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it's a striking colonial house deep in the countryside outside nashville, tennessee. and in 2010 this was where lou castro's houseful lived. there was lou, his fiance, and their daughter. emily was there too. and other commune members. based on information sarah's boyfriend daniel had supplied to the three determined investigators, the fbi was now bird-dogging the property. but inside emily and the other occupants were oblivious p. >> so tennessee the house looks very nice. you weren't happy about leaving your classmates and your life in wichita but were you pleased at what the prospects were for you in tennessee? >> i was. it was really hard going to school there and things but i just started focusing on getting to college and things like that. >> emily recalls there had been so many changes and one change in particular was unusual. lou's name. lou now wanted to be called joe.

>> how did he explain that to you, i'm not going to be lou, don't call me lou over here anymore? >> i think because he didn't have the proper identification like to actually legitimately establish as lou. so he needed like an actual social security card and an actual driver's license. >> reporter: investigators back in wichita found out that lou was now going by the name joe. they believed he had committed identity fraud, which gave them what they needed to make an arrest. >> we went to the front of the residence, knocked on the door. mr. castro and his common law wife answered the door. >> we actually apoached him as joe vinegas. we called him joe vinegas to his face and he corrected us and said he was not joe vinegas but he was in fact lou castro. he went back to his old identity. >> was he shaky to see law enforcement at his front door? >> i thnt think so. >> he was confident he was going to be able to explain away why

we were there. >> the officers arrested him, charged him and searched the property. >> what did you find in the house? >> normal things. we found paper documents. we found computers. we found 1 1 weapons, guns insie the house. >> any smoking guns? >> no. >> emily had been on her way home from school when she got a call from detective goodwin. >> and he said emily, where are you? i said i don't know who you are. he said i'm detective goodwin, where are you? he said you need to come home. >> first time you heard that name, goodwin, huh? >> mm-hmm. i showed up and goodwin and sullivan came out, and i just about fainted. goodwin had to practically carry me into the house. because i was terrified. >> what did they tell you it was all about? >> i don't remember. i remember i didn't tell them anything. >> lou himself was continuing to confound the officers by not giving up his real name. >> we're very frustrated at that point. we swept him away to the jail as fast as possible.

we wanted his fingerprints immediately. we wanted to know who he was. and that didn't occur. >> castro's fingerprints didn't show up in any federal data base, and even after a six-hour interview he didn't crack. >> so after the search warrant, after the tennessee trip we came back to wichita partly happy because we had arrested lou castro but we still didn't know who he was at that point. >> so when castro pleaded guilty to i.d. fraud and was sentence to two years in federal prison, goodwin believed that was just a ploy to avoid more serious charges, really serious crimes over many years. and he was determined to get to the truth. seven years after opening up his investigation into angels landing he set off to the place he believed lou castro's criminal journey began and at last found castro's true identity. coming up -- the discovery that would break the case wide open. >> i snatch it out of his hands

and said where did you get that? >> and then emily makes a troubling discovery about lou. >> that was the price of being his little princess. >> when "angels and demons" continues. >> when "angels and demons" continues. in a highly capable lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2020 nx 300 for $339 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin.

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the nemesis of detective ron goodwin, a man who called himself lou castro but would not give up his real name, was behind bars after confessing to i.d. fraud. he but even after seven years of investigating goodwin was just getting started. he believed castro was involved in heavy-duty stuff, maybe even those mysterious deaths, the plane crash that killed mona her boyfriend and her daughter lindsay. the death of brian hughes under a collapsed vehicle. that inexplicable head-on tragedy in which sarah and emily's mom jennifer died. and trish hughes's drowning. as the investigators called everyone with links to castro, the phone trail took goodwin to south texas. >> it took us to south texas because patricia hughes, the victim in the drowning, was from beeville, texas. >> goode wynne quelled trisha's

family. and her sister recalled trisha had gone with a guy way back when. >> a guy by the name of daniel perez. had you ever heard that name? >> no, i'd never heard that name. >> daniel perez. goodwin immediately contacted the local authorities and it turned out there was a record of a daniel perez. and a mugshot. >> they faxed that to me that day. >> i remember when ron finally got the fax from texas and i snatched it out of his hands and said where did you get that? it was obvious that it was the person we knew as lou castro but now of course we knew he was daniel perez. >> we've got our guy here. >> yes. >> lou castro was daniel perez. born in aransis pass, texas in 1959. the record showed daniel perez had pleaded no contest to two sex crimes in the mid 1990s. but the cases had been dismissed because he was believed to be dead. >> and the person in south text ex-believed to be dead for many years wasn't dead because you saw him in wichita, you'd seen

him driving his corvettes. >> that's right. >> so he was on the lam. >> he was on the lam. >> in kansas and tennessee interviews with the angel's landing commune helped goodwin connect the dots between six states and more than a dozen commune members over a period of about 15 years. and something else happened. emily wrote a letter to lou while he was serving time for i.d. fraud. >> i said i'm finally going where i want to go and i'm doing the things i want to do. he wrote me back and chewed me out for not caring about him. >> that was the price of being his little princess. >> i was saying that i was happy. and he took that as a slap in the face. and i stopped talking to him. >> instead emily started talking to the investigators. but warily. she and sarah trickled out their stories, fearful they too might be implicated in whatever goodwin suspected. >> it took a lot of questioning and lots of tears.

and lots of detective goodwin telling me it was going to be all right and that that i wasn't in trouble. >> sarah and emily's whole terrifying saga began when emily was 17 sxemly just 10. a supernatural world began tome engineer soon after their mom got to know the man they called lou in 2001 as they prepared to move into angel's landing. >> mom said emily, just -- i think sarah was in the car too, but she said does lou seem kind of special to you? and i was like, he's pretty nice. she's like, well, he's actually a seer. >> a seer. >> a seer. mom said that he had told her that he was hundreds or thousands of years old and that he could see what was going to happen in the future and that the reason we followed him was that she just had that instinct and knew she wanted to be close to him because he could protect

her and keep her safe. >> did you believe it? >> i was a little skeptical at first, but i think when you're 9 or 10 and your mom says this is really what's happening you give it a little bit more credibil y credibility. >> and it wasn't just emily and sarah's mom. others at angel's landing believed lou was a direct descendant of geronimo are and had the power to make it rain and bring good health to those at death's door. >> trisha told me about similar incidents where either lou had been dead or an animal had been dead or somebody had been really sick and he made them better. >> did you believe it? >> yes. he could also see people like from the past. like people had already died. he could see those people too. >> see them because he said he was an angel. >> lou said your mom is right, i am hundreds of years old, this isn't really my body. you know i've died several times

but this is just the one i'm in right now. >> what did you think? >> it seemed really cool. it was like being so special and being around this thing nobody else gets to do. >> your very own angel. >> yeah. it's like seeing santa claus. you get really excited when you're 10 years old. he was telling us he would take care of us, he would always make sure we were safe. >> but safety meant lou needed control. >> he was the one that told everybody what they were going to do and when they were going to do it, how they were going to do that. >> really bossy guy, my way or the highway kind of thing? >> kind of. he was very good at like manipulating you i guess you could say. >> was your mom vulnerable, do you think? he seemed to know where people's buttons were. >> yes. very much so. >> he's stepping in like the boss, huh? >> yeah. he acted like he was my dad. >> what do you think that thing was that he put together that you got pulled into, sarah?

>> a cult. >> a cult. and the guy you knew only as lou castro was the cult leader. >> yes. >> what is that thing that he had? did you feel that power? >> yeah. >> he could say crazy things and you'd think he's telling the truth? >> yeah. >> detective ron goodwin was incredulous listening to all of this. but nothing could have prepared him for what came next. lou castro the seer had three angel alter egos. >> they were always watching over him. daniel, amber, and arthur. >> like arthur was mean. and daniel was kinder. >> but you didn't want to meet either of these personalities? >> no. >> amber was the angel of death. so she would come around when someone was going to die. >> he could see who was going to die? that's something he said was in his powers? >> right. >> did you ever see that personality in him? >> i did. >> when amber had sort of taken over him, how was he different? >> you know in movies like the

best one that i can think of is "the dark knight" when heath ledger's the joker and he just has that terrible grin on his face, he cocks his head to the side and just has these bug eyes. lou would do all that. he wouldn't blink. he would get this terrible grin. he would grin at your pain. things like that that just looked evil. >> sisters say before their mom's death castro had a terrifying vision. >> he predicted that my mom was going to die. >> how'd you feel about this? >> devastated. >> it was awful. >> the outlandish stories were shocking to ron goodwin, a seasoned detective, who was about to discover more about lou castro's power over life and death. emily was about to take the detective back to that summer day in 2003 when trish hughes drowned in the swimming pool at angel's landing.

>> and her story is that trish hughes is not an accidental drowning. >> that's right. >> coming up -- what emily heard. >> a splash. a little scream. like a shriek. >> and then what emily saw. >> i lost it. >> when "angels & demons" continues. "angels & demons" continues. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com. it's very common to havehave sensitivity a gum health concern as well. you know, i talk to dentists every day and they're able to recommend new sensodyne sensitivity & gum. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions.

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approaching 10,000 deaths from the virus. top democrats and members of the trump administration are expected to continue negotiations after supplemental jobless benefits expire this weekend. white house chief of staff mark meadows says we shouldn't expect a deal anytime soon. now back to "dateline." detective ron goodwin was scarcely able to take in the story of the cult and the occult at angel's landing. sisters emily and sarah recounted that lou castro, whose real name was daniel perez, had brainwashed them into believing that he was a seer and that he took on the personalities of dark manipulative angels who could predict someone's death. they said they believed it really happened. aeight months after castro's arrest emily at last took the detective back to 2003 and the tragic death of trish hughes. this was a different story than the one she told at the time,

back when she was 11. and it began with a prediction eerily similar to the one lou castro made before her mom's death in 2008. >> she tells of an incident prior to patricia hughes' drowning in the swimming pool. >> about a week before trisha's death emily, trisha's toddler and trish herself, were sitting at a table when lou castro the seer, as the 11-year-old emily believed him to be, had a vision. >> and he said emily, something really big's going to happen. and he said trish is going to die. and i started crying. he said, it's okay. it's her time. >> she says castro told her not to worry. while he couldn't be there when trish died because it would destroy his power as a seer, he would still bring trish back to life. >> and you know, this -- she'll come back. >> do i understand that trish is listening in on all this? >> right. >> she's hearing this described. >> yes. >> is she startled? does she say not me, i'm not going along with this? >> no.

she was quite involved. >> on the appointed day the angel's landing family had gone out to lunch. >> we had just gotten back from lunch, and he said all right, we're going to go to the dealership to look at a car. i think it was for sarah, but i don't remember. and he said but the pool needs to be cleaned so you and trish are going to stay here and clean it. >> you're going to stay here and clean the pool. >> yep. and he said emily, it's time. and i said okay. >> she says lou began to set up the cleaning equipment for the pool a few feet away from the workshop. >> he said you're going to wait inside the shop with the little one. i said okay. so i gave trish a hug. on the diving board. and i started crying. and she said why are you crying? i said because i'm going to miss you. and she said it'll be okay. >> then emily took theed to lerks waited inside the workshop where there were some new kittens. >> a few minutes go by and there's a splash. there's a little scream. >> little bit of a scream.

>> mm-hmm. like a shriek. and then lou came in. and he was panting, or out of breath. and he looked sad. and his arms were wet. >> reporter: then she says lou gave emily a critical order. >> wait 20 minutes and then go out there. make sure you and the baby jump in so that you're wet and call 911. so we went and we played with the kittens in the shop, and i waited. it was an agonizing 20 minutes. >> trying to entertain the little girl and -- >> knowing that trish was outside. >> time goes by, you leave the shed, go over to the pool? >> we went to the pool. trish was floating in the shallow end of the pool face down. so i got the baby and i jumped in 37. >> just to get yourself wet. >> yeah. >> because there was a story that had been fed you.

>> right. >> that you had attempted to rescue the baby. >> right. >> how awful. there you're seeing trish floe floating dead in the pool. >> i lost it. >> even so emily called 911, just as she'd been ordered by castro, and told the story trish had slipped while trying to rescue the baby, had banged her head and drowned. and in the crucial 20-minute window lou had apparently taken emily's sister sarah to the car dealership. >> did he give you a hint of what was going on that day, sarah? >> no. >> what do you believe lou did at the pool that day? >> i believe he drowned trish. >> not an accident at all. >> no. >> pushed her head under the water and killed her. >> yes. >> detective ron goodwin believed both sarah and emily had been horribly duped. emily told the detective castro shored up his alibi with more hocus-pocus. telling her that with his powers as a he had put her in a time warp, convincing her for many years that she wasn't even at the pool when trish drowned. so innocent 11-year-old emily

waited and waited for lou to bring trish back to life. but she was gone. and for years her death remained an accidental drowning. >> i know that it was because of the story i was told. and there's a lot of regrelt that goes along with nap. >> but you're not to blame for this. you do get, that right? >> trying to come to terms. >> goodwin was now grasping the full extent of castro's hold over emily at angel's landing. >> control he had over her was unlimited. she would do anything for him. she truly believed that he was this person. >> and with emily's story he had the evidence he'd been seeking for so many years of castro's grievous crimes. >> so now based on this little girl's story, young woman but telling the story, what she saw and took part in as a little girl's, you've got a murder case. >> yes. >> but as if murder wasn't enough, emily and sarah had more to tell. there were more crimes to reveal. even more ugly stuff.

sarah and emily were about to take the investigators into their truly diabolical world. coming up -- the dark truth at the heart of angel's landing. >> emily, here's the really difficult part of your story. and i'll let you tell as little or as much of it as you like. >> when "angels & demons" continues. continues. because nothing should come between two best friends. feel the clarity, and live claritin clear.

♪ emily, here's the really difficult part of your story. i'm going to let you tell as little or as much of it as you want but you seemed to be right away to be sharing the bedroom with lou. >> i was. >> as a fourth-grader? >> i was. i was 10. >> 10 years old.

>> yes. and i was in his bed every night. he convinced me this is what i needed to do o'take care of him and this is my job. >> why did he say he needed you? >> he said that for a seer he needed to have a pure little girl to have sex with him so that he could survive. >> and that would recharge his batteries as the angel that was hundreds, maybe thousands of years old? >> right. and he would validate it with old biblical stories or things like that about how little girls are special and that he really needed a little girl and that i had to take care of him. >> did you think it was wrong or out of line at the time? >> no. i wanted to take care of him. that's what i was supposed to do. it's hard to explain. but i loved lou. i loved him quite a bit. and so i did it. it was uncomfortable and it was painful. and it breaks my heart now.

it's really hard for me to look at pictures of myself when i was little. but -- >> your childhood was stolen from you by this man. >> it was. >> even when castro got engaged and had a child, the abuse didn't stop, though emily was pushed out of the bedroom. >> crazy to say, were you a little bit kjaellous? . >> i was. i definitely was. i was 12 and i felt like i was getting divorced. >> for sarah the reality was not dissimilar. she too was subjected to castro's mind games as she says he so the to control her. >> like trying to drive a wedge between my sister and i. >> were you jealous of emily? >> mm-hmm. he tried to make me jealous of her, yes. >> and she says castro was more violent with her than he was with her sister. >> if you didn't follow lou's way, what would happen? >> he would rape me. >> rape you? >> mm-hmm.

>> how awful. >> i mean, there are hundreds of -- hundreds and hundreds of times, and i can't tell you every single time. but you try not to remember those things. >> how old were you when it began? >> 17. >> castro's abuse was backed up by demonic threats if the girls didn't obey him. >> he told me he was going to take me to purgatory. >> he would threaten to take people to purgatory so they'd be forever in limbo. but -- >> and that was his capacity and skills as an angel to take your soul to purgatory? >> right. it's important to remember that he -- lou would never make these threats. it was the angels who were inhabiting his body who would make these threats. so the next morning he'd wake up and he'd be like "mama, i love you, i'm so sorry." really? >> now, where's your mom when all this is going on? >> it was like usually really late at night.

and so she would be sleeping in her house. >> because by then there were two or three different properties, huh? >> yeah. >> and what about all the other adults? >> there's brian, there's trisha. people coming and going, people going to the pool parties and maybe seeing things. nobody intervened. >> nobody saw it. i think that's really important, is that nobody saw the abuse. and i've spoken to people who are there and i guarantee you nobody knew. he was very careful. i never had a bruise. >> except psychologically. >> right. and i was always with him. so it wouldn't be weird for us to disappear for an hour or two. you know. nobody knew. >> but castro didn't just manipulate the girls for sex. he ordered sarah secretly to videotape a young child in a bathroom. orders backed up with the most sadistic of threats. >> and was he happy with what you showed him?

>> no. he made me do it twice because the first time he said that i didn't get what he needed me to get. >> if you had said no, i'm not going to take that video camera, i'm not going to go with that little girl, what woe have done to you, do you think? >> he'd say i'm going to make your worst nightmare come true, i'm going to kill your dad. >> it was the same reason she never told her dad about the abuse. >> he was always threatening to kill my dad. >> and that was his big go-to thing with you. >> xwrep because i'm a daddy's girl. >> and he knew that. >> mm-hmm. >> she says the acute fear castro instilled in her was even worse when he'd been drinking. one evening he was brandishing an assault rifle. >> he shot a gun at my head. >> at you. >> yes. because he was angry with me. >> he enjoyed the pain. he enjoyed making people miserable. and making people terrified. he enjoyed it. >> but so great was castro's

power that leaving didn't seem to be an option for the young girl. >> you didn't have any money and a plan b or anything but you did have your -- you did have your dad back home. >> i think that that's a pretty common thing for people in these types of situations, that everybody says, well, you could have left then and you could have left then. but that didn't seem like a possibility. the thought of leaving was scarier than the thought of staying. the scary part is what if he's right, i am useless? what if he's right, nobody will love me? what if he's right and he is a seer? >> and does have an avenging angel. >> right. >> will come get you. >> right. and that's scarier. >> and you believed that might happen. >> i did. and i know i physically could have now. but i never once thought about leaving. i thought about killing myself, but i didn't think about leaving. >> how do you get over that? >> you don't. i have ptsd. >> i'm not at all surprised.

>> ron goodwin-a gagood goodwine was hearing, believed he was hearing of crimes that could see lou castro, aka daniel perez, in prison for a very long time. >> he's a sexual predator who's willing to do anything to get his way and do what he wants to do, live life like he wants to live. he will stop at nothing, including, you know, murder and rape. and he didn't stop at anything to get what he wanted. >> after the investigators presented all their evidence to the d.a., they waited until castro had completed his two-year federal prison sentence. then they immediately rearrested him and he ended up being chafrnl charged with 28 counts. first-degree murder, child exploitation, as well as multiple counts of sexual crimes and fraud. kansas versus daniel perez was heading to the court. as witnessed filed into the courtroom, the investigators wondered if their star witness,

emily, perhaps still so vulnerable, would hold up when she saw the man she knew as lou castro sitting before her. >> how much guts, how much courage did this young woman have? >> i can't imagine what it took for her to get to that point where she is ready to do that. >> this is a guy she had seen brandishing guns, right? >> yes. >> around the family compound. >> yes. >> making physical, verbal threats. >> yes. >> and now she's going to take him on. >> yes. >> and she understands this. >> she does. >> coming up -- despite all the evidence, at least one part of this case may not be a slam dunk. >> this was the only count that had the testimony of one individual. so yes, it was the most difficult to prove. >> and later, face to face with the man accused of being the evil heart of angel's landing. when "angels & demons" continues. angels & demons" continues.

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the sedgwick county district court in wichita, kansas. >> you must determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. >> daniel perez, aka lou castro, went on trial. he was charged with the first-degree murder of trish hughes, with sexual crimes including child exploitation and fraud. eventually, 28 counts in all. there were no charges in any of the other mysterious deaths. emily and sarah would both

testify, though at the time not yet wanting to make public their identities, and they would face down the accused who controlled them both for so many years. >> i can't imagine how antsy you must have been walking into that courtroom. >> right. >> because the case really depends on you. >> right. all i could think about was how are they going to believe me? you know, this is such a crazy story. what if they don't believe me? >> the state, mr. bennett and i will ask you to hold him responsible and find him guilty. >> district attorney mark bennett and assistant d.a. kim parker prosecuted this sprawling case. >> were you worried about even explaining this thing to a jury about what it was all about? >> we had our facts from across several states, facts that involved a multitude of victims and witnesses. >> this woos like an imax movie, and you went with that epic version of the daniel perez story. why did you do it? >> you can't understand it otherwise. if you can't tell the whole

story, the jury would be lost. >> the prosecution had won a key ruling before trial when judge joseph bribiesca allowed evidence from beyond kansas to be entered. so criminal accusation that's goodw goodwin, snyder and sullivan had uncovered from texas through the midwest, would be heard by the jury. >> an individual by the name of patricia hughes had died. >> on the big one, the murder charge, the d.a.s alleged that even though trish hughes might have been a willing participant in her oefrn own death it was nonetheless perez who held her head underwater. >> the primary distinction between homicide and suicide is suicide is at your own hand. literally in this case homicide, the hand of another. his hand was necessary to complete this act. >> there was circumstantial evidence presented to prove the charge. and the star testimony of only one witness. emily, 11 years old at the time of trish's death. >> was this the weakest part of the case, the one you really had to work the most on? >> this was the only count that

had the testimony of one individual. so yes, it was the most difficult to prove. >> i kept thinking no one is going to really think it's as bad as it was. no one's going to think he should serve life in prison. >> beyond emily's account, the prosecution put on an expert witness to testify to the small bruises seen on the top of trish's head. consistent with finger pressure, he said. likewise the broken hair clip found on the pool bottom got there not because trish stumbled but because someone pressed on the top of her head as she was held underwater. moving on, the next big charge, the exploitation of a child, carried a life sentence. this was the incident in which sarah accused perez of forcing her to videotape a young girl as she got undressed. >> how did it feel to see him in court right there? >> it was terrifying. i felt like he was going to jump across the table and get me. >> even then? >> mm-hmm. so i tried my best just to not

even look at him. and then my dad was on one side of the room and kim, she was over there. so i had plenty of other people i could look at. >> but you were still shaky scared. >> oh, yes. >> the d.a.s alleged perez had ordered sarah to take videos of the child at least twice p. >> we found all this vid yoent compute video on the computer in tennessee. >> among the other charges, sarah emily and one other witness testified about the same sexual assault that took place one evening. >> all three independently described that this event happened. so right off the bat that was important. >> it was surreal. and terrifying. to sit before 12 people that i didn't know and tell them all of these terrible things and terribly graphic detail that had happened when i was 10. >> and there were more witnesses. another four young women from three states. alleged victims unaware of one another agreeing that lou castro

claimed malevolent angels were controlling him as he assaulted them sexually. >> so the m.o. of -- >> yes. >> -- attacking his victims was similar. didn't know each other of course. >> thousands of miles apart. >> and their story is essentially the same. >> but it was the fraud charges that revealed the big picture of what daniel perez and angel's landing were ultimately all about. you didn't have to go very far down the paper trial before you realized that perez signed nothing. the car loans, the mortgage applications, all filled out by his followers. the prosecutors said he manipulated the family members into using their own names to buy all that real estate and the lavish toys. and it got worse. it turned out that trish, mona, and lindsey, who died in the plane crash, brian hughes, the mechanic who was killed under a collapsed vehicle, and emily and sarah's mother, who died in a car crash, all had two things in common. daniel perez had predicted each

of their deaths. and each had juicy life insurance policies. payouts totaling $4.2 million were made to commune members perez controlled. >> it seemed whenever the coffers were running low someone would die and there would be a big insurance payoff. was it that boldface ad a patte, mark? >> oh, yeah. you'd get down to less than so,000 in the act, sometimes less than $5,000, that was the time someone was going to die. >> with the explanation the d.a. summed up their case against 55-year-old daniel perez. >> it's a story of domination, control, and manipulation of the most vulnerable. it spans 15 years, multiple victims, multiple deaths, multiple life insurance policies. and he moves through several states so that he can satisfy his own sexual appetite. >> we call daniel perez. >> daniel perez was about to take the stand and tell the court that it had all been a big

misunderstanding. next, you'll hear him speak directly to us. coming up -- >> mr. perez, i've heard you described as cult leader, child rapist. who are you? u? ♪ we see you. doing your part by looking out...for all of us. and though you may have lost sight of your own well-being, aetna never did. by setting up virtual monitoring for chronic patients, 24-hour telemedicine visits, and mental health resources for everyone. we're always here to help you focus on your health. because it's always, time for care. ♪

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for years he had traveled through texas and the midwest, going by the name lou castro. in tennessee he was joe vinegas. >> you do solemnly swear the testimony you're about to giver will be the truth -- >> now as he faced charges of first-degree murder, child exploitation, sex crimes and fraud, he took the stand in his own defense. this time in his real name. >> daniel perez. >> perez told the court that everything about his story had been invented by the prosecution. there were no angels, no demons, no sexual crimes, no insurance fraud, and certainly no murder. perez sat down with "dateline" and we went over the points of his defense. >> i've heard you described as cult leader, child rapist, someone that's very good to have off the streets. who are you? >> i'm no one in particular. i'm just -- i'm just me. >> do you think you can see into

the future? are you a prophet? a seer? >> no, sir. >> why are you telling people you can? >> i never told them anything. >> who are your angel alter egos? are they still around? the good angel, the mean angel, the angel of death. >> there's no such thing. they weren't alter egos. if i was having sex with somebody i don't want someone else calling me by any name. so you can kael me anything you want to call me just don't call me lou. that's what they chose, that's what they did. >> explaining his wealth he says after being charged with sex crimes in the mid '90s he left texas not because he was fleeing the authorities but because he was on an illicit job, something he never revealed to investigators or in court. >> that was just a meal. i was just moving money. that's it. i delivered money, and i got paid for it. >> is this illegal money? >> yes, sir. >> you've still got the money? >> yes, sir. >> what are you worth? >> i don't know. >> half a million? >> probably close. >> as to the alleged murder of

trish hughes in the swimming pool, did he sit emily and trish down at a table and predict trish's death? >> did you tell her her time had come? did you tell little emily that trish's time had come? >> no. no. >> and have that little girl set up an alibi for you to be out at the car dealership should. >> no, sir. >> so you're saying they made up all that stuff about trisha in the pool? >> no. i was not there. i was at davis moore chevrolet. >> well, there's no question you were at the car dealership later on. key question it wasn't your hand on trisha hughes's head pushing her beneath the water killing he her. >> neobody killed patricia hughes. >> here's the thing. when investigators look at you, bad things happen to people that know you, but there's a big infusion of insurance money in. let's go back to the plane skent. did you rig that plane to crash and killed those three people? >> no, sir. >> years go by and then it's tris trisha's time in the pool. a few more years go by and it's brian, the husband, trapped underneath a ar. >> yes, he passed away in south

dakota. >> passed away. did you have anything to do with the death of brian hughes? >> no, sir. >> did you play mind games with jennifer to drive into that truck? >> no, sir. i had nothing to do with anyone's death. >> what about the instructions 'lemgdly gave sarah with the videocamera? >> you didn't order somebody to take these obscene naked pictures of this little girl? >> no. they found the pictures and the videos on her computer, not mine. has anyone considered the fact that she is the one that was doing it? >> are you a pedophile? >> no, sir. >> do you have an appetite for little girls? >> no, sir. >> so raping the 11-year-old never happened? >> no. >> that's the allegation. >> it is. but i'm not. >> thing that you get up for in the morning is do drive your gla flashy cars around and look forward to raping a young girl. that's what you're about. >> that's the picture that's come together but that's not the reality. >> sarah says that you raped her hundreds of sometimes. hundreds. >> no. >> that's what she testifies to in court. >> yes, she did. >> that makes me a monster. >> yes, it would.

it would make anyone a monster. >> but you're saying you didn't do it? >> no. no. they were of age and they were of willing and consent. we were just -- just having fun. >> the stories that come out from these people that used to be in your family is that you were manipulating them, you were going to go kill their father, they felt absolutely terrorized by you. >> and one of them was dating the police officer. we have police officers, law enforcement that hang out at the ranch for at least eight years. it's not logical. how are you going to sit there and be raping an individual and that individual is not going to run to a police officer standing right there and say listen, this is taking place? you know. >> prosecution is going to put together a story you are a very unlucky guy with all of these people dying every few years and a lot of money coming into the family. how do you explain that kind of pattern? that circumstantial pattern they say is your criminal enterprise.

>> i mean, i can't explain. i can't explain it. >> you were a cult leader? >> no. there was no commune. there was no cult. >> and that's in essence what daniel perez told the jury. the state had it all wrong. top to bottom. the jury got the case and retired to deliberate. in about three hours it was back with a verdict. judge joseph b richlt biesca read it to the court. >> count 1, guilty of murder in the first degree. >> daniel perez was found guilty on all 28 counts. >> tell me about the moment. this has been years of your life. >> it was just like it was surreal at the time. when i heard the first count of first-degree murder read as a guilty verdict, that's almost all i heard. >> then you heard that word again and again and again. 28 times. >> 28 times. >> and the following month, in march of 2015, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. for the first-degree murder of trish hughes and for the exploitation of a child.

>> the evidence conclusive shows that mr. perez used people as mere objects. >> he received another 33 years for the other charges. the 55-year-old would not be eligible for parole for more than 80 years. those who feet the pain of loss speculate perez might have been involved in the other deaths like the car crash in which emily and sarah's mom had died. >> do you think there's more to it than a simple road accident, sarah? >> probably. >> or that plane crash in which cody's mom and sister were lost. perez was a car mechanic in the navy. >> he did it. way, somehow he found a way to alter the aircraft. >> you do believe. >> in my heart i do. >> you don't have any evidence to say that. >> i can't prove anything. >> his heart goes out to emily and sarah. >> i lost my mom and sister. but those girls lost -- i can't

even imagine. >> so who is daniel perez? >> he used so many different storiesce them together. >> he's just a guy from south texas. >> right. >> telling stories. >> right. >> buying toys. >> right. >> destroying lives. >> yeah. >> for what reason? >> he liked it. he realize d that if he could find a way to generate capital without having to work he could have access to whatever sorts of things his heart desired. things including me and my sister. >> in the end it was tenacity and old-fashioned doggedness that took perez down. >> give an atta boy for detective goodwin outside your fence all those years trying to figure it out? >> yeah. i would not have my life back if it wasn't for detective goodwin and detective snyder and

supervisory special agent sullivan. and mr. bennett and miss parker. it's the d.a.s. it is amazing what they have given me. >> the last time we sat down with sarah and emily, they were trying to move on but still reflecting on the shocking abuse. >> and your mother knew nothing about all of this, do you think? >> now looking back, i think she had to have known. >> you'd think. >> but she must have lost her mind. there's no way that my mom would allow that to happen to her children. >> does it feel over or is it still going on for you, sarah? >> part of it is over. >> just part? the part of being under his thumb? >> in a way that's over. but i'll never get my mom back. i'll never get those years back

that i lost with my dad and with my sister. those are gone forever. >> your mom must have been in a very bad place right before she died there. >> now looking back i think she was, yes. >> the sisters are closer than ever. and closer to their dad too, who was anguished when he heard his daughters' stories for the first time. >> there are many, many times my dad could have given up on me and he never gave up on me. he cried. and he wanted to know why i never told him. >> because in your mind you were protecting him. >> mm-hmm. >> you were keeping him from the demon. >> sarah is now married to daniel and still lives in wichita. emily got married too. both sisters want to help others through their story. >> i think that there are people out there experiencing similar things that i did, being manipulated and being abused who are scared to leave. >> those people might not have a

good one ultimately looking out for them and riding up with the white hat and the posse. >> but there are white hats out there. there are. there are a lot of people who care. maybe i can help somebody. or at least i want to. i think i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline.">> i'. the fear was terrible. i can't even describe it. it's a surreal thing. people thought i was dead. >> the attack sudden, savage. >> i saw a man standing there. >> i heard multiple shots. >> the wife, the only witness. >> the only thing i could see was his eyes.