i'm craig melvin >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. then >> the neighborhood had everything a burglary wanted to find, private yards, wealthy homes -- >> and she had the worst of possible luck, in that he picture. >> yes. >> i'd like to report an attempted break -- in >> a mother, home alone. cops raced to her front door as she walks into an ambush in her backyard. >> how does somebody die in a matter of seconds with officers around her home? >> it was surreal, it was awful. >> your first thought of that

time? >> it's a burglary gone wrong. >> but the burglar caught red-handed starts pointing fingers. >> this is a guy who aspire to be a hit man -- >> she was a sitting target. >> does it now mean that you charge them all with? effort >> now the detective sleigh a trap. we >> try to play cat and malice. >> we're getting really paranoid about being -- >> one are you? wired >> will they catch their prey? >> you hold your breath, the world's gonna stop. this >> you never think it's going to be you. >> oh no! >> no. the young man is right. in fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesn't happen to anyone. >> no, never. never would've thought i would ever see anything like this. >> no, not here.

not in this neighborhood, in this house. but certainly not, surely not, at the very moment when at least three policemen were just outside the front door and just over the backyard wall and more than 30 feet away. >> we had to be told a few times just to get it in our heads, what happened. >> what happened here? in broad daylight and under the very noses of the cops? >> was murder. no long beach california, a town that might have been cheated a little by the city fire department. >> a lot of people assume it's like a lay but it's not it's different, it has its own identity. >> different culturally? >> i think so. i think long beach is sort of its own beast. >> sure. >> it's a little more working class. >> yes, and it's one of those 50 suburbs in search of a city

that everybody calls l.a.. but long beach is a brawny city unto itself, half 1 million people, 52 square miles, a busy airport, a big university, an oceanfront, along beach. and its share of wealth and poverty. that of course -- crime. >> a lot of scope for a person who -- >> no shortage of work, for covering crime. >> tracy mansour it is -- the long beach press telegram. she was they trusted her. maybe that's why when one november morning -- >> contact from the police department came to me in the midst of this sort of press conference and said, you need to go to big speed, now. and i was a little taken aback. >> taken aback because big speed was not a name you heard in the crime beat. >> so was very clear to me that something major was coming going on.

packed up my stuff, ran out the door, and got to the scene. >> this scene wasn't picks be knowles, quiet in affluent, leave it to beaver homes and carefully tended tree lines treats. crime is virtually unheard of there, which is just the way they like it here. maybe that's why, as they grew up, here or moved here, they'd rarely leave. like rachel. >> everybody is very friendly, always waving. you don't get that a lot in southern california. rachel >> rachel still lives in the house she grew up in. >> we were able to play's kids, at all hours of the day. we had nothing to worry about anyone ever hurting us or -- it's a safe neighborhood. >> but then came that november morning, but tracey mans would roll over there in her car. >> i had no idea what i was going, to what i was going to find. but i knew based on how i was told about it that it was gonna

be something very bad. >> oh end it was. >> i was barely out of my car when i saw the homicide lieutenant, the home homicide sergeant, to commanders, and obviously a bank of black and white. so my first thought was there was offshore officer shooting. or -- either an officer had been shot and killed or an officer shot someone. >> but none of that. no. what really happened was far stranger than that. >> long beach police department. >> yes i'd like to report, up, i believe we have an attempted break and going on at the moment. >> it was a neighbor who side. it was the start of some dreadful shock mood. it it was 11:03 am. >> it's taking place at my neighbors, which is the house just west of. me >> ok, one just west to you? >> yes. it is the shocker rested is. >> the shopowners, the colors next door neighbors. several cops responded within

minutes. >> and as they talk to the one one won't -- 9-1-1 collar, they saw a white dog barking incessantly at the window. >> not a very large dog. just a fluffy, yuppie dog. >> a petite framed woman came to the window to see if what her dog was biking barking. at an officer beckoned to -- reckon her to come. outside >> she opened the door. >> so he's telling her that they got a call from the neighbor that they saw a prouder and would it be okay if they looked in her backyard. and looked around the house. and she had said that that was fine. >> but hold on, the woman said to the police, let me grab the key, the gate is locked. >> so she closes the front door, walks through the house and walks out the back door. >> three cops waited outside the front door. two more cops pulled in right here, in the alley behind the

house. and then, to their great surprise, the prouder jumped over the backyard wall practically into their arms. they searched him. found jewelry in his bag, and a taser, and a cell phone, and a knife with blood on it. the cops out front waited for the woman to return. she didn't. ten seconds, 20 seconds, did a minute go by? they decided, time to go in. they opened the door, look through the house. and what they saw was not just terrible, but a riddle, a deception, a piece of pure evil. >> coming up. what could've happened in that house? while the was surrounded by police officers? >> i couldn't believe it. i thought it was a joke. >> until your father arrived with tears in his eyes. >> that's when i knew something was wrong. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues

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particular november 8th, california weather, not quite noon. and as usual, it was quiet in picks p knowles, in long beach. quiet and, in that quiet, more menacing than anybody understood. as police responding to a call by a proud or waited outside the front door. neither they nor that half awake homeowners -- as she close the door in their faces, and when in search of a key to the gate in the yard. seconds tick, by the dog barks. the woman didn't return. so the cops, still not getting, it went in, too late. >> she's attacked and she was killed right there and then while the police officer was on her. port >> extraordinary. >> yes. >> the victims name was a lynn shopowner. they found her quite dead just outside -- they could see the bright red

gash across her throat. how is it possible? the policeman were just outside her front door. and more cops were in alert mode out in the alley. but the only apparent witness to the silent murder of linda, was lynn's little dog, zoe. horrified officers found her lying by lin side, her white coats battered red. back at police headquarters, long beach cops, like undercover man, chris, nelson heard the attack. >> we were sitting in the office and we used to have a police radio on in the office, listening into what's going on in the street. >> this was bad. >> we were right down -- the road down homicide. and you write a way that this was turning into a call out, where somebody got killed. >> now, crisis mode. detective richard brand saw called and said get down there fast. >> your first time at that -- your first thought at that, time you remember but it? was >> it's a burglary. >> did you have at the same time a sense of how could we

screw up like? that >> like everybody else you're trying to discern why why she did what she did, but did the officers, say what was a conversation? >> oh yes, there were lots of questions. this would be ugly. why did she go back in the house? why did the cops let her? why didn't they move in faster? how could they let the murder happened right under their noses? >> that was really disturbing and, you know, you hate to second judge another cop but there were mistakes made. >> after all, a neighbor reported a prouder in the back alley. a prouder who may have sneaked into her house. but she, the victim, didn't seem to believe that. >> she had a little eskimo dog, barking butterflies. and there is no way that there would be a -- but >> she was wrong. >> she was wrong. >> her son, charlie, was a freshman in high school then. he was sitting in math class. somebody told him that he was

wounded in the principles office, on the way there he thought he was in trouble. and then, when they told him -- >> i didn't believe it. i thought it was a joke. >> until your father arrived with tears in his eyes? >> that was when i knew something was wrong. >> his father, man fred, or fred as most people call, and came to take charlie home. >> how is your father? >> upset. he was definitely one -- he was crying. he couldn't drive. i didn't really have eyes for him in that moment -- >> you are just a mess? >> yes. >> and charlie still could not believe what he was hearing. >> it really didn't set in until i saw the house and then it all came crashing down. >> his home was a crime scene. >> the house was taped off and, there were people going in and out of the house. a lot of neighbors around. like everything you see on tv.

>> you never think it's going to be? you >> owe no. it's surreal. very much so. >> what is that lost feel? like >> yeah, i can't put it into words it was tremendous, it was awful. i immediately called mark and babbling on the phone, i couldn't even speak. >> mark was charlie's uncle, lynn's brother. >> after the initial shock, here is disbelief. then burst into tears right away, i started screaming, i was just stunned. >> linda grew up in ohio, she was the baby of the family, the only girl. here she is with her two older brothers, john and mark, but lynn was not like them. >> she was a tentative girl, where is my brother and i were very outgoing. >> their father died young,

lynn all often fought with her mother. >> codefendant, love hate, call it what you want. >> she got married, moved to california with a brand-new husband, it didn't work out, it ended pretty quickly. but then one day she went to a ball game, dodgers somebody, who knows, and she found him. the right guy, her guy. fred shopowner. he was almost 14 years older than she was but it didn't seem to matter. it didn't hurt other that fred was a successful. matt anytime -- anyway, this time it clicked. they had an intimate wedding on a boat off the california coast. the captain did the honors. and they live together in that house and big speed knows. until finally, after 11 years, they had a son. who grew up to be charlie. as parents, they encouraged him to try new things. >> it was like -- it was the olympics, and we were watching gymnastics and i teach my parents and said, i'm

going to do that. and i think a month later, i rolled into gymnastics. so there it was a supportive environment. >> and lynn doted on her only son. >> it might be tried to say this, but she loved him more than life itself. he was the center of her universe. >> so, after what happened, mark flew out to california right away to come for charlie and fred, and to make funeral arrangements for his only sister lynn. and at the very same time, as if in another world altogether, world devoted to the minutiae of violent crime, detective richard poked around the entrails of this burglary gone bad. he could perhaps ride up a report, and make the bad press go away. but, no richard bird so was a troubled man. >> we said something is wrong. we feel like something is, wrong but we don't know.

yet >> wrong? well of course it was. but the wrong that the detective had in mind was not the grief or the loss of the victor ills thrown at the police. no, it was almost like a smell, the kind that sticks in your nose, something off. coming up. one of the strangest things of all was the alleged killer himself. not your typical burglar. >> in his words, he always wanted to be a cop. >> and this was not your typical burglary. >> i've been in the burglary division for four years -- >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues

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to grow up in a place like bixby knolls. >> tree lined street, beautiful neighborhood. it was a wonderful place to grow up. and i would escape. our take my dog around. >> he was lucky two to have that in for a mother. how did you make you feel? >> as parents should. >> safe? >> loving. welcome. they just good. >> but now, lynn doctor was gone. killed in a burglary. charlie was 14 and grief stricken, was so angry at the police. >> you didn't do your job, how could that happen with you being right? there that negligence. >> charlie was far from the

only one. this was a broad daylight murder. police officers just outside their front door when it happened. i can imagine people would be kind of acts set in the neighborhood, if a burglar had been there? >> yes. >> and dropped a house, killed women, and the cops can prevent it? >> right. i think the majority of the neighborhood was just stunned and shocked by the violence. how does somebody who is in her own home die within a matter of seconds with officers all around her home? >> tracy's paper, the long beach press telegram, reported the community backlash. there was anger. cops often tend to pull together in the face of a thing like that, but in private, harsh judgments, from the undercover cop, chris nelson. >> i'm sorry, but just don't let her go back into a situation like that. police in 1:01. >> so what -- was >> the very minimum, you go in with. her >> so i was the top around

the the department when this happened? >> that they messed up. >> detective richard birdsall is used to being -- used to asking tough questions, suddenly had to answer. them >> i had the feeling that the department would adopt a sort of defensive stands at that point because the questions would be, how could you let that happen? >> yes they did. because you're trying to defend the officers who didn't do anything wrong. you're waiting for someone to bring you the key. they waited a short period of time, within a minute, they're yelling for her, ma'am, can you come back, hello? where are? you >> just a minute or. so enough freeland to surprise the burglar who stabbed her in the neck, grab some jewelry, and ran into the arms of the police. the detective filed around the crime scene. >> we saw the bedroom drawers were open, jewelry, things were thrown around. so you look at a lot of things in disarray.

>> it looked like a standard daytime burglary, gone horribly bad, of, course when lynn encountered the rubber. but one thing stood out, like, well, a bloody knife. >> i've been in the burglary division for four years but i've never had one come with a device simply for killing. >> so, time to focus on that so-called burglar. caught with a bloody knife in his pocket. his name was nicholas harvey, he was 22 years old and this was unusual. >> he didn't have a criminal background, he never had trouble with the law before. >> he seemed like a nice? man >> he was very personable, he wanted to cooperate with us. in his words, he always wanted to be a cop at some point in his life. >> and here he is robbing and killing a woman? >> correct. >> well he was a personal trailer at a local gym. he's a big muscle bouncer of a character. >> correct. >> from port hueneme?

>> port hueneme. >> but that's way up the coast. >> yes by ventura. >> in other words, 70 miles from the crime scene. but why would he commit a robbery from so far away from home? >> that's one of the facts that immediately came up. >> when detective richard birdsall and his partner's first saw him, nick gave them an answer that did make. since >> he came with his initial story, i heard that this was a good area. >> really? there wasn't a good area closer to home? well, then, nick gave them another answer. >> you wanted to -- he wanted to get out of his area, he looked at the local gym at the area and did martial arts with police officers, they felt like they would recognize. and >> when he said that, did it's impossible? >> no it wasn't possible at all. >> and one other thing, remember how when police arrested him they found jewelry in his pocket? turns out it was fake. even though lynn had lots of

real diamonds, right there to be taken, along with other valuable items. >> if you can do a daytime burglary, and kill somebody, you could make the effort to get the good. stuff but he didn't. >> so either nick harvey was the world's worst burglar, or the burglary wasn't the point of his visit. the detectives pushed him hard, but -- >> he did want to change the story. we were added for hours. we walk out of there saying, this is, done this is what it seems to. be >> just a hunch of course. no way to prove it. until, 70 miles up the coast, a man picked up the phone to call the police. coming up, a family feud -- >> i wrote that line letter, i signed the letter, i handed it to my sister, and i dared her to give it to him. >> what is that all about? when dateline continues. dateline continues.

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nick harvey called the police. and said. >> nick harvey came to him and offered him some money to say can you jimmy downed along? beach >> they agreed. they met at a parking lot and he drove knicks car. the driver also said that nick told him why he needed to get along beach. >> nick harvey -- local drug dealers out there. so he's going out for that one reason. >> honestly, he had no idea that the agenda included the murder, said the driver. >> he never knew that he was gonna come down to take someone's life. >> of course, the guy was probably lying. so they put him under arrest. anyway, his claim that he thought he was driving a drug enforcer did make a lick of sense. the notion that lynn shocking or was somehow tangled up with drug dealers and child for execution was frankly preposterous. then had been leading a quiet life for 25 years, married to a

man with a lot going for him. >> he was a wealthy man. >> for years, fred earned top dollar in the aerospace industry, not to mention all the family that he inherited. >> they were able to afford things that none of us growing up could possibly afford, we were a blue collar working class people and we didn't know many millionaires growing up. >> he bought or things, jewelry that, sort of thing? >> right from the beginning they bought a very nice home and a exclusive some suburb of long beach. that was a step up. >> marks remembers flying up to sea limb after she got married. >> she was dying to show off her home, show off her new live. >> lynn seemed happy, said mark. >> she sat out -- i think what's special a determination, having had her

first marriage not last, to make this one work was important to. her >> to make a complete family, a desire that only intensified once charlie came along. >> she wanted her son to be the best person he could be and would stop at nothing to make sure that he got that. >> around bixby knolls, they considered it completely normal for them to be an upscale family. certainly not the type of people to be targeted by drug dealers. but family members had a slightly more intimate perspective. francis's sister found him obnoxious. >> he was in shy about dropping hints about the extent of his holdings. >> martin see them very often, he lived way across the country in georgia, but when he did come to visit in long, beach and they went out to dinner,

fred always managed to monopolize the conversation and somehow stick mark with the bill. >> keep, totally opinionated, absolutely self involved. >> so, when he invited linen charlie to visit him in georgia, >> i basically told my sister not to bother to bring him, she could stay as long as she wanted, leave her own head at home. >> and on one of those visits, mark told lynn exactly how he felt. >> i said, how can you let someone run your life and forget about yourself? >> afterward, he sat down and wrote many of the same things in a harshly worded letter to fred. >> i wrote that letter, i signed the letter, i handed it to my sister, and i dared her to give it to him. >> did you think she actually? would >> i didn't know but she did well. >> that took guts. >> it did, it did.

one >> and frankly, mark was pleased, one of here is later, after a quarter century of marriage, lynn told him that they were splitting. and fred moved out of the house. >> she changed somehow after your father left? >> she seemed freer, happier them. more able to get excited, just really interested in everything and very light hearted. >> but, her happiness was short lived. and when mark first heard she was murdered, his mind went to a very dark place, could fred have something to do with it. but as much as he disliked fred, there was no way he could see it. >> there was no connections in their personal life to this person who committed the crime. >> no, it seems pretty clear, fred had nothing to do with lynn's murder. besides, then changed the locks on the house after fred moved out, could it be someone she

hired to install some protection, actually come back to robber and kill her? after, all such a person would've seen that land had valuable things around the house in this very nice neighborhood watch. >> the neighborhood had everything a burglary wanted to find, private yards wealthy, homes -- >> and she had the worst of possible luck in that he picked her way. >> yes. >> and now the family came together in grief. and when he saw fred -- >> we hugged, shared condolences, within five or ten minutes, he mentioned the letter. he said, do you still believe that? i said, no, that's water over the bridge. we need to get on with our family, we need to stick together. >> fred moved back into the

family home. he and charlie and the rest of the family leaned on each other. >> well oh round the neighborhood absorbed the news that there is a possible accomplice -- neighbors wondered, where more people involved? >> there was concern that there are others that might come back to more houses and more homes and that they were violent. >> but that fear soon turned to anger when another bit of news swept through -- the police let the driver go. coming up, detectives were convinced nick harvey didn't have a motive to commit murder, but maybe someone else did? >> my partner discovered that there was a person that he talked to multiple times white before the murder. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues ♪ for the maestros of the creamiest-ever, ♪ ♪ must-have smoothies. ♪

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my name is monique, i'm 41, and i'm a federal contract investigator. as a single parent, i would run from football games to work and trying to balance it all. so, what do you see when you look at yourself? i see a person that's caring. sometimes i care too much, and that's when i had to learn to put myself first, because i would care about everyone all the time but i'm just as they are. ever since lynn shock near was botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness

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knew, even as he investigated lands murder, that her family was angry with the police. >> they were upset like anybody would be, like the press. everybody was upset with us. that we didn't do our job to protect someone's life because that's where supposed to do. >> pence has been fred evened threatened to sue the long beach pd for not protecting his wife. and so detective birdsall knew that -- more news leaked out and released information about the suspected killer and then released. him and that's exactly what birdsall did. released the man who admitted that he driven the man to the crime scene. but the detective had a plan. >> we actually put knock to feed on his phone, we wanted to find out who is talking. two we have the driver, we have the killer, now we want to find out if there's more people involved. >> detective birdsall don't believe that harvey was a dragon for, so hidden by.

it so he hoped that by releasing the driver and tapping his phone, he could uncover what was really going on. there was only one problem, after he was let go, the driver didn't reach out to anyone. >> the only person ever spoke to was nick harvey. >> the driver was not part of a larger group. he had nothing whatever to do with lynn's murder. >> so he was telling the truth? >> it turns out, yes. >> dead end. so they kept on digging into next background, and remember, this was a guy with a clean record. he came off with a perfectly ordinary young. man >> we talk to the family, they were all incredulous -- >> next? family >> next. family. correct >> incredulous? >> it didn't fit his persona. they never thought that he would be capable of doing something like this. >> so when you asked his family about, him how did they characterize? i'm >> at that time, he worked out a lot, he was doing steroids, we had one --

he was a trainer for the local gin up there. and that's all he did. when he was a bouncer at a ball. he never really got in trouble. >> but for some, reason he got himself in trouble. police are trying to figure out how when they went through his phone records. >> my partner discovered that there was a person that he talked to with and multiple times right before the murder. >> frank woo jaramillo? >> frank jaramillo, aka el cubano. we an odd person ecologist before committing a murder. and less, of course, he was in on it. how to found find? out >> step, one says chris, nelson go back to nick harvey. lean on him. >> you have to talk to this guy before he gets rained. because once he is arranged, you are screwed. he's gonna get an attorney, his attorneys gonna tell him to shut. up >> just what's birdsall and

his partner were thinking. so they confronted nick again, now two days after linda's murder. >> you need to be fully truthful with my partner and i right, now because it's only gonna you know benefit you to tell the truth. this is getting uglier and uglier. >> we went out it won last. time he reiterated it almost exactly what he said before. >> which was that he killed lynn edge schockner because the burglar he tried to carry out went bad. the cops still didn't buy. it >> you need to take nick into responsibility now. take care of nick, now please. and tell -- be truthful with us. because we are not gonna stop nick. >> and that's when the story started to change. >> i might as well break -- it >> i was hired to hit the house. i don't know why. i don't -- i deny. ask >> that, is set, nick he was hired to commit a burglary. one that depending on what he

could steal, might prove very profitable. >> what's the amount you were promised? >> what was in the house, plus, 20 $500. >> bs, said the cops. he was hired to kill. and they knew it. because those phone records told a very different story than he did. and finally, nick harvey cracked. >> when we were in the car he said, yes, you guys are good, you got. me >> just like? that >> just like. that and then he cops out. >> yes, he. said frank jaramillo, the guy the call el cubano, hired him to kill lynn schockner. gave him 20 $500 up front, promised 2500 more when the job was done. why would i commit a murder for him easily 2500 was questionable, but a bigger question was who was this el cubano really, and why would he pay a guy to kill a housewife

in long beach? coming up, there is always the husband, right? but in this case, police didn't seem to think so. >> the detective was very quick to share me that -- they have no suspicions of. that >> when dateline comes continues. come 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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this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world. viking. exploring the world in comfort... once again. the plan had been a simply

simpler said had been. ugly nick harvey, in exchange for just 5000, dollars was to kill a long beach housewife named schockner, stage like a burglary, and get away clean. instead, nick was in jail facing murder charges and detectives were wondering about a conspiracy. nick had already told them that he had been hired by a man called frank jaramillo, who went by el cubano. >> he wanted the job done. and the burglary. staged >> nick met el cubano at a restaurant where he said he was paid half upfront. >> would you do with that money?

>> i will moved so i had to buy a bunch of new bedroom stuff. >> he spent the 2500 on furniture called the couch potato. but when the time came to earn the rest of his money, to kill lynn, he said, for a moment, he got cold feet. >> truth be told, when i got there, the i didn't want to do it. one at all. in fact, when i was sitting there, i was sitting actually, back by the door and i was -- where the messed apart is i actually -- thought >> that's when he went into something like fight or flight mode, he said. he killed. her and then he quickly ran into the house, pulled out some drawers, grabbed some jewelry to make it look like a burglary, but then when he escaped, to his horror the cops were, or

appeared, to be waiting for. him so, then listen to this, harvey had a question for the detectives. >> can i ask you guys a question? i don't know if you guys can answer, this how are you guys there so fast? >> neighbor. there's people in the neighborhood. someone saw you get out of the car. did you know the cops were even out there? >> not until i got back over the wall and i saw the van. and when i saw the, van i guess that's when, i said this is gonna be a setup. >> that is, he thought he was being double crossed by his friend, frank, aka el cubano. that's why he decided to stick to the botched burglary story, he said. maybe he would just get second degree murder, and once he got out of prison, he was going to find frank. and -- >> take care of him myself. >> the detectives played along, of course, but nick dream up any conspiracy made him. happy but meanwhile the requisition was el cubano's

phone records. and they found something. surprising >> he was talking to nick, harvey but he was also talking to the husband. >> fred schockner? >> fred schockner. >> fred schockner, lends husband of 25 years. on the surface, it didn't make much sense. after, alfred had been cooperative with detective since day one. and, yes he had moved out of the family, house but he told them that the break was amulet, he she is my best, friend he said. and not long after the murder, young charlie sought out birdsall and whispered a cruel question. >> does my father have anything to do with? this >> truly remembers what the detective told him. >> we he said that -- he was quick about it. that if they have thought that, they would've looked into him, and not to worry about that. >> is that what detectives really believe? well, no. >> we have to sit there and

look at him in the eye and say, well kate -- let you know if he is. involved >> but not say we suspect. >> exactly. >> they believe they couldn't tell charlie, or the rest of the family, but they were discovering. afraid that fred would find out, stop talking to them. so charlie stayed at home with his father. his uncle mark was allowed, even encouraged to believe, that fred was not involved. even as the detectives were getting the real story from the hit man. nick harvey. >> do you know who talked to el cubano regarding this? >> yes. >> who did? >> her husband. >> so, doesn't that mean you can know you can now go out and arrest him and? >> we wish, it's just a conspiracy statement, i have no. facts it's a statement from one. person >> that person, nick harvey, was an admitted killer and demonstrated liar.

and with the police department under so much scrutiny, they didn't dare arrest anybody with solid proof. just think of the scandal on top of everything else, the prosecution failed. they did find frauds business card and frauds wallet, but that wasn't enough either. meanwhile, the public, lynn's family, would be encouraged to believe that it was a case of a burglary gone bad. a murder that cop should've prevented. >> i can go out there and defend my department as much as i wanted to. >> you can say anything? >> and i can't tell the press, i can't tell -- you can't defend ourselves because we have suspects of interests are the ones we are looking. at we don't want them to get lawyers. >> so inside and outside the long beach media, the pressure was. on >> my department was one of the -- we have a black, i the press was just beating us up daily as to what we did. >> so the clock was ticking. detectives wanted to prove the murder. and they needed to do it fast.

>> that was the whole, game trying to play cotton, miles trying to get more, we wanted to get them to, talk to communicate. >> but, it wasn't going to happen, by the look of. it even though they kept talking to fred. >> we kept going to the husband. >> playing dumb, of course. but hoping he'd panic and call was el cubano. >> i one point to recalling each other every day. but try to give them a reason so that he would be more suspicious than he was already. >> one more. sir >> just like colombo, one more. sir >> this was a game. but with deadly consequences. deaths also has a way of bringing people together. lynn was a private woman, a very -- had very few friends beyond her son charlie. and yet -- >> we had a big service for her. it was amazing how many people came out for her. it was with nice. i just remember i, at that

point, i couldn't even cry. i was still depressed and shocked. well i felt bad for that for a long time but -- >> well, that's pretty normal. >> yeah. >> did the tears gum? >> yeah. it took a while, but they did. what >> meanwhile, detective richard birdsall was chipping away at the case. but far too slowly for the likes of his bosses at the long beach police departments, still under fire for not preventing a. murder the detectives had found some connections among the three suspected conspirators. but not nearly enough to go to court. >> when you have to go arrest everybody. i'd love to. but do i have probable cause? no, i don't really. i have to prove. more >> and you couldn't even say that either one of those people was a suspect? >> correct.

one and i was 16 when i started, i was five two when i finish. there was so much pressure to do it and make. arrests >> coming. up fred and frank finally start talking. >> we had 60 plus phone conversations between them. >> are you doing bud? >> it has been a rotten, rotten time. >> but will it help detectives catch the killer? >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues see yourself. welcome back to the mirror. and know you're not alone. because this is not just

a mirror. it's an unstoppable community. come on, jesse! one more! it's every workout. come on, you two! let's go! for everyone. so join in now. and see your best self. in the mirror.

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♪ with xfinity you get every hour of every day ♪ ♪ different sports on different screens ♪ ♪ you can watch it anywhere ♪ ♪ and with the voice remote ♪ ♪ you never have to leave your chair ♪ show me team usa. ♪ all of this innovation could lead to some inspiration ♪ ♪ and you might be the next one to represent our nation ♪ ♪ this summer on your tv, tablet, or any screen ♪ ♪ xfinity is here to inspire your biggest dreams ♪ police suspected that fred schockner was the mastermind behind the murder-for-hire plot behind his estranged wife lynn, but they still didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest, so the detectives kept dropping in on fred, all very non-threatening. then, finally, they happened to ask him if he knew anyone in the

area and that's where nick harvey lived, and fred said, yes, he did. the man he knew was frank har mio, a guy he met when frank managed a gym in long beach. in fact, said fred, he bought a used bmw from frank for $25,000 and frank was going to deliver it when he returned from a business trip in new delhi. the police knew frank, aka el cubano, was at home in long beach, woodland hills, but fred kept talking, and ever more chatty,ings volunteered he lent frank more than $100,000, which made sense given what the detectives had already learned about frank. >> he had a fetish for watches and lived the life of the rich and famous and didn't really

have a full time job. >> the detectives believes it was just the opposite. >> i think fred wanted to own frank jaramillo in some way. >> frank already had the $100,000 and now he's on the hook to fred big time and fred says to get off the hook, you've got to make this happen. >> yep. >> then the slate is wiped clean. >> absolution of all debt. >> he hired nick for a bargain basement price. fred didn't know the cops even suspected it. didn't have any idea, for example, that they were tapping his phone. so when fred began calling the cops to play mr. cooperative, he recorded every word. >> hello, mr. officer, this is fred schockner. >> how are you doing, mr. schockner? >> there has never been anything as bad as this in my life, and i

hopefully hope there never will be. >> well, i don't blame you. >> but you asked me a couple of questions, and let me give you some information. >> okay. >> the check that i wrote to frank was cashed on october 29th. >> for $25,000. >> yeah. >> that was for the bmw. >> that was for the bmw. >> look at this. on the check there's a note that indicates the bmw would be delivered between 11/7 and 8. lynn was murdered on the 8th of november. >> i called him today and asked him about the status of the car on the voice mail. >> yeah. you called him today? you didn't happen to ask if he was back in the country. >> no, i just left a voice mail. >> okay. >> does it sound like fred is having fun toying with the cops? >> any other questions you have for us at the time? >> happy fishing. >> why is it going so long?

that's a good question, because the fish aren't answering. >> well. >> hold on. i've got to get this. >> fret god another call from frank jaramillo. then he offered a theory about the killer. >> you know, the kit may have been someone that was associated with the lock change. it may have been someone that was associated with someone she met and tried to help. >> exactly. >> fred hung up with the detective and picked up his cellphone to talk to jaramillo. that call was also recorded. >> hello. did you hear a lot of that? >> kind of. >> okay, good. i don't need to talk about it. >> how are you doing, bud? >> it has been a rotten, rotten

time, so much sympathy and so much activity surrounding it, it's unbelievable. >> so just as the cops had been hoping, fred and frank talked, but not a word from either one to establish they were involved in a murder. >> we had like 60-plus phone conversations between them. >> and you're tapping them all. >> we're tapping them all. >> but it just didn't slip up, so it was time, the detectives decided to launch the undercover squad led by chris nelson. >> i was armed with information now. nick harvey was telling the homicide guys what's up, they told me, and so now if you're frank and fred, fric and frac, your biggest concern is that nick's caught. >> yeah. of course. you want to make sure he doesn't say anything. >> you want to see a trade. >> first detective nelson decided he would go for broke by phoning fred schockner himself, claiming to be the hired killer,

nick harvey. >> so how did you go about doing this? >> i went to the county jail and used one of their inmate phone us because i wanted a prerecording that said you're receiving a call from the penal institution of blah, blah, blah. the first time he hung up on me. there's a pause where they ask if you're willing to accept. >> and he said no. >> click. >> and then i called him again. >> this time fred took the call. >> he said, i'm the guy that did the work at your house for you. i said, well, i'm going to need my other half, my money, you know, for an attorney. he said, well, you already have it. i said no. he said, you need to talk to your guy. >> your guy. he could only mean frank jaramillo, but he didn't say the words. he didn't say anything incriminating. and so now he tried something different, much riskier. time to get uncle jon involved.

coming up -- >> hey, frank? >> yes. >> frank, hey, my name's jon. >> detectives set a trap. >> i'm the one that can keep nick quiet. you're going to give me money. >> but will frank walk into it? >> i don't really have money to help him out. >> when "dateline" continues. this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually,

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after days of repeated calls and interviews with fred schockner, detectives had elicited some tantalizing details, but not enough evidence to arrest him for lynn's murder. so they decided to focus on suspected middleman, frank jaramillo, el cubano. undercover cop kris nelson had a plan to set a trap to make frank believe he was about to be fingered by the hit man, nick harvey. so he'd phone frank and portray himself as -- >> a relative of nick's with a past of my own, not particularly liking cops, you know. i'm the one that can keep nick quiet.

and what are you going to give me in exchange for that? you're going to give me money. >> reporter: afraid frank would recognize the trap and hang up on him, detective nelson elected to make up a very unthreatening persona. >> so i thought, well, i'll be uncle jon, you know, that his mother sent down from the bay area to see what's really going on and what's harvey got himself into. >> so uncle jon places a call to el cubano. >> hey, uh, frank? >> yes. >> frank, hey. hey, my name's john. >> now, to set the trap, he'd say nick needs money for a lawyer. >> he seems to think you or fred will help him out. he didn't want a [ bleep ] public defender. >> okay. >> frank tells uncle jon he knows nick, but -- >> he's more of an acquaintance. i don't, you know, i really don't have money to help him out.

>> at first frank doesn't seem to take the bait. >> yeah, if i can help him in any way, understand, i would. but i'm sorry, i apologize, i can't. >> but then carefully uncle jon reels him in. >> well, he seemed to think that if somebody didn't reach out to him -- he told me not so much you, but he told me to have you tell fred that if he didn't get some help pretty soon, he was going to go to the cops. >> okay. give me a call tomorrow, and i'll see what i can do to help you, partner. >> but after all that, frank did not make the all-important and incriminating call to fred schockner asking for money. and so the very next day uncle jon tried again. >> hey, did you get ahold of fred? >> no, but between you and i, i don't mind taking care of him, bud. >> frank asked for time and agreed to meet uncle jon in

person to hand over some money. >> do you know where the thousand oaks mall's at? >> thousand oaks mall. >> it's off of lynn road. >> lynn? >> yes, off the 101. >> lynn road. the irony was apparently lost on frank jaramillo. it was mid-morning, late november. detective nelson was worried. would he show up? >> you sit in the parking lot by yourself and you kind of go over -- and sure, your heart races a little bit. i mean, it's crunch time, and you feel like everybody's kind of depending on you to get this done. you want it to go well. >> so the idea is you're reeling them in like a fisherman. >> yep. >> but there are times when you don't know what's going to happen. >> right. you know? could have a fray in the line. have it break. had that happen a few times. >> but not this time. there was frank in a brand-new lexus suv. >> frank? >> yeah, that's me. >> that's not an i.s. >> an i.s., referring to the less expennive car he said he'd

be driving. >> oh, yeah. my wife took the other car this morning. >> that's sweet. now i know what you spent your money on. >> money from fred schockner is what the cop meant. frank did not take that bait. >> i got to get going. >> hard to tell from the video, but frank coughs up the money. >> i got a grand for you right now because they're still monitoring my accounts. >> who is? >> [ bleep ] detectives. >> are they looking at you? >> yeah. >> detective birdsall was inside a van listening to the whole thing go down. >> and when you finally get something like that, that's gold. that was the nail in his coffin. >> so the instant he offered that $1,000, you knew, i got him. >> yep. we got him. he locked himself into it. >> and a couple of days later, detective birdsall and his partner paid frank a visit to snap their trap shut. >> they basically brace him with, you know, who is this guy john? and you know, it's our understanding you gave him some

money. and he's like, i don't know what you're talking about. >> i've never met any guy named jon. >> yeah, you know, i come into the room a few minutes later and -- >> whoops. >> yeah. it was like the oh [ bleep ] look of the century. >> then he realized you're a cop. >> yeah. he just hung his head, and he just looked sick. i think the whole world came crashing down at that point. >> you could see the look in his eyes, like, the deer in the headlights. and then he just started giving it all up. coming up -- >> he would want to beat her with a belt, they would argue. >> and he would beat her. >> and then behind closed doors. >> did you think that's what all families were like? >> yeah. that's what families did. >> when "dateline" continues. n s hide our skin? not us. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within,

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i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. the stur cities motorcycle rally in south dakota is under way

despite covid cases from the delta variant. some several thousand are expected to gather in the next few days raising a concern about a superspreader event. meanwhile schools are navigating difficult decisions about requiring children to wear a mask. the cdc is suggesting everyone wear a mask whether they're vaccinated or not. some governors have signed bills against mask mandates. now back to "dateline." joopz nearly a month after lynn schockner was cut down at her own back door, her killer was behind bars, but her husband fred was still a free man and back in the family home with charlie. the press was in the dark. long beach was in the dark. no one seriously believed what the police now firmly believed that fred schockner ordered and paid for his own wife's murder. as charlie's uncle mark said --

>> never in my wildest dreams, even after she was killed, because the circumstances, nothing pointed at fred. and the police did not point at fred. >> but, said detective richard birdsall, they had their reasons. >> we used them, in a lot of respects. you feel guilty because they're beating their chests and they're upset. and they had no idea that the father of charlie is the one that set the whole thing up. >> well, remember, maybe some idea. >> yeah, i always had my suspicions. >> in spite of the fact that it was a burglar and the police said it was a burglar. >> uh-huh. >> you still suspected your father? >> i didn't want to put it past him, as much as like, as a kid you don't want to suspect someone of that. it just seemed false. like there were little clues,

ticks of stuff that just seemed wrong. >> it started the day his mother was murdered when he and his dad surveyed the house ransacked during the burglary. >> he had me go back and clean up all the jewelry that had been overturned and spilled out. >> what does that do to your mind? >> it made me very numb, very numb. i just -- it was a task. and i did it, and then i went to bed. >> and your dad went to bed in the house with you. >> uh-huh. >> charlie understood his father intimately, of course, and he alone knew the secret, understood his father in a way that had been hidden from the outside world for years. charlie may have looked like any other happy suburban kid, but at home, he said, he understood normal life to be the constant expectation of moments of terror. frequent, unpredictable rages. abuse. a mother desperately trying to protect him.

and so he would want to beat you with a belt, and she would try to prevent it, and that would produce an argument between them? >> and then he would beat her. >> how often? >> often enough that as a child i knew what was going on. but then, that was normal, so i didn't know it was wrong. >> you thought all families were like that? >> until i had friends really come over, and they noticed stuff, and it was weird for them to notice things and to comment on it. but yeah, it was always just that's what families did. >> year after year it went on, said charlie, until his mother came to whisper her own secret. she was finally going to leave fred. >> my mom was tucking me in at night when i was 12 or so, and she was talking about how she was thinking about doing this and that she was so nervous about doing it and didn't know if it was the right choice or what to do about it. >> what'd you think?

>> my first thought was very excited because it was just great to be able to think of getting away from him. >> and then, finally, more than a year later lynn hired family law attorney lisa brandon. what did she tell you she wanted from you? >> she wanted a fair division of the property. >> but, said lisa, fred controlled all the finances. so she didn't know how much money they had as a family? >> no, no idea. >> how much money did they have, this family? >> well, including the equity in the home, probably $6 million to $7 million. >> which in a legal separation by california law would be split down the middle. but lisa said lynn told her fred would never part with any of that money. lynn also told her about fred's physical abuse. and so with a pending separation, lisa worried about lynn and charlie's safety.

>> i wanted her to move out of the home with charlie. she wouldn't do it. she wouldn't leave her home. she wouldn't disrupt charlie. he was just starting high school. they'd lived in the neighborhood forever. so she was a sitting target. >> did she understand that it was dangerous for her? >> yes, yes. >> and yet, she went ahead and did it anyway? >> that's how important getting out of that relationship was to her. she was willing to risk her life, and she told me that. >> lisa told lynn she should at least get a restraining order against fred. >> it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. >> that's what she told you? >> uh-huh. >> hmm. >> if he's going to kim me, he'll kill me. restraining orders won't stop him. >> too late now, of course. but what about charlie? the detectives, worried about his safety, called lynn's brother mark. he'd gone back across the country to georgia. and urged him to invite charlie for an extended visit with him and his wife susan even though they did not tell mark about their suspicion. >> i was surprised. i am still to this day.

that fred allowed that to happen, but he did. >> perhaps fred had more pressing things to think about. whatever his reason, he put charlie on a plane to georgia just in time for the main event in the murder investigation. frank jaramillo, under arrest as the alleged middleman, was spilling it all, telling police he took money from lynn's husband, a lot of it, and used a little of it to hire the killer, nick harvey. and then, with a little polite arm twisting, frank agreed to help set a trap for the suspected mastermind, fred schockner. wait a minute. did you promise him something in exchange? >> didn't promise him anything, no. >> so why would he do it? >> i think, in his mind, because we got him on everything else, he was trying to dig himself out of a hole. >> or maybe frank didn't understand how deep the hole was. as undercover cop kris nelson

prepared frank for his big meeting with fred, el cubano got a call from his wife. >> he said, hey, i'm down here with the cops and i'm helping them. and he goes, i'll be home later. he actually thought he was still going home. he even told me, he goes, well, i didn't kill her. i almost wanted to slap him and go, no, you just hired somebody else to. >> oh, he must have known. i mean, you got to be blind and deaf not to know that. >> you'd think. we used to laugh like is this guy for real? >> frank set it up, called fred's land line, got the answering machine. >> hi, you've reached the schockners. >> still lynn's voice. >> leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you. have a great day. bye-bye. >> hey, old man, it's frank. just wanted to come on by and see you and talk to you about a couple things so we can get a couple things straightened up. i would appreciate it. i'm going to try you on your cell phone. >> hello? >> hello. >> hello? >> you there? >> yeah. >> what's going on, bud? >> nothing much. >> and they agreed to meet 7:30 in the evening at a local

restaurant. >> i'll try to be there on time. >> all right, bud, that's all. i'll see you around 7:30, bud. >> all right. >> okay, bye. >> less than two hours later, frank, wearing the same hidden camera that the detective used to catch him, walked into the restaurant to meet fred schockner. >> i set him up with the camera and the audio. and we got a table, a couple tables away, the three of us, to make sure that he didn't run. >> so you had your eyeballs on him. >> yeah, and we wanted to see everybody's reaction and we had, of course, the audio. we had a surveillance team outside listening to everything. coming up -- >> one problem. 7:30 came and went. minutes ticked by. no fred. >> he was already really paranoid about being set up. >> would he show? and what if he didn't? when "dateline" continues. everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs

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it all came down to this place, this moment. after nearly a month of painstaking investigation, detectives had engineered a face-to-face meeting between the murder middleman frank jaramillo and the suspected mastermind, lynn schockner's husband, fred. this is where frank would attempt to get fred to say something to incriminate himself. except fred was late. had he finally realized they were laying a trap? 7:30. 7:33. 7:35. nothing. if he didn't show, this could all fall apart. then a signal from the surveillance van. there he was. >> the guys outside saw him coming, casing the place to make sure he wasn't being -- he was already really paranoid about being set up. >> clearly. >> came in with his notepad. >> hey, old man, how are you feeling? >> now all eyes were on frank and fred. >> and they both at this point

look like they've been rode hard and put away wet. i mean, just jaramillo's tired looking and, you know, you can imagine the amount of stress that must be going through him. and then the old man who didn't look like he was doing particularly well either. >> did he look frightened or something? >> yeah, they both looked scared. they both looked like trapped rats on a burning ship, you know? >> and as they feared, fred was suspicious. he sat down, said not a word. but he'd written something on his notepad. >> at which point, fred schockner lifted that note up that says, "are you wired?" >> i'm not. >> very possible. >> i thought he was going to walk, you know? i thought, you know, this guy's going to come to his senses and realize this -- >> stand up and turn out and walk out the restaurant. >> but he didn't. >> he stayed. and they talked. frank trying to get fred to admit his role, fred deflecting his attempts.

>> you know, you and i would not be sitting here if you didn't want -- if you didn't want lynn killed, you know that. >> i don't know what you're talking about. >> but frank kept going at him, and fred finally let something slip. >> i'm scared, fred. i don't know. i understand. you're scared too. you have to understand. we would not be in this position if it wasn't for her. if it wasn't for lynn, we would not be here. >> that's true. and if it hadn't been sloppy on nick's part, we wouldn't be here either. >> fred referring to nick harvey, the hired killer. for the first time connecting himself to lynn's murder. but frank kept going after him, as if he knew they needed more. >> we wouldn't [ bleep ] be here if it wasn't for you. we would not be here. we wouldn't. >> and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the way things were [ bleep ] up by nick. >> it's not a question of being [ bleep ] up. what's done is done. okay?

he [ bleep ] up. he's doing you the favor, not me. he's doing you the favor. if you're talking about [ bleep ] got caught, that's him. he's doing the time for you. >> like watching two old married couples arguing back and forth about whose fault it was that the dinner was cold or something. >> but, of course, this argument was deadly serious. >> you have to understand, we need to [ bleep ] erase this problem. this is your problem, okay? you have to understand. listen to me. >> no. it's not my problem. it's our problem. isn't it? >> i would have to say it's more your problem. >> fred was still very suspicious of frank and asked a few more times if he was wired. frank, frustrated now, tried to goad him. >> i killed lynn? you're saying that i killed lynn? >> nope. you arranged. >> you're saying i killed lynn. >> nope. >> who wanted her dead? answer me that [ bleep ]

question. who wanted her dead? who benefited from that, fred? >> nobody. >> frank argued like a man who wasn't acting. maybe he wasn't. >> oh, really? then who wanted her dead? me? answer me that [ bleep ] question. who wanted her [ bleep ] dead? not me. >> the tension between the two seemed to reach a breaking point. >> if you would back off and allow us to think and talk together -- >> you have to understand that's why i'm here. >> no, what you're here is trying to incite me to do things. >> oh, really? >> you keep on saying this over and over. >> okay, you know what, fred? why don't you just go home. why don't you just go home. and thank you very much. and i'll tell nick the same. have a good evening, fred. why don't you leave, buddy. have a good evening. thank you for everything. whatever money i owe you, i'll [ bleep ] pay you back. get the [ bleep ] out of your face. because you really [ bleep ] me. you really [ bleep ] nick. don't worry about me no more. i asked you a [ bleep ] question.

you cannot answer it. >> and just as fred was walking away, frank gave it one last shot. >> why don't you [ bleep ] admit what you did wrong? >> i haven't done anything wrong. >> okay, and i did everything, right? >> no, you haven't done anything, either, have you? >> no. >> that's what you told me on the phone. >> you need to quiet nick's family. >> what? >> you need to quite nick's family on your part. it's not my part. >> i don't have the cash for nick's family because you have all my cash. so if you want to give me the cash, i'll give it back to you and you can do what you want. >> and that was it. maybe not exactly the words detective birdsall hoped to hear, but after weeks of dead ends and intense pressure, getting fred on tape saying those things finally made his case. what was the mood in the van you were sitting in? >> it was elation. we've got him now.

>> finally, enough evidence to arrest him. but they didn't. they let him go home just to see what he'd do. >> let's just see if he reaches out to somebody because now he's scared. >> back at the restaurant frank waited for an all-clear signal from the detectives. and the waiter, who'd frequently served the schockner family, stopped by to reminisce about lynn. >> she was very nice, very funny. >> putting frank in a very uncomfortable spot. >> there's nothing that anybody can say can -- >> he wasn't able to complete his thought, and soon fred would be having a very different kind of conversation with the police. coming up -- >> what a mess. and fred forgot to clean up. he didn't throw out his trash in time. >> no. >> when "dateline" continues. ws ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪

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you have to understand, i'm a 29-year-old man, fred. >> before he got mixed up with fred schockner, frank jaramillo, aka el cubano, had so many possibilities.

he'd just recently married a wonderful woman, a school teacher, who had no idea what her husband had done or what he was facing. >> there's nothing that's going to happen if we both maintain our cool. >> but it was too late for that. frank did not go home to his wife that evening. he submitted to a pair of handcuffs and was carted off to jail. and fred? well, fred did go home under the watchful eye of the undercover cops who also conducted a thorough search of the restaurant for those notes fred wrote. they found nothing. nor did fred contact anyone else that evening. and so the next morning -- >> we just showed up 9:00 in the morning and caught him in his pajamas and disheveled. i mean, you could tell he hadn't slept a lot that night. >> did he look shocked, worried, upset? >> very shocked and very upset. why were we there?

and, you know, our response is, we're here to arrest you. >> they took him away. and when they searched his house, they found one last piece of evidence in a trash can. one of those notes fred scribbled in the restaurant. "sloppy nick," it said. he didn't throw out his trash in time. >> nope. >> across the country in georgia, charlie got the news. >> yeah, that was another kind of happy moment, to be honest. >> that's quite a place to get to in life, when you're happy that your father's been arrested for murder, the murder of your mother, mind you. >> yeah. it's -- i mean, no one wants to -- no one would want to actually say, gosh, yeah, that's a good thing. but after everything growing up with him in the house, it seems like a little bit of justice. >> almost three years after lynn's death the three men charged with her murder finally

went on trial. and detective richard birdsall and undercover cop kris nelson, both retired now, were there. >> it's always nice to see a case all the way through and see it in -- you know, in my opinion, see people get, you know, what they've got coming to them. >> do they give you a special weird look from the -- >> you now when they walked into court the only one that looked good that day, like rested and fine, was nick harvey. you could tell he had come to terms with what he'd done. he knew he was never going to see the light of day again. the other two were really struggling with it. they looked really beat. >> they were so different, the three of them. they were a very unlikely trio of criminals. >> wendy thomas russell, a reporter for "the long beach press telegram" at the time, covered all three trials. nick harvey's was first. >> i would have to say he was

more brawn than brain. he -- and i don't mean that to be insensitive, but this is a guy who took the witness stand in his own defense and he said that he aspired to be a hit man, that he -- >> he said that on the witness stand? >> yes. >> what did you think? >> i thought you're not the brightest bulb on the marquee. >> no kidding. >> so you know, he said that he had toyed around with being a hit man, that he had idolized "the hulk" as a child, "in kred "incredible hulk," and he said that he had taken steroids just to get bigger and, you know, stronger.

and, you know, it was very hard for the jury to have sympathy for him. >> and they didn't. the jury found him guilty in about 35 minutes. first-degree murder and burglary. next was frank jaramillo. >> he said that he wouldn't have done it had schockner not threatened his wife and his in-laws. >> so this was -- he did it out of fear then. >> yeah, he said, literally, he said on the stand that he had sacrificed his life for his family, when we all know that he had sacrificed lynn schockner's life for his pocketbook. >> but that was his defense. >> it was his defense. >> the verdict, guilty of first-degree murder. and now it was fred's turn. >> and the man had aged at least ten years. he looked so frail. >> but this wasn't over just yet. when fred schockner took the witness stand, he told the jury he could explain everything. do tell. coming up -- >> he was very defiant and completely maintained his innocence. >> will the jury believe him? >> i had a moment of just sitting there and started crying.

i hugged my family. >> when "dateline" continues. nus this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world. viking. exploring the world in comfort... once again.

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and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com you hold your breath. the world kind of stops. >> a hushed courtroom in long beach, california. fred schockner, charged with commissioning the murder of his wife, caught on tape blaming a sloppy hit man, took the stand in his own defense. >> he was very defiant and completely maintained his innocence until the end. i mean, in the face of this overwhelming evidence he maintained his innocence. >> it was all a tragic misunderstanding, said fred. he didn't pay for murder, just for a used bmw. and all those calls to his alleged co-conspirator, el cubano? fred said they were -- wait for it -- pocket calls.

and they proved nothing. the jury had to consider all possibilities naturally, and there was no shortage of nerves among members of lynn's family. charlie, just 17 years old that day, watched the jury file back in. >> it's "law & order" and everything right there. you sit there, and everyone comes in, and you just hold your breath. the world kind of stops. you don't know what the outcome is because they have all the power. whatever they say is either the truth or what is going to be the truth. >> a lot of butterflies in your tummy. >> oh, god, yeah. >> he looked at their faces for some sign. waited nervously for justice for his mother. what was it like to hear the words? >> emancipating. it was just unbelievable. >> the verdict -- guilty of first-degree murder. >> i had a moment of just

sitting there, and i just started crying. i hugged my family. >> you know, it's interesting you say, hugged my family, because somebody who doesn't know the whole story might say, well, you just lost your family. but they don't know the whole story. >> yeah. no. no, they were -- having my mother's side of the family, her two brothers and their family with me, it was amazing. it was what families should be. they were all there for me. >> the judge allowed charlie to address his father in court. >> i had this whole like speech prepared of -- this is like vindication of everything, but, i was so angry, was just shaking and not really able to get my words out. but i managed to say, like, i'm no longer your son. i can't believe you would do this. and just you're going to where you belong. >> that would be a pretty scary

moment, i mean, a nervous-making moment. >> oh, it was terrifying. to know that it was actually going to happen, that this was the culmination of everything. it was a lot of emotion. >> also your way of saying good-bye to him. >> yeah. yeah. >> through all of this, fred schockner maintained his innocence. in fact, even before his trial began, fred did carry out a threat he uttered right after the murder. he launched a lawsuit against the long beach police department for not protecting his wife lynn. >> he went to the city and filed a claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit against the city of long beach, blaming the long beach police department for not preventing the murder of his wife because they had not, you

know, followed through, followed proper procedure. >> wait a minute. it's their fault because they didn't prevent me from killing my wife? >> that's right, exactly, yeah. >> the claim was rejected. but now, on the day of his sentencing, he tried the same argument again. chutzpah. >> that was the -- yes, that was the judge's response too. he called it sophistry. and he called him a disgusting human being. and he did not mince words. >> fred was sentenced to life without parole. they all were. in a few sentences, what you think the motive in this murder was? >> money. >> wow, in one word, apparently. >> for whatever reason, $3 million or $4 million was not enough for manfred schockner. he wanted $6 million or $8 million. >> even from prison fred schockner fought to keep it all for himself. fought his own son, his own blood, tried to prevent charlie from getting a share of the schockner estate. and though charlie was

eventually granted some of the money, fred kept millions for himself. though how he'd manage to spend it in prison was unclear. we wrote letters to all three of them, nick harvey, frank har mio, and fred schockner, asking to hear from them what happened. fred wrote back and said that he was convicted on highly skeptical circumstantial evidence and that there should have been more than enough to prove my innocence. nick, now in his 30s, called us. he has matured in prison, he said. was mad at the world back then. but has found god now. but listen to this. though he takings full responsibility for what he did, he's also been nursing a strange and very lonely conspiracy theory. >> i've always believed the police were involved. >> you mean they intentionally sent her back there to be killed? >> yes. >> you don't still believe that,

though? >> well, i'm not a big believer in coincidence, especially in situations like this. >> lots of time to think in prison about things like that. but also about charlie. >> oh, young charlie. >> hmm. >> he -- what i did to charlie is -- haunts me every day. >> yeah. >> you know, i took so much from him. >> but whether nick knew it or not, charlie was in the very capable hands of his uncle mark, who'd received a commission from his worried sister lynn before she was murdered. >> if anything happens to me, take care of my son. >> and he did. how do you feel about that boy? >> love him. yeah. yeah, this one's going to be tough.

i always look back at that moment as the greatest gift i ever received from the man who i still hate more than any person i've ever known. and my wife and i didn't have children of our own. now i've got the best son in the world. >> oh, it's been great. mark and susan are just -- they're great. i love them so much. >> and so in a sad strange way out of unimaginable evil and loss came love. a real family. an unexpected blessing. what's he done for you personally, having him in your life? >> it's like getting another life. like somebody opened a door and said, here's a second chance.

>> you've got a reason to get up in the morning these days. >> damn straight. a reason to live. >> mark and susan are now his mom and dad. he has taken their last name. and charlie has more than survived. he is thriving. >> i'm going somewhere, and i'm going fast. >> he got his master's and landed his dream job in theme park design. and he has learned, in spite of everything, that rarest of lessons, to accept and move on. >> i mean, i know it happened, and i know it's influencing me, but it's not defining me. >> but there is one thing that defines him, his mother's character, and that follows him everywhere. >> my mother was just ethereal. she holds a very special place. she's just everything that you think of as good, everything that you think of as kind, everything that is just great about people.

>> i that's what she emboied rk and i'm going to carry that with me. d rk and i'm going to carry that with me >> no, it can't be, it can't be. he was so big in my life, the thought that anything bad could have happened to him, it didn't make sense to me. >> glamorous, good looking, golden, the dashing hollywood movie executive. >> he was more like a movie star in real life. >> just so charismatic. >> perfect southern california family. >> he completely dropped off the face of the earth.