Page 3 - Finding Dee News Today

Having an attack of conscience. the neighbor told the detective she had seen erwin on june 30th, the day erwin had confronted and slapped dee dee. >> she said the conversation lasted 15, 20 minutes he articulated he was mad enough to strangulate her with work gloves. >> reporter: what dee dees neighbor told you? >> right. >> reporter: why do you think she did not tell you for six months? >> i dont know why a neighbor during a murder investigation wouldnt simply tell the cops the truth that he wa...

>> police have a suspect and a case that was about to take an unbelievable turn. >> one of the most shocking things ive ever seen in a courtroom. >> hello. dee dee keller was a successful realtor in southern california and lived in a charming neighborhood where she was surrounded by family and friends. then, suddenly, dee dee disappeared. as her loved ones launched her frantic search, investigators would follow the trail of clues to a suspect with a dark obsession. but the final twist in this ca...

>> i didnt know at that point. i just knew something was very, very wrong. >> reporter: mike called his best friends linda and cindy. cindy who had last spoken to dee dee three days before as dee dee prepared for a date rushed to the house. >> you could tell just the dogs had been, you know, running around for days, but the way the tv was on and the way the shades were, i felt like thursday night had never ended. i felt like friday morning never came. >> reporter: cindy immediately phoned dee de...

Lowe have to want dee dee dead or out of the picture? >> there was no motive that i could determine whatsoever. >> reporter: and lowe provided investigators with two important clues. first, he said, while he was at dee dees that night, her dogs had all started barking at something outside as if someone were lurking. and the next morning, he discovered someone had keyed the side of his ford explorer, leaving a long scratch. >> reporter: which suggests somebody is following them on that date? >> a...

Countys d.a. office had so far declined to issue a warrant for howards arrest. dee dees son michael wanted answers. there was a lot of time erwin was walking around free. >> seemed like decades. so painful and emotional. >> reporter: jimmy gates was feeling the same way. soon his hard work had paid off. the red tape found on dee dees body. a specially trained dog found erwins consent on it and similar evidence at at the hanger at l.a.x. what about his ten-hour shift? the more the detectives dug ...

As easy to still a car as movies depict? >> certainly not 1999 mercedes. its hard to hot wire or steal it. you almost need a key to gain access to it. >> reporter: if your car doesnt have a key, the next stop is a car dealership to have a new one made. but, first, gates and his crew searched the house looking for dee dees spare mercedes key, without success. and gates quickly became convinced of one thing. you thought finding dee dees car was going to be the key to this? >> reporter: that was go...

Please listen to me. at some point i guess i raised my voice and little dog rossy started growling. >> reporter: erwin said he threw a pillow at the dog and that angered dee dee. >> she told me, how dare you hurt my dog and she slapped me. i reached towards her, i grab her hand, she start punching with her hand on my chest. i put her hand down. i crowd her and pulled her towards me. we struggled. >> reporter: erwin said he put dee dee in a sort of a bear hug. >> i just kept holding her and telli...

Is in san jose and julie is in a resort and sometimes my experience that people dissipate stress after a crime is committed. some people drink and take drugs or leave the area just to dissipate stress. >> reporter: there was strangely one more person who just happened to have been traveling near the time of dee dees disappearance 36 her ex-husband erwin howard had just flown to his home country of bolivia. and erwin was a mechanic who worked for american airlines in l.a. the common thread in all...

That he was calling her every name under the sun. >> reporter: dee dee told the same story to her friend linda. >> i said do you realize that erwins behavior is escalating, dee dee? and she said yes. >> reporter: you said call the police? >> no. i said have you changed your locks? she said, no, ill do it on the way home and, of course, she never did. >> reporter: investigators soon learned that in those conversations with her friends, dee dee had left something out. a detail she mentioned only t...

Evidence, everything pointed directly at erwin. >> reporter: there was one more key piece of evidence. the day after the murder, a witness saw a mercedes on the street in the area and she thought it belonged to a friend so she sped up to catch her. >> she sees its not her friend and he is she sees a male hispanic driving the car and she remembers that license plate. >> reporter: the license plate belonged to the mercedes owned by dee dee keller. the man driving? the witness helped the police art...