is still not achieved itself the pathway of progress is still under construction. you've got to roll-up your sleeves and continue the work. >> i'm fired up. i'm fired up! i'm ready to march! ♪ i caught something out of the corner of my eye. my mom, she was laying on the grund. i went over expecting her to get up or say something. i put my hand on her shoulder, turned her and i could see blood, everywhere. >> their family always made the best of bad times. >> my mom always looked for the good in anything. >> but no one could fix this. >> our autopsy showed a total of five shots. >> she didn't deserve to die

that way. >> they had a suspect but not much of a case. >> i was told unless they can find the preverbal smoking gun, they can't take this to trial. >> blow off the dust, fan the ashes and even an ice-cold case can heat up again. >> when i read the file, my response was oh my gosh, how is he walking around? and not in custody? >> some worried asking that question would cost this d.a. his life. >> they say he's making plans to murder you and your family. >> this is a guy on a missions. >> he killed once, would he kill again? when would he stop being dangerous to you? >> when he's dead. on the southern bank of the columbian river, tucked away in

the cemetery is a final resting place of a woman called joan, barbara joan lockwood. she was ant famous woman, joan, wasn't rich or celebrated. she lived a quiet life in a quiet place and was buried here more than three decades ago. if ghosts could rise from their graves, if joan could speak to us now, what questions would she answer? what advice for this man? this tough prosecutor who now fears for his life. >> he's a threat to me, a threat more importantly to my family. >> reporter: some cases refuse to lie down and die. they fester. >> and here we are now and all that's happening -- i hate to say this but i think we have to take this seriously. >> yes but it begins with her. joan. she lived, when she lived a

thousand miles south of the cemetery in the suburb called torrance on a quiet street named sharon lane. there was joan, her husband, and their four children. this is joan's only daughter, shaun. >> people would describe her as the most caring, sweetest person they'd ever met. >> there were three boys, brett the eldest. >> my mom loved her kids. we were first and foremost what was important to her. >> whole neighborhood knew that. >> neighbors loved my mom. we would flat out say we didn't even know your dad. >> maybe that was, at least partly, because of bill bradford's job. he worked as an aerospace engineer. high security, top-secret clearance for a company called trw. >> back in the '80s, it was an aerodefense firm. >> top of the top.

>> if you're an engineer. >> his reputation. did you know much about that? >> i knew he was good at what he did but always very secretive about that. >> you just don't talk about it? >> you just don't talk about that. >> in fact, he didn't talk about anything to anyone, even his own family. >> he was just very much here's my role. i work, i come home, eat dinner, then he went to his bedroom. to work on his stamp collection. >> exacting, organized, introverted. joan's polar opposite. but eventually that disconnect took its toll. bill movaled out, joan moved on, filed for diverse vors. the kids moved away and grew up. and in the falloff 1998 she sold the house on sharon lane. >> she was trying to finish up the move to start her life over

again. >> it was a friday evening, joan was packing, getting ready. shawn and a younger brother called her and told her we're coming over. it was just getting dark when it arrived. >> so, we opened the door, went in, calling for nothing. went down stairs where we expected to see her. her purse was still on the counter. but there was no sign of her. about that time my brother and i separated. and he went out to see me. maybe she's in the garage, maybe the backyard. as i went through the front living room, i caught something out of the corner of my eye. it was my mom. and she was laying on the ground. and i could see blood everywhere. >> in a panic, shawn called 911 and then called her brother. >> she says mom's been hurt. she has a hole in her head.

she's frantdic. >> reporter: then they cordoned off the place where she lay. >> i could see numerous bullet holes in the back of her neck. >> reporter: he was a detective, torrance p.d. >> in all my years i've seen people shot in homicides, butted never this many times. five times. >> an execution? >> definitely. >> what her mom had seen, her mother on the floor, had been so confusing. but now she saw nothing because they kept her away. >> one of the paramedics met me and looked at him and said will she be okay? i wasn't processing. but he finally looked at me and shook his head no and that's when i realized she was dead? >> and did she see what was coming? did she know her life was over?

>> they had taken the body out. someone had taken a carpet cleaner to clean up the blood. and basically my last memory is a carpet cleaner of my mom's blood. which she didn't deserve to die that way. >> sweet, kind-hearted joan bradford was 52. who did it? why? next to her body was a clue. >> i saw a bullet lying on the floor by her foot from a ..38 caliber or .357 caliber handgun and they both fire the same bullet. >>-the detective asked if i knew anybody who owned a gun, my initial response was no. my brother turned around and nodded and looked add me and said "dad has one." and i stopped and went, you're right. >> coming up. >> we did find a box in his

bedroom that was supposed to contain a smith & wessen but it was empty. >> and a peek inside that failed marriage. >> at one point when i was 16, my father said life's a. r said ♪ we could never do what they do. but what we can do it be a partner that never quits. verizon is the most reliable network in america. built for interoperability and puts first responders first,

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it looked like a mob hit. they wanted to be sure. >> it was vengeful-type of shooting. >> her purse was untouched and no one in the neighborhood saw anything. so detectives turned their investigation to joan's inner circle. they asked her children about their mother, their father and the marriage. shawn didn't hold back.

>> it was ancht good marriage. >> how long have you known that? >> i probableably didn't know that as a young child. it was obvious when i was a teenager. i would start hearing more. i also understood that the way they lived together, they were more like roommates, not as husband and wife. they never hugged, never kissed. they rarely spoke. >> and when they did, bill was controlling, condescending. >> at one point, when i was 16, my father looked me in the eye and said life's a pitch and then you marry one. >> my parents got into a fight and he pushed her down. her head hit a rocking chair and shattered it. that's what i grew up in. >> i went up to my bedroom and overheard them fighting. my mom said do you want to file the papers or do you want me to?

>> what was that like for you? >> i think i stormed in and pretty much yelledality both of them at that point. i'm sure it was along the lines of why are you doing this? and pretty much left. and went up to my room. a few minutes later my father walked into the room. and said he wished i hadn't heard the way i did but yes, they hadn't been happy for a long time. i asked how long and he said well, if i had got an divorce when i wanted one, you wouldn't be alive today. >> when they finally separated, the divorce was nasty. >> my father refused to pay child support, spouzal support. everything he did was to extend the divorce. >> it took over five years for joan to get divorced. bill was ordered to pay alimony and child support.

but he did not make the payments as required. so, joan and her attorney were able to garnish all that unpaid support of the house proceeds. >> the total amount was 20,000. it bothered him because she won. >> that $40,000? he lost control. my father doesn't like to be controlled in anything. >> suddenly he was almost $40,000 poorer. and the day after he got all that money garnished, his ex-wife was dead. so, the cops went looking for bradford. trouble was he seemed to have disappeared, didn't pick up his phone or answer the door at his apartment. detective mason went back to headquarters and inserted the

name, bill bradford in his data base and. >> did they in fact own a model 66 smith & wessen handgun, .357 magnum? >> which just happened to fire the same kind of bullets found at the crime scene. so, detective mason got a warrant to search bradford 's apartment. there was no sign of him or the gun. >> but we did find a box in his bedroom that was supposed to contain a smith & wessen but was empty. >> saturday passed. still no sign of bill bradford. police even put up posters, hoping for leads. and on sunday, two days after the murder. >> he came into the police department, myself and another detective asked if he was aware of the fact his ex-wife was dead? >> i'm sorry to see her dead but we never had a very good relationship.

>> he looked add me like i am looking at you. and i thought you're a cold, calculated guy. just like who cares. >> bradford confirmed he was very upset about his share of money from the house sale suddenly sent to joan. so upset he left his apartment for two whole days. >> i went to the redaundo pier. i spent all the time at the pier from then until 6:00. >> what was he doing at the pier in his car? >> i said well, you live alone. he said i just wanted to be alone. >> but alone at the redaundo beach pier for nearly two days? the police asked him about his .357 magnum. joan had been shot with hollow-point bullets. bradford admitted he once bought ammo like that but as for the gun itself.

>> i put my stuff in storage but i've been unable to locate it. >> and where do you think you left it? >> i have no idea. >> did it seem odd he would misplace a gun? >> i knew right away he didn't misplace it. no doubt in my mind because of the type of fella he was. >> but bradford did have an alibi a parking stub. sure enough, he entered friday of the murder, 7:29 p.m. so, he said he could not have killed joan unless -- the detective said put together a timeline. joan answered a phone call at saechb p.m. but by 7:15, when shawn arrived, we figured she was dead. >> pretty narrow window. >> right. >> could they have shot joan, then arrived at 7:29 at the

pier? it took just seven to eight minutes. all fit. >> one of the detective said said your father is a prime suspect. it's the only thing that made sense. there was no one who could hate my mom so much to want her dead except my father. >> so, just days after interviewing bill bradford, the detective said made their move. >> i arrested him. there was no way in the world i was going to let this guy go. >> you'd have to be a dope not to think he did it. >> there was all kinds of substantial evidence all leading to him. >> murder suvled, case closed, right? oh, no. it was just getting started. coming up. >> i spent a number of months looking over my shoulder. >> a family looking over their shoulder in fear.

september 1988, hot and hazy in l.a., beach weather. but bill bradford wasn't at the beach anymore. no view from a jail cell. and while he waited in custody, detective keith mason went over to see the d.a. where he described his case and waited for the go ahead to charge bradford with murder for killing his ex-wife. didn't quite workout that way. >> the d.a. right away said do you have the gun? i said no, we don't have the gun. he said do you have anybody that could put him at the house at the time of the homicide? i said no. he says i don't think we're going to do anything with this case. i was mad, i was up std. i knew all a jury had to do was hear the circumstances of this case. there's no way anybody could think that anybody else could do this but him. >> so, bill bradford went home,

went back to work at trw. but his children weren't celebrating. in fact, they feared their father and worried they just might be his next victims. >> i spent a number of months looking over my shoulder, wondering who was following me. i can remember cars following me at various times and randomly driving places, trying to figure out what was going on to lose who was tailing me. sglrms rick said he too was followed. >> i remember there were timed i'd be driving home from work and i'd get off at my exit and ideaver the suspicion about someone who got off at the exit at the same time. so, i'd take a detour around my house n stead of going directly to it. >> so, he installed a home security system, started sleeping with the lights on. >> i was jumpy.

i would walk in to the apartment and search it. look under my bed. >> why? >> because i was afraid that someone was after me. >> someone? >> my father murdered my mother and i don't know why he did it. so, the next question is would he murder me? >> late '80s was a busy time for l.a. homicide detectives. murder rates were headed for their all-time peek around then. so, detective mason no choice really, moved on. a year passed, then two. the bradford case got buried. >> i would sit around and wonder i'm going to grab that bradford case out. maybe there's something i missed, maybe something i could do.

>> and all those somethings led to a bunch of nothings. not one new lead. mason stayed in close contact with shawn, who, by this time, was engaged to be married. her father wasn't on the guest list but she was worried he'd show up at her wedding. >> we actually had plain clothes cops at our wedding armed. >> you were that nervous? >> yes. he killed once. my belief was my father killed my mom. he's not welcome. this isn't safe. >> and she felt nothing but relief when her father missed the wedding. his only daughter's wedding, but he was around, bold as brass. >> i would go out to a big place, he'd be walking around. i'd think right away you're free, you're free but not for long.

>> but it was long. very long. the joan bradford case was ice cold. the '80s, turned to the '90s. remain free, celebrating the new millennium like everybody else. >> there was no new evidence. everything went cold case. >> what feeling has to go with having to retire the one case you couldn't close? >> i'd done everything i thought i could do. i only had one case. everybody knew who did it. so, i left and went on to greener fields. >> by then, bill bradford retired too, eventually went the desert, and by the look of it, had plenty of money. and one day, together, his children faced the facts.

>> he looked add me and said so it's real. our father's getting away with murder? >> at that point t was like there's nothing we could do. what do you do in that situation? >> they didn't know, of course, how could they what was going on in here? in secret. didn't know who else was thinking about their estranged father and what he may have done. coming up. >> there's one person who would want her dead. >> closing in. >> you've got to have some evidence. >> all that stuff hiding in plain sight. >> and authorities wondered whether others have been at risk. >> you really wondered whether he would kill a lawyer. .

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prosecutor was poking through the unsolved files of the torrance pd. >> when i read the file, my response was oh, my gosh, how is this guy walking around? how is he not in custody? >> it seems so obvious. >> butted so difficult to prove, especially without any new solid evidence. so he called in cold case detective, jim wallace, because he had a nack of making sense of complicated cases. >> we didn't have anything new. >> but you got to have some evidence. so, what do you do? >> you're trying to read between lines. sometimes when we do cold cases like this, i think of it as a death by a thousand paper clips from a lot of little pieces that don't seem like much, but when you put it together, this is the best inference into evidence. >> they looked at a file of mostly interviews. with a theme.

>> the first response always, if it's from kids or friends or neighbors, is william bradford. so, there's one person who would want her dead. it still doesn't mean he's the killer. but it seems out of all the reasonable options, he is the most reasonable option. >> they learned about their troubled marriage, bill's need to be in control, the contentious devorsz, the money he was forced to pay joan. >> there were court orders to pay about 40,000 to my wife's attorney. and i was very depressed from that point on. >> they micro analyzed the please interview, dissected every word. >> and if he's asked a question, it's a yes or no answer. you can say kind of or he'll qualify it in some way because that's the area you don't want

to give a real answer. >> do you remember particularly about that process in that interview? >> yeah, i remember a couple of things that were powerful. they asked why and when do you go home? but he would use the word, probably for this reason or that reason. at some point the investigators in the interview asked how he felt about when he first learned his wife was murdered. >> i'm sorry to see her dead but we never had a very good relationship. >> that's a very unusual way to answer it. >> about your wife. >> and you were the one person that could say you last saw her dead. >> then there was bradford's strange story about spending two nights at the pier in his car. even had parking stub to prove it. >> when you talk to his family and you brought up hey, is your

dad, is he that kind of beach meditation, put on my sandals and relate to the ocean kind of guy? no. >> except he was very upset. maybe you doubt him, but it's a reasonable thing to say. >> to sleep in your car for two days? >> it just happened to be where joan's attorney had an office. the very same attorney who helped her garnish that $40,000 from her ex-husband. >> by his own statement, he was pacing walking up and down the pier right in front of the lawyer's office. now, had he been there and bradford waited for two days, i have no doubt in my mind this would have been a double murder suicide. >> you really think he was going to kill a lawyer? >> no question. >> you say no question but really you have no idea. >> things are logically reasonable.

right after he murders her, he drives to a place he's never known to go and sleeps in his car for two days and just so happens the lawyer's office is right there. in this situation, we'd have to leave our commonsense in another zip code. >> bradford had been beaten. this attorney made that happen. he had to die too. >> and wallace thought, he must have intended to use the very same gun with which he used to kill joan, the .357 magnum bradford said he laugs. wallace did a little research on the hollow tip bullets he admitted he had. remember, those are the same kind of bullets that killed joan. and wallace discovered that particular type of hollow point is rare. less than 1% of all sold. >> he's eelither the unluckiest person in the world that have all these factors to make this

perfectly innocent person look guilty or he's really guilty. >> so w all the circumstantial clues, the clear motive and means, they drove out to the desert and arrested bill bradford. it was may 2001, 13 years after joan was murdered. >> he just popped open a beer. it's kind of surreal when you do this. you don't think in that moment this is the last time you're going to lay eyes on anything that is yours. anything that's familiar. i don't think bill realizes that you will never see this ever again. this is a guy we're going to vacuum suck out of his life who has no idea. >> bradford was charged with first degree murder and one of the detectives phoned shawn. >> my first reaction was do you know what day today is? no. it's mother's day. and he stopped and said oh, my gosh, i'm sorry.

i said no, that's fitting for the mother that he took away 13 years ago. >> bradford quickly lawyered up, while his family braced themselves for a trial. would their father walk free or be locked up for life? >> the word apprehensive because after years, can a case be won? >> coming up. >> we felt this burden. we'll never get another case like this ever filed again if we lose this one. i didn't know how this would all fit together. >> and a threat. >> his cell mate has come forward and said bradford's very angry at you and he's making plans to murder you and your family. >> when the threat continues. >> when the threat continues thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body,

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♪ former aerospace engineer was coming back to be tried for murdering his ex-wife, joan. was 2002. and though 14 years after the murder, lieuen had a pile of the same-old circumstantial evidence, he charged ahead. were you confident going into this trial? >> very confident. i thought circumstanceally, it was a very over bhwhelming case. >> the d.a. said no smoking gun, no eye witnesses. >> we felt this burden. >> getting a little nervous? >> i was. because i didn't know how this would all fit together not having done a circumstantial case like this before, i really worried.

>> nevertheless, in 2002, they took their first cold circumstantial case to court. fl the way we presented the case is this is a man who was in an abusive relationship. he would not accept that his wife wanted her fair share and when he lost, to him it was the losing. he couldn't take losing. >> and so in a violent rage, bradford executed his ex-wife. bradford's children testified for the prosecution. what's that like to go through that? the trial? >> that was probably almost as hard as finding my mom murdered. >> why would you say that? >> i had to relive, for six weeks, every aspect of the murder, including things i didn't know. >> like what? >> i did nltd know until the

trial she had been shot execution style. >> her father's defense, mostly, sen centered on him being a lovering family man and aerospace engineer and pointing out the lack of evidence to the crime. and the jury was out for two days. and then, on a cool april morning, came the verdict. guilty. finally justice for joan bradford. >> i went from suspecting that my father murdered my mom to having it confirmed. there's always that little point that still wanted to be daddy's little girl and wanted to believe that this was something else. but no t was confirmed. most people looked at me and said now vow closure.

no. what my heart wanted was my father to be convicted of it, my mom to come back. >> it was shawn's birthday a few weeks later when her father was sentenced to 22 years to life. >> i remember telling his daughter that this man's not going to last five years in prison. so, i thought it would be a life sentence. >> i was a lot more relaxed. people kept saying he'll be dead in five years. so, you know, i'm safe, he's never getting out. >> safe? maybe not everybody. months later, d.a. lewin got a call from the prison about bill bradford. >> they tell me his cell made

came forward and said bradford's angry at you and talking about making plans to murder you and your family. >> of course, in lewin's line of work, idol threats were not news but bill bradford seemed as cold blooded as they come. so, he went to talk to the informant. usually they want time offer their sentence or something? >> absolutely. >> not this guy? >> nothing. one of the first things i asked is why are you coming forward? and he said i hate the guy. i couldn't believe how he would talk about his wife and how he killed her. and now he's >> lewin polygraphs the informant. he passed and then add add warning. >> that bradford said he thought

he was going to get out quickly on appeal. and either himself or somebody else, he was going to blow my family's heads off in front of me so that i could suffer. i knew when he took it seriously, that it was a credible threat. >> but then bradford lost all his appeal and gradually he stopped looking over his shoulder. he went on to prosecute many more circumstantial cases, including many more. the bradford case faded away, until 15 years later, falloff 2017. >> i come home from work and my husband says you have a letter from department of corrections. and i went, okay. it's one of two things. he died. or parole. i open it up. he's still alive.

>> so, option number two. his parole hearing at the prison was coming up, which meant bill bradford, who once allegedly threatened to murder the d.a. and his family could very soon be back on the street. coming up, >> i made a promise to myself that i would speak with my mom. i went to the parole. >> a decision. >> i was stunned. >> but is it final? >> this is a very bright man. he has resources and motivation. >> when will he stop being dangerous? >> being dangerous? >> when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums

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. the california health care facility, but don't be fooled by the name. this is indeed a prison. and home to bill bradford, who, by 2018, had been in prison 16

years. which meant he was up for parole. that january, two of bradford's children travelled to the prison for the hearing. >> i promised myself i would speak for my mom. i went to the patrol. >> what was it like to see him there? >> in my head my father had not changed. he was going to be tall, physically fit, healthy man. >> what did you see instead? >> none of that. i saw a man who has not aged well in the last 15 years. he needs a walker to get around. they went through a long list of the other health problems he had. >> reporter: deputy lewin went too, with memories of death threats all too fresh in his mind. >> i understand law is a law.

this man is threat to me, a threat, more importantly, to my family. this is not personal in terms of a vendetta or being right. this is about public safety and protecting those of us who sacrificed a lot to do the jobs we do, whether you're police officers or prosecutors or judges. >> cameras weren't allowed as they began asking bradford about the brutal murder he committed. >> for the first time in 30 years, i heard my father admit to killing my mom. >> what was that like to hear? >> honestly, i think my brother and i were so shocked that he admitted, that we were both just speechless. >> he has a chance to get parole? >> yes, he did. however, the way he went about admitting it was very unique. he asked where is joan, your ex-wife now? he goes wait, is that the woman

i shot? and the commissioner stops and says do you tell us? did you tell your ex-wife? yes, i did. >> why? >> i don't remember. >> appears to have dementia of some sort? >> yeah. >> bradford's attorney said dementia and other health problems were getting worse and that john lewin has nothing to fear from a frail old man. >> mr. bradford isn't connected to the mob or the mexican mafia or any prison gang. and quite frankly, he didn't know who john lewin was. didn't know him, didn't remember his name. >> how do you know him? >> it was just parent. he is not a threat the way he is. >> the prison's own psychologist

came back with a rating. he came back with a moderate risk. >> the issue your commissioners are trying to focus on and wanted you to focus on is he's not capable of harming you anymore. >> his mind is very clear. the man knew, was able to recite numerous different issues. >> lewin says he thinks what the defense attorney calls dementia is a severe case of selective memory. >> he denied remembering what he had done or me. he had selective amnesia regarding this whole eventd. so, the idea he's helpless and doesn't have the capability to harm me and my family is absurd. >> when will he stop being dangerous to you? >> when he's dead. >> and they urged commissioners to keep their dad locked up. >> i had to explain what i was concerned about for safety, not only to myself, but to the

general population. >> for several hours, they questioned bradford and listened to lewin and the family and tried to determine if he was a risk or releasable. then they went the chambers to makeup their minds and later that afternoon, they were called in and were told >> the question about whether or not mr. bradford poses a current threat, the answer was no. >> no threat meant yes to parole. bill bradford would be released. >> i was furious and i said if something happens to my family, the blood is on your hands and you will own this. >> when bradford's children got the news, those old fears about their father suddenly returned. >> i was stunned.

i couldn't believe they would turn around and say he's not a risk. >> would i be a fool to say we're perfectly safe? no. my father killed once. >> the commissioner tying bradford's release for february 2019. by then, he would be in his mid-80s, more than 30 years removed from when he pulled the trigger. could he really do it again? >> this is a very bright young man. he has resources, and he has motivation. it takes very little to find out where my family is. all he needs is a gun and an uber. >> this is an 85-year-old guy on mission. if he's able to command his witsz, then we have a problem, because he's able to command his witz. we have not done something that has lessened his anger. >> there was one more step before his release. california's then governor, jerry brown, could review the decision.

and could reverse it. to keep him in prison. the l.a. county d.a.'s office wrote a letter to the governor, urging him to do just that. so did bradford's family. >> i wrote a letter, my brother wrote a letter, and i had two senators. actually cosign a letter. >> lewin acted too, trying to persuade the governor locked up? >> he's trying to even it before he dies? >> then a week after memorial day 2018, came this letter from governor brown. the evidence shows that he, meaning bradford currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison. therefore, i reverse the decision to release mr. bradford from prison. >> a lot of shock and relief 7 347. >> that relief would be

temporary. at his next hearing, bill bradford was granted parole. >> i'm not going to have them playing russian rue let with the safety of my family. i work every day trying to protect the safety of my family. i don't think it's too much to ask that those who threaten to execute me and my family, that they're incarcerated where they can't do damage. >> this time his fate in the hands of current governor, gavin newsom. >> i don't know what this governor's going to do. i'm hopeful he is going to undue this really absolutely indefensible grant to parole. >> newsom agreed. and in november 2019, the parole board's decision was again reversed. so, bill bradford remains behind bars. and the mighty columbia rolls by a little cemetery, where a woman

who loved life and her children and put up with a difficult husband is at paesz. peace. ♪ this is "dateline." ♪ how do you explain why your case has become so important? >> this is the same thing that thousands of minorities are going through. they just don't have anybody to speak on their behalf. >> now they do? >> yeah, now they do. >> rap star, #symbol, meek mill inspired a movement. >> he's been wronged by the criminal justice system for a decade now.