staying the same, never to have her own album of her daughter graduating, getting married. time ran out for brandy on a dark hilltop before she could kiss her daughter goodnight. >> reporter: that's all for this edition of "dateline." no, it can't b. it can't be. he was so big in my life and the thought that anything bad could have happened to him, it didn't make sense to me glamorous, good looking, golden. the dashinghold movie executive. >> he was more like a movie star

in real life. so charismatic. >>. a musical affair of secret affairs. >> we have multiple affairs. there is more women involved in this thing. >> was this beauty hiding something deadly. >> i wanted to get away. it was scary. >> how would this hollywood story end? >> i was just fearing for my parents. i didn't want to lose my dad. >> like who are these people? [ music playing ] hello, welcome to "dateline." gavin smith was a larger than life kind of guy who lived life

to the fullest. he was not the type that fled quietly into the night. so when he suddenly left without a trace, gavin's life was wondering why his wife lisa wasn't doing more to find him. the years would force lisa to reveal and uncover painful secrets about her husband and their marriage. here's keith morrison with dark valley. >> reporter: there is a kind of peace here, here in her own chosen exile the vast pacific for company. how else to live with what's impoble to understand? or forget? what began that sunny afternoon, far away in southern california san fernando valley, early may, 2012. >> something was really wrong, but a lot were wrong than i could imagine.

>> reporter: it was the boy who knew at first, knew something was wrong. his dad was supposed to take him to school that morning. but after school -- >> i was to go to school and pick him up after basketball practice. when i showed up, he said, daddy didn't pick me up this morning. i said, what? he said, daddy didn't pick me up this morning. >> reporter: busy family, the boy got to school some other way around the corner. >> he said he got a ride by someone else. >> the situation sounded too crazy, love affairs, drug dealers, too outlandish. >> reporter: once those stable loving piece versus blown apart, how do they come towing again in. >> somebody is going to walk away from this who maybe you wish wasn't going to walk away in. >> exactly. >> how do people sleep at night? how do they live with themselves? >> reporter: but that afternoon,

lisa smith knew instantly, something must be wrong. her husband gavin was a dedicated father. >> nothing would keep him from his kids ever. >> reporter: because gavin was so good at these things, his sister, he was so impressive, so tall. he broke out the tall gene? >> we did. >> reporter: whole family in. >> whom family. >> reporter: gavin was the tallest, 6' 6. >> he walked in the room, you wanted to gravitate to him. he was like a magnet. >> reporter: he played at ucla 1975, he was a forward. it was the final championship team. >> just to be on that team was pretty fantastic. it was a once in a lifetime. >> reporter: and then he drifted a bit, worked as a golf caddie and this being los angeles and he a good looking towering athlete, people noticed him. movie people. >> they gave him a couple of

roles and he got the bug. >> reporter: the acting bug. first as a body double back on the basketball court in the movie "inside moves." then as a bartender in "cob." >> congrats, al. >> reporter: when he met lisa, he was acting, but also waiting tables. >> he twimpgled. he was just charming. i was thrilled that he asked me for my number. >> reporter: they married, had three sons together and with a growing family to support, gavin gave up acting and took a job on the business side of 20th century fox eventually as a film distribution executive. >> fox is a wonderful company to work for. he loved it, it was film. >> reporter: the first place lisa called when gavin failed to pick up his son. >> they told me he never shown up to work. gavin in 18 years never shown up to work. >> reporter: now lisa very

worried now went to the sheriffs station to report gavin missing and waited and waited. days later, gavin's family went on nbc 4 in los angeles to plead for help. >> i'm not going as to stop until i find him. so please help me find him. >> you guys want to pick one of these streets. now i'm in panic mode. we got to do something. >> reporter: what did it feel like to be in that spot? >> oh, it was surreal. >> reporter: the smith family put together a $20,000 reward for any information leading to gavin's whereabouts. nothing turned up. i would think that every hour that went by, you would be more dire and darker for you, right if. >> it's very dark. it's very, very dark. >> reporter: it wasn't just the family having dark thoughts. they don't normally call a couple seasoned homicide detectives to look into a missing person. >> they do when there is some suspicious circumstances. >> reporter: and in this case, they called in sheriffs detectives tyla bay and his

partner john o'brien. >> his phone was missing. there was no use of it. we checked his bank accounts from the time he was missing. we checked his medical insurance to see if he check into a hospital. >> that never showed any activity. he was completely dropped you've the face of the earth. >> reporter: but then, out of nowhere, a sighting. hundreds of miles north of los angeles, a businessman visiting the central coast says he saw gavin smith and a beautiful woman at a cash only theco restaurant in morro bay. >> i happened to click on the living and saw the photo and said, oh boy. >> reporter: the waitress corroborated the story. >> he was sitting right here, she was sitting right there. >> reporter: his sister raced up the coast to the restaurant. >> i said, here's my brother's pick. did you see him? >> reporter: and? >> no that was truly heart breaking to me. >> reporter: it was all a big

mistake. but it wasn't the last of the sightings. people seem to see gavin smith everywhere. >> because he kind of stand out in the photo, big white smile, tan face, tall guy, pretty much every tall, tan, blond haired man was getting responsibilitied as being gavin smith. >> reporter: weeks, months passed. no sign of gavin. there was no answers. lisa was forced to reveal something publicly. something painful. and maybe crucial. . coming up, what had happened to gavin smith? >> it didn't make sense to me. >> we said, i think this is a suicide. then we go, i this i this is a murder. our gut instincts were going different ways. >> reporter: you wondered if she had something to do with this in. >> it crossed our minds all the time. somehow it kept playing back, why won't you search?

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gavin smith as just about anybody could see was his family's golden boy. his sister tara grew up in his aura, i'd olize him. he of all people should not just up and vanish. >> it didn't make sense to me.

and so i just kept, no, it can't be. it can't be. i just kept hoping. i did everything i could. >> reporter: but even as she ran down lead, herself, it seem to tara that lisa, her sister-in-law, gavin's wife, wasn't searching. so he disappeared and you couldn't give up on the possibly he's out there somewhere and lisa could. and i wondered whether there were ever dark nights in your soul, i wonder if she had something to do with this. >> it crossed our mind all the time, i mean, it just did, did i think she could ever be the one responsible the physical, no, but somehow it kept playing back, why won't you search? why? the only way somebody doesn't look for you is if you already know definitively.

>> reporter: yeah. >>. >> they're no longer living. >> reporter: and you must have had a reason for that in. >> that's what i assume. >> reporter: it turned out lisa did know something, just not what tara expected. there were secrets they had. >> he adored me, our family was exactly what he wanted to have. it just got lost. >> reporter: lost. it all started in the early ''80s even before she met gavin when he was a stunt man on the tv series "reming on the steel." he played a shooting victim, falling from a second story window. the stunt went wrong and he broke his back. >> he would take pain pims for his back. so usually percocet, something like that for pain. when that didn't work anymore, he was prescribed oxycontin. and he was addicted to it. >> reporter: he went to a drug rehab center called the matrix

institute here in the san fernando veal. >> he clearly stopped useing. he was feeling healthier than he felt in years. >> reporter: but when detective john o'gribrien and tyl a bay h about his addiction, they had a raft of answers. >> we would have moments int car where we looked at each other and said i think this is a sue sid and then an hour later, we'd interview somebody and something would happen and we'd go i think this was a murder and our feelings and our gut instincts were going different ways very early on very fast. >> reporter: that's got to be soar unusual. >> it was very confusing. >> reporter: confusing to lisa, too. because here was another secret. the smiths were under water on their mortgage on the verge of losing their home. >> we were in a horrible position financially. >> reporter: lisa discovered

before he disappeared, gavin had been taking mo infrom his retirement account and recklessly blowing through his six figure salary and there were other science of strain in the family. in april, 2012, a month before gavin disappeared, his son evan wrote this message on twitter. thoughts and prayers out to my amazing mom and brothers, please. my dad decided to leave the family last night. real family sticks together. sister tara spoke with gavin at the time. >> he was struggling with losing what he had come to know and love for so many years and that was tis family unit. and he didn't want to hurt those boys and that's what he kept saying. i don't want to be without them. >> reporter: but as much as he loved his boys, detectives learned, gavin had been unfaithful to his wife, had been

seeing a woman named melanie and now that gavin had disappeared without a trace -- >> we went to talk to her to see if she had any information in. >> reporter: did she? >> no, their relationship had ended. she did not talk to him. she had no idea where he was at. >> reporter: but, though melanie was the reason gavin moved out of his house the month before she vanished, she was not he is first afavorite. there had also been a woman named chandy, it was years in the past, but phone record show he called her may 1st a day before he disappeared. cops tracked her down, too. what did she tell you? >> sheing a only inned the prior affair and said she had not been in contact for some time and they had been talking via e-mail. >> reporter: she says she hasn't heard from him since. last sighting a colleague saw

him driving his black mercedes. >> we felt the vehicle was still out there somewhere. >> reporter: so find the car and maybe find out what happened to gavin. and nine months after gavin vanished, they finally got the break they were looking for. >> i said, i'm here to talk to you about your daughter and he started crying and he said, she saw everything. >> coming up. >> she was very nervous and startled. >> a new witness and a game changer of a clue. >> i kissed my partner on the cheek, it was pretty exciting. it was a big moment. >> you think you can't be shocked but you can be. >> when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: like it or not, it's a fact. an element of human nature remember some people have affairs. some of them just flings. others a lot more. around as detective tyla bay poked through gavin's life, one name kept popping up. chandy. her full name chandrika remember and she says they had ap affair years earlier and he called her but now nine month after he disappeared.

detectives got a tip. her father knew more. >> her dad started telling the tale something his daughter may have seen and he was distraught and wanted to talk about i. you know rayna. he says, yeah, i know the name. >> she lived with chandy and she said she knew something, something important. >> and he goes i think she knows where the car is. >> reporter: the elusive mercedes. detectives drove out to see reyna. >> we waited until she showed up. we kind of surprised her. >> reporter: it's what you guys do in. >> you know, sometimes it works better that way, yeah. she was nervous and startled. ultimately she provided us the paper for the storm locker. >> reporter: reyna's storm locker, it was a big one, ten feet by 20. we rolled the door up. the only thing nit was a black mercedes benz with no license plate on it. >> wow.

>> a huge moment. >> reporter: a black mercedes van had to be gavin smith. >> i kissed my partner on the cheek. that itself a true story. it was big piece of evidence. when we were able to get closer and saw our entire crime scene in our opinion was in that car. >> reporter: crime scene, yes, suddenly all other theories seemed to fall away. >> the passenger's seat was completely covered in blood and at one point it was very eerie where you looked at the blood and you can see a hand mark of gavin smith as he died in that seat. >> reporter: soon the news reached the pham lip. tara devastated. there is no going back from that? >> there is no going back. >> reporter: you accepted it? >> you know, you're forced. you know trauma happens to people all the time. you don't think it's going to happen to you. but it does. >> you know when you already expect the worst, you think that

you can't be shocked, but you can be is all ki say about that. >> reporter: but if gavin was dead and certainly it looked that way, where was his body? how did his car wiped up in the storm locker and above all, who would have wanted him dead? reyna lyn seemed an unlikely suspect. she tells them she rented the storm unit for someone else. meanwhile, they looked into the affair with gavin with chandy and discovered they met in rehab. less than two years before gavin disappeared, lisa found out about it. >> i was heart broken. >> reporter: so she took an extreme step to save her family. she and two of her sons then 14 and 20 went to the house to speak to them family to family. >> i was upset when we were driving there, so i stayed in the car and let my sons go in

the house. >> reporter: but they met her husband, his name was john. john creech. not pleasant. >> when they came out, they were both crying. >> reporter: they told their mom creech threatened to kill gavin if he doesn't stay. though 17 months later he disappears, lisa had a bad feeling. >> everything changed right then for me. >> reporter: detectives were suspicious, too, remember, chandy told them she didn't see gavin that night. but there was evidence to the contrary. cell phone record showed gavin's phone and chandies were in the same place that night. a little triopening lakes narrowed down just where in. >> we came down this street and this was the likely spot. >> reporter: a likely spot for a tryst, that is?

. so it seemed on the night he disappeared he met chandrik chandrika creech for sex for cost or to talk. something. quite a lot to learn from those phone record. but there was more. a third phone. john creech's phone in the same spot on the same night and this was eerie. creech's phone seemed to be moving in sync with gavin's. >> gavin myth and john creech were running parallel. >> reporter: what was that like? >> it was an eye opening moment. >> reporter: but when they interviewed john creech. >> he denied ev knowing meeting him. he said he knew who he was. he knew they were having an affair in the past. despite suspicion there was nothing they could do. >> one thing we didn't have was

gavin smith. >> reporter: that is, they had no body, no what i to prove who killed gavin or that there was a murder at all. >> that is until a dog named buddy went for a walk. >> a real life doggy detective who makes a deadly discovery on a desertd trail. coming up -- >> i'm already stopped, it's like, wow, what is it? that looks pretty australian him. >> and a young woman finally finds herself in the middle of this mystery. >> i discovered he had scrapes on his hand and on his arms. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ [ telephone ringing ] -whoa. [ indistinct talking ] -deductible? -definitely speaking insurance. -additional interest on umbrella policy? -can you translate? -damage minimization of civil commotion. -when insurance needs translating,

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an american pastor was on his way home when the turkish court ordered the release yesterday and ordered him to leave the countries immediately. that's what's happening. now back to "dateline." [ music playing ] . >> welcome back to "dateline." it had been over two years since gavin smith a charismatic executive and family man had vanished. detectives had a major break in the case when they discovered gavin's missing mercedes and his bloody hand printen the passenger's seat. there was also a person of interest, the jealous husband of the woman gavin was having an affair with. but there was still no bodies in the an inquisitive dog buddy bounded onto the scene. here's keith morrison with "dark valley." >> reporter: rocky ramma liked to drive his truck up to the

outskirts of the angeles national forest, a place where people tend to toss things like ol tvs, maybe some furniture. rocky liked to poke around up here. always with his dog buddy by his side. in october, 2014, they were just five minutes into their hike when something curious happened. >> we were walking up this little area right here and he runs to a bush and i go, buddy, stop. and he's just looking at the bush. he won't leave it or anything. so we go up there and we're looking and it's like, wow that looks pretty strange. >> reporter: buddy made a discovery a human skull. >> i was totally amazed. i was without words, you know, i didn't know what to think. >> reporter: when police arrived, they found a shallow grave nearby.

>> that's when we found him. >> reporter: him. the coroner soon confirmed it, after two.5 years, here was the body of gavin smith. >> the clothing was still intact and he had been wrapped in his own blanket he had in the truck of his car. >> reporter: the coroner also found the cause of death and it was grim. blunt craneio facial trauma, that is, multiple blows to his face. he was beaten to death. >> it was repeated hitting in order to do that much damage, very violent. >> reporter: there were also fractures to the right forearm, possibly defensive wounds. gavin had tried to fight, but clearly, he was no match for his killer. whoever did this was strong, very strong. >> powerhouse gym was very gossipy so if you told the wrong person something your secret would be all over the gym r. lauren just 18 years old back

then asked us not to use her last name. not after she found herself in the middle of a homicide investigation. when police came across her doing under surveillance on john creech. lauren used to work at the pro shop of the power house gym in schatzworth, california. that's where she first met creech. >> he was beautiful. he was tall and he was muscular and a lot of women especially wanted to date him. a lot of men wanted to be him. >> reporter: lauren fell for him. he told her he was separated from his wife chandy, but that didn't stop chandy from calling lauren. >> she texted and called me and was very belligerent and rude. >> reporter: angry, programs, that her husband, then 39 was dating a high school girl. in fact, sheer coincidence, lauren went to high school with gavin smith's son. though she knew when he disappeared in may, 2012, but

made no connection between that and something she noticed about her boyfriend, john creech. >> i discovered he had scrapes on his hands and on his arms. >> she didn't think he had a eng to do with the disappearance. >> reporter: but when detective o'brian heard about creech's skrarngs she thought about gavin smith's wuvenltdz he needed to talk to him again. he found him in jamie serving eight years on a cocaine charge, his second conviction for dealing drugs. not exactly an upstanding citizen. could they prove he murdered gavin smith. >> he went to him. didn't ask him questions, put a picture down in front of him with the shol shallow grave. >> reporter: how'd he react to that in. >> very wide eyed 57d the first call to his attorney. >> reporter: the record of calls detectives found in creech's cell phone from the night gavin

vanished. john creech was on the phone a lot. >> he was calling multiple people, very intensely. >> reporter: so like three or four or five calls to the same person over and of? >> exactly. >> reporter: some of the calls were to creech's buddies at the power house gym. >> we did a multi-location search warrant. we hit everybody we believed might have helped on that evening. we hit all those houses all at once. >> reporter: one by one those buddys turned. they toomd detectives how a frantic creech showed up and persuaded one friend to get rid of gavin's cell phone. another friend to hide gavin's car and body in his kranl and yet another told detectives she saw chandy and john creech burning their own clothes in the fireplace after havegavin was killed. >> this was a straight case. >> reporter: prosecutor bobby graves. >> you don't normally find a body two years later afte

aftersomebody is killed. you don't have key witnesses until years later. >> reporter: in january, 2015, nearly three years of gavin smith disappeared, creech was charged with first degree murder. he had pleaded not guilty. and chandy, well -- >> we didn't know if she set it o up or she had something to do with it. >> coming up, an under cover sting and chapdy is the target. >> and i was like, stop it. >> then a stunning moment in the courtroom. >> i wanted to get away, i was skampltd i was afraid of what i would see. >> when "dateline" continues. 'sy is the only complete multivitamin with antioxidants from one total serving of fruits and veggies. new from one a day.

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detective john o'brien and tyla bay had a problem. an important witness that wouldn't talk. candry ka creech clammed up. they found an associate of creech's, someone that knew chandy and convinced him to wear a wire and meet with her. it worked. >> reporter: once chandy felt safe, she spilled it. all of it. how she and gavin met in secret at that secluded cul-de-sac. but close in gavin's car. >> all of a sudden the door opposite and john just goes and i was like, i pushed myself out

this way, got out the driver's side. >> reporter: creech burst in like a machine said chandy, started slugging, wouldn't quit. >> i was like, stop it, you're going to kill him. i was like screaming my head off. he comes out of the car and he goes, you're next and then i drove off. >> reporter: she was terrified, he said, afraid he'd kill her, too, or tell the cops she set the whole thing up. so, did she? again and again the detectives listened to the under cover tape. >> i believe 100% she did not know that was going to happen and she did not set it round but they wondered, did she help cover it up? it's a serious business covering for a crime that awful. but chandy had a card to play. she agreed to testify. >> members and alt mat members of the jiri -- >> reporter: and in june, 2017, john creech went on trial.

on the face of it, it looked like a solid case the phone evidence, the cover up the truly appalling crime scene in gavin's car. but did it add up to first degree murder? gavin smith had been dead five years. >> he was killed in his mercedes benz in an act of almost stunning brutality by the defendant john creech who is sitting here in the courtroom. this game became gavin smith's tomb. >> reporter: what happened wasn't merely an outburst of rage, said the prosecutor, no, creech had been plotting for two years, ever since he found out about chandy and gavin. ever since that day in december, 2010, when at their mother's request, gavin's sons met with john creech at his house. >> we just wanted to make sure my dad was not in harm's way. >> were you sobbing and crying? >> yes. >> and what were you saying to

the defendant? >> i was begging him not to harm my family. >> reporter: but, they testified, creech told them they did the right thing. >> he ended up saying we saved his life by coming that day. >> reporter: but there were rules. that's what chandrika now divorced from john creech said when she finally took the witness stand. >> as long as their father stayed away from me and had no communication whatsoever, their father would be fine. >> did he say what would happen if he didn't in. >> that he would kill them. >> the affair ended but chandy said the threat remained. >> he's not wanting to see them ever. >> reporter: still attraction is a powerful thing, isn't it? early in 2012, john and chandy were separated but still living together and gavin and lisa were separated, too. and that old magnetic force. gavin met chandy on that seclude

road. >> did the two of you become romantic in. >> yes. >> did that include kissing in. >> yes. >> and while you were kissing gavin, did something happen that caught your attention? >> yeah. >> what happened? >> just something popped up, like appeared. >> was that something the defendant john creech in. >> yes. yes. >> reporter: gavin didn't have a chance, she said. >> he repeatedly punched him in the face. >> reporter: so then she ran back to her car terrified. >> i wanted to get away. i was scared. >> reporter: but before she drove away, she looked back. >>ion had gavin pinned down. >> reporter: later, she said, creech wanted her to drive him back to the crime scene, to take gavin to the crime scene. a block-and-a-half away, she

refused to go further. refuse and dropped him off. >> why didn't you take him all the way in. >> i was afraid of what i was going to see. >> reporter: gavin wasn't going to the hospital. he was setting up recruits for his cover up. >> first he called was jorge. >> reporter: did you ask any of these people what were you thinking in. >> they all ultimately said they were trying to help johnny. >> because he's such a nice man? >> because he was a nice guy. >> reporter: nice, when he showed up at jorge's, he was driving the black mercedes and jorge saw something in the passenger's seat. >> he had a body, he was stiff, like a long stick. >> reporter: he said it was wrapped up? >> wrapped up in a blanket. >> reporter: eventually jorge got rid of gavin's cell phone. >> that very night said a

prosecutor, creech called a friend from the power house gym. >> he asked if he can come over and put the car in my garage. >> is the body in the car tant in. >> yes. >> he allows it to be at his house for five-to-six days. >> reporter: really in smr yes. >> that's when he turned to reyna lin, she lived with him and creech got her to rent a van. >> then he uses a van to drive up to the opening less national forest and he find a secluded area to bury gavin smith's body. >> reporter: where buddy the dog find it. but the mercedez benz was still in the garage. >> did that upset you? >> very much so. >> reporter: so two weeks later two men arrived with a trailer. >> did you watch them take the mercedez out of your garage? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: that, said

prosecutor, is when they moved it into reyna's storage locker, one month later the detective noticed one detail that saved the cover up. >> i was looking at the license plate, i see it's not there. it should be there. >> that kind of thing? >> i see there is one screw missing and one crew screwed back if halfway and that screw came back positive dna to john creech. >> reporter: bingo, the unasalable link to pull together e together all of that evidence, phone records, chandy's testimony the friend the dna and it all condemned john creech. but a surprise was coming. for everyone. >> raise your right hand. coming up. >> i was scared for my life. >> reporter: a dramatic tame from the stand. >> he pulled me in by my sweater. put his hand up on my throat, choking me on my throat.

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this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. welcome back. the case against john creech was building. there was evidence tying him to the bloody scene of the crime. the prosecution argued he has

been plotting the killing for years to seek revenge on gafvin smith for having an affair with his wife. >> reporter: how to defend a man like john creech? well, said defense attorney irene nunez, it was all very simple. creech never intended to kill gavin smith. this was was a case of self-defense. >> he had to defend himself against this intruder, an intruder into his marriage. >> reporter: and, she said, only one person could tell that story. >> who is the first witness that you want to call on behalf of the defense? >> my client john creech. >> reporter: his attorney began by asking him about that meeting with gavin's sons. >> at any point did you tell them that you were going to kill their father? >> no, that's absurd. >> reporter: and two years later, when it all happened, he and chandy were separated, he said. though they still lived in the same house, and he still worried about her, thought she might be

drinking and driving. so he installed an app on his phone, he said, that allowed him to track her phone and followed her only because he was worried, he said. and then he saw her car parked near gavin's and thought it best to talk to them, but he didn't sneak up on them, he said. >> so i knock on the hood of the car. >> was chandy sitting on the lap of this guy? >> she was sitting on his lap. they just kept talking, so i walked over to the passenger side door, and i knocked on the window. >> what did they do? >> chandy opened the door. >> and what did she say to you? >> what the [ bleep ] are you doing here? >> reporter: he started to argue with chandy, he said, and then gavin joined in. >> i walked around the door, and i'm leaning down to tell him to mind his own business. as i'm leaning down to tell him that is when he leaned up and punched me. he punched me. pulled me in by my sweater. put his hand up on my throat. he's choking me in my throat. >> reporter: it was gavin who threw that first punch, he said. so, of course, he fought back. >> do you recall how many times you hit him? >> four, five.

>> and when you were doing that, what were you thinking? >> i'm just thinking how in the [ bleep ] that i get in this situation. you know, i was scared for my life. >> reporter: and then gavin then got out of the mercedes, said creech. and there was something in his hand. >> it was like a ten to twelve-inch stainless steel thing that at the time i thought was a knife. we fell in the ground, and we went at it for about ten or fifteen seconds exchanging punches. >> at some point did you get that weapon? >> i kept punching him until he let go of it. >> okay. and what'd you do with the weapon? >> i threw it over the back wall of my property. >> reporter: such a weapon was never recovered, by the way. but creech insisted there was one, a multi-purpose tool of some kind, and it was gavin who provoked the fight. >> i was defending my life. i didn't go there looking for a fight. i was just defending mine. >> i think he lied about everything that he said. >> reporter: on cross-examination, the prosecutor went straight for that so-called multipurpose tool. >> so tell us why in the world would you get rid of this weapon that gavin smith had used to attack you with?

why would you get rid of it? >> well, i didn't get rid of it. i threw it behind my house where i knew it would be all right. >> why would you do that, sir? why wouldn't you just leave it where it was? >> well, i can play armchair quarterback all day about things, but at the time it seemed like the right decision. >> reporter: creech admitted he made some wrong decisions too. like asking friends to help him dispose of gavin's phone and car and body. >> i take full accountability for everything after fact. if i could change it, i would. >> sir, actually you never took full accountability because you never came forward to the police, did you? >> not on advice of counsel, no, and i still take accountability for that. >> reporter: lisa smith was in the courtroom to hear creech's testimony. she knew that the soft-spoken man on the stand was a known criminal, a convicted drug dealer. >> my skin was just crawling. it was really hard. it was really hard. he's a cruel man. >> reporter: jury deliberations

stretched across two days. then, the verdict. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant john creech not guilty of the crime of first degree murder of gavin smith. >> reporter: not guilty of first degree murder! but the jury wasn't done. >> guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter. >> reporter: the verdict, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. in other words, they believed john creech killed gavin smith in a moment of blind passion. >> i was devastated by the verdict. i am still devastated by the verdict because he did absolutely plan on murdering my husband and thought about it for years and did it. >> reporter: what about creech's friends jorge and stan, who helped creech cover up the killing? >> they both had significant criminal liability. >> so why weren't they charged? >> because we needed them to be able to tell the story about how this man was killed and what happened to him. >> reporter: so they both got immunity.

same thing with chandrika, who helped burn bloody clothing and never called the police. >> it seems to me that everybody got deals and everybody got off. and that gavin was a victim long after he was murdered, and so were we. >> reporter: john creech is sentenced to the maximum for manslaughter, 11 years in prison. >> the dea in detroit, michigan, indicted mr. creech on federal drug trafficking charges. if convicted, his exposure is anywhere from 5 to 40 years in prison. >> reporter: creech told us he plans to plead not guilty to the new charges. and lisa smith has done her best to restart life. she and the boys are in hawaii now, far from the wreckage of that california life that never was quite as perfect as it looked. >> it's painful to remain there,

so it's starting fresh. feels like sanctuary. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. ashleah was a wild and funny texan who everybody seemed to love. >> caring, funny, compassionate. >> she felt like she was going to die young. >> the call came on black friday. >> she said ashlea's apartment's on fire. >> and this fire was no accident. >> they conducted