Page 2 - Finding Dee News Today

Was to help and assist her so he helped kind of nurse her back to health and take care of the dogs and the house and her. >> reporter: and in taking a hard look at erwin howard, the detective found he had a rock solid alibi. on the night of dee dees disappearance july 8thth, erwin had clocked into his job as work at the american airlines hangar at lax at 8:30. he had to use an electronic key card to get into the hangar. that is a pretty good alibi. thats not something generally the employee can ...

She felt that by erwin. he treated her like a queen. >> reporter: when he popped the question, dee dee said yes. at dee dees bridal shower in march of 1998, erwin dutifully delivered his fiancee to the surprise party but the smiles didnt last after the engagement was over and the marriage began. >> it wasnt within six months appear they were married she just blurted out that she had married him on the rebound. >> reporter: and was having second thoughts? >> apparently so. >> it was very hard for...

Successful himself and didnt have a lot of enemies. >> reporter: and then even as investigators looked at suspects, came the news that all who knew dee dee had, at once, hoped for and feared, dee dees car had been found. not at lax two and a half hours down interstate 5 in san diego. that silver mercedes-benz had been parked on this downtown street in san diego for days and earning it several parking tickets. when the local pd ran the plate it came up alonging to a missing person and when the tr...

Finally been found, dead in the trunk of her silver mercedes. the car had been the subject of a massive search ever since dee dee had been discovered missing a week earlier from her home two hours north in l.a. homicide detective jimmy gates, who had always thought finding the car would be the key for finding dee dee. now gave the mercedes a thorough going over. fingerprints or dna in the car? >> there wasnt one fingerprint either on or in that car or was there any partial print. nothing. >> rep...

Because had he were starting to think at that point how long could this go on? >> hardest days of my lirve and one of the hardest days for my children and all of her friends and her family. >> reporter: dee dee keller was dead at age 54. an autopsy showed she had been asphyxiated and the clues that were or were not left in her car were about to take this case back in a familiar direction. >> coming up. just days before she was murdered, dee dee had a visit from a stalker. >> she said that she wa...

Killed her. i killed her. ive killed her. >> reporter: erwin said he came back the next evening and put dee dees body in the car and using a spare key he had for the mercedes, he started driving and headed for mexico. but he wondered how he would get back across the border so he left the car on a street in san diego and hired an off-duty taxi to take him back to l.a. erwin admitted to the murder he talked about it in a way that made it seem almost accidental? >> yes. he was willing to accept res...

Hindsight had not handled things as best she could have in terms of terminating that relationship. >> reporter: erwin howard was granted parole in february 2019. dee dees friends and family, their sorrow tinged with regret, now honor dee dee by urging other women not to ignore the warning signs of domestic violence. >> we want dee dees life to count for something so i just hope people will reach out for help and get support. >> reporter: i know you dont blame dee dee for this, but i know that yo...

You live, pretty ordinary stuff. then, all of a sudden, he says, did did you have anything to do with your moms disappearance? >> ty this was more did you kill your mother. >> reporter: and youre startled or angry? >> it was a horrible question but i can understand why it needed to be asked. >> reporter: detectives asked similar questions of julie. next in attempting to rule out as suspects those closest to dee dee, detectives turned their taepgs to her ex-husband erwin howard. it turned out eve...

I just knew and i just said, michael, call the police. im on my way. >> reporter: where was dee dee keller? not only was there no water left outside for dee dees beloved dogs, but detectives noticed lots of other things wrong inside the house. her purse was there but her wallet was missing. and this was a woman with money, a lot of it. was dee dees hefty bank account the factor in her disappearance? investigators follow the money trail. coming up. >> who got that money in the benefit of her deat...

Dogs. that request apparently been misinterpreted by erwin. we know. he started wearing his wedding ring again. erwin wanted her back into his life and seemed to me on some level she sort of appreciated that part of him that adored her and wanted to take care of her, even if its somebody youre not going to be with any more? >> yes. >> right. >> reporter: do you think she made that point clear enough to him? >> no. >> reporter: she was too nice? >> always too nice and very trusting. >> reporter: ...