Page 5 - John Creech News Today

And i was like, i pushed myself out this way, got out the drivers side. >> reporter: creech burst in like a machine, said chandy, started slugging, wouldnt quit. >> i was like, stop it, youre going to kill him. i was like screaming my head off. he comes out of the car and he goes, youre next and then i drove off. >> reporter: she was terrified, he said, afraid hed kill her, too, or tell the cops she set the whole thing up. so, did she? again and again the detectives listened to the under cover t...

>> do you recall how many times you hit him? >> four or five. >> when you were doing that? >> im thinking how did i get in this situation? i was scared for my life. >> then gavin got out of the mercedes, said creech, there was something in his happened. >> there was a 10 to 12 inch stainless steel thing, i thought it was a knife. we went at it. exchanging punches. >> at some point, did you get that weapon? >> i kept punching him. >> what did you do with it? >> i threw it over the back wall of my...

Spot? >> it is. >> reporter: so it seemed on the night he disappeared he met chandrika creech for sex for comfort or just to talk, something. quite a lot to learn from those phone records. but there was more. a third phone. john creechs phone in the same spot on the same night and this was eerie. creechs phone seemed to be moving in sync with gavins. >> john creechs phone and gavin smiths phone were running parallel. >> reporter: together, together? . >> together, sometimes hitting off the exact...

>> i was just begging him not to harm my family. >> reporter: but, they testified, creech told them they did the right thing. by coming that day. >> he ended up saying we saved his life by coming that day. >> reporter: but there were rules. thats what chandrika now divorced from john creech said when she finally took the witness stand. >> as long as their father stayed away from me and had no communication whatsoever, their father would be fine. >> did he say what would happen if he didnt? >> th...

So she knew when he disappeared in may, 2012, but made no connection between that and something she noticed about her boyfriend, john creech. >> i discovered he had scrapes on his hands and on his arms. aything to do with the disappearance. >> reporter: but when detective obrien heard about creechs scrapes he immediately thought about gavin smiths wounds. he needed to talk to him again. he found him in jail serving eight years on a cocaine charge, his second conviction for dealing drugs. not exa...

Secret would be all over the gym. >> lauren just 18 years old back then asked us not to use her last name. not after she found herself in the middle of a homicide investigation. when police came across her doing under surveillance on john creech. lauren used to work at the pro shop of the power house gym in chatsworth, california. thats where she first met creech. >> he was beautiful. he was tall and he was muscular and a lot of women especially wanted to date him. a lot of men wanted to be him....

And that gavin was a victim long after he was murdered. and so are we. >> john creech was sentenced to the maximum for manslaughter, 11 years in prison. >> the d.a. in detroit, michigan, indicted mr. creech on federal drug trafficking charges. if convicted his exposure was anywhere 5 to 40 years in prison. >> in june 2019, john creech was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, ten years, ten months, to be served concurrently with time for manslaughter in california stat...

Knew it would be all right. >> why would do you that? why wouldnt you leave it where it was. >> i can play armchair quarterback all day about things, but at the time, it seemed like the right decision. >> he admitted he made wrong decisions, like asking friends to help dispose of gavins phone, and car, and body. >> i take full accountably for everything after the fact. if i could change it, i would. >> sir, you never took accountability because you never came forward to the police, did you? >> n...

Of calls detectives found in creechs cell phone from the night gavin vanished. john creech was on the phone a lot. >> he was calling multiple people, very intensely. >> reporter: so like three or four or five calls to the same person over and of? >> exactly. >> reporter: some of the calls were to creechs buddies from the power house gym. >> we did a multi-location search warrant. we hit everybody we believed might have helped on that evening. we hit all those houses all at once. >> reporter: one...

>> yes. >> did that include kissing? >> yes. >> and while you were kissing gavin, did something happen that caught your attention? >> yeah. >> what happened? >> just something popped up, like appeared. >> was that something the defendant john creech? >> yes. yes. >> reporter: gavin didnt have a chance, she said. >> he repeatedly punched him in the face. >> reporter: so then she ran back to her car terrified. >> i wanted to get away. i was scared. >> reporter: but before she drove away, she looke...