all of your new best friends. one of them's missing. a body was found in one of their apartments. how am i doing right now? if i had to put it into one word, numb would be the closest. >> it was a mystery where nothing was as it seemed. except for the body. >> it's so hard you know. she was 23. >> she was a dancer. he was a veteran. she'd been murdered. >> there's a body in my son's apartment. >> he'd disappeared. >> does your son know who it is? >> he's not here. >> now police had two steries to solve. >> love triangle? >> that's what we ought. >> the obvious suspect, the missing man. the obvious problem, no one could find him. >> this guy is potentially very dangerous. >> but what was real and what was pretend? >> this is as diabolical as any case i've ever seen.

>> they're trying to say i'm somebody that i'm not. >> was the killer really missing or was he hiding in plain sight? >> i said this son of a bitch is dirty. >> somebody knew the truth. >> don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. that can't be found. >> and this father refused to give up until he knew it, too. >> everything is based on me knowing the whole story. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's josh mankiewicz with "plot twist." >> reporter: places please. there's an empty theater. a script full of twists.s. a troupe of actors and someone who set the stage for an unbelievable tragedy. >> i'm buying it. i'm buying it hook, line and sipger. >> reporter: all of it so well done it was hard to tell what was real and what was an illusion. >> i just remember his

very, very real. >> reporter: this is a story of a man who seemed to be at the end of his rope. >> it looked like he was having some sort of panic attack or heart attack. >> reporter: but on this stage at the final curtain the darkness remained because this story wouldn't win any awards. this was all real life. >> julie is my first daughter. she was my valentine baby. >> reporter: for june and masa kibuishi, a japanese couple who built their american dream here in orange county, california, their third child came as a pleasant surprise. >> doctor kept telling me it was another boy. but, voila, she was born on valentine's day. >> reporter: two big brothers had preceded her. >> first place.

was julie who came an all-star softball player as a young girl. but her passion was dance. she grew into a beautiful dancer and a remarkable young lady with the kindest of hearts. >> and that can kind of sometimes frustrated me. okay, you're too nice. but you know, that's how she was. >> reporter: and that is how she met sam herr, who, like julie, was a student at orange coast college. sam struggled a bit in school. julie would help him out. >> she told me about sam. he's like a big teddy bear. he's always nice to everybody. that's why we get together at his place. you know, a lot of times. >> reporter: sam was a war veteran. he'd fought in afghanistan and made it home to california after three years overseas. sam lived across the street from the college at an apartment complex. >> it's not a dorm, but i would call it a college dorm. >> reporter: sam's good friend,

sam. >> and the poolside always had people, you know, drinking and having fun. having fun at the pool. >> reporter: but despite his surroundings, sam was focused. >> he seemed more responsible. he seemed like he had, like, more of a plan on where he was going. he wasn't just kind of cruising his gi bill and having fun and getting drunk every day or anything. >> reporter: rachel buffett and her fiance lived near sam. >> he was really nice to everybody and liked to have fun and hang out with everybody. >> reporter: and everyone liked to be around him, too. but there was something about sam that very few people knew. he suffered from night terrors. a sort of psychic souvenir of the battlefield. sam did share that with ruben, who was also a war veteran. >> he'll tell me that, you know, sometimes he feels like -- he'll be sleeping and he'll wake up in his sleep and he'll be in a foxhole. so he'll start screaming or

wake up sweating and, you know, just very stressed, i guess. yeah. >> reporter: that's tough. >> it is very tough. >> reporter: but, said ruben, sam seemed to be coping. and then came may 21, 2010. it was a friday afternoon. julie was going to hang out with her brother taka that evening. he was getting married, and julie was helping with the wedding plans. >> then after i was cooking in the kitchen and she said, okay, bye, mom, i'm leaving. and then she -she just went out the door. >>eporter: julie made it safely to her brother's home in long beach. they had dinner together. taka asked julie to be a bridesmaid at his wedding and gave her a tiara. but julie couldn't stay long because, she told her brother, her friend sam her needed her. he'd been texting her all afternoon. messages that seemed weirdly off kilter.

midnight alone?? going out for a bit. very upset. need to talk. then -- please. sex. i need to talk to someone. julie texted back. lol, ew, sam, we are like bro and sis. no sex. and then sam texted again. i'm hurting with some bad fam crap. i can't be alone. no sex. please i'm begging as a brother. julie, as always, was ready to help. yeah, that's fine, sam. i'm here for you like family. she left her brother's home that friday evening and headed for sam's apartment. did you normally wait up for her? >> i normally do, but the thing was, though, she was with her brother and then happened to be that saturday it was my youngest daughter's senior prom. and then when i woke up and then when i didn't see her, i was like okay. >> reporter: by now, it was saturday morning. june texted julie. no response.

still no answer. so june called her son taka. >> so when i called him, he -- he was like what? >> reporter: taka told his mom about sam's texts. >> i started to get this little kind of my -- you know, weird feeling that, i started to fl like, okay, this is something's wrong. >> reporter: by now it had been almost 24 hours since she'd last seen julie. june started to panic. >> i probably called like 20 times for her cell phone. it's just kind of already that it won't go like connected or anything. it's just like, you know, i can't even leave the message. so i called the irvine police. and then -- >> reporter: and what did they say? >> oh, she's 23? okay. well, she might be in -- drinking at the bar, or like you know, it's -- excuse me. >> reporter: no, said june. not her daughter.

respond to her texts or phone calls. across town, about 20 miles away from the kibuishis, sam's parents, steve and ra quell her also worried because they couldn't get hold of sam. >> i thought it was a little odd that when i called his phone, it went directly to the answering service on saturday. >> reporter: steve decided to check on his son. >> so i drove down there and knocked on his door. no answer. and i had the key to his apartment. so i walked in there and i looked in to turn on the light. the living room looked fine and i said, okay. sam? nobody there. >> reporter: and that's when he e saw it. >> i was like what? what the hell is going on here? i freaked out. >> a father searching for his son finds something he never expected. when we return -- >> there's a body in my son's apartment.

>> a body. a dead body. >> and no one can find sam. >> you think okay this guy is potentially very dangerous. he's out there on the street. oh, man. a painful, blistering rash. i keep thinking how did he get this, he's in such good shape. if you had chickenpox, the shingles virus is alrdy inside you. 1 in 3 people will get shingles in their lifetime. your immune system weakens as you get older and it loses its ability to keep the shingles virus in check. after almost 3 weeks, i just really wanted to give it a shot. the shingles rash can last up to 30 days. you know, i'm not feeling it today. don't worry about it b bdy. we'll do it another day.

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you are free to go. tide and dowow. great on their own even better together. it had been a beautiful california day in orange county. now the sun was setting and, in every sense, darkness was taking over. steve herr, who had gone to look for his son sam, didn't find him. but he did find something. >> there's a body in my son's apartment. >> there's a what? >> a body.

>> a dead body? is it someone that you know, sir? >> no, i have no idea who she is. i don't know what is going on. >> does your son know who it is? >> he's not here. jesus, honey. >> do you know where your son is? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: costa mesa police detective ed everette responded to the call. >> walk into the crime scene and we have a 20-something-year-old female on the bed, and she's in a position that appears that she was sexually assaulted. >> reporter: police quickly identified the victim, sam's tutor and friend, julie kibuishi. before long, two detectives paid a visit to julie's mom. >> this one detective told me, okay. you're mrs. kibuishi? please, you need to -- can you sit down? and then i know that he said like, okay. your dauter was found in

your daughter's body was found or something like that. and then i just -- i think i was screaming like no, no. that's not my daughter. you know. it's not my daughter. >> reporter: julie had been shot twice in the head. her pants were down to her knees and someone had written on her sweatshirt the words "all yours f-you." she was still wearing the tiara her brother had given her the night before. >> but i was still in disbelief of, you know, it was not my daughter. it just can't be my daughter. i wanted to see, and they didn't allow me to see. they said i wasn't allowed to go. >> reporter: june could barely absorb what she was hearing. julie was dead. and the only logical suspect was her college friend, sam. >> she told me that he's taking

he told me that -- he's like big brother to me and to everybody in the class because he's a little older. and he came back from the afghanistan. >> reporter: this guy that she thought of as a big brother -- >> yeah. >> reporter: -- suddenly he's the suspect. >> it was just the bizarrest. but i still couldn't connect everything together. >> reporter: what happened in sam's apartment that night was horrifif. julie had gone there to help sam and now she was dead in his bedroom. and sam was somewhere in the wind. >> all of your new best friends that you hang out with every day, one of them's msing. a body was found in one of their apartments. this is something that, like, was affecting the whole atmosphere. >> reporter: detectives soon found out sam was a war veteran, heard the stories of his night terrors. they also found julie's phone in the apartment and saw sam's text messages to her. sam seemed plenty upset that evening.

in the law enforcement databases, they ca up with a stunning result. he was arrested along with a lot of other people. a guy was killed. it was some sort of, like, gang thing. >> it was a gang case. he was involved in a gang incident in, i believe it was ventura county, and ultimately went to trial. >> reporter: it happened in 2002. sam, just 18 at the time, was accused of luring another young man to a parking lot where the man was then attacked by more than a dozen others. while some of the attackers were convicted of murder and received lifeentences, sam herr was found not guilty. >> he was innocent, and it was proven that way. you know, he's innocent. >> reporter: four years later, sam joined the army and put all that behind him, or so his father believed. >> that's why when i found julie, i knew that sam didn't do this. i knew sam would never do something like that. >> reporter: and steve tried to

you said, sam couldn't do this. and police said, a, he's missing and, b, he was a suspect in a murder case once. >> correct. >> reporter: that doesn't buy you a lot of rhythm from law enforcement. >> no, and i understood that. i'm not that naive. i absolutely understood that. start looking immediately. >> reporter: steve called sam's friend ruben to see if he had talked to sam. and ruben told him a curious story. ruben said he'd been trying to get ahold of sam, too, because sam was a no-show at a beach party. ruben called him. multiple times. no answer. until finally someone picked up. >> i said hello about. they said, hey, bro. i'm like who's this? sam never calls me bro. right off the bat i was like, who is this? the voice was not the same. the voice was not the same. >> reporter: the voice on the phone said -- >> i'm busy right now. i'm having a lot of problems

what are you talking about so. he hangs up on me. so i called again, no answer. >> reporter: ruben didn't think that was sam. but if not, who was it? and more importantly, where was sam? news of julie's murder was spreading and soon reached an old army buddy of sam's named miles foltz. >> when i found out it was julie, i defitely knew sam had nothing to do with it cause of the way sam protects his friends and his family, and julie was one of them. >> reporter: miles was stationed in afghanistan with sam. they fought together. miles knew how sam was toward anyone he considered a friend. he wouldn't hurt her? >> no. not in a million years. i thought it was something in his past that they were trying to do something to him and -- and try to get him. and the reason why his body wasn't there is because he was off running away from these people. >> reporter: miles feared sam was in danger. maybe sam's mom and dad, too.

happened to steve and raquel. so i went to their house and, you know, during the night i spent there, you know, with my gun by my side just to make sure. i slept on their couch by their door. >> reporter: detectives needed to find sam and fast says orange county homicide prosecutor matt murphy. >> you got a dead woman in his apartment. he's missing. and then you factor in afghanistan. and you start thinking, okay, he's a trained killer after he'd been accused of this before. and you think, okay, this guy is potentially very dangerous. he's out there on the street. >> reporter: then came a break. sam's atm card was being used. $400 withdrawn about 17 miles north of the crime scene. and security cameras captured the person who was waiting as the cash came out. it was the start of a whole new mystery. >> coming up -- >> we were pretty confident he was our guy.

convinced he wasn' and determined to prove it, he turns amateur detective. >> i said, okay, we've got movement here. let me see. zero added sugar, zero artificial sweetener and zero fat. and zero holding me e ck!

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julie kibuishi, her valentine girl, was pursuing fashion design while living at home. it was a mother's dream. >> i was planning a lot of stuff to do with her. so we're going to be the buddies to go shopping or, you know, that's what i told julie. and were planning to do that. that was right before it

it's so hard, you know? she was 23. >> reporter: 23 years young, and her life taken from her in the most senseless way. >> she loved to kind of design things. so she really wanted to be a stylist. >> reporter: now that would never happen. police were looking hard for sam her. detective ed everette. >> he's on the run and he's in the wind. and now it's our job to find him and see where he's at and ask him why. >> reporter: okay. not a whole lot of question of who the suspect was at this point. >> no. we were pretty confident he was our guy. >> reporter: steve herr was also eager to find sam but for an entirely different reason. to clear his son's name. so steve began his own investigation. why did you feel the need to do your own police work? >> i didn't look at it as police work. i looked it as i wanted to find some answers for looking to find sam, first of all. where could sam be?

running away? did he come up with some foul play? >> reporter: steve called sam again and again, but sam's cell phone s going straight to voicemail. >> i love you. let me knowhat's going on. what -- what's going on? >> reporter: then a big break and a puzzle. steve and sam had a joint bank account, so steve pulled the bank records and found that sam's bank card was used at an atm in long beach, then again at a nearby pizza parlor. >> so i said, okay. we've got movement here. let me see. >> reporter: so steve drove down to long beach toheck out the bank. >> so i hung around for about an hour, see maybe i'd see sam or sam's car because sam's car is also missing. nothing happened there, so i went to the pizza place and hung around there for about an hour. >> reporter: but there were no signs of sam.

ecco's pizza, and i checked all the hotels, motels around there. i didn't see sam's car. >> reporter: meanwhile, detectives did something steve couldn't do. they got the images from the atm's security camera capturing the person using sam's bank card. expecting to see a picture of sam her, detectives were in for a shock. because whoever it was taking money out of sam's account, it wasn't sam. so who was it? cops staked out the atm hoping the mystery man would return. they also went to the pizza parlor where an employee told them that he thought he knew the person who bought the pizza and the detectives got a possible address. >> we're set up at that point on the house. we have surveillance teams behind the house on each corner of the house. we're geared up. we got oururaid vests on. >> reporr: while surveillance teams hoped and waited, detectives questioned people in sam's circle. neighbors rachel buffett and her fiance dan wozniak already knew

apartment. >> we had discussed the idea that maybe being an accident. but like i said earlier, sam seemed like a pretty intelligent person. if it was an accident, he wouldn't have like taken off and like left his apartment and like tried to run. >> reporter: both rachel and dan told the detectives ththlast time they saw sam was friday, the day before the murder. he was with a friend, they said, a man wearing a black hat. but they had no idea what his name was. it seemed to be a dead end. but then back at the house the cops were staking out, a big break. a pizza delivery. how many guys you have at that point? >> probably have ten officers in the helicopter above and then we had long beach police department helping us with perimeter positions behind the home in case someone fled the house. guns out, ready to hit it like someone had committed a murder's inside. >> reporter: and tt someone is sam herr.

>> reporter: cops moved in. but sam herr wasn't there. instead, they found him. coming up -- >> i open up my door to go outside to see what's going on and that's when -- freeze. get on the ground. put your hands behind your back. >> what did this teenager have to do with a murder? much more than he knew. >> i trusted him, so i said, yeah. it's s/mething we don't think about much. except when we've got chapped lips or a small cut. but for people living in areas of crisis, simple skin conditions can turn into serious issues. so we created the vaseline healing project... a partnership with direct relief to help millions in need heal their skin. because the same thing that helps heal your dry skin

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talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work. it was early evening on wednesday, may 26, 2010. the streets in this nice neighborhood in long beach, california, were quiet. 17-year old wesley freilich was nging out with his friends. they had just finished eating a pizza ordered from the local pizza parlor when -- >> i hear this helicopter

mind you, i'm like not really a nosy kid, but i like, well, what's up? what's going on with my neighborhood? so peek outside. i don't see anything. >> reporter: so wesley walked outside. >> and i legitimately see a dude in the helicopter pointing at me or pointing towards me. what the hell's going on? all righgh go inside. yo. hey, guys, there's this helicopter outside. i think he's pointing towards me% or something. something's going on. >> reporter: his friends made what seemed like a sensible suggestion. >> well, don't go outside then, stupid. like, don't go out -- like, there might be something going on. don't go outside. so i was like, all right. we're all inside. helicopter's still circling. and i look out the window, two squad cars pull up. >> reporter: the scene was unreal, like something from a movie. wesley did not yet realize he'd been cast as the villain. >> guys, something's going on. there'-- something's happening outside.

i op up my door to go outside and see what's going on. and that's when, freeze. get on the ground. put your hands behind your back. >> reporter: cops arrested him. but according to wesley, he had absolutely no clue why. then police showed wesley a photo. >> and immediately when i saw myself at that atm i literally knew what --hat had happened. >> reporter: detectives wanted answers. what was wesley doing with that atm card? >> initially he kind of portrayed to us, don't know what u're talking about. i didn't do anything wrong. once the gravity of the situation was explained to him, he had a change of demeanor. >> reporter: the cops told wesley his pizza delivery had landed him in the middle of a murder investigation and manhunt. they believed wesley was hiding sam herr, possibly inside the

>> once we told him it was involving a homicide, he immediately started crying. >> sitting in front of officers of the law handcuffed, i'm obviously, literally -- i'm sorry, i can't say this g-rated, but my balls are inside of me. i [ bleep ] myself and i was nervous as all hell. >> reporter: it was what the cops were counting on. wesley started talking. but what he said was not what police expected. >> i didn't know a sam. >> reporter: wesley not only didn't know where sam herr was, he didn't even know who he was. but wesley did have sam's bank card. >> all i said was, yeah, i think the name on the card was samuel. but i can't remember. >> reporter: as to why he had that was a very strange story. wesley claimed. he got the card from someone who told him -- >> that he worked for a bail bondsman agency and that he

an atm for legal reasons. that the gentleman skipped bail out of town and that they were required to withdraw the money. and so he was looking for a third party to withdraw the money. >> reporter: sound phony? like a con game? apparently, not to wesley. he said he knew the man who asked him to withdraw money, that he was a friend. >> he showed me paperwork. it looks legit. looks like federal police paperwork. so i assumed that he, you know, he was good. he wasn't lying to me. and d trusted him, so i said, yeah. you know? sure. >> reporter: so, wesley said, he took the atm card and agreed to withdraw the maximum allowed amount each day just as his friend had asked him to. his friend also said it was fine to order a couple of pizzas. >> your alarm's going off in your head. but you're hearing his voice on the phone telling you, it's okay. it's legal. a teenager, i -- i really,

>> reporter: who was this friend? wesley said it was someone he respected. an actor who'd taut him theater. >> it was a good bonon you know, an older dude that i looked up to. an older cat. and was, like, defininely someone i talked to about certain things in my life. >> reporter: the actor's name? dan wozniak. sam herr's neighbor. what could he possibly have to do with any of this? > coming up -- busy acting and just days away from getng married -- >> definitely excited, but a lot of stress. >> dan was now also a potential witness in a murder @ investigation. >> said i'm going to call him

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detectives on the hunt for their r ime suspect, sam herr, traced his atm card to a teenager named wesley. wesley said he got the card from someone he respected, actor and director, dan wozniak. now police wanted to know who was dan wozniak, really? >> i turned to dan on certain occasions for some advice. >> reporter: wesley described him as a mentor. so did tessia guajardo. >> i looked up to hihias, you know, my director and as a fellow actor. >> reporter: dan directed tessia in her high school play.

him. >> i've worked with many directors, and he was by far my favorite to work with. he was professional and knew what he was doing. >> why do you talk about this every time you call? >> reporter: but it seemed that acting was what dan wozniak was built for. >> he was incrediblele and you know, with all the one on one teaching he, you know, gave us as actors, it was right on. >> i thought we put an end to treachery and chaos when we tore down his reign. >> reporter: dan was prominent and very active in the local community theater world said his fiancee rachel buffett. >> it's hard to fill the male roles in non-paid community theater. so he would get a lot of roles, do a lot of theater. much mororthan i ever did. >> why? have i done something? >> reporter: that's how he and rachel met. they were cast in a play together. good guy?

>> i think the best way to describe him is jovial. and although he didn't have awesome pitch or anything, he had a booming voice. so that right there is enough to get you cast in a lot of things when you're a guy. >> it's about style, not about sex. >> reporter: rachel, an actress herself, would also get the big roles. >> look, something important has come u >> reporter: and side by side they'd take on the stage. tessia says they worked well together. >> dan is a very big personality. and she was more, you know, let's -- each other in that way. >> reporter: dan and rachel moved in together. were you in love? >> i would say shortly after we moved in together, that's when i realized, oh, yeah, i am in love with this person. >> reporter: and it wasn't long

>> the night of julie's murder, dan and rachel were performing together in another musical called "nine." you can see their chemistry in this video shot by the husband of one of the othehecast members. >> you came here because i know you better than any other person does. >> reporter: tessia, who went to see the play on closing night, said that dan carried the show. >> he was on an after-show high. we all were. wre were excited for him, he did an amazing job. he came out and greeted us and we were just laughing and hugging him. >> reporter: and with theiei wedding in less than a week. >> definitely excited, but a lot of stress because i was doing everything myself. >> reporter: he was that typical guy that wasn't interested in like the details of planning a wedding? >> there was a couple things, you know, like, oh -- i don't know.

know, like random stuff like that or -- >> reporter: but just two days before dan and rachel's big day, young wesley, now in handcuffs and facing serious fely charges, was pointing the finger at his one-time mentor. remember, dan and rachel had already told police that the last time they saw sam was on friday, the day before julie was murdered, and they hadn't seen him since. so how and why would dan have sam's atm card? someone had to be lying. and if that were dan, why? sam's dad steve got phone numbers from his son's friends of just about everyone they knew. and on that list was dan wozniak's number. >> so i said i'm going to call him in the morning, see, just double-check. >> reporter: and when steve got him on the phone, dan told him sam was nervous when they saw each other on friday. >> i said, what was he nervous

he said, i don't know. he was talking about family problems and stuff like that. boom. as soon as he said he was talking about family problems, i said, excuse my language, i said this son of a bitch is dirty. i'll never forget that. this guy knows something. i don't know what he knows, but he's lying about sam. >> reportete authorities were developing their own theory about dan. prosecutor mt murphy. >> wozniak is the guy that's protecting sam. wozniak is the friend that's helping him get money out. >> reporter: so police figured the best way to find sam was to talk with dan wozniak. coming up -- >> i have nothing to do with this because my life was in danger. m sorry.

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it was a wednesday evening in may 2010. dan wozniak was celebrating his upcoming marriage at his bachelor party. often described as a man's last night of freedom. suddenly, that became truer than ever before when police crashed the party. >> dan wozniak was with a group of friends. >> reporter: detectives were following the murky trail of sam herr, a suspect in the murder of julie kibujshi. she was a beautiful and talented 23-year-old with dreams of becoming a fashion stylist. did you think you were going to find sam herr in that restaurant? >> i was hoping we would. i was hoping he'd be with daniel. >> reporter: celebrating dan's upcoming wedding? >> yes. >> reporter: not that lucky? >> no. >> reporter: but they hauled dan in anyway. >> immediately when he saw me he turned pale. we could see the blood just

>> reporter: the plan was to make dan talk and fast. so they hit him with a heavy charge -- accessory to julie's murder after the fact. and dan, now back at the station, rolled over like a trained seal. ed everette monitored dan's interview with detectives mike delgadilland mike cohen as dan readily admitted to a crime. >> he's alleging that he and sam came up with this conspiracy to commit fraud and use this wesley kid to implement it. >> reporter: dan said sam gave him his atm card and p.i.n. the plan was to have wesley withdraw money and then sam would report the card stolen so the bank would have to reimburse him. but dan said before they had the chance to make any real money, something went wrong. >> i got a knock on my door. i want to say it was about 8:00, 8:30 in the morning. >> okay. >> opened the door. it was sam.

>> i'm like, hey, man, what's going on? is everything good? he's like, not good. we're in trouble. what do you mean we're in trouble? what happened? i can't talk. we need to get the [ bleep ] out of here. >> reporter: they rushed out of the apartment dan said. and as they drove sam dropped a bombshell. >> he's like there's a dead body in my apartment. >> reporter: dan said sam told him everything. >> he said basically as soon as you left me i started doing drugs and drinking heavily because i was very depressed about my family. >> reporter: according to dan, sam started looking at photos of his friend julie and became upset. then when julie came over -- >> i said, what did you do? 's like, i got a gun. he asked for sex. he was pretty [ bleep ] up. she said no, then he just shot her twice in the head. >> reporter: dan said that at first he couldn't believe it. >> i'm really like you're totally [ bleep ] me right now. julie is like a friend. why the [ bleep ] would you do this? he said because i'm not in my

>> reporter: and then dan said sam threatened him. >> he's like, you rat me out, i'm going to [ bleep ] kill you. i'm going to start with your wife. >> reporter: dan said an angry and frightening sam needed help withdrawing all the money in his bank account to finance his escape. in return, sam said he would slide dan a few thousand dollars to help with his wedding. and dan felt he had no choice. >> and then i said, after 30 days i'll have all your full money or whatever and then you're going get the [ bleep ] out of my life. >> reporter: then dan told detectives he dropped sam at a shopping center parkinlot in long beach. and dan said that was the last time he saw sam. he later ditched sam's car. and dan said he was sorry he had lied to police at first when he told them he last saw sam in the company of a man wearing a black cap. >> he doesn't exist.

that's 100% lie. i got scared. i'm sorry. >> reporter: dan said he was frightened of sam and, he admitted he did need money for his wedding. >> i got greedy and i didn't want any harm to come or me or wife. >> okay. >> reporter: it seemed he had told them everything so far. but police pressed dan on the most important detail of all. >> where do you think sam's at now? like i said, the last place that i saw him, honestly now, was when i dropped him off at the los altos shopping center bellflower and spring, in long beach. >> reporter: dan was cooperative, but he said he didn't know where sam was. he can't tell you the location or he won't tell you the location? >> didn't know at that point. thought he wasn't going to tell us. didn't want to. >> reporter: s sthey applied a little more pressure. >> what we're going to do is, this is a swab. we need to get a swab from you just to eliminate you. should only take a second here. >> oh, eliminate me? >> yeah, eliminate you from any, uh, any issues. >> okay.

a sample from your saliva. just to eliminate you, okay. >> okay. >> i mean if it's in your best interests. >> yes, most definitely sir. >> so basically just open your mouth for me. >> that's it. >> that's it. >> oh, okay. >> very painless. very painless. >> reporter: when the detective explained what he planned to do with the dna sample, dan paid very close attention. >> you're being up front with us, you're being honest, youou have nothing to do with anything. there should be no reason why we should f@nd your dna anywhere in certain areas and stuff like that. that's why we're doing it. >> now i was in sam's apartment friday afternoon. >> okay. >> and i know i did use the bathroom. >> you did use the bathroom. >> i used the bathroom. and i went -- i'm not sure if i went out on the patio or not. most of the time i do. but that day don't know if i did or not. >> okay. okay.

they might find his dna in sam's apartment. detectives wanted to know why. and the tone of the interview changed. >> i think you know a little more about this thing than you're divulging to us. >> no, i donon. >> i think there's a little a whole lot more. >> there may be but please question me and any gaps that i, i want to fill. absolutely. >> as far as your participation in this thing. >> as far as my participation? >> yeah. >> okay. >> talk to me. >> i am, officer. >> and? >> yes, i helped him get away. yes, i knew that he had killed someone, and, yes, i knew that -- >> stop. stop right there. stop right there. >> reporter: they circled back to the dna. >> we got your dna. >> yes. >> okay? where's that dna going to be showing up? >> in sam's car.

>> no, it wouldn't be on julie. >> you sure about that? >> yes, i'm positive about that. >> did you see julie dead in the apartment? >> no, i did not. no, i did not. no. >> you better think about that. i'm going to give you time to think about it. >> i did not see julie dead in the apartment. i didn't. >> were you there when she was shot? >> no, i was not. >> are you sure about that? >> you're really scari me right now. >> i'm not trying to scare you. >> reporter: but dan did seem scared and angry. he insisted he only helped sam after the murder and then only under duress. >> no. i had nothing to do with this because my life was in danger with my wife. i'm sorry. >> how was your life in danger? >> he threatened it. >> we're going to give you time to think. all right? listen to me. >> yes, sir. >> all right. stand up. we're going to go back in there. >> reporter: detectives were frustrated but --

sam and thought he was going to lead us to sam. coming up -- the interrogation, act two. an actor confessing what he says was his role that night at sam's apartment. >> dan says he could see two unshot wounds? >> that's when the light bulb went off. we grow as you grow. always evolving to work for you how and where you need it. this is your network. the network of at&t. discover card hey! so i'm looking at my bill and my fico credit score's on here. yeah! we give you your fico credit score. for free! awesomesauce! the only person i know that says that is... lisa? julie? we've already given more than 175 million free fico credit scores to our cardmembers.

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a young woman has been found murdered in the apartment of a fellow student now missing. detectives believe that student's friend, an actor, may know something about both mysteries.

>> reporter: this was a long day's urney into night and back into day. detectives had been awake for more than 50 hours, and they were exhausted, but they couldn't give up on dan wozniak. it sounds like you thought dan was tellg you the truth about everything except about where sam was. >> we were taking him at his word because he was involving himself and incriminating himself as an accessory in this homicide. >> reporter: and they now also strongly believed that not only was dan covering for sam, but dan was also perhaps involved somehow in julie's murder. so they tried again. >> why don't you have a seat? >> reporter: they brought dan back to the interview room for one more crack at him. >> we want to talk about what happened to sam. >> reporter: but dan didn't waver. >> i don't know what happened to sam. i dropped him off, i'm waiting for his phone call. that is it. >> reporter: and then a reality check. >> you're arrested. for murder, okay?

that's what you're being arrested for. you don't want tq talk to us -- tell us any more, that's -- that's it. then we're done. we're done. >> okay, hold on. whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. okay. >> we're done. unless you want to talk to us, we're done. >> i'll talk. i'll talk. whatever you -- >> no, not whatever. we want to hear -- >> yes. i will talk. yes. i will talk. i'm awake. i'm listening. i'm active. i'm -- yes. >> reporter: dan tried negotiating. >> i will talk to you about anything, if it gets me to my wedding on friday. that's what i will promise. anything you want. >> what do you want to tell us? we're not -- we're not -- we're not throwing -- what do you want to tell me? >> i'll tell you anything you want to know. what do you -- >> the truth. >> oh, my god. . >> go ahead. we're listing. >> i don't know what else to say. i don't. >> yes, i -- yes, i helped sam get away.

planning till then. yes, i lied to you guys earlier. yes, i did stuff that i'm not proud of. that's it. i'm a better guy than this. i'm sorry that i took money. i'm sorry that i cheated the system, i'm sorry. >> reporter: but ed everette and the other detectives still thought dan knew more than he was saying. >> dan, you got the answers. you can help us. >> i don't know what else you want me to say! i don't know! i don't know! >> tell us the truth. you're not that good of an actor. you can prompt and do your stuff. this is your chance to clear the air. >> reporter: they kept pressing. >> where is sam? >> not without a bargain that i am out friday. >> we're not in a position to bargain. >> then -- okay then. >> reporter: deadlock. until -- >> okay, fine. you know what? he didn't come down. he came down and said help me. and i went upstairs, and, yes, i saw the [ bleep ] body. is that what you want to hear? >> no. we want to hear the truth. >> that is the truth.

then tell us what happened? how did that play out? what did you do when you got up there? >> reporter: detectives reached into their tool kit. they'd just taken a dna swab from dan. they dn't have results but decided to bluff. how did your dna get on her? >> because i was right over the body. >> what's that? >> because i was right over the body. >> okay. how how did your dna get on her? >> that i don't know. >> dna doesn't just fall off. >> i don't know. >> okay. >> i didn't touch her. i didn't do anything. >> reporter: and then, something out of the blue. >> what did you see? >> saw two gun shots in her head. and i saw her pants like ripped and cut. i saw like [ bleep ] you written on the back of the shirt. >> reporter: was the seasoned actor suddenly forgetting his lines? >> where were the two bullet wounds? >> i don't know. sam said he shot her twice. >> okay.

>> but you just -- >> i didn't see -- >> you just told us you saw two bullet wounds. you were -- >> no. >> -- standing over her. >> no, no, no, no. okay. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. >> okay, okay. >> how did your dna get on her? >> i was standing over the body. i saw two bullet wounds to her head. >> it's exactly what you said, dan. >> you can't even keep your lies straight. >> listen, he said he shot her twice. en i walked in -- >> i saw two bullet holes to the head. that was, that was your, that your -- >> that's not what i meant. that's not what i meant. i apologize. >> reporter: dan was getting tangled up in his story. first he said he'd only helped sam after the fact. then he admitted he'd seen julie's body. he also contradicted himself, first saying sam told him about the bullet wound then saying he, dan, had seen them. with every slip, dan seemed to put himself closer to the actual murder. dan says he could see two

>> reporter: meaning he was there when she got killed. >> yeah. that's when the light bulb went off. >> reporter: but dan still insisted he had nothing to do with julie's murder. but now he admitted he did help sam clean up the scene. >> went into his apartment. and that's when he -- that's when i saw julie. and i freaked out. looked over and then i said, okay, what do i need to do? so we found the two shell casings. sam picked them up. i'm m ke take the shell casings so they don't find those. >> reporte detectives wanted details. >> so why was, why does he write the message? >> i don't know. i don't know. he said he was just seriously messed up and had about three or four pills. >> how about her pants? >> her pants were -- it looked to be like cut. and so he said he used the scissors to cut them as best he remembered. he was bcking out a lot. he didn't remember everything that he had been doing. >> reporter: this statement seemed to match the facts.

not been sexually assaulted. the scene had been staged to make it look that way. detectives felt dan was finally starting to cooperate. >> you're a good guy. you're a good guy. you just got yourself in a bad spot, man. >> you want to do the right thing. i know you do. >> i do. >> all you got to do is point us over to sam, and let's close this chapter. it is done. okay? >> where is my phone? >> what's that going to do? >> wait for it to ring >> reporter: if he was waiting for a call from sam her, it never came. >> reporter: but dan, from the police station, did call his bride-to-be rachel.

another turn. >> no, don't. don't, don't, don't, don't. that can't be found. coming up -- as news of dan's arrest starts to spread, some seem more rattled than others. >> he freaks out, and has this look of fear in his eye. (cell phone rings) where are you?

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dan wozniak, two talented actors who had co-starred in plays, then fallen in love,

supposed to walk down the aisle. was going on. >> and my mom's just -- she's lost it. she can't speak. she's bawling. >> reporter: it was a mess, and not only because of the canceled wedding. rachel's older brother noah was also under suspicion. you thinnoah knows where sam is? >> yes. >> reporter: noah was driving dan around in noah's smart car hours before dan's arrest, and so detectives brought in noah for questioning. that's got to be a brutal conversation to have with your parents. >> and my mom's already breaking down and hyperventilating just by me saying we need to cancel the wedding and dan and noah are in jail. >> reporter: what finally happened with your brother? >> noah says that they questioned him for a while. and then the main detective said, all right. get this guy out of here. he doesn't know anything. >> reporter: turns out, he really didn't.

charged. meanwhile, rachel notified dan's parents and describes a reaction she did not expect. >> it was just his dad that was home. his mom was at work. so i explained what's going on to him, and he just has the opposite reaction. he's just complelely so mellow and like he didn't even hear me. i remember one of the phrases he used was something like, well, he was a really good s. you know. he was a good kid. just like did you just hear what i said? >> reporter: as she and a friend were leaving, rachel says she had another strange encocoter. >> dan's brother and his girlfriend pull up and kind of wave us down. and so i get out and i walk up to the car window and tell them, you know, dan's been arrested,

and he freaks out and has this like look of fear in his eye. >> reporter: a short time later her phone rang. it was dan calling from his jail cell. the call recorded by police. >> what did you do? >> i helped sam cover some stuff up and helped him get some drugs. that's it. i didn't murder anybody. >> babe, why on earth would you try and cover for him? >> because we needed the money. >> no. we never need money. we need to be good people and just have each other. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: rachel revealed she had new information for detectives. >> my mom's working on canceling all the wedding plans now. and i just talked to tim, and i need to make a phone call to the detectives now. >> why? >> because tim's involved. >> because of what?

detective first because i need to call him and let him know recording device because it looks like i'm not trying to tell them right away. tim says he hahaevidence with him or he knew where it was or something. >> reporter: with that information, dan wozniak's mood suddenly changed. >> then i'm doomed. >> what? >> tim said that? >> yeah. do you know that tim has some evidence? >> yeah. oh, god, oh, god, oh, god. >> reporter: it's the voice of a man in a trap. >> this is ridiculous. and i have to go del the detectives the truth. >> no. baby, baby, tim did speak up? >> only to me so far, and it was in passing. i said i'm going to the police station right now, danny's been n arrested.

said something and something slipped that he had evidence. >> no, d't, don't, don't, don't, don't. that can't be found. >> reporter: dan sounded desperate. >> no, babe. i'm going to do it. >> listen to me, no, no. >> what? >> trust me, please. >> reporter: dan begged rachel to come back to the police station. he said he was about to do something that was going to change everything, and he wanted rachel to be there for it. >> i have to tell the truth on what i did. and i think you know what it is. and it's bad. imagine the worst, and that's what i did. coming up -- dan alone in the spotlight. >> i had a couple of reactions.

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the plot line was as complex as anything on stage or screen. a young woman brutally murdered. her apparent killer vanished in thin air. and at the center of it all, the actor, the director, dan wozniak, in custody in orange county, california. the process of going back and forth with dan is pretty long and laborious. >> yeah. it was frustrating. >> reporter: particularly frustrating because everette and the other detectives were beginning to believe that everything dan wozniak had been telling them was all just a grand, elaborate performance. but they still didn't know what the real story was. then the actor himself suddenly seemed to drop character. dan wanted to speak with the detectives again.

time? >> i think he's going to give us more bs and he's going to add or change his story and -- >> reporter: but he's not going to give you the truth? >> no. no. >> reporr: what's wozniak's demeanor at this point? >> he's just kind of beyond himself as we bring him into the interview room. and at some point he sits down and starts pulling at his hair. >> you said you wanted to talk to me. what's going on? >> i'm crazy, and i did it. >> you did what? >> i killed julie, and i killed sam. >> okay. all right. >> i killed them both. >> reporter: you didn't see that coming. >> no. >> reporter: dan wozniak dropped a bombshell on detectives. sam herr was not a murderer on the run. he was already dead. and he, daniel wozniak, was the killer of both sam and julie. so when he blurts that out, what's your reaction?

did i just hear what i think i heard? >> reporter: even for seasoned detectives, the story dan wozniak told was almost beyond imagining. dan said he went after sam first. they drove together to a theater, a place where dan had once taken the stage. dan had told sam he needed help moving some heavy items s wn from the attic. >> i said, you need to bend down and help me lift this thing up. and when he bent down, i grabbed the gun. i shot him once and then he was still alive. he was still talking saying i need help. >> what did he say to you? >> i need help. something hit me. it felt like an electric shock. >> reporter: and then, wozniak said, he fired again. >> he started bleeding. he wasn't moving. he wasn't talking. >> reporter: dan said he took sam's cell phone and then drove to the theater to face an audience.

member's husband that very night, you can see dan and his fiancee rachel performing in the musical "nine." this was a different theater from where sam herr's body now lay. and dan, who had just committed murder hours earlier, showed no signs of stress as he played the starring role apparently effortlessly. >> this role was made for you. >> i don't want to play it anymore. >> reporter: dan told police that during the show, backstage, he texted julie from sam's phone pretending to be sam. those were the odd texts that interrupted julie's dinner at her brother's house. >> i was saying, you need to come over tonight. >> uh-huh. >> no sex, just i need you to come over tonight. >> reporter: after his twin the other as sam herr, dan drove back to the apartment complex and waited. julie arrived, wearing the tiara

evening. >> i said like, sam just called me, and he was going through some stuff. she said, yeah, me, too. i have a keep. let's go in. i opened the door, i let us in, and then i went to the bathroom real quick because i was really nervous. loaded the gun again. >> and? >> went back out into the hallway and then said, oh, by the way, did you see this in sam's bed? she was like what? i was like, he was really freaking out over it. lean over, look at it right there. when she was leaned over, i put two bullets in the back of her head. >> reporter: dan admitted scrawling those nasty words on her back, and to splitting her pants with a pair of scissors. the next morning, he said, he returned to the theater with an ax and a saw. dan used those, he said, for the gruesome task of dismembering

identify him. dan said he scattered some of sam's remains at a local park. but sam's torso, he told them, was still in the attic of the theater. >> okay. what was going on in your mind when you were dismembering the body? dismembering sam's body? >> i was actually smiling and laughing. >> okay. why do you think you were doing that? >> i don't know. i reached a point to where i couldn't even believe that i was doing this. i don't know. i don't know. tell me what is it about me that the church does not like? >> reporter: and that next evening, dan took the stage once again in the musical "nine," yet another pitch-perfect performance captured on

you've sat across from a lot more murderers than i have, but that seems astonishingly sort of cold blooded and remorseless. >> it was shocking, and these were two of his so-called friends. it's horrific. it's sad. it's horrific. >> reporter: the investigators, of course, wanted to know. what was all this about? what drove dan to do it? >> your motive behind killing sam was? >> money and insanity. >> money and insanity. [ laughter ] i don't know. i don't know why i did it. >> reporter: the centuries-old motive -- money. more than $60,000, in fact. sam herr's combat pay. >> when he was deployed, basically all the money that he was earning in the military just went into a savings account. he didn't spend it when he was deployed. >> reporter: and dan wozniak wanted that money? >> yes.

dan said he killed her to cover his tracks and to frame sam. >> to make it look like he was on the run and he did it. >> he was the one that did it. >> right, and that if he was disappeared completely, you'd never find him. and it would all go away. >> reporter: but none of this was going away. especially for those left behind in the wake of two murders. steve herr, sam's dad, remembers when police showed up at his door. >> they came in, and they said, sam's been found. he was murdered. and for whatever reason, i said -- i don't know what made me say this. at least he wasn't dismembered. okay? the next morning, i get a call from the costa mesa police. he says, steve, before you find out, we just want to let you know sam was dismembered. that's when i just lost it. >> reporter: the very next day, sam herr would have turned 27 years old.

>> you know, the night that it was his birthday, his father's praying to find his head. sorry. so it's very upsetting, you know. >> reporter: when police told you that they thought that julie had been killed essentially to cover up a different murder, sam's murder, what did you think? >> it's probably the pain is more painful than you're ripping your own body parts, you know, apart to hear that your daughter's being killed. it's like that, and you just -- i don't know how to describe it. >> reporter: dan wozniak was charged with two counts of first degree murder. dan's older brother tim, along with tim's girlfriend, was also

accessory to murder. detectives believed they had helped hide some evidence, including the murder weapon. wesley, the teenager who had used sam herr's bank card, was not charged with any crime. and despite his confession to police, dan pleaded not guilty. he was jailed without bond, and if convicted, could face the death penalty. a year after his arrest, dan sat down for an interview with msnbc's "lockup." by then, it seemed, his story had changed again. he now claimed he did not kill sam and julie. >> they were saying that i shot both of them and decapitated one of them. it's not true. >> reporter: and then dan spoke about his ex-fiance, rachel buffett. he said the hardest part of

>> if i was given the opportunity to talk to my fiancee right now, i i either say can i be with you out there or can you be with me in here? >> reporter: here in jail with him? an unusual comnt. was there any possibility rachel had something to do with these crimes? you think dan's protecting rachel, or is rachel protecting dan? >> dan would be protecting rachel. rachel's protecting rachel. >> reporter: you think she knows more than she's saying? >> oh, definitely. >> reporter: just what did rachel know? i asked her. >> this is my name. this is my life. this is my entire future. d i have nothing to hide, and i'm innocent. coming up -- rachel the actress or rachel the accomplice. >> police and prosecutors don't believe you were honest with them.

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in november 2012, two years after the murders of sam and julie, while rachel buffett's former fiance, dan wozniak, was awaiting trial on murder charges, rachel was arrested and charged as an accessory. she posted bail and was released. >> yeah, i'm still in shock, disbelief. >> reporter: shortly after, chel publicly announced her innocence. >> are you saying you're innocent? what are you saying? >> i'm completely innocent. >> reporter: and she agreed to sit down with us because she wanted to tell her story. >> i'm innocent. and it's -- that's what hurts me most, i think, in this whole situation is they're trying to say i'm somebody that i'm not. >> reporter: so who is rachel buffett? she says just a wannabe actress with some very realistic dreams. >> there's a gazillion movies made about the blonde that comes from oklahoma to be a famous movie star.

know? but it was still something i liked to do, so i continued doing it. >> reporter: and in the course of doing what she loved, she met dan. >> no, no! >> he actually fell for me first. and at the time he was -- he had already kind of become my best friend, and i was hanging out with him so often. >> reporter: he eventually professed his love and asked her to give him a chance. to win your heart? >> something like that, yeah. >> reporter: and he did win her over. he proposed, and she said yes. >> i wasn't head over heels in love, but i was okay with it. >> reporter: rachel said money was tight for the young couple. >> you know, neither of us had career jobs or anything. so yeah, money was always up and do and hard to get. >> reporter: but rachel says she and dan continued to plan for that may wedding, and that her parents said they'd foot the bill. >> my parents are traditional, and they were going to pay for

>> reporter: of course, that wedding never happened. one week before their scheduled nuptials, on friday, may 21st, 2010, the dadan wozniak told police he murdered sam herr, rachel says her fiance was acting strangely. >> he said he had borrowed money to pay the rent, and he had borrowed it from loan sharks and just saying, yeah, i lied to you. and i'm in trouble now. and i owe bad people money. and, you know, i'm going to get hurt. >> reporter: rachel says she saw sam herr that day leaving the apartment with dan. but remember, she and dan both told police sam had last bee seen with a third man. a guy in a black hat. rachel now says she never claimed to have seen that person

when dan and sam left, there was no third person with them? >> i was under the impression that there was a third person. i heard about that person. >> reporter: from dan? >> i believe so. that's how i remember it now. >> reporter: but at the time, police say, rachel did say she saw the nonexistent third man. it's a major reason she was charged as an accessory. you know, of course, that the issue of the third person is a crux of this case? >> i know now, yeah. i don't remember saying i saw him. i can believe that i told the police there was somebody, and i probably would have said it with confidence because i trusted dan dan. >> reporter: when dan returned to the house without sam, rachel says dan was almost frantic. >> it looked like he was having some sort of panic attack or heart attack. he was like, pacing around the room, holding his heart, leaning up against the wall. >> reporter: rachel says dan told her he needed to go to his parents' house to get his

he returned in time for them to head to the theater for that night's show. and by all accounts, both dan and rachel's performances in "nine" that evening were on their marks. maybe even too good. during this emotional scene on stage, captured on this video, rachel broke down in tears. some of her fellow cast members later told pole that crying on cue was unusual for this amateur actress. and some of them speculated she was crying because she already knew sam herr was dead. >> people who think i'm guilty and are looking for some sort of justification i think are clinging to that. but i just think that's utterly ridiculous. >> reporter: so the tears you shed on stage, that was acting? that wasn't guilt?

know, you sit there and like you think of anything that's made you upset throughout the day or week when you're trying to cry for a scene. and that's what i was doing. and it was because i had had a stressful day, i guess. >> reporter: but that crying episode wasn't the only thing investigators found odd. after the two performed in "nine" that night, dan was back at home texting from sam's cell phone ultimately luring julie kibuishi to sam's apartment. sam had a flip phone which had a very different look from dan's smartphone. you never noticeded that the phone he was texting on was not his regular phone? >> no, i didn't. >> reporter: and then, there was the couple's shared computer in the apartment. the computer on which police later found d arches for how to hide a body and quick waysyso kill people. you ever see any indication that he had s srched for anything relating to murder or violence

>> no, i did not. >> reporr: and using that same computer, rachel posted a comment to julie on facebook the night she was killed. you returned a message to julie almost right at the time that she had to be meeting dan at sam's apartment? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: that caused police to question another part of rachel's story. that she didn't see dan leave the apartment that night she told them she'd fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie. rachel says when she was called to the police station interview room a few days later. she was shocked when dan, whose story was still evolving, told her his elaborate tale of helping sam cover up a murder. >> there's nothing he can do at this point to -- >> sure, sure, absolutely. >> -- to make it better? >> absolutely. he can tell beruthful with us. >> you know, i was just like

i'm kind of on overload. and in shock and also growing angry. >> reporter: but if you wah the tape, rachel seems rather calm. >> why d you lie to me? what does noah have to do with any of this? >> nothing. he drove me to pick up the money. >> from sam? >> from wesley. >> who's wesley? >> wesley's a kid i did theater with. >> reporter: detectives felt they were watching two performers acting out a script. so that conversation between the two of them felt rehearsed? >> yeah. and i was expecting an oh my god, what did you do? how could you help him? it wasn't that. it was just very odd. >> reporter: so if police or prosecutors tell us that was all set up between the two of them, they were a couple of actors and

that's bull? >> that's bull, yeah. >> reporter: you had no idea what he was going to say. >> that's correct. >> reporter: rachel said she didn't know that dan had murdered sam and julie until he called her from his jail cell to confess. and thth's first time you knew about it? >> that's correct. >> reporter: investigators found more reasons to suspect rachel. for example, the way she echoed dan's claim that sam was having family problems. sam's parents and frnds all say that was a lie. you're repeating that story is being taken by police and prosecutors as an example of you continuing to advance a narrative that your boyfriend set up to make the murder happen. >> well, two things. i told them that, yeah, dan said it, but also i think sam confirmed it. like sam also told me that or confirmed it in some way. i don't understand why people think it's odd that i would use

that dan had used. because obviously i'd heard it, you know. >> reporter: detectives also wondered, why, when they spoke to rachel after julie's murder, did she ask police whether they had looked into whether sam had killed julie? when you met with detectives you asked them, did yolook at sam? are you examining sam as a suspect, which was at the time exactly the theory that dan wanted the police to pursue. so in that meeting with detectives were you essentially doing dan's work for him? >> no, i was not. that was -- the way he set it up made that the obvious conclusion that everybody should look for sam. the police were doing that, too. and me, as an outsider, would assume that that was aogical thing to do. >> reporter: did you at any time

specific action to shield dan from scrutiny or suspicion? >> not in any way. >> reportete police and prosecutors don't believe you were honest with them. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: were you honest with them? >> i was. i know my heart, and god knows my heart. and that's my comfort is god's in control, and god knows i'm innocent. i never tried to help dan wozniak. i told the truth to the best of my capability to try to help the police get to the bottom of things. my heart was always in the right place. >> reporter: but ed everette believes rachel as innocent bystander is just another actor playing a another role. rachel buffett says she had no idea that dan wozniak was a murderer, that he was going to kill sam, that he did kill sam, that he was going to kill julie, at he did kill julie. she said she didn't have any advanced knowledge of any of that. do you believe her?

>> reporter: she wasn't charged with murder. >> we don't have the evidence to prove it. she's a better actor than daniel. >> reporter: but before rachel would have her day in court to proclaim her innocence, it would be dan wozniak's turn. coming up -- rachel gets a starring role in dan's defense. what did she know? >> she's learning about all this incredible stuff, and she has no reaction. you can see it on the interview tape. she has no reaction. >> and two families in mourning finally get an answer. >> everything is based on me knowing the whole story.the part i really don't like right here. (doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet. it almost feels like it's moving itself. this is kind of fun. that comes from my floor? eww!

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the writer stephen king says murder is like potato chips. it's hard to stop at just one. orange county prosecutor

n wozniak had gone on a killing binge. >> sam herr's a war ro. he was a war hero. he served his country. and turns out he's murdered by some two-bit actor who snuck up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. and then you have this beautiful 23-year-old young woman with a tiara on her head. and he literally shot her in between her right ear and the tiara that she'd been wearing. >> reporter: it had been a long time getting into this courtroom. sam and julie's parents attended more than 100 hearings over 5 1/2 years. >> it was brutal on those families. >> reporter: from the moment steve herr learned his son was missing, he hasn't rested. >> when you find out your son, your only child, has been murdered, as a father i can't think of any other -- any other way to act. it was the most crushing event that ever happened to me, that

>> reporter: so this is not really about justice in the sense of punishing somebody else. this is about you knowing? >> everything is based on me knowing the whole story. >> reporter: now it was december of 2015, and steve was about to find out. the prosecutor laid it out for the jury. dan wozniak's plan to solve his financial problems in 11 steps. >>umber one, apparently don't get a job. number two, figure out what sam herr's p.i.n. number is, kill him and take his atm card. >> reporter: after withdrawing money and using julie's murder as a decoy. >> six, stage the scene to make it look like sam is not only a killer but sam is a rapist.

and acting skills to make sure the police spend all their time looking for sam. eight, make sam disappear, make sure the police cannot find sam. >> reporter: then, said murphy, get more money so dan could pay off his debts. and finally -- >> and 11, have an awesome wedding. you have this plan, this evil maniacal, sophisticated, well-thought-out, meticulous plan by an actor who meets real detectives really doing their job. and wozniak is putting on his -- it was a play. >> reporter: turns out two cops were tougherhan any theater critic. >> they spotted him a mile away. they gave him all the room he wanted to completely hang himself. and that's what he did. >> reporter: dan's older brother tim testified against him. on the stand he told the jury dan gave him a box to hold on

alone that his b bther had just murdered two people. tim is still charged as an accessory. he pleaded not guilty. and his case is pending. his then-girlfriend, who was also charged, had her case dismissed. in court dan's defense attorney did not offer an explanation for dan's actions or call any witnesses. when jurors got the case, it took them less than three hours to reach a verdict. >> we, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant daniel patrick wozniak guilty of the crime of murder. >> reporter: this was a death penalty case. jurors now had to decide whether dan wozniak should live or die. defense attorney scott sanders made absolutely no excuses for his client. >> we did nothing in the course of the guilt phase of this case to indicate that we were challenging his responsibility for the crime. >> reporter: but he did ask the

if someone else influenced his decision to kill. that person? in the defense's view, it was dan's fiancee, rachel buffett. >> i call her a shrewd girlfriend, very shrewd, very sharp. >> reporter: sanders reminded the jury of that odd moment when rachel went to the police department to see dan. >> she's learning about all this incredible stuff, and she has no reaction, and you can see it on the interview tape. she has no reaction. >> reporter: he said that while dan didn't fool the cops, rachel just might have. >> these are good officers. if you look at their questioning, it's good, and she still gets past them. >> reporter: but prosecutor murphy saw things differently. >> they got to come up with somebody to point their finger at to take your attention off of niel wozniak and what daniel wozniak did. so rachel's our villain. all right? and that's fine. they can do that. that's their job to do it. okay? and it's your job not to get misled. >> reporter: jurors, once again, had an important decision to

this time they deliberated for just more than an hour. >> we, the jury in the above-entitled action, determine that the penalty to be imposed upon defendant daniel patrick wozniak to be death. >> repter: death for daniel wozniak. and as for rachel buffett she has pleaded not guilty to the charge of accessory to murder. her case ip still pending. a final scene to this tragedy that@started on stage and spilled into real life. >> i'll never forget a month before this happened, walking around a park, and i'm tending to say, you know what, sam? if something happens to me, take care of your mom and this and that. we have thth, we have this. you know what, dad, if something happens to me, i lived a good life. i saw so many things never thought i'd be able to see. >> reporter: was that a premonition? maybe. but either way, it was important for steve to hear his son say those words, i lived a good

way. as a kid, said steve, sam struggled. he went through some rough times. >> and he went into the army, and he found a purpose. he became a man. he grew up. >> reporter: julie's mom june says she doesn't want to show her grief to her own family. so she mourns privately with a gift her daughter gave her. >> she was a music person. and then so every -- my birthdays and mother's day, she used to make me cd so that i can play that in my car. so that was my, you know, that's her gift for me. whenever i go to work and come baba, i play that cd, and i take this long way. there's one road that is

i use that road, i turn on the last of her music and i call her name in my car and cry. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you again sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central, and, of course, i'll see you each weeknight for "nbc nightly news." i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night. . we're following breaking news out of deerfield beach. that is where a suspect was shot and killed try trying to rob a convenience store. >> a criminal brakes into a car and within the first 15 minutes feels a gun. what cops want you to see. >> south florida slammed by storms but could we see a repeat during the weekend. we'll take a look in your first

and good evening.