this is dateline. >> i'm freaking out. i walk in, my sister is not there. >> her doors open. her lights are on. her bed isn't done. everything looks horrible and i felt it. >> she had been fearless on the front lines. >> pretty amazing. i saw her as a really strong soldier. >> but something had her terrified at home. >> i'm just scared. i don't feel safe. >> a desperate call to police,

and then, she vanished. >> so you are pretty scared? >> he asked. >> no idea what that was? >> right. >> what happened to this beautiful army sergeant? that question would launch a spellbound mystery. >> there were a number of's potential subjects, absolutely. >> she was in danger. >> could police catch it? they had to plan a virtual genius. >> one of the detective said, you are not going to believe this. welcome to dateline. maribel ramirez was a fighter joining two tours oversee before -- even her military experience would not be enough to prepare her for the evil she battled back home here's josh with mystery in orange county. >> orange county california on

tv it's a place of sun, fun, and privilege. it's where the real house law wives first aired their dirty laundry. it's where the kids from the olc showed us all where temperature cool really was. >> around here, you get the sense that everyone is rich, white, and lives in a mansion with a view of the pacific. >> but step back from the coast, and you will see the orange county that isn't on tv. not as wealthy, not as white, and full of those who came here from somewhere else. chasing a better life, and finding it in places like santa anna, a mostly working place it immigrant place in the shadow of disneyland. it's the part of the ioc where people know that to survive, they will have to work hard. >> maribel ramos arrived here as a baby. leaving mexico behind. she would not only survive here, but thrive.

>> to tell you the truth, this should be the story of a woman who worked hard to change her life. and in doing so, carved the path for others to follow. >> hello? >> but this story is going to end differently. >> why are you crying? >> i am afraid. >> there are some parts of life, that hard work just can't fix. >> i am scared. >> i am just like calling to let you guys know that if something, happens i tried to defend myself. >> some things be under control. >> all i'm trying to say is that i'm warning you, i honestly will fight for my life and i -- >> all of this should never reach that point of no return. so, maybe it's a story of simple bad luck. to lives that should've never come together. >> tell me about growing up

with maribel. would she like? >> troublemaker. mom wanted her to stay in her room, and she went and played baseball. >> tomboy? >> yes. her sister lucy says tomboy mirabel ramos also had a spark. >> she came in immediately, what? introduced us up to everybody? >> made friends. people were drawn to her. she was easy to talk to. >> you saw boy sitting? they're >> definitely. >> from an early? age >> from an early age. >> that never ended, did it? >> no, no. >> a little sister lucy remembers how mirabel was also in charge of watching out for her, while their single mother often work two jobs to make ends meet. >> you are how much younger? >> seven years younger. >> a lot of girls wouldn't want to sister tagging along. >> she didn't want, to she had to. >> even as a child, mirabel figured out that a different world insisted -- and she wanted to live there.

>> she knew at a young age that there was a lot more to life than we had around us. there was things you can do and go to school and have opportunities live in a nicer house. >> she saw all? that >> definitely. >> mirabel ramos knew she would have to work hard to get what and where she wanted. after high school, she worked in hospitality at came. archie hutch to long term plan to become a cough. she needed college degree and that meant money. >> maribel ramos became first class private ramos her first day was august 8th 2001 and just 34 days later the whole world changed. >> we all sort of thought that's going to affect my sister. >> yes, i turn on the tv and power is crumbling.

first thing i thought was my sister's going to war. >> lucy worried. the mother worried, maribel was like a rock. >> would admirable say? >> she did express her feeling she just said this is what's happening, we need to talk to mom. >> maribel went to war in iraq. >> what was it like to see her in uniform? >> it was pretty amazing. >> gisele is lucy's daughter, maribel's niece. >> sometimes i would even see as my aunt, i was like whoa you are going out there like to save everybody. >> you are proud of her? >> yeah. admirable learned to jump out very planes, and she had guns for armed convoys, she learned more than her share of combat, she also made sergeant and won her tour in iraq and it, she realist and for another. she seemed fearless. >> she was very easily --

>> yes, other people did die. >> there were friends of hers. >> hinted as a nine, after two tours in iraq, maribel left the army and set part two of her plan into action and rolling in college. adjusting back to civilian life wasn't as easy as maribel had expected. >> like a lot of war veteran, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, or ptsd. >> she had seen some terrible things. did she ever talk about that? >> not with me. >> instead, she focused on school, work, and family. especially her niece gisele. >> she kind of adopted you as this project. >> yeah. >> why did you do that? >> i think it was because she wanted me to have the best. >> as gisele grow older, the self improvement message sometimes came complete with pushups.

>> after all, maribel was all army. >> when i had a chore, she would make me do exercise in order to work off the punishment. >> in all this time, mirabel was hammering away edges ill. >> you are gonna finish school. >> oh yes. >> you are gonna study hard. you are going to have a career. >> this is what you're gonna do, she would tell her. okay, gisele? >> yes, diana. >> mirabel got a dog, and rented a two bedroom apartment in the city of orange, which she shared with a roommate, a quiet chemist name casey joy. who also had to dock. >> i thought it was a perfect match. he has a dog, she has a dog. he seems quiet. he is not going to have all these people coming over. >> by may 2013, everything seemed great. maribel was leading by example, finishing up her degree in criminal justice at cal state fulton. gisele was following in her from -- strong footstep.

>> she was dropping off money in my house, because i had gotten good grades. she had just got her hair done, died, styled, for her graduation. >> she looked great. >> yeah. >> she was happy? >> yeah, she was. that's why it made no sense one just days later, maribel ramos, soldier, student, loving, simply disappeared. coming up, what had happened to mirabel ramos. >> nobody heard from? her >> nobody. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues d of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief or preparation h. because your derriere deserves expert care. preparation h. get comfortable with it.

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in a way others don't. and it relieves my symptoms fast for real migraine relief. may 3rd 2013, was a friday. the day that should've been an easy day for maribel ramos. >> school was nearly over, graduation was so close but

that morning things weren't right. >> i got a text from casey, at 10 am, and it said her sister didn't come home. it said>> they'd been roommater more than a year now. k.c. felt protective of maribel. he told lucy he had already called police to report her missing. >> orange police -- >> this is not an emergency. i have a roommate. she's 36 years old, and she didn't come home last night. >> so what i did, i texted her at 11:00. i said, happy friday. because we usually text each other anyways. that was my way of connecting. and she didn't text me back. >> unusual? >> yes. >> lucy still wasn't worried. she knew her combat-hardened sister could take care of herself. but then evening came and for maribel, friday night was softball night. she loved to play and never missed a game. but this friday night she didn't show. now, lucy's phone was ringing, maribel's teammates on the line.

they told me, go to the house, police are there. do not take giselle. i'm freaking out, and i walk in, and my sister is not there. her door is open, her lights are on, her bed's undone. my head started spinning. everything was horrible and i felt it. >> detective joey ramirez with the orange police department got the call that evening. and he also had a bad feeling about everything. >> it sounds like you were taking this pretty seriously from the get-go. >> absolutely. >> why couldn't she be off by herself, or with some other friends, or maybe she lost her phone or forgot to call? >> that was our hope, that she was just missing, that she would come walking through the door. but her family and friends expressed that she was very responsible. >> and nobody's heard from her? >> nobody. >> so ramirez and his team went into action. they quickly figured out that if she left on her own accord, it didn't look like maribel had

planned to be out long. >> she left her car at home? >> her car was there. her keys were gone. her phone was gone. >> but her toothbrush was there, so was her big purse she used when she had a lot to carry. >> k.c. returned home hours after police first got there. he again told the cops what he told them that morning, that maribel was missing. lucy and the softball team went to the police station hoping for answers, but morning came and there weren't any. so channeling her big sister, lucy decided to stop waiting and make her own luck. >> i woke up on saturday, and i thought, wow, this is seriously happening. i posted a picture of her on facebook. it was immediate. people went into action. >> friends from the university got together, family members, her

spanish. they reached out to reporters. >> it's very not like her after eight years of service in the army to just disappear. >> unusual thing was next day, friday morning, she was not here. >> i helped my mom pass out fliers around school, pretty much anything i could do. >> did you think they'd find her? >> yes, i did. >> giselle was 14 at the time. but detective ramirez, who's been a cop for mar years than gisele has been alive, was not as hopeful. she's not using her cell phone, she's not taking any money out. no one's heard from her. when you've picked up no trace of her after a couple of days, you still think you're looking for a living person? >> the percentages are starting to drop, not in our favor. >> because by then you've called all the hospitals. >> all hospitals, jails. >> there's an alert out that any police officer, what, in southern california sees her. >> correct. and the media was also helping.

>> and nothing? >> nothing. >> no maribel on security tape from any nearby store. police checked all of them. they found only this image from the security camera outside the manager's office for her apartment complex. it's maribel paying the rent. it's may 2nd, 8:18 p.m., the night before anyone realized she had disappeared. maribel seems to be alone. so what the cops needed to do wais talk to everyone who was anyone in maribel's life. turns out there were a lot of people they suddenly needed to get to know, including a current boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend, and someone maribel had just met, a guy she'd made a date with online, a guy whose name maribel had apparently kept completely to herself. coming up, the men in maribel's life suddenly under scrutiny. >> you know you're not under arrest or anything like that. >> i wouldn't think so. >> and that haunting phone call. >> i'm just scared. >> something had happened to make her pretty scared. >> yes. >> there's nothing to say what that was. >> right.

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california in the county of orange california. much of it is a small town stuck in time. there's a university, as do, keep local businesses. and a police department that doesn't have to deal with a lot of violent crime. after all, the happiest place on earth is just down the street. but in may 2013, detective joey ramirez was far from happy. he had a lot of ground to cover and a strong sense that time was against him as he tried to figure out what had happened to maribel ramos. >> she just vanished? >> yes. >> how often does that kind of thing happen? >> it doesn't happen often.

>> ramires started by investigating the men in maribel's life. it turned out there were a few of them. >> did you know she was doing online dating? did she talk about that? >> yeah, she did. >> maribel sometimes met guys through a website called plenty of fish. that's how she found paul lopez. they had been dating for a few months, and paul had even joined her weekly softball game. lopez was the last person maribel talked to on the phone. now police wanted to talk to him. >> you know you're not under arrest or anything like that. >> i wouldn't think so. >> ramirez sat across from paul and asked about his relationship with maribel. >> nothing's been exclusive. it's just been dating. >> okay. you date other people too? >> me, yeah. >> you don't know if she dates other people or not? >> i don't ask, don't tell. >> and he asked lopez where he was on the night maribel disappeared. >> did you come into orange at all on thursday? >> no. >> police also had to consider

this. maribel had told lucy that things weren't working out with paul lopez. >> she wasn't a match with paul. so she was online talking to people. >> it wasn't clear if paul knew, even as they kept dating, that maribel was back on plenty of fish and had met a new man. he was a photographer who'd worked a lot with the military. it was a connection for both of them. >> how did she describe that guy? >> she said, oh, i met someone. he's very interesting. we have lot in common. >> and you thought what? good? >> i thought, great. >> they planned a date for cinco de mayo. two days before that date was to happen, maribel vanished. police talked to that photographer and made a recording of the conversation. >> you're saying you never actually met her in person. >> no. >> so he said, anyway. there was also an ex-boyfriend who had been calling. police needed to check him out. and there was this lead.

>> there was a person at cal state fullerton that was in the veterans association with her that had given her a bad feeling. he may have wanted to pursue some sort of dating relationship. >> but gave her a bad feeling how? >> she wasn't interested and she didn't give him any attention, yet he didn't go away. >> so he made her feel uncomfortable. >> correct. >> and by now, detective ramirez had learned something else. just a little over a week before she vanished, maribel ramos had called 911. >> hi, it's not an emergency but i just -- is there a recording? >> is there a what? >> is this conversation recording? >> yes. every conversation is recorded. >> maribel wanted it on the record. she wanted police to know she was very afraid of someone. >> i'm just calling to let you

guys know if something happens, i did it because i was trying to defend myself. >> she might have been afraid, but this army-strong woman who had always taken care of herself feared she might be the one putting the hurt on her attacker. >> all i'm trying to say is i am warning -- honestly, i will fight for my life. and i swear, i will kill him. >> something had happened to make her pretty scared. >> yes. >> there was nothing on the call to say what that was. >> right. >> what was she afraid of? not clear. who was she afraid of? that was another story entirely. >> coming up. >> you are doing your own surveillance? >> did her roommate know something that police didn't? >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues related to a sluggish gut. miralax is different. it works naturally with the water in your body

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. maribel ramos had joined the army to put herself through college, but just days away from her graduation ceremony, she vanished. earlier maribel had called police to say she was in danger, and afraid for her life. what was it, or who was it, that had her so concerned? here again is josh mientkiewicz with mystery in orange county. >> guy by now posters blanketed the city of orange.

maribel ramos was missing and her family was frantic. >> as soon as i got the call she didn't show up for her baseball game, i got the worst feeling in the world. >> putting himself out there with all the rest was maribel's roommate, k.c. joy. >> she's the only family i have. she was like my best friend. that's all. >> k.c. had moved from tennessee to southern california for a job. he had no family and few friends here. so he turned to maribel, and she was happy to include him. she even arranged for k.c. to tutor her niece in math. >> he seemed nice, respectful. he liked to be involved with the family and my aunt. >> he didn't have family of his own so he kind of attached himself to yours? >> yeah. >> but they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend? >> no. >> even so, in photos, maribel and k.c. seemed to be having a great time. they even went on a cruise together. soon, police would be talking with k.c. joy.

>> do you have a business card, sir? >> yeah. >> so i keep track of names trade -- >> yeah, that's a good idea. >> formalities over, detective ramirez started asking about maribel. >> as you know, right now, there's some people, some family and friends that are worried about maribel, your roommate. >> i was her friend and i care about her very much. >> but he said he had no idea what happened to her. >> so when was the last time you saw her? >> about 9:00 p.m. about 9:00. then i went out. >> that was thursday night, may 2nd. the next night when the cops were called to maribel's house, k.c. wasn't there. he explained he had been so worried that he did his own investigation, watching his own front door from his car parked out front. >> i saw in movies, detective movies suspect always comes back of the crime scene, whatever i wanted to see who knocked on my door. i just parked my car in front with a notebook.

had binoculars -- >> you were doing your own surveillance? >> yes. >> it sounded a little odd. maybe k.c. had seen too many crime movies, but if he had, then he'd probably know cops don't miss little details like -- well, like this. >> he was sitting across the table from me wearing short-sleeved shirt, jeans on and sandals. instantly i can see he has scratches on both his arms. he's got a scratch across his forehead from his hairline to his eye. >> how did you get all these scratches on you? >> we go to the park all the time. you go exactly -- we pick up other things, we pick up fishing line all the time, you go there. fishing line. >> can i see? >> fishing lines. >> those are from fishing lines? >> no, no.

i will explain. >> k.c. explained he was walking the dogs when he saw a fishing line in a bush. worrying about the ducks in the park getting caught in the line, he reached in to remove it and got all those scratches. >> you've been around long enough, you can tell the difference between scratches that a person might get, you know, reaching into a bush or from an animal and scratches somebody would get during a, you know, actual fight with another person? >> right. some of the scratches on his arm did look like scratches that would be from something other than fingernails. but there was one particular set of scratches on his right bicep that to me clearly looked like scratches from a hand. >> and that says to you he was in a fight? >> it does. >> when was the last time you guys had any sort of an argument? >> actually that thursday. >> this thursday? >> that was the last night anyone saw maribel, the night

she was caught on camera paying the rent, which k.c. said was what they were arguing about. >> well, what happened? tell me about that. >> because i was -- i'm supposed to move out. >> it turned out k.c. had recently lost his job and could no longer pay his share of the rent. maribel had asked him to move out. that was reason for concern, of course. and so was this. detective ramirez had learned about the 911 call maribel had made 11 days before she disappeared. and he knew that in that call the man maribel said that she might have to kill was k.c. joy. >> his full name is kwang choi joy. >> weren't the police out to your house recently because you had an argument? >> we'd been drinking that night.

she started yelling at me. >> k.c. said it was just a drunken misunderstanding. >> i don't like you, i'm not attracted to you. i said, maribel, we had a great time tonight. what's the problem? >> what was the problem? detective ramirez heard from maribel's family something very interesting. k.c. joy had wanted to be more than just roommates with maribel ramos. lucy told us the same thing. >> when did it become apparent to you that k.c. sort of had a crush on your sister? >> he called me, and then he just said, i'm like in love with your sister. so i was like, oh, this is great. >> because you knew your sister wasn't in love with him. >> yes. and that's a bad situation. at that point i'm like, okay, k.c. you know, you're a good man and i'm sure you'll find somebody out there for you, but -- >> but it's not going to be her. >> yeah.

>> now the woman k.c. told lucy he wanted had told him not only did she not love him, but he had to basically get out of her life. despite that, k.c. continued talking with police. >> mr. joy was being cooperative. >> he was. >> talking to officers, let you guys take stuff out of the house? >> he did. >> and never showed up with a lawyer? >> he did not. >> doesn't sound like that did a lot to set aside your suspicions? >> no, it didn't. >> suspicions, sure. but no proof a crime had even occurred. maribel ramos was missing. that's all anyone knew. >> ready, sir? >> and so k.c. joy walked out of that police station, like all the other men in maribel's life, a free man. >> finally the clue they had been waiting for and you won't

believe how they got it. >> coming up. >> >> no one had searched there? >> no. >> but he's looking at it? >> yes. >> he knew a lot more than he was telling us. >> when dateline continues. continues [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. it's time to start a new day. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy.

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>> soap as work for the gas company in the company truck. the gps on that truck was nowhere near the city of orange. the nightmare bell was seen on that security video. that is, until about midnight. that's when he went home. he said he was alone and he can prove it. >> so the surveillance camera -- >> that was enough to get lopez off the list. >> maribel had never mentioned he'd been a problem and police didn't think he was involved. there was the photographer from -- out of the area at the hi. time in question i'm richard lui with break news,. and the veteran from cal state

who had come onto strong he was in japan. none of them could be connected to her disappearance. so in the end there was just one person they couldn't stop looking at. the first person to report maribel missing, her roommate. >> this is not an emergency and she didn't come home last night. >> he was also the last to see her alive. >> i thought that she was dead. there was a high probability that joint was responsible for it and he knew a lot more than he was telling us. >> so detective ramirez became the shadow appearing in the morning after the police interview, a cheerful joint

ramirez showed up at his house. >> casey how are you can we come in? >> he had a voice recorder and a few more questions. >> >> detective ramirez already had the answer to some of these. >> she works at fullerton? >> and to some he didn't. >> did he have any marks on your leg or anything. >> you have no injuries on your legs? >> no i don't have any. >> okay. >> then ramirez showed up again that night. >> i just have a quick question. >> how are you doing? >> i'm fine. >> how many times did you talk to him? >> nine times. >> ramirez tried scaring casey about potential evidence i am freaking out. found in his car. >> why i walk in and my sister's not would there be blood in the red versa.

? >> >> you tell me those, but i don't know anything about it. >> what blood? >> you tell me. >> he tried backing casey into a corner about what might be found in casey's hard drive. >> well we should be able to help you out with that. >> we're hoping he's gonna think to himself everything that they're gonna see they're gonna -- >> were swinging and missing regularly and casey joy was willing to talk repeatedly without an attorney. >> three casey. thank you for cooperating with us. >> he says i've seen this movie and now you're gonna take my fingerprints. he was like a pro.

he seen it all. >> he's being very relaxed. i felt he was very confident that we weren't gonna figure it out. >> but mr. joy apparently didn't know is that other officers were watching him 24/7. >> the surveillance teams noticed that he was spending a lot of time at the public library and he was using the computers they're probably because the police had taken away his phone and -- >> initially we would have undercover policeman go to the library walk around him see what he's doing and at one point he is googling can a cell phone be tracked if it's turned off? >> that certainly suspicious. >> it is. >> ramirez was consulting daily with scott symonds. >> there are things that can be

called into question. >> that's why we didn't arrest him right away. >> police needed to see exactly what casey joy was doing on those library computers and that would require a very unusual plan. they obtained a search warrant to watch every move made on the computer. this is a recording of casey's actual computer key strokes and mouse clicks. that's casey checking his email. that's casey applying for a job. that's casey typing in how long does it take a body to decay. suspicious maybe but not enough. and then he did this. >> he pulled up a facebook page, show there was gonna be an awareness walk in the near future. >> a walk to help find maribel? >> it was. he google maps that park in zoomed in on to it and then pan

out navigated over about 8 to 10 miles. >> this area he was zeroing in on, was it an area that had crossed you feel division at all? >> now. >> here, casey is google mapping a place that no one had searched. watch as he zooms in on that area with a tree. >> the tree didn't figure in the investigation anyway? >> not by any stretch of the imagination. >> no one had search? they're >> now. >> and there's nothing in the paper anything else? >> it's in a remote canyon location. >> but he's looking at it? >> yes. yes. >> by the time casey was walking out of a library that afternoon, police were already headed to that tree. >> coming up. another startling discovery. >> this is way off the beaten path. we do know it's a think. >> when dateline continues. tinues that's why inside every miracle-ear store, you'll find better laughs at family barbecues.

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growing confident that they knew who was involved in the disappearance and that was about to change. here's josh mankiewicz with the conclusion with the ministry of orange county. >> as he dug deeper into toys background, detective found more and more evidence k.c. was infatuated, even obsessed, with maribel ramos. for instance, the time maribel

told k.c. he was too old for her and he responded by getting plastic surgery. >> $12,000 later, he's got a different face. >> correct. >> and he says the reason he got it is because of the woman who's missing? >> correct. >> now here was k.c. at the public library google mapping a remote wilderness area. since the dawn of detective novels, killers have returned to the scene of the crime. but these days there's no need for the bad guy to even get in his car. now it can be done with the click of a mouse. the good guys still have to do it the old-fashioned way. detective sean hayden got the call on the radio. drive tout to rustic majesca canyon southeast of the city of orange. >> we didn't know what to think. this is very rural area. no one would be out here mountain biking or hiking. this is way off the beaten path. >> at the other end of the

two-way radio, detective brian stanley was rewatching k.c.'s google search trying to give detective hayden better directions. k.c. focused on an intersection and then moved over to the tree. >> in the center of the shot there's one tree that looks like the bush out in the middle of the wash. i told him to look for that tree and then in the wash from that area. >> maden and his partner found the tree then moved off the road and past the barbed wire fence. and then they knew they were close. >> as we were kind of trekking through this brush here, the first and foremost thing we found was overwhelming smell of like a decaying body or something dead. my partner and i kind of turned our head and we looked over and saw this kind of shallow gravesite. >> at long last, there she was. >> one of the detectives called and said, joey, you're not going to believe this. we found her. >> maribel ramos had been left alone in that dusty canyonleft since before anyone knew she

was missing. now ramirez knew it was time for one last meeting with k.c. joy. >> well, thanks for coming down here voluntarily, i really appreciate it. >> if you give me a ride back to library i'll have to walk -- >> ramirez didn't tell k.c. that maribel had been found. he just tried for the final time to get k.c. to be the one who would say what had happened. >> k.c., i think that you have the answers in your heart, that you do and that you should share them -- >> i'll go. >> so once again k.c. joy walked out of the interview room. he didn't get far. this time he was arrested and charged with the murder of maribel ramos. the woman he had loved who had not loved him. when he was taken into custody, k.c. joy was wearing maribel's dog tags. k.c. joy pleaded not guilty and in july 2014, a year after

maribel vanished, he went on trial for her murder. >> miss maribel ramos. maribel is no longer with us. >> the prosecution laid out the evidence against k.c. the unrequited love. the scratches. the 911 call. and finally the computer searches. >> he's wondering how close is maribel's body to where they're doing that awareness search? that's why he goes to google maps. >> the defense pointed out there was no dna, fingerprints, cell phone info, or standard forensic evidence that tied k.c. joy to maribel's murder or to the crime scene. >> we don't know what happened. what kind of force was used? nobody knows. who used it first? nobody knows. was there a weapon used? was it used by maribel or was it used by k.c. joy? nobody knows. >> all true. but the computer searches were

enough for the jury. >> we the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, kwang choi joy, guilty of the crime of felony to wit -- >> k.c. joy was convicted of second-degree murder, after which he told me the jury got it wrong. >> are you dangerous? >> me? i'm the perfect, most honest guy there is, most trustworthy. i'm a gentleman. >> k.c. says he wants a new trial to prove he couldn't have killed maribel. his, quote, best friend. >> you had a crush on her. >> no, we are absolutely not. maintained practice tonilatonic friends. >> you never told lucy that you had a crush on her? >> no, i never said that. >> you never said you were in love with her? >> no, never said that either. >> you weren't obsessed with her? >> no, i was not obsessed with her. >> the plastic surgery? his choice, he says, thought done for maribel. and the computer search of the area where maribel's body was found? k.c. says he didn't do it, someone else did, by remotely accessing the same computer right after he had used it. >> you don't think that's quite a coincidence? >> are many questions but i didn't do it. >> you're being framed here?

>> i say yes. if i had a paid attorney, somebody who could -- somebody like o.j. simpson had, i wouldn't be here right now, i'd be out. >> the problem here is not that you're guilty, it's that you don't have enough money? >> exactly, money talks. if i had money, i would not be here. >> k.c. joy was sentenced to 15 years to life for killing maribel ramos. >> what do you think happened? >> i think she went to bed, and i think what he did is he got a pillow and smothered her. and as he's got this pillow over her face, she struggles a little bit. and i believe that's where he got the scratches on his right tricep. >> if mr. joy hadn't done that google map search, leading you essentially to the body, would he be a free man? >> if no other evidence came up, yes. >> he'd be a person of interest in a cold case? >> correct. >> maribel ramos graduated from

college posthumously. her niece gisele, who maribel had always hoped would follow in her footsteps, instead ended up walking the path meant for her aunt. >> i received her diploma. and i got to sit in her seat. and walk upstage and receive everything. >> it was so difficult so be there.o be therto be there. it was difficult to see my daughter in such pain. walking for her aunt. >> maribel ramos, we lost this gal a couple years ago. she was an army veteran -- >> every wednesday in the city of orange, they lower the flag for the fallen who served. but maribel has a legacy, gisele, who seems well on her way to becoming the successful woman maribel had hoped for. >> your mom says that you've sort of been the rock. >> yeah. >> that they wouldn't have made it through this without you. >> yes. >> where'd you get that toughness?

>> from her. >> from maribel. >> yeah. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. thanks for watching. >> all of our new best friends, one of all of you know them is missing. best friends. one of a body was found in them is missing. one of their apartments. how am i doing right now. if i had to put it into one word, numb would be the closest. >> it was a mystery where nothing was as it seemed. except for the body. >> it is so hard, you know, she was 23. >> she was a dancer. he was a veteran. she had been murdered he disappeared. >> does your