it's the thing that most people fear, to be home asleep in your bed and have intruders come in and do the unthinkable. i felt like i had a hand being placed on my mouth. i started please don't kill me, please don't kill me.

>> i was like really freaking out. i was like what's going on, what's going on. >> reporter: a mother murdered. >> looks like two ghosts have just committed the ultimate crime. >> reporter: he lived to tell police a harrowing story. was it true? >> he's the only one who survived. he's practically unharmed. >> they treat you like a suspect or a witness? >> they are treating me like a suspect. >> reporter: now an undercover plan to solve the mystery. who was the real mastermind? >> we all stopped breathing for about ten seconds. >> i wanted to belong. wrong. i really wanted to be wrong. the american dream. so many of us want it. a loving family.

the home you can afford. the idea that you can start over here. and, in this new country, that better life will be yours. this is a story about that dream, about a family that worked for it, won it, and then what happened to them. this wasn't part of anyone's dream. >> someone just robbed our house! they broke in! they try tied me and my mom up! >> >> reporter: how could it happen in this safe gated community, in this home they worked so hard to have. >> is everybody okay? >> i don't know where my mom is. >> reporter: and who deserved it less than this woman? >> my mom brung the heart into the ham. >> reporter: ryan was the baby of the family. spoiled rotten by his mother,

>> we couldn't function without my mom. my mom was like the chef in the household. counselor. >> full service mom. >> oh, yeah. she did it all. yeah, she was really, really nice, sweet lady. >> reporter: she was one of those mothers who showed her love through food. her cakes were legendary. making every birthday that much more special, says her older son, richard. >> she made this really good upside down pineapple cake. it was phenomenal. i always remember cake and ice cream at the birthdays. >> reporter: growing up, richard was inseparable from his mom. was she like the other moms that your friends had? >> no. i think she was a bit more on the conservative side. >> reporter: conservative because of where she came from. ariette was born in egypt, then came to the u.s. when she was 29 years old. her family settled in northern california. she led a comfortable all-american life.

and. 1980, ariette was called back to egypt to meet a nice young man named magdi. >> when my mom went out there and ended up meeting him, she really liked him. >> reporter: years later she would reminisce about how their romance blossomed. >> in egypt you really can't just go out like on dates and stuff. so they went together to the movie theater and then when it got real dark, my dad reached over and gave her like a kiss on the cheek. >> which was a very big deal. >> yeah, for her it was. i think it almost sealed the deal. >> reporter: it wasn't the american way of falling in love, but ariette seemed happy. she and magdi married just two weeks later in egypt and moved together to california. in 1981 richard was born. five years later came ryan. richard was delighted to have a brother to play with and to watch over. so you were his protector, big brother. >> yeah, i always kind of keep

i love my brother with all my heart. >> how did you and your brother get along? >> like best friends. i always looked up to him. >> reporter: their dad was the classic hard-working immigrant. magdi earned his license to become a respiratory therapist, then put in endless hours to keep a roof over his family's head and clothes on their backs. >> he came from really poor country, so for him it was like to come here, he was like working real hard to try to build things up and try to establish a life. >> reporter: magdi emphasized education, teaching both his sons math at an early age. they felt he would do anything to keep his family safe. he didn't want your family to get pushed around. >> not at all. not at all. >> reporter: it took many years of hard work, saving and investing, but magdi finally put

this home in a gated community in the city of westminster. a quiet town in orange county, california. the family was well on its way to living out the dream magdi and ariette had worked so lard hard to build. but then on sent ptember 29, 2004, all of it came crashing down. rir ryan, then 17, was out with friends and stayed out later than he was supposed to. >> when did you get home? >> like 1:00 to 1:30 that night. i slidded back door open and i went upstairs. >> reporter: his dad was not at home, his brother at work, his mom asleep. >> i remember i was fixing up my ipod dock and i fell asleep to music that night. next thing i know i hear a door open and first instinct was that maybe it was my brother. >> reporter: his older brother,

protector, coming home. or so he thought. but it wasn't richard. >> kind of looked back, and that's when i felt like a hand being placed on my mouth. and it was a hand with some type of cotton glove. >> can you see who this is? >> i know this was a black male that was heavy set. i was yelling for my brother and my mom to help me. and i was really scared. >> reporter: ryan says he fought the intruder. >> i bit down on the hand and i rolled off the bed, and then i popped up and i was shoved into like the wall. he was telling me to like shut up and calm down. >> reporter: you man put duct tape over ryan's mouth and started taping his hands and feet together. >> and right after that, a second suspect comes inside and he starts making threats to me

don't get your mom killed. >> don't get your mom killed. that-terrifying to hear. >> yeah, i i didn't know what was going on. i thought it was like a robbery or something. >> reporter: a terrifying situation was about to get much worse. >> through the hallway i saw my mom yelling take anything you want, take anything you want. and then after that, i just noticed that the guy was taking my mom away like toward her bedroom. >> reporter: ryan's attacker dragged him into the closet. but then noticed the duct tape was slipping around ryan's hands. >> i heard him taking like some shoestring off of one of my shoes. >> reporter: using the shoelace, the man tied ryan's hands behind his back. through the closet door, ryan pleaded with his attacker. >> i started telling him please don't kill me, please don't kill me and i started praying. during that time he was like, i know your circumstances, i know what you're going through, i'm

circumstances." strange as those words sounded, ryan found them somehow comforting. >> and then of a that like i started feeling a little bit of a sense of relief. >> reporter: but then ryan heard a sound that would come to haunt him. >> i heard like a cutting of the sheets. i thought he was like cutting my sheets up. i didn't know like what was going on. >> reporter: and what was going on was worse than anything he could have imagined. a panicked call from 911, and another to his brother. >> i was like really freaking out, i was like what's going on, what's going on. >> what really happened inside that house? >> oh, my god.

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ryan gurgess had just been through a terrifying ordeal. two men breaking into his home in a gated community in the middle of the night. >> both men were really huge to me. like their whole persona was just like gangsters and like thugs. >> you'd never seen them b ore. >> never, ever. >> reporter: they tied him up, threw him in a closet. but not before he saw one of the men drag his mother into her bedroom. he says he thought he heard the men walk out, thought he heard a car drive away. but for a few more moments, ryan thumping, afraid, he says, to come out. it was now or never. ryan says he managed to untie himself and grabbed his cell phone. >> i went down the hallway. i looked to the right really quickly. i noticed that the door was in

>> to your mother's bedroom. >> to my mother's bedroom. >> why didn't you check on her? >> i wanted to get out of the house as fast as possible and then come back with help. >> you had to be thinking that's my mom in there, i got to go see how she is. >> the whole time was like i got to get out of this house and come back with someone because i already got overpowered by myself. >> he ran outside the house and called 911. >> what happened? >> people just jumped in my house and they started yelling [ bleep ] at me. they were like don't make me have to kill you. don't make me have to kill you. >> reporter: ryan called his dad. he was shocked. and asked two things. if ryan was okay and where ariette was, and ryan didn't know. ryan also called his older brother, richard, who was working the night shift at the queen mary hotel. what did richard say when you called him? >> he questioned if i was all right.

he also questioned who do you think it is, someone you know, ryan? >> why would richard think that you might know the people who broke into the house? >> well, he felt like i was the one that got tied up and things like that and they came into my room. sew just was like questioning like ryan did something having to do with you. >> like what's going on? did they have a personal vendetta on you or anything? >> reporter: as you'll see, that's a question that would come up again. after ryan's call, richard left work and drove to the house. but the police tape was already up and they wouldn't let him through. >> i was like really freaking out, i was like what's going on, what's going on. i was asking them, where's my mom at, where's my mom at. >> reporter: police took richard and ryan to the station. the boys were surprised to find themselves split up and sitting in separate interview rooms. ryan's hands were bagged to preserve any evidence.

too many questions, richard asked one of his own. what happened to my mom, please? >> so we have a murder investigation. >> oh, no! she's not. i didn't hear that. i didn't hear that. >> reporter: ryan says he didn't know what was happening right then but he could tell it was bad. >> oh, my god. oh, my god. >> i just hear like a scream and i'm like, what just happened? it sounds like richard, my brother, and he is screaming to the top of his lungs. >> no, she's not. she's not. >> you can't see richard, you can just hear him. >> i can just hear him in the other room and he was going hysterical. i never heard him scream like that in my whole life. >> oh, my god. does my little brother know? >> reporter: police soon told ryan the same awful news, that their mother, ariette, had been

now the cops started asking questions. that wasn't all they did. police took your fingerprints? >> police took my fingerprints. cotton swabs. dna. you name it, they did it. >> they treating you like a suspect or a witness? >> they are treating me like a suspect at this point. >> did you have a chance to check on your mom before you ran out of the house? >> no. i didn't want to like trace -- >> >> reporter: richard was facing questions that were slightly different but just as skeptical. >> cops take your fingerprints? >> yeah. >> and dna? >> yeah. >> did you think to yourself, they're looking at me a suspect? >> yeah.

een in a situation with the police. >> reporter: but the detective's focus seemed to linger on his brother, ryan. >> this wouldn't be like directed against him that you know of? >> i mean i don't know. i don't know, first reaction i had when he called me, i was like was it one of your friends? did someone break in? >> that was your first reaction? >> my first reaction was that. >> reporter: as police continue their questioning, one question stood out above all. why would these two thugs come in to your house, basically not hurt you, and then really brutally kill your mother and leave behind a witness? >> yeah. >> this investigation was about to take a turn that no one expected. it was like two ghosts had just walked in and committed the ultimate crime. zblb

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>> not that many really. >> reporter: sonya was a deputy d.a. in orange county, california. the ariette gurgess case landed on her desk. >> it was a nightmare. it was the thing most people fear, to be at home in the sanctity of your home asleep in your bed and have intruders come in and do the unthinkable. >> reporter: police found ariette's body near her bed. she's been stabbed multiple times. that odd tearing sound ryan said he heard, investigators believed it was the sound of the knife ripping through the mattress as ariette's killer slit her throat. >> was that knife found at the scene? >> it was not. >> reporter: james wilson as a patrol officer at the time of

wilson says the details of the crime scene pointed to something other than a home invasion/robbery, in part, because nothing appeared to have been stolen. >> this was not a burglary in which she was sort of collateral damage. >> definitely not. >> reporter: cash was in plain sight. jewelry, too. even ryan's ipod and new dock, all untouched. >> the house wasn't even rummaged through as if they were looking for something. >> reporter: what's more, this was a gated community. the killers would have needed a gate code to get in. >> it starts getting more interesting as to who could have done it. >> reporter: crime scene investigators collected mounds of evidence, and, surprisingly, with all that blood, not a single trace of unknown dna. all the dna results matched the people who lived in the house, ariette, magdi, richard, and ryan.

was left alive. >> two guys came into the house, beat up ryan, tie him up, and then kill ariette in a brutal hands-on way, and leave no trace? >> that's what it looked like. looked like two ghosted had just walked in and committed the ultimate crime. >> reporter: it seemed improbable, and it encouraged detectives to look closely at ryan. he claimed to be a victim. but was he really? police learned the friend he was with the night of the murder had offered ryan a knife for protection just hours before ryan's mother was brutally killed with a knife, a knife that had not been found. they also learned ryan smoked marijuana, and not just at the occasional party. he smoked every day, and he wasn't just smoking. >>cy was helping out someone with like like narcotic.

>> marijuana. >> reporter: police found small amounts of marijuana in ryan's room, along with a bong, baggies, and tinfoil. and, there was more. like the description ryan had given detectives about the two suspects. >> both male blacks. they were large. he said that they acted like they were from a gang. but that was something that we still didn't know 100% sure if that was true or not. >> reporter: claiming two black men committed the murder seemed almost too convenient. and more troubling if ryan had been beaten by gang members much bigger than he was, why didn't he look like it? if ryan had been in a serious duking it out fight with a couple of guys, that he would have ended up much more battered than he was. >> if those guys wanted to hurt him worse than they did, definitely so. yes. >> reporter: and remember, ryan had told police that one suspect

circumstances, i'm not going to kill you." is that true? and if so, what did it mean? and then there was the issue of ryan claiming to have left the house before he so much as took a peek into his mother's bedroom. that strike anybody as odd? >> i think so. as a detective, you have to consider why somebody would do that. >> reporter: soon detectives found out. ryan had more dark secrets than they realized. he's the only one who survived, he's practically unharmed. >> if you questions for ryan, and a new clue. had he received a warning before the attack? nd y with cash back twice on purchases. earn once when you buy, and again as you pay. that's cash back now, and cash back again later. it's cash back d\j vu.

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. he was selling a small amount of drugs. we had to pursue that. >> reporter: police still have a lot of questions about ryan's story, but they hadn't yet found any evidence to suggest he'd killed his mom. for now at least, they had to take him at his word. >> until you can find a reason not to believe that person, you kind of have to go with what they have to say, unless they >> and as far as you knew, ryan was not lying. >> as far as i knew, yes. >> reporter: but the investigation was just starting. and police could not discount another possibility, that ariette was killed because of ryan. detectives learned that a year before the murder, ryan had confronted another kid at school who hadn't paid him for some weed. later, that kid's friends jumped ryan. doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would spark a homicide, but i'm guessing you've seen homicides that were

>> it is typical, especially for gang related homicides, to be something just as small as that. >> reporter: remember, ryan described his assailants as sounding like gang members. and then there was this bombshell -- a message ryan received on his aol instant messenger just weeks before the murder. he brought it to detectives' attention during an interview. >> popped up, "you better watch your back, i know where you live." i never even seen this person. >> reporter: ryan told police he had chalked it up to a prank. now it seemed like key evidence, except ryan had not saved the message. no way to tell now who had sent it. any idea who it was from? >> no. >> aol able to help you with any of that? >> no. >> reporter: a frustrating dead end.

at other possibilities. they dug deeper into the american dream the gurgess family seemed to be living and interviewed the man of the house, magdi. >> how did you feel about your wife wife's death? >> devastated. we lived together for 24 years. she's the mother of my kids. >> he didn't really have any vices. he didn't spend any money on any hobbies of any sort. he was a guy who went to work and went home. >> reporter: but their father wasn't just a hard worker, said his sons. he was more like a workaholic. >> i think my mom felt neglected. he wasn't affectionate towards her. all he would do was just work. >> i played sports all my life and he never, ever came to watch any of the sports that i played. >> a lot of the childhood and a lot of me growing up, i can remember a lot about my mom but i don't remember a lot about my

it's not because i don't want to, it is just because he wasn't th e. he would come, go to sleep, get up, go to work. come, go to sleep, get up, go to work. >> reporter: that's because for magdi, they said, the dream was all about the green. >> he was work, work, work. >> money, money, money. exactly. >> reporter: after a rare outing to the beach one day, ryan says he and his fare dropped ther dropped by mcdonald's. i asked him if i could borrow $1 for a 99 cent burger, and month only did he ask for the money on it. . >> what kind of father asked his 13-year-old son to reimburse him for that kind of money? >> my father was always trying to hustle somebody for some type of money. >> reporter: it didn't take the prosecutor long to learn about magdi's obsession. >> this is the united states, everybody goes to work, everybody tries to make money,

he's different? >> yes, he's very different. he's in a category of very few people who have an unhealthy relationship with money. it drives everything that they do. >> we're not talking about thrifty -- >> no. >> we're talking about squeezing every dollar until it bleeds. >> yes. >> reporter: his sons describe magdi as not only obsessed with work and money, but also a strict disciplinarian. >> did you love him? >> yeah, i did love him. >> were you scared of him? >> yeah. from when i was a kid, yeah. i felt like there was a line and i didn't want to cross anything. >> reporter: the brothers say they saw what could happen when they crossed that line one night when ryan was 14 and came home past curfew. they say magdi simply lost it. >> he threw me on the floor and he started kicking me and my brother had to pull him off of me. >> your brother kind of shielded you a little bit, didn't he?

he did. >> sounds like you were closer to your brother than you were to your father. >> very much so. >> reporter: ryan rebelled, staying out late, smoking weed. richard was more dutiful, but he, too, felt his father's wrath. >> a punch. a kick. you kind of name it, depending. i would find the sooner i would cry, the sooner it would stop. >> tough lesson to learn from your dad. >> yeah. he was a very harsh person, which made it more fortunate to have my mom in my life because she was like the complete opposite. >> reporter: as tough as he was on his sons, they say magdi was just as tough on his wife. ryan and richard say they never saw their father hit their mother, but they say they heard the yelling, and they did see the bruises. >> we never, ever called 911. it was just like we had that sense of fear that we didn't want to cross the line.

your dad would do to you if you did call 911 than what might happen to your mom if you didn't? >> yeah. yeah. >> reporter: so the boys stayed quiet. but a storm was brewing. in the end, ariette would give investigators their best lead. >> i really felt like my mom was empowered. >> reporter: a transformation and a confrontation. >> there's no going back. >> as to the life you had before -- >> was never going to be the same. do you sell high-end champagne? in the back. [beep, beep] [cork pop] have a good night. the new water-resistant galaxy s7 edge.

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>> reporter: as investigators worked the murder of ariette gurgess, had he thaerd dis heard disturbing information from her sons, most disturbing by far was what happened seven months before the murder in february 2004 on the eve of magdi and ariette's 24th wedding anniversary. >> she starts talking to magdi, can we go out to dinner. that's what starts this fight. >> doesn't sound like it was a very long fight. >> no. he punches her in the face. >> reporter: richard remembers arriving home that evening and seeing his mom. >> she looked very subdued. her face was swollen. her nose was still like belizing. so i went up bleeding. so i went upstairs and i confronted my dad. >> what was his response? >> he told me to stay out of it. >> reporter: but richard in

concussion, or worse. he rushed her to the emergency room. they had kept their family's secret for so long. but that was about to change. >> the nurse asked her like what happened? >> and your mom said? >> my mom told her that, you know, he punched me in the face. that started the whole cascade. >> reporter: police went to the gurgess home of and arrested magdi. >> that was really scary. >> that was scary. not thrilling. >> it was terrifying. >> not the moment you had been waiting for? >> no, no, no, no, no. there was no point of return. somehow i knew immediately after that that it was like -- >> there's no going back. >> there's no going back. >> so the life you had before -- >> was never going to be the same. >> a court issued a protective order and magdi worked out of the house he worked so hard for to an apartment complex he and

after more than two decades of marriage, it seemed magi and ariette were headed for divorce. it was a thought that seemed to terrify ariette. >> i think she was scared and had cold feet. >> about striking out in the world. >> totally. >> reporter: she was totally dependent on magdi, never written a personal check, didn't even know their mortgage was paid off. >> she expressed to me, you know, i wish all this would just not be here or i wish everything could go back to the way it was. >> reporter: magdi, too, seemed frightened, and perhaps chastened. >> he was definitely trying to get back with my mother. >> did it seem like your mom was wavering at all. >> yeah, there was a limbo period where my mom was considering taking him back. >> richard who had stepped up during his father's absence as the man of the house overheard a strange conversation between his parents.

>> had you ever heard your dad say "i love you" to your mom? >> i can't really recall that. >> until that conversation when he needed something from her. >> yeah. >> reporter: what did magdi need? turns out he was more worried about himself than anyone else. a domestic violence conviction might cost him his respiratory therapist license which would cut off his income, and magdi knew a divorce would force him to split his hard-earned money with ariette. >> he had his back to the wall. >> yeah. >> reporter: so magdi came up with a plan, ariette came up with a letter that said she wasn't sure what happened, her injuries could have resulted from a fall. they weren't speaking at the time, but magdi convinced richard, the dutiful son, to transscribe the letter and per situate ariette to sign it thus getting her husband of o the

>> you feel bad at all trying to get your mom to change her story of something that you knew she was telling the truth about? >> yeah. back then i kind of felt like i was just trying to help. >> and maybe the price of saving your family is convincing your mom to lie about something that you know is true. >> he really just manipulated me. >> reporter: he knew his mother had mixed feelings about the break-up of her marriage. richard told himself he was doing the right thing. >> i was trying to support my mom. at the same time i still felt that he was my dad, so i felt really pulled. >> reporter: ariet agreed to sign the letter. magdi, no doubt, breathed a sigh of relief. but then came his preliminary hearing in which ariet did something quite unexpected. she took the witness stand. and she told the truth. >> she felt that enough was enough.

everything out. >> not just about the night magdi gave her a black eye and bloodied her nose. but about abuse ariet described as stretching over two decades. >> did your dad feel betrayed? >> my dad was like i can't believe what she said up there. >> reporter: ariet girgis had finally stood up for herself. it might have been the manifestation of her own american dream. ariet hired a divorce attorney and began planning a new life. >> i really felt like my mom was like empowered. she just wanted to be happy. you know? she felt like there was happiness coming. >> reporter: instead, the next month she was murdered. and to investigators who heard ariet's story, it now seems obvious her husband, magdi, was the prime suspect. >> everything pointed at magdi. >> reporter: except for the fact that phone records proved that

when ryan called him that night. and, april cording ing witness, two black men committed the murder, and there was still the question of why that witness, ryan, was left alive. and just a few days after his mother was killed, the another anonymous message on his computer. how did you like your gift? lol, lol. >> how did you like your gift. >> yeah. an ah-ha m ent for police. a new look at that old interrogation of ryan. >> you say you bit this guy? >> yeah. he had to take off the gloves to put on the tape. >> reporter: could it lead to the break they'd need? she said it's too much work. lulu's hair just floats. uhh help me! (doorbell) mom, check this out. wow. swiffer sweeper, and dusters. this is what i'm talking about. look at that. sticks to this better

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investigators were zeroing in on magdi girgis as the prime suspect in the murder of his wife, ariet. the two had been going through a domestic violence case and were divorcing. >> you know, he's an obvious suspect but that doesn't mean he did it. >> no matter how noxious he may have been during the marriage, maybe he a he is not the guy you're looking for? >> sure. you have to be ready for every possibility. >> reporter: especially after the son ryan received a taunting message on his computer days after the murder, how did you like your gift? lol lol. >> it didn't make any sense to me. >> reporter: police looked into it, but just as the threat made to ryan weeks before the murder, they weren't able to track down the sender. do you wish some more work had

>> yes. >> the other son, richard, also came under scrutiny. >> richard stuck up for and maybe covered for his father during the domestic violence investigation. did you guys feel he may be doing that again? >> initially believed it was a possibility, yes. >> reporter: soon after the murder, the brothers left westminster and moved to northern california and they did so without telling magdi. as police continued to dig, richard and ryan say they worried. whoever killed their mom was still at large, and knew ryan was a witness to the crime. >> i have recollections, i have nightmares. i also get chills. i don't like to be at home by myself. i have trouble sleeping. i mean the list goes on. >> reporter: ryan and richard say they had a growing suspicion their father was responsible for their mother's murder. they said they were too scared to confront him.

the investigation seemed to stall. >> seemed like you had a lot of leads that kind of hadn't gone anywhere. >> we had a lot off paths that we went down. yes. >> reporter: remember, there was no physical evidence linking magdi to the murder. ryan said it was two black men who had broken into the house and killed his mom. police had never found those men or any trace they ever existed. and those threatening messages to ryan, still no idea who sent them, either. was there a point where you thought maybe this murder will never be solved? >> it's lard hard to think that way when you desperately want to solve it. but yes. >> reporter: and so, the years rolled by. richard became a critical care nurse. ryan, the self-admitted stoner, says he stopped smoking. he was working toward a bachelor's degree in business

and entertainment company. magdi would have been proud of his boys if he knew how far they'd come. but richard and ryan said they never once got a call from him in all those years, and they made no effort to contact him. the brothers did call the westminster police department again and again urging detectives to investigate their father. and each time they heard the same response. >> you know, we're still looking into it but we don't have any new leads, there's nothing -- >> depressing. >> it was. >> reporter: they made endless calls enlisting family and friends to write america's most wanted. and they raised a $55,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. all of it led to nothing. how many murder caress ses you do over the years?

>> this one stuck with you. is there something about ariet that made you not want to quit? >> you don't want to quit on any case, but i think the fact that she came so close to being an independent woman, to standing up for are herself, to being the kind of mother that she wanted to be to those boys, and she did everything right. and she died on her own watch. it was a terrible feeling. terrible feeling. >> reporter: it was 2010, nearly six years after the murder when richard made another of his many phone calls to the westminster pd. this time it was james wilson who answered. he had been a patrol officer at the time of the murder. but in the intervening years, he had worked his way up to detective. >> i really didn't have very good answers for him. what's going on with my mom's case? what are you guys doing on my mom's case? and i know there's nothing really going on with mom's case so i just started looking into it. >> out of guilt? >> i think an obligation really.

you become a police officer is to help people like that. >> reporter: and, as detective wilson pored through the mountain of evidence on the case, he came across that interview detectives had with ryan right after the murder. reading through the transcripts, he saw a key detail that no one had noticed. >> you say you bit this guy? >> yeah. >> on the hand? on the hand or through a glove or -- >> i think it was through a glove but he will to take off the glove to put on the tape. >> reporter: ryan was telling detectives the intruder took his gloves off before handling the duct tape and also the shoelace used to tie him up. >> as a detective you're thinking maybe that might have some dna on it. >> reporter: detective wilson checked to see if the shoelace had ever been tested. it had not. so is he sent it off to the county crime lab.

eight years after ariet's murder, detective wilson's phone rang. >> crime lab did call me and told me that they got a hit. >> reporter: and no one could have predicted the name police were given. that had to be our suspect. wasn't even in our computer. >> reporter: a whole new suspect. who was this guy? did you know where he was? >> i knew exactly where he was.

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it was 2012, eight years after the mushd rder of ariet girgis when dekt tective wilson got his first solid break. the detectives submitted the shoelace ryan had been tied up with to the crime lab hoping for a long-shot dna hit. and now the results were in. >> it had to be our suspect, or at least one of our suspects. >> and the game the crime lab gives you for the dna hit is? >> anthony bridget. >> was that name in this he of the case files? >> no. >> not someone who had been talked to at any stage in this investigation? >> wasn't even in our in-house computers as a person that's been contacted by the police. >> reporter: and yet the dna proved anthony bridget was the attacker who had tied up ryan. detective wilson entered it bridget's information into a

>> so who is he? >> he's a member of the crips. >> reporter: the crips one of the most notorious and violent gangs in the u.s. and his street game, little shotgun, was by any standard a professional criminal. >> he had numerous violent conduct, including prior conviction for manslaughter. so this was no novice. >> long, violent rap sheet. >> absolutely. >> reporter: bridget also had a drug conviction. and remember, ryan girgis admitted he sometimes dealt weed. did ryan and anthony bridget know each other? is that why richard immediately wondered if that's why ryan was the target of the attack? police considered that theory and dismissed it. in fact, for police, anthony bridget and his gang affiliation

for one, bridget matched ryan's account of the man who tied him up seemed like a gang member. >> it looked like he was one of those guys that just came out and wants revenge. >> reporter: and two, the booking photos matched the sketch ryan had given police, and so investigators developed a different theory about bridget's involvement. >> he had the resume that you would expect the intruders who came to kill ariet to have. >> the kind of guy you'd hire to commit murder. >> that's right. >> reporter: and they suspected the person who hired him was magdi girgis. of course, there was no proof of any of that. i'm guessing one of the things you did pretty early on was subpoena magdi's bank records. >> oh, yes. >> looking for that big chunk of money he took out a few days before his wife was killed. >> you could hope, but --

>> it wasn't there. >> maybe he's innocent. >> maybe he's just careful. >> careful? perhaps. but in what universe would magdi girgis and anthony bridget's paths cross? one way to find out, they could ask anthony bridget. >> did you know where he was? >> i knew exactly where he was. >> he was in soledad state prison. a prosecutor and detective wilson decided to pay him an unannounced visit. >> there you are in a a little room. >> yes. >> table like this one. >> yes. >> between you. and you say? >> i want to talk to you. >> and he's a little surprised. right? >> he's a little surprised. yes. >> but anthony bridget was hard to rattle. >> he had been involved in gang related homicides in the past. pretty experienced at prison

>> so saying to him, hey, the guy that hired you, magdi girgis, just rolled over on you, that's not going to work. >> right. >> this is not a virgin. >> exactly. >> but they did get something. you said to him, i have your dna at a murder scene. >> yes. and he said, where? >> he said where? not -- i haven't committed any murders. did you ask him whether he knew magdmplt i magdi? >> no. we never got that far. >> here's what bridget didn't know the prosecutor and the detectives didn't really care what he said. their target was magdi girgis and all they wanted was to prove a connection between him and anthony bridget. that's why before they left orange county they'd set up a wiretap on magdi's phone. he was back living in the house where his wife was murdered. he even had a new girlfriend. and now investigators listened to see if bridget would tip off magdi.

visit would inspire him in some way. >> didn't happen. >> no. it didn't. >> reporter: so game over? >> he stepped out of the car. >> reporter: no. it was just starting. a return to the scene of the crime. a dramatic confrontation at magdi's house. >> check it out, man. my moment locked up in the pen right now. >> reporter: who were these men

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january 30th, 2013, the home where ariet girgis had met her awful death was suddenly once again the scene of an unexpected confrontation. >> what's up [ bleep ]. >> reporter: two men showed up on magdi girgis' lawn. >> let me holler at you for two ticks. let me holler at you for a second. >> reporter: and it was all caught out on camera. >> check out, my home locked up in the pen right now. police approach him about killing his wife for you in this [ bleep ] house. >> reporter: interesting, because the prosecutor and detective james wilson had just returned from visiting crips gang member anthony bridget in prison. they suspected magdi had hired bridget and another as yet unknown man to kill ariet. and now apparently here were a pair of gangsters on magdi's property. the more talkative of the two called himself d. money, and money is what he wanted from

>> reporter: good question. who better to answer it than d. money himself. you are a born actor. >> believe i am. >> reporter: he's not a gangster. he's an officer from the long beach police department who was working undercover which is why we are concealing his identity. >> you a little nervous going in? >> not at all, no. >> reporter: the role he played at magdi's home that day was a war game the prosecutor and detective had set in motion even before they met anthony bridget. tell me about this scheme. >> you call it a scheme, i call it a plan. >> reporter: by any name, it was an attempt to trap magdi. >> the only way i see bridget or somebody like him commits a crime like this is some kind of game. financial primarily.

individual and you come up with a way in which they were able to contact magdi and demand more money. >> reporter: in other words, these two undercover officers posing as gang members would approach magdi and hit him up for some hush money since investigators knew money was magdi's particular obsession, they were hoping to about to strike a nerve but they had to be careful. if the killers were working with magdi, it wasn't clear if he knew them directly or hired them through a middleman. so you couldn't have the guides claim that they were the actual guys in the house. >> correct. >> because possibly he knew them. >> possibly he knew them. >> so you have them pose as friends of the guy in the house. >> yes. >> and he's now in jail. >> in prison. which we knew that was true because anthony bridget was in prison. >> so his friends are, what?

knowledge into some extra money for them. >> correct. >> reporter: operations like this are especially tricky. there's usually only one shot to get it right. if the phony gangsters threaten magdi, the sting wouldn't hold up in court and magdi could walk free. and, at the same time, one thing had to be crystal clear. >> you want to make sure that everybody knows that we're talking about the crime that occurred about his wife being murdered in that particular house. that couldn't be left ambiguous. >> reporter: a risky plan and no guarantees it would work. true that a lot of d.a.s might not go for an operation like that? >> yes. >> sonya wanted to win. >> she wasn't scared to fail. >> did you think you were going to fail? >> i was very nervous, to say the least. >> reporter: it had taken nine years to get to this moment. a team of cops watched and videotaped as the undercovers approached magdi. >> he's stepping out of the car

>> reporter: everyone was on edge except for the man cast in the role of d. money. do you have going over in your mind if he says this or does this -- >> no. things come out spontaneously, i have to be quick. you say a, i say b. you say c, i say d. you have to have it up here. you can't rehearse or write it down. you can either do it or you can't. >> reporter: but still there was cause for worry. while these officers guys looked the part -- >> were you concerned about their acting ability? >> i was concerned. >> too late now. it was on. a surprise 1/2 foo. >> -- snafu. the cell phone dials the number of the undercover and he didn't answer the phone. >> reporter: an undercover officer misses the call and that was just the beginning.

magdi girgis didn't know it, but he was the target of a sting operation. he had just arrived home. the undercover officers approach. and the camera was rolling. >> check it out, man. my homie locked up in the pen right now. police approach him about him killing your wife for you. in this [ bleep ] house. know what i'm sayin' in we don't care about it but we want to get paid for it. we're not going to stay

know what i mean? >> what's his reaction when you make it clear that you know about his wife's murder? >> he appeared to be shocked. you could tell there was something he wasn't prepared for, he never thought was going to happen. >> we want 5,000. know what i'm sayin'? we ain't going to say nothing. ain't going to police or say nothing else. you understand what i'm saying? all right. give me a call, man. take my number. call me tomorrow about 10:00. don't worry. i'm d. money. just give me a call tomorrow by 10:00. $5,000. hit me up tomorrow. >> reporter: almost as soon as it began, it was over. magdi left standing there with d. money's phone number with instructions to call the next day. in terms of the oscar winning performance performances, they did a pretty good job. >> i think so. they did a great job. >> reporter: now police waited and wondered, what would magdi

if he doesn't call, this all is for nothing. over. >> reporter: more than eight years after the murder, here was the make or break moment. >> he was either going to ignore them, he was going to contact them, or he was going to call the police and say, guess what? i think the guys involved in my wife's murder just came to the house. >> which is what an innocent person would have done. >> reporter: but he didn't call the police. >> and he didn't ignore them. >> very true. >> reporter: the next day the surveillance team tracked magdi driving, and just at that time -- >> his cell phone dials the number of the undercover. and i'm notified immediately by the wire room. and they told me he didn't answer the phone. >> reporter: the undercover officer missed magdi's call. so i had to call undercover. >> the target of the investigation is trying to reach you.

reception so he had to move. >> so we were hoping he called back. >> reporter: the undercover, as usual, was confident. why were you so convinced he would call back? >> because he called the first time, to me, in this time of deal, when you call the first time, you're over the nerves and you're going to call back. >> reporter: and magdi did call back. surveillance team caught him on camera, this time from a place that doesn't get a lot of traffic in the 21st century. >> we know he's at a pay phone. that got really interesting for me right there. >> i'm sitting in the car and cell phone went off. let it ring a few times. thens the phone answer the phone, you know. this is d. money. >> about yesterday. >> i came back yesterday. >> what's the problem, man? >> problem is my boys locked down in the pen, like i told you yesterday. we know what's going on, my boy took care little business. you know.

just to keep it hush. you know what i mean? >> i paid you everything. >> once he told me hey, i paid you guys everything, home run. >> reporter: >> it is one of those things you've known it all along, then you actually hear it from him. and so i think it was overwhelming feeling of contribution. >> reporter: and then, just as quickly, it all threatened to blow up in their faces. listen carefully. >> there was a middleman. >> what? >> there was a middleman. >> reporter: middleman? the undercover had no idea. magdi had just asked a question that none of the investigators could answer. when magdi says tell me who the middleman is so i know i can trust you, that was something the undercover officers i think weren't ready for. >> no. i think we all stopped breathing for about ten seconds. >> reporter: the investigators

that magdi might have hired the killers through some third party. and now this conversation seemed like confirmation that he had. but who was it? it seems to me that the middleman for this would have to be somebody that magdi really trusted, somebody he knew well. >> he would have to trust this person, yes. >> somebody who would stick up for him. >> yes. >> any thoughts on who that might be? >> i do. i do. >> reporter: there was no way to tell the undercover that, so d. money just stayed in character. >> i don't -- everybody know hot middleman -- middleman was. i ain't worried about that. people talked -- >> how am going to trust him? >> because i got the information that i got for you, i can go to the police. but i'm not. i'm just trying to get my money so i can go.

about hush money continued. magdi, true to form, haggled over the price. >> $5,000 ain't that much, man. >> you can go. it's not a problem. >> it just goes to show the true character of this man. here's a guy who will negotiate with thugs ten years later because he feels like he already paid. i mean it's just -- that's what i mean, he's not in the normal range of thrifty. police probably had in you have to arrest magdi right then and there, but they waited. now you want to do the actual exchange of money. >> got to get the money. >> reporter: that meant a second meeting. but would magdi even show up?

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magdi girgis had just been caught on tape apparently admit admitting to hiring thugs to kill his wife. >> i thought you got paid for everything. >> reporter: he seemed willing to pay even more to keep things quiet, and made a date to do it. the next day officers secretly trailed magdi leaving his home, driving on the freeway, and pulling into this home depot parking lot. the meeting point chosen by magdi magdi. >> everybody's out of sight. >> everybody's out of sight. plain clothes. unmarked vehicles. the two of us. >> i'm not a police officer but this is starting to sound like fun. >> it is definitely fun. it is a rush. i'd do it all over again. >> reporter: the prosecutor was nearby watching it all unfold. tell me what that was like. >> nerve-racking. it's exhilarating.

>> not at first. >> reporter: but soon enough he came into view. the undercovers approached his car. >> what's up, [ bleep ]? what's going on? what's happening? did you bring me a check? >> no. >> cash. that's $1,500? >> i took the envelope, basically snatched it from him. 15 $100 bills. >> you won't see us no more. everything good? >> so this was not some sort of frightened little mouse who was doing what he told by you guys. this was a guy who was poised and kind of in control of the situation. >> yeah. i'm going to get it done and this is going to be it. and it be over. >> reporter: but before it was, the undercover dropped one more line to see if magdi would bite. >> what the [ bleep ] did your wife do so bad that make you want to kill your ass?

>> he almost did. >> reporter: magdi probably thought he was home free. but as he drove away, officers swarmed in. you arrest him and you guys are all feeling like wyatt earp. >> we were's feeling pretty good, yes. >> ryan girgis had no idea any of this was happening. he had moved back to southern california and was completely unprepared for the call he received from detective wilson. you come into the station, cops bring you in and they say -- >> your father has been arrested. and i couldn't be more happier. i really felt like my dreams and my prayers have been answered. >> reporter: richard, once their dad's loyal and trusted confidant, was not as thrilled. >> i was happy that the arrest was made, but then on the other hand of it, i mean i was sad in

i knew in my heart he had something to do with it -- >> he's still your dad. >> he's still my dad, and i always had some deeply wedged fantasy that maybe one day the cops would arrest someone else completely and end up actually telling us like, you know what? your dad ends up not having anything to do with it. >> you wanted to be wrong. >> i wanted to be wrong on that. i really wanted to be wrong. >> this is detective wilson. >> reporter: detective wilson brought magdi to the station and sat him down in the interview room. his tactic was an old one in small rooms like this.

>> reporter: but his accounts differ in key ways from what detective wilson already had on tape. >> reporter: that's lie number one. there are no threats on the tape. >> how did you get to be with them today?

the tape clearly shows magdi taking the number. then detective wilson asked magdi the million dollar question. why didn't you call it? you had the phone number -- >> didn't want to hurt my kids. >> are you scared of the police? is that why? >> no, it's not scared. but my wife problem is not solved yet. and they consider the husband as a suspect. >> reporter: those tears had no effect on wilson had now had magdi on tape paying hush money. >> we know you paid them. okay? >> reporter: wilson bored in. >> i'm here to find out one thing, what kind of person are you. because right now we don't know. is magdi the type of guy that's a hard, cold calculated murderer, that paid someone to kill his wife. what kind of person ar you? >> i'm just innocent person. just simple person, believe me.

sympathy. detective wilson was not sympathetic. >> i lost my wife. >> but it's your fault! you hired somebody. >> i not hired anybody. >> we recorded it. we recorded the conversations i'm not lying. i'm not lying. i need a lawyer you talk like that. no, you guys are going to trap me and stuff. no, no. >> reporter: magdi had said the magic word -- lawyer. he was done talking. there would be no confession. you didn't expect that he was going to admit it? >> no. the lies were good enough for me. >> reporter: good enough to make the case. but wilson thought he'd try one more time to crack magdi. this time by making him face his own son. ryan wasn't so sure at first. >> i called my brother as i normally do. i told him what do you think? he was like do you feel like you want to talk to him? i was like yeah, i want some questions answered.

that little room and saw his father for the first time in more than eight years. >> what's wrong with you? you forgot that? >> you don't even look the same. >> reporter: and ryan had a lot to say. >> you have hurt me and richard. you hurt your wife. why did you do it? >> i didn't hurt anybody. >> look at me right now. >> i am looking at you. i am looking at you. >> i can't believe you, man. >> my son. i don't -- >> don't call me your son. i don't want to hear that. you're a horrible person for what you did. i just want to let you know that you're a horrible person. >> i didn't do anything. >> yes, you did. >> i did not! >> was it hard to tell your dad that you thought he was involved in your mom's murder? >> yeah. it was definitely very, very hard. >> it's hard for you to talk about it now.

it is. and the person that i have nightmares over was right in front of me and i was scared. >> reporter: and soon ryan would face his father again, this time in court. the killing of ariet girgis was because she interrupted a robbery or a drug transaction between ryan and these two suspects. >> reporter: a father-son showdown. but exactly who is on trial? >> the evidence suggests that he was involved with people that

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march, 2014. magdi girgis had been sitting in jail for about a year after an undercover sting led to his arrest for the murder of his wife, ariet. it was a case prosecutor sonia balleste couldn't wait to try. nearly a decade in the making, and as it turned out, it would be her last. sonia had been promoted to management. >> my swan song, yes. >> so you wanted to go out with a win. >> prosecutors don't like to lose. >> i've noticed that. despite what you've seen, the case still wasn't a slam-dunk. there was no moof magdi knew the alleged killer, anthony bridget, no evidence he paid bridget any money. while detectives had their suspicions about the involvement

couldn't prove it. and as you'll see, even that undercover tape could be seen through a different lens. on the eve of the trial, richard day. their suits were pressed. they reviewed their prior statements. and they weighed the consequences of what this in a moment meant. >> i'm happy that we'll get closure, but then it's just sad. we lost our mom. in the same light, we lost our dad, too. >> their only surviving parent. the one they lived in fear of for years, would be the one they had to face in court. >> part of me is scared of him. but also part of me wants to stand up and let my voice be heard after all these years, so i want to be strong. >> and so the brothers walked into court together that first day of opening statement. standing strong united in their quest for justice for their mom. >> magdi girgis conspired to have his wife murdered. she was an inconvenient woman to

and people are disposable to this defendant. >> our cameras were not allowed to record witness testimony inside the courtroom where sonia balleste stacked up her evidence against magdi. she showed the jury how in the months leading up to the murder magdi slowly drained his joint accounts with ariet, leaving her with almost nothing. and sonia said the crime scene evidence showed this wasn't just some random murder. >> it was about silencing somebody who defied him. >> but then on the witness stand, richard, who had once helped his father persuade ariet to back off her story, now defied magdi just as ariet had done. richard testified about the abuse his mom had suffered at his father's hands. he testified about coming home and finding his mother battered and bruised. richard recounted the story to

but it seemed he was really speaking to his father. we caught up with richard after court. >> it was really a good experience for me to be able to finally say something face to face, to be able to look him in the eyes and be actually able to confront him for what he's done. >> but magdi faced an even tougher confrontation from the words of his now-dead wife. ariet's testimony from the preliminary hearing in the domestic violence case had been saved. and now the prosecution read it into the court record. how important was ariet's testimony from the previous case? >> it was huge. it was as if for an afternoon she just came back to life and took the stand. >> ryan would need to channel that same strength of his mother's for what came next. he took the stand with magdi just feet away. a father's eyes bored into his son.

me one on one, he would beat me down. he just wanted anything to get me to shut up. >> this time, ryan refused to keep quiet, telling the jury and his father about that terrible september night when two men broke into his home, beat him up, and repeatedly stabbed his mother in the next room. then ryan faced cross-examination, and defense attorney rudy lowenstein had already told the jury he planned to put ryan on trial. >> the killing of ariet girgis was because she interrupted a robbery or a drug transaction or a collection of a debt of some kind between ryan and these two suspects. >> the defense argument, ariet's murder was tied directly to ryan's criminal activity.

suggests that he was involved with people that were dealing hard-core drugs. >> ryan admitted that he smoked and sold weed. but lowenstein told the jury ryan was doing much more than that. he pointed to the drug paraphernalia police found in ryan's room -- tinfoil, and what lowenstein said was a pipe with white residue which he said was consistent with heroin and methamphetamine use. evidence that police failed to test. he said it showed ryan's drug dealing was bigger than he let on. then the defense directed jurors to the threats ryan had received on his computer just weeks before the murder. "you better watch your back. i know where you live." and the taunting message that came after the murder, "how did u like u gift? lololol?" >> did anybody follow up? no.

did it, magdi did it. focused on magdi. they never left magdi. >> could the threats be the reason ryan's friend offered him a knife? >> the fact that he was offered a knife for his protection by his drug-dealing friend just minutes or at the latest hours before the murder of his mother by someone using a knife suggests to me that there was some reason for him to be afraid for his own safety in his own home. >> the defense also attacked ryan's credibility. remember what ryan told us -- that one of the intruders said -- >> i know your circumstances, i know what you're going through, i'm not going to kill you. >> it turns out ryan did not tell that to the 911 operator. why? the defense argued because those words were never spoken and said ryan made them up later to deflect suspicion from himself and his drug connections.

hard to explain, the defense told the jury. ryan did not check on ariet before he fled the house. >> how does a young man whose mother has come to save him not look in and check to see whether or not he could save his mother before running out of the house? what does that say about his character? >> after two days of brutal cross-examination, ryan says he felt dejected and betrayed. >> i feel like i'm getting backstabbed by my own father, that he's claiming that his son is such a troubled youth. >> take my number. >> of course, the defense also has a huge problem. those videotapes of magdi taking the phone number from the undercover. >> hit me up tomorrow. >> calling them the next day. >> i thought you got paid everything. >> and then showing up with $1,500. >> all of it made magdi look

>> i would like him to get up on the stand and try to explain why -- what he meant when he said, "i already paid everything off." >> it turns out the defense did have an explanation and documents, too, which might prove magdi's innocence. coming up, would that undercover tape convict him or clear him? a defense surprise. >> he's playing along with them in order to be able to apprehend them. >> and the verdict, would that be a surprise, too? >> this is it. >> i didn't want to let those boys down. boys down. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours.

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in spite of the damning testimony against magdi by his own sons, defense attorney rudy lowenstein tried to show jurors magdi did everything to provide a better life for them and his wife, ariet. >> his life was dedicated to his family and to making the american dream work for him. he was an immigrant who came with nothing and made something of himself.

done some bad things, the defense said, but he did not have ariet killed. but then what to make of those undercover tapes and magdi's apparent admission? >> i thought you got paid everything. >> would magdi take the stand to explain what he meant on those tapes? no. apparently he felt he'd done enough talking. instead, the defense attorney showed the jury evidence which he said proved magdi was not guilty. magdi had written down the serial numbers of the 15 $100 bills he had given the undercover officers and he tried to write down the license plate number of their vehicle, which, said the defense, cast that undercover video in a whole new light. >> he's playing along with them in order to be able to apprehend them. >> and so when he says to them, "just tell me the name of the middleman so i know i can trust you," he's bluffing. he doesn't really know the name of the middleman, he's just trying to get information out of

>> absolutely. >> lowenstein said the only thing magdi was guilty was trying to play detective. >> remember, he's been a suspect for ten years. the police have never left their vision of him as being the suspect. and because of that, he's got to essentially solve the case on his own. >> what would the jury think? on the day of closing arguments, richard and ryan walked to court together. they had brought something for prosecutor sonia balleste, a religious tile belonging to ariet. >> sonia wanted me to bring like an item like from our mom and stuff to have right there that she could hold on to. >> they learned the evidence-driven prosecutor had a superstitious side. she wanted to have something of ariet's to touch during her last closing argument to channel ariet's spirit and courage. >> took the witness stand in a

evil. and for the first time in her life stood up to him. she knew exactly what he would do to her for it. >> he'd done some bad things in his life. but he didn't hire anybody to murder ariet girgis. he's innocent. >> there was nothing left to do now but wait. after nearly a decade, these final moments were perhaps the most excruciating. >> this has been like -- >> a lot of anxiety built up right now. just wondering when the verdict's going to come in. i mean, it's going to be like any moment. >> sonia, already at her new job, waited for the phone to ring. she had played the waiting game numerous times. it wasn't any easier this last time. >> i didn't want to let those

probably a little bit more nervous than usual. >> it was definitely agonizing. every time we heard a ring or buzzer, it really like got us like, okay, did they get a verdict. >> after two days, they finally heard it. three buzzes. [ buzzing ] >> the jury had reached a verdict. were you worried there was going to be a not guilty verdict? >> the only thing that worried me was all it takes is one person to not see thing the way everyone else sees it. going do. >> you never know what a jury's going do. >> i'm going to bring the jury in. >> when they filed back into the crowded courtroom, ryan didn't look at his dad. instead, he held on to his brother. >> i was just embracing the moment. this is it. this is all riding on this. >> we, the jury, in the above entitled action find the

of the crime of felony conspiracy to commit a murder. >> it hit us -- what we've been waiting for for nine and a half years. >> in the gallery, the brothers cried. and as the hearing continued, richard's sobs grew louder and louder until he couldn't contain himself any longer. >> why, baba? why? >> i couldn't hold myself back. i was trying not to, like, say anything. but it just was pouring out. i told him -- like why, dad, why? why, dad, why? why? i just -- i still can't fathom the reason of why he would do such a thing. why he would throw away our family, why he would throw everything away. >> what was magdi trying to tell his son? we'll never know. magdi's thoughts at his sentencing were somewhat clearer. >> i had nothing to do with the

i did do my best ability to work hard, secure future, and advise my kids not to get involved with all of this gang activity or anything. i'm not a bad father. and maybe i'm strict, but i love them. they are my kids. >> magdi girgis was sentenced to life in prison without parole. if magdi had not taken the bait, if he'd gotten the number from your two undercover officers and thrown it away and said, i don't know who you are, i don't know what you're talking about, and if you call me again, i'm going to call the police, would he be in custody today? >> probably not. >> so he ended up giving you your whole case. >> his greed gave may my whole case. >> magdi girgis had worked tirelessly to build the dream.

destroyed it. well, perhaps not all of it. these two brothers may have lost both their parents, but they still had each other. >> that's my little bro here. >> the story isn't over yet. accused hit man anthony bridget pleaded not guilty and is still awaiting trial. the second intruder has never been identified, and despite investigators' suspicions, neither has the mysterious middleman. you never found out who that was. >> not yet. >> been ten years. >> that's true. took me nine to get magdi. we have to be patient in this line of work. >> there's still a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the remaining suspects. richard and ryan hope someone will come forward. in the meantime, they are keeping their heads down and working hard, just as their father always taught them to do. but they will do some things differently.

someday? >> i do. >> what kind of dad are you going to be? >> i'm going to be the opposite of my father. i'm going to be there when my kids need me. >> and that's the beauty of the american dream. there's always a new beginning no matter where you came from. no matter where you came from. and now from the oval office, a message from the president of the unitestates. >> good evening. this past wednesday night, i laid out the basics of a health care plan that would guarantee every american a comprehensive