>> he would tell stories about how he had angels protected him and people who had crossed him in the past had gotten really sick, or their family had died. he would get this terrible grin that just looked evil. >> they were sisters, whose mom brought them here to live with others in this tight-knit commune. >> we were all having meals together and there were lots of parties. >> a swimming pool, a fleet of cool cars. it seemed like a kids fantasy. you are the little girl who got the horse for your birthday?

i >> got three horses. >> it was called angel's landing, a special place for a chosen few. a community of free spirits, but also, some would come to suspect, troubling secrets. >> she fell and hit her head and drowned. >> it started with a strange, sudden death. then another. and another. >> he had been crushed under a vehicle while working on. it >> all ruled accidents. but were they? >> it doesn't smell right. >> for investigators, a journey into the supernatural. >> he would say that even though we couldn't see her, she was there. >> who or what had a grip on this place? >> amber was the angel of death. she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> a terrifying tale of dark power and diabolical prophesy's. >> he predicted that my mom was going to die.

>> you might as well be telling me to go live on the moon, because that just wasn't something that could happen. the thought of leaving was scarier than the thought of staying. i never once thought about leaving. i thought about killing myself, but i didn't think about leaving. >> rolling out past the downtown grid towards the wide open flatlands north of wichita kansas, it would be easy to visit by the small cluster of homes nestled between the corn and wheat fields. not notice them at all. maybe, that was the point. but the nondescript compound did have a whimsical name, angel's landing. and it was home to a kind of large, put together family. a commune really, including two sisters. >> we had a great relationship. i had everything i wanted. >> but angel's landing not at a county detective. for years he could not shake the place or the people who

lived there from his mind. you thought there was a criminal criminal scheme going on there? >> it didn't smell right. >> for us, it was a game of cat eye mouse. >> and after a decade long obsession, the detectives hunch would be proved right. it turned out to be far more sinister than anyone could imagine. >> we had kept this a secret for ten years. and no one knew. >> it would uncover a supernatural tale of angels and demons. and investigation into the saga of a troubling family that dabbled in most of the seven deadly sins. >> amber was the angel of death. did >> you believe it? >> yes, he could see the future. >> lies, plenty. last, greed, murder. angels landed had all of that and more. >> 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? >> growing up near kansas city,

missouri, the two sisters sara and emily had about as or normal a life as any suburban girls in the midwest. >> my sister and i used to play together when we were younger. my mom, it seemed like she was always home with us. my dad, was always there for dinner and things like that, it seemed like. >> their dad built houses, mom jennifer, a realtor, sold them. and the curls were close, despite a seven year age gap. >> we would go fishing together. she would take me to the pool every day during the summer. things like that. when we were close, but we fought like cynics. >> sara with 16, emily just nine, and a star student. >> i was teachers pet. i was usually one of the top of my class. >> so you are always prepared? >> yeah, i was a suck up. [laughs] >> you said that, i did. it [laughs] >> totally was, i didn't know within. but i was. >> everything was easy sailing for the girls until their

parents lives went in different directions. >> i knew that my parents were getting divorced. i didn't know why. they never fall in front of us or anything. >> that's always tough. orchids that's summer, 2001, their mom jennifer was showing houses to a new client. a man named lou castro, who with his long hair and western hat, looks like a well-heeled young cowboy. >> he seemed really charismatic and outgoing and friendly. and like he had a lot of money. >> he would tell everybody that he had cattle in south dakota, and that he was trading stocks. he told me he had a bunch of cars in texas somewhere, and that he owned a mentioned on. there >> this softspoken man was looking for a country property for his somewhat new a.g. family commune, just down from south colombo dakota. a young couple, trish and brian hughes, their baby girl and a young couple from north dakota. jennifer found them just right parcel. but even after turning over the

keys, there was something about that lou castro guy, that emily 's mom found irresistible. he'd become more than a client. >> at first he was just somebody that mom was doing business with. but they would go to lunch often. >> as you look back now, emily, what do you think went on with your mother? >> i don't know. >> something was going on? >> something was. >> and something was going on with lou, to. no sooner had he set it settled down in greater kansas city, then his family commune was on the move again. and guess who is going with them? jennifer the realtor and her two girls. what did your dad? thank >> my dad was devastated. >> just like that, in the fall of 2001, emily, sara and their mom were packing up u-haul and heading out for a fresh start to life. have you had to leave your neighborhood, your playmates, your class? kids >> at first, i was really upset. but eventually it kind of seemed like a new adventure. and that's what mom really needed to do. >> the new home for all three was a ten acre many farm north

of wichita. they moved in with lou in his family commune in the spread they cold angel's landing. the girl's mom, jennifer, brought the adjoining ten acres and built a second. house and after they added a swimming pool and a dirt track for atvs, the commune little later put up a third. house so what was the routine of the house? >> we were all having meals together and we didn't really do chores. >> while the girl's mom resumed her real estate business, brian worked as a mechanic and organized the downtime. >> he would throw parties about every weekend. there was a lot of drinking. other people would bring their kids over. we would go swimming and i would take care of the little kids. we would play pool. >> pretty normal? >> a little lavish, but pretty normal stuff. >> we lou love to toys with agents and there were a couple of workshops a big enough to garage his enormous radio controlled planes and a fleet of snazzy.

cars >> going to a dealership and buying a corvette was like, going to a toy store and picking out a model car. that is how quickly he would just go and pick them out. and say all right, i want. it >> car its, dodge viper -- >> many corvette's, a few dodge vipers, trail blazers, tahoe's. big trucks, duly. >> they had vanity plates. angel one, angel to, and so on. a lot of it is kind of a kid stream? >> yeah, i mean i got everything i wanted. >> while the sisters did stay in touch with her dad, who had moved nearby, lou's promise of whatever your heart desires found a speak spot. >> lou asked me what i want if my birthday and i said i would love to have a horse, and i know it's expensive and it's too much. we're so, we're not going to do that. he's like no, if you are horse we're going to get a horse. >> you were the little girl who got a horse for your birthday? >> i was. i got three horses. >> you are the princess of the house? >> yes. >> emily, being the princess,

didn't always sit well with sister sara. so the other young mom in the family, brian's wife trish, sometimes stepped into referee their sibling rivalry. >> she was the disciplinarian? >> kind of. there was a specific way to do things and you did it her way. and that's just what was expected. >> what did you think of trish? did you like her? >> she was wonderful. i left her just like a another mom. >> so she really was a substitute mom in a lot of big things. >> she was. >> so, the sisters will never forget that awful day in june, 2003. emily, just 11 years old, found herself standing by the swimming pool. >> trish was floating in the shallow end of the pool, face found. >> a beach sandal floated on the water. mcgrath trish was dead. >> coming up -- the horror of losing one of their own. for emily and everyone else, the sunny life at angel's landing had changed in an instant. >> it was very traumatic. >> and later, there would mean more shocks in the story.

mysterious accidents, dark threats involving the spirit world, and one seemingly demonic transformation. >> he wouldn't blink. he would get this terrible green. just looked evil. >> when dateline continues. except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia - td. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements.

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the story to make a new start with their moms free living, free spending friends in their wichita, kansas, the two sisters emily, 11 and sara, 17, we're still living in the family commune called angel's landing. lou who had money and lots of spare time, was the patriarch. and trish, who is married to brian and had a baby daughter, took care of the home. >> trish was the one that would be there before you went to school and after we went to school. because my mom had to work. >> did you like her? >> i loved her.

i loved trish. >> so what happened in june, 2003, angel's landing, came as a sudden, life altering shock. the day began normally enough for the sisters. >> we all had gone to lunch. trish and her daughter, a friend of mine and her baby, and then lou and my sister. and then we came back to the house after lunch and trish and emily and the baby were going to clean the pool. >> that was the plan for the afternoon? >> right. and lou and i were going to go to davis more. >> carter? ship >> right. so >> did you go to the car dealership with lou? >> yes. >> back at the swimming pool, something truly awful had happened. >> i called 9-1-1. >> she told the operator that trish's toddler had fallen into the pool. and when trish had tried to save her little girl, she had slip backwards. >> she had slipped and fell and hit the concrete? >> she fell and hit her head and room. >> the baby was in trouble in

the pool? >> right. >> you rescued the baby but you couldn't help? >> right. >> emily got the baby out of the pool. but because she was just a whisper of a thing, try as she might, emily could not lift trish's body out of the water. hopeless. across town, sara and lou we're checking out cars at the dealership when sara's phone rang. >> i received a phone call from emily as she says that trish fell in the pool, i need you to come home. >> did she say that trish was dead? >> yes, so. >> so this is shocking news, you've all just had lunch a few hours before. and now you're hearing trish is dead? >> yes. >> lou and sara race back home to angels landing. or police and emts were on the scene. >> we don't believe she was under the influence of anything at this time. >> they had pulled trisha's body from the pool and taken photographs. a single beach sandal floated on the water surface. pieces of churches here clipper in the pool.

it had snatched apart when is she banged her head. and there were small bruises on and a cut on trisha's forehead. the medical examiner determined trish's death was due to a freakishly bad. accident trish was just 26 years old. and trish was gone? >> yes. the >> family was in a state of shock. >> devastated. >> trish had been kind of the mother of the house the way you talk about her? >> yeah. >> for you too? >> absolutely. >> it was really hard. it breaks my heart. >> and it was hard for lou. trish was someone he regarded as his best friend. lou had met trish in the mid 19th, is south texas, as serving after serving in the navy. and 48 years they were inseparable travelers, moving on to south dakota and ending up in wichita. >> it was very traumatic. as >> as the family commune try to come to terms with a tragedy, trish's husband brian embrace

his daughter closer. gradually they all got on with their lives. >> and then your what, going back to school? the usual things? >> exactly. >> still, it was hard for the family to put trish's death behind them. and something else will troubled them. emily and sara had a fuzzy recollection that trish wasn't the first person in the family commented i. they recently had met a teenager who had also once been on the fringes of the commune. he told a story with painful echoes. coming up -- a tale of tragedy and mystery. >> i knew something was it right. and he just told me hey, your mom and sister have been missing. >> two members of the commune vanished into thin air. when dateline continues.

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family commune was slowly mending after the devastating loss of trish hughes who had drowned in the filming swimming pool. sisters sara and emily saw trish's husband brian, a mortal mechanic, a broken man. left to raise a. doctor >> brian loved trish more than anything in the world. and he loved his daughter immensely. he was a really, just good person. he missed his wife. brian was the head.

>> as they coped with the loss themselves, emily and sara had a flashback. and pieced together another incident when tragedy struck struck the family, about two years before. >> i wasn't there. and i'm glad i was in there. i would just be more lost. >> not long before trish's death, this is first met 15 year old cody griffith from texas, who had also once been on the fringes of the family commune. he had been close to trish and lou thanks to his mom mona. >> my mom and church were really great friends. they would do a lot together. >> cody's mom mona was something of a flower child. >> she was extremely loving, very free spirited. everything was spontaneous. there was really no planning. she could say hey, let's get in the car and drive somewhere. >> could have been a hit in earlier days? >> maybe. just someone who is extremely loving. very accepting. >> when cody was growing up in corpus christy in the mid 90s,

his mom mona was going through a difficult divorce. and financial troubles. she, cody and cody's young sister lindsey, moved in with their good friends trish and lou at the apartment complex. >> i remember lou taking us to baseball practice. my sister and lou taking her home from school in south like. that >> his mom and trish took turns cooking for what was the beginnings of the common. so you really an extended family? >> pretty much. i looked at lou and trish as an uncle. >> so when trish and lou decided want to pick up six and moved to south dakota, mona decided she wanted to go to and take cody and his sister along as. well >> i'll never forget it, it is just like yesterday. and i told her, no i'm not leaving. and i had gotten extremely upset. >> the very thought of being so far away from his dad was too much for codi. what does she say, yes you are, you're going to go with us? >> no she let me make that decision. she would've not wanted me to do something i didn't want to do. >> so, a late 1998, mona and cody's younger sister lindsey

ended up leaving corpus christy and settled near rapid city, south dakota. we're one christmas, cody paid them a visit. >> it was an extremely small home. it was in the mountains. we even went and cut our own christmas tree. >> off the grid kind of cabin? >> yeah. >> the cabin was a tight squeeze, for sure. by the family commune was growing. it was here that trish met and married brian, the auto mechanic, and they had a daughter. mona, cody's mom, had also found a boyfriend. rapid city realtor and experience private plane pilot. you are okay with him? >> oh yeah, of course i wanted my mom to be happy. and i look forward to meeting him. >> did you ever meet him? >> no. >> one friday in february of 2001, moon and her boyfriend decided to take daughter lindsey and an exciting birthday trip to nebraska. exciting because moon is a boyfriend would fly them their himself. they took off from rapid city. but not long after, something went terribly wrong.

how did you find out about the plane? >> my dad called me inside and he just looked at me and i knew something wasn't right. and then he just told me hey, your mom and sister have a missing. >> your dad must have been all ripped up? >> there's nothing you can say. i mean, he didn't -- there was no way that he could explain to his son that his sister and his mom were gone. >> i imagine you hope that somebody would crawl out of the wreckage, food, water and they're in a little tent waiting for search and rescue to find them. >> that was the only thing i could pray for. >> as cody was praying for a miracle, mona's sister lisa also got a phone call from another sister. >> and she's crying hysterically. and she said that mona and lindsey had left on the plane and the plane had never reached its destination. and they didn't know where it was.

>> mona's boyfriend hadn't filed a flight plan, so the plane could be anywhere. rugged territory? >> correct, up in the badlands area, we assumed. or nebraska. we really had no clue. >> but in south dakota, lou castro, a former navy plea mechanic, was on it. when lisa paid a short visit to try to help find her sister and niece, lou was in constant touch with search and rescue. a huge comfort. >> softspoken. nice. funny. friendly. he seemed very concerned. very distraught over mona and lindsey's disappearance. and very helpful. i mean, he was very gracious and whatever we wanted. >> so, thank goodness we have lou at the helm here? >> exactly. he seemed to have plenty of time. he seemed to know everybody. they knew him. we were grateful that there was

somebody that was -- had taken control. and was keeping us in the loop also. >> at a gathering of lindsey's school friends in support of the search, lou seemed especially popular with all the girls. >> oh, they were mesmerized by him. >> was he telling them stories? jokes? >> yes, laughing. he knew them all. quite well, we could tell. >> was there something a little creepy about it? i don't want to plant an idea here that didn't exist. >> they all knew lou but they didn't know lindsey's mom. i just found that strange. >> six weeks after the plane went missing, lisa and cody got the news they were dreading. the wreckage had been found. there were no survivors. so that's and of all of this? it's not going to have a miraculous ending. >> yes. >> cody traveled back to rapid city and once again saw lou, who seemed distraught. >> he starts crying and he tells me that my little sister was never supposed to be on the

plane. he tells me that, if my mom had only been on the plane, that he says, you know i would've taken your sister and we would've left. >> he would've become like the adoptive father then? >> right. >> how would you know whether she was supposed to be are not? >> i don't know. >> looking back, and you wonder what he meant by that? >> every day. every day. >> an ntsb investigation into the catastrophe found no mechanical problems with the plane. leaning toward a theory that bad weather had contributed to the crash. when do you miss your mom and sister the most? times along the way when you are growing up? cody, i don't think you need to put any words to it. >> really can't. >> lou and trish, not blood relatives, determined the burial place for mona and lindsey. a surprise to lisa, who again raised an eyebrow when she saw her sister and nieces obituary in a south dakota newspaper. >> and it lists myself, my two

sisters and her brother, lou. we're like, where did we pick up a brother? >> later, as emily recalled the awful story of the plane crash, she, to, remembered lou telling her what he told cody. >> he said that lindsey was a supposed. i >> whatever that meant in 2003 after trish in's the swimming pool, emily and her sister sara were the only ones trying to make sense of it all. a local detective in wichita was also taking an interest in the plane crash and the death of trish hughes. and in whatever else might be going on at angel's landing. something was an adding up. coming up -- one thing was adding up, the death toll of commune members. another was just around the corner. >> we got the call that he'd been crushed underneath the car that he was fixing. >> when dateline continues. ne continues pain? yeah. here. aspercreme with max-strength* lidocaine. works fast and lasts.

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here's what's happening. the u.s. adding 559,000 jobs

last month. following modestly short of expectations, as unemployment hit a pandemic low of 5.8%. in an effort to get more people back to into the workforce, at least 25 states are stopping covid relief benefits. and an intelligence report has found no evidence that aerial phenomenon recorded by this military pilots will, while unexplainable at this time, are alien spacecraft. the findings also suggests the sightings are not u.s. assets. now back to dateline. >> in late 2003, after the drowning death of 26 year old trish hughes, the mood at angel's landing was grim. sisters emily and sara watched as the family commune patriarch lou, try to chair everyone up. another young woman who join the family commune. soon lou as she were engaged, with a little girl on the way.

and as the clouds lifted over angel's landing, shiny new rights appeared in the drive. >> before trish died, there were three corvette's and everybody else had an suv. and then after trish died, it got more and more and more extravagant. >> more vehicles -- >> higher price vehicles. >> the salesman must of been licking their chops to see him coming. >> they were. we all had the dealerships owner's cellphones. >> speed i'll? >> yeah, yeah. >> in fact, we lou spent 1 million and a half dollars on cars in just a few years. in his lavish generosity didn't stop on the family. seven civil minded lou was showered with high fives from the city council after he donated $90,000 towards a brand-new police vehicle. and cops were always welcome at the extravagant parties thrown by lou at angel's landing. with one of the officers in the county dated one of the women there for a while? >> that was me. >> that was you? >> yes. >> but not everyone in uniform

was joining in the fun. >> it didn't smell right. >> a local informant gave a check it out to wichita detective ron goodman, who at the time was an undercover narcotics officer. he recruited to law enforcement heavyweights. and in early 2003, from the shadows, the detective was eyeballing the commune. zeroing in on lou castro. >> ron why did you become interested in particular? >> he drew attention to. himself >> kind of flashy? >> flashy, he had appeared what to be unexplained wealth. drew attention to himself parties, high option vehicles. each vehicle had an angel vanity plate, with a number our flurry. one, two, three, four. >> maybe had an old family money? inheritance? guy >> sure, that was something we had to look at without violating any of his rights. >> you thought there was a lot of smoke around this guy? but you didn't know exactly what's coming. from >> there was. >> and the smoke kept billowing when goodwyn learned about the death of trish hughes.

so your death didn't trigger your interest? >> absolutely triggered more of my interest in him. >> goodwyn wanted to find out exactly who lou castro was. he ran castro's name in law enforcement databases and quickly discovered he was trying to put his finger on a man who seemed to have no pass. a virtual ghost. and not long after trish hughes's death, he troll the internet. >> i started researching and i started noticing there were other deaths associated with. him >> he landed on that obituary of moon and her daughter lindsey, and bengal, there was lou's named. >> that was the first time i had see lou castro in the paint. >> underlining -- he theorized had a drug case. >> i worked drug cases and unexplained wealth is something that you look at. to determine if that is how this person might be earning their money. >> so, goodwyn set out to collect evidence from angel's landing. it began with a trash bags.

maybe inside there was evidence of drugs. incriminating documents, or a fingerprint. so maybe if you can get a fingerprint, somewhere he will be in the system and you will come out with a name? >> that's. right >> you try to get things? print >> i did. and that >> the tech guys can come up with anything? >> they could not. >> illustrating. there was no evidence of drugs. and nearly three years later, there were still no clues as to who lou castro was. but in 2006, came another shocking coincidence. brian hughes, trisha's husband, an expert 31 year old mechanic raising their daughter in the common. suffered an unimaginable accident. as emily tells it, brian was visiting family in south dakota. >> one day, he called and spoke to lou for a little while and then he asked to speak to his daughter who is still in wichita. and this story goes, that he told her goodbye. >> told his daughter?

goodbye >> right. and then a couple hours later, we got the call that he had been crushed underneath a car that he was fixing. >> brian was dead. really? that didn't make any sense to emily. >> he would've put blocks under the tires. >> he knew his way around vehicle? >> right. >> and then he was dead? >> yeah. >> the bodies were piling up. five now. but none of the findings in any of the cases including bryant's, concluded there was foul play. >> it was classified. it still is classified as an accident. >> detective goodwyn decided he was going to have to find a new angle on the enigma of angel's landing and new castro, even if he had to work around the clock. what drove you on this thing? >> they had to be something else he was out there he was hiding. from >> the history? >> the mystery of lou castro, mystery identity. >> one thing was for sure, goodwyn wasn't going to let this go. coming up -- yet another member of the commune meets a tragic end. but this time, a light bulb

would go off. >> what we saw was a pattern. >> as investigators dig into lou's past, he starts to seem like a ghost. >> there should've been credit records, drivers license records. we could find none. >> when dateline continues. if you find an exact product from a qualifying retailer for less, we'll match it. home to any budget. home to any possibility.

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lou castro at angels landing. a commune of about a dozen people. he was also keeping count of the mysterious deaths, five so far. mona, her boyfriend and her daughter lindsey had perished in the plane crash. he trish had drowned in the swing pool. i know brian had been crushed to death beneath a car he was working on. and while all the deaths were deemed to be accidents, really, he wondered, how could any family be so unlucky? but what baffled him most was that he didn't know who the central man, lou castro, really was. rifling through angel's landing trash cans had more. what do you do next? >> one day, when i was out on a day off, i just happened to see lou castro with a female in a vehicle. and i followed them to a restaurant on the north end of town. goodwyn sec >> goodwyn sat in the restaurant watched and waited. >> and after they had finished, i contacted the manager and asked him if i could collect

the dishes and glasses that they had to use at that table. >> the idea was to get fresh fingerprints that could maybe i.d. castro. that's a pretty cool move? did it work? >> it did not work either. we tried every piece of dinnerware that was on the table, but we were successful. >> so he's still a mystery man as far as i.d.? >> that's right. >> so, goodwyn tried another fingerprint ploy. he took some glossy photos, walked up to lou castro's home and cooked up a story about burglars in the neighborhood. could lou recognize any of the cars or people in the photos? so you hand these glossy photos to the guy you believe is lou castro -- >> i do. >> how does he handle them? >> he takes the envelope and holds them between his palms. and was the photos are out of the envelope, he moves the photos around with his fingernails and does not take up the photos by his fingers. >> he knew exactly what you are doing? >> he did. >> and he was in quite a fall for it and leave a print. >> no. >> what does it tell you about

the guy that had become your nemesis here. >> will it raise my suspicions even more that he was triton trying to hide from law enforcement. >> illustrated, goodwyn needed help. he called a detective in the da's office, clint snider, who had worked high profile cases like notorious wichita boutique a serial killer. >> it is in the maze-ing story when iran told it to me. all these mysterious deaths. and of course, in this business you don't believe in coincidences. so, i felt like that ron was on to something. >> and ron enlisted another big gun to help i.d. castro. fbi supervisory special agent john sullivan. >> we checked our fbi databases and private databases. i had the offices school and get photographs, political rest records. we checked every lou castro that we could find in the u.s.. and then matched the lou castro that we had living in wichita. >> how unusual is that? that the fbi cannot, through all its resources, come up with a name and i.d. on the guy. >> it's extremely unusual.

especially in this day and age, because usually everybody has a trail. there should have been credit records. there should've been drivers license records. there should have been all sorts of records that we could find. and we could find. none >> none of the car purchases, the property deeds, even the utility bills in angel's landing were under the name lou castro. they were all under the names of commune members. but just as goodwyn was feeling stumped, another extraordinary tragedy was about to shake angel's landing. it happened in 2008. when sarah was almost 24 and emily 17. >> i had called mom after school to have dinner with her, and she didn't answer her phone. and i was so angry with her because she had in gloried my phone call. about 30 minutes into the tax test that i was taking, they pulled me out of class and my dad was there. he said we have to go.

and he started driving me to my house and i said dad, we have to go to the hospital. and he said no, emily, we don't. >> county 9-1-1, what's your location? >> their mother's car had swerved into the oncoming traffic. >> she had hit a gravel truck head on. on a rural road. >> so, your mother is suddenly dead? >> right. >> awful event. maybe it was a distraction. maybe shatters turn away from trouble. we really don't know. >> no idea. >> she had just bought a little yorkie, and for the past couple weeks she had been happy. >> what did the accident investigators make of that? >> they said it was in an accident. >> meanwhile, the investigators, goodwyn snyder and sullivan, couldn't ignore that jennifer's head on highway death was the six in eight years from the same family commune.

does that change your interest in the case? are you amped up a little bit more? >> i think we all were. what we saw was a pattern. >> approximately every two and a half years, there was a mysterious death. deemed each time to be an accident. and while the officers suspected lou castro was somehow involved, they had no hard evidence on which to arrest him. they had to just wait. >> it's not that easy. we did not want to tip off what we were looking at. and if you knew we were looking at him, he could get a big move. he could change the way he does because. >> and you still don't know who. us >> and we still did not know who he was? >> a year later, in 2009, lou castro did exactly what they feared. he took off. but just as the investigators thought lou castro might have slipped away, they got their first big break. coming up -- a troubling encounter shakes sara. >> he was very angry with me. >> scary angry. >> and then someone new gives detectives their first look inside the mysterious world of

angel's landing. the authorities were very, very interesting what you have safe. >> yes. >> when dateline continues. es that works differently. it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1, and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. it is the only fda-approved combination of two immunotherapies. opdivo plus yervoy equals a chance for more starry nights. more sparkly days. more sunny mornings. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to harm healthy parts of your body during and after treatment. these problems can be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have a cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; irregular heartbeat; diarrhea; constipation; severe stomach pain, nausea or vomiting; dizziness; fainting; eye problems; extreme tiredness; changes in appetite, thirst or urine; rash; itching; confusion; memory problems; muscle pain or weakness; joint pain; flushing; or fever. these are not all the possible side effects.

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believe the man known as lou castro, with somehow linked to six mysterious deaths in the midwest. but he didn't know how or why. and now, unbeknownst to the detective, lou castro had slipped away. left wichita. it happened suddenly. a few months after their mother's death in a 2008 car crash, emily and sara were still traumatized when lou announced a moved to tennessee. how is that approach to the family? we're out of here? moving to tennessee? >> he said we really needed to go. i was really angry with him from wanting to move. i did want to go, i wanted to stay. and lou said, emily we're doing this for you. >> for you? >> yes, he said that we were going to be closer to

vanderbilt, which was the college that i wanted to go to. and he said, this whole move was for me. >> it was kind of flattering to hear? >> yeah, and also, how do you say know when the entire thing is about you. >> so, you are still the princess? >> right. >> emily was 17 but sara was nearly 24 and inching away from the smothering-ness. >> i moved out. >> how did you do that? that's a huge step. >> he really wanted to move to tennessee and i didn't want to go. and i had just lost my mom and i couldn't stand the thought of losing my dad. i never have been able to stand that thought. my dad is so important to me. >> did you tell lou to his face, i'm not going, i'm not going in the car? >> yes. >> how did that go down? >> he was very angry with me. scary angry. and i just, i can't, i use not doing that. i don't want to be that far away from a dad. i don't. there is no way. >> emily might have gone to

live with their father, but she remained with the commune. >> i wasn't going to leave what i considered my family. >> and your dad was province other family back there. >> i mean, i still visited my dad i love my dad. but that was just not where it is going to live. >> so, as the family and emily moved to a beautiful colonial home in columbia, tennessee, sara stood her ground in wichita. she could exhale at last. one evening she went out and then a guy. his name was daniel, an expert marksman in the kansas national guard. and as they fell in love, she began to spill the buried secrets of her pass. do you think nobody could have these dark stories in your life. but you just had awful, awful things to tell. >> yes. >> was sara still in touch with the family commune, now living in tennessee. and daniel wanted to know more about this lou character, sara was telling him about. >> i did some research in all these dust trying to figure out

how much of it was related to this individual. >> which is exactly what law enforcement was doing on the outside of all this. trying to look in and figure out where the puzzle lay. what did you feel about the stories? >> a lot of mixed emotions. i didn't know how to handle a lot that stuff at this time. because was all very fresh, very new to me. and just stuck with her, and decided, let's try to make things right. >> and secretly, daniel decided to take action. >> you put together a remarkable letter for the fbi? >> yes. >> it took some guts to do it. >> i was pretty much just tired of me carrying that information myself. i found out enough that i believed that it should be and somebody else is hands, that they could do something with it. >> daniel laid out his suspicions, painting an alarming picture of the angel's landing commune. a series of mysterious deaths. a code of silence enforced with sickening threats. and a big clue as to where all

of the money might have come from. and at the center of it all, the man who called himself, lou castro. even for this veteran of the wars in afghanistan and iraq, according to the authorities, carried it stress. >> did you work with it? >> i did. but i decided this was something i have to do. and the chips will fall with a fall. >> it turns out the authorities were very interested in what ufc. >> yes. >> sold, in december, 2009, nearly seven years after the wichita investigation began, detectives goodwyn and snider, and the fbi agent sullivan, got their first break. the email from daniel. >> and in the email, he told us what he thought was happening. but the great thing about it was, for the first time we had somebody from the inside that could confirm some of our suspicions. >> so you guys really need to look at this guy, lou castro. and i'm get guess you get a hold call phone call? >> yes, we finally have a corroborating witness that will help us determine who lou

castro is. >> and secret, without sarah knowing, they brought daniel in and peppered him with questions. >> he related to us how lou castro and the others had moved to the residents in columbia, tennessee. we were reluctant to talk to his girlfriend because again, we did not want to tip off castro or, anybody else. >> and daniel, there inside man, delivered the mother lode. >> they'd bring me pictures, asking to identify these people. >> surveilling? watching cars come and go? you are able to put the picture together for them. >> correct. armed with daniels email and his intel, goodwyn, snyder and sullivan, got an official greenlight to pursue castro and try to take him out of business. >> john's counterparts in tennessee's obtained a license for a vehicle out there which was registered to a person by the name of joe vegas. so at that time, we had a new name that we potentially thought could be a new family member or we could potentially

be lou castro. >> at the same time as investigators were looking for joe vegas, they were following money transferred from the angel's landing family, to their new home in tennessee. >> the money had transferred from wichita, kansas, from area banks to columbia, tennessee banks. >> emily remembers the day lou set up a new account. do you go to the back within that day when he won the? >> i did. you don't >> you don't know that a little authorities have been looking for him for years back and look at wichita? >> no. >> after they got in touch with the bank, the investigators pulled the security camera video. >> there, clearly visible was emily. and there was a man called giovanni guest opening an account. >> what did you see in that image? >> lou castro. >> so newcastle of the wichita is now joe vegas of tennessee? >> that's correct. the >> investigators believed he was neither lou castro, nor joe vegas. and now, he had been made. identity fraud is a federal crime. so the investigators now had

grounds to arrest him. a week later, they moved in. coming up -- investigators finally get inside the doors of the commune. and later, sinister stories of angels landings turned -- >> amber was the angel of death. she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> and then you'll hear lou castro himself. when dateline continues. inues. cranky-pated: a bad mood related to a sluggish gut. miralax is different. it works naturally with the water in your body

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it's a striking colonial house deep in the countryside outside nashville, tennessee. in 2010, this is where lou castro lived. lou, his fiancee and their daughter and emily with other

commune members. based on the numbers information daniel supplied, the members were now bird-dogging the members. >> you were not happy about leaving your life in wichita, but wereyou pleased with the prospects in tennessee? >> i really was focusing on going to college. >> emily recalls a lot of changes. one in particular. lou's name. lou wanted to be called joe. >> how did he explain that to you? don't call me lou anymore? >> because he didn't have the proper identification to be established as lou. he needed an actual social security card and driver's license. >> they believed he had committed identity fraud which

give them what they needed to make an arrest. >> we knocked on the door. mr. castro and his common law wife answered the door. >> we approached him as joe venegas. we called him joe venegas to his face when we talked to him. he corrected us he was not joe venegas, but lou castro. he went back to the old identity. >> was he shaky to see law enforcement at his door? >> i think he was able to explain why we were there. >> the investigators charged him and searched his property. >> what did you find? >> normal things. paper documents and computers and weapons and guns inside the house? >> any smoking guns? >> no. >> emily was on the way home from school when she got a call from the detective. >> he said emily, where you are?

i said i don't know who you are. he said i'm detective goodwin. >> first time you heard him? >> i just about fainted. goodwin had to carry me into the house because i was terrified. >> what did they tell you it was all about? >> i don't remember. >> lou was continuing to con found the officers by not giving up his real name. >> we were frustrated. we wanted his fingerprints and know who he was immediately. >> castro's fingerprints did not show up in a database. after a six-hour interview, he didn't crack. >> we came back to wichita partly happy because we arrested lou castro, but we didn't know who he was at that point. >> when castro pleaded guilty to

i.d. fraud and sentenced to two years in federal prison, goodwin believed that was a ploy to avert federal charges. he was determined to get to the truth. seven years after opening the investigation into angel's landing, he setoff to the place he believed lou castro's journey began and saw his identity. coming up, what led to the case to be broken wide open. when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues. kines. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements

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the nemesis of detective ron goodwyn a man who called himself lou castro but would not give up his real name was behind bars after confessing to i.d. fraud. but even after seven years of investigating, goodwyn was just getting started. he believed castro was involved in much more serious crimes. heavy duty stuff. maybe even those mysterious deaths: the plane crash that killed mona, her boyfriend and

her daughter lindsey; the death of brian hughes under a collapsed vehicle; that inexplicable head-on tragedy in which sara's and emily's mom jennifer died? and trish hughes's drowning. as the investigators called everyone with links to castro, the phone trail took goodwyn to south texas. >> it took us to south texas because patricia hughes the victim in the drowning was from beeville, texas. >> reporter: goodwyn questioned trish's family and a sister recalled trish had gone with a guy way back when. >> a guy by the name of daniel perez. >> reporter: had you ever heard that name in all your years of trying to figure out who lou castro was? >> no, i'd never heard that name. >> reporter: daniel perez. goodwyn immediately contacted the local authorities and it turned out there was a record of a daniel perez and a mug shot. >> they faxed that to me that day. >> i remember when ron finally got the fax from texas and i snatch it outta of his hands and said, "where did you get that?" it was obvious that it was, you know, the person we knew as lou

castro. but now we, of course, knew he was daniel perez. >> reporter: we got our guy here? >> yes. >> reporter: lou castro was daniel perez born in aransas pass, texas in 1959. the records 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 believed in south texas to have been dead for many years wasn't dead because you saw him in wichita. you'd seen him driving his corvettes. >> that's right. >> reporter: so he was on the lam? >> he was on the lam. >> reporter: in kansas and tennessee, interviews with the angel's landing commune helped goodwyn 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 id fraud. >> i said "i'm finally going where i wanna go and i'm doing the things i wanna do." and he wrote me back and chewed me out for not caring about him. >> reporter: that was the price

of being his little princess? >> right. >> i was saying that i was happy. and he took that as a slap in the face. and i stopped talking to him. >> reporter: instead, emily started talking to the investigators - but warily. she and sara trickled out their stories, fearful they too might be implicated in whatever goodwyn suspected. >> it took a lot of questioning and lots of tears and lots of detective goodwyn telling me that it was gonna be all right and that i wasn't in trouble. >> reporter: sara and emily's whole terrifying saga began when sara was 17 and emily just 10. a supernatural world began to emerge 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, you know, "emily, does" i think sara was in the

car, too. "does lou seem kinda special to you?" and i was like, "yeah, he's pretty nice." and she's like, "well, you know, he's actually a seer." >> reporter: 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 just knew that she needed to be close to him, because he could protect her and keep her safe, because he knew what was coming. >> reporter: did you believe it? >> i mean i was a little skeptical at first. but i think when you're nine or ten and your mom says that this is really what's happening you give it a little bit more credibility. >> reporter: and it wasn't just emily's and sara's mom. others at angel's landing believed lou was a direct descendent of geronimo and had the power to make it rain and bring good health to those at death's door. >> trish had 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. >> reporter: did you believe it? >> yes. he could also see people, like, from the past, like, people that'd already died, he could see those people too. >> reporter: see them because he said he was an angel. >> lou said, you know, "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." >> reporter: what did you think? >> it seemed really cool, you know. it was like being so special, and being around this thing that nobody else gets to do. >> reporter: your very own angel? >> right. it's like seeing santa claus. you get really excited when you're ten-years-old. and, you know, he was tellin' us that he would take care of us, and he would always make sure that we were safe. >> reporter: but safety meant lou needed control.

>> he was the one that told everybody what they were gonna do and when they were gonna do it and how they were gonna do that. >> reporter: really bossy guy, my way or the highway kinda thing? >> kind of. he was very good at, like, manipulating you i guess you could say. >> reporter: was your mom vulnerable, do you think, he seemed to know where people's buttons were. >> yes, very much so. >> reporter: he's steppin' in like the boss, huh? >> yeah, he acted like he was my dad. >> reporter: what do you think that thing was that he put together that you got pulled into, sara? >> a cult. >> reporter: cult? and the guy you knew only as lou castro was the cult leader? >> yes. >> reporter: what is that thing that he had? did you feel that power? >> yeah. >> reporter: he can say crazy things and you think he's telling you the truth? >> yeah. >> reporter: detective ron goodwyn 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. >> reporter: but you didn't wanna meet either of these alternate personalities, huh? >> no. no. >> amber was the angel of death. so, she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> reporter: he could see who was going to die? was that something he -- >> yes. >> reporter: said was in his powers? >> right. >> reporter: and did you ever see that personality in him? >> i did. he wouldn't blink. he would get this terrible grin that just looked evil. >> reporter: the sisters say before their mom's death, castro had a terrifying vision. >> he predicted that my mom was going to die. >> reporter: so how'd you feel about this? >> devastated. >> it was awful. >> reporter: the outlandish stories were shocking to ron goodwyn, 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

angels landing. and her story is that tricia hughes is not an accidental drowning, >> that's right. coming up, what emily heard and then what emily saw when "dateline" continues. es -kee-on-oh... -nope. -co-ee-noah. -no. -joaquin. -no. it just takes practice. give it a shot. [ grunts, exhales deeply ] -did you hear that? -yeah. it's a constant battle. we're gonna open a pdf. who's next? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. no fussin', no cussin', and no --

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hello. i'm dara brown. president biden shifted his position on unemployment benefits saying it makes sense to end the $300 benefit in september. the 360,000 jobs added in may shows the country is on the right track. and facebook bans former president trump for two years. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: detective

ron goodwyn was scarcely able to take in the story of the cult, and the occult, at angels landing. sisters emily and sara 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. eight 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. >> reporter: about a week before trish's death, emily, trish'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, you know,

"emily, something really big's gonna happen. and he said, "trish is going to die." and i started crying. he said, "it's -- it's okay. it's her time." >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: she's hearing this described? >> yes. >> reporter: is she startled? does she say "not me. i'm not going along with this"? >> no. she was in -- you know, quite involved. >> reporter: 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. well, we're gonna go to the dealership to look at a car." i think it was for sara, but i don't remember. and he said, "but the pool needs to be cleaned. so, you and trish are gonna stay here and clean it." >> you're gonna stay here and clean the pool. >> yep. and he said, "emily, it's-- it's time."

and i said, "okay." >> reporter: she says lou began to set up the cleaning equipment for the pool, a few feet away from the workshop. >> he said, "you're gonna 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, "'cause i'm gonna miss you." and she said, "it'll be okay." >> reporter: then emily took the toddler, 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. >> reporter: a little bit of a scream? uh-huh, 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. >> reporter: trying to entertain the little girl and -- >> knowing that trish was outside. >> reporter: time goes by. you leave the shed, go over to the pool. >> yeah, 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. >> reporter: just to get yourself wet? >> yeah. >> because you had to -- you had a story that had been fed you, huh? >> right. >> reporter: that you have attempted to rescue the baby? >> right. >> how awful. there, you're seeing trish floating dead in the pool. >> i lost it. >> reporter: even so, emily called 911, just as she'd been ordered by castro, and told the story that 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 sara to the car dealership. did he give you a hint of what was going on that day, sara? >> no.

>> reporter: what do you believe lou did at the pool that day? >> i believe he drowned trish. >> reporter: not an accident at all? >> no. >> reporter: pushed her head under the water and killed her? >> yes. >> reporter: detective ron goodwyn believed both sara 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 seer, he had put her in a time warp, convincing her for many years that she was not 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 that i told, and there's a lot of regret that comes along with that. >> reporter: but you're not to blame for this. you do get that, right? >> trying to come to terms. >> reporter: goodwyn was now grasping the full extent of

castro's hold over emily at the angel's landing. >> the control that he had over her was unlimited. she would do anything for him. she truly believed that he was this person. >> reporter: 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 of what she saw and took part in as a little girl, you've got a murder case? >> yes. >> reporter: but, as if murder wasn't enough, emily and sara had more to tell. there were more crimes to reveal -- even more ugly stuff. sara 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 is the difficult part of the story. i'll let you tell as much or little as you like. >> when "dateline" continues. ats

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>> reporter: wichita detective ron goodwyn had listened in horror as emily and sara revealed the awful story of trish hughes's murder at angels landing. but nothing, not the email from daniel, the story about trish's drowning, or his wildest suspicions about lou castro, could prepare him for what he was about to hear next. >> 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. but you seemed right away to be sharing the bedroom with lou. >> i was. >> as a fourth grader. >> yes. i was -- i was ten. >> ten years old? >> yes. and i was in his bed every night. you know he convinced me that this is what i needed to do to take care of him, and this is my job. >> and why did he say that 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 who's 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, you know. it's really hard for me to look at pictures of myself when i was little. but -- your -- your childhood was stolen from you. >> it was. >> by this man. >> it was. >> reporter: 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 jealous? >> i was. i definitely was. i was 12 and i felt like i was getting divorced.

>> reporter: for sara the awful reality was not so dissimilar. she too was subjected to castro's mind games, as she says he sought to control her. >> like trying to drive a wedge between my sister and i. >> were you jealous of emily? uh-huh. he tried to make me jealous of her, yes. >> reporter: 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? >> uh-huh. >> how awful. >> i mean, there are hundreds and 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? >> seventeen. >> reporter: 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 his skills as an angel, to -- >> right. >> take your soul to purgatory? >> right. and the, 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. and, so, the next morning, he'd wake up and he'd be like, "mama, i love you. i'm so sorry." and i'm like, really? >> now, where's your mom when -- when all this is -- is goin' on? >> it was, like, usually really late at night. and so she would be sleeping in her house. and -- >> 'cause you had by then, two or three different properties, huh? >> yeah. >> reporter: and what about all the other adults? >> there's brian, there's trisha. there are people coming and going. people goin' to the pool parties and maybe seeing things. nobody intervened? >> nobody saw it. you know, i think that's really important is that nobody saw the abuse. and i have spoken to people who

were 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? it -- nobody knew. >> reporter: but castro didn't just manipulate the girls for sex. he ordered sara 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 gonna take that video camera. i'm not gonna go with that little girl," what would have done to you, do you think? >> he'll say "i'm gonna make your worst nightmare come true. i'm gonna kill your dad." >> reporter: 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? >> yes. 'cause i'm a daddy's girl. >> and he knew that? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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 dad back home. >> i think that that's -- that's a pretty common thing for people in these types of situations that everybody says, "well, you could've left then. and you could've 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 -- >> and does have an avenging angel who will come get you. >> and that's scarier than staying. >> and you believed that -- that might happen. >> i did. and i know i physically could've now. but i never once thought about leaving. i thought about killing myself, but i didn't think about leaving. >> how do you ever get over that? >> you don't. i have ptsd. >> i'm not at all surprised. >> reporter: ron goodwyn, aghast at what he was hearing, believed he had been told of crimes that could see daniel perez aka, lou castro, already in prison, behind bars for a very long time. >> he's a sexual predator who is willing to do anything to get his way and do what he wants to do.

live a 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. >> reporter: after the investigators presented all their evidence to the da, they waited until castro had completed his 2-year federal prison sentence, then they immediately rearrested him and he ended up being charged with 28 counts: first-degree murder, child exploitation as well as multiple counts of sexual crimes and fraud. kansas v daniel perez was heading to the court. as witnesses 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. >> and now she's gonna take him on? >> yes. coming up, despite all of the evidence, one part of this case may not be a slam dunk.

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>> reporter: at sedgwick county district court in wichita, kansas. >> "you must determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty." >> reporter: 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 sara would both testify, at the time not wanting to make public their identities, and face down the accused who'd controlled them both for so many years. >> reporter: i can't imagine how antsy you must have been walking into that courtroom. >> right. >> reporter: because, you know, 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." >> reporter: district attorney marc bennett and assistant d.a. kim parker prosecuted this sprawling case. >> reporter: were you worried about even explaining this thing to a jury about what it was all about? >> sure. we had facts from across several states. facts that involved a multitude of victims and witnesses. >> reporter: this was like an imax movie. and you went with that epic version of the daniel perez story. why did you do that? >> you can't understand it otherwise. if you can't tell the whole story, the jury would be lost. >> reporter: the prosecution had won a key ruling before trial when judge joseph bribiesca allowed evidence from beyond kansas to be entered. so criminal accusations that goodwyn, 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. >> reporter: on the big one, the

murder charge: the das alleged that even though trish hughes might have been a willing participant in her own death, it was nonetheless perez who held her head under water. >> the primary distinction between homicide and suicide is that suicide is at your own hand, and literally in this case, homicide, the hand of another. his hand was necessary to complete this act. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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 -- the most difficult to prove. >> i kept thinking, "nobody is going to really think that it's as bad as it was. no one's going to think that he should serve life in prison." >> reporter: 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 sara accused perez of forcing her to video tape a young girl as she got undressed. >> reporter: how did it feel to see him in court, right there? >> it was terrifying. i always felt like he was gonna jump across the table and get me. >> reporter: even then? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the das alleged perez had ordered sara to take videos of the child at least twice. >> we found all this video on the computers in -- in tennessee. >> reporter: among the other sex-crime charges, sara and 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 in terribly, graphic detail that had happened when i was 10. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: so the m.o. of -- >> yes. >> reporter: attacking his victims was similar. >> they didn't know each other. >> thousands of miles apart. >> and their story is essentially the same. >> reporter: 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 trail 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's and sara's mother who'd 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. >> reporter: and it seemed, whenever the coffers were running low, someone would die, and there would be a big insurance payoff. was it that, bold faced a pattern, marc? >> oh, absolutely. yeah. i mean the, get down into the less than $10,000 in the account, sometimes less than $5,000, and then that's around the time somebody was gonna die. >> reporter: and with that explanation, the das 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 do call daniel perez." >> reporter: 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 described you as cult leader and child rapist. who are you? >> when "dateline" continues. e"s

>> reporter: for years he had traveled through texas and the midwest, going by the name lou castro. in tennessee he was joe venegas. >> you do you solemnly swear -- >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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. mr. perez, in recent weeks i have heard you described as cult leader, child rapist, someone that's very good to have off the streets. who are you? >> i, i'm, i'm -- [ laughter ] i'm no one in particular. i'm just, i'm just me. >> reporter: do you think you can see into the future? are you a prophet, a seer? >> no, sir. >> reporter: why are you telling people you can? >> i never told them anything. >> reporter: 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. and they weren't alter egos. if i was having sex with somebody i don't want anybody else calling me by my name. so you'd call me anything you wanna call me, just don't call me lou.

and that's what they chose and that's what they did. >> reporter: 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. >> i was just a mule. i was just moving money. that's it. i delivered money and i got paid for it. >> reporter is this illegal money -- >> yes, sir. >> reporter: you still got the money? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: what are you worth? what do you think? >> i don't know. >> reporter: half a million? >> probably close to. >> reporter: as for the alleged murder of trish hughes in the swimming pool, did he sit emily and trish at a table and predict trish's death? did you tell her her time had come? did you tell little emily that trisha's time had come? >> no. no. >> reporter: and have that little girl set up an alibi for you to be out at the car dealership and -- >> no sir. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: well, there's no question you were at the at the car dealership later on.

key question, it wasn't your hand on trisha hughes' head pushing her beneath the water, killing her? >> nobody killed patricia hughes. >> reporter: here's the thing. when, when investigators look at you, i mean what they're telling is the court that 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 incident. did you rig that plane to crash and kill those three people? >> no, sir. >> reporter: years go by and then it's trisha's time in the pool. a few more years go by and it's brian, the husband, trapped underneath the car. >> yes, he passed away in south dakota. >> reporter: passed away. did you have anything to do with the -- >> no, sir. >> reporter: -- death of brian hughes? >> no, sir. >> reporter: did you play mind games with jennifer to make her drive into that truck? >> no, sir. i had nothing to do with anyone's death. >> reporter: what about the instructions he allegedly gave sara with the video camera? 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 that fact?

has anyone considered the fact that she is the one that was doing it? >> reporter: are you a pedophile? >> no, sir. >> reporter: do you have an appetite for little girls? >> no, sir. >> reporter: so raping the 11-year-old never happened? >> no. >> reporter: that's the allegation. >> it is, but i'm not. >> reporter: that -- the thing that you get up for in the morning is to drive your flashy cars around and look forward to raping a young girl. that's what you're about. >> well, that's the picture that's come together but that's not reality. >> reporter: sara says that you raped her hundreds of times. >> no. >> reporter: hundreds. >> no. >> reporter: that's what she testifies to in court. >> yes, she did. yes, she did. >> reporter: that makes you a monster? >> yes, it would. it would make anyone a monster. >> reporter: so what are you 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. >> reporter: the stories that come out from these people that used to be in your family is that you were manipulating them, you were gonna go kill their father. they felt absolutely terrorized by you. >> and one of them was dating a police officer.

we have police officers, law enforcement that hang out at the ranch for at least eight years. it's not logical. i mean how are you gonna sit there and be raping an individual and that individual's not gonna run to a police officer that's standing right there? and go say, "hey, listen, this is taking place," you know? >> reporter: the prosecution is gonna put together a story that you are a very unlucky guy with all of these people around you 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 -- i can't explain it. >> reporter: were you a cult leader? >> no. there was no commune. there was no cult. >> reporter: 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 bribiesca read it to the court. >> count 1, guilty of murder in the first degree.

>> reporter: daniel perez was found guilty on all 28 counts. and the following month, 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 conclusively shows that mr. perez used people as mere objects. >> reporter: he received another 33 years for the other charges. the 55-year-old won't be eligible for parole for more than 80 years. >> reporter: those who feel the pain of loss speculate perez might have been involved in the other deaths, like the car crash in which emily's and sara's mom died. do you think there's more to it than a simple road accident, sara? >> probably. >> reporter: or that plane crash in which cody's mom and sister were lost? perez was a plane mechanic in the navy. >> he did it. some way, somehow, he found a way to alter the aircraft. >> reporter: you believe? >> in my heart, i do. >> reporter: you don't have any

evidence to say that? >> i can't prove anything. his heart goes out to emily and sara. i lost my mom and sister but those girls -- lost -- [ crying ] i can't even imagine. >> reporter: so who is daniel perez? >> well, he used so many different stories that it's kind of hard to piece them together. >> reporter: he's just a guy from south texas? >> right. >> reporter: telling stories. >> right. >> reporter: for what reason? >> he liked it. he realized that if he could find a way to generate capital without having to work, he could have access to whatever sort of things his heart desired, the things including me and my sister. >> reporter: in the end it was tenacity and old-fashioned doggedness that took perez down.

do you have an atta boy for detective goodwyn? outside your fence all those years looking, trying to figure it out? >> yeah, i -- i would not have my life back if it wasn't for detective goodwyn and detective snyder and supervisory special agent sullivan. and mr. bennett and ms. parker, the d.a.ss, it is amazing what the d.a.s, it is amazing what they have given me. >> reporter: sara, 30 years old, and emily, 23, are now trying to move on still reflecting on the shocking abuse. and your mother knew nothing about all of this, do you think? >> now, looking back, she -- she had to have known. >> reporter: you'd think. >> but she must've lost her mind. there's no way that my mom would allow that to happen to her children. >> reporter: the sisters are now 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 that 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. >> reporter: because in your mind you were protecting him. you were keeping him from the demon. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: sara 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. >> reporter: those people might not have a goodwyn ultimately looking out for them and riding up with a white hat and a 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 -- least i want to.

i think some sort of lightness has to come out from all of his darkness. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". oh, my god! >> a fire chief murdered. his wife the only witness. this detective knew them both. >> she started telling me about a young man coming into their home and shooting keith. >> her job now, solve this crime. clue number one was a doozy. >> she said after he shot keith, she said he turned to her and said, i'm sorry, ma'am. >> i'm sorry? a killer who apologized? that was just the start.