c. told lucy he wanted had told him that not only did she not love him, but he had to basically get out of her life. despite that, k.c. continued talking with police. mr. joy was being cooperative. >> he was. >> talking to officers, let you guys take stuff out of the house? >> he did. >> and never showed up with a lawyer? >> he did not. >> doesn't sound like that did a lot to set aside your suspicions? >> no, it didn't. >> suspicions, sure. but no proof a crime had even occurred. maribel ramos was missing. that's all anyone knew. >> ready, sir? >> and so k.c. joy walked out of that police station, like all the other men in maribel's life, a free man. coming up. finally, the clue they had

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the days were ticking by and still nomar bell. forensic results were coming in, dna, fingerprints, cell phone data. none of it adding up to anything

that told the cops what had happened to her. so police were looking at the usual suspects. like her boyfriend, paul lopez. lopez works for the gas company and goes from call to call on the truck. the gps on the truck puts him nowhere near the city of orange on the night maribel was seen on the security video. that is until about midnight. lopez told police that's when he went home. he said he was alone and could prove it. >> my parking spot is actually right by a surveillance camera. >> so the surveillance camera would show you parking? >> yeah. >> that was enough to get lopez off the list. there was that ex-boyfriend who had been calling. maribel had never mentioned he'd been a problem, and police didn't think he was volved. there was the photographer from the website, plenty of fish. his cell phone data placed him in san diego, out of the area at the time in question. and the veteran from cal state who had come on too strong? he was in japan.

none of them could be connected to maribel's disappearance. so in the end there was just one person the cops couldn't stop looking at, the first person to report maribel missing, her roommate, k.c. joy. >> orange police dispatcher. >> this is not an emergency. i have a roommate. she's 36 years old and she didn't come home last night. >> he was also the last to see her alive. >> i felt she most likely was dead. i felt there was a high probability mr. joy was responsible for it and he knew a lot more than he was telling us. >> so detective ramirez became k.c. joy's shadow, appearing in the morning, and then later by

moonlight. hours after k.c.'s first police interview, a cheerful joey ramirez showed up at his house. >> hey, k.c., how are you? can we come in? >> he brought a voice recorder and a few more questions. >> how are you this morning? >> all right. >> good, good. >> detective ramirez already knew the answers to some of them. >> when you say work, she works at? >> fullerton. >> cal state fullerton? >> yeah. >> and to some he didn't. >> did you have any marks on your legs or anything? >> no. >> well, let me just ask you, do you have any injuries on your legs? >> no. >> you have no injuries on your legs whatsoever? >> no, i don't have any. >> okay. >> then ramirez showed up again that night. >> k.c. joy, just a couple of quick questions for you, and i'll get out of here. how are you doing? are you okay? >> i've been crying. >> how many times did you talk to him? >> i believe i talked to him at least nine times. >> ramirez tried scaring k.c. about potential evidence found in his car. >> why would there be blood in a red versa? >> blood? you tell me there was blood? i don't know anything about it. what blood?

you tell me. >> he tried backing k.c. into a corner about what might be found on k.c.'s hard drive. >> the good thing is if there's anything that you ever deleted that you wish you hadn't, we should be able to help you out with that. >> you're hoping he's going to think to himself, okay, everything i've deleted they're going to see. >> right. >> didn't work. >> didn't work. we were swinging and missing regularly on a daily basis. >> k.c. joy was willing to talk repeatedly without an attorney. >> k.c., you've been very cooperative with us. >> i've seen movies. the detective takes my fingerprints. >> he says to you, i've seen movies, and now you're going to take my fingerprints. he's like a pro. he's seen it all.

>> he's being very relaxed. i felt that he was very confident that we weren't going to figure it out. >> what mr. joy apparently didn't know was that other officers were watching him 24/7. the surveillance teams noticed he was spending a lot of time at the public library, and he was using the computers there. probably because police had taken away his phone and maribel's computer, which was the one k.c. normally used. >> initially we would have undercover policemen go into the library and walk around and see what he's doing. at one point he's seen googling can a cell phone be tracked if it's turned off. >> well, that's certainly suspicious. >> it is. >> detective ramirez was consulting daily with orange county deputy district attorney scott simmons. there are things that can be called into question, but they're not immediately proof of

anything. >> exactly. that's why we didn't arrest him right away. >> police needed to see exactly what k.c. joy was doing on those library computers. that would require a very unusual plan. they obtained a search warrant allowing them to watch in realtime every move made on the computer. this is a recording of k.c.'s actual computer keystrokes and mouse clicks. that's k.c. checking his e-mail. that's k.c. applying for a job. that's k.c. typing in how long does it take a body to decay. suspicious maybe, but not enough. and then he did this. >> he pulled up a facebook page that showed there was going to be an awareness walk in the near future. >> a walk to help find maribel? >> it was. he google mapped that park and zoomed in onto it. he then panned out, navigated

over about eight to ten miles. >> this area he was zeroing in on, was it an area that had crossed your field of vision at all? >> no. >> here, k.c. is google mapping a place that no one had searched. watch as he zooms in to that area with that tree. that tree didn't figure in the investigation in any way? >> not in any stretch of the imagination. >> no one had searched there? >> no. >> no reason for that to be in the paper or anywhere else? >> no. it's out in a remote canyon location. >> but he's looking at it. >> yes, yes. >> by the time k.c. was walking out of the library that afternoon, police were already headed to that tree. coming up, another startling discovery. >> this is way off the beaten path. we didn't know what to think. >> when "dateline" continues. that rushes powerful relief.

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welcome back. police were growing confident they knew who was involved in the disappearance of maribell ramos. there had not been an arrest, but that was about to change. here is josh with the conclusion of mystery in orange county. as he dug deeper into casey joy's background, detective ramirez found more and more evidence that casy was

infatuated, even obsessed with maribell ramos. for instance, the time he told casey he was too old for her and he responded by getting plastic surgery. $12,000 later, he has a different face. >> correct. >> and he says the reason he's got it is because of the woman who is missing. >> correct. >> now here was casey at the public the library, google mapping a remote wilderness area. since the the dawn of detective novels, killers have returned to the scene of the crime. but these days, now it can be done with the click of a mouse. the good guys still have to do it the old fashioned way. detective shawn hayden got the call on the radio, drive out to rustic majestic canyon. >> we didn't know what to think. this was a very rural area.

no one would be out here mountain biking or hiking. >> at the other end of the two-way radio, detective brian stanley was rewatching casey's google search trying to give detective hayden better directions. casy focused on an intersection and then moved over to the tree. >> in the center of the shot, there's one tree that looks like a bush. and this the wash from that area. >> hayden and his partner found the tree and then moved off the road and passed the barbed wire fence. and then they knew they were close. >> as we were kind of trekking through this brush here, the first and foremost thing we found was an overwhelming smell of a decaying body or something dead. and my partner and i kind of turned our head and we looked over and saw this kind of shallow grave site. >> at long last, there she was. >> one of the detectives called and said, joey, you're not going to believe this. we found her. >> maribell ramos had been left

alone in that dusty canyon since before anyone knew she was missing. now ramirez knew it was time for one last meeting with casy joy. thanks for coming down here. i appreciate it. >> you're going to give me ride back to library, then i'll have to walk. >> ramirez didn't tell casey that maribell had been found. he just tried for the final time to go k.c. to be the one who would say what had happened. >> k.c., i think you have the answers in your heart, that you do and that you should share them. >> so once again, k.c. joy walked out of the interview room. he didn't get far. this time, he was arrested and charged with the murder of maribell ramos. the woman he loved who did not love him. when he was taken into custody, k.c. was wearing her dog tags. k.c. pleaded not guilty and in

july 2014 a year after maribell vanished, he went on trial for her murder. the prosecution laid out the evidence against k.c., the unrequited love, the scratches, the 911 call and finally the computer searches. >> he's wondering how close is maribell's body to where they're doing that awareness search. that's why he goes to google maps. >> the defense pointed out there was no dna, fingerprints, cell phone info or standard forensic evidence is that tided k.c. joy to the crime scene. >> we don't know what happened. what kind of forces was used? nobody knows. who used it first? nobody knows. was there a weapon used? nobody knows. >> all true, but the computer searches were enough for the

jury. >> we the jury find the defendant -- >> k.c. joy was convicted of second degree murder, after which he told me the jury got it wrong. >> are you dangerous? >> me? i'm the perfect, most honest guy there is and most trustworthy. i'm more gentleman. >> you had a crush on her. >> no, absolutely not. i'll always maintain that we were platonic friends. >> you never told lucy that you had a crush on her. >> i never said that. >> you never said you were in love with her. >> nope, never said that, either. you were not obsessed with her? >> i was not obsessed with her. >> the plastic surgery, his choice he says, fought done for maribell. and the computer search of the area k.c. says he didn't do it, someone else did by remotely accessing the same computer right after he had used it. >> you don't think that's quite a coincidence?

>> it may be a coincidence, but i didn't do it. >> you're being framed here? >> i say yes. if i had a paid attorney, somebody like o.j. simpson had, i would be out. >> so the problem here is not that you're guilty, it's that you don't have money? >> exactly. money talks. if i had money, i would not be here. >> k.c. was sentenced to 15 years to life for killing maribell ramos. >> what do you think happened? >> i think she went to bed and he got a pillow and smothered her. as he has this bill low over her face, she struggles. i think that's where he got the scratches on his right triceps. >> if mr. joy hadn't done that google search leading you essentially to the body, would he be a free man? >> if no other evidence came up, yes. >> he would be a person of interest in a cold case.

correct. >> maribell ramos graduated prosecute from college posthumously. her niece instead ended up walking the path meant for her aunt. >> i received her diploma and i got to sit in her seat and walk up stage and receive everything. >> it was difficult to see my daughter in such pain walking for her aunt. >> maribell ra the mos, she was an army veteran. >> every wednesday in the city of orange, they lower the flag for the fallen who served. but maribell has a legacy. jazel, it seems, is well on her way to becoming the successful woman maribell hoped for. >> your mom says that you have sort of been the rock.

>> yes. >> what they wouldn't have made it without you. >> yes. >> where did you get that toughness? >> from her. >> from maribell. yes. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i fell to the floor. i just remember like, "she's dead. she's dead!" and i was so confused. i was like, "what's going on? what -- what happened?" >> a small texas town, two super close friends, and a summer night in the park. hey ve this loout, and you could see the harbor bridge lit up.