Page 7 - John Creech News Today

Welcome back. nearly three years after gavin smiths disappearance john creech was charged with his murder. police ble believe john carried out the killing as revenge with the affair with his wife khanchan c. one person could give the truth to them directly. so they figured out a way to get it. once again, heres keith morrison. >> reporter: detectives john obrien had a problem. an important witness who wouldnt talk, chandrika creech had clammed up. but theres more than one way to get a story. the...

Tryst, that is. met for sex or confident or -- 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 paralleled each other. >> together together. >> together. sometimes hitting off the exact same towers or parallel towers. >> wow. what was that like? >> that was an eye-opening moment...

I threw it behind my house where i knew it would be all right. >> why would you do that, sir? why wouldnt you just leave it where it was? >> well, i can play armchair quarterback all day about things, but at the time it seemed like the right decision. >> reporter: creech admitted he made some wrong decisions too. like asking friends to help him dispose of gavins phone and car and body. >> i take full accountability for everything after fact. if i could change it, i would. >> sir, actually you ne...

Meet chandy in there. they met her husband. his name was john, john creech. not pleasant. >> when they came out, they were both crying. >> reporter: they told their mom creech threatened to kill gavin if he didnt stay away from chandy. so 17 months later, he vanishes after calling chandy? lisa had a very bad feeling. >> everything changed right then for me. >> reporter: detectives were suspicious too. remember, chandy told them she didnt see gavin that night. but there was evidence to the contra...

And that gavin was a victim long after he was murdered, and so were we. >> reporter: john creech is sentenced to the mx maam for manslaughter, 11 years in prison. >> the d.a. in detroit, michigan, indicted mr. creech on federal drug trafficking charges. if convicted, his exposure is anywhere from 5 to 40 years in prison. >> in june 2019, creech was found guilty. he was given ten years, ten months, a sentence he will serve concurrently with his time for manslaughter in the california state prison...

>> and did that upset you? >> very much so. >> reporter: so weeks later, two men arrived with a trailer. >> and did you watch them take the mercedes out of your garage? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: that, said prosecutor grace, is when they moved the mercedes into reinas storage locker. where, months later, detective labbe noticed one crucial little detail that survived the attempted cover-up. >> i was looking at the license plate, and i see that its not there. there should be a california license...

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. >> she didnt think he had anything to do with the disappearance. >> reporter: but when detective obrien heard about creechs scrapes, he immediately thought of gavin smiths wounds. he needed to talk to john creech again, and he found him in jail serving eight years on a cocaine charge. his second conviction for dealing drugs. not exactly an up...

Its a serious business, covering for a crime that awful. but chandy had a card to play. she agreed to testify. >> members and alternate members of the jury. >> reporter: and in june 2017, john creech went on trial. on the face of it, it looked like a solid case. the phone evidence, the coverup, the truly appalling crime scene in gavins car. but did it add up to first degree murder? gavin smith had been dead five years. >> he was killed in his mercedes-benz in an act of almost stunning brutality....

>> john had gavin pinned down. >> reporter: later, she said, creech wanted her to drive him back to the crime scene, help him take gavin to the hospital. a block and a half away, she refused to go closer and dropped creech off. >> why didnt you take him all the way back to the scene? >> because i was afraid of what i would see. >> reporter: gavin was dead by then. and the prosecutor told the jury creech wasnt going to any hospital. he was setting out to recruit help for his cover-up. >> so the f...

Not after she found herself in the middle of a homicide investigation when police came across her while doing surveillance on john creech. lauren used to work in the pro shop of the powerhouse gym in chatsworth, california. and 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. >> reporter: lauren fell for him. he told her he was separated from his wife chandy, but that didnt st...