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it was just a burnt cigarette, but maybe the answer to a mystery. her name was christy. >> i thought, she can't be dead. >> just 25. when she was murdered. >> she was nude. she was bleeding from the head. >> but without much to go on, the case soon grew cold. so few clues, except for that cigarette. was it left behind by her killer? and how could you prove it? >> we had one chance to get this done. >> detectives set a trap, but it's christy who cracks the case. >> christy really solved her own

murder. >> the killer caught by the woman he killed. >> the killer caught by the woman he killed. "when the smoke clears." captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry.

it was a crime that happened 20 years ago, but the detective in charge kept the cold case file right on the corner of his desk when he could reach it whenever the victim's family called. she was a young woman who had been murdered in her home. detectives thought they knew who had killed her, but they had to prove it. and they would, with help from the victim herself. here's keith morrison. five to seven minutes, the time it takes for a cigarette to burn. the time it takes to tamp down a craving. or cover up a crime. or mark the time between life and death. it was mother's day weekend 1989, the los angeles suburb of whittier. that's when it p happened in a

condo there, where they found the burned-down smoke at the heart of mystery. or maybe smoke screen is what it was. in the start of a search that would go on 14 years and would lead, well, who would have believed it? certainly not rhonda flemming and her 25-year-old sister christy who were scheduled to take her mom to a brunch that morning. >> we were going to meet at my mother's house. i just called christy, just to check in, and the line was busy. a few minutes later i called again, line was gbusy. i called, called, called, her phone was busy all saturday morning, which seemed strange. >> so rhonda went to her mother's house anyway, thinking her younger sister would show up. but -- >> christy wasn't there which was very unusual because she was always on time. never, ever late. and my mom hadn't talked to her. i called christy again, the phone still busy. now i know something is wrong.

>> panic now. rhonda called her father bud flemming. he was divorced but had raised both girls and kept close tabs on them, especially christy who was single. >> he hadn't talked to her either. as soon as he hung up the phone from me, he drove to her house. he knew there was something wrong. >> rhonda followed him, found christy's car in its usual place but no christy. knocked on her door. no answer. then a neighbor managed to break in through a balcony and open the front door. >> i ran into the house, and i glanced over and saw her body laying on the kitchen floor. i thought, she can't be dead. this just isn't happening. and i ran over to wake her up. and i stood over her and i grabbed her wrists, and, as soon as i touched her, i knew she was dead. and all i could think of was my dad coming in and seeing this. >> her father never did go

inside, but a few minutes later sheriff's homicide detectives did. >> she was nude. she was bleeding from the head. and there appeared to be blood on the kitchen floor as if some sort of struggle had taken place there. >> the murder weapon was in plain sight, a blouse stuffed in her mouth. she had been suffocated. and all around her signs of what looked like a home invasion robbery. >> her purse and the contents were strewn all over the living room floor. the drawers in the up yostairs bedroom were pulled out, items on the floor and bed. >> the phone was off the hook, looked like it had been moved from its normal place. blood was smeared on several walls both upstairs and downstairs. and there was something in the kitchen just above christy's body that also caught the detective's attention. >> there was a cigarette butt that was found on the kitchen counter on the stove that had been placed there and had

obviously burnt out. >> on the counter -- stained the counter as it burnt. >> absolutely correct. >> they found several more cigarette butts in the trash can under the sink as well as a beer bottle in the living room. no surprise, however. christy drank occasionally and the cigarettes were her brand. >> there were few other clues. the only fingerprints found were christy's and no one in the condo complex heard or saw anything. strange perhaps, given the level of violence. but who would want to kill christy flemming and why? she had always been extremely popular. according to janice, who had known her since grade school. >> she had tons of fren s of f. she had a big, big social life, a lot of guy friends of the just friends. >> and christy was doing quite well for herself working for an aerospace company. >> she had a lot going for her. she had blossomed into this beautiful person that was successful. she owned her own condominium.

she had a new car she paid for by herself. >> successful, attractive, popular. but there was another part of christy's personality that became apparent the moment you met her. >> christy was real compulsive about things. she had this very compulsive behavior. >> christy was apparently a neat freak. i believe you call it obsessive-compulsive. she was neat, clean, fast id usely clean is the best way to describe it. you could eat off the floor. >> you would walk into her house. it was like a model home. nothing was out of place. she was constantly picking up after everyone. >> in fact, detectives also found plenty of evidence of christy's cleaned and organized life. her closet full of clothes perfectly organized, along with lists of every outfit and what

to wear with them. even her jewelry box was in ideal order. not a bracelet out of place. but neatness wasn't christy's only compulsion. from an early age, she was also extremely security conscious. >> my dad raised both of us girls to be afraid, to be secure. he made sure we took every precaution to be safe all the time. >> christy lived in a gated complex and kept a loaded gun in her nightstand. she had two locks on her door, secure windows. it didn't make sense. if this had been a robbery, surely there would have been some sign of forced enltry. >> there's no broken door, no door lock pried, no window broken. the house was locked. so obviously she let whoever in that did this. >> and given christy's obsession with security, this could mean only one thing. >> whoever killed her was somebody she knew.

that was clear. >> shocking? yes, of course. but not necessarily to christy's father, as he told the news media right after the murder. >> christy was a very, very a trusting girl. a friend of hers or someone from work or just a friend could come to the door. she'd open it for them. >> a friend? a colleague from work? was it possible that christine flemming had been murdered by one of them? coming up -- a critical clue based on something christy didn't do that -- clean up. >> it suggested that the ash tray, the cigarettes, the smoking, all this happened at the time of the murder. >> she was powerless to clean that up. >> absolutely. >> because whoever helped her cause the mess killed her. >> excellent way to put it. >> when "dateline" continues.

los angeles, california, not so much a big city as a vast collection of suburbs, some with painfully crime-spattered histo history. one of the least so inflicted is tucked away, quiet, safe, even quaint. the town of whittier. but murder, as we know, can happen anywhere, even in the high-security condo, even the young and attractive, christine flemming. christy's normally immaculate condominium was a blood-stained mess. she lay dead in chaos, her personal belongings strewn helter xelter across the counters and floors. the local media jum all over the story. >> the victim a beautiful young

woman in whittier. >> the flemming family struggled in the glare of television lights to cope with the loss of its youngest member. >> christy was my best friend. it affected my life a lot. >> i think about it daily. you look at other people, and they have brothers and sisters, and i don't anymore. >> detectives disturbing theory to go on. despite the murderer's clumsy efforts, it was obvious the work was not of a random stranger but someone she actually knew. >> if somebody had been calling you and somebody is knocking on the door, you know who that is, if it's late at night. fit fits. so she would let them in avoiding disturbing the neighbors. >> in other words there was no break live in. >> for all the appearance of robbery, nothing of value was taken. >> her credit cards were accounted for.

i believe there was a small amount of cash from her purse that would have been taken. you would have expected a burglar to take everything in sight. >> all the blood spatter on the walls, upon closer inspection, it didn't just look right, like it had been carefully smeared on. >> this was part of the murderer's plan to make it look like something that it wasn't, to try to confuse the issue and make it look like a stranger had come in, done a thrill killing, done a burglary. >> staging a scene. >> nobody fell for it. >> nobody fell for it. >> a staged crime scene and a sloppy one at that further supported the cops' theory. random burglars don't cover up crime scenes. also left behind, an empty beer bottle, a dirty ashtray, and all those cigarette butts. remember, christy smoked. the cigarettes were her brand. but, as detectives talked to christy's friends, as they learned just how compulsively neat she was, they began to see the cigarettes as a useful clue.

>> constantly cleaning the floor, the counter, wiping it down, doing the dishes. we can't have old trash laying around in there so we have to empty the trash can right away. >> especially if the trash can contained cigarette butts. but this time christy did not do her usual cleanup. >> it suggested that the ashtray, the cigarettes, the smoking, all of this happened at the time of the murder. >> that she was powerless to clean that up. >> absolutely. >> because whoever helped her cause the mess killed her. >> excellent way to put it. >> and there was something else even more significant about those five cigarette butts. they were sent to the crime lab for testing. it was able to distract a tiny bit of slief va from each one. this was before dna testing of course but they were able to determine that three of the cigarettes could have been smoked by christy and two could not have been. were they smoked by the person she let in that night? and was that person her killer? >> the ashtray had ash residue in it, and it was on the floor

by the table where it appeared there were two chairs that were out of place. so it looked like there had been two people sitting there, they had been smoking, and something happened to cause that ashtray to be on the floor. >> it was quickly becoming clear that christy not only knew her killer, she knew him quite well. certainly enough to share a smoke and a beer with him before he took her life. but who? detectiveds started with the obvious, men she was dating or had been dating. >> there was a number of them, and they proceeded by finding them, talking to them. as a result of their interviews, they established there was a list of maybe three or four that were good possible suspects. >> each was questioned, submitted saliva samples and was given a polygraph test. and within a few days, all dropped off the list of suspects. christy's father, bud, who had taught his daughter to be so security conscious tried to help solve what he could not prevent

by hanging posters all over town. >> if anybody out there knows anything at all, i'm begging them to please come forward. the police sure need their help. >> she was his baby. he was never the same. he used to be such an outgoing, funloving person, and this just totally changed him. >> he was just very heart ts broken. crushed him. it really crushed that man. >> was there anybody else bud flemming knew who could have committed the crime? perhaps somebody on the fringe of his daughter's large social circle who had reentered her life? and then ended it. there was someone. a lost love found again. >> the last time i had seen him he was a teenager. he was just a teenage kid. it was hard for me to think of him as being a killer. >> a suspect emerges "when the

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committed this crime has told someone. somebody knows. all that person has to do is come forward. >> if only it were were so easy. but day followed day and no one came forward. nobody at all. and none of christy's friends saw, knew, or heard a thing. detectives started out with a list of four possible suspects, men whom christy had dated. and each one of them was questioned, their movements and alibis checked, and then one by one they were cleared. but christy's father, bud flemming, remembered something. there had been a young man years earlier when christy was a teenager, but he had forgotten all about the kid, wouldn't have thought of him at all except a few months before are christy was murdered -- >> he gets a phone call one day, hi, this is a voice from your past. bud's, like, i don't have time for this. who's this? he's, like, it's me, it's art.

>> art? who was art? arturo gutierrez,s christine's high school sweetheart. >> they had a relationship. in fact they had a sexual relationship and apparently she became pregnant and ultimately had an abortion, ultimately they broke up and there had been a number of years that had passed since he had been in contact with her. >> then there he was out of the blue, on the phone with christy's father. >> he said, you know, i'd like to get ahold of christy. can i get her number? he said, give me your number and i'll have her call you. >> i know my dad didn't want art back in contact with her, but it's hard for a father because a father wants his daughter to be happy. >> of course. >> so, on the one hand, he knew once upon a time and he's probably thinking, oh, if this is what she wants, i want her to be happy. but, on the other hand, you're always protective of your kids. >> sure. >> what should a father do? he certainly didn't like the

guy, but christy was a grown-up. it wasn't really his business anymore. so he passed on the number, and she dialed it. >> i know she was very curious, like, wow, i wonder how he is now. so you're not really that upset or nervous or anything. you're just -- >> and she wasn't. >> no. it was kind of flattering that somebody would look you up after many years. >> art told christy he was in the roofing business. he asked her to stop by her worksite, say hello. >> she said, yeah, i went to meet art. he was telling me that he's making all this money, that he's got all these great things going. then he asked me for a ride. she said, where's your car? he said, i don't have a car because i have warrants. >> warrants? no car? no license? maybe art wasn't as successful as he claimed, and, according to janice, he told christy something rather strange. >> i remember this so clearly, her telling me, art's still telling stories. he said, you know, christy, god punished me. i could never have children because of you having that

abortion. >> what she certainly did not know was what art failed to mention that he was actually married and he had three children and they were all living together, he and his wife and their kids, at his mother-in-law's house, ven conveniently close to christy's condo. >> apparently this art gutierrez had a habit of showing up at her apartment at 2:00 in the morning, all kinds of late hours. >> christy had casually mentioned it to a few friends but she wasn't apparently annoyed enough to turn him away. for whatever reason, she always let art in. and, on occasion, he even spent the night. >> whatever the relationship was between the two of them was a secret from a lot of people. >> sure. did you even know about it at the time? >> i had no clue. >> she had not told you anything. >> no. >> detectives brought gutierrez in for questioning and he was cooperative. he even admitted seeing christy for a while, but they had broken it off two or three months

before the murder, he said. as for the night christy was killed? art insisted he was nowhere near the condo, and he could prove it. >> he had been with his wife that evening, that they had i believe gone to a party with some people. >> and his wife backed up the story. >> he was asked to take a polygraph. he did not want to take a polygraph. he refused. >> gutierrez did, however, submit a saliva sample, which was sent off to the lab for testing. and, indeed, it did match the saliva found on the butts of those cigarettes. this, however, was in the dies before sophisticated dna testing could be done at labs like this, so all they could determine is that the saliva was the same type and millions of people have that type of saliva. so guiterrez couldn't be identified as the killer, but he couldn't be eliminated as a didn't make sense, though. why would art kill someone he

apparently cared for, a person with whom he wanted to resume a relationship? >> the last time i had seen him, he was a teenager. he was just a teenage kid. that's what i remembered. it was hard for me to think of him as being a killer. >> gutierrez was not arrested. why would he be? no real evidence. no motive. no case. the media's fickle attention soon skipped off to embrace some fresher outrage, overloaded detectives were called to new crime scenes, and the christy flemming case, yesterday's news, faded from view. weeks passed. months. years. >> the more time that goes by, the more you feel like it's never going to happen. it's just hopeless and you're going to just have to live with not knowing. >> and it wasn't made any easier when the lead detective retired. he hated leaving without solving the case, especially this case. >> he told me one day, he said,

i've got this old case i'd like you to be responsible for because i'd like to see this case solved. that's how i got interested in it, and once i got interested in it, i was davis poured over it e secret return of the old boyfriend and all. the solution seemed tantalizingly possible yet just out of reach. and then, three years after christy's death, davis heard about a disturbing incident involving gutierrez and his wife. >> i guess he got upset with her over something, flew off the handle. he was described as having a really bad temper. pushed her down on the floor, grabbed a pillow and put it over her face and tried to smother her with it. >> davis then reinterviewed gutierrez. he gave the same story, denying everything. only his body language was a little more forthcoming. >> he acted about as squirrely as you could possibly get. by that, imean he was nervous.

he didn't want to be there. he couldn't wait to get the interview over with. and after talking to yo rate w, and your benefit will never go down due to age-- guaranteed! these days, the average cost of a funeral is over $7300, and social security pays a death benefit of just $255. don't leave a burden for your loved ones. since 1994, over 6 million people have called about this quality insurance. there's no risk or obligation. call about the colonial penn program now. you'll be glad you did. that's all for today.

stay with nbc news and msnbc for complete coverage of the histic house vote later today including a mapup on "nightly news" tonight. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." captions paid for by nbc-universal television -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it was just a burnt cigarette, but maybe the answer to a mystery. her name was christy. >> i thought, she can't be dead. >> just 25. when she was murdered. >> she was nude. she was bleeding from the head. >> but without much to go on, the case soon grew cold. so few clues, except for that cigarette.

was it left behind by her killer? and how could you prove it? >> we had one chance to get this done. >> detectives set a trap, but it's christy who cracks the case. >> christy really solved her own murder. >> the killer caught by the man he killed. >> the killer caught by the man he killed. "when the smoke clears." captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. it was a crime that happened 20 years ago, but the detective in charge kept the cold case file right on the corner of his desk when he could reach it whenever the victim's family called. she was a young woman who had been murdered in her home. detectives thought they knew who had killed her, but they had to prove it. and they would, with help from the victim herself. here's keith morrison. five to seven minutes, the time it takes for a cigarte to burn. the time it takes to tamdown a craving. or cover up a crime. or mark the time between life

and death. it was mother's day weekend 1989, the los angeles suburb of whittier. that's when it p happened in a condo there, where they found the burned-down smoke at the heart of mystery. or maybe smoke screen is what it was. in the start of a search that would go on 14 years and would lead, well, who would have believed it? certainly not rhonda flemming and her 25-year-old sister christy who were scheduled to take her mom to a brunch that morning. >> we were going to meet at my mother's house. i just called christy, just to check in, and the line was busy. a few minutes later i called again, line was gbusy. i called, called, called, her phone was busy all saturday morning, which seemed strange. >> so rhonda went to her mother's house anyway, thinking her younger sister would show up. but -- >> christy wasn't there which

was very unusual because she was always on time. never, ever late. and my mom hadn't talkedo her. i called christy again, the phone still busy. now i know something is wrong. >> panic now. rhonda called her father bud flemming. he was divorced but had raised both girls and kept close tabs on them, especially christy who was single. >> he hadn't talked to her either. as soon as he hung up the phone from me, he drove to her house. he knew there was something wrong. >> rhonda followed him, found christy's car in its usual place but no christy. knocked on her door. no answer. then a neighbor managed to break in through a balcony and open the front door. >> i ran into the house, and i glanced over and saw her body laying on the kitchen floor. i thought, she can't be dead. this just isn't happening. and i ran over to wake her up.

and i stood over her and i grabbed her wrists, and, as soon as i touched her, i knew she was dead. and all i could think of was my dad coming in and seeing this. >> her father never did go inside, but a few minutes later sheriff's homicide detectives did. >> she was nude. she was bleing from the head. and there appeared to be blood on the kitchen floor as if some sort of struggle had taken place there. >> the murder weapon was in plain sight, a blouse stuffed in her mouth. she had been suffocated. and all around her signs of what looked like a home invasion robbery. >> her purse and the contents were strewn all over the living room floor. the drawers in the up yostairs bedroom were pulled out, items on the floor and bed. >> the phone was off the hook, looked like it had been moved from its normal place. blood was smeared on several

walls both upstairs and downstairs. and there was something in the kitchen just above christy's body that also caught the detective's attention. >> there was a cigarette butt that was found on the kitchen counter on the stove that had been placed there and had obviously burnt out. >> on the counter -- stained the counter as it burnt. >> absolutely correct. >> they found several more cigarette butts in the trash can under the sink as well as a beer bottle in the living room. no surprise, however. christy drank occasionally and the cigarettes were her brand. >> there were few other clues. the only fingerprints found were christy's and no one in the condo complex heard or saw anything. strange perhaps, given the level of violence. but who would want to kill christy flemming and why? she had always been extremely popular. according to janice, who had known her since grade school. >> she had tons of fren s of f. she had a big, big social life, a lot of guy friends of the just

friends. >> and christy was doing quite well for herself working for an aerospace company. >> she had a lot going for her. she had blossomed into this beautiful person that was successful. she owned her own condominium. she had a new car she paid for by herself. >> successful, attractive, popular. but there was another part of christy's personality that became apparent the moment you met her. >> christy was real compulsive about things. she had this very compulsive behavior. >> christy was apparently a neat freak. i believe you call it obsessive-compulsive. she was neat, clean, fast id usely clean is the best way to describe it. you could eat off the floor. >> you would walk into her house. it was like a model home. nothing was out of place. she was constantly picking up after everyone.

>> in fact, detectives also found plenty of evidence of christy's cleaned and organized life. her closet full of clothes perfectly organized, along with lists of every outfit and what to wear with them. even her jewelry box was in ideal order. not a bracelet out of place. but neatness wasn't christy's only compulsion. from an early age, she was also extremely security conscious. >> my dad raised both of us girls to be afraid, to be secure. he made sure we took every precaution to be safe all the time. >> christy lived in a gated complex and kept a loaded gun in her nightstand. she had two locks on her door, secure windows. it didn't make sense. if this had been a robbery, surely there would have been some sign of forced enltry. >> there's no broken door, no door lock pried, no window

broken. the house was locked. so obviously she let whoever in that did this. >> and given christ's obsession with security, this could mean only one thing. >> whoever killed her was somebody she knew. that was clear. >> shocking? yes, of course. but not necessarily to christy's father, as he told the news media right after the murder. >> christy was a very, very a trusting girl. a friend of hers or someone from work or just a friend could come to the door. she'd open it for them. >> a friend? a colleague from work? was it possible that christine flemming had been murdered by one of them? coming up -- a critical clue based on something christy didn't do that -- clean up. >> it suggested that the ash tray, the cigarettes, the smoking, all this happened at the time of the murder. >> she was powerless to clean that up.

>> absolutely. >> because whoever helped her cause the mess killed her. >> excellent way to put it. >> when "dateline" continues.

los angeles, california, not so much a big city as a vast collection of suburbs, some with painfully crime-spattered histo history. one of the least so inflicted is tucked away, quiet, safe, even quaint. the town of whittier. but murder, as we know, can happen anywhere, even in the high-security condo, even the young and attractive, christine flemming. christy's normally immaculate condominium was a blood-stained

mess. she lay dead in chaos, her personal belongings strewn helter xelter across the counters and floors. the local media jum all over the story. >> the victim a beautiful young woman in whittier. >> the flemming family struggled in the glare of television lights to cope with the loss of its youngest member. >> christy was my best friend. it affected my life a lot. >> i think about it daily. you look at other people, and they have brothers and sisters, and i don't anymore. >> detectives disturbing theory to go on. despite the murderer's clumsy efforts, it was obvious the work was not of a random stranger but someone she actually knew. >> if somebody had been calling you and somebody is knocking on the door, you know who that is, if it's late at night.

fit fits. so she would let them in avoiding disturbing the neighbors. >> in other words there was no break live in. >> for all the appearance of robbery, nothing of value was taken. >> her credit cards were accounted for. i believe there was a small amount of cash from her purse that would have been taken. you would have expected a burglar to take everything in sight. >> all the blood spatter on the walls, upon closer inspection, it didn't just look right, like it had been carefully smeared on. >> this was part of the murderer's plan to make it look like something that it wasn't, to try to confuse the issue and make it look like a stranger had come in, done a thrill killing, done a burglary. >> staging a scene. >> nobody fell for it. >> nobody fell for it. >> a staged crime scene and a sloppy one at that further supported the cops' theory. random burglars don't cover up crime scenes. also left behind, an empty beer bottle, a dirty ashtray, and all

those cigarette butts. remember, christy smoked. the cigarettes were her brand. but, as detectives talked to christy's friends, as they learned just how compulsively neat she was, they began to see the cigarettes as a useful clue. >> constantly cleaning the floor, the counter, wiping it down, doing the dishes. we can't have old trash laying around in there so we have to empty the trash can right away. >> especially if the trash can contained cigarette butts. but this time christy did not do her usual cleanup. >> it suggested that the ashtray, the cigarettes, the smoking, all of this happened at the time of the murder. >> that she was powerless to clean that up. >> absolutely. >> because whoever helped her cause the mess killed her. >> exclent way to put it. >> and there was something else even more significant about those five cigarette butts. they were sent to the crime lab for testing. it was able to distract a tiny bit of slief va from each one. this was before dna testing of course but they were able to determine that three of the cigarettes could have been

smoked by christy and two could not have been. were they smoked by the person she let in that night? and was that person her killer? >> the ashtray had ash residue in it, and it was on the floor by the table where it appeared there were two chairs that were out of place. so it looked like there had been two people sitting there, they had been smoking, and something happened to cause that ashtray to be on the floor. >> it was quickly becoming clear that christy not only knew her killer, she knew him quite well. certainly enough to share a smoke and a beer with h before he took her life. but who? detectiveds started with the obvious, men she was dating or had been dating. >> there was a number of them, and they proceeded by finding them, talking to them. as a result of their interviews, they established there was a list of maybe three or four that were good possible suspects. >> each was questioned, submitted saliva samples and was given a polygraph test.

and within a few days, all dropped off the list of suspes. christy's father, bud, who had taught his daughter to be so security conscious tried to help solve what he could not prevent by hanging posters all over town. >> if anybody out there knows anything at all, i'm begging them to please come forward. the police sure need their help. >> she was his baby. he was never the same. he used to be such an outgoing, funloving person, and this just totly changed him. >> he was jus very heart ts broken. crushed him. it really crushed that man. >> was there anybody else bud flemming knew who could have committed the crime? perhaps somebody on the fringe of his daughter's large social circle who had reentered her life? and then ended it. there was someone.

a lost love found again. >> the last time i had seen him he was a teenager. he was just a teenage kid. it was hard for me to think of him as being a killer. >> a suspect emerges "when the smoke clears." we're never gonna catch anything.

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police say that this person committed this crime has told someone. somebody knows. all that person has to do is come forward. >> if only it were were so easy. but day followed day and no one came forward. nobody at all. and none of christy friends saw, knew, or heard a thing. detectives started out with a list of four possible suspects, men whom christy had dated. and each one of them was questioned, their movements and alibis checked, and then one by one they were cleared. but christy's father, bud flemming, remembered something. there had been a young man years earlier when christy was a teenager, but he had forgotten all about the kid, wouldn't have thought of him at all except a

few months before are christy was murdered -- >> he gets a phone call one day, hi, this is a voice from your past. bud's, like, i don't have time for this. who's this? he's, like, it's me, it's art. >> art? who was art? arturo gutierrez,s christine's high school sweetheart. >> they had a relationship. in fact they had a sexual relationship and apparently she became pregnant and ultimately had an abortion, ultimately they broke up and there had been a number of years that had passed since he had been in contact with her. >> then there he was out of the blue, on the phone with christy's father. >> he said, you know, i'd like to get ahold of christy. can i get her number? he said, give me your number and i'll have her call you. >> i know my dad didn't want art back in contact with her, but it's hard for a father becae a father wants his daughter to be happy. >> of course. >> so, on the one hand, he knew once upon

a time and he's probably thinking, oh, if this is what she wants, i want her to be happy. but, on the other hand, you're always protective of your kids. >> sure. >> what should a father do? he certainly didn't like the guy, but christy was a grown-up. it wasn't really his business anymore. so he passed on the number, and she dialed it. >> i know she was very curious, like, wow, i wonder how he is now. so you're not really that upset or nervous or anything. you're just -- >> and she wasn't. >> no. it was kind of flattering that somebody would look you up after many years. >> art told christy he was in the roofing business. he asked her to stop by her worksite, say hello. >> she said, yeah, i went to meet art. he was telling me that he's making all this money, that he's got all these great things going. then he asked me for a ride. she said, where's your car? he said, i don't have a car because i have warrants. >> warrants? no car? no license? maybe art wasn't as successful as he claimed, and, according to

janice, he told christy something rather strange. >> i remember this so clearly, her telling me, art's still telling stories. he said, you know, christy, god punished me. i could never have children because of you having that abortion. >> what she certainly did not know was what art failed to mention that he was actually married and he h three children and they were all living together, he and his wife and their kids, at his mother-in-law's house, ven conveniently close to christy's condo. >> apparently this art gutierrez had a habit of showing up at her apartment at 2:00 in the morning, all kinds of late hours. >> christy had casually mentioned it to a few friends but she wasn't apparently annoyed enough to turn him away. for whatever reason, she always let art in. and, on occasion, he even spent the night. >> whatever the relationship was between the two of them was a secret from a