have a good weekend and good night from our nbc news but fred still didn't know the headquarters here in new york. cops even suspected him, didn't have any idea, for example, that they were tapping his phone. so when fred actually began calling the cops to play mr. cooperative, they recorded every word. >> hello, officer. this is fred schockner. >> hey, mr. schockner, how are you doing? >> there has never been anything as bad as this in my life. >> oh, right, right. >> and i hope there never will be. >> i don't blame you. >> but you asked me a couple of questions and let me give you some information. >> okay. >> the check that i wrote to frank was cashed on october 29th. >> that was 5,000. that was for the bmw. >> that was for the bmw. >> reporter: and look at this. on the check there's a note that indicates the bmw would be delivered between 11/7 and 8. lynn was murdered on the 8th of november.

>> i called them today and asked about the status of the car on the voice mail. >> you didn't happen to ask him if he was back in the country, did you? >> no, i just left him a voice mail. >> reporter: does it sound like fred is having fun toying with the cops? >> any other questions you have for us at this time? >> happy fishing. why is it going so long? that's a good question. because the fishing isn't answering, right? >> well, like i said, i told you from the beginning, it's a pretty simple case. >> hold on a second, the other line's ringing. >> reporter: in the middle of the conversation, fred got another call, from frank jaramillo. fred puts him on hold, continues to speak with the detective. even offering a theory about the killer. nick harvey. >> you know the kid from port hueneme may have been someone that was associated with the lock change, it may have been someone that was associated with

someone she met and tried to help. >> exactly. >> reporter: fred hung up with the detective and picked up his cell phone to talk to jaramillo. that call was also recorded. >> hello. did you hear a lot of that? >> kind of. >> okay. good. >> i don't need to talk about it. >> okay. >> how are you doing, bud? >> it has been a rotten, rotten time. all the -- so much sympathy and so much activity surrounding it. it's unbelievable. >> reporter: so just as the cops had been hoping, fred and frank talked, but not a word from either one to establish they were involved in a murder. >> we had like 60-plus phone conversations between them. >> reporter: you're tapping them all. >> we're tapping them all. >> reporter: but they just didn't slip up. so it was time, the detectives decided, to launch the undercover squad led by kris

nelson. >> i was armed with information now. nick harvey's told the homicide guys what's up. they've told me. so now if you're frank and fred, frick and frack. >> reporter: yeah. >> your biggest concern is that nick's caught. >> reporter: yeah. of course. you want to make sure he's not going to say anything. >> what does he have to trade. >> reporter: first detective nelson decided he'd phone fred schockner himself and pretend to be the hired killer, nick harvey. how did you go about doing this? >> i went to county jail and i used one of their inmate phones because i wanted the prerecording that says, you're receiving a call from a california penal institution, blah, blah, blah. and he hung up on me i think the first time. there was a pause there where they ask you if you're willing to accept. and he said no, click. then i waited about five minutes and i call him again. >> reporter: and this time fred took the call. >> i said i'm the guy that did the work at your house for you and i'm going to need my other

half. i'm going to need my money, you know, for an attorney. he says, you already have it. i said no. and he said, well, you need to talk to your guy. >> reporter: your guy. he could only mean frank jaramillo. but he didn't say the words. didn't say anything incriminating. and so, he tried something different. much riskier. time to get uncle john involved. coming up -- detectives set a trap. >> i'm the one that can keep nick quiet. you're going to give me money. >> reporter: but then came that november morning when tracy >> but will frank walk into it? manzer roared over there in her car. >> i really don't have money to help him out. >> i had no idea what i was going to -- what i was going to find. but i knew based on how i was told about it, that it was going emerge restored, to be something, you know, very replenished, fortified. bad. emerge everyday with emergen-c. >> reporter: oh, and it was. packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, >> i was barely out of my car

plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. before i saw the homicide why not feel this good every day? lieutenant, the homicide emerge and see. sergeant, two commanders and, obviously, a bank of black and whites. so my first thought was there was an officer-involved shooting. either an officer had been shot and killed, or an officer had shot someone. >> reporter: but no, not that. no. what really happened was far stranger than that. >> long beach police department. >> yes, i'd like to report -- i believe we have an attempted break-in going on at the moment. >> reporter: it was a neighbor who saw it, like the start of some dreadful shock movie, rolling out in slow motion. it was 11:03 a.m. >> it's taking place at my neighbors', which is the house just to the west of me. >> okay. one just west to you. >> yes. it's the schockner residence. >> reporter: the schockners. the caller's next-door neighbors.

several cops responded, were there in minutes. and as they talked to the 911 caller, they heard and saw a little white dog barking incessantly from a window at the schockners' house. it was a little american eskimo or something that's called. >> yeah, not a very large dog. yap, yap, yappie dog. >> reporter: a petite-framed woman came to the window to see what her dog was barking at. an officer gestured to her, come outside. clearly bewildered, she finally opened the door. >> so he is telling her that they got a call from a neighbor that they saw a prowler. and would it be okay if they looked in her backyard and looked around the house. she had said that was fine. >> reporter: but hold on, the woman said to the police, let me grab the key. the gate is locked. >> so she closes the front door, walks through the house and walks out the back door. >> reporter: three cops waited outside the front door. two more cops pulled in right here in the alley behind the house. and then, to their great surprise, the prowler jumped over the backyard wall practically into their arms.

they searched him. they found jewelry in his pocket and a taser and a cell phone and a knife with blood on it. the cops out front waited for the woman to return. she didn't. ten seconds. 20 seconds. did a minute go by? they decided, time to go in. they opened the door, looked through the house. and what they saw was not just terrible, but a riddle, a deception, a piece of pure evil. what could have happened in that house while it was surrounded by police officers? >> i didn't believe it. i thought it was a joke. >> until your father arrived with tears in his eyes. >> that is when i knew something was wrong. -their béarnaise sauce here is the best in town. after days of repeated calls

and interviews with fred schockner, detectives had elicited some tantalizing [ soft piano music playing ] details, but not enough evidence mm, uh, what do you do for fun? to arrest him for lynn's murder. -not this. so they decided to focus on suspected middleman, frank ♪ -oh, what am i into? jaramillo, el cubano. mostly progressive's name your price tool. undercover cop kris nelson had a helps people find coverage options based on their budget. plan to set a trap to make frank believe he was about to be flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, fingered by the hit man, nick and she's right there. harvey. -yeah, she's my ride. this date's lame. so he'd phone frank, and portray he has pics of you on his phone. himself as -- -they're very tasteful. >> a relative of nick's with a past of my own, not particularly he has pics of you on his phone. ...work in harmony.ody... like you, they get hungry. feed them... ...with new centrum® multigummies® liking cops, you know, i'm the specially crafted for men and women 50 and over. one that can keep nick quiet. so you're ready for anything. and what are you going to give me in exchange for that? centrum®. feed your cells today. you're going to give me money. >> reporter: afraid frank would recognize the trap and hang up on him, detective nelson elected to make up a very unthreatening persona. >> so i thought, well, i'll be uncle john. you know, that his mother sent down from the bay area to see

what's really going on and what's harvey got himself into. >> reporter: so uncle john places a call to el cubano. >> hey, uh, frank? >> yes. >> frank, hey. hey, my name's john. >> reporter: now to set the trap. he'd say nick needs money for a lawyer. >> he seems to think you or fred will help him out. he didn't want a [ bleep ] public defender. >> okay. >> reporter: frank tells uncle john he knows nick, but -- >> he's more of an acquaintance. i don't, you know, i really don't have money to help him out. >> reporter: at first frank doesn't seem to take the bait. >> yeah, if i can help him in any way i -- understand, i would but i'm sorry, i apologize, i can't. >> reporter: but then, carefully, uncle john reels him in. >> well, he seemed to think that if somebody didn't reach out to him -- he told me not so much you, but he told me to have you tell fred that if he didn't get

some help pretty soon, he was going to go to the cops. >> okay. give me a call tomorrow and i'll see what i can do to help you, partner. >> reporter: but after all that, frank did not make the all important and incriminating call to fred schockner asking for money. and so the very next day uncle john tried again. >> hey, did you get a hold of fred? >> no, but between you and i, i don't mind taking care of him, bud. >> reporter: frank asked for time and agreed to meet uncle john in person to hand over some money. >> do you know where the thousand oaks mall's at? >> thousand oaks mall. >> it's off of lynn road. >> lynn? >> yes, off the 101. >> reporter: lynn road, the irony was apparently lost on frank jaramillo. it was mid-morning, late november. detective nelson was worried. would he show up? >> you sit in the parking lot by it was a mild day that yourself and you kind of go particular november 8th. over -- and sure, your heart races a little bit. california weather.

i mean, it's crunch time and you feel like everybody's kind of depending on you to get this not quite noon. done. you want it to go well. and as usual, it was quiet in >> reporter: so the idea is you're reeling them in like a fisherman? >> yep. >> reporter: but there are times when you don't know what's going to happen? bixby knolls here in long beach. >> right. you know? could have a fray in the line. have it break. had that happen a few times. quiet. >> reporter: but not this time. there was frank in a brand new lexus suv. and in that quiet more menacing >> frank? than anybody understood. >> yeah, that's me. as police, responding to a call about a prowler, waited outside >> that's not an i.s. the front door, neither they nor >> reporter: an i.s., referring the half-awake homeowner sensed the jeopardy as she closed the to the less expensive car he door in their faces and went in search of a key for the gate to said he'd be driving. the yard. seconds ticked by. the dog barked. >> oh, yeah. the woman didn't return. my wife took the other car this so the cops, still not getting morning. >> that's sweet. it, went in. now i know what you spent your too late. money on. >> she was attacked and she was >> reporter: money from fred schockner, is what the cop meant. killed right then and there while the officer was on her frank did not take that bait. >> i gotta get going. front porch. >> reporter: just extraordinary. >> yes. >> reporter: the victim's name >> reporter: hard to tell from was lynn schockner. the video, but frank coughs up the money. >> i got a grand for you right she was 50 years old. now because they're still monitoring my accounts. when they found her lying quite >> who is? dead just outside her own back

door, they could clearly see the >> [ bleep ] detectives. bright red gash across her >> are they looking at you? throat. >> yeah. >> reporter: detective birdsall how was it possible? was inside a van listening to the whole thing go down. the policemen were just outside >> and when you finally get something like that, that's her front door and more cops gold. were in alert mode out in the that was the nail in his coffin. >> reporter: so the instant he offered that $1,000, you knew, i alley, but the only apparent witness to the silent murder of got him. lynn schockner was lynn's little >> yep. we got him. dog, zoe. he locked himself into it. horrified officers found her >> reporter: and a couple of days later, detective birdsall lying by lynn's side, her white and his partner paid frank a coat spattered red. back at police headquarters, long beach cops, like undercover visit to snap their trap shut. man kris nelson, heard the chatter. >> they basically brace him >> we were sitting in the office. and we used to have a police radio on in the office listening with, you know, who is this guy to what's going on in the john? street. and you know, it's our >> reporter: this was bad. understanding you gave him some money. >> we were right down the hall and he's like, i don't know what from homicide. you're talking about. and you know, knew right away >> reporter: i've never met any that this turned into a guy named john. call-out, you know, where >> yeah, you know, i come into somebody got killed. the room a few minutes later >> reporter: now, crisis mode. and -- >> reporter: whoops. >> yeah. detective richard birdsall took it was like the oh look of the century like. the call. get down there, fast. >> reporter: then he realized your first thought at that time. you're a cop. >> yeah. do you remember what it was? he just hung his head and he just looked sick. >> it's just -- it's a burglary gone awry. i think the whole world came crashing down at that point. >> reporter: did you have at the same sense, how the hell could >> you could see the look in his we screw up like that? eyes, like, the deer in the

headlights. >> like anybody else, you're and then he just started giving trying to discern why she did it all up. coming up -- what she did and what did the at home with fred schockner officers say. what was the conversation? >> reporter: oh, yes, there were lots of questions. this would be ugly. why did she go back in the behind closed doors. house? why did the cops let her? why didn't they move in faster? how could they let the murder >> you thought all families were happen right under their noses? like that? >> that was really disturbing, >> yeah. that's what families did. and, you know, you hate to second judge another cop, but there were mistakes made. >> reporter: after all, a neighbor reported a prowler in the back alley. patients want something that works faster for them. a prowler who may have sneaked into her house. but she, the victim, didn't seem why would somebody want to suffer if there is options to believe that. that they don't need to. i think dentists will want to recommend >> she had a little -- little sensodyne rapid relief eskimo dog that barked at butterflies. because it's clinically proven to work in 3 days. and there's nobody in the which means for patients that they get relief very fast. backyard. this dog would have alerted me to anybody. but -- >> reporter: she was wrong. >> she was wrong. >> reporter: lynn's son charlie was a freshman in high school then. he was sitting in math class. somebody told him he was wanted in the principal's office. on the way there he thought

and then when they told him -- >> i didn't believe it. i thought it was a joke. >> reporter: until your father arrived with tears in his eyes. >> that was when i knew something was wrong. >> reporter: his father manfred, or fred as most people call him, came to take charlie home. how was your father? come on yeah, yeah! >> upset. when accidents happen, i mean, he was definitely -- he resolve them. was crying. resolve urine destroyer removes urine stains he couldn't drive. you know, i didn't really have and neutralizes odors on contact. eyes for him in that moment, resolve. stains are temporary. with the -- love is forever. >> reporter: you're just a mess. >> yeah. >> reporter: and charlie still could not believe what he was hearing. >> it really didn't set in really until i actually saw the house and then it really just all came crashing down. >> reporter: his home was a crime scene. >> the house was taped off, and there's people going in and out of the house. a lot of neighbors around. like everything you see on tv. >> reporter: you never think it's going to be you. >> oh, no, no, no, no. it's surreal. very much so.

>> reporter: what does that loss feel like? >> yeah. i can't put it into words. it was tremendous. it was awful. i immediately call mark, and i'm babbling on the phone. like i can't even speak. >> reporter: mark jicha is charlie's uncle, lynn's brother. >> after the initial shock, there's disbelief. i didn't burst into tears right away. i didn't start screaming. i was just stunned. >> reporter: lynn grew up in ohio. she was the baby of the family, the only girl. here she is with her two older brothers, jon and mark. but lynn was not like them. >> she was a tentative girl, whereas my brother and i were very outgoing. >> reporter: their father died young. lynn often fought with her mother. >> co-dependent. love/hate. call it what you want. >> reporter: she got married,

moved to california with a brand new husband. it didn't work out. ended pretty quickly. but then one day she went to a ball game, dodgers versus somebody, who knows? and she found him. the right guy. her guy. fred schockner. he was almost 14 years older than she was but didn't seem to matter. didn't hurt either that fred was a very successful man. anyway, this time it clicked. they had an intimate wedding on a boat off the california coast. the captain did the honors, and they lived alone together in that house in bixby knolls until finally, after 11 years, they had a son who grew up to be charlie. as parents, they encouraged him to try new things. >> it was one of the olympics. and we were watching gymnastics, and i turned around to my parents and go, i'm going to do that. and i think like a month later i enrolled in gymnastics. so it was very much a supportive environment.

>> reporter: and lynn doted on her only son. it might be trite to say this, but she loved him more than life itself. he was the center of her nearly a month after lynn universe. >> reporter: so after what schockner was cut down at her happened, mark flew out to california right away to comfort charlie and fred, and to make own back door her killer was behind bars, but her husband funeral arrangements for his fred was still a free man and only sister lynn. back in the family home with charlie. and at the very same time, as if in another world altogether, a world devoted to the minutia of the press was in the dark. violent crime, detective richard long beach was in the dark. birdsall poked around the entrails of this burglary gone no one seriously believed what the police now firmly believed bad. that fred schockner ordered and paid for his own wife's murder. he could perhaps write up a as charlie's uncle mark said -- report, be done with it, make >> never in my wildest dreams, even after she was killed, the growing bad press go away. because the circumstances, but no, richard birdsall was a nothing pointed at fred. troubled man. and the police did not point at >> we said, we know something's wrong. fred. my partner and i just feel something's wrong. but we don't know yet. >> reporter: wrong? >> reporter: but, said detective well, of course it was. richard birdsall, they had their but the wrong the detective had in mind was not the grief or the reasons. loss or the vitriol thrown at >> we used them, in a lot of

the police. respects. you feel guilty because they're no, it was almost like a smell. the kind that sticks in your beating their chests and they're nose. upset. something off. and they had no idea that the father of charlie is the one that set the whole thing up. >> reporter: well, remember, coming up -- maybe some idea. one of the strangest things of >> yeah, i always had my all was the alleged killer suspicions. himself. >> reporter: in spite of the fact that it was a burglar and not your typical burglar. the police said it was a burglar. >> in his words, he always >> uh-huh. >> reporter: you still suspected wanted to be a cop. your father? >> and this wasn't your typical burglary. >> i didn't want to put it past him, as much as like, as a kid you don't want to suspect >> i worked burglary division someone of that. for four years but i've never had one come with a device it just seemed false. that's used simply for killing. like there were just little ticks of stuff that just seemed wrong. ♪ >> reporter: it started the day you want a fresh-smelling home, but some air fresheners use heavy, overwhelming scents. his mother was murdered when he and his dad surveyed the house introducing febreze one; ransacked during the burglary. >> he had me go back and clean a new range of innovative air fresheners up all the jewelry that had been with no heavy perfumes that you can feel good about using in your home overturned and spilled out. to deliver a light, natural-smelling freshness. >> reporter: what does that do to your mind? febreze one neutralizes stale, stuffy odors >> it made me very numb, very numb. and releases a subtle hint of fragrance it was a task. and i did it, and then i went to like bamboo or lemongrass ginger. bed. >> reporter: and your dad went to eliminate odors with no heavy perfumes, try new febreze one. to bed in the house with you. brand power. helping you buy better.

>> uh-huh. >> reporter: charlie understood his father intimately, of course, and he alone knew the secret, understood his father in a way that had been hidden from the outside world for years. charlie may have looked like any other happy suburban kid, but at children's claritin feallergy relief.of non-drowsy home, he said, he understood normal life to be the constant the #1 pediatrician recommended non-drowsy brand. expectation of moments of because to a kid a grassy hill is irresistible. terror. frequent, unpredictable rages. children's claritin. feel the clarity and abuse. live claritin clear. a mother desperately trying to protect him. and so he would want to beat you with a belt, and she would try to prevent it, and that would produce an argument between them? >> and then he would beat her. >> reporter: how often? >> often enough that as a child i knew what was going on. but then, that was normal, so i didn't know it was wrong. >> reporter: you thought all families were like that? >> until i had friends really

come over, and they noticed stuff, and it was weird for them to notice things and to comment on it. but yeah, it was always just that's what families did. >> reporter: year after year it went on, said charlie, until his mother came to whisper her own secret. she was finally going to leave fred. >> my mom was tucking me in at night when i was 12 or so, and she was talking about how she was thinking about doing this and that she was so nervous about doing it and didn't know if it was the right choice or what to do about it. >> reporter: what'd you think? >> my first thought was very excited because it was just great to be able to think of getting away from him. >> reporter: and then, finally, more than a year later lynn hired family law attorney lisa brandon. what did she tell you she wanted from you? >> she wanted a fair division of the property. >> reporter: but, said lisa, fred controlled all the finances.

so she didn't know how much money they had as a family? >> no, no idea. >> reporter: how much money did they have, this family? >> well, including the equity in the home, probably $6 million to $7 million. >> reporter: which in a legal separation by california law would be split down the middle. but lisa said lynn told her fred would never part with any of that money. lynn also told her about fred's physical abuse. and so with a pending separation lisa worried about lynn and charlie's safety. >> i wanted her to move out of the home with charlie. she wouldn't do it. she wouldn't leave her home. she wouldn't disrupt charlie. he was just starting high school. they'd lived in the neighborhood forever. so she was a sitting target. >> reporter: did she understand that it was dangerous for her? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: and yet, she went ahead and did it anyway? >> that's how important getting out of that relationship was to her. she was willing to risk her life, and she told me that. >> reporter: lisa told lynn she should at least get a restraining order against fred.

>> it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. >> reporter: that's what she told you? young charlie was a lucky >> uh-huh. if he's going to kill me, he'll kid to grow up in a place like kill me. bixby knolls. restraining orders won't stop >> tree-lined streets, beautiful him. neighborhood. it's a wonderful place to grow up. >> reporter: too late now, of would ride my skateboard all around the block, take my dog course. with me. >> reporter: he was lucky, too, to have lynn for a mother. but what about charlie? the detectives, worried about his safety, called lynn's how did she make you feel? brother mark. he'd gone back across the >> i guess how a parent should. country to georgia. and urged him to invite charlie >> reporter: safe. for an extended visit with him >> safe, happy, welcome, loving. just good. and his wife susan even though they did not tell mark about their suspicion. >> reporter: but now lynn >> i was surprised. shockner was gone. i am still to this day. killed in a burglary. that fred allowed that to and charlie, just 14 and grief stricken, was so angry at the happen, but he did. police. >> reporter: perhaps fred had >> well, you didn't do your job. how could -- how could that happen with you being right more pressing things to think there? that's just negligence. about. whatever his reason he put >> reporter: charlie was far from the only one. this was a broad daylight charlie on a plane to georgia murder. police officers just outside the just in time for the main event front door when it happened. in the murder investigation. i can imagine that people would

be kind of upset in the frank jaramillo, under arrest as neighborhood. the alleged middleman, was a burglar had been there. robbed a house and killed a woman and the cops couldn't spilling it all, telling police prevent it. he took money from lynn's husband. a lot of it. >> right. and used a little of it to hire the killer, nick harvey. and then, with a little polite i think the majority of the arm twisting, frank agreed to set a trap for the suspected mastermind, fred schockner. wait a minute. neighborhood was just stunned did you promise him something in exchange? and shocked by the violence. >> didn't promise him anything, no. you know, how does somebody >> reporter: so why would he do it? who's in her own home die within a matter of seconds with officers all around her home? >> i think, in his mind, because we got him on everything else, >> reporter: tracy's paper, "the long beach press telegram," was he was trying to dig himself out reporting on the community of a hole. backlash. there was fear and, of course, anger. >> reporter: or maybe frank didn't understand how deep the hole was. cops often tend to pull together as undercover cop kris nelson in the face of a thing like that, but in private? prepared frank for his big harsh judgments, said the meeting with fred, el cubano got undercover cop, kris nelson. a call from his wife. >> i'm sorry. you just don't let her go back >> he said, hey, i'm down here into a situation like that. with cops and i'm helping them. and he goes, i'll be home later. it's police 101. >> reporter: what? he actually thought he was still >> at the very minimum, you go with her. going home. >> reporter: so what was the he even told me, he goes, well, feeling in the department when this happened? i didn't kill her. >> they [ bleep ] up. i almost wanted to slap him and >> reporter: detective richard birdsall, use to asking tough go, no, you hired somebody else questions, suddenly found himself answering them. to.

>> reporter: oh, he must have known. you would think that the i mean, you got to be blind and deaf not to know that. department would kind of adopt a >> you'd think. we used to laugh like is this guy for real? >> reporter: frank set it up, called fred's land line, got the bit of a defensive stance at answering machine, still lynn's this point. voice. >> hi, you've reached the schockners. because you know the public's sorry we missed your call. please leave a message after the going to say, what the hell was going on here? tone and we will get back to you. have a great day. bye-bye. why did you guys let that happen, right? >> hey, old man, it's frank. >> yeah, they did, you know, because they're trying to defend the officers. just wanted to come on by and and they didn't do anything see you and talk to you about a couple things so we can get a wrong. couple things straightened up. you were waiting for someone to bring you the key. they waited a short period of i would appreciate it. i'm going to try you on your time, within a minute. cell phone. >> hello? you know, they're yelling for >> hello. >> hello? her, ma'am, can you come back? >> you there? >> yeah. hello? where are you? >> reporter: just a minute or >> what's going on, bud? so. >> nothing much. >> reporter: and they agreed to enough for lynn to surprise the meet 7:30 in the evening at a burglar, who stabbed her in the local restaurant. neck and grabbed some jewelry, and ran into the arms of the >> i'll try to be there on time. police. >> all right, bud, that's all. i'll see you around 7:30, bud. >> okay, bye. the detective prowled around the crime scene. >> reporter: less than two hours later, frank, wearing the same >> we see that in the bedroom drawers were being opened, hidden camera that the detective jewelry. used to catch him, walked in to things are thrown around. the restaurant to meet fred schockner. >> i set him up with the camera so a lot of things in disarray. and the audio. and we got a table, a couple >> reporter: looked like a standard daytime burglary gone tables away, the three of us, to horribly bad, of course, when make sure that he didn't run. lynn encountered the robber. >> reporter: so you had your but one thing stood out like eyeballs on him. well, like a bloody knife.

>> yeah, and we wanted to see everybody's reaction and we had, of course, the audio. >> i worked burglary division for four years. but i've never had one come with we had a surveillance team a device that's used simply for -- for killing. outside listening to everything. >> reporter: so, time to focus coming up -- one problem. 7:30 came and went. on that so-called burglar caught with a bloody knife in his minutes ticked past. no fred. pocket. name was nicholas harvey. >> he was already really paranoid about being set up. he was 22 years old. >> would he show? and this was unusual. and what if he didn't? >> he didn't have a criminal feel the clarity of non-drowsy background. he'd never been in trouble with the law before. >> reporter: seemed like a reasonably nice young man? >> yeah, very personable. i mean, he came across that way. children's claritin allergy relief. he wanted to ingratiate himself the #1 pediatrician recommended non-drowsy brand. with us as law enforcement. and you know, in his words, he because to a kid always wanted to be a cop a grassy hill is irresistible. sometime in his life. >> reporter: and here, he's children's claritin. robbing and killing a woman. >> correct. feel the clarity and live claritin clear. >> reporter: he'd been an athlete in high school, still worked out a lot. was a personal trainer at his local gym. he was a big muscle-bound sort of character? >> correct. >> reporter: from port hueneme? >>port hewn emmy. >> reporter: but that's way up the coast. >> that's up by -- yeah, by ventura. >> reporter: in other words, about 70 miles from the crime

scene. but why would he commit a robbery so far away from home? >> that's one of the flags that immediately came up. >> reporter: when detective birdsall and his partner first asked him, nick gave them an answer that, frankly, still didn't make sense. >> we came at him. and you know, his initial story was, oh, i heard this was a good area. >> reporter: really? there wasn't a good area closer to home? well then nick gave them another answer. >> he wanted to get out of his area. and he worked at a local gym up there where he's a gym rat and worked out with police officers and did martial arts with police officers. he felt they would recognize him. >> reporter: when he said that, did it seem plausible? >> no. it wasn't plausible at all. >> reporter: and one other thing. remember how, when police arrested him, they found jewelry in his pocket? turned out it was fake. even though lynn had lots of real diamonds right there to be taken along with other valuable items.

>> if you're going to do a daytime burglary and you just killed somebody, you're going to make the effort to get the good stuff. but he didn't. >> reporter: so, either nick harvey was the world's worst burglar, or burglary wasn't the point of his visit. the detectives pushed him hard. but -- they use stamps.com >> he didn't want to change his all the services of the post office only cheaper story. we went at him for hours, and we walked out of there going this get a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale is not what it seems to be. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. >> reporter: just a hunch, of course. no way to prove it. until 70 miles up the coast, a man picked up the phone to call the police. coming up -- a family feud. >> i wrote that letter. i signed the letter. i handed it to my sister. and i dared her to give it to him. >> what was that all about? makes my butt look good fancy but not too fancy no matter why you love your clothes, care for them with woolite. woolite keeps clothing looking like new and cleans with just twelve ingredients

versus the leading detergent's twenty-four. woolite. less ingredients. more love. a migfrom aimovig. to be there for the good... and not so good. for the mundane. the awe-inspiring. the heart-racing. the heartbreaking. it all came down to this place, this moment. that's what life is all about... after nearly a month of showing up. painstaking investigation, unless migraine steals your chance to say... detectives had engineered a "i am here." face-to-face meeting between the murder middleman frank jaramillo we aim to change that. with aimovig. a preventive treatment for migraine in adults. and the suspected mastermind, one dose, lynn schockner's husband, fred. once a month. aimovig is proven to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. this is where frank would for some, that number can be cut in half or more. attempt to get fred to say something to incriminate

himself. don't take aimovig if you're allergic to it. except fred was late. had he finally realized they were laying a trap? allergic reactions like rash or swelling 7:30. can happen hours to days after use. 7:33. 7:35. common side effects include injection site reactions and constipation. nothing. if he didn't show this could all it doesn't matter what each day brings. fall apart. then a signal from the so long as you can say... surveillance van. "i am here." there he was. aim to be there more. >> the guys outside saw him kind talk to your doctor about aimovig. of casing the place to make sure he wasn't being -- he was already really paranoid about being setup. >> reporter: clearly. >> came in with his note pad. >> hey, old man, how are you feeling? >> reporter: now all eyes were on frank and fred. >> and they both at this point look like they've been rode hard and put away wet. i mean, just jaramillo's tired looking and, you know, you can imagine the amount of stress that must be going through him. and then the old man who didn't look like he was doing particularly well either. >> reporter: did he look frightened or something? >> yeah, they both looked scared.

they both looked like trapped rats on a burning ship, you know? >> reporter: and as they feared, fred was suspicious. he sat down, said not a word. but he'd written something on his note pad. >> at which point, fred schockner lifted that note up that says, "are you wired?" >> i'm not. >> very possible. >> i thought he was going to walk, you know? i thought, you know, this guy's going to come to his senses and realize this -- >> reporter: stand up and turn out and walk out the restaurant. >> but he didn't. >> reporter: he stayed. and they talked. frank trying to get fred to admit his role, fred deflecting his attempts. >> you know, you and i would not be sitting here if you didn't want, if you didn't want lynn killed, you know that. >> i don't know what you're talking about. >> reporter: but frank kept going at him, and fred finally let something slip. >> i'm scared, fred. i don't know, i understand you're scared, too. you have to understand. we would not be in this position if it wasn't for her. if it wasn't for lynn, we would not be here.

>> that's true. and if it hadn't been sloppy on nick's part, we wouldn't be here either. >> reporter: fred referring to nick harvey, the hired killer. for the first time connecting himself to lynn's murder. but frank kept going after him, as if he knew they needed more. >> we wouldn't [ bleep ] be here if it wasn't for you. we would not be here. we wouldn't. >> and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the way things were [ bleep ] up by nick. >> he [ bleep ] got caught. that's him. he's doing the time for you. detective richard birdsall didn't believe for a moment that >> like watching two old married he was investigating a burglary couples arguing back and forth about whose fault it was that gone bad. the dinner was cold or something. >> reporter: but of course, this for one thing, a guy doesn't travel 70 miles just to break into a house. but for all his suspicions, >> like watching two old married couples arguing back and forth about whose fault it was that birdsall couldn't prove a thing. that is, until a man who knew the dinner was cold or something. nick harvey called the police and said -- >> reporter: but of course, this >> nick harvey came to him and offered him some money, several argument was deadly serious. hundred dollars to say hey, can >> you have to understand, we you drive me down to long beach? need to [ bleep ] erase this

>> reporter: he agreed. problem. they met at a park and ride parking lot, and he drove nick's this is your problem, okay? car. you have to understand. the driver also said nick told listen to me. him why he needed to go to long >> no. beach. it's not my problem. >> nick harvey said he was an it's our problem. enforcer for the local drug dealers up there. isn't it? >> i would have to say it's more so he thought he was coming down your problem. >> reporter: fred was still very just for that one reason. suspicious of frank and asked a few more times if he was wired. >> reporter: honestly, he had no frank, frustrated now, tried to goad him. idea the agenda included murder, said the driver. >> i killed lynn? you're saying that i killed lynn? >> nope. you arranged. >> you're saying i killed lynn. >> he never knew that he was >> nope. >> who wanted her dead? going to come down to take someone's life. answer me that [ bleep ] >> reporter: of course, the guy question. was probably lying. so they put him under arrest. who wanted her dead? who benefited from that, fred? anyway, his claim that he >> nobody. thought he was driving a drug >> reporter: frank argued like a enforcer didn't make a lick of sense. the notion that suburban housewife lynn schockner was somehow tangled up with drug man who wasn't acting. dealers and had been targeted maybe he wasn't. for execution was frankly preposterous. lynn had been living a quiet life for 25 years, married to a >> oh, really? man with a lot going for him. then who wanted her dead? >> he was a wealthy man. me? >> reporter: for years, fred

answer me that [ bleep ] question. earned top dollar in the who wanted her [ bleep ] dead? not me. >> reporter: the tension between aerospace industry. the two seemed to reach a breaking point. >> if you would back off and not to mention all the family allow us to think and talk together. >> you have to understand that's money he inherited. why i'm here. >> no, what you're here is >> they were able to afford trying to incite me to do things. things that none of us growing >> oh really? >> you keep on saying this over and over. up could possibly afford. >> okay, you know what, fred? why don't you just go home? whatever money i owe you, i'll we were blue collar working pay you back. class people, and we didn't know i asked you a [ bleep ] question. many millionaires growing up. >> reporter: he bought her you cannot answer it. things, jewelry and that sort of >> reporter: and just as fred thing? >> well, right out of the gate they bought a very nice home in an exclusive suburb of long was walking away frank gave it beach, bixby knolls. so that was a big step up. >> reporter: mark remembers flying out to see lynn after she one last shot. got married. >> why don't you [ bleep ] admit >> she was dying to show off her what you did wrong? >> i haven't done anything home, show off her new life. wrong. >> reporter: lynn seemed happy, >> okay, and i did everything, said mark. right? >> she set out i think with >> no, you haven't done anything, either, have you? >> no. special determination, having >> that's what you told me on the phone. had her first marriage not last, >> you need to quiet nick's family. to make this one work and >> i don't have the cash for function.

nick's family because you have >> reporter: to make a complete all my cash. family, a desire that only intensified once charlie came along. so if you want to give me the >> she wanted her son to be the cash, i'm give it back to you best person he could be. and would stop at nothing to make sure that he got that. and you can do what you want. >> reporter: and that was it. >> reporter: around bixby knolls maybe not exactly the words detective birdsall hoped to the schockners were considered a hear, but after weeks of dead ends and intense pressure, perfectly normal, if upscale, getting fred on tape saying family. those things finally made his certainly not the kind of people case. who would be targeted by drug what was the mood in the van you were sitting in? dealers. of course, members of the family >> it was elation. we got enough. had a slightly more intimate >> reporter: finally, enough perspective. evidence to arrest him. mark, for example, loved his but they didn't. sister but found fred a little they let him go home just to see obnoxious. what he'd do. >> he wasn't shy about dropping >> let's just see if he reaches hints about the extent of his out to somebody. holdings. because now he's scared. >> reporter: back at the >> reporter: mark didn't see them very often. restaurant frank waited for an he lived way across the country all-clear signal from the in georgia. but when he did come to visit in detectives. long beach, and they went out and the waiter, who'd frequently for dinner, fred always managed served the schockner family, to monopolize the conversation, then somehow, stick mark with stopped by to reminisce about the bill. lynn. >> she's very nice, very funny. >> cheap. totally opinionated. >> reporter: putting frank in a absolutely self-involved.

>> reporter: so, when he invited very uncomfortable spot. lynn and charlie to visit him in >> there's nothing that anybody georgia -- can say can -- >> i basically told my sister >> reporter: he wasn't able to not to bother to bring him. complete his thought, and soon fred would be having a very stay as long as she wanted. different kind of conversation with the police. leave her old man at home. >> reporter: and on one of those coming up -- what a mess. visits, mark told lynn exactly and fred forgot to clean up. how he felt. >> i said, how can you let >> didn't throw out his trash in time. >> no. someone run your life and forget about yourself? th advil liqui-gels, you'll ask... >> reporter: afterwards, he sat down and wrote many of the same what stiff joints? things in a harshly worded letter to fred. >> i wrote that letter. what bad back? i signed the letter. advil is... relief that's fast. strength that lasts. i handed it to my sister, and i you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. dared her to give it to him. >> reporter: did you think she ♪and i start to pray actually would? ♪till the tears run down from my eyes♪ >> i didn't know, but she did. >> reporter: that took guts. ♪lord somebody, ooh somebody >> it did. it did. ♪can anybody find me somebody to love?♪ >> reporter: and frankly, mark was pleased when, a few years later, after a quarter century of marriage, lynn told him they

were splitting, and fred moved out of the house in bixby knolls. she changed somehow after your father left? alexa, play queen on amazon music. >> she seemed freer, seemed happier, more able to get [music playing] excited, just really interested in everything and very lighthearted. >> reporter: but her happiness was short-lived. and when mark first heard she was murdered, his mind went to a very dark place. could fred have had something to do with it? but as much as he disliked fred, he just couldn't see it. >> there were no connections in their personal life to this person that committed the crime. >> reporter: no, it seemed pretty clear, fred had nothing to do with lynn's murder. besides, lynn changed the locks on the house after fred moved out. could it be that someone she hired to install some protection actually came back to rob her

and wound up killing her? after all, such a person would have seen that lynn had valuable things around her house in this very nice neighborhood. >> the neighborhood had everything a burglar wanted to find. private yards. >> reporter: sure. alexa, play queen on amazon music. >> wealthy homes. those darn seatbelts got me all crumpled up. that's ok! hey, guys! >> reporter: and she had the worst of possible luck in that hi mrs. patterson... he picked her. >> yes. >> reporter: and now, the family came together in grief. wrinkles send the wrong message. and when he saw fred -- sorry. help prevent them before they start with new downy wrinkleguard. >> we hugged, traded condolences. >> within five or ten minutes, he mentioned the letter. he said, do you still believe that? i said, no, that's water over the bridge. we need to get on with our family. we need to stick together. >> reporter: fred moved back into the family home. he and charlie and the rest of the family leaned on each other. while around the neighborhood people absorbed the news that

police had the driver, a possible accomplice, in custody. neighbors wondered, were more people involved? >> there was concern that there were others that might come back to more houses and more homes and that they were violent. >> reporter: but that fear soon turned to anger when another bit of news swept through bixby knolls. that police let the driver go. coming up -- >> you have to understand, i'm a 29-year-old man, fred. detectives were convinced nick >> reporter: before he got mixed harvey didn't have a motive to up with fred schockner, frank commit murder, but just maybe jaramillo, aka el cubano, had so many possibilities. someone else did. >> my partner discovered that there was a person that he he'd just recently married a talked to multiple times right wonderful woman, a school before the murder. teacher, who had no idea what her husband had done or what he you wouldn't accept an incomplete job was facing. >> there's nothing that's going to happen if we both maintain our cool. >> reporter: but it was too late for that. frank did not go home to his wife that evening. he submitted to a pair of handcuffs and was carted off to jail.

and fred, well, fred did go home from any one else. under the watchful eye of the why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, undercover cops, who also which most pills don't. conducted a thorough search of the restaurant for those notes flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. fred wrote. most pills only block one. they found nothing. flonase. nor did fred contact anyone else that evening. and so the next morning -- >> we just showed up 9:00 in the morning and caught him in his pajamas and disheveled. i mean, you could tell he hadn't slept a lot that night. >> reporter: he look shocked, worried, upset? >> very shocked and very upset. why were we there? and, you know, our response is, we're here to arrest you. >> reporter: they took him away. and when they searched his house, they found one last piece of evidence in a trash can. one of those notes fred scribbled in the restaurant. "sloppy nick," it said. he didn't throw out his trash in time. >> nope. >> reporter: across the country in georgia, charlie got the news. >> yeah, that was another kind of happy moment, to be honest.

>> reporter: that's quite a place to get to in life, when you're happy that your father's been arrested for murder, the murder of your mother, mind you. >> yeah. it's -- >> reporter: i mean -- >> no one wants to -- no one would want to actually say, gosh, yeah, that's a good thing, but after everything growing up with him in the house, it seems like a little bit of justice. >> reporter: almost three years after lynn's death the three men charged with her murder finally went on trial. and detective richard birdsall and undercover cop kris nelson, both retired now, were there. >> it's always nice to see a case all the way through, and see it in, you know, in my opinion, see people get, you know, get what they got coming to them. >> reporter: do they give you a special weird look? >> you now when they walked into court the only one that looked good that day, like rested and

fine, was nick harvey. you could tell he had come to terms with what he'd done. he knew he was never going to see the light of day again. the other two were really struggling with it. time really is money. they looked really beat. so, don't wait to get the internet >> they were so different, the your business really needs. three of them. switch to comcast business today for a special offer on the services they were a very unlikely trio you need to make your business boom. of criminals. >> reporter: wendy thomas like speed to power all your devices, russell, a reporter for "the long beach press telegram" at more complete internet reliability. the time, covered all three and an advanced voice solution. trials. nick harvey's was first. it's time to make the switch to comcast business >> i would have to say he was more brawn than brain. and take your business beyond fast. and i don't mean that to be don't miss out on this limited time offer. insensitive, but this is a guy call 1-800-501-6000 today. who took the witness stand in his own defense and he said that he aspired to be a hit man. that he -- >> reporter: he said that on the witness stand? >> yes. >> reporter: what did you think? >> i thought you're not the brightest bulb of the marquee. >> reporter: no kidding. >> so he said that he'd toyed

around with being a hit man, that he idolized the hulk as a child, the incredible hulk. and he said that he had taken steroids just to get bigger and stronger. and you know, it's was very hard for the jury to have sympathy for him. ever since lynn schockner >> reporter: and they didn't. was murdered in her own home as police stood outside, criticism of the long beach police the jury found him guilty in about 35 minutes. department had been intense. first-degree murder and burglary. emotions raw. next was frank jaramillo. >> the officers were extremely upset. >> he said that he wouldn't have my understanding was one of the done it had schockner not threatened his wife and his officers who was on the call had in-laws. had a nervous breakdown or, you >> reporter: so this was -- he know, an episode like that did it out of fear then? >> yeah, he said, literally, he afterward because it was just said on the stand that he had sacrificed his life for his too much for him. family, when we all know that he has sacrificed lynn schockner's >> reporter: detective richard birdsall knew, even as he investigated lynn's murder, that life for his pocketbook. her family was angry with the police. >> reporter: but that was his >> yeah, they were. they were upset, like every -- defense. >> it was his defense. >> reporter: the verdict, guilty anybody would be, and like the of first-degree murder.

press. i mean, everybody else was upset and now it was fred's turn. with us, that we didn't do our job to protect someone's life. >> and the man had aged at least ten years. because that's ultimately what he looked so frail. we're supposed to do. >> reporter: lynn's husband, >> reporter: but this wasn't fred, even threatened to sue the over just yet. long beach pd for not protecting his wife. when fred schockner took the witness stand he told the jury and so detective birdsall knew he could explain everything. he'd take even more heat when the news leaked out that police had arrested an alleged do tell. accomplice of the suspected killer and then, just as coming up -- quickly, released him. >> he was very defiant and completely maintained his but that's exactly what birdsall innocence. >> will the jury believe him? >> i had a moment of just did. sitting there and started release the man who admitted crying. he'd driven the killer to the crime scene. but the detective had a plan. i hugged my family. >> we actually put an active feed on his -- on his phone. we want to find out who he's talking to. we have the driver. we have the killer. now we want to find out if there's more people involved. >> reporter: detective birdsall didn't believe nick harvey was a drug enforcer. just didn't buy it. so he hoped that by releasing the driver and tapping his phone he could uncover what was really going on. there was just one problem. after he was let go, the driver

didn't reach out to anyone. >> the only person he ever spoke to was nick harvey. >> reporter: no, the driver was not part of a larger web. he had nothing whatever to do with lynn's murder. so he was telling the truth. >> it turned out, yes. >> reporter: dead end. so they kept on digging into nick's background. and remember, this was a guy with a clean record. he came off like a perfectly ordinary young man. >> we talked to the family. i mean, they were all incredulous that he would ever do something like that. >> reporter: nick's family. >> nick's family, correct. >> reporter: incredulous? >> it didn't fit him. didn't fit his persona. never thought he would be capable of doing something like this. >> reporter: so when you asked his family about him, how did they characterize him? >> at that time, he worked out a lot. he was doing steroids, but just didn't really have a focus in life. he actually was a trainer for the local gym up there. and that's all he did. i mean, he worked -- did a bouncer at a bar. not in trouble with the law.

he wasn't someone that attracted trouble to himself. >> reporter: but somehow he'd found plenty of trouble. police started to figure out how when they subpoenaed his phone records. >> my partner discovered that there was a person that he had talked to frank jaramillo and these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office multiple times right before the murder. they have businesses to grow customers to care for >> reporter: frank jaramillo? >> correct. lives to get home to they use stamps.com >> reporter: frank jaramillo, print discounted postage for any letter aka "el cubano," once managed the gym where nick trained. any package any time odd person to call just before right from your computer committing a murder, unless, of all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper course, he was in on it. how to find out? get our special tv offer step one, said kris nelson, go a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale back to nick harvey. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again! lean on him a little bit. >> you got to talk to this guy before he gets arraigned. because once he's arraigned, you're screwed. he's going to get an attorney. >> reporter: sure. >> and his attorney's going to tell him to shut up. >> reporter: just what birdsall and his partner were thinking. so they confronted nick again. now two days after lynn's murder. >> you need to be fully truthful with my partner and i right now because it's only going to, you know, benefit you to tell the

truth. this is getting uglier and uglier. >> we went at him one last time. tell us your story. he reiterates almost exactly what he said before. >> reporter: which was that he killed lynn schockner because the burglary he tried to carry out went bad. the cops still didn't buy it. >> him and i been doing this a long time, nick. you need to take nick and your responsibility now. take care of nick now please. be truthful with us because we're not going to stop, nick. him and i, that's our job. >> reporter: and that's when nick's story started to change. >> i might as well break it down for you guys. i was hired to hit the house. i don't know why. i didn't ask. >> reporter: that is, said nick, he was hired to commit a burglary. one that, depending on what he could steal, might prove very profitable. you hold your breath. the world kind of stops. >> what's the amount you were promised? >> reporter: a hushed courtroom >> what was in the house plus in long beach, california. uh, $2,500. fred schockner, charged with >> reporter: b.s., said the commissioning the murder of his cops. he was hired to kill, and they

knew it. wife, caught on tape blaming a because those phone records told sloppy hit man, took the stand a very different story than he did. in his own defense. and finally, nick harvey >> he was very defiant and cracked. >> and i remember nick harvey's completely maintained his words like, yeah, you guys are good. innocence until the end. you got me. >> reporter: just like that? i mean, in the face of this >> just like that. and then he cops out. overwhelming evidence he >> reporter: yes, he said. maintained his innocence. >> reporter: it was all a tragic frank jaramillo, the guy they misunderstanding, said fred. called el cubano, hired him to he didn't pay for murder, just kill lynn schockner. for a used bmw. and all those calls to his alleged co-conspirator, el cubano? gave him $2,500 up front, promised $2,500 more when the fred said they were -- wait for it -- pocket calls. job was done. why a guy would commit murder for a measly five grand was one question, but a more urgent one was this. and they proved nothing. who was this el cubano, really? the jury had to consider all and why would he pay a guy to possibilities, naturally, and kill a housewife in long beach? there was no shortage of nerves among members of lynn's family. charlie, just 17 years old that day, watched the jury file back in. coming up -- it's always the husband, right? >> it's "law & order" and but in this case police didn't everything right there. seem to think so. you sit there and everyone comes >> the detective was very quick in and just you hold your to assure me that they had no breath. suspicions of that.

90% of women the world kind of stops. you don't know what the outcome is because they have all the power. whatever they say is either the truth or what is going to be the truth. >> reporter: a lot of butterflies in your tummy. >> oh, god, yeah. >> reporter: he looked at their faces for some sign. waited nervously for justice for his mother. what was it like to hear the words? >> emancipating. it was just unbelievable. >> reporter: the verdict -- guilty of first-degree murder. >> i had a moment of just sitting there, and i just have a skincare routine. started crying. but what about a lip care routine? i hugged my family. pay your lips some attention. >> reporter: you know, it's the chapstick total hydration collection. exfoliate interesting you say, hugged my nourish naturally enhance family, because somebody who your lips. chapstick. put your lips first. doesn't know the whole story might say, well, you just lost ♪ your family. sleep this amazing? but they don't know the whole that's a zzzquilpure zzzs sleep. story. our liquid has a unique botanical blend, >> yeah. no. no, they were -- having my mother's side of the family, her while an optimal melatonin level means no next-day grogginess.

two brothers and their family zzzquil pure zzzs. with me, it was amazing. naturally superior sleep. it was what families should be. they were all there for me. >> reporter: the judge allowed charlie to address his father in court. >> i had this whole, like, speech prepared of, this is like vindication of everything. but, i was so angry, was just shaking and not really able to get my words out. but i managed to say, like i'm no longer your son. i can't believe you would do this. and just you're going to where you belong. >> reporter: that would be a pretty scary moment, i mean, a nervous making moment. >> oh, it was terrifying. to know that it was actually going to happen, that this was check your free credit scores at creditkarma. the culmination of everything. it was a lot of emotion. here's to progress. >> reporter: also your way of saying good-bye to him. too many people a restless night's sleep. there's a better choice. aleve pm. >> yeah. yeah. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid >> reporter: through all of and the 12-hour pain-relieving this, fred schockner maintained strength of aleve. that dares to last into the morning. his innocence.

in fact, even before his trial so you feel refreshed. aleve pm. began fred did carry out a there's a better choice. threat he uttered right after the murder. he launched a lawsuit against the long beach police department for not protecting his wife, lynn. >> he went to the city and filed a claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit against the city of long beach blaming the long beach police department for not preventing the murder of his wife because they had not, you know, followed through, followed proper procedure. >> reporter: wait a minute. it's their fault because they didn't prevent me from killing my wife? >> that's right, exactly, yeah. >> reporter: the claim was rejected. but now, on the day of his sentencing, he tried the same argument again. chutzpah. >> that was the -- yes, that was the judge's response too. he called it sophistry. and he called him a disgusting human being. and he did not mince words. >> reporter: fred was sentenced to life without parole.

they all were. in a few sentences, what you think the motive in this murder was? >> money. >> reporter: wow, in one word, apparently. >> for whatever reason, the plan had been as simple $3 million or $4 million was not as it was ugly. nick harvey, in exchange for enough for manfred schockner. just $5,000, was to kill a long beach housewife named lynn schockner, stage it like a he wanted $6 million or burglary, and then get away $8 million. clean. >> reporter: even from prison fred schockner fought to keep it instead, nick was in jail facing all for himself. murder charges and detectives fought his own son, his own were prying apart a conspiracy. blood, tried to prevent charlie from getting a share of the nick had already told them he'd schockner estate. been hired by a man named frank and though charlie was jaramillo, who went by "el eventually granted some of the money, fred kept millions for cubano." himself. though how he'd manage to spend >> they wanted the job done, wanted the burglary staged. it in prison was unclear. >> reporter: nick met el cubano we wrote letters to all three of at an el torito restaurant, he them, nick harvey, frank said, where he was paid half up front. jaramillo and fred schockner, >> what did you do with that money? asking to hear from them what >> i moved. happened. so i had to pie a bunch of new bedroom stuff. fred wrote back and said that he was convicted on highly skeptical circumstantial >> reporter: he'd spent the evidence and that there should $2,500 on new furniture from a have been more than enough to

store called the couch potato. prove my innocence. but when the time came to earn the rest of his money, to kill nick, now in his 30s, called us. lynn, he said, for a moment he he has matured in prison, he got cold feet. said. was mad at the world back then. but has found god now. >> truth be told, when i got there, i didn't want to do it at all. but listen to this, though he in fact, when i was sitting takes full responsibility for there, i was sitting actually what he did, he's also been nursing a strange and very lonely conspiracy theory. back by the back of the door and >> i've always believed the police were involved. i was -- [ bleep ] part is i >> reporter: you mean they intentionally sent her back there to be killed? actually thought about leaving >> yes. right when she came up walking. >> reporter: you don't still >> reporter: that's when he went believe that, though? into something like fight or flight mode, he said, and he killed her. >> well, i'm not a big believer then he quickly ran into the in coincidence, especially in house pulled out some drawers, situations like this. grabbed some jewels to make it >> reporter: lots of time to think in prison about things look like a burglary. like that. but then when he tried to but also about charlie. escape, he discovered, to his horror, that the cops were, or >> oh, young charlie. he -- what i did to charlie appeared to be, waiting for him. so then, listen to this. harvey had a question for the is -- haunts me every day. detectives. >> reporter: yeah. >> can i ask you a question? i don't know if you guys can answer this.

how'd you get there so fast? >> neighbor. >> i took so much from him. there's people in the neighborhood. someone saw you get out of the >> reporter: but whether nick car. knew it or not, charlie was in the very capable hands of his >> did you know the cops were uncle mark, who'd received a even out there? commission from his worried >> not until i got back over the wall and i saw the van. sister lynn before he was and when i saw the van that's when i said, this has got to be a set up. murdered. >> if anything happens to me, >> reporter: that is, he thought take care of my son. he was being double crossed by his friend frank, aka el cubano. >> reporter: and he did. how do you feel about that boy? >> love him. that's why he decided to stick yeah. to the botched burglary story, yeah, this one's going to be he said. maybe he'd just get second tough. degree murder. and once he got out of prison, i always look back at that moment as the greatest gift i he was going to find frank and -- >> take care of him myself. >> reporter: the detectives ever received from the man who i still hate more than any person played along, of course. let nick dream up whatever conspiracy theory made him happy. i've ever known. but meanwhile, they requisitioned el cubano's phone and my wife and i didn't have records, and they found children of our own. something quite surprising. now i've got the best son in the >> not only had frank jaramillo world. been talking with nick harvey, but he also had talked to the >> oh, it's been great. husband. mark and susan are just, they're great. >> reporter: fred schockner. >> fred schockner. >> reporter: fred schockner,

lynn's husband of 25 years. i love them so much. >> reporter: and so in a sad, on the surface, it didn't make strange way, out of unimaginable much sense. evil and loss came love. after all, fred had been cooperative with detectives from day one. a real family. and yes, he had moved out of the family house, but he told them an unexpected blessing. the break was amicable. what's he done for you she was my best friend, he said. personally, having him in your life? and yet, not long after the murder, yuck charlie south out detective birdsall and whispered an awful question. >> it's like getting another life. >> did my dad have something to do with this? >> reporter: charlie remembers what they told him. like somebody opened a door and >> the detective was very quick said, here's a second chance. to assure me that they have no suspicions of that. >> reporter: got a reason to get up in the morning these days. they don't think that would be something that was happening. >> damn straight. and if they had thought that, that they would already have a reason to live. looked into it and not to worry >> reporter: mark and susan are about that. now his mom and dad. >> reporter: is that what he has taken their last name. detectives really believed? and charlie has more than well, no. survived. >> we had to sit there and look at him in the eye and say, we'll he is thriving. catch everybody who was >> i'm going somewhere, and i'm involved. going fast. >> reporter: but not say, we >> reporter: he's a grad student suspect him? >> exactly. >> reporter: they believed they simply couldn't tell charlie or the rest of the family what they with ambitions in theme park

were discovering. design. and has learned, in spite of everything, that rarest of afraid that fred would find out lessons, to accept and move on. and stop talking to them. >> i mean, i know it happened, and i know it's influencing me, so charlie stayed at home with but it's not defining me. his father. his uncle mark was allowed, even >> reporter: but there is one encouraged, to believe that fred thing that defines him, his was not involved, even as the detectives were getting the real mother's character, and that story from the hit man, nick follows him everywhere. harvey. >> my mother was just ethereal. she holds a very special place. >> did you know who talked to cubano regarding this? she's just everything that you >> yeah. think of as good, everything >> who did? that you think of as kind, >> her husband. everything that is just great about people. >> reporter: so doesn't that mean that you can now go out and arrest jaramillo and fred schockner? that's what she embodied, and charge them all with murder i'm going to carry that with me. right then. >> we wish. but remember, it's a co-conspirator statement. i have no facts. i've got a statement from one person. >> reporter: that person, nick harvey, was an admitted killer and demonstrated liar. and with the police department under so much scrutiny, they i'm craig melvin. didn't dare arrest anybody without solid proof. just think of the scandal if, on >> and i'm natalie morales. top of everything else, the prosecution failed.

>> and this is "dateline." they did find fred's business card in harvey's wallet, but marie was a very loving person. that wasn't enough either. she had a heart of gold. meanwhile, the public and lynn's >> reporter: what happened to family would be encouraged to this woman? believe it was a simple case of a burglary gone bad, a murder the cops should have prevented. my job is to be a truth teller and seek out the truth. i wanted to solve it! >> i couldn't go out there and >> reporter: her case was a mystery for years. defend my department, as much as i wanted to. the mom with the tender heart >> reporter: you couldn't say and tough-as-nails career. anything. >> and i can't tell the press. >> she was part of the sheriff's i can't tell -- i mean, we can't department. her ultimate goal was to try to defend ourselves because the suspects, the persons of get into the fbi. interest, are the ones we're >> reporter: she'd found a new looking at. we don't want to alert them. we don't want them to get lawyers. >> reporter: and so, inside and outside the long beach pd, the pressure was on. >> and my department wanted a quick resolve because we have a black eye. the press was just beating us up daily because of what we did. >> reporter: so the clock was ticking. detectives needed to prove the murder-for-hire plot, and they needed to do it fast. >> so that was the whole game is trying to play cat and mouse, trying to get more. we want to get them to talk. we want to get them to communicate. >> reporter: but wasn't going to happen, by the look of it.

even though they kept talking to fred. >> we kept going to the husband. >> reporter: playing dumb, of course, but hoping he'd panic and call el cubano. >> i mean, at the point we were calling almost every day but, again, trying to give a reason so he wouldn't become more suspicious than what he was. >> reporter: oh, just one more question, sir. >> exactly. i felt like columbo. oh, one more, sir. >> reporter: this was a game, of course, with deadly consequences. >> reporter: death has a way of bringing people together, as it did in the case of lynn schockner. she was a private woman, had very few friends beyond her son charlie. and yet? >> we had a big service for her. it was amazing how many people came out for my mother. it was nice. i just remember i -- at that point i couldn't even cry. it was just still just depressed and shocked. and i felt bad for that for a long time, but -- >> reporter: that's pretty

normal. >> yeah. >> reporter: did the tears come? >> yeah, it took a while, but they did. >> reporter: meanwhile, detective richard birdsall was chipping away at the case but far too slowly for the likes of his bosses at the beleaguered long beach police department still under fire for not preventing a murder. the detectives had found some connections among the three suspected conspirators but not nearly enough to go to court. >> you have a murder for hire. okay, now you've got to go arrest everybody. i'd love to. but do i have probable cause? no, i really don't. i've got to prove more.

olay ultra moisture body wash gives skin the nourishment it needs and keeps it there longer with lock-in moisture technology. skin is petal smooth. because your best skin starts with olay.

and then finally, they asked him if he happened to know anyone in the port hueneme area. that's where hit man nick harvey lived. and fred said, yes, he did. the man he knew, he said, was frank jaramillo, just a guy he met when frank managed a gym in long beach.

in fact, said fred, he had bought a used bmw from frank for 25,000 and frank was going to deliver the car when he returned if an overseas business trip. in new delhi. of course, from phone records the cops knew perfectly well that frank, aka, el cubano, was in fact at home, about 50 miles north of long beach in woodland hills. but fred kept talking. and ever more chatty volunteered he left frank more than $100,000, which made sense given what detectives had already learned about frank. >> he said it was for watches and living a lifestyle of the rich and famous. he really didn't have a full-time job. >> reporter: but if frank thought he was taking advantage of fred, the detectives believed it was just the opposite. >> i think fred schockner wanted to own frank jaramillo in some way. >> reporter: so frank already had the $100,000.

now he's on the hook big time to fred. and fred says to get off the hook, you got to make this happen? >> correct. >> reporter: then the slate's wiped clean. >> absolution of all debt. >> reporter: so in the detective's view, fred was the ma