Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20200420

Somebody is after those doctors. Four teed are dead because of somebodys vengeance. Revenge, thats your motive . Thats our motive. It sent shockwaves right away. No fingerprints, no bloody finger prints. Next thing you know were figuring out whats going on. Tape on your fingers, walk to the location. He said they had it coming. Where is he going . What is he going to do . You want real life . Youre getting real life. Oh, god, what hell do we have here . Winter on the great plains can be long, bleak, and brutal. So in march, when winter briefly releases its grip for a day or two, even the trees seem to raise their limbs in celebration. March 13, 2008 was one of those days of cautious jubilation in omaha, nebraska. 61 degrees, and a light, velvety breeze. 11yearold tom hunter wore shorts and a t hirt to school that thursday. It was a little after 3 00 when tom, seen here on a security camera, got off the bus in the leaf y dunldy neighborhood and headed home to play video games as he did nearly every day. It was be hours before toms father returned home. But the house was not empty. 57yearold cheryly sherman, who scrubbed and polished the hunter home on thursdays, was still there. By sunset. Tom and Shirley Sherman would be dead, murdered by a killer who was just Getting Started whochlt did it and why were questions that would take omaha detectives all over north america, and would take more than five years to answer. This one stood out. Obviously, because of the brutality for one. Detective derek moyes was working 3 00 to 11 00 that day. The call came from dr. Women hunter. Dr. Hunter had some home and found Shirley Hunter and his son deceased and called 911. Anything unusual about that call . There wasnt a lot of emotion shown. But he is a doctor, a pathologist, and hes dean a lot of death. It was, i think to use a word, clinical. The detective and his partner were immediately dispatched to the hunters stately home in dundy. Nice part of town . It is. Its an older neighborhood. Very quiet. Its not a place where we have a lot of Violent Crime occur in our city. He still remembers the coppery scent of blood that hit him when he stepped across the threshold of the hunter home. Theres a heavy, metallic kind of humidity in the air almost. You almost feel its presence. Theres a lot of it, and there was a lot of it at the hunter household. To the left of the front door, in the dining room off the main hallway lay the body of the boy, tom hunter. Hes lying on his face, hands down at his side. There was a fair amount of blood around his head. And down the hall, the body of the housekeeper, Shirley Sherman. Found laying face down, a lot amount of blood underneath her. Stainless Steel Kitchen knife protruding from her neck. Both victims killed in the same way, and oddly enough, there were no signs of struggle, no fingerprints, no bloody foot prints. Was this person careful or just very lucky . Could be both. It its not like tv. Not every crime scene is gonna yield fingerprints. Not every crime scene is gonna yield dna, or trace hairs, or those types of things. Anything stolen . Didnt appear to be, no. Reporter in fact, the only things out of place were the knives. The knives came from inside the house. They did. Unusual for a killer to show up planning to do murder and also planning to find the murder weapon at the crime scene . Not necessarily. Reporter by all accounts, dr. Hunter was still in a state of shock when police took him downtown for questioning. When i came in, shirlee was right there in the hallway between the back door and the front foyer. So the first thing i you know, i just said, wheres tom . I think i yelled, tom. Do you have any idea who or why somebody would do Something Like this . Honestly, ive been just racking my brain. I mean, i we live a peaceful existence, uh, almost ridiculously simple. Reporter dr. William hunter, known as bill to friends and colleagues, ran the Pathology Residency Program at nearby Creighton University. His wife, claire, also a doctor at creighton, was in hawaii that day attending a conference. Her husband had to break the awful news to her from the police station. How is your wife . Crushed . Is she going to be okay . She has a work mate thats with her. So shes not alone . No. Thats thats thats good. Reporter the hunters had four boys, two grown, one in college and tom. Jeff, a student at the university of nebraska in lincoln at the time lived closest. He says it was about 8 00 that night when he happened to check his phone. I had all these missed calls from friends, family. So obviously i knew something was up, and i couldnt get a hold of my dad, couldnt get a hold of my mom. One of my friends called me, and he told me to call my brother. It was your older brother. Yeah. What did he say had happened . Just somebody killed tom, and i need to go find my dad, talk to my dad, get to omaha. How long a drive is that . Its, like, 45 minutes. Reporter those miles between lincoln and omaha seemed longer than usual that night. Its hard for jeff to remember exactly what happened when he got home, who told him what or when. That whole thing is a blur. I didnt sleep at all that night. Next thing you know, youre constantly trying to figure out whats going on. You lived in that same house in which this all happened, right . Yes, whole life. Reporter now jeffs mind was filled with thoughts of what had happened there and of his brother, tom, who was eight years younger. He was kind of a smart aleck. He, you know he was growing up with three older brothers. He he was a smart kid. He knew a lot. And he just, i mean, he always had something to say for everything. What was he up to in his life then . He went to a Science Magnet Middle School elementary combined with a middle school, and he really liked science. He was always outside playing. So that was his big thing. Well, he was a big gamer, wasnt he . He was. But more times than not, he would be outside with neighborhood kids. Reporter but it wasnt the neighborhood kids that fascinated the cops. Tom had a lot of friends hed never actually met in real life. They were people he knew from the anonymous world of Online Gaming. It was those relationships that detectives wanted to know more about. Coming up the investigation begins. Does he play around on chat rooms or anything like that that you might be nervous about . Curious conversations online. He interacted with people all over the u. S. Thomas hunter was 11 years old. Did he disclose that in his gaming activities . No. Sometimes he portrayed himself as older. A mysterious stranger and another murder. We had knives used from her residence in her murder. Where would this winding trail of clues lead . Do you have any patients upset with you . It sent shockwaves right away. When dateline continues. Fda approved to prevent infections that cause lyme disease. Nexgard. What one little chew can do. Stop dancing around the pain that keeps you up again, and again. Advil pm silences pain, and you sleep the whole night. Advil pm dimitris on it. Eating right. And getting those steps in . On it dimitri thinks hes doing all he can to manage his type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is his treatment doing enough to lower his heart risk . Maybe not jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. So it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. And it lowers a1c jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. 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Everywhere. I heard there guwere fleas out here. R . And ttttticks and mosquitoooooooooooes listen up, scaredy cats. We all have k9 advantix ii to protect us. It kills and repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes, too. When a stuffy nose closes in. whimper breathe right strips open your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. deep breath breathe better, sleep better. Breathe right. Reporter the hunter house was eerily still when detectives arrived. The only sound, music from a video game in the basement, which seemed to add a haunting soundtrack to the violent and disturbing scene. It had appeared that thomas was in the process of playing an online game on his xbox and could see he had his pop and his chips in front of a chair right in front of the tv probably like a lot of kids after School Every Day and the game itself had timed out but the music was playing kind of ominously in the background. Reporter during bill hunters interview with police investigators, they got straight to the point. Does he play around on chatrooms or anything that you might be nervous about . I mean, i dont know. Hes on, his the only chatroom that i know hes on is whyville. Reporter whyville, it turns out, is a Popular Online game and chatroom that attracts preteens. That wasnt all. Toms xbox, which allowed him to play and speak to other gamers online was a concern. Detectives wondered, if tom might have inadvertantly come into contact with an internet predator. We knew that he had a number of contacts and friends online through not only his xbox but his personal computers as well. And those people are essentially in many cases anonymous. To some extent, yeah, they are. So, they might be kids, or they might just be saying theyre kids. Correct. And thats what we would come to find out, that he interacted with people all over the u. S. In some cases outside of the u. S. Through these interactive sites. Did you or anybody in your family ever worry that tommy was meeting people online or just talking to people online through the gaming community, people maybe you didnt know about . That didnt really come up till after the fact when we started thinking maybe that was something that could have happened. But prior, no. And you didnt know who those people were and he didnt either. No. Reporter detectives determined tom hunter had interacted with close to 50 people online on a regular basis. Thomas hunter was 11 years old. Did he disclose that in his gaming activities . No. In fact, in some instances, we would come to find out that he portrayed himself as somebody who was older. Which in turn could end up play nothing this. Yeah, absolutely. Reporter it would take months to track down toms online contacts. More pressing was what detectives were hearing from the neighbors. Several said they had seen a stranger walking near the hunter home late that afternoon. Tell me about the person neighbors described. An olivecomplected male who was heavyset dressed in a collared shirt. Some describe a jacket, possibly like an illfitting suit with a shoulder bag. And several people would correlate that individual to a silver honda crv. They identified the actual make of car . Yes. That all seems pretty helpful. Very. The same individuals would describe that that vehicle was missing a front plate. But they would describe the rear plate as kind of a white background with dark lettering and kind of describe a multiplecolored sunset or kind of a pastel sunset. So its not a nebraska plate. Out of state is what our feeling was, yes. Reporter based on nieghbors descriptions, police produced this sketch and four days after the murders asked the public for help. We received hundreds of phone calls about people knowing somebody who resembled that sketch and each one of those leads had to be given some degree of consideration. Reporter reporter todd cooper covered the story for the omaha world herald. Dundee is a nice neighborhood in omaha. Its an affluent area. Doctors and others. Not mansions but stately homes. Crime like this doesnt happen in dundee. And so it sent shockwaves right away. More about the computer use reporter while the murders in dundee dominated the news, investigators were taking a second look at a less publicized crime. Months earlier, there had been another murder not far from dundee. In this one, an elderly female had been bludgeoned and stabbed in the neck. We had knives that were used from her residence in her murder. So, we had similarities in that weapons were taken from her home and used against her and left at the scene. But you had somebody you liked for that. The detectives that investigated that case had identified a suspect very early on. Somebody who was a Family Member of hers whom she had had a falling out with. And who didnt seem to have any connection with the hunters. None whatsoever. Reporter there comes a time in every Homicide Investigation where detectives have to focus on the victims family and friends. As far as the detectives knew, the hunters were a well respected family. Anything come out about the hunters that you didnt know . Gambling problems . Family problems . No. There wasnt some gigantic ghost in the closet that made us think, oh, well, there is our motive right there. Nothing like that. Reporter since bill and Claire Hunter were both doctors at creightion, he a pathologist, she a cardiologist, detectives wondered if someone at the hospital might have had a motive to harm them. Do you have any patients that are upset with you . Not as far as i know. Honestly. How about your wife . I dont know. I mean, usually not. Reporter everyone handles grief differently. After their youngest son was murdered in their home, the hunters seemed to want nothing more than to be left alone. Were kind of a private family, so were not too keen on talking with media. Reporter on the other hand the family of Shirlee Sherman, the other dundee victim, desperately wanted to keep the case in the public eye. We wanted the publicity. You really wanted this to be solved . Yeah. Oh, yeah. Hell, yeah. Reporter they had their own ideas about who the killer might be, and the more they talked, the more detectives wondered if perhaps Shirlee Sherman had actually been the intended target. Coming up at one point in time, she was thinking about getting a retraining order. A secret in the sherman family. She hated him because of what he was doing to me. And a new person of interest. Immediately theres a buzz. Could it be him . Like, could it have been him . When dateline continues. A , you dont have to. 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Reporter as a Building Contractor brad waite spends a lot of time in his truck. Hes haunted by the possibility that at the very moment his sister, Shirlee Sherman, was being murdered in march 2008, he was driving by, close enough, perhaps, to have heard her scream. I basically almost drove by hunters house, and so it would have been at 4 00 that afternoon. Id had no idea shirlee was working there that day. Reporter later that night, brad says he heard about the two murders in dundee on the 10 00 news. Even then he says he didnt know his sister was a victim. That news came later, in a phone call from his brother, dan. Danny called me. It was at 11 at 11 30 that night and told me what happened. Reporter dan waite says from that night on, the word housekeeper has been used as shorthand for shirlee as if her job defined her. Theyre always calling her the housekeeper, and its she was only there for a couple hours every couple weeks or a week, you know. Reporter to her brothers dan and brad, shirlee was big sis. The family glue after their parents divorced when they were young. She was the one that organized everything. She would call you before somebodys birthday and she would say you know it someones birthday thursday, or she would get everybody to go in on gifts or she would help with the shopping and that aspect of it is you just dont realize it until its gone. Reporter for shirlees children, kelly and jeff, she was the single mom who often worked two jobs and stretched every dollar to make ends meet. We were one of the poorest families in the neighborhood. My mom worked bartending in the evening, cleaned houses during the day. Gardening was her specialty. Whatd she grow . Everything. Eggplant, tomatoes, five different varieties. Feeding me was probably expensive so shed make her own spaghetti sauce. She canned her own cucumbers and made pickles out of them. Reporter after a lifetime of hard work on her hands and knees, jeff and kelly say their mom had cut back. The hunters were among the few clients she had left. So, she wanted to clean just a couple houses that would allow her to pick up the grandkids from school in the afternoons and spend time with them. Reporter spending time with the grandkids, it turns out, was relatively easy to do. She lived right next door to me. So you saw her all the time . Every day. And she talked me into buying this house so she could see her grandchildren. Reporter the situation was convenient, but kelly says it was hard to have any privacy. Her mother knew everything, who came, who went and who stayed the night, and now the plot thickens. I was dating a married guy. Let me guess. Your mom didnt approve . No, not at all. We had an explosive relationship. Meaning . Meaning things got broke. Reporter kelly says that relationship became so tempestuous, so difficult that shirlee got involved and actively tried to keep the boyfriend away. At one point in time she was thinking about getting a restraining order, mainly for my daughters sake. She would tell me, he cant come over. And i would sneak him in. One time she come walkin around my house with a hammer in her hand and saying, i want his blood on this hammer. She hated him that bad because of what he had been doing to me. Reporter in spite of that, kelly stuck with the man, got pregnant and had a baby with him. And it got uglier from there. She actually started the process of getting my house out of my name. So that she could keep him out of the house . Right. Reporter after shirlee died, what had been a very private and embarrassing family feud became fodder for public speculation. Todd cooper, the reporter, says that starting on day one, kellys boyfriend was a person of interest. Immediately the name of the boyfriend of Shirlee Shermans daughter came up. There was a buzz. Could it be him . Like could it have been him . Coming up we just kept waiting and waiting, but that question was foremost on everybodys mind, who could have done this . Another potential suspect. His name came up again and again. A doctor under the microscope. He had had some trouble during his time at Creighton University. He was just a little bit more boisterous about his perceived treatment by some of the staff there. When dateline continues. The only allergy product with relief of your worst symptoms, including itchy throat. Plus an immediate blast of cooling sensation. Feel the clarity and live claritin clear. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. When a stuffy nose closes in. whimper breathe right strips open your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. deep breath breathe better, sleep better. Breathe right. 17 people are dead in a mass shooting in nova scotia. A Police Officer and a suspected gunman are among those killed in what police are calling the deadliest shooting in the countrys history. Nearly 60 of American Voters support the continuation of stay at home restrictions according to an nbc wall street poll. Now back to dateline. Reporter by late spring 2008, 2 months after the murders in dundee, detectives had powered through and eliminated nearly all of their early leads in that case. The boyfriend of shirlees daughter, the man who looked like such a good suspect on paper, seemed to have a solid alibi. According to time sheets, he was working at the time of the murders. He was fairly cooperative, and i think we were comfortable putting him aside, and we didnt have anything that would lead us to believe that he would know where she was that day and that he was in that area on the date that those crimes occurred. Reporter the composite sketch generated leads and exactly zero suspects. There wasnt anything that you could correlate to the actual perpetrator or the crime scene that day. Reporter as for tom hunters Online Gaming contacts, detectives deciphered the ip addresses and anonymous screen names and tracked down those people. And as far as you knew, he never met any of those people in real life. Correct. Reporter turns out none of those online contacts was anywhere near omaha on the day of the murders. The detectives were making progress. But reporter todd cooper says the nervous citizens of omaha had no way of knowing that. All good Police Departments are pretty good at keeping that information close to the vest. We just kept waiting and waiting. But that question was foremost on everybodys mind. Who could have done this . Reporter detectives returned to the theory that either dr. Bill hunter or his wife dr. Claire hunter might have been the intended victim. Between the two of them, they figured, bill hunters position at creighton made him the more likely target. He basically oversaw all the students that were going through this pathology Training Program at Creighton University. And if there was disciplinary action to take, he would be the individual, among others, you know, to have a direct impact on those students lives. Reporter so, potentially a lot of suspects there. Potentially yes. Reporter so, the detective went to the Pathology Department at creighton and started asking questions. Were there any individuals interacting with these folks at the time this occurred that you believe could be responsible for whatever reason . If there is a potential motive, what do you think it might be . Reporter the detective says one name kept coming up, dr. Michael belenky. How many times did you hear the name Michael Belenky . I cant give you an Accurate Answer as how many. But his name came up again and again. Reporter dr. Belenky was a former resident whod left the Pathology Program and threatened to sue creighton a year before the murders at dr. Hunters home. He had had some trouble during his time at Creighton University, but they werent unlike other peoples troubles. But he was just a little bit more boisterous about his i guess his perceived treatment by Creighton University and some of the staff there. Reporter dr. Belenky told detectives hed been working in pittsburgh on the day of the dundee murders. Pittsburghs like 900 miles from omaha, so correct. Youre not driving that in a day. Correct. Reporter presumably youre not doing that without air travel. Right. We knew he was on the schedule. I believe we knew he had logged into his email account at that facility that day. But nobody actually saw him at work. Right. But there was nothing to show that he was anywhere other than there. Reporter which is not an ironclad alibi, but its not bad. Its not bad. And sometimes thats just the reality of our work. Reporter that seemed to be the end of the line. Dr. Belenky had been the investigators last best lead. Unwilling to see the case go cold, Shirlee Shermans family pooled their money and offered a reward. There were a number of contributions. I think there were some other people contributing as well. Reporter which made it how big . 50,000. Reporter so it was 50,000 in all counting everybodys contributions . Yeah. We actually wanted it at 100,000. But they wouldnt allow that cause they thought it would be a bounty, which it was, in my opinion. Reporter when the reward failed to produce a break in the case, they hired a private investigator. Part of the motivation of doing that was, were going to send a signal. Were not going to let it cold case. Reporter you saw it becoming a cold case . Well, we felt it was becoming that way. Reporter in the end, the private eye found nothing that the detectives hadnt already studied and discounted. A year after the murders in dundee, the case went cold and most of the detectives moved on to other things. But for the families of Shirlee Sherman and tom hunter, there could be no moving on. Howd you see your dad change . It wasnt like he was depressed all the time or he was himself. It just, there was obviously something kind of, like, you can always see behind someones eyes that theres something there troubling them. And i think we all had that. Reporter five dreadful anniversaries came and went. The dead were still inexplicably dead, and the case was still unsolved. But through it all, the detective says he stayed in touch with the hunter and sherman families. You kind of hear their frustrations when they call, and they want updates. And they want to be kind of kept in the loop. But, you know, as investigators, you kind of you cant give them what theyre looking for answers from you that you cant give them, you know . Reporter tough for you guys, too, because im sure you want to keep working on this. Meanwhile yes. Reporter your boss is saying, heres another case. And another one. And another one. Yeah. And thats why it went to the cold case unit. Reporter and thats how it stayed until may of 2013. The breakthrough moment came in brutal form, yet another double homicide in omaha. For detectives whod been at the hunter home five years earlier, this one felt uncomfortably familiar. It was like, oh, my gosh. This could very easily be related to the dundee homicides. Coming up it was a jolt of electricity and a big hit of deja vu. You could see the female victim lying in the living room. There was clear there had been a struggle there from all of the blood. This was just a lightning bolt. This was a fight, a violent encounter. Had the elusive dundee killer struck again . This is the same guy. This is the same perpetrator, yes. Thats a pretty wig big moment. It was chilling. When dateline continues. 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And one of the movers noted a stainless steel handgun magazine lying in the doorway. And they felt that that was of some concern since they werent getting any answer from the residents to contact 911. Reporter when detective mois and his partner stepped inside they found the body of an older man on the floor. The victim had multiple gunshot wounds and a deep stab wound to the right side of his neck. Off to the left you could see the female victim lying in the living room, a large area of blood. It was very clear that there had been a struggle there from all of the blood that was apparent and where it was located on the walls and so forth. Reporter her arms and hands were covered with defensive wounds, and there was a deep gash on the right side of her neck. Beside her lay two kitchen knives. For derek mois and his partner, it was a jolt of electricity and a big hit of deja vu. We were like, this is something here. We have, you know, it would seem a connection. Reporter this is the same guy. This is the same perpetrator, yes. Reporter thats a pretty big moment. It was, very. Reporter just as before, nothing was stolen, and the killer left no fingerprints or bloody footprints behind. But these victims had obviously put up a fight. The additional gun parts found near the front door and the nine millimeter gun clip with nine bullets remaining seemed to be proof of that. What do you make of the gun parts in the doorway . What it told me was that there had been a struggle for that gun. Why would that magazine be ejected from the gun . That shouldnt happen in the course of normal firing of a handgun, but it made sense if youre struggling over that gun. Reporter this is not a faulty gun. This is a fight over control this is a fight. It was a violent struggle, a violent encounter. Reporter the victims looked as if they had been dead for a day or two. Detectives still didnt know who they were. But as they stepped outside, headquarters called. One of our sergeants was doing research on who the homeowners to that location were. And she had identified roger brumback, a doctor at Creighton University and was employed within the Pathology Department. So now we have a second victim from the same office and the same specific pathology Training Program that we had in the 2008 case. Reporter dr. Brumback would have been a colleague of dr. Hunters. Yes. Reporter no question they would have known each other. No question. Reporter it had been more than five years since the killings in dundee. But the creighton connection was lost on no one, least of all the families of the 2008 victims Shirlee Sherman and tom hunter. We saw it on the news and these people say it was dr. Roger brumback was head of the Pathology Department at Creighton University. Whoa. I recognized that name right away. And the fact that it was another pathologist from creighton killed with a knife, i automatically assumed it was related. Reporter roger and mary roger brum blak wasnt just any pathologist, he was the head of the department. In researching their final hours, reporter todd cooper learned the couple had last been heard from at about 2 00 p. M. On mothers day. One of the first things we found out about was the facetime conversation between both brumbacks and their daughter. And they were roaring with laughter at one point. So much that the daughter took a screenshot of the conversation. Thats the kind of stuff that humanizes this, that makes you realize that this was just a lightning bolt in the middle of an otherwise normal mothers day. Reporter carol brumback, rogers sister, also spoke with her brother that afternoon. Then two days later, a Family Member broke the awful news. Well, he said, roger and mary were murdered. And i said i said i said, what are you talking about . And he said, they were murdered. Reporter what goes through your mind . You know, i had no idea. I had no idea, you know, what had happened. Reporter carol couldnt imagine who might want to kill her brother. Although well off, she says he and mary had lived modestly. Tell me about his marriage to mary. I just knew it was a match made in heaven. And they seemed happy . They were absolutely happened. Mary did a lot of editing for a lot of his publications. Before the murders, roger announced he would be retiring in june. He and mary planned to move back east. In fact, thats why the piano movers had come to the house that morning. Now, a town known for its steaks and Insurance Companies was once again buzzing with talk of murder. And there was absolutely no doubt at that point who was being targeted. It was chilling, just this sinking feeling of oh, man, he truck again. Coming up he made comments like he was glad dr. Brumback was dead. A new look at an old suspect. She called our office and said are you guys going to need to talk to me again . And a few target . We have two crimes, and potentially there would have been another. Know this, Law Enforcement is doing everything to solve these crimes. Was another doctor in the cross hairs . When dateline continues. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. Frontline plus. And 24 hour relief from symptoms caused byn. Over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. Like those from buddy. Because nothing should come between two best friends. Feel the clarity, and live claritin clear. Who knows where that button is . I dont have silent. Everyone does right up here. It happens to all of us. We buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. What i do is help new homeowners overcome this. What is that, an adjustable spanner . Good choice, steve. Okay, dont forget youre not assisting him. You hired him. If you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. Who else reads books about submarines . My dad. Yeah. 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You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 12 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Reporter sometimes detective work is a lot like shooting pool. You play all the angles. Make the easy ones first and save the money ball for last. In the case of the omaha killings, the basic facts stood out like bright balls on a billiard table. Two double homicides five years apart. Both in the homes of high ranking doctors in Creighton Universitys Pathology Department. Each victim stabbed through the carotid artery with medical precision. The next question . Well, that seemed about as obvious as the ten ball in the side pocket. The last best potential suspect in the 2008 murders was now top of mind for the 2013 case, dr. Michael belenky. But get this, before detectives could get around to looking him up, something truly astonishing happened. After the brumback murders, he called our office because he had heard about the murders and said, are you guys going to need to talk to me again . Reporter he called you . Uhhuh. I dont remember exactly what he said, but he made comments that he was glad dr. Brumback was dead. Reporter im glad hes dead . Yeah, he made a comment to that effect, yes. Reporter that almost sounds like somebodys boasting about this . It could be, yeah, and, again, the same detectives turned right back around and started going through the same process. Lets find out where dr. Belenky was on mothers day 2013. Reporter turns out dr. Belenky was living in the northwest, dividing his time between vancouver and Washington State at the time of the brumback murders. When detectives reinterviewed him, they wondered if they were missing something. Could their primary person of interest have somehow slipped in and out of omaha undetected . Reporter any indication that he was in omaha . None. None. Reporter for his part, belenky told the cops he had nothing to do with the omaha killings, in fact, he denies ever saying he was glad dr. Brumback was dead. In the end detectives had to scratch dr belenky off their list. Back to the drawing board. If the suspect wasnt Michael Belenky, detectives figured it had to be someone else with creighton connections. We knew that we had to look at everybody in the Pathology Department, all of the staff, everybody there. Reporter that means there are, what, maybe a thousand, a couple thousand persons of interest all going in Different Directions . Yeah. Reporter four days after the brumback murders, this investigation got one more jolt. Another pathology professor from crieghton reported that around 2 19 p. M. On mothers day someone had tried to force their way into her house, setting off the burglar alarm. Fortunately, dr. Channda bewtra and her husband were out for a mothers day lunch at the time. Of course, because of her position, again, we go right back to Creighton University and specifically right back to the pathology Training Program, we believe that incident as well could be related. It made that theory of ours even stronger. That now we have two crimes, and potentially there wouldve been another had they been home. Reporter this is what dr. Bewtra told nbc affiliate wowttv. We get there, there was no damage. Nothing was missing. Everything was as it was. Reporter a week after the brumback murders, omaha police chief Todd Schmaderer named a special task force, dedicated to solving all four murders. I understand the fear and uneasiness in our community right now. I could feel it this morning when i spoke to employees of Creighton University and Legion Health creighton hospital. Please know this, Law Enforcement is doing everything in our power to solve these crimes. That tank force consisted of homicide detectives, agents with the fbi from our local omaha office assigned, and investigators with the nebraska state patrol. Reporter so, this is a fullcourt press . Yes. Reporter so, investigators, once again, dove into the creighton personnel files looking for someone else who might have harbored a grudge against doctors hunter, brumback and bewtra. Youd already been down this road before. And youd looked back, what, a couple of years . Yeah. Now what was different is we were going to go back and pull the records from i believe we started in 2000 to 2013. Reporter how many of you were sitting there reading files . There were 21 of us assigned to the tank force, and i think at some juncture almost all of the detectives would get assigned files from creighton. Reporter in those personnel files were several names that looked promising. Those who were nowhere near omaha on mothers day were eliminated, but a couple of weeks after the brumback killings, detective mois says, his boss handed him a threering binder from 2001. This one was thicker than the rest. And what i took away after reading that file from front to back was that, in my mind, there was enough information contained in that file that it made a very real possibility that there was a motive to want to harm dr. Hunter, dr. Brumback or dr. Bewtra by that individual. Somebodys gone to war against the creighton Pathology Department. It would appear that way. And the person waging that war . The detective believed it was a doctor named dr. Garcia. He was a resident in the program . Correct. And dismissed . Terminated. Because . Of unprofessional conduct toward another resident. Any of the doctors involved in all of them. But his termination letter was signed by dr. Hunter and dr. Brumback. Before arriving at creighton, it seemed Anthony Garcia had been well on his way to achieving the American Dream. From a working class background in southern california, he finished medical school and embarked on what should have been a long and lucrative career. But for some reason, his life began to be lit in large measure by the bridges he burned along the way. He had been dismissed from other residency programs. Fired from some jobs. And several states had denied him a medical license. It would appear every time he would apply for a place of employment or a license as a physician in another state, Creighton University would get notification and get a request to verify his time that he had spent there. And creighton would respond, yeah, he was here. He was dismissed. He didnt do a good job. Right. Is soz that kept coming back to haunt him. How many times did that happen . Seven or eight different times. To the detective, professional failure and the need for revenge could be a motive. Now he needed to know if garcia had the means to commit murder. We have records of dr. Garcia purchasing a weapon before the brumback mudders. New information and more fears. Were more creighton colleagues in jeopardy. You felt an urgency to arrest him. Yes. We knew he was a real danger to anybody he could have perceived that wronged him on some level. When dateline continues. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief we waste up to 20 gallons of water every time we prerinse lets skip the rinse. New finish quantum with activeblu technology, designed to clean without prerinsing. Switch to finish and skip the rinse to save water. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 12 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. There is something about the openness of the nebraska landscape. That fosters a feeling of innocence, of simpler, safer times. In may 2013, a double homicide in the home of an omaha doctor changed all of that. It was the second time in five years that a doctor from Creighton Universitys Pathology Department had apparently been targeted for murder. In 2008, the victims were dr. William hunters 11yearold son, tom, and his housecleaner Shirlee Sherman. The latest victims were dr. Roger brumback and his wife mary. And at 2 19 p. M. , on the day the brumbacks were last known to be alive someone had tried to break into the home of a third creighton pathologist, dr. Channda bewtra. Now the detectives were on the trail of another physician. This one with a possible motive for murder. In 2001, dr. Anthony garcia had been left go from the Creighton University Pathology Department for unprofessional conduct. Garcia had since moved to indiana. So the detective called the Indiana State Police. The indiana tate police came back that day and said we have records of dr. Garcia purchasing specifically a smith and wesson sd9 9 mill neater eimeter shore the murders. The magazine you found in the home would fit that weapon . Yeah. Now he needed to know whether Anthony Garcia was in omaha on mothers day 2013. With little to go on, the detective followed the money. I wanted to find out where he had active credit cards and banking accounts. And he found an answer, a credit card issued to Anthony Garcia had been used twice in the omaha area on mothers day 2013. The first charge was at around 12 30 p. M. At Caseys General store just outside omaha. This is store video of garcia buying beer. The second was two hours later, at a chicken joint in west omaha called the wing stop. The wing stop is about a mile from dr. Bewtras home. I was able to get a receipt for that that showed it at 2 26. Well, i knew that dr. Bewtras alarm on her house had gone off at 2 19. And that was about a mile away from the restaurant. So your thinking is he tries to get into the bewtra house. He cant do it. Correct. He leaves, maybe knowing he set off the burglar alarm, drives about a mile to this wing restaurant and he makes a purchase, and we would come to find out that while he was sitting at that location, he was searching for where dr. Brumback resided. Reporter based on those factors, investigators became convinced Anthony Garcia was their man. You felt some urgency to arrest dr. Garcia quickly. Yes. Because . We knew that he was a very real danger to anybody that he could have perceived that had wronged him on some level, and we also had learned through those search warrants by the Indiana State Police that shortly after he returned to terra haute after the brumback homicides, that he had purchased another firearm, another handgun. Reporter in july 2013, investigators were ready to make their move. One team of detectives was sent to indiana to arrest Anthony Garcia. Another flew to california to simultaneously search his parents home. It was all supposed to be a coordinated operation, but on the morning of the planned arrest, the indiana team suddenly discovered their suspect had put them behind the eight ball. Coming up, manhunt. Their hope was in the morning he would get up and go home and we could grab him there. But that morning, of course, when the fbi agents got up, he, again, was on the move. Theyre going 100 miles an hour. Would the man who eluded investigators for five yeergs slip away again . When dateline continues. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. All the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. Frontline plus. Oh, thats a good one. Wait, whats that . Thats just the lowbattery warning. Oh, alright. Now its all, check out my rv, and, lets go fourwheeling. Maybe theres a little part of me that wanted to be seen. Well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. So theyve got other things to do now, bigfoot. Wait, whatd you just call me . Bigfoot . My name is daryl. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. 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Roger brumback and his wife mary were murdered in their home, omaha detectives flew to indiana, ready to make an arrest. Their target was a former creighton med school resident, dr. Anthony garcia. The detectives had arranged to have a s. W. A. T. Team and forensic technicians on hand in terre haute when they made the arrest at garcias home. But once their plane landed, that plan changed. After we landed in indianapolis on sunday afternoon and turned our phones back on, we would observe that all of a sudden, dr. Garcias cell phone is no longer in terra haute, and he was mobile, and he was traveling south through illinois, which gave us obviously some concern. Because you thought he was headed where . Well, we didnt know exactly. It was possible that that he would return the next day. So, we kind of put our plans on hold, hoping that he would return to his residence and we would effect his arrest at his residence. Reporter fortunately, two fbi agents whod been working with the task force were closer to illinois. They eventually found garcia at a hotel off the interstate. Our hope was that in the morning he would get up and go home, and we could grab him there. But that morning, of course, when the fbi agents got up, he again was on the move and headed south. They missed him. They missed him. And now hes truly in the wind. Yes. Reporter reporter todd cooper would later learn that for three hours all agents had to go on were pings every thirty minutes from garcias cell phone. They were going 100 miles an hour. The next ping comes in a half hour later, and hes behind them. So, now we uturn, and we speed back, and theyre scanning the southbound lanes, and they finally find him tucked in behind a semi. And, you know, the wave of relief that must have come over them. Reporter with the help of Illinois State troopers, garcia was finally pulled over. Although it was only 8 30 a. M. , he had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. The trooper said that his breath smelled of booze, and then when he went to had to relieve himself, that that smelled of booze, as well. Reporter garcia was arrested on the spot for driving under the influence. From his car police recovered a cell phone, a. 45 caliber pistol, 50 bullets, a crowbar and a sledgehammer. He told cops later that he was on a road trip to new orleans but had no luggage. And then the most chilling thing to me was in that backseat was an lsu lab coat and a stethoscope. Reporter investigators knew garcia had been fired from lsu shreveport in 2008. Was he on his way to confront doctors there . Only Anthony Garcia knows. He clammed up when omaha detectives tried to talk with him. We introduced ourselves as detectives from the Omaha Police Department and that we were investigating homicides in our jurisdiction, and mr. Garcia immediately asked for an attorney. Thats it . And thats it. I mean, at that point as an investigator, i cant continue questioning. Reporter later that afternoon, omaha police chief Todd Schmaderer stepped before the cameras to make the announcement that his city had been desperately waiting to hear. Arrested this morning was dr. Anthony Joseph Garcia for four counts of first degree murder and use of a weapon to commit the murders. Reporter for the families of roger and Mary Brumback of tom hunter and of Shirlee Sherman, the arrest was very welcome news. Im at walmart with my kids, and danny calls me and says, they made an arrest in the case. And i think i forgot about 20, 30 items on my grocery shoppin list cause i was, like, real happy. I just the carton, rushed out of the Grocery Store and wanted to go home and watch the news. Reporter with Anthony Garcias arrest, jeff hunter says he and his parents felt as if they could finally stop looking over their shoulders. I mean, for five years they were super paranoid because that i mean, for all we knew, for all i always thought about was someone was still trying to find my dad because that was always my hunch, that someone was after either my mom or dad. Reporter investigators dispatched to Anthony Garcias home in terre haute, indiana, saw the outward signposts of success. The house sat on a quiet street with a ferrari in the drive, but inside the house was practically empty. Bare rooms, bare closets and barely any food. In the living room, detectives found a table stacked with financial documents, mortgage information and insurance policies. Anthony garcia was broke, his home facing foreclosure. Well, it appeared to us that he had made some deliberate attempt to kind of lay things out so people could get his affairs in order. And we see those things as homicide investigators when you investigate suicides. So, wherever he was headed when you arrested him, maybe that was going to be his last journey anywhere. That was our thought, that that was going to be his end game. Reporter in addition to the documents taken from garcias home, investigators had to go through all the Data Collected from his electronic devices, cell phones, tablets, computers and his icloud account. You could see from his financial records that he was regularly going to alcohol stores, that he was spending a lot of time at gentlemens clubs in and around terra haute. He was not working regularly, so it looked to us collectively like his life was was falling apart. Reporter hardly what garcias parents had envisioned for their son when he was growing up in southern california. Anthony garcias father fred worked for the postal service. His mother estella, a nurse, had been born in mexico. It was a proud moment, they told reporters, when in 1999 the eldest of their three children graduated from medical school. Theres a great, poignant moment where Frederick Garcia and anthony pile his belongings, what little he has, in a rattley old van and drive across the country from california to upper state new york to start his medical career. How proud he must have been at that moment. Reporter what started as the American Dream was turning into something unthinkable. If convicted of murdering four people, dr. Anthony garcia, now 40 years old, faced the Death Penalty. His alleged motive, revenge for getting bad job recommendations. Coming up woke my wife up. We got a murder case and got to find a sitter for the kids. A husband and wife defense team. Big city lawyers with a few big surprises. There were so many other people with mean, motive and opportunity that could have committed this crime. When dateline continues. Happen every day. People are surprising themselves the moment they realize they can du more with less asthma. 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And hiphop. My bodys made of glitter and ill throw it in your face well, were doomed. The World Premiere is now in your home. A smooth jazz troll . I dont care for smooth jazz. We are following breaking news tonight. Police in nova scotia say a man disguised as an officer carried out the deadliest attack in the countrys history, killing 16 people. Storms are expected in parts of the south this morning. Heres a look at alabama on sunday after hail and high winds damaged homes. Alabama, mississippi, georgia and southern South Carolina will likely experience flash flooding. Now back to dateline. Reporter as the father of four, bob motta appreciates a placid night of slumber. But on tuesday, july 16th, 2013, he woke up at 4 00 a. M. Unable to sleep, the chicago area criminal attorney checked his office voicemail. Thats when he saw that someone from california had left him a message the guy starts out, well, my brother got arrested down in Southern Illinois for a dui. And im, like, dui . Im not driving down there for a dui. Within the next minute he says, but it sounds like what theyre actually arresting him for is murder, so then obviously my interest was piqued. Reporter it was a stroke of luck. Anthony garcias family had been cold calling lawyers looking for someone to defend anthony. Bob motta was the first to call back. It was 2 00 a. M. California time when he got Anthony Garcias brother on the phone. 30 minutes later, bob motta was retained to handle his first murder case. I go upstairs. I wake my wife up, who is my law partner, alison motta. And im, like, we got a murder case. We gotta get up and go to jackson county. You gotta find a sitter for the kids. Reporter when Anthony Garcias extradition hearing came up the next day, the mottas, mr. And mrs. Were seated at the defense table. You are basically consenting to the authorities from nebraska to take you back to that state to deal with these charges. Do you understand that . Absolutely understand. Im not going to answer any questions with regards to his state of mind at this point. Reporter the mottas brought in bobs father, robert motta sr. As cocounsel. Back in the 70s, the senior motta represented a clownturnedserialkiller named john wayne gacy. I had never tried a case with my dad, and hes towards the end of his career and hed always said to me, if you get a juicy murder, that give me a call. Ill try it with ya. And i called him half expecting him to be, like, nah, you know, im too old. I dont wanna do it. And he was onboard immediately, so this ended up being that case. That was that case, right. Reporter dr. Anthony garcia insisted that he was innocent. But the mottas were concerned that Extensive Press Coverage of the murders was giving potential jurors only one side of the story. They needed to hear that there were so many other people with means, motive, and opportunity that could have committed this crime that makes much more sense than somebody waiting 13 years to, you know, murder somebody that they knew for a very short period of time. Reporter in pretrial hearings, the mottas battled with prosecutors as if they were rival mma fighters. Todd cooper remembers being in the judges chambers one day when bob motta started shouting at prosecutors. There was a hearing where the mottas appeared by telephone, and he was shouting, screaming. The judge started pounding on the handset yelling, shut up. Shut up, into the into the microphone. I mean, that thats a pretrial hearing. I mean, we were seen as the chicago lawyers who came in, stormed in and, you know, outlaws. You know, they didnt like us at all. Might it be easier to just list the people in omaha that you did not offend . You know, feelings when it comes to a Death Penalty case just dont come into play at all. You know, i mean, any lawyer that says theyre worried about hurting peoples feelings when another human beings life is at stake, again, they should probably get out of the business. Reporter in the beginning, the mottas say Anthony Garcia was actively involved in his own defense. They say that changed over time as court delays stretched his time in pretrial isolation from months to years. Garcia lost a lot of weight and bob motta says his clients Mental Health deteriorated. The fact that he was in solitary confinement for 3 years, 23 hours a day, you know, mentally, no one can withstand that. Reporter prosecutors who were also concerned about garcias mental state asked the judge to order a lengthy psychiatric evaluation. In the end garcia was found competent to stand trial, and a date was set for april 2016. Then this story took a most unexpected turn. Thursday or friday before that monday start of jury selection, alison motta says to us and to two local tv stations, we have dna tests that prove that our guy was not at the huntersherman scene. Reporter alison motta spoke with wowttv via skype. Their physical evidence and their dna evidence establishes undeniably, unmistakably and without doubt that the murders were committed by two people and not Anthony Garcia. Reporter the claim was based on what the mottas believed to be a potential match between some unidentified dna found on Shirlee Shermans bandana and some dna taken from a suspect in another case. They are taking alleles from dna, bits and pieces, and coming up with a theory that never made it to trial, but she throws it out there on the eve of trial, and prosecutors are incensed, and it really chapped the judge. Reporter the judge took it as a clear attempt to send information to potential jurors that the states case was suspect. As a result the trial was postponed again, and the judge effectively kicked alison motta off the case. The judge denies her application to practice in the state of nebraska, very controversial move. It was just i spoke to the public, and that put, you know, information that couldve, you know, been information to potential jurors, and that violated the pretrial publicity rule. Reporter the mottas wanted to fight alisons removal, but what their client Anthony Garcia apparently wanted was a trial. When the mottas appealed over his objection, Anthony Garcia completely stopped talking with his own lawyers. Hed deteriorated mentally, coming into the trial to the extent where he really hadnt i mean, he didnt say one word to us. This guys mental state at that point was just gone. Reporter it was september 2016, eight years after the first of four omaha killings when dr. Anthony garcia finally got his day in court. On hand to see it were the victims families whod waited the longest. My main thing is i needed to see the man who did it and determine for myself if he did it. Coming up, the trial begins with a lucky break. All of a sudden you get handed the murder weapon. Yeah, that was a gift. And a bombshell witness, a former stripper with a revealing story. She said i only date bad boys. And i said, well, im a bad boy. When dateline continues. W. But when allergies attack, the excitement fades. Allegra helps you say yes with the fastest nondrowsy allergy relief and turning a half hearted yes, into an all in yes. Allegra. Live your life, not your allergies. Years after the murders of Thomas Hunter, Shirlee Sherman, and roger and Mary Brumback, Anthony Garcia finally faced a jury. There to witness it all, friends and family of the victims. Thomas hunters mom Claire Hunter, who had been staying out of the public eye, and Shirlee Shermans brother dan were two of the first people outside the courtroom. Its been eight years. You know . Its been going on for a long time. A lot of this stuffs a blur. Reporter Douglas County attorneys don kleine and Brenda Beadle had been prepping this case for more than three years. You prosecuted all four murders. Yeah. You ever think about, maybe we should just take the last two. Thats easier . Sure. That was a discussion that we had many times but the evidence, i think, would still come in. Especially with the 2008 case. So, it seemed like the most logical thing was, if were gonna do these, lets do em together. Reporter their theory was whoever killed the brumbacks also killed Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman. Prosecutors summed up their case in a word, revenge, and they pointed to something they found on garcias tablet. One of the searches was just an interesting quote that had the word revenge in it, so we were interested to know where that came from, and its easy to find when you google it. Reporter it was a quote similar to one in shakespeares play the merchant of venice. If you harm me, shall i not revenge . Not often does the merchant of venice come up in a murder trial. Never before in my career, yeah. But thats your motive. Sums up the case. Thats our motive. Yeah. Reporter they argued that garcia killed because he was angry about his termination from creighton and that it prevented him from being accepted into other programs to which he later applied. As he continues to try and have some sort of a career, it follows him. Every time he tried to get into a Different Program or licensed somewhere, this creighton thing pops up. Reporter and prosecutors said items found in garcias home indicated that he was trying to destroy traces of his troubled past. Theres this trash bag sitting in the sink, a chemical odor emanating from that, and its all these papers in there. In these papers after theyre dried out is the termination letter from dr. Brumback and dr. Hunter. Handwritten notes. And theres something about putting tape on your fingers . Tape on your fingers. Park your car somewhere else and walk to the location. Buy common shoes. Buy common shoes. Sort of a list that a killer would make. Yes, it is. Reporter prosecutors said the two sets of murders, five years apart, correlated with garcias career struggles. The first in 2008 came two weeks after he was fired by lsushreveport. The second, in 2013, followed another round of unemployment and financial troubles. Hes trying to get jobs at temporary agencies. Hes having financial issues. His home is going to foreclosure. Reporter but they argued that garcias original target on mothers day 2013 was dr. Chhanda bewtra, a professor at creighton who had written him bad evaluations. She was somebody that he really thought was too hard on him, was the cause of his termination to begin with, and he really had some animosity towards her. Reporter two days before the attempted breakin, prosecutors said Anthony Garcia used his phone to look up dr. Bewtras address. Analysis of a scant bit of dna evidence taken from a doorknob at the bewtra home showed there was a significant chance that either garcia or a male relative of his had tried to break in. When that doesnt work because theyre not home, he then goes to wing stop, right up the road, and goes to plan b where he searches for the brumbacks address. Reporter this receipt shows his location at wing stop around 2 26 p. M. At 2 57, they said, garcia used his cell phone to look up dr. Brumbacks home address. As for the gun used in the brumback killings, prosecutors argued the gun parts found at the brumback house fit a gun later found alongside a highway about 20 miles from garcias home. That gun was missing a crucial component, the barrel, meaning a test bullet couldnt be fired, however, what was left was licensed to Anthony Garcia. All of a sudden you get handed the murder weapon . Right, yeah, that was a gift. I think it was divine intervention, yeah. Reporter the 2008 dundee case, however, had no physical evidence. What it did have was eyewitnesses. Several described seeing a silver honda crv with an outofstate plate. This is a picture of the car Anthony Garcia owned in 2008 when he was living in louisiana. Its a honda crv. The thing that was noticeable was it was silver. The people noticed it as a type of suv or crv. And they mentioned out of state plates. Out of state plates, right. Reporter there was also that description of the man people saw near the hunter home that day. An olive skinned man wearing a baggy suit. They were all seeing the same person, the same vehicle and the location. Youre convinced thats not somebody whos lost and eventually finds their way outta there. Oh, no, it fits. And thats the person that did this crime. And it fits with Anthony Garcia, also. Reporter tying it all together, prosecutors called a bombshell witness, a former stripper named cecilia hoffman. Hoffman told the jury that four years after the dundee murders, garcia made a shocking confession to her. She told the cops about it in this audio recording. I remember he said it was a long time ago, he said, i killed a young boy and an old woman. I said why . I said, why would you kill a young boy and an old woman and he said they had it coming. Of all the pieces that we didnt have in the 2008 case, that was a big piece. Reporter prosecutors said hoffman had nothing to gain by publicly talking about her past life. She had two children. She had moved on in her life, and didnt want to go back in time, but she did. Reporter but why would garcia make that confession to her . Hoffman said garcia, who was a regular at the strip club where she worked, wanted more than a lap dance. He was trying to impress her because she was trying to keep him at arms length saying, you know what, he was getting too serious. And she said, i only date bad boys, or Something Like that right. Youre too good for me. Youre a doctor. I only date bad boys. And he said his response to her is, well, im a bad boy. I once killed a young boy and an older lady. Reporter prosecutors thought it was just what they needed to show garcias guilt and weave all their evidence together. You know, one piece by itself probably isnt enough. But you put all those pieces together, and its a very good case. Reporter after 12 days, it was now the defenses turn. They would tell a different story, one that attacked the very foundation of the prosecutions case. Coming up, a candid look inside the defense team. Shut up. Raw and real. You want real life . Youre getting real life. Youre flies on the wall, man. When dateline continues. Just like your fingertips, your lips have a unique print and unique needs your lips are like no others, and need a lip routine thats just right for you chapstick has you covered chapstick. Put your lips first. And here we have another burst pipe in denmark. If you look close. Jamie, are there any interesting photos from your trip . Ouch, okay. Huh, boring, boring, you dont need to see that. Oh, here we go. Can you believe my client steig had never heard of a home and auto bundle or that renters could bundle . Wait, youre a lawyer . Only licensed in stockholm. What is happening . Jamie anyway, game show, kumite, cinderella story. You know karate . No, alan, i practice muay thai, completely different skillset. Where does your almondmilk almond breeze starts here with our almond trees in our blue diamond orchard in california. My parents job is to look after them. And its my job to test the product. The best almonds make the best almondmilk. Blue diamond almond breeze. With this one little nexgard chew comes power, confidence, reassurance youre doing whats right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. This one little nexgard chew is the 1 vet recommended protection. And its the only chew, fda approved to prevent infections that cause lyme disease. Plus, its safe for puppies. Theres a lot of power in this one little nexgard chew. Nexgard. What one little chew can do. Reporter for the lawyers defending Anthony Garcia, it seemed the best defense was an allout offense. Im not trying to ask somebody out to the prom. You know, im trying to defend somebody, and im going to use everything in my arsenal. Reporter for lead attorney, bob motta jr. , that meant challenging or debunking everything jurors had heard from prosecutors for the past two weeks. There were so many inconsistencies with the way that they said that it went down that it just never came together for me that he was guilty. Reporter in a rare move, the defense team allowed dateline inside their private strategy sessions. We need to talk about our strategy on direct. Reporter it was a raucous group with alison motta shut the [ bleep ] up reporter serving as a passionate advisor. Robert motta sr. , the voice of experience. Are we missing something . Reporter and local attorney Jeremy Jorgenson and an assortment of researchers sweating the details. The team rented a home out in west omaha, not far from the dundee nieghborhood. It was there that they plotted strategy. The first order of business . Knock down the theory that Anthony Garcia killed two people in 2008 and two more in 2013 out of revenge. Weve got to get rid of her stupid quote. Who . What quote . The shakespeare quote, shall i not revenge or whatever. Reporter according to the defense team, Anthony Garcia had no motive to kill anyone. Whats wrong with the prosecution theory that Anthony Garcia blamed the people at creighton for everything bad that had happened to him since he left creighton and the idea that when people would check out his resume, they would inevitably get back to creighton and theyd get a bad report about him. The problem with the states theory is that Anthony Garcia wouldve been unaware of those communications. They dont let people in on those communications. Reporter on the other hand, they pointed out, dr. Hunter had actually handed garcia this short letter of recommendation after garcia was dismissed from creighton. It got him his next job, which he got a month after two months after he left creighton. Reporter for his part Anthony Garcia seemed bored by it all. Cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom, but if they had been, they would have shown what jurors saw Anthony Garcia napping. He slept quite a bit during the trial. Id say half the trial. You know, and how do you think that that plays off to a jury . Reporter the 2008 case of tom hunter and Shirlee Sherman was the most straightforward for the defense. There is no direct evidence against my client. There is no smoking gun. There is no dna. Its all pieces and they are trying to put together this puzzle. Reporter on the stand, none of the prosecutions eyewitnesses could i. D. Anthony garcia as the man theyd seen eight years earlier. As for the silver honda crv, the defense pointed out that not one of them ever mentioned the big spare tire that was on the back of garcias car. Its big as all get out. I mean, its enormous. And nobody said anything about that . Never one mention of it, which to me indicated that it wasnt my clients vehicle. Thats the more likely answer. Reporter the 2013 brumback case was more complicated for the defense team beginning with the fact that Anthony Garcia had been in omaha on the day of the murders. How do you explain your client being back in omaha and searching for the addresses of one person who was killed and one person whose house was nearly broken into . I dont know. Do we thats a tough question. I mean, youre dealing with digital forensics. Reporter ultimately the defense argued that because an investigator downloaded garcias iphone data on to his personal phone, the evidence was open to tampering. Youve got a cop whos downloading what seems to be the most critical piece of evidence onto his own iphone. So it might have been a cop who did that search and not your client . Im not going to suggest that anybody, you know, specifically typed the name in. Im just going to say that the way that the state presented the case and, in particular, that piece of evidence was not exactly truthful. Reporter the defense attornies spent a lot of time talking about the gun found on the side of the road and the ammo magazine at the brumback house. In light of the fact that we have the very damaging magazine evidence, we want to cloud it up by talking about a bunch of [ bleep ] that doesnt matter . Thats the only thing that i want to say. Hey, you want real life . You got real life. Youre flies on the wall, man. Edit it out, dude. I am who i am. Reporter in court the defense argued prosecutors could not prove a link between gun parts found at the brumback house and the gun that was licensed to Anthony Garcia. The parts found in the house are parts of a weapon that went through a catastrophic failure. The parts of our clients gun that were found on the side of the road showed no evidence of a catastrophic failure. And although its the right kind of gun to have committed the murders, its not necessarily the gun. Right one of the right kinds of gun. You cant fire a test bullet from the gun, right . No. Reporter the chicago based defense team worked late into the night while keeping a close eye on their beloved cubs who were in hot pursuit of a world series title. Its the top of the second. Cubs have men on first and second. Its one out. Reporter it was during these sessions over lunch theres no point in showing cards that dont have to be shown. Reporter during breaks and at their rental home that the defense team planned and prepped their expert witnesses. This really boils down to interpretation and every single lab can interpret something differently. Reporter the dna evidence linking garcia to the bewtra breakin they said was flawed. And the prosecutions timeline for the brumback murders was suspect. The states window for when this had to occur because of where they had our guy at certain times through cell phone records, it had to occur sometime between 3 15 and 4 00, maybe 4 15. Reporter according to the defense, the brumbacks were killed later, maybe around midnight, long after Anthony Garcia had left omaha and headed for home. Our pathologists made it very clear that because of the rigor mortis, the conditions of the bodies, the homicides didnt happen when he was in omaha. Reporter in the dundee murders, perhaps the biggest hurdle for the defense was the testimony of former exotic dancer cecilia hoffman. Cecilia hoffmans statement was was huge. Reporter remember, shes the woman who quoted garcia as saying he said, i killed a young boy and an old woman. Reporter but heres the thing, hoffman later said to a private eye hired by the defense that she remembered very little from that time. Bob motta hammered at hoffmans credibility on crossexamination. The concept of that is just so insane to me, that this guy whos gotten away for essentially murder is now gonna confess to a stripper that he knows that theres no way is ever gonna hook up with him and thats your comeon line . Oh, yeah, i killed people. I killed an old lady and a young boy. I dont know. Reporter after three weeks both sides summed up their cases for the jury and hit all the familiar themes, then they placed Anthony Garcias fate in the jurys hands. Coming up, a toast from the defense before the verdict. What would the jury do . Seeing my brother cry, seeing my mom cry, seeing the District Attorney cry was a tough moment. When dateline continues. When i noticed my sister moving differently, i didnt know what was happening. She said it was like someone else was controlling her mouth. Her doctor said she has tardive dyskinesia, which may be related to important medication she takes for her depression. Her ankles would also roll and her toes would stretch out. I noticed she was avoiding her friends and family. Td can affect different parts of the body. It may also affect people who take medications for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She knows she shouldnt stop or change her medication, so we were relieved to learn there are Treatment Options for td. If this sounds like you or someone you know, visit talkabouttd. Com to sign up to receive a personalized doctor discussion guide to help start a conversation with your doctor about td. Youll also be able to access videos and a free brochure that show the different movements of td. Visit talkabouttd. Com or call to learn more. We were so relieved to learn there are treatments for td. Learn more at talkabouttd. Com. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. Reporter sometimes justice is not what happens in a courtroom but rather what comes out of it. On the day lawyers finished their closing arguments in the Anthony Garcia murder case, a lot of people showed up to see what kind of justice would come out of courtroom 316. Among those waiting were the families of tom hunter, of Shirlee Sherman and, yes, of Anthony Garcia. It was Late Afternoon when the jury got the case. Then the waiting began. Huddled on benches outside the courtroom were reporters and spectators, the family and friends of the victims. Prosecutors retreated to their offices for what they hoped would be a short wait. But the defense was ready to blow off steam. The mottas and their entourage settled in at a local bar several miles from the courthouse. The jury would be out for awhile, they thought so they feasted and toasted one another. Cheers. Here, here. Reporter then as the sound system began to play the opening chords of the Rolling Stones song sympathy for the devil, bob motta said something he wanted everyone in the war to hear. Heres my song, and this is apropos. After closings, you guys went out for drinks and we were there for that. Sympathy for the devil comes on and you say, hey, thats our theme song here, thats what were going here. Thats what you wanted, sympathy for the devil . When i looked at the case that the state presented it was pretty obvious to me they saw her sleeping client as the devil. So, yeah, i thought it was apropos. I thought it was appropriate. Not because i think hes the devil. Because they sure did. The state absolutely thought he the jury deliberated till 9 00 p. M. That first night and all of the next morning. Tension ratcheting up with every tick of the clock. Then at 1 00 in the afternoon, word began to spread. The jury had a verdict. I thought that the verdict would be good. But you dont know until you hear it. Reporter lining up alongside the families of Shirlee Sherman and Thomas Hunter was the garcia family. They were very respectful during the trial. I will say that. I mean, they didnt they didnt ever say anything right, like some some families turn it into a war rate, yeah, there was none of that. Reporter once everyone had crowded inside, the verdict was announced. Guilty on all counts. I just breathed a sigh of relief. You just feel that rush of emotion. Reporter it was a moment a Long Time Coming for Shirlee Shermans brothers brad and dan and her son jeff. Reaction to the verdict . Relief. Lots of relief. You guys feel better . I think my sister deserved that her killer be brought to justice. Reporter jeff hunter was sitting with his mother and brothers while that verdict was read. In that moment of joy and gratitude, he says, he thought of his little brother, tom, a kid who never had the chance to grow up. It just gets me thinking what where he would be now and what hed look like now, what hed talk like, what hed be doing. Reporter the most emotional moment came later that afternoon behind closed doors when the victims families met privately with the people responsible for bringing this case to an end. We basically gave em a round of applause when they came in because they did a hell of a job. Tough to be there, or you were glad you were there . My family, were not really emotional, so seeing my brother cry, seeing my mom cry, its hard and seeing the District Attorney cry, it was a tough moment. Reporter while garcias defense team faced a gaggle of cameras outside the courtroom. In terms of what we did, we did the best we could. Reporter Anthony Garcias parents whod spent much of their life savings on their sons defense spoke briefly with reporters. Rough for everybody. I know its difficult for the other families too, but its very difficult for us too at this time. Reporter one last set of victims. He never once turned around and looked at em. Not once. I felt sorry for his parents. I did. I saw his dads head down a number of times and you kind of in your mind, you dont know what theyre thinking but obviously you could tell they were saddened greatly. Reporter the mottas have since withdrawn from the case. Jeremy was later disbarred for violating rules of conduct. And in september of 2018, a threejudge panel sentenced him to death for the murders of Thomas Hunter, cherylee brumback. As for the victims families like a weight lifted off your shoulders. Theres not that contamt cloud hanging over that everybody wants to talk about, things like that. Just more open. Better spirits. When they read the verdict, the deputies were taking him away and alison motta was trying to convince the deputy or talking him to speak to his parents because hell never get to speak to them again. What about the other victims . Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. Its shocking. You just kind of go into crisis mode. I dont think they knew exactly what had happened other than he was covered in blood. She was just broken and lost. There is a murderer out there. And its terrifying. Reporter it was supposed to be an anniversary celebration. 32 years together they were in love, even after all those years