i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> the she was just so beautiful. >> they found each other. >> we said that's it. >> she said it's like living in a postcard. >> a picture perfect life until she disappeared. >> i imagine you were calling, leaving messages. >> calling, and we started

wondering. >> i called her best friend and said did she meet somebody? did she have a man that i don't know about? >> where did she go and why did someone new own her slice of paradise? >> he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." adventurous americans thought they had found paradise, good times, a relaxed lifestyle. a place where people didn't ask a lot of questions about their neighbors until those neighbors started to disappear. here is kate snow with stealing paradise.

>> quilt the rat race, buy your own private island. >> she wanted to travel. >> she would just take a picture of the sunset, send it to me. she said it's like living in a postcard. >> life was beautiful, an escape from the pressures of modern living. >> who could have known that evil could find a place in paradise, too, that beneath that beauty, there was a dark secret. >> it still seems very unreal. i don't want tight be, but -- >> this is a really, really bad guy. >> just chills down my spine. >> but before the nightmare came the dream.

>> it was love at first sight. what's more, it was affordable for the same money cher has been saving up to sail around the world, she bought her little piece of paradise, a rental property, a small house, and that tiny round island. >> we saw the lump in the water and said that's it. that will be our spot for the rest of our lives. >> cher and keith met seven years before that when the vivacious blonde walked into a little bar keith owned in florida. >> came in and those big blue eyes and a big smile. i was hooked. she was just so beautiful. >> cher grew up in st. louis where her all-american good looks got her into modelling as a teenager.

>> she walked into a room and everybody knew she was there. she was always happy. always had a smile. >> reporter: she moved to florida where her sister said she became a savvy businesswoman running her own neon sign company. >> she would always make sure she had that income. she made sure she was setting herself up for what exactly what she wanted to do was retire and travel around the world. >> cher did travel, but mostly in the u.s. then a friend invited her to visit exotic bocus dell toro. cher jumped at the chance. >> took seven days to decide where we wanted to live the rest of our lives. the people here are phenomenal. >> we love you. >> and cher loves children, and panama has lots of kids. >> keith is a carpenter. he built their dream home. shiny wooden buildings on top of their island. cher planted tropical gardens and adopted a pet monkey and a brown doberman pincher named jack.

he adored cher and followed her wherever she went. she loved the local school kids, planned movie nights with popcorn and celebrated the holidays with enthusiasm even though her friend, shawn trainer, says the kids didn't always get the significance. >> she would do the easter egg hunts for the kids. they had no idea what this crazy white woman was doing, coloring eggs and hiding them around on the island. they never participated in anything like that before. >> keith and cher's relationship blossomed on the islands. in 2005 they married in front of their many friends in the close community. >> it's a small place. you go to the grocery store and meet 20 people you know. >> christen roberts who moved there from norway became part of cher's group of friends. >> she kind of stick together. you know, and treat each other like family. and take care of each other. >> spend holidays together?

>> yeah. make up social events because there's obviously not a lot of social events happening. >> everyone went by their first names or nicknames. keith and cher were known as ken and barbie. a man, another american, known as wild bill, viking hat and all. bill and his wife jane opened a bar on their secluded property accessible only by boat where they sometimes gathered for drinks. >> bill had saturday parties at his place at the bar and restaurant once or twice a month. >> draws everybody. >> everybody was there. >> it was cher's tropical dream come true. a beautiful backdrop for family reunions like the time her aunt mary came to visit. >> her grandmother, my mother, and i came down and visited and got the whirlwind tour, and they met us at the airport with a big bouquet of flowers. it was just wonderful. >> there was another big trip in the works. cher's sister judi was planning to visit for the very first time. >> she wanted to show you her paradise. >> oh, yeah. >> the trip would be a good

distraction for cher. her life had turned up side down. her five-year marriage to keith hit a rough spot. he even moved out. >> when keith moved off the island, she was pretty devastated. but then again, i also thought whose marriage is perfect and hopefully they'll work it out. i knew they still loved each other. >> the sisters were excited about the trip. plans were in full swing. >> she called me and said hey, >> one day passed, then another. and still nothing. >> too much time has done by. now i know something has happened. >> youdy was worried and cher was gone. >> coming up -- >> where is cher? and they're going, i don't know, but we're mad at her, too, dog gone it. >> a text message with cher to

keith with some bad news. she said i met somebody else who is better than you. >> and she was running away with that person? >> yes. >> so maybe she met someone else you didn't know about. >> it wouldn't have surprised me that oh, mary, i went sailing and my phone fell off the deck. that would be cher. >> but who was this new mystery man and where was cher? s new my man and where was cher patients that have sensitivity, that's very common to have a gum health concern as well. you know, i talk to dentists every day, and they're able to recommend sensodyne sensitivity & gum. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions.

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on the exotic coast of panama, cher hughes had been living out her dream. >> imagine you were calling. leaving messages. >> calling, texting, and we started wondering. when cher's husband, keith, realized she had left town, he was surprised, but he thought he might know why. cher had been talking about spending time in panama city, a place where she could blend in more easily. >> she told me she wanted to have a small apartment in the

city, bumping into the same people and having to tell the same story. she was ready for a break of boca. >> it's not unusual for people to come and go around here. the easy going lifestyle is part of the island's charm, but cher's friend and family said it wouldn't be like her to leave so abruptly, leave her cherished island with her belongings still here. >> cher's aunt mary started phoning cher's friends in panama. >> we immediately started calling her friends and going what's going on? and everyone was saying you know cher, she might have gone for a week and she lost her phone and i'm like well, okay. maybe. >> mary logged onto cher's facebook page and reached out to those friends. >> where's cher? they're going i don't know but we're mad at her too. she always calls me every day. why would she not call me? aggravated like what are you doing? >> and then some good news. cher's friends received a text message from her saying she'd gone sailing. >> she's a free spirit. right? >> oh, she had an opportunity,

she'd go. you know? >> so maybe she got on a boat with some new friend that you didn't know about and she'd be back in a week. >> yeah. right. >> it wouldn't have surprised me that mary, i went sailing and my phone fell off the deck when i dropped my purse. that would be cher for a three to four days. >> the messages were reassuring but not for long. a few days passed, and cher didn't return. then another text message, this one from cher to keith. >> she said i met somebody else who is better than you. >> she said she met someone else? >> yes. >> and she was running away with that person? >> yeah. >> a mystery man? keith wanted to get to the bottom of it. >> well, i called her best friend and said, did cher meet somebody? did she have a man i didn't know about? she said she has never mentioned a guy to me, ever. there's no man in her life. she didn't run away.

>> keith noticed something strange about the messages. they weren't written in cher's usual style. >> instead of small letters, it would be all capitals. she always wrote a-r-e and this was "r." and the number for 2 rather than two. it changed. >> and then the text messages simply stopped. cher's aunt mary called the u.s. embassy in panama and begged for help. >> i said, we have a missing person. the embassy said people go missing all the time. so i had a hard time shouting into the darkness of the embassy saying help me, help me. >> things got worse. cher didn't call her father on his birthday. it was a huge alarm bell. >> i knew how she felt about her dad, and she would never, ever miss his birthday. something had happened to cher for sure in my heart, i knew then. >> after two months, it was staring everyone in the face. the unanswered phone calls, the strange messages, the missed birthday. all the clues pointing to a horrible conclusion.

>> did you start to panic? >> yeah. i knew something was wrong. the whole family started to panic. >> the terrible realization sank in. cher hadn't gone off sailing or run away with a mystery imagine. she wasn't hiding out in an apartment in panama city. something had happened to her. friends in bocas wracked their brains for answers and started thinking about another american from their group who has also left abruptly. had anyone heard from him. what if cher wasn't the only person missing? what if there were two? >> i just woke up morning. like one of those weird things and i just knew. coming up, another american who apparently just walked away leaving his home and a lot of questions behind. >> some shoes by the door. his canes next to the front door. there's dirty dishes in the sink. it gave me a weird vibe. >> i knew off the bat this was like what's going on here? >> i couldn't ignore it anymore. i just couldn't. somebody had to do something.

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in the islands of bocas del toro panama, a crisis was brewing. cher hughes has been missing for two months. now her family and friends wondered if her disappearance

had anything to do with another american who had left the islands abruptly four months before cher. a man named bo icelar. >> he was quiet, a great guy. introvert. >> bo kept a low profile since moving from santa fe in 2004. the former antique dealer was so quiet that no one noticed when he took off. >> a lot of people say let's go to argentina for six weeks. they don't email everybody and tell them they're leaving. it's easy to be not missed for a while. >> it made even more sense when they found out that bo had sold his home to wild bill, another american in their group famous for throwing lively parties many of them attended including cher's friend christen. >> i knew that he wanted to sell and move somewhere different. and so i assumed they came to an understanding over the price and that bo had just left. >> still, as keith thought back to the days after bo moved out, an image kept returning to his mind. an image of bo's house right after he'd left.

>> i walked in and looked around and it looked as if bo had gone to the store, not moved out. i went back and told my friends, i can't believe that house is really weird. there's towels on the back of the chair. his cane is next to the front door. there's dirty dishes in the sink. it gave me a really weird vibe that bo would just walk away. >> two americans missing. rumors began to swirl. could their disappearances be linked? >> the more you think about something like that, it didn't add up. >> did it eat at you? did you keep thinking act it? >> i kept thinking about it. because it wasn't right that cher would leave without the party. i knew this girl would not leave town without a big party. and bo could leave, but the two of them going together and sending their belongings after the fact? it didn't sound right. >> and then christen heard something that made the floor drop from under her.

bo abruptly stopped paying his bills, something totally unlike him. >> i woke up one morning, a weird thing. i couldn't ignore it anymore. i just couldn't. somebody had to do something. >> christen went to the police. >> did they immediately investigate? >> no. they put it in the file. they just go yeah, yeah, yeah. they say people get lost in panama all the time. it's just two people missing. big deal. >> christen reached out to someone she thought could help, another expat, don winter who won panama guide, a news website for foreigners living in panama. >> i was contacted by one of her friends that was concerned that she was missing and they asked for my help. >> don had lived in panama for decades, and acted as a consultant on this story. he had originally come here with u.s. military intelligence. the case of the two missing americans caught his attention. >> i knew right off the bat that this was like whoa, hey, what's going on here. i knew i had to apply a lot of

time attention to it, and i also knew i had to get it right. >> he hopped on a plane to bocas del toro and tapped into the coconut telegraph. >> what's the coconut telegraph? >> that's just the rumor mill. they call it the coconut telegraph. when something happens, word spreads quickly. >> and from what don was hearing, things just weren't adding up. he checked to see if bo and cher might have left the country. >> i knew that bo and cher both of them, their passports had not gone through the airport. if you look at immigration movements, both of them, you can track. they come in, they leave. they come in, they leave. >> they're still in panama. >> they came in. they never left. they're still in panama somewhere. >> but where? there was one more piece of the puzzle falling into place, and that would point a finger of suspicion at someone living right among them.

coming up -- >> he also always the loudest voice in the room. >> a pirate out to make a living in real estate. >> she wasn't selling. she loved it. >> bill would show up and say, yep, i bought everything. up an, yep, i bought everything fitness. it's every class you can imagine, live. welcome back to the mirror. you've got this john. and on demand. it's boxing... cardio... yoga... and more. it's an interactive, goal crushing...whole family...whole body fitness machine. it's so cool! the future of fitness is at home. the mirror. another bundle in the books. got to hand it to you, jamie. your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. nah, just got lucky. so did the thompsons. that faulty wiring could've cost them a lot more than the mudroom. thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. they're protected 24/7.

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the nba and players association agreed on a move to resume playoff games. actor chadwick bozeman who played black panther in the movies has died of colon cancer. he was 43. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline."

bo and cher each moved to panama. each seemed to have mysteriously vanished. but a check off their passports confirmed neither had left the country. it turned out there was something else they shared, raising even more concern. here is kate snow with "stealing paradise." two americans had vanished from tropical bocas del toro panama, and after months of searching their friends and family were convinced that their disappearances were linked and that something terrible had happened to both of them. >> they both disappeared, and neither of them contacted anybody and the same story, both of them had their personal belongings that was going to be sent to them. one and one is two. american bo icelar was the first to leave in the fall. at the time no one thought it was unusual, especially when they learned he sold to house to someone else in the community, wild bill.

>> bill had a persona of i have buckets of cash. i can pay for it. >> they pulled documents from the public registry and found out that wild bill had bought more than just bo's home. >> bill cortez had taken over bo's company. and the company owned the property. so shortly after bo goes missing, bill cortez and his wife are the president and secretary of this company. they own it. >> bill was in a hurry to get bo's house remodelled and flipped to a new owner. he even placed an ad in the local paper trying to sell it. in fact, wild bill seemed to be on a real estate buying and selling spree. he got his first property in 2007 from a reclusive family living on an escape close to cher's island. the browns, a father, mother and teenage son. now he acquired bo's house as well. but it was bill's next purchase that grabbed everyone's attention.

>> bill showed up and said i bought everything. >> everything meaning your rental properties. >> the four properties. >> the house you built together? >> exactly. >> the beautiful estate? >> exactly. >> bill said he bought cher's entire estate, even her beautiful island and cher had simply taken off. >> my dogs were there, belongings on the island. where's cher and where's that stuff? when she gets back, you can deal with that. that's between you and her. >> keith asked to get the dogs back. >> he brought me one of my dogs and here's a table and two chairs and a tool box. i said there's a lot more missing here, bill. >> to keith, the whole story didn't add up. >> she would have never sold the island. it would have never happened. >> did you have an interest in the property. >> we put everything in cher's name. >> she had the right to sell it? >> absolutely, without telling me anything. >> you don't think she would have done that? >> no. it was our home. we set it up to live there forever. >> it all sounded wrong to aunt mary as well.

>> she wasn't selling that place. she loved it. she loved it. >> mary wanted answers. she picked up the phone and called wild bill. >> and he told me yeah, i got a great deal on cher's property. i bought everything at $0.50 on the dollar. i said i'd like to see that receipt. well, i signed a confidentiality statement. i said i'd like to look for it. he said come on down, i'll help you look for cher. >> where did he tell you she'd gone. >> that was the next question, what do you think she went? i heard she got an apartment in panama city. i said so where's her stuff and everything? he goes yeah, she got there and had me send her some jewelry and money air cargo. i said i'd like to see the receipt on that. because this girl is not going to have you looking through her drawers finding her jewelry. >> and another curious thing was happening over at bill's place. no one could figure out why cher's devoted dog, jack, kept

leaping off the island and swimming to bill's place over and over again. >> they kept putting him back to your old home. >> and he would swim right back and stay there. >> but for bill, it was business as usual. he even threw one of his famous parties at cher's place with all her things still there. it seemed odd to her friend shawn trainer who stopped by that night. >> it wasn't very well attended. >> why didn't people go? >> i think everybody had the same thing. it was kind of really weird that it was at cher's house and he was doing it. >> bill even made a toast at the party to friendship. >> and bill gave a speech? >> yeah. it was really something about having good friends. >> like here's to good friends? >> just like that. >> wild bill lived about an hour's boat ride from the main island in bocas del toro, big guy with a big personality. he was known for throwing parties at his place. and even in a place that's full of colorful characters, wild bill stood out. >> he was always the loudest voice in the room. he'd text everybody and say your

lord commands you to go to my party? >> your lord commands you? >> yeah. he talked about himself in a royal sense. everyone took it at another one of bill's quirks? >> another quirk, a pirate club called the jolly roger social club. he joked only 90% of the members survive. by now an uneasy feeling about wild bill was spreading throughout bocas, and he was lying low. >> every time i saw him, he was in a hurry. he didn't want to answer a lot of questions. nervous. >> and with good reason. the more don winter tapped into the island's coconut telegraph, the more he became convinced that wild bill was the key to finding bo and cher. >> this was the common denominator between the two of them that this guy had supposedly bought their property for cash and both people disappear. >> the flairs went off. wild bill dealt with both the

people and they're missing? >> do you remember that moment? >> dread came over me. he could have done something to these people. >> could the brash, real estate buying bartender be hiding a deadly secret? coming up, the dark side of paradise. >> execute a search warrant on his house. find the ak-47. get him in custody. the police went up with shovels and came down about two hours later and said we need you to come up and take a look.

welcome back. wild bill cortez ran the jolly rogers social club where a group of americans living on the

panama islands liked to gather. just how far did bill go to get his hands on these properties? local police were about to find out. continuing with "stealing paradise," here is kate snow. in the tiny community of bocas del toro, all eyes were on one of their own. wild bill cortez. in four months' time he'd snapped up the homes of two people who had mysteriously vanished, bo and cher. now cher's husband, keith, was telling anyone who would listen that the disappearances and property transfers were no coincidence. >> i right away thought bill has done something to these people. i was telling people in bocas about the suspicions. we're all saying the same thing. bill is in the area. and he told people he was going to come shut me up. he told three or four people that.

i moved into a hotel with security. >> keith wasn't the only one who was nervous. >> i got to the point where i became convinced this guy, cortez, had killed these people in order to steal their property. that's when i said i'm going to the authorities. >> he urged keith to do the same. >> he said you need to come to panama city, get to the prosecutor, get to the dij and really turn up the heat. >> keith went to panama city and laid out the case against wild bill to the dij, the panama fbi. >> from that point on, kudos to the panama police. they stepped it up. >> for all the suspicion, there was no hard evidence of crime. that's when don winter got an idea. dan heard stories about wild bill and his ak-47. but in panama, it's illegal for a civilian to own that type of weapon. don made a suggestion to police. >> execute a search warrant on his house. find the ak-47. get him in possession. find the gun, lock him down. >> and then figure out what

role, if any he might have had in the disappearance of two people. police drew up the warrant. authorities descended on wild bill's home. bill and jane were nowhere to be found. police began the search. >> police are looking around. they're here. they have a search warrant on this property looking for a gun. >> yeah. they're executing the search warrant for an ak-47. when they got here, they encountered cher's dog. >> jack, the doberman who adored cher, was already at bill's place. no one knew exactly how he got there, but the dog was anxious, pacing nervously. >> jackie was really animated and agitated and kept circling. and running up into the jungle. >> and the dog would come down and like bark at the people that were doing the search and then run up the hill, and follow me, guys and the dog led them up there. >> right here? >> went up into the back of the property. >> jack bounded up and down the

hill until police followed him. and there, they found something shocking. a mound of disturbed dirt. they began to dig. cher's husband, keith, waited at the bottom of the hill. >> the police went up with shovels, and then they came down about two hours later and said we need you to come up and take a look. >> in a shallow grave hidden under a mound of garbage, the police made a horrible discovery, the body of cher hughes. she had been shot once in the back of the head. >> i imagine that was one of the hardest days of your life? >> yeah. serious. i mean, no one should ever see someone they care about look like that. >> now keith finally understood why jack kept swimming to bill's place. >> he'd swim that mile back and just stay right there. he was staying true to mommy. >> but the horror wasn't over as police continued searching bill's property, they discovered another mound of disturbed dirt. another shallow grave, and there buried beneath more rubble, the

body of bo islar, the other missing american. >> when they found the bodies, that's when they realized that it's not just people with suspicions and making accusations. it's really happening. >> keith watched as authorities raided bill's home. he says they found evidence of the ghastly crimes. bo's i.d., cher's passport, her purse, and her cell phone, used to send the text messages saying cher had simply gone for a sail. and there was more. nazi memorabilia, strange satanic signs, jewelry that may have belonged to the victims and the most gruesome discovery, about a dozen gold teeth. >> he lived with these things. he lived with corpses and people's personal effects around him. >> souvenirs? >> the expats in bocas were in turmoil. two of their friends were dead and found in the body of someone they trusted. >> i had him in my own.

we did the social neighbor thing with him and he shot my wife. unconceivable. >> authorities launched a search for bill and his wife who they also suspected was involved. but it was too late. they had already fled. >> this is now a major manhunt. >> right. i knew he was probably out of the country already. that he was on the fly, so the most important thing at that point was to get his picture out there on every television screen, on every newspaper cover, on every computer monitor. it's got to get out there in a big way to get him caught. >> by then, wild bill and his wife, jane, were in costa rica. someone recognized them there and contacted the police. as the search intensified, bill and jane made a desperate attempt to cross into nicaragua by boat, but they were stopped by soldiers at a check point. >> they got the drop on them with machine guns and basically said halt or die. and he stopped. he gave himself up. >> the end of the line.

>> it was the first time anyone on the island heard wild bill's real name. >> i'm william dathan holbert. >> the bar tender, wild bill cortez was, in fact, william dathan holbert, a 30-year-old on the run from american authorities since 2006. as the islanders absorbed the headlines of a killer among them, they discovered he had a long past that stretched nearly 2000 miles from the white sand beaches of bocas del toro to the blue ridge mountains of north carolina. that's where he grew up going by dathan, his middle name. he played high school football, married his sweet heart, had three kids, and worked as a landscaper. his old boss had a gym, liked dathan until dathan had an affair with one of his employees. and hoover says embezzled

$25,000 from the gym's accounts. >> he told me he thought that was part of his pay. his package. and i said no, dathan, it's not part of your package. >> and that was just the beginning. dathan left the job and his wife. he ran off with laura michelle reese who would later be known as jane cortez in bocas. in 2005 police say dathan started in on real estate scams. he sold a home that wasn't his for $200,000. police charged him with obtaining property under false pretenses. by the time the owner realized what had happened, dathan was on the run. that landed him on the television program "america's most wanted." somewhere along the line, police say dathan sold a stolen car in montana and when cops pulled him over for speeding in wyoming, he took off. >> stop, right now. >> leading them on a high speed chase before escaping. it seems it was only after he moved to panama the dathan scams took a sinister turn. >> the change was he killed people to get the documentation to take away the property and

not only did he steal the property, he would steal everything in the house. cars, boats, right down to the toothbrush and the underwear and their dogs. >> he took down their lives? >> yea. right down to the change in their pockets. >> he was finally in police custody after four years, charged with heinous crimes and murders of bo and cher. >> there are dozens if not a hundred people in this town who knew cher and bo and they're thinking wow, this guy fooled us all. he fooled everybody. >> he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder for a while, yeah. >> little did everyone know that wild bill had actually gotten away with a lot more. >> after authorities nabbed wild bill in costa rica, what else would they discover when he was brought back to panama? coming up -- >> there's a guard in this jail and gives me a cell phone and

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panama as wild bill and jane cortez were arrested for not only stealing the island properties of two americans, but also allegedly murdering them in cold blood. now bill was talking to the police, but they couldn't have been prepared for his stunning confession. here is kate snow with the conclusion of "stealing paradise." >> reporter: the search for cher hughes and bo islar had ended tragically. both were found dead, shot in the back of the head and buried in shallow graves. after being caught at the nicaraguan border, wild bill and his wife emerged from the jungle in shackles, charged with the murders. bill's wife was subdued. >> no comment. >> reporter: and denied any involvement. bill, however, appeared surprisingly cheerful, saying he was happy to be back in panama. >> those first days when bill was brought back to panama, what was he like? >> he was making jokes and

laughing and he was really a -- he wanted people to see him. he was really trying to show off. >> reporter: national director of police, gustavo perez interrogated wild bill and says he talked openly about the killings. bill admitted to shooting bo islar on his boat. for cher, it started with a friendly dinner at bill's place. afterwards, bill took her outside to see some animals behind some house. when she turned to look at them, he shot her. >> did bill tell you why he murdered the people that he confessed to murdering? >> money. he said, i wanted to have their things. >> reporter: but even the most hardened cops were shocked to hear what else bill had done. wild bill drew a map of his home with "x"s marking where the bodies were buried, only there were more than two xs on bill's map, there were five.

five victims, not just bo and cher, but three more people who had died at the hands of wild bill. this time it was a father, mother, and their teenage son, the brown family. they were the original owners of bill's property, cher's neighbors. after the bodies were discovered, wild bill was seen as a monster in panama, a serial killer who kept his victim's personal things right in his own house. he wanted to speak with bill hoblert, so we reached out to his attorney. we did get a return call. it was the lawyer with wild bill himself on the phone, calling from his jail cell in panama. he had already confessed to the murders, but he said he wanted to explain himself. >> i am not denying criminal activity, i am only saying that what's been portrayed in the media as like this crazy serial killer thing is completely untrue. i'm telling you that i am not a serial killer. i have never taken pleasure in harming another human being and the things that i have done in

my life haunt my nightmares like you wouldn't believe, and i'm left down here to die in a panamanian jail. >> you have to understand that the victims of these crimes, their families are incensed. your families say that you had parties at their homes. how can you possibly defend that action? >> defend it? i'm not trying to defend my actions. i'm a criminal. i'm a bad guy. i'm your worst nightmare. but what i'm also saying is i didn't wake up one morning and decide to kill my neighbors. >> reporter: shortly after our call, a very different-looking bill hoblert gave an interview to a local panamanian tv station from his jail cell. his wild blond hair replaced by a brown buzz cut. >> i planned it, i did it, i'm going to be punished for it. >> reporter: in cold and chilling detail, hoblert recounts how he murdered the brown family. >> i separated them -- this is gruesome, and i understand it's very -- but i mean, you're asking me and i'll answer your question, sir. i separated them, i asked mike brown to show mel a well that h

just dug, he took me there and i shot him from behind and killed him. hoblert also admits to another victim, number six. american ex-pat, jeffrey klein. hoblert claims he died when two got on a fight on a boat. too afraid to go to authorities, he came up with his own solution. >> i just came home and buried it and then i built a little picnic area over it. i know that was horrible and stupid, but i didn't know what to do. i'm a bad guy. i'm getting what i deserve. there's nothing that i can say -- i am sorry, but can i do nothing to bring those people back, especially cheryl hughes, who's an innocent person. >> reporter: hoblert repeatedly says he's sorry for what he's done, and he does shed tears, but not for the victims, for his wife, laura, who he says is innocent. >> if she was sitting here, i would tell her i'm sorry she ever met me. because she didn't deserve this.

if i could give my life to make her free, i would. that's it. >> reporter: and the man who said he killed six people had time to sit in a cell and think about his own death. william hoblert and his wife, laura reese, apparently received threats in prison. >> there's a guard in this jail that brings me a cell phone and gives me death threats from these people. i'm a dead man. i don't even care. that's not important. but my wife don't deserve this. >> have you talked to your lawyer about this? what are the options that they have? >> options? what options. excuse me. just give me a second to compose myself. >> this is a really, really bad guy. it doesn't get any worse than this kind of a guy. he's just the worst of the worst. >> do you think the trail of bodies is longer than we even know? >> i have no doubt. exactly how many people did this guy kill? nobody knows. >> reporter: angell calderon,

panama piece kpauxillary prosecutor says they'll take measures to verify where they are. >> reporter: if there are other victims out there, they may be hard to find. wild bill mostly target eed loners, people's whose disappearance wouldn't be noticed. it wasn't until bill killed cher, the woman who had a smile for everyone, that he was caught. >> his mistake of targeting cher is what was his downfall. >> you couldn't have picked a girl more loved. he picked someone that absolutely stood out everywhere she went and would be missed and loved. >> someone the family cared so much about, that they would start caring immediately. >> this is our girl! how dare you mess with our girl and think we're not coming for her.

>> it would take seven long years for the wheels of justice to turn in panama. during that time, hoblert's wife divorced him while they both sat in separate panamanian jails. bucht cher's family finally got the news they had long waited for. in august 2017, william dathan hoblert was found guilty of the robbery and homicide of five people, according to a tweet from the panama ministry of justice. he was sentenced to 47 years in prison, and the woman once known as jane cortez, she was sentenced to 26 years for her role in the crimes. for cher's sister, judy, there are only good memories and appreciation for the big sister who followed her adventurous spirit all the way to paradise. >> so you're not bitter that she ever went to panama, to bocas del torro.

>> i'm happy that she went, because i know what it meant to her. the peace in her heart of being able to live there. i wouldn't have wanted her to be able to miss that. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. breaking news on msnbc. and this will be a gut punch for so many people waking up. the actor best known for ""black panther"," chadwick boseman has died, very young. just 43 years old. he worked on his most iconic roles even while quietly battling cancer for the last four years. 57 years later, a massive march on washington and solidarity marches across the country. families of police shooting victims demanding change, as new details emerge on the police shooting of jacob blake in