Page 2 - Dylan Spellman News Today

The shootings. >> we have no gun. we have no usable prints. the only thing we have are cigarette butts, a monster can, and suspicion. >> it didnt help that chavezs one eyewitness to the shootings could not identify spellman from a photo lineup. >> it was very hard because the suspects all looked the same. >> and then there was the matter of mr. spellmans height. >> hes big. >> hes what, 68"? >> 68". >> remember, kristene said the shooter was quite a bit shorter than that, 58", maybe 59". >> for ...

Mollie as girl one and girl two. >> he used numbers in that other crime? >> yes. they referred to each other by number in that particular crime. >> the similarities between the two crimes didnt end there. >> in the nevada home invasion, where the victims bound? >> yes, they were. >> hes got to be number one on the list at this point. >> he definitely jumped to the top. >> by that time, dylan spellman had had already returned to nevada to begin serving his three-year sentence, so chavez hopped a ...

Continued trying to strengthen his case against dylan spellman, investigators in neighboring sinton, texas, received a mysterious letter addressed to kristene chapas dad. >> immediately i knew this was something very, very big and very important. >> the letter-writer described himself as a hit man hired by the person who shot mollie and kristene. he wrote, the gunman had sought his services to finish the job and make the only witness to mollies murder disappear. >> what hes saying is, i was hire...

Monster can, and suspicion. >> it didnt help that chavezs one eyewitness to the shootings could not identify spellman from a photo lineup. >> it was very hard because the suspects all looked the same. >> and then there was the matter of mr. spellmans height. >> hes big. >> hes what, 68"? >> 68". >> remember, kristene said the shooter was quite a bit shorter than that, 58", maybe 59". >> for me, it was always the difficulty of getting over the size. >> so chavez and his team regrouped. >> we begi...

>> some quick computer searches revealed spellman had a criminal past. >> dylan spellman had just been convicted of a violent crime. >> yes. >> an armed robbery in nevada. >> yeah. >> that nevada armed robbery occurred in 2010, a year and a half before the shootings. spellman and some accomplices broke into a home in a las vegas suburb and held a family hostage before robbing them and taking off. >> anybody get killed? >> no. >> and at the time of the shootings in 2012, dylan spellman was in the...

Having him arrested. as for the confidential details in the letter. >> this is small town texas, theres any number of places this information could have come from. >> what about the lab report showing stricklands gun matching the shell casings found at the scene. >> we had our expert that said it is inconclusive. i mean theres no way that you can say for sure. >> police, they said, should never have taken their sights off the real shooting. >> well, they had the right guy. >> dylan spellman, you...

>> day by day, inch by inch, kristene chapa walked a steady, if uneven, road to recovery. >> i couldnt move my left side. i couldnt move my hand or my arm, my legs. i had to relearn to swallow. >> you dont give up, do you? >> i dont. i try to stay motivated. >> so did detective roland chavez. he, too, was making progress. the cigarette butts and drink can collected from the crime scene had just given him his first major break in the case. >> what did the dna show? >> the dna showed that it retur...

Youre involved in the crime? >> sure. so i mean, that definitely raised more suspicion. >> chavez then told spellman police found his dna just 30 feet from where the girls were shot. thats when he says spellmans demeanor changed. >> he asked me, you know, what are the consequences? and i said, well in texas, you know, this is a death penalty kind of case. >> and then dylan spellman asked about a deal. >> normally, any person thats innocent isnt going to ask for a deal. youre going to profess you...

Dylan spellman. all of it was a twist as big as texas. texas. coming up -- the mysterious letter. could this be the smoking gun police had been looking for? >> immediately, i knew this was something very big and very important. >> when "dateline" continues. th dupixent i can du more... yardwork... teamwork... long walks.... thats how you du more, with dupixent, which helps prevent asthma attacks. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. its an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderat...

Point out their client had no history of violence at all. >> david strickland did not do this. >> it was sam smith who had the last word. dylan spellman, he told the jury, might have been under suspicion but ultimately had nothing to do with this crime. david strickland, he said, was the man holding the gun. >> shooting both of these girls for no identifiable reason at all, hes certainly a psycho path. >> prosecutor smith never offered the jury a possible motive. kristene says she is should have...