Page 12 - Linking Sam News Today

I mean, shoot, a girl cusses you out, i mean i cant go chasing after her. you know, cause i never thought she was going to -- i mean, this was going to happen. >> reporter: sam shared his suspicions about what had happened to cathy. 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 ...

Of it to realize shed been driving on slashed tires. tina saw the tires the next day. >> i just kept saying, "who -- what happened to your tires? who slashed your tires?" >> reporter: and shed say? >> and shed say she didnt know. she -- she just knew that she had gone out with sam that night. >> reporter: daron wyatt now believed sam drugged cathy, possibly assaulted her, and slashed her tires. the next day, cathy called tina with more details about her strange night with sam. >> he had told her...

In his second interview after cathys body was found, police spoke with sam for 90 minutes before he asked them a single question. and when he finally did -- >> so did you -- do you guys know how she was killed? >> uh, yeah, we do. >> reporter: larry noticed a telling statement. >> thought you were never going to ask. >> well, i didnt want --cause i dont want memories to come back, you know? >> well, thats an interesting statement, "i dont want memories to come back." what memories does he have t...

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: youve got to leave your mark on the w...

Pressed sam for more details. >> the clothing you were wearing saturday? >> i think it was a guess sweatshirt. >> reporter: sam readily gave those clothes to the police. he let them search his house too. and he willingly gave samples of his hair and blood. but something about sams behavior the week cathy was missing bothered her family. mary said shed repeatedly paged sam looking for cathy, but he was slow to respond. he call you back? >> not at first. >> reporter: but eventually he did? >> even...

Back in 1994, police suspected sam lopez of killing his sometime girlfriend, cathy torrez, but they couldnt make the case. one big reason -- sams cousin, javier, who told detectives he was with sam the night of the murder. javier was sams alibi. so he wasnt suspected of being part of the murder, or even being at the crime scene. >> thats right, yeah. they were looking at javier solely as an alibi witness who was lying to cover for sam. >> reporter: thats why, as detective daron wyatt now discove...

Families. it turned out cathy had dated armandos younger brother, sam, off and on. and the families lived right down the street from each other. you can see one house from the other. >> 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 th...

>> reporter: tina montelongo remembers it clearly. >> when i opened the door, there was about five police officers there. the one in the middle was wyatt. he put us against the wall and patted us down. >> reporter: what was sams demeanor while all that was happening? >> he was calm, you know. he really was. i was freaking out. >> reporter: he wasnt worried? >> no. no. >> reporter: maybe he had no reason to be. police didnt find anything in the house linking sam to cathys murder. they even spraye...

>> how long have you guys been dating? >> its -- its an off-and-on thing. on-and-off thing. >> okay. >> reporter: tell number one, how sam talked about his relationship with cathy. >> see, i was going out with somebody. and then she would call me up. and we would just, like -- calling each other, going out to eat, places like that. nothing serious at the time. >> sam definitely was trying to limit his connection with cathy, give the impression that its not that big of a deal. >> reporter: rememb...

Sams cousin javier was also arrested and charged with murder. police also arrested sams older brother, armando, who was once married to cathys sister tina, and had helped search for cathy. >> its just a tragic loss. it hurts. everybody loved cathy. >> reporter: armando was charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping cover up the murder. >> we believe that he was telling people who had information that could help convict sam not to cooperate with the police. >> reporter: ...