Page 5 - Kill Roberto News Today

Resentments at the farm. >> we were told he was going to get a nice share of what my dad was to get at the ranch. >> your intent was to fight it. >> oh, yeah. it settles things. >> investigation continues as explosives experts try to determine what exactly happened to roberto. >> we came across a piece of metal. that piece of metal said to him there was something more going on. >> the first clue unearthed. when "dateline" continues. line". is skincare from around the world better than olay? to f...

Farm manager, a demanding, sun up to sun down job so to squeeze in quality time with his family hed often take one of his three kids with him. a proud man. always pictured with his chest out, his chin up. on july 16th, 2011, that saturday, roberto needed to flood a rice field by turning on a series of high-voltage irrigation pumps. fabian by his side in his pickup truck, roberto drove the quarter mile distance from one pump to the next. and then he stopped, got out, walked to the big electrical ...

>> i think, like, probably 90% paul. >> but david and susan couldnt really give a reason why paul would want to kill roberto other than they felt paul just had the kind of personality to do something like that, while pete didnt. >> so you dont think peter is capable of actually developing a very sophisticated device to create an explosion? >> i am doubtful of it. i dont know him that well. that well. but i really wouldnt think he could. >> okay. >> and i also think he doesnt have the moxie to do...

A locker-sized electrical box used to turn on a high-voltage irrigation pump had apparently shorted out and exploded. with such intensity metal fragments blew out the windows and covered the passenger side of robertos new ford f-250. a miracle little fabian wasnt killed, too. >> translator: we received a phone call that something had happened. >> reporter: robertos wife fabiola. >> translator: it was when we received the call from the police department and they said they had fabian and fabian wa...

Ironic, perhaps, but for all his bluster, pete has never been in arrested, never been in trouble with the law, runs his own business, has been a good father, and over the years has taken in wayward teens to give them a better start. kids like nick. >> in other foster homes they do it for the money. pete didnt ask for any money in return. he fed me. clothed me. he gave me a car to drive. and now i look at pete like a dad. and anybody that has anything bad to say about pete never really took the t...

Dad. and anybody that has anything bad to say about pete never really took the time to get to know him because he is a good, loving person with a huge heart. we need more petes in this world. >> reporter: why were the cops so focused on pete to begin with? well, as pete tells it his cousin paul planned the whole thing. set out to frame him. first by lying to him telling him that roberto or robert as pete calls him was out to steal his birth right. >> paul would come over and tell me horrible stu...

To investigators one theory seemed the least likely, that roberto was mixed up with a drug gang ms 13. the ayalas are a classic bootstrap story. roberto a very religious man who worked his way up from field hand to farm manager, oversaw the day-to-day operations of a multimillion dollar spread. he knew the land. he knew the machines that worked it. he was utterly committed to that work. what did working that farm mean to your dad? >> that was everything. it was our whole, even our lives and his ...

Dad. what kind of a guy was he? >> he was a hard worker. someone to look up to. we admired him. >> reporter: and it did not go unnoticed on the moore farm. over the years, owners roger and gus came to rely a great deal on roberto. they treated roberto more like a favored son than just an employee. how important was family to roberto? >> probably the most important thing. it all revolved around this. we didnt have much but everywhere he went, we went, too. we were always together. >> whatever wen...

And can you help me? and they said yes. they called the police department and they came as quick as they can. >> reporter: when firefighters reached the irrigation canal from which little fabian had run for help, it was obvious there was no life left to save. robertos body must indeed have been on fire just as fabian said it was. why became clear when they found burn holes about an inch wide near the bottom of his feet. an obvious sign of electrocution. a locker-sized electrical box used to turn...

Department and they said they had fabian and that fabian was okay. but they couldnt tell us what happened to roberto. we thought he was in the hospital. >> reporter: and you didnt know what happened to him? >> translator: we didnt know what had happened. we called the hospital. and the hospital didnt know anything about what had happened. about an hour, an hour and a half later, they arrived with fabian. >> my mom asked my brother where was my dad? and my brother just started screaming that he w...