itould be put your family first. i guess i would like to say to rob-- rob, he had five kids-- couldn't this have been something you pictured as you held up the gun and targeted it at his head and his heart? keith morrison: once in meridian idaho were two happy, successful families. wasn't quite enough for some of them. and the wreckage is forever. and that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. y in los angeles-- a missing woman-- cindy ertman: he said cindy, where's my mom? and i just instantly knew. and i just said michael, call the police.

i'm on my way. josh mankiewicz: a loving mother-- always there for me. josh mankiewicz: --a beloved friend-- she was just so easy to like. josh mankiewicz: --vanishes. something was very, very wrong. josh mankiewicz: was she murdered? was it for her money? how much money did she have in the bank? i think it was over seven figures. josh mankiewicz: or was it something or someone else? it really threw him for a loop when he found out that my mom had met somebody else. josh mankiewicz: police had a suspect and the case that was about to take an unbelievable turn-- one of the most shocking things i've ever seen in a courtroom. hello, and welcome to "dateline". deede keller had made a comfortable life for herself. a successful realtor in southern california, she lived in a charming neighborhood where she was surrounded by family and friends.

then suddenly, deede disappeared. as her loved ones launched a frantic search, investigators would follow the trail of clues to a suspect with a dark obsession. but the final twist in this case would leave the courtroom stunned. here's josh mankiewicz with "betrayal of trust." josh mankiewicz: california's south bay-- a singularly stunning strand of shoreline with familiar names like hermosa, redondo, and manhattan. we call it the sandbox. no one thinks that this part of los angeles exists. but it does. josh mankiewicz: this seaside playground is lined with beachfront properties worth millions. and nestled among these small beach towns is an oasis called el segundo.

its main street usa. it's a great place to raise kids. josh mankiewicz: and in 2003, one of the rainmakers in the real estate business selling those beautiful homes in el segundo and the south bay was a woman named julia keller, known as deede. she really just embraced everyone that came into her path. josh mankiewicz: deede's best friends, mortgage executive cindy ertman and real estate sales partner linda dondero. she was good at her job? i loved working with deede. everybody did. she was just so easy to like and always wanted the best for everybody. her clients were very loyal over the years. josh mankiewicz: deede was loyal too, not only to her clients, but as a divorced mom to her children mike and julie. i remember my mom explaining to me when i was about 10 years old, that as you get older we're probably not going to be as close or you won't like me quite as much.

and it never happened. if anything, we just got closer. josh mankiewicz: but deede keller had a heart problem. not literally, it may have been a little too big. she loved without limits. and she simply hated to disappoint or let anyone down. she loved dogs so much she literally couldn't say no to another one. she was surrounded by them at home. i always joke that as soon as i graduated college, that's when she started replacing us with dogs. you know, she never stopped being a mom. and she never stopped sort of loving everybody, i guess. no, she never did. she was ready to be embraced and to embrace you whenever you wanted it. josh mankiewicz: but there was one area of her life in which deede keller's honesty and embrace hadn't caught hold. your mom was so lucky. and life was so easy in so many ways. i mean, she couldn't quite make the man in her life think come out right.

she had a wonderful life. but no, i guess she hadn't found that person. josh mankiewicz: she did have a long-term relationship. but that ended sadly in 1997. soon after, she met someone new. he was a real estate client named erwin howard, a pilot and airline mechanic originally from bolivia. i remember deede telling me that she was not going to date anyone else unless they loved, treasured, and adored her. and she did feel loved, treasured, and adored by erwin. you know, he treated her like a queen. when erwin popped the question, deede said yes. at deede's bridal shower in march of 1998, erwin dutifully delivered his fiancee to the surprise party. but the smiles didn't last after the engagement was over and the marriage began. it wasn't more than six months after they were married, and she just blurted out that she had married him on the rebound.

and was having second thoughts? linda dondero: apparently so. it was very hard for her to think about ending it because of what it was going to do to him. because she knew he loved her. josh mankiewicz: so much, in fact, that the marriage lasted another four years after that conversation. ultimately, their divorce was amicable. and a year after the split, in the summer of 2004, deede seemed to be finding her footing once again. she'd begun dating a well-known south bay car salesman named bobby lowe. that new relationship was going so well that on the evening of thursday, july 8th, bobby lowe took deede out to dinner at this restaurant to meet his father. i talked to her before her date. any sign that she was nervous about anything? she was in a happy state when i talked to her. and we had made plans to hopefully get together the following night so i could get the update on the date.

josh mankiewicz: but that conversation never took place. i called her on friday and she didn't call me back, which was not unusual for deede. i called her on saturday, and she didn't call me back. that was pretty typical. but by sunday i started getting concerned. josh mankiewicz: concerned too was daughter julie. she'd talked of meeting her mom that same friday during a layover at lax as julie headed for cabo san lucas, mexico. she's like, you know what? i might have an appointment that morning. but if i don't, i'll come by. i'll text you, we'll have coffee. so we laid over in los angeles. i didn't get a text. it was a little odd but didn't think much of it. josh mankiewicz: deede's son mike was beginning to worry after he returned from a business trip to the san francisco area. when i called her cell phone, the voicemail was full. and that had never happened with my mom. and she prided herself on being responsive. josh mankiewicz: so you go over to your mom's house? michael keller: so i went in the back gate.

and then instantly it was clear that she had not been there for a while. what made that clear? the dog's water dish was bone dry. my mom would die of thirst before her dogs went without water. josh mankiewicz: mike's first call was to cindy. and he said cindy, where's my mom? and i just-- i instantly knew in that moment that something had happened. i just knew. and i just said michael, call the police. i'm on my way. josh mankiewicz: where was deede keller? not only was there no water left outside for deede's beloved dogs, but detectives noticed lots of other things wrong inside the house. her purse was there but her wallet was missing. and this was a woman with money-- a lot of it. was deede's hefty bank account a factor in her disappearance? investigators follow the money trail. coming up--

who got that money in the event of her death? the beneficiaries were her two children. craig melvin: and detectives wondered, where were deede's son and daughter when she vanished? they were both out of town at the time that their mother went missing. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues swiffer duster traps 4x more dust for a clean even mom approves of. that reach! ♪♪ making hard to reach. so easy! swiffer, [wow!] the mother of all cleans! ♪♪ clogged gutters can cause big problems fast. until now. call 833-leaffilter today for your free gutter inspection. i've had terrible flooding problems on my porch. now i understand why.

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through tough times. london breed led us through the pandemic, declaring an emergency before anyone else, saving thousands of lives. from growing up in the western addition housing projects to becoming mayor, london has never given up on the city that raised her. london is getting people off the streets and into care. london never gave up on me. i found a home, and my life is on the right track. london made it super easy for me to open my small business, by cutting city fees. and she's reinventing downtown to make our city vibrant again. she's building 82,000 new homes and helping first time homebuyers, just like us. and london's hiring hundreds of police officers, and arresting drug dealers.

san francisco has been through difficult times, but our hard work is paying off. working together, we're building a better future for the city we all love. ad paid for by re-elect mayor london breed 2024. financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org. josh mankiewicz: on a sun-splashed sunday financial disclosures are in la's south bay, clouds were rolling in over one household.

it was july 2004. el segundo real estate agent julia keller, known to the world as deede, was missing. deede's son mike had gone to her home when he hadn't heard from her for three days. the biggest red flag, deede's beloved dogs left without food or water. what did you think happened? i didn't know at that point. i just knew that something was very, very wrong. josh mankiewicz: mike called his mom's best friends, linda dondero and cindy ertman. cindy, who'd last spoken to deede three days before as deede prepared for a date rushed to the house. cindy ertman: you could tell just the dogs had been running around for days. but the way the tv was on and the way the shades were, i felt like thursday night had never ended. i felt like a friday morning never came. josh mankiewicz: cindy immediately phoned deede's new boyfriend, car salesman bobby lowe.

he reported they'd had dinner on thursday at a local restaurant then returned to deede's house for a nightcap. cindy ertman: he said she'd had a little bit too much wine, and she laid down on the couch and was kind of starting to fall off to sleep. and so he just said good night and let himself out. anything about what bobby lowe said sound in any way suspicious to you? not at all. josh mankiewicz: the next call to el segundo police, and soon on the scene, then-detective sergeant carlos mendoza. this does not happen [inaudible] and especially people that are known as well as deede is. josh mankiewicz: and what detectives found in their initial search of deede's home only deepened the mystery. in the kitchen, deede's purse-- her cell phone still inside but no wallet. a vodka bottle that police learned was usually kept in the freezer was out on the counter. and in the living room, the tv was on cnn.

we discovered that whenever she left the house, she'd always put the tv on to a classical music station so it would relax the dogs. but it was on cnn when we came into the house. so deede was watching cnn, had the dogs there, was having a drink, and then left for some reason. suggesting kind of whatever happened in a big hurry. she didn't have time to do her routine that she usually does before she leaves. josh mankiewicz: and it appeared deede had left in her car. the garage was empty, her silver 1999 mercedes gone. but strangely, police found the car keys sitting on deede's patio. we decided to call the la county sheriff's department homicide bureau to come and assist us. josh mankiewicz: jimmy gates was the detective who answered that call. there was no forced entry whatsoever.

and when we started walking through the house, i noticed several articles that were very valuable. so she let in whoever it was and it wasn't robbery. absolutely correct. if she didn't let them in, that person let themselves in. and they may have had a key. josh mankiewicz: gates wondered, had deede left in her car with someone she knew? and how did her car get taken without its key? if you don't have a key, is it as easy to steal a car as movies depict? but certainly not a 1999 mercedes. it's hard to hotwire. it's just hard to steal it. you almost need a key to gain access to it. josh mankiewicz: if your car doesn't have a key, the next stop is a car dealership to have a new one made. but first, gates and his crew searched the house looking for deede's spare mercedes key without success. and gates quickly became convinced of one thing. you thought finding deede's car was going to be the key to this?

that was going to be extremely important. deede's friends and family printed up posters and, along with law enforcement, launched a massive search. an army of people banded together to try to help find her. and we broke up into teams. and we mapped everything out in one-mile increments to start to search every parking lot looking for her car. we would ask people, have you seen this woman? have you seen this car? it was frantic. it was heartbreaking. and it was leading nowhere. at the same time, detective gates wondered who might have had a motive to have abducted deede from her home. those most common of motives-- love, money, jealousy-- are always the ones police hug first like old friends. josh mankiewicz: deede made a lot of money being a realtor. she was successful, yes, sir. how much money did she have in the bank? i think it was over seven figures. seven figures-- a lot of murders committed for a lot less than that. absolutely. who got that money in the event of her death?

the beneficiaries were her two children. josh mankiewicz: and the detective noticed something about the whereabouts of deede's two children, mike and julie, at the time of deede's disappearance. they were both out of town at the time that their mother went missing. why is that significant? why wouldn't the reverse be more true? i thought that the mother goes missing and it just so happens that mike is gone in san jose and julie's down in a resort. and it's been my experience that sometimes people dissipate stress after they commit a crime a different way. some people drink. some people take drugs. and some people leave the area just to dissipate stress. josh mankiewicz: and there was, strangely, one more person who just happened to have been traveling near the time of deede's disappearance-- her ex-husband erwin howard had just flown to his home country of bolivia. and erwin was a mechanic who worked for american airlines in la. the common thread in all these trips, nearby lax airport.

and so the detective thought what better place to dump a car? lax is a big place. very big place. josh mankiewicz: a lot of parking lots. a lot of parking lots. and it took a few days. you looked through them all? every one of them. josh mankiewicz: no mercedes and no shortage of persons of interest. a lot of people close to deede keller were about to be hugged like old friends. craig melvin: coming up, detectives were about to get blunt with julie and her brother. all of a sudden he says, did you have anything to do with your mom's disappearance? i think it was more, did you kill your mother? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ when your child has moderate-to-severe eczema, it's okay to for them to show off. show off their clearer skin and noticeably less itch with dupixent.

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josh mankiewicz: in the days after the disappearance of el segundo realtor deede keller, all of la south bay seemed to be looking for her and for her missing mercedes. leading the search, her best friends cindy and linda. a lot of times when people disappear, you get the immediate family working on it. and then everybody else is like, well-- not in this town. she had an army. josh mankiewicz: deede's daughter julie rushed back to la from a trip to mexico-- it was the most surreal experience.

josh mankiewicz: --only to be greeted by suspicion. la sheriff's detective jimmy gates had discovered that in the event of their mother's death, julie and her brother mike stood to inherit more than a million dollars. so he confronted deede's kids using one of the oldest tricks in the investigator's handbook. do you remember an interview that you did with jimmy gates? i do. in which he asked you some pretty basic questions like what's your name, where do you live, pretty ordinary stuff? and then all of a sudden he says, did you have anything to do with your mom's disappearance? i think it was more, did you kill your mother? and you're what, startled or angry? it was a horrible question. but i can understand why it needed to be asked. josh mankiewicz: detectives asked similar questions of julie. next, in attempting to rule out, as suspects, those closest to deede, detectives turned their attention to her ex-husband, erwin howard.

it turned out that although didi and erwin had been divorced for more than a year at the time of her disappearance, friends told police that she had recently invited him back into her life. about six months earlier, deede had been in a car accident. and as she recovered she needed help with her dogs. deede also apparently felt bad about the pain their divorce had caused erwin. she called erwin to help her because that was what he did best, was to help and assist her. so he helped kind of nurse her back to health and take care of the dogs, and the house, and her. josh mankiewicz: and in taking a hard look at erwin howard, the detective found he had a rock solid alibi. on the night of debbie's disappearance, july 8th, erwin had clocked in to work for his job as an airline mechanic at the american airlines hangar at lax at 8:30 pm. he said he worked all night. but it wasn't just erwin's word. he had to use an electronic key card to get into the hangar.

that's a pretty good alibi. that's not something that generally the employee can influence. that's correct. that's absolutely correct. josh mankiewicz: that left the last person to admit seeing deede alive, her new boyfriend, car salesman bobby lowe. lowe said he'd left his house between 11:00 and midnight that night then gone to the gym the next morning. what possible motive could bobby lowe have to want deede either dead or out of the picture? there was no motive that i could determine whatsoever. josh mankiewicz: and lowe provided investigators with two important clues. first he said while he was at deede's that night, her dogs had all started barking at something outside, as if someone were lurking. and the next morning he discovered someone had keyed the side of his ford explorer, leaving a long scratch. which suggests what? somebody is following them on that date? absolutely.

that's what it meant to me. josh mankiewicz: but who was following deede and bobby? who was that angry? that act of vandalism pointed away from bobby lowe. i was an investigator for several years. i've never known anybody to vandalize their own car. that kind of thinking is what would make it a perfect alibi. sure, sure. if he's sophisticated enough. but his background indicated that, you know, he was a well-liked guy, kind of successful himself, and didn't have a lot of enemies. josh mankiewicz: and then, even as investigators looked at suspects, came the news that all who knew deede had at once hoped for and feared-- deede's car had been found, not at lax, not in la, but two and a half hours down interstate 5 in san diego. that silver mercedes had been parked on this street in downtown san diego for days, earning it several parking tickets. when the local pd ran the plate, it came up as belonging

to a missing person. and when the trunk was finally opened, there was a body wrapped in sheets, covered by a blanket, which was itself decorated with dog paws. deede keller was no longer missing. police asked to meet with deede's family. there was just a wide range of emotions. there was almost some type of relief that they had found her because we were starting to think at that point, how long can this go on? hardest days of my life. mhm. cindy ertman: and one of the hardest days for my children, and all of her friends, and her family. josh mankiewicz: deede keller was dead at age 54. an autopsy showed she'd been asphyxiated. and the clues that were and were not left in her car were about to take this case back in a familiar direction. craig melvin: coming up-- just days before she was murdered,

deede had a visit from a stalker. cindy ertman: she said that she was in the shower, kind of pulled her out of the shower, and they had this huge altercation. he was calling her every name under the sun. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. oh-ho-ho, look at that jet stream. [ whistles ] weather. oh, boy. yep, they're calling it an atmospheric river. it is coming down. [ cellphone buzzes, chimes ] oh, flood warning in louisiana. are they obsessed? oh, yeah. the stuff they do on the green screen, unbelievable. they said 10% chance of rain. -seems more like 40% to me. -no. it has nothing to do with the dew point. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. what are those, cumulus clouds? [coughing] copd isn't pretty. i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful.

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hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. at least 89 people are dead and millions without power in the southeast united states in the aftermath of hurricane helene. president biden says he plans to travel to the impacted communities once conditions are safe. officials in iran are vowing retaliation after the latest strikes in lebanon by israel's military. two senior officials were killed over the weekend as israel expands its offensive in the region. >> for now, back to dateline. were realized. deede was gone, the apparent victim of a gruesome crime.

but with a discovery, detectives would uncover a crucial clue-- one that would convince them deede's killer was someone close to her. here again is josh mankiewicz with "betrayal of trust." josh mankiewicz: on a downtown street in san diego in july 2004, deede keller had finally been found dead in the trunk of her silver mercedes. the car had been the subject of a massive search ever since deede had been discovered missing a week earlier from her home two hours north in el segundo. homicide detective jimmy gates, who'd always thought finding the car would be the key to finding deede, now gave the mercedes a thorough going-over. fingerprints or dna in the car? there wasn't one fingerprint either on or in that car, or was there any partial print-- nothing. deede's or anybody elses? nobody's. so what does that say, professional?

well, someone took-- went to great lengths to make damn sure that they weren't identified through fingerprints. that's for sure. josh mankiewicz: but the killer did leave a clue in the tape wrapped around deede's body. i had never seen tape like that. it appeared to us to be consistent with red duct tape. josh mankiewicz: that started gates in one direction. but he also looked closely at the way deede's body had been placed in that car. jimmy gates: someone took great care to place her in that car. and that indicated to us that someone cared deeply about her. so part of this is professional and part of this is somebody that knew her. that's exactly correct. but the suspicions that said professional soon fell away in favor of those that said someone who knew her. not her children, but someone who had reentered deede's life in the months before her death-- her ex-husband erwin howard. did you ever think of erwin as violent or dangerous? no, i never suspected that he would do something physical.

josh mankiewicz: but detectives soon learned something had changed in erwin howard in the months before deede's murder. remember, after a car accident in january 2004, deede had invited erwin back into her life to help care for her and her dogs. that request had apparently been misinterpreted by erwin. we know he started wearing his wedding ring again. erwin wanted back into her life. and it sounds to me like on some level, she sort of appreciated that part of him that adored her and wanted to take care of her, even if it's somebody that you're not going to be with anymore. yes. right. you think she made that point clear enough to him? no. she was too nice. always too nice and very trusting. josh mankiewicz: and that may be why investigators thought erwin seemed surprised when just two weeks before deede's murder,

erwin gained access to deede's computer and found emails referring to a relationship with a new man, bobby lowe. and i think it really threw him for a loop when he found out that my mom had met somebody else. and that's when things started getting scary. josh mankiewicz: scary because erwin, detectives learned, had started doing things that pointed to an obsession with deede. and how did they know that? in one of those only-in-a-small-town coincidences, deede's son mike lived just down the block from deede's new boyfriend, bobby lowe. one night mike was sitting in his living room when he saw a familiar green range rover driving by. and inside was erwin. as the evening went on, he continued to drive by the house. did you call your mom and say, by the way, erwin's driving around the block while you're with bobby lowe? i didn't. i didn't really put two and two together.

josh mankiewicz: but the very next day, now just 10 days before her murder, deede would call her friend cindy ertman in a state of panic. she was crying hysterically. she said that she was in the shower, erwin came into the house without her knowing, pulled her out of the shower, and they had this huge altercation, and that he was calling her every name under the sun. josh mankiewicz: deede told the same story to her friend linda dondero. i said, do you realize that erwin's behavior is escalating, deede? and she said yes. and you said call the police? no, i said, have you changed your locks? and she said no. i'll do it on the way home. and of course she never did. josh mankiewicz: but investigators soon learned that in those conversations with her friends, deede had left something out-- a detail she mentioned only to her daughter julie-- that during that argument, erwin howard had also slapped her.

i said mom, you have to call the police. you have to get a restraining order. and then i remember her asking me not to tell michael and that she was going to handle it. and i remember being torn. like ok, this is my mom telling me, i got it. but also thinking maybe she didn't have it. josh mankiewicz: and a few days later, it was clear julie was right. the very night her mom went missing, julie got another phone call, this time from erwin. i got on the phone and he's like jules, jules, jules, what is your mom thinking? and i said erwin, you know, i really-- i don't want to talk about this. i feel like this is between you and my mom. and he's like well, you just need to pray for her soul. and i remember thinking that was a little odd. but then, you know what? i mean, given his grasp on the english language, sometimes he'd say some funny things or get something wrong. but i just remember thinking that was an odd comment.

josh mankiewicz: detective gates now felt erwin howard's motive for killing deede keller was clear. but proving erwin had the means to commit the murder was another matter. and erwin steadfastly maintained his innocence to investigators from the moment he stepped off the plane as he returned from bolivia after the murder through the months after, even though he was clearly the prime suspect. and the case against erwin was not without its problems. it's one thing to stalk someone, quite another to kill them. there was no physical evidence tying erwin howard to the crime. and there were those key card records showing him clocking into his job at american airlines the night of the murder. still, detective gates took the information he had gathered through the la county district attorney's office and asked for a warrant. and they declined to file charges. they won't file? they won't file. josh mankiewicz: did jimmy gates have the wrong man in his sights?

was there ever going to be enough evidence to arrest a killer-- any killer? craig melvin: coming up-- that's like lightning striking. twice. josh mankiewicz: make that three times. one of the most shocking things i've ever seen in one of my cases in a courtroom. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's healing formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond.

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without an arrest in the murder of beloved el segundo real estate agent deede keller. and as the months dragged on, detective jimmy gates kept pounding the pavement, building what he thought was a strong circumstantial case against keller's ex-husband erwin howard. but the la county da's office had so far declined to issue a warrant for howard's arrest. deede's son michael wanted answers. there was a long time when erwin was walking around free. seemed like decades. it was so frustrating, painful, emotional. josh mankiewicz: jimmy gates was feeling all those same things. and soon, his hard work started paying off. that unusual red tape found on deede's body, a specially trained dog found erwin's scent on it. and detectives found similar tape at erwin's workplace, that american airlines hangar at lax.

but what about erwin's alibi, computer records showing him at work in that same hangar the night of deede's disappearance and that he'd worked a 10-hour shift? it turned out that the more detectives dug into that alibi, the less solid it seemed. detective gates painstakingly dissected the procedures at the hangar. and he found this. erwin howard could swipe into work at the employee parking lot using a key card at this turnstile, then clock in inside the hangar. but he could also leave whenever he wanted by walking out the large bay doors and catching an employee shuttle back to the parking lot. there'd be no record of his leaving. jimmy gates discovered that on the night of the murder, erwin used his key card to swipe into the parking lot at 8:24 pm, and again at 10:21 pm, and for a third time

at 1:47 am, which completely blew apart his alibi that he'd been at work the whole time. so he would swipe his card to get back in-- jimmy gates: absolutely. after there was no record of him leaving. right. by now you're convinced erwin is the guy. absolutely. all the witnesses, all the evidence, everything pointed directly at erwin. josh mankiewicz: and there was one more key piece of evidence. the day after the murder, a witness saw a mercedes on the street in el segundo. she thought it belonged to a friend so she sped up to catch her. when she sees it's not her friend and she sees a male hispanic driving the car, and she remembers that license plate. the license plate belonged to the mercedes owned by deede keller. the man driving-- the witness helped the police artist draw this sketch. who does it look like? it looks like erwin. josh mankiewicz: the witness was then shown a photo lineup.

and she picked out erwin howard. that's like lightning striking. twice. josh mankiewicz: and then it struck again. six months after the murder, jimmy gate's phone rang. it was deede's next door neighbor who'd been interviewed once and had offered nothing of value. but now apparently she was having an attack of conscience. the neighbor now told the detective that she'd seen erwin on june 30th, the day erwin had confronted and slapped deede. she said the conversation lasted 15 or 20 minutes, where he articulates he was man enough to strangle her with work gloves. that's what deede's neighbor says erwin said to her? correct. why do you think she didn't tell you for six months? i have no idea why a neighbor, during a murder investigation, just wouldn't simply tell the cops the truth, that he wanted to kill her. josh mankiewicz: armed with that new and threatening statement,

detective gates was able to get his warrant. and soon, erwin howard was under arrest for the murder of deede keller. now the case was in the hands of la county deputy district attorney john lewin. what made this case different? i love cases where you have a very good idea who the suspect is. but it's a question of kind of putting the evidence together-- so circumstantial cases where you have high motive but you're looking at lots of little facts and saying ok, what can you turn this into? josh mankiewicz: it would take three years for the case against erwin howard to come to trial. cameras were not present in the courtroom that day when trial began in the fall of 2008. john lewin laid out his case in a devastatingly thorough two and a half hour long powerpoint presentation to the jury. opening statements are like a check. i'm writing a check, jury hears it.

and if i do my job right after opening, all they're waiting to see is if their fund's in the bank. in other words, if you deliver during your case what you say you're going to deliver in the opening statement, you'll get a conviction. that's my hope. josh mankiewicz: but never in this prosecutor's wildest dreams did he believe his opening statement would have the effect it did on erwin howard and his defense attorney, andrew flier. you read that opening statement and something changes? something changed. and after the opening statement, i went back into lockup and i spoke to erwin and i said, hey, listen, remember how i was speaking about the circumstantial case and it could be powerful? i think there could be some problems now. and his answer was, i need to tell you something. that something would stun deede keller's family and friends and the prosecutor himself. one of the most shocking things i've ever seen in one of my cases in a courtroom.

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josh mankiewicz: in a los angeles look at that! courtroom in september 2008, something extraordinary was taking place. the murder trial of erwin howard, expected to last three months, was on the verge of ending in just two days. prosecutor john lewin had presented a powerful opening statement.

i had seen the defendant during the opening. and i thought maybe something had gotten to him. and the da was right. because after the opening, defense attorney andrew flier had spoken with howard, who then made a stunning admission. for the first time in my career, i heard a defendant confess to a crime. and i was the first one he told. and until that moment, his defense was, i wasn't there and i didn't have anything to do with it. correct. josh mankiewicz: the defense attorney walked into the courtroom and made a statement that caused mouths to fall open. defense attorney gets up and he says that you're going to see something that you'll never see in a court ever. and he says, my client killed deede keller but he didn't murder her. what'd that mean? they were basically trying to see if they could get a manslaughter out of it. so deputy da lewin asked to speak with erwin howard behind closed doors, and made an offer-- plead guilty to second degree murder

and be eligible for parole in 15 years. my memory is that as i was saying this, he's nodding. but this wasn't just about erwin admitting it to you. he also had to come into court and admit it to everybody. yes. josh mankiewicz: and erwin howard did just that-- i do. --surprising a courtroom filled with deede's friends and family. howard, h-o-w-a-r-d. there was such a sense of relief to think that oh my gosh, we're going to hear the truth finally and erwin's going to confess. josh mankiewicz: lewin guided erwin through the sequence of events, beginning with why erwin went over to deede's house on the night of july 8, 2004. john lewin: and what did you want to talk to her about? josh mankiewicz: june 30, 2004, when after discovering she was

dating another man, erwin stormed into deede's house, confronted her in the shower, tossed emails in her face, and slapped her. on that final night though, erwin says he knocked. and deede, alone after her new boyfriend left, he says let him in. voice erwin said he threw a pillow at the dog. and that angered deede.

erwin said he put deede in a sort of bear hug. john lewin: how tightly were are you holding her? josh mankiewicz: erwin said he came back the next evening and put deede's body in the car. using a spare key he had for the mercedes, he started driving and headed for mexico. but he wondered how he'd get back across the border. so he left the car on a street in san diego and hired an off-duty taxi to take him back to la. erwin admitted to the murder. but he talked about it in a way that made it seem almost accidental.

yes, he was willing to accept responsibility for the rage and for the anger. he was not willing to accept responsibility that the murder happened intentionally. second degree murder-- josh mankiewicz: but despite that, lewin felt a second degree murder conviction was the best he could secure. and after erwin left the stand and took the plea, deede's friends and family had the chance to speak to him. they offered surprising words of gratitude and forgiveness to a now-confessed killer. [inaudible] thank you. and we also find it in our hearts to forgive you. you did the right thing with the circumstances and-- and for that, i thank you. and i've been at peace. thank you. thank you for doing the right thing. i remember thinking that something really special had happened.

that, you know, although nothing is going to bring my mom back, we got the best possible outcome given the circumstances. it's rare in a murder trial to hear so much of a sort of lack of anger and vitriol toward the defendant. they're good people. they're not vengeful people. i think they also realized that deede, in hindsight, had not handled things as best she could have in terms of terminating that relationship. josh mankiewicz: erwin howard was granted parole in february 2019. deede's friends and family, their sorrow tinged with regret, now honor deede by urging other women not to ignore the warning signs of domestic violence. cindy ertman: we want deede's life to count for something. so i just hoping people will reach out for help, get support. i know you don't blame deede for this. but i know that you also wish that she had been more

forthright with the two of you because you would have acted even though she didn't want to. yes, we would have. there's no question i would have done things differently if i could go back and relive it. josh mankiewicz: but for deede's friends, regrets give way to wonderful memories. today there's a plaque at the local dog park, both remembering and honoring a woman whose big heart wouldn't ever let her turn away a stray. and that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. craig melvin: it was the last place you would expect to find a gruesome crime scene. a quiet neighborhood, the lovely home, this friendly couple.