Page 10 - Linking Sam News Today

Welcome back to date line. as the years passed the question remained. who killed kathy torres? investigator suspected her exboyfriend sam lopez had the answer. his suspicions only grew. he could see sam was a jealous man. and soon, he would learn why. the old friends may have been exs. but for one of them, the desire was still there.

>> exactly. >> reporter: and shes going out with sam. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: you marry his older brother. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: so that house wasnt just another house on the street. >> right. >> reporter: it was family. >> right. right. >> reporter: police spoke with members of the lopez family. sam knew cathy the best. >> how long have you known cathy? >> jeez, ive known her for over five years. >> reporter: they interviewed him down at the station. >> yeah, i really had fun with her. like i...

>> reporter: daron went deeper into sam and cathys relationship. >> there were a lot of things that brought them together, they were in high school, lived across the street. cathys older sister was married to sams older brother. >> reporter: they had this long on again/off again relationship in which what, he couldnt let go of her or she couldnt let go of him? >> i think a lot of it was mutual. >> reporter: even after cathy started dating albert and sam had another girlfriend, too, they continue...

The same rumors about albert that were circulating around placentia. >> but you know what? hey, its a possibility that, shoot, somebody else from his family -- im not blaming anybody. im not pointing fingers at nobody, okay? but why -- why the coincidence that after he hung himself, this happened? why? have you ever thought of that? >> reporter: of course, police also asked sam where he was the night cathy disappeared. >> could you tell us where you were saturday night, this last saturday? >> su...

Old boyfriend and close confidant who said he saw cathy just days before she went missing. and what a story he had to tell. once again josh mankowitz. cathy torrez had been murdered and stuffed in the trunk of her car. police were considering what role her new boyfriend, albert, and his attempted suicide may have played. but for now, they were left with unanswered questions and a town shaken by her murder. >> cathy had so much to live for and was a very happy person, a peoples person. >> repor...

Kathys family said he never stopped by the house while the family was searching for her. he noticed an inconsistency in the account of the days. right before kathy disappeared. >> mary, however, says sam was the one calling her home looking for cathy. he called how many times? >> quite a few times looking for her. >> reporter: mary says sam sounded okay at first, until she told him where cathy was. >> i said she was at the hospital and she wasnt back yet. >> reporter: at the hospital, visiting a...

>> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldnt do it? >> they tried very hard. thats right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldnt do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at it on its face, this case is a real tough one. >> reporter: for one thing, there was so much evidence they didnt have against sam. >> there was no murder weapon here. we had no witness. we had no confession. we had no dna...

To me. we never really sat down and talked about it. well, you know what? i think she was trying to hide from her problems by smoking out. >> reporter: meaning she was smoking marijuana. cathys family said that for her, that would be out character. sam told detectives he had last seen cathy the thursday before she disappeared. he said shed paged him several times that day and when they finally met up -- >> she asked me for some weed, you know? and then she kept on asking me, "so are you going to...

Cathys murder. but just the idea spooked tina. so she made up a lie. >> i met him and i told him that i was dating somebody else. >> reporter: which was not true? >> which was not true. >> reporter: you were a little freaked out by that? >> well, yeah. >> reporter: but the spark that drew her to sam was too strong, and though tina had only known him a few short weeks, something in her heart said sam was innocent. >> so i gave him a call. and i started dating him again. >> reporter: okay. i mean,...

That would come into the police department. we go in there. you know, "we just want to let you know that we represent cathy torrez, and we have not forgotten, and we just want to make sure that her case is still being worked on." >> reporter: "we have not forgotten and we want to make sure that you dont either." >> right, right. >> reporter: the city of placentia didnt forget. the community learning center was dedicated in cathys name. >> the cathy torrez learning center. >> yes. >> reporter: yo...