>> reporter: tonight -- two stories of young women. two stories of families fighting for justice. in california, a twenty-one year old is dead. >> we got a call that a body had been found. >> it's bad. it was bad. >> when they killed her they killed me. other young women are missing. >> she wasn't calling something wasn't right. >> we quickly realized, "oh, this is going to be difficult." was a serial killer at work? >> i don't think i'll ever have a case like this again daughters, gone. mothers, wounded. >> we were all living the same nightmare. and a "guardian angel" watching

>> i call them my girls. it's hard to not take it personally. >> reporter: but first, in tennesee -- >> it's gut-wrenching. >> there's a body lying off the side of the road. >> this young woman shot three times. >> this was a murder. a young single mom, out with friends on game day. >> it was packed. but as night fell, fear grew. >> they're asking who would want to harm your sister? >> was it someone that was a stranger? was it someone that we knew? >> i just had this weird feeling that there was something she was hiding tucked away. in her kitchen a clue to it all. >> on top of the refrigerator was a manila folder. >> did it just give you chills? >> it was horrible. why didn't she just tell us? >> reporter: did a secret lead to murder? >> it's got to be unimaginable. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's andrea canning with "nightfall."

ã act 1 >> i'd ask that you all close your eyes for a few minutes this morning. i'd like for you to envision roane county in the middle of october. the leaves are changing, there's a little bit of a nip in the air. now envision brooke morris standing there and brooke feels like she's been punched in the throat. she's been shot. brooke feels like a bomb goes off in her body, this is the second shot, and it tears through her chest. she's terrified, and she's in extreme pain. thank you, you can open your eyes. >> reporter: the final minutes of a young woman's life detailed in a tennessee courtroom. a tragedy that devastated her family and friends. >> "this is -- cannot be

>> it was really the worst day of my entire life. >> who would do this to our friend brooke. it was awful. it was horrible. it was a horrible time. >> reporter: secrets exposed, but would justice be served? >> it was never ending, never ending. and i was so frustrated. >> reporter: most people who knew brooke morris remember her radiance and zest for life. >> she was always, always, always dancing everywhere she went. >> reporter: kaitlyn okal met brooke when they were teenagers, growing up just outside knoxville, tennessee brooke the yin to kaitlyn's yang. >> we kind of balanced each other out. she was -- a girly girl and i was more the tomboy. so i'd go to her house. and change into a thousand outfits and try on makeup and do our hair. and then she'd come into my house. and we'd ride four wheelers and play on the farm. >> reporter: sounds y

>> oh yeah, we even fought like sisters. we -- >> reporter: that's when you know you're good friends. >> yes, yes. for sure. >> reporter: this is brooke's real sister brittany and their mom, tina. what did she like to do -- >> clothes. clothes -- >> very very girly, loved doing hair and stuff like that. >> she was just a girly girl. >> reporter: a little southern belle? >> uh-huh, yeah. >> yes, yes. >> reporter: the little southern belle grew into a beautiful young woman. sometime blonde, sometime brunette, brooke, always drew people into her lively orbit. >> really spontaneous, fun, hilarious -- just the life of the party, could literally make friends with anyone. >> reporter: dina renee was one of them. >> she would come over to my house. and she'd be, like, "we're going out tonight. we're going to have fun." >> reporter: and that meant one thing on fall saturdays in knoxville, volunteers football at the university of tennessee.

>> oh my goodness. if you are not from tennessee, you better watch out. the strip is completely packed. there are vol fans everywhere. it is so much fun. lots of cooking out. lots and lots of fun. >> reporter: lots and lots of orange? >> lots of orange. >> reporter: was this something that brooke looked forward to? >> oh yeah. >> reporter: on saturdays? >> all of us at that age, you know? that was what you did on saturday. you wanted to get your orange and white outfits. and -- and -- figure out where you were going to be. >> reporter: october 15, 2011 started out as one of those fun days. the vols were taking on louisiana state and brooke was tailgating with friends. but by nightfall, something was terribly wrong. >> where's your emergency? >> uh, we're down here on blair road. >> reporter: 40 miles away from knoxville, a couple was driving down a country road. they were keeping an eye out for crossing deer when their headlights illuminated something else. >> and there is a body laying

>> ok, i need somebody to check for a pulse. >> she's, she's a bloody mess, ma'am. >> reporter: chief deputy tim phillips of the roane county sheriff's office just finished watching the football game when dispatch called him at home. >> what information were you given before you arrived at the scene as -- as you were driving there? >> essentially had -- had a white female that was deceased that was laying on the side of the road. >> reporter: the body had been found just after 8pm at the intersection of two quiet rural roads, not far from the chief's home. the woman had not been dead for very long. when you arrived here. what could you see? >> the victim's body was over here on the side of the road close to the intersection here at old blair. >> reporter: right on the road? >> yeah, right on the white line. you know. >> reporter: what did she look like? what could you see? >> she was well-dressed wearing blue jeans, boots, and a bright orange shirt. she had her purse there with her and everything. >> reporter: i.d.'ing the victim was the easy part, her driver's license was found right in her purse at the scene. it was 23-year-old brooke

morris. the hard part would be unraveling the mystery that led to her death on this lonely country road. >> was it someone that was a stranger to us? was it someone that we knew? all kinds of things were coming into our heads, you know, trying to figure this all out. when we come back. what happened to brook. >> they're asking do you know anyone who would want to hurt your sister and no clue. >> spouses are always looked add. >> my objective is to find out what to do.

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brooke morris had been found dead on the side of a rural

older sister brittany felt a sudden wave come over her in the middle of the night. she woke her husband. >> and i said, "i just feel really sick, like, just all of a sudden, really sick in my stomach." >> and he was like, "well, what do you think's goin' on?" i'm like, "i don't know. i just feel really nauseous." and it wasn't 20 minutes later i get a phone call -- >> reporter: sheriff's deputies were looking for her mother, tina. >> he didn't wanna tell us much until he talked to mom first. >> reporter: tina was at a friend's house. both chief phillips and brittany headed over there. >> mom, you know, comes to the door. and then she looks at me. and she's like, "it's brooke, isn't it?" and i'm like, "yeah." >> how did you know? what -- >> i knew it had to be because brittany was there, you know? so it had to be. >> i've delivered more than my share of death notifications, and this particular one was -- i'll never forget it. >> i asked her to sit on the couch and we sit there for a second and i said, "you know, we're -- is brooke morris your

>> and said, "she is," and i said, "well, she's been murdered." >> she passed out cold. so we had to get her to, you know, come back to. and i think we were just all shocked. >> reporter: when tina came to, she could hardly process what had happened. >> it was almost like it was not real. you know, "you've got the wrong person. it's not her." >> reporter: but it was real. brooke was dead. she'd been shot 3 times -- once in the neck, once in her chest and an execution style shot to the back of her head. >> i could not believe that another human could be so heartless. >> and you know, they're askin' us these questions like, "who would -- do you know anybody that would wanna harm your sister?" and we're like, "we don't have a clue." >> i could not even think of someone that would wanna hurt brooke in any way. everybody loved brooke. >> reporter: but investigators had to start somewhere, although only 23 years old, brooke

already had an ex-husband -- clayton morris. she met him soon after high school. >> he was kind of country, you know? they just hit it off. they just had fun together and started dating. and then the surprise popped up. >> she comes home with some news, some big news. >> hm, she was totally excited, of course. i was not so much excited. >> reporter: brooke, then 20 years old, was pregnant. >> i thought brooke was too young, for one thing. and you know, it's just-- it's not what i had hoped for her at that time. >> reporter: brooke and clayton were determined to make a go of it as a family. so before they became three, they got married. >> then they had this s -- sweet baby that just stalled my heart in an instant, you know -- >> did that make it all better? when you met your grandson? >> th -- it did, it absolutely did --

>> oh, yeah. >> reporter: they moved into a house and both had jobs. but the young couple soon realized that family life came with grown-up responsibilities and problems. >> did she confide in you at all about how things were -- were not great at home? >> yeah, of course. she talked to her friends about it and we just tried to be as supportive that we can. but we were on such a different level than she was, you know? here we were still single. and she was married with a baby. so hard for us to kind of relate in that area. but i think she -- she knew that it wasn't going to -- to work, you know? >> reporter: after two years, the couple split. brooke moved out and clayton stayed in the house with their son. but, brooke's family says she and clayton were committed to raising the child together. >> well, she lived, you know, just a few doors up from clayton and they had shared custody of -- of -- of the baby.

did they fight? >> they had some disagreements, you know? they definitely had some disagreements. >> ex-husbands, husbands, spouses, are always looked at? >> they are. >> did you feel he was an important person to talk to as well? >> we did. >> did you call him right away? >> we actually went and saw him. >> reporter: it was the middle of the night, just hours after brooke's body was discovered, when investigators arrived at clayton's house. chief phillips woke him up. >> so what do you say to him then? >> we didn't tell him that brooke was deceased and -- and our main objective is to try to find out what he had been doin' that evening. >> you wanna hear his story before you talk about what happened to brooke? >> that's right. >> reporter: clayton told investigators he had their son that weekend. he said he was at work all day saturday and then spent the evening at home. >> could he have left the child and gone out?

>> he could have. coming up. >> we were all just trying to figure out who would have donet what they would reveal. >> very helpful to us. >> when dateline continues. yeah, it's free for everyone. thank you. gravity, is a fickle mistress. what's in your wallet? america's favorite cookie delicious european chocolate candy introducing new oreo chocolate candy bars look for them wherever you buy chocolate candy. it's your tv, take it with you. with directv now and at&t,

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ã act 3 >> reporter: brooke morris was laid to rest at just 23 years old and while her friends said their goodbyes, her mother, tina, admits to being in denial about brooke's death. >> i kept thinkin', you know, "she's gonna call. she's gonna call. i know she's gonna call. and she's gonna say, "mom, you know, it was a (sigh) big mix-up," you know? i just couldn't grasp that she was gone forever. >> tina had a very hard time. i remember being at her funeral. and tina was holding this picture of brooke and just

crying, just hysterically. i mean, two people had to carry her to the gravesite. >> reporter: along with grief there was something else. >> how scary was it to you that whoever did this was out there? >> oh, very scary. i mean, cause they've taken somethin' from you. i mean, "what are their motives for us?" >> reporter: roane county investigators, tasked with bringing brooke's killer to justice, had spoken to her ex-husband clayton morris the night of the murder. >> were you getting any kind of a vibe from clayton? >> you know, sometimes you can read people and -- and, you know, people throw off body language but he just seemed like, "what in the world's goin' on?" >> reporter: and despite the tension during the marriage and divorce, those who knew brooke best didn't think her ex-husband was a killer. >> i just never entertained that thought. >> clayton was a good person. so i didn't think that, you know, he would be capable of doing

something like that to brooke. >> reporter: more importantly, clayton's alibi checked out. investigators cleared him. if not the ex-husband, then who? who had brooke come in contact with that weekend? investigators retraced brooke's steps, starting not with the game on saturday, but with the night before, friday. friends told investigators they had tickets to a concert. >> she was super excited about going to that. so she was just, like, "okay, i've gotta go -- i've gotta go find something to wear. i'm gonna go to dinner." >> reporter: after dinner, brooke left her car in a shopping center parking lot near the restaurant, and drove with friends to the concert. she spent the night at dina's house. >> i called it hotel dina like everyone just stayed. >> yeah. >> left it unlocked for everyone, you know. >> reporter: the next day, saturday, was the tennessee lsu football game and everyone was looking forward to tailgating. but the fun day turned sour. brooke borrowed something out of dina's closet, the girlfriends had an argument about it. >> and iad

wore it without asking. >> reporter: it was a silly fight, but it stuck with brooke. she didn't tailgate for long. >> she had been calling all these people to pick her up to take her to her car because she wanted to change her outfit for the night, for that night. >> reporter: brooke's friend albert dotson had been tailgating with her earlier in the day. >> so we would, like, break off, and i was with some other friends of ours at that time. so i'm not really sure where she was. >> reporter: neither dina nor albert ever saw brooke again. and with more than a hundred thousand football fans flooding the city for the game, finding brooke's killer was like looking for a needle in an orange haystack. >> i thought that maybe someone had kidnapped her, you know? and we were all just tryin' to -- to figure out who would have done this and why. what was their motive, you know? it was a very horrible time. >> did you think that maybe it could be connected to the game? >> you never know.

you never can -- you can -- you can never rule it out -- it's tennesse football, and you know, she so happened to be wearin' a bright orange top and if anybody knows anything about tennessee football, bright orange is the color for the tennessee vols. >> reporter: but brooke's body had been discovered about 40 miles from the football stadium and investigators were still stymied as to how she ended up there. >> did it lend itself to that she maybe was dumped here? or did you think that she was actually shot here? >> based off of everything that was here at the scene, it appeared that she was shot here. >> reporter: the crime scene itself yielded little physical evidence, no fingerprints, no tire marks, and no murder weapon. only some brass, as they call it >> they found spent ammo, they found live ammunition -- >> reporter: three shell casings as well as some unfired bullets. all from a 32 caliber gun. that brass was sent to be tested in a lab, while investigators turnedhe

item at the crime scene that could possibly provide some quick leads -- brooke's cell phone. it was right there, unlocked and in her purse. >> you can find a lot out about a person within seconds of -- of, you know, goin' over the sh -- the person's cell phone so it was very helpful to us. >> reporter: in fact, brooke's phone provided investigators with a major lead to pursue. two leads, actually. two men. investigators wanted to talk to them. but they'd have to find them first. >> it's always a concern whenever you have somebody that you'd like to talk to and you can't get to 'em to talk to 'em -- coming up. who were these two men and what was their relationship to brook. >> there's still something going on that shouldn't be. >> uh-huh.

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ã act 4 >> reporter: the brutality of brooke morris' murder fueled the search for her killer. >> we really hate that -- that, you know, they came into our community and committed such a crime. >> reporter: roane county investigators had cleared brooke's ex-husband, clayton. but they had two other men to look at, two men whose names and numbers were right there in brooke's phone. >> who was brooke communicating with that day that seemed to be of potential importance? >> daniel hawkins. >> this is a man she used to date? >> this is a person that -- that we believe that she had a relationship with, yes. >> i think they were talking, nothing too extreme. maybe a couple of dates.

through mutual friends. >> we would just hang out with daniel, you know. i would text him, and be, like, "hey, man, are you coming out?" and he'd meet up with us. >> reporter: but albert hadn't spoken to daniel that weekend. and didn't know daniel and brooke had been texting each other, making plans to meet up. investigators say they called the number listed for daniel on brooke's phone. he didn't answer. >> you couldn't find him? >> couldn't find him. >> reporter: investigators learned daniel lived in colorado. he'd just been in knoxville for the weekend. >> were you worried that you couldn't get a hold of him and he was out there? >> yeah, it makes you wonder, you know, "what's going on? are they intentionally trying to avoid you?" >> reporter: daniel had flown back to colorado by the time he got on the phone with a sheriff's investigator. >> basically interviewed him and hi

was at the ball game. >> reporter: daniel hawkins told investigators he was at the stadium watching the football game, as he texted with brooke on and off throughout the afternoon. the game ended just before 7:00pm. brooke's body was found just after 8:00pm. so if daniel was telling the truth, investigators had to figure out if he had enough time to get through the crush of vols fans, meet up with brooke and make the 40 mile drive here to roane county to commit the murder, all within about an hour. as investigators looked at daniel's timeline, they saw he was still texting brooke long after the game ended. the last text was just a little past midnight. it read, "where are u darlin?" by then brooke had been dead for more than four hours. >> until we clear him and rule him out, we do consider people like daniel hawkins a person of interest. >> reporter: but daniel hawkins wasn't the only person texting with brooke. >> who else had brooke been texting with? >> shawn smoot. >> what did you learn about shawn smoot? >> we found out that he ran an allstate office there in west knoxville. >> married, children?

married at that particular time. >> reporter: amy denlinger is a former employee of shawn's. >> what were your impressions of, of shawn? >> seemed like a nice enough person, outgoing, typical sales, easy to get along with. >> reporter: shawn smoot, the name rang a bell with brooke's family and friends. not long after brooke's divorce, sean had hired brooke as an assistant in the insurance office. >> i remember the day that she had the interview. we had lunch right before, and she was so excited, you know? >> it was a real job. and i said, "there's gonna be so much potential for you to move up in this company." you know? i was really proud of her. >> did you feel like this was kind of the fresh start brooke needed? >> yeah, we did. we thought -- we -- we all thought it was gonna be a good thing for her. >> did she seem happy? >> oh yeah, she loved it. i think there was a couple other ladies in the office that she worked with. everybody got along, and she enjoyed it.

>> she had formed -- a really, i guess, tight relationship with her boss. >> reporter: but brooke's family had no idea how close brooke's relationship with her boss shawn smoot actually was. some of her friends did. >> well, she had told me, in the beginning, that she had started working for this guy, shawn smoot. and a little bit down the road, i had, like, saw them out eating or something like that. >> as things progressed in their relationship, i was, like, "what's going on here?" i was, like, "th -- this guy, he seems a bit older. is he -- you know, does he have a family or anything like that?" and she was, like, "i -- yeah." she's, like, "he's married." >> reporter: an affair with a married man. >> i don't really think that -- she was, like, committed to that relationship. i think it was just her just coming through a divorce. and she had this attention from this man. >> but there's still something going on that shouldn't be going on? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: brooke left the j

but it was clear, to investigators, at least, that brooke and shawn were still in touch. her phone showed calls between them on the day of the football game. and they'd been texting back and forth. >> did you call him? >> our attempts to call him were unsuccessful. >> another one who's not around? >> that's correct. >> reporter: detectives decided not to wait for shawn to pick up his phone. they went to his house in the early morning hours after brooke's murder. >> you go over there. is he home? >> he is. >> reporter: shawn told investigators he had seen brooke the day before. she'd called him from downtown knoxville asking for help. remember brooke's tailgating plans had gone awry and she'd wanted to go home and change her clothes. she needed a ride to her car which had been left at a restaurant the night before. shawn said he agreed to give her a lift, but said they went to a bar to watch the game first. >> he had picked her up and they'd went to, i think, wild wings and buffalo wild wings. it's two different restaurants within the same square mile of each other. >> reporter: shawn said he then dropped brooke off at her car in the parking lot where she'd left

it. >> did he say he didn't know where she went after that? >> he was at home. he said he didn't know where she went. >> reporter: so had brooke met her killer there in the parking lot, or sometime later? perhaps she left to meet up with that other guy she'd been texting, daniel hawkins. but as far as investigators knew, shawn smoot was the last person to have seen brooke alive. and as investigators checked out his story, something wasn't adding up. >> so is this one of the first now where this guy's not being straight with us? >> it wasn't one of the first. it was one of the many. >> did they just give you chills.

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>> reporter: investigators working brooke morris' murder case were taking a hard look at two men she'd been talking to the day she was killed. daniel hawkins said they tried to meet up but never did. >> were daniel's friends able to back up his alibi? >> his alibi was -- was verified . >> he was really at the game? >> yes. >> reporter: because of the time the game ended, detectives concluded daniel hawkins couldn't have been in roane county at the time of the murder. he was eventually cleared by authorities. but could they verify shawn smoot's story? he told investigators he and brooke grabbed a drink after he picked her up. sure enough, here's video of them at one of the restuarants he said they went to. here they are taking their

drinks out to the patio another camera captured the couple leaving at about 6:30p.m. brooke is walking several steps ahead of shawn, something chief phillips thought was telling. >> normally if people are happy and all that stuff, you think they would walk out together. and if there was something going on, maybe she was like, you know, "i wanna just get away from him," or whatever. "i'd be glad when he drops me off at my car." >> reporter: this is the parking lot where shawn smoot said he dropped brooke off at her car. none of the security cameras around here had the car in view, but it was still sitting here the next day after brooke died. which made investigators wonder was shawn smoot telling them the truth? and if he wasn't, where did they really go? so they decided to trace his

records and found something unusual. in the two and a half hours after shawn and brooke had last been seen together, there was no activity on his cell phone. and here's what also stood out around 11:00 p.m. his phone started pinging off towers along this major interstate heading out of knoxville. then it looked like shawn turned around. his phone started pinging in the other direction, all the way back to his house. >> did he talk about why he was maybe about to leave town but didn't or why he turned around? >> well, initially talking to him, he -- he had told us that he was home all night. >> so that's an inconsistency for you? >> it is. >> reporter: investigators were becoming increasingly suspicious of shawn smoot. and they weren't the only ones. brooke's closest friends never really suspected her ex-husband clayton, or daniel hawkins, but they knew her relationship with shawn had been stormy. >> she would just, you know, tell me little things here and there. >> reporter: her friends say shawn had a temper and kaitlyn witnessed it first hand one night after a dinner. shawn was drunk kaitlyn says, so she didnt want brooke to drive home with him. >> he did not like that.

and we drove just down the street, pulled into the parking lot. and i pulled up right beside her car and -- and she opened the door. and shawn was, like, right there. //grabbed her by the arm. -- i told her, "brooke, just get back in the car." and so she did. she got back in the car. and we drove off. >> reporter: friends say similar incidents followed, brooke felt shawn was stalking her. showing up unannounced and uninvited when she was out with friends. even after she stopped working for him. >> she definitely knew that something was wrong, you know, after he was obsessive with her, calling her multiple times, and texting her, and then stalking her. you know, she knew that, you know, it -- "this man has got some issues. i've got to try to get away from him." >> reporter: brooke reached her breaking point, and in january 2011, did something she thought would get shawn out of her life forever. >> she was just, like, "i'm done with this situation. he won't leave me alone. i'm -- you know, i'm going to the wife. she needs to know about the situation."

>> i think she was probably tired of -- you know, living in this -- this secret. you know, she wanted to be free from the situation. >> the wife knows, he'll leave me alone. >> yeah. i mean, you know, "if i'm honest with the wife, then maybe, you know, they can try to work out their problems. and he'll leave me alone." >> reporter: but it backfired. shawn's marriage imploded. >> she was just, like, i've gone to the wife. she's getting a divorce. she's made him move out. >> he lost everything after that. >> yeah. >> reporter: and friends say shawn continued to harrass brooke. in fact, they say, things only intensified. >> beyond emotional abuse? was it physical? >> yes. >> she had just told me that shawn was -- getting violent. >> he broke into her apartment one night, came in through the bathroom window, threw her head up against the tile floor. >> reporter: brooke's family didn't know about any of this. the relationship, the alleged

it wasn't until after her death that her family finally learned brooke's secret. >> did that just give you chills when you found that -- >> yeah, it was -- >> manila envelope? >> it was horrible. >> reporter: it was brittany who discovered it, as she went about the grim task of cleaning out brooke's apartment. >> and we were kinda getting stuff in order to pack away and send. and so i went in her kitchen. and on top of the refrigerator was a manila folder. >> reporter: brittany opened the folder. it was an order of protection brooke had taken out about a year before her murder against her former boss shawn smoot. and it was page after page of just crazy stuff that he did to her. and i'm just like, "this is horrifying." like, i didn't even know that any of this was happening. >> reporter: the document details a litany of alleged violent outbursts by shawn -- including the time brooke says he broke into her apartment and

attacked her. >> why didn't she just tell us, you know, that "this is what i'm going through. i need help," >> why do you think she didn't wanna share with you what was going on in her life? >> she knew we'd have a fit. i mean, i would have hunted him myself, for hurting her in any way. and i think she knew that. >> reporter: brooke's friends who knew about the order of protection were surprised to find out she and shawn were talking on the day of the football game >> nobody knew that she even had contact with him. >> reporter: but to investigators, there was something different about this particular order of protection. brooke had asked the judge to allow her and shawn to have social contact. and sure enough they had continued to talk and spend time together. so they had to wonder if things were really that bad between brooke and shawn? the investigation dragged on for weeks. then months. it was almost too much for tina to b

>> i got really frustrated. yeah, i did. you know, and i'm sure they had to hear my wrath a few times. because you know, i'm a mother. and i wanted to know who did it. and i wanted him put behind bars. >> reporter: but a major break in the case was coming. would a jury be able to put it all together? >> i said, "were you directly or indirectly involved?" will coming up. a murder charge at last. and a powerful moment in court. >> all goes silent and brooke morris is dead. >> i wanted them to envision this young woman being shot three times. >> a verdict. what would it be?

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ã act 6 >> reporter: brooke morris' family and friends had come to a heart-wrenching conclusion. she had been in a violent relationship with shawn smoot. a relationship that ended with her murder. did it just seem so easy to you that, "okay, they're -- they can go arrest him now," like, "we know who did it"? >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: but that didn't happen. >> no. and you know, i kept thinking, "well, surely, any day now. any day now." >> reporter: investigators had their suspicions as well and they were trying to build a case against smoot. he was the last to see her alive. they had an allegedly violent relationship. he had lied to investigators. but so far they had found no physical evidence tying him to the crime.

you were able to search shawn smoot's apartment? >> we were. >> reporter: do you find anything? >> we find an empty box -- that once contained a firearm with some -- ammunition. >> reporter: no gun? >> no gun. >> reporter: the box was for a .32 caliber pistol. the same caliber as the murder weapon. and the ammo? >> it was the same -- style of ammunition -- that was found at the murder scene. >> reporter: but without the actual gun itself, the circumstantial case wasn't strong enough to charge smoot with murder. then, the crime lab released its ballistics report showing that marks on shell casings from the crime scene matched marks on a bullet found in smoot's home. his missing hand gun appeared to be the murder weapon. hat's a huge connection? >> it is pretty much the connection. >> reporter: in june of 2012, eight months after brooke was killed, shawn smoot was indicted on charges of first degree murder.

with her just being this young woman who was clearly so vulnerable? >> oh, absolutely. >> reporter: prosecutors bob edwards and tiffany starr smith saw this case as a relationship turned deadly. >> we're still talking about -- domestic violence. we're still talking about orders of protection, and all of the things that go wrong in those situations. >> reporter: you had no witnesses. you had no dna from your suspect. you had no murder weapon. that's a lot of things you didn't have. >> if we didn't feel like we could prosecute it, and be successful, we would've never indicted it. we would have never proceeded with it. >> circumstantial cases are -- allow you to be creative. you can take a set of facts -- and -- and weave a story together for your theory of prosecution. >> reporter: shawn smoot insisted he was innocent. he cycled through five different defense attorneys and the trial was delayed again and again. >> it was surreal, really. you know -- 'cause it had been reset 22 times, 22 times. >> reporter: that's torture. >> it is. it is torture.

started in july 2016, nearly five years after brooke died. robert jolley, smoot's fifth attorney, believed the state's case was weak for one simple reason. >> i don't think that they -- did very thorough investigations of anyone other than mr. smoot. and even his investigation wasn't very thorough. >> reporter: jolley told the jury just how little that investigation had uncovered. >> there are no fingerprints there's no gunshot residue test, there's no dna test, there's absolutely no evidence that links mr. smoot to roane county on that evening. >> reporter: the defense sought to prove that the evidence the state did have wasn't actually incriminating. like the missing gun that shawn owned. yes, it was the same caliber as the murder weapon. but -- >> there are however many million of people in this

was a very common weapon. >> reporter: the defense also argued that the ballistics report linking shell casings from the crime scene to a bullet at smoot's home had no actual science behind it. >> there's no scientific evidence of that or any standard that show that, is there? >> there's not currently a standard that shows that every firearm makes unique marks. >> reporter: as for the volatile relationship described in the order of protection? the defense pointed out that smoot never admitted to any of the allegations. and he was never charged, much less convicted, of any assault on brooke. >> the order doesn't mean that mr. smoot ever did anything. it doesn't mean that mr. smoot admitted that he did anything. >> reporter: and the order of protection didn't prevent them from seeing each other which they clearly did. >> ms. morris told the judge that she wanted to have social contact with mr. smoot. >> reporter: jolley argued if brooke was so afraid of smoot,

why would she want to keep seeing him? after all, phone records showed she was she the one who called him that day. >> she continued to treat shawn as a friend. as someone that she would do activities with. >> reporter: did you worry that that could be confusing to the jury? >> absolutely. and i think that's the underlying question anytime that we're talkin' about domestic violence. why does anyone go back? >> reporter: the prosecutors hoped any doubt the jury may have regarding smoot's guilt would be wiped away when they called their key witness to the stand. was working sm

impression of the nice, outgoing man who hired her didn't last. why did it change? >> he was cold. he got angry -- easily. not satisfied, really, ever. it almost seemed like he enjoyed getting somebody -- riled up. >> reporter: in court, she testified about what happened the monday following brooke's murder. >> now on that day did mr. smoot come into the office? >> he came in that morning. when i saw him the first time, he didn't see me and he was crouched down under his desk, um, unhooking his computer. and i asked him if he was ok, and he said, "no." and i asked him if there was anything i could do, and he said, "turn back time." >> reporter: amy had already heard about the murder, and that investigators had been to smoot's house. she told the jury what the defendant said next. >> i asked him if he was directly or indirectly involved, and he said, "both." >> reporter: did you take that as an admi -- a total admission of guilt? >> absolutely. absolutely.

five years after brooke's murder to get her alleged killer before a jury. it took the jury less than four hours to reach its verdict. >> we the jury, find the defendant, shawn nelson smoot guilty of premeditated first degree murder of brooke nicole morris. >> reporter: what's the emotions that you're feeling when you hear that word? >> well, of course, we can't show emotion in court. >> reporter: okay, what's going on, on the inside? >> on the inside, i'm screaming. i'm jumping for joy. >> i was able to give tina gregg a hug, and see her smile through all of the tears that she had over the last five years. >> reporter: this was the moment she'd been waiting for? >> yes. i think it was the moment we'd all been waiting for. >> reporter: for the prosecutor, the case was about more than winning a conviction. there's a lesson to be learned. for a woman watching this who is maybe going through a similar situation what is -- what's the message from this story for her? >> get out. get help. t

it's not gonna change. >> speak out. and don't be afraid. don't be ashamed. 'cause you know, it's not your fault that -- that you're being treated this way. you should never be treated that way. >> reporter: the jurors also had to decide smoot's sentence. that's when prosecutor tiffany starr smith asked them to imagine the horror of brooke's last moments. >> i'd ask that you all close your eyes for a few minutes this morning. >> reporter: were you hoping that having the jury close their eyes like that would have a powerful impact? >> i wanted them to try to envision this young woman out in the middle of nowhere being shot three times by an angry man that she was afraid of. >> all goes silent and at 23 years old brooke morris is dead. >> reporter: the jury sentenced smoot to life without the possibility of parole. he is appeg

that conviction and the sentence, have provided comfort for brooke's family. but not closure. >> i can't make any more memories with her. the only memories i have are -- are past memories. i mean, it's hard. >> she's always in my heart. she will always be in my heart. and -- you know, we had -- i had 23 wonderful years with brooke. i wish i had 53 more. but unfortunately, i don't. but i know where brooke is. i know i'll see her again. and that gives me hope. and now our second hour of dateline. >> she's on a convey early belt. only her feet were exposed.

>> young women murdered or misses, families in anguish. >> i would text her and she would text right back: this time, nothing. >> when they killed her, they killed me. >> a serial killer at work. and maybe he had a friend. >> they don't work together. >> two suspected killers on the hunt. hunting them, a detective devoted to justice and more. >> it's almost like you adopted these young women. >> here's keith with good and evil.

>> she was my firstborn. she was my best friend. >> reporter: how to understand the four mothers you will meet tonight, and their connection. one that not one of them would ever have thought possible. not in a million years. anymore than they would have expected to meet -- her. their guardian angel. >> if i don't bring her home, who will? >> reporter: its a rare mystery that's truly a confrontation of good and evil. >> we have to go to the dark places in order to find answers. >> reporter: a rare mystery that needed an urgent answer, before the evil struck again. it was march 14th, 2014, early morning. an army of garbage trucks made their growling, clanking way around the thousands of trash bins and dumpsters in anaheim, california. their destination, a landfill that is also a literal mountain of garbage 500 feet high. and then mid morning an attendant separating debris on the conveyer belt saw something. th

from the pile of trash? surely not. >> she was on a conveyor belt, only her feet were exposed. and initially, the workers there thought it was a mannequin. >> reporter: but it wasn't a mannequin, as the responding homicide detective julissa trapp could plainly see. it was, or had been, a woman. her body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp. >> we had no idea who she was. we had no idea where she came from. how did she end up there? >> reporter: something about the dead girl got to detective trapp. ending up this way, an anonymous child of god, in a garbage dump. and so, the detective did what she always does: she bought a rosary. >> it's a way for me to kind of connect to -- to my victims. unusual?

maybe. that a detective should lean on her profound catholic faith, to help solve crimes, but julissa trapp does. >> cases don't always get solved in 48 hours, you know? >> surprise, surprise. >> they take time and they take work. >> and that little rosary helps you. >> it does. >> reporter: if she could solve this case, she'd give that rosary to the dead woman's family. but first she had figure out who it was, from just one identifying mark on her neck. a tattoo, jodi. was that her name? reaching now, detective trapp pulled up the anaheim police department's database of tattoos. yes, they have one, descriptions of tattoos collected from anyone they encounter. and, what do you know, there was a match. but her name was not jodi, it was jarrae. jarrae estepp, she was 21-years-old.

year prior here in anaheim on beach boulevard. >> reporter: beach boulevard? suddenly detective trapp's case took on a whole new complexion. >> if you want to buy drugs, beach boulevard's where you come, if you are looking for a girl, beach boulevard's where you come. a lot of 'em came from good, stable families that just happened to run into the wrong guy, who -- >> uh-huh. >> somehow got 'em into the job. i mean, these pimps are really good about breaking down the women and getting control over them. making them a prime target for predators. a lot of predators will start with prostitutes, because they think that people won't miss them. >> somebody does. >> yes, somebody does. somebody did. >> reporter: like jarrae's mother. who, records revealed, lived in a tiny town in oklahoma. that tattoo on jarrae's neck?

and even before the detective got the words out. >> i felt it, that she was gone. >> reporter: her daughter had been so happy, so charming, outgoing. but then, said jodi, a boyfriend convinced jarrae that, to please him, she'd have to turn tricks. this is jarrae. >> he just honked trying to get her attention. >> reporter: "john-tv", a self-proclaimed "video vigilante" group in oklahoma city, caught her on camera back in 2012. but jarrae left the boyfriend, turned her life around so jodi thought, and then that awful phone call from detective trapp. >> i was screaming, like, screaming. >> reporter: the detective made a promise to that mother, didn't matter what choices jarrae may have made, she the detective, would work this case as hard as any she ever had. >> we literally went from each

motel showing her picture. and having the clerk run her name to see if she had stayed there. and eventually she found the room where jarrae had been staying, in which were $700 in cash and mascara, lipstick, contact lens solution, but nothing whatever to lead her to a suspect. >> reporter: not here, anyway. from the disposal company she got a list of the dumpsters those garbage trucks had serviced that morning, then she and other officers went dumpster diving. hundreds of dumpsters. >> what would you be looking for? >> they were all given pictures of what the trash looked like that was around her. if it looked similar, take pictures of what's inside. >> reporter: no luck. waste of time. and then, back on the conveyor belt, an odd thing turned up in the trash collected near jarrae's body. >> we got a print hit. >> you're talking about a fingerprint here? >> a fingerprint, yes. >> reporter: it was on a caulking tube, and it matched someone.

for a company called "hardy windows." >> he tells us, "we never throw trash out at customer's homes. we always bring it back to hardy windows." >> reporter: where they found one dumpster no one had checked. the trash company, inadvertent, had left it off the list they gave the police. detective trapp looked inside. >> it's that same blue plastic wrapping, and it was almost like i was looking at the same trash i had seen on the conveyor belt. bingo. and if not for that lucky fingerprint, they'd have missed it. >> what was that like? >> it was a combination of frustration, but okay, all right, we're -- we're moving somewhere. >> reporter: so, jarrae was dumped here sometime before the morning of march 14th. miles and miles from the spot where, according to cell phone records, she placed her very last outgoing call. at 7:00pm the night before. >> how far away would it have

>> miles. >> reporter: but that's all the detective knew. a week gone by, everyone at hardy windows was cleared. so no suspects at all. detective trapp went to church. said her rosary, worried, prayed, and wondered. >> i had heard a story on the news that there was three missing prostitutes in the city of santa ana. >> which is right next door, basically? >> right next door, yes. >> reporter: what if this wasn't the killer's first time, or last? was there a link. >> what are the odds that they're related. >> and mothers united by love and loss. >>

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>> reporter: detective julissa trapp couldn't sleep, kept awake by the puzzle of the girl someone threw away in the trash. that's when something jogged her restless mind. hadn't some young women vanished in the town next door, santa ana? >> we were like, "well, you know, what are the odds that they're related?" >> reporter: so she looked them

kianna jackson, just 20 years old when she disappeared five months before jarrae's death. her mom is kathy menzies. >> she was just a very fun-loving child. always made you laugh. >> reporter: just look at her childhood photos. that silly grin. she loved her dog, her little brother, playing softball. and then it started happening, said kathy. eighth grade or so. >> she was kind of getting, you know, typical teenage. you know, mouthy. and then, you know, high school came, getting around the older kids, she kind of got a little, you know, worse. >> reporter: how did you cope with that? >> one day at a time. love her as much as i could is -- was about the only thing. >> reporter: after high school kianna went to college, about a three-hour drive from home. a year later, she moved to las vegas. but, though far from home now, she got closer and closer to her mom. >> she would call me every day, talk to me every day, you know, text message. >> reporter: she was just a loving daughter.

happening. >> reporter: no idea. even in october 2013, when kianna called to say -- >> she was on the bus towards santa ana. >> reporter: did she tell you why -- >> visiting friends is what she told me. >> reporter: but then, the girl who called her mother almost daily stopped calling. >> anything over a day or two, i would start going, "wait a second. this isn't right. something's not right." i would text her. and she would text right back. but this time, nothing. nothing. >> reporter: gone. not a peep to her mom, to her friends, to her boyfriend. kathy went to the police. >> when i called to file a missing persons report, they said, "she's an adult. and -- and there's nothing we can do for you." >> reporter: but you -- >> when -- >> reporter: -- you knew that there was a problem. >> yeah. >> reporter: so kathy started doing her own digging -- tracked r

ended. her clothes were there, but she wasn't. again, she called the police. >> and they said, "well, that happens. sometimes prostitutes just work circuits." >> reporter: prostitute? >> and at first, i was like, "no, w -- okay. no. that -- that can't be." >> reporter: but then, the truth came crashing down, undeniable. kianna had missed a scheduled court date in santa ana -- for a prostitution charge. but wait a minute, you talked to her every day. >> that -- >> reporter: texted with her -- >> this is -- >> reporter: -- all the time. >> exactly. and she-- >> reporter: and you knew nothing of this secret life of hers? >> nope. nothing. >> reporter: what does it feel like as a mother to hear that has been going on all that time and you didn't know? >> heartbreaking. >> reporter: when she heard kathy's story, detective trapp began to think she was on to something. and then she discovered that just two and a half weeks after kianna disappeared, there was another one -- josephine monique vargas. >> she had a beautiful personality. they used to call her giggles

'cause she always made people laugh. >> reporter: josephine's mother priscilla had been on the local news, searching for answers for months, ever since her daughter left a family bbq, telling them she was walking to buy groceries. >> that's the last time we -- any of us heard of her or saw her. >> reporter: priscilla went to the santa ana police department, filled out a report. >> but they didn't really do anything to look for her. >> reporter: so she did. >> nothing was gonna stop me from looking for my daughter. nothing or no one. >> reporter: and it was pure chance when priscilla ran into another mother desperate to find her daughter. martha. 28 years old, and a mother herself, who just vanished one day. >> there's no way she would have left. to just say "i'm going and i'm leaving everything behind." >> reporter: so martha's mother herlinda and priscilla went together up and down the boulevard. >> we made thousands of fliers. me and her were on our mission to find our daughters. >> reporter: but no sign of their daughters anywhere. detective trapp collected their portraits, hung them on her

awake, and prayed in her catholic way. do you ever wonder why god would allow this to happen? >> i do. there's been plenty of times that i've been angry with our maker because you have to wonder why does this happen. i mean, i wish he would talk back to me and tell me, that would be very helpful. but i just have to figure out what happened. just read the clues, collect the puzzle pieces, and the more you can kind of keep a neutral mind, the easier the puzzle pieces fit together. >> reporter: no getting around it -- the pieces pointed to a chilling conclusion. those three missing women, like jarrae, may have been murdered. and if that was true, it would mean there was a serial killer out there in the night. had to be. more deaths would be coming, unless -- one idea. it was grasping at straws, yes, but -- >> you know what, it might work now. why not? it's -- it's a hail mary, but

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>> reporter: the autopsy came in. the one for jarrae estepp, the girl on the conveyer belt. ga002ab >> it's bad, it was bad. it was bad. >> reporter: strangled, beaten, sexually assaulted. viciously, according to deputy d.a. larry yellin. >> should have been a college girl. >> should be worrying about grades and boyfriends, and football games and -- and those things. >> reporter: one wrong turn, and you never know, huh? >> yeah. >> reporter: but almost three weeks in detective julissa trapp seemed stuck. >> i think she got a little frustrated, and goli

desperate, and came up with the idea of using the computer database. >> reporter: that is the computer database of sex offenders. if they had a serial killer on their hands, there was at least a chance he'd already run afoul of the law at some point. it was a bit like just poking a finger into the haystack frankly and hoping to encounter a needle. but worth a try. so trapp called this woman. sexual assault detective laura lomeli. >> all sex offenders on parole, they will have an anklet, a gps monitor. >> reporter: trapp asked lomeli, were any of those gps monitors here, where jarrae placed her last phone call or here, where she wound up in a dumpster? and, if you find the same guy at both locations, you're getting somewhere? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: lomeli ran the search and what were the chances she got a hit. in both locations. she called detective trapp. >> there's only one person." she's like, "i know him." i said, "who?" ansh

offender." >> reporter: in 2007, franc cano pleaded guilty to committing a lewd act on a minor. he was now on parole wearing a gps monitor. but now next question, did franc cano's monitor put him near the places those other three women, according to phone records made their last calls kianna, josephine, and martha? one by one, the detective entered the coordinates. >> and every intersection for the -- that date and time that

up. >> reporter: wow. >> for every single intersection. it was -- it was sh -- i was shocked. >> reporter: but something about that man, franc cano. he had a buddy. and lomeli had run into them both. >> i mentioned, "you know, i do know that he has a friend -- that's steven gordon. >> reporter: steven gordon. he'd done time for molesting a minor and later for kidnapping. he and cano were inseparable apparently. once again, detective lomeli pulled up the gps coordinates. she checked the place martha was last seen in santa ana and? no gordon. not there. but when she checked locations for kianna and josephine sure enough there he was. so why not at that first location? she checked the record and discovered that at that particular moment gordon wasn't on a gps monitor, but he was wearing one at the other three places and so was cano. the electronics made it absolutely obvious here they were cano and gordon driving together up and down beach boulevard and all around santa ana and anaheim. >> i mean, even when they're on the freeway -- >> reporter: they were in the same car? >> they were in the same vehicle. >> reporter: julissa trapp had prayed for a hail mary, but she never expected anything like this. >> i soon realized, "i'm not just dealing with one, we're deg

bracelets. >> reporter: but for all the electronic cross referencing, the case against cano and gordon was purely circumstantial. detective trapp could not arrest them. not without more evidence. and that was terrifying. i mean, there were young women who were at real risk here. >> yes. >> reporter: and if you waited too long -- >> yes. >> reporter: how would you feel if somebody else was attacked? >> let me just say, there were a lot of rosaries that were being prayed, for sure. >> reporter: she set up a surveillance team to watch cano and gordon around the clock. and got authorizations for wire taps and pulled cell phone records. >> when we started reading the text messages and started seeing how prolific they were at hunting. >> reporter: hunting? >> hunting, on almost a daily basis and how nonchalant they were about it. it was almost like ordering takeout.

you feel like today, asian or mexican? >> reporter: oh, boy. what would they call these girls? >> that was the other thing, cats. >> reporter: cats? >> cat. be careful, when the cat knows it isn't getting away, it's going to fight. >> reporter: the next victim couldn't be far away. because gordon texted cano, "kitty cat later yes." to which cano responded, "ok." and then a sudden change had they spotted the surveillance? >> reporter: as trapp listened to the wiretap she heard gordon talk to cano about skipping town. >> i could hear the desperation in franc cano's voice. that desperation just kind of sent a hair on the back of my neck and i said, "no, i'm not waiting anymore." >> reporter: they're going to run. >> they're going to run. >> reporter: time to move. fast. they caught up to franc cano as

he was boarding a bus and steven gordon? they found him where he worked an auto body shop next door to hardy windows. but -- >> he made a run for it. and -- >> reporter: ran out the door? >> on a bicycle, yes. he had a little collision with one of our surveillance units and a little flying over the handle bars. and he was taken into custody. >> reporter: both men were charged with four counts each of first degree murder and forcible rape and detective trapp prepared to confront a suspected serial killer. i knew this was going to be a lot different than any other interview i had done. >> i told you be careful.

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ã act 10 >> reporter: for six months, kathy menzies waited for news about her daughter, kianna. still woke up every day hoping she'd call or text. and dreading a knock at the door. which, in april 2014, is what happened. >> my heart sunk when they came because i knew right away that it wasn't gonna be good news. >> reporter: no. not good news at all. anaheim police told her that two men, franc cano and steven gordon, were now under arrest for the murder of her daughter and three other young women in orange county. >> what were you like that night? >> i just wanted to sleep. i wanted to, like, go to sleep, and wake up, and pinch myself, and -- >> and make it a different world. >> exactly. >> reporter: detective julissa trapp wanted to speak with both men, of course. but cano lawyered up. so she tried gordon, still in a wheelchair after his bike accident. >> hi steven. >> hi. >> how are you? >> i knew this was going to be a

interview i had done. he's cunning, manipulative. >> he didn't have to talk to you. >> he did not have to talk to me. >> are you cold? do you want a blanket? >> yeah. if you don't mind. >> no, not at all. >> reporter: but detective trapp has a way, as they say. >> you were actually compassionate. >> thank you. >> you're welcome >> you were kind to him, you brought him a blanket, food? >> here is our chips. >> thank you. >> yes. we actually shared two meals together. >> it is spicy. >> i told you. i told you to be careful. >> reporter: even so, gordon was reluctant at first. >> i can't talk to you. >> would you rather talk to somebody else? >> i don't wanna talk to anybody. >> he watched me very carefully. if i swallowed too hard, if i looked at him differently, you know, he would say what's wrong. >> you got a weird look on your face when i said, "where, why?" >> when i said where? >> so it was constantly trying ee

to elicit information from him and -- >> did he try to play you, sort of -- >> oh, i think he definitely thinks he did, for sure. >> reporter: but bit by bit, she pulled out answers for herself and for those four mothers. >> does she go by the name, kayla? >> it starts with a "k," kianna. >> no, she told me her name was kayla. >> reporter: detective trapp presented him with photographs. he identified all four women. >> so her, her, her, right? >> reporter: each murder went the same way, he said. he and cano picked them up in his suv, drove them back to the auto body shop where gordon worked. they took turns having their way. and then, just as each woman prepared to leave -- >>: i strangled her with my hands. >> you strangled her? >> reporter: some of the details in that 13 hour interview were almost more than even a seasoned

detective could stand to hear. >> as he was hurting martha, she told him, "i didn't believe in god, but i do now. there is a part of me that's grateful that she found god at the end. it's disturbing to me that in response, he said, "you picked a hell of a time to start believing in god." i'll never forget that. >> reporter: but she had it, a full confession. she called jarrae's mother, jodi. >> i dropped to my knees. detective trapp gave me her word that she would find who killed my daughter. >> reporter: detective trapp had kept her word. now she bought three more rosaries and wondered, could she bring those women home? gordon had told her all of them

had been left in the same dumpster, contents of which were brought here, orange county's brea olinda landfill. where, except for jarrae, they all still were, in there somewhere. >> we did a lot of research and we had every intention to try to dig for them. >> reporter: but the bodies had to be 40 feet deep by now. digging for them would cost millions. they might never be found. and the county couldn't afford that. >> and they're -- they're just over there somewhere, 40 feet down. what's that like? what's that feel like? >> it's frustrating. it's frustrating knowing that they're here and we can't bring them home. that it's like the one thing that the mothers want.

and i get it, and to not be able to do that, it feels -- it's incomplete. >> does it drive you crazy? >> yes, it does. >> reporter: kathy menzies knows, logically, her daughter kianna must be dead. but how to truly accept it without her body. >> i would go there today and start digging if they would let me. >> matters, doesn't it? >> it does matter. >> getting her back. >> yeah. // >> you give birth to them. you gotta see them right through to the end. >> yep. exactly. exactly. >> reporter: in an attempt to make sense of it all, kathy asked detective trapp and her partner bruce linn to drive her to the place where the killers had picked up kianna. >> you wanted to go this last spot. why? may i ask why? >> kind of because it was, like, the last known spot that she was at -- that i was told she was alive at that spot. so kind of a closure, you know, just to see where she was at

>> reporter: broke her heart to do it. take this tour of her daughter's last hours. >> i think this is the dead-end street that gordon and cano entered and turned around and somewhere in -- >> in here was where she was at. >> this little intersection right here is where she was at. >> reporter: just an ordinary place, but so painful. ga008 - interview >> it was hard. it's difficult to see. i mean it's not what i expected, the area. i mean, you know, of course, what she was doing is no mother's wish. but just to see this area, to know that it wasn't what i envisioned. it wasn't a dirty, dark, nasty, gross area.

peace in that. the knowing. the seeing. but why kianna's life was taken, so much harder to comprehend. >> i don't think i'll ever be able to accept it. it's hard. it's hard. >> reporter: criminal trials are one way the grieving find answers. and with a confession on tape, the trial of steven gordon looked like a formality. or so the prosecutor might have hoped. and then the judge made that ruling. oh boy. coming up, a suspected serial killer acting iz his own attorney turns the case upside down. >> it's the piece and now it's gone. >> when dateline continues.

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>> reporter: orange county deputy da larry yellin liked his chances against accused serial killer steven gordon. especially when gordon decided to act as his own defense attorney. >> he's very bright -- very bright. >> reporter: smano

doin' that sorta thing? >> definitely smart enough to know -- that he shouldn't be representing himself. >> reporter: but, expectation can be a dangerous thing. before the trial even began, gordon struck the prosecutor's case a major blow. remember that moment early in his interview when he seemed to reject detective trapp's questioning. >> i can't talk to you. >> would you rather talk to somebody else? >> i don't wanna talk to anybody. >> reporter: gordon argued that continuing the interview at that point was a miranda violation. even though detective trapp had read him his rights at the outset. the judge agreed. ruled that the jury could not see a frame of gordon's confession. >> when he makes the ruling that it's out, it's a punch in the stomach. >> reporter: oh man. 'cause what are you missing then?

>> well, a confession. it's the piece that brings everything together, and focuses on the four girls. and now it was gone. >> all of these women have a special meaning for me. and when it got thrown out, i had a really hard time. >> reporter: but then gordon asked for a meeting, and sprang another surprise. he wanted yellin to drop the rape charges. and what would he give you in return? >> he said, "i'll give you a statement -- that you can use against me in this case." >> okay mr. gordon. >> reporter: and so on the eve of trial, detective trapp once again sat face-to-face with steven gordon. and he once again took her through each crime. >> fair to say that your intention was to pick up a prostitute and ultimately kill her? >> yes. >> okay. >> reporter: that was played for the jury. and then? how bizarre was this. gordon suddenly decided he wanted the jury to hear his first confession too. which meant that the mothers had to hear every graphic detail of their daughters murders. >> and then, i thought, "maybe i prayed that rosary a little too hard, because now we've got two statements in."

time convicting gordon of four counts of murder. they recommended the death penalty. for four mothers, a measure of justice. kathy menzies had sat through the entire trial. as brutal as it was. what has it done to your understanding of human beings? >> they're evil. there's lots of evil in this world. lots of it. >> reporter: the mothers will have to sit through another trial, franc cano is still waiting for his. he's pleaded not guilty. but for detective trapp, there was a measure of relief. and finally, she gave those rosaries to four grieving mothers. it's interesting -- to discover in this line of work that homicide detectives are actually softies. >> i think that the more you allow yourselffe

better you're going to be as a detective. and we have to go to the dark places in order to find answers. the quicker we can get in and out, you know, the better it is for all of us. >> reporter: answers from dark places. we went to the jail where gordon was kept before his transfer to death row. here he was, a man who claimed to know the nature of his evil acts. but, did he, we wondered. >> i screwed up. >> reporter: is screwed up the right expression to use? >> probably not. i just didn't want to say -- what i really think. >> reporter: well, why don't you? >> it's -- it's beyond evil, what happened. what -- what me and him did was beyond evil. >> reporter: but, then came, sure enough, the excuse. he's worked it out in his head that the parole system is somehow to blame for his crimes. after all, as sex offenders, he and franc cano shouldn't have been permitted to be together. at

and the fact that their parole officers didn't prevent that violation, he said, means the state is responsible. >> we chose to be together. >> yeah. >> but we were allowed. there's a difference. >> reporter: but no, no, no, i mean i -- are you three? >> what do you mean? >> reporter: that's what little kids say to their parents. you let me do a bad thing. it's your fault. >> no, i didn't say they let us do a bad thing. i said they let us sleep and hang out at the same spot. and they did. beside what anybody believes -- >> reporter: you're gonna parse that argument? >> i -- until the day i die because i know for a fact it's true. >> reporter: what i wanna know is -- because that's on you, what was goin' on in your head to make you want to do it? to participate in whatever way you participated, to get whatever thrill you -- what was the thrill? what was it? >> i don't think there was a thrill. >> well, if there's no thrill, why'd you do it? >> there's no thrill in watching women die like that. but i'm gonna go back to it again and again. it was my anger issues that i

happened while we were on parole and probation. >> reporter: we may never know exactly why jarrae was killed, or martha, or josephine or kianna. but there's one more mystery hiding somewhere in this mountain. the final mystery. >> an angel whose job isn't done. >> he looks at me and he goes you're missing one.

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>> reporter: four mothers, four dead daughters. there is sorrow, of course. >> when they killed her, they killed me. >> reporter: and a measure of solidarity to have each other, especially priscilla and herlinda. >> now that we know what's happened to our daughters, i know sh -- we will still be friends until the end. because she's walking in the same shoes i am. >> reporter: we ask them about julissa trapp. >> this case was solved because of her. >> to me, she's an angel in

disguise. an angel that carries a badge and a gun. >> reporter: their own guardian angel, who brought all of them answers. but how, the moms wonder, did two men who were supposed to be under supervision by parole officers -- who were being tracked in real time via gps ankle bracelets -- how could they have committed the terrible crimes they were charged with? how could this happen? >> how can this happen? why were they not being monitored? >> reporter: but -- >> but it was definitely a hard question to get from the mothers themselves as well. why wasn't it caught sooner? >> reporter: jarrae's mother jodi sued the california department of corrections and rehabilitation, claiming it failed to adequately monitor gordon and cano. the state denied the claims, asked the court to dismiss them, and raised various defenses. jodi also sued the u.s.

probation. both cases are pending, but the administration office of the u.s. court did publish a report that said the federal probation officers followed policies and procedures. >> reporter: as for detective trapp, there was one last mystery to solve. because when she first talked to steven gordon, he revealed something she wasn't expecting. >> he looks at me and he goes, "you're missing one." which caught me off guard, and i tried not to show too much emotion. and i said, "okay." and that was the first time i learned about jane doe, was from him. >> reporter: jane doe. according to gordon, there was a fifth victim. >> did she say where she was from? >> she said she was from compton. >> i feel a responsibility, 'cause jane doe is not a missing person. she's -- she's an unknown. and i feel like if i don't look for her, who

i know there is a family out there, wondering where she is. >> reporter: and so she looked. she combed through missing persons reports, she put up flyers, searched, prayed, and yes, bought another rosary. why is it so important to give jane doe a name to you, personally? >> i -- i just think because she's so helpless. you're on the street, you're working as a prostitute and you run into steve gordon and franc cano and your last hours on this earth are horrific. and then they discard you like trash. >> reporter: trash. detective trapp is still haunted by trash. and that keeps bringing her mind back here. >> even though it is a landfill, i mean, it is quite peaceful when it's quiet.

>> reporter: somewhere under here, in addition to kianna, josephine, and martha, there was victim number five. and so detective trapp worked her sources until she had a name. it would be reasonable to say, "okay, that's her." >> absolutely. logically, yes, absolutely. >> reporter: and yet, when we spoke with her back in january, she couldn't quite bring herself to tell yet another mother her suspicions. >> i -- not only have to go tell her she's dead, i have to tell her that she's one of these girls. so that's -- that's gonna be hard, i think. >> reporter: out here with us, she seemed to be willing herself, pulling strength from the jane doe herself. >> i think in her own way, she'll help me. she'll help me. i don't think she wants to be jane doe forever. >> reporter: and then, just a few weeks ago, she let us know. she'd called on the fifth mother

and delivered the news. that sable pickett, just 19 years old, crossed paths with gordon and cano on the streets of orange county, and did not survive. no charges are pending for her murder, but another family can finally stop wondering. homicide detectives often tell us they work for the dead. up here on landfill mountain, we understood that a little better. as detective julissa trapp gripped her rosary -- the one for sable -- we walked away. gave her time. and our microphone picks up something. >> hail mary, full of grace, god is with thee. >> reporter: mountains of trash, things we use and cast away. but for detective julissa trapp, this will always be hallowed ground. >> it's hard to look at that and know it's where you ended

and i know you are in a better place, and i know that you're together and you're helping each other. you can rest now. i can take it from here.

hit-and-run and an unimaginable phone call. new details about how the victim's family learned she died. muscle