daron was his tool. >> reporter: but for the time being, it seemed daron's hands were tied. rejected by the d.a.'s office twice before. this case getting a lot of baggage over the years? >> yeah, it did. >> reporter: and so if you go ahead with it, you're not only going ahead with the case, you're also kind of insulting the d.a.? >> yeah. >> reporter: years went by. the cathy torrez case grew colder by the day. and so did the marriage between cathy's sister tina and sam's brother armando. you and armando got divorced. >> yes. >> reporter: this have something to do with that? >> no. definitely it was all intermixed. >> reporter: daron wyatt was promoted to detective sergeant and his caseload shifted to other types of crime. but he never forgot his promise to mary. in part because of a milestone in his own life. >> my first daughter was born. and i remember going to mary shortly after that and looking her in the eye and saying, "i know -- i know now how you feel. i know it. i can feel it myself. i'm a dad now. you haven't given up. i won't give up." >> reporter: in 2003, nine