. >> then we got anotherereak. main water valve. >> story made sense. >> reporter: a simple business transaction. detective franklin w w back where he started. >> yeah. it gets to the point where you are still, you know, looking for -- for ways to to move forward. >> it was march by then. close to a month since the murder. and they seemed to be going nowhere. what to do now? w about grasp at straws? >> a tower dump? >> shot in the dark. i took it. >> coming up a killer with a gun and a cell phone. about to make a big mistake. >> my way of thinking was if he was sitting there weight in the secluded dark place at night is he going to sit there and twiddle his thumbs, he'd make a phone call. >> when "dateline" continues. a new world hangs outside the window beautiful and strange it must be falling away i must be >> reporter: one month into his investigation of the m mder of richard schoek. detective franklin was stuck in the weed. >> i would sit down with my supervisor. i'm worried about this case. he would tell me ha