. >> costa mesa 911. >> there's a body in my son's apartment. >> is it female or male? >> female. >> reporter: it couldn't be julie -- could it? the innocent, lively, creative young woman with a big circle of friends, most of them known well by her parents. and her friends and the people she hung out with, never any danger. >> no. a mother to worry about. >> my kids, they didn't go anywhere that they should not go. >> reporter: but mom had never met the new man in julie's life, 26-year-old sam herr, older and much more experienced in the world. julie meets him at community college. he's a handsome combat vet, even a hero, with bradley cooper looks who served in afghanistan and is now home in orange county larger than life, gregarious, and by all accounts easy to like. >> i will be taping this for my mommy back home. >> big strong guy, happy-go-lucky, you know, just a big galoof. >> reporter: larry gonzales grew up close to sam in the military, calls him his brother and was in the trenches of afghanistan with him at camp keating, a remote outpost under constant fire. >>