Page 86 - Christopher Wright News Today

>> reporter: none more so than perhaps the buildings most gregarious and outsized personality -- david novak. >> he was so nice and entertaining and funny and charming. this building is for the people who just really liked him. and i would count myself completely as one of them. >> its impossible not to be charmed by david. i adore the man. >> we were, i would say, basically best friends here in utah. >> reporter: davids huge person tail fit his apparently oversized professional accomplishments....

If so, they now had his voice because earlier that caller left this phone message. >> hey, ken, this is robert. i talked to dave. he said when you get to -- >> reporter: detectives traced the cell and went to the store where someone bought it. >> this phone was purchased with cash with no identifying information provided to the carrier. >> reporter: but the family did have a suggestion for the detectives, something they actually agreed on. he should look carefully at a man named david novak. yes...

As for the victim, you heard the name by now -- ken dolezsar, the extremely wealthy local investor. >> my daughter called me just bawling. she told me kens been shot, and hes dead. wow. >> reporter: matt beaudry considered ken dolezsar to be one of his closest friends. they coached a hockey team together. he was deeply concerned for the boys on the team. >> i watched him pull out his wallet and slip money into the kidss pockets because he heard they needed tuition money, couldnt buy their books....

He said its just time to go. >> reporter: he planned to be their great friend, socialable, gregarious, larger than life. then said neighbors once chris was arrest head seemed nervous. and now he was gone. and so they wondered, was david novak running from something? the loft friends began re-examining all the stories david told them over the years, particularly about his criminal past. >> we started comparing notes and stories and wow, david told me a different version of that. >> reporter: they...

Wedding ring away. we had to dig it out of the garbage. i was standing there. she can be an absent-minded dingbat. >> reporter: but remember the day police searched the loft? >> they took apart my toaster. >> reporter: she was focused like a laser that day, said bianca, watching intently, she said, as an officer looked in the empty 9 millimeter gun case. >> i was sitting beside her. >> reporter: no test fired shell casing, she said. >> i dont mean to sound cynical, but i know it wasnt there. >> ...

He had an alibi. >> he was in the loft. i was there. >> reporter: he was in bed with her. >> he was a foot from me. theres no room for that. >> reporter: this surely had to be a colossal misunderstanding. bianca sought support from her neighbors including david novak, her only friend with intimate knowledge of the legal system. he comforted you? >> he was brilliant, yeah. he would ask me how everything was going and what was happening with christopher and whether our attorneys were doing the job...

Suit, has not shown up for a single hearing. these attorneys claim they cant find him. theyve asked for a default judgment. back in the loft, his friends imagine the worst about their former friend and neighbor, the missing david novak. what would you advise him to do if you could talk to him? >> talk to you guys, tell the story. >> if you have nothing to hide. >> refute me. tell me why what im saying is not correct. we used to be friends. im more than willing to hear what you have to say, david...

He was. im satisfied with that. >> reporter: chris wright is serving a sentence of 15 to life. he is preparing an appeal, hoping for a new trial. and david novak? hes not been charged with or accused by the police of anything. though whether or not authorities want to talk to him is less clear. you know where he is? >> i dont know where he is, no. >> reporter: are your people trying to track him down? >> well part of the rules im constrained by is i dont speak with ongoing investigation ors the ...

To the mormon city. >> i loved this building. >> reporter: bianca pearman-brooks, born into privilege, raised in africa. she came here in 2006 to visit a friend. >> i came on holiday and i miss christopher and we hit it off. >> reporter: christopher wright, a real estate developer lived in the same loft building as biancas friend. there was a party in the building, bianca was invited. in one night you knew? >> yeah. yeah. >> reporter: to anyone watching, it was an obvious perfect match. friends ...

>> reporter: and out in suburban sandy, utah, the case still resonates around the shiny new courthouse. where ada josh player struggled with his emotions a bit as he told us hes sure he did not send an innocent man to prison but rather achieved justice for everyone. >> i was glad for the family of the victim. >> reporter: you take this stuff to heart, dont you? >> i do. i do. >> reporter: and while they stand on opposite sides of that chasm between innocence and guilt, theres no dispute about th...