Page 17 - Linking Sam News Today

>> i was ready. i was, "this is it. this is who i want to be with. this is who i want to grow old with. this is who i want to have kids with." >> reporter: and they did. a year later came a baby girl. and sam embraced his role as dad. >> he was like mr. mom, you know. he stayed home and took care of the baby while i worked. >> reporter: if sam had anything to do with cathys murder, he certainly didnt act like it. he stayed put. living with his wife and baby right down the street from cathys mom,...

Their suspicions to the orange county d.a., the outcome was not what they expected. >> coming up, sam has a new woman in his life who soon discovers his old life. you were a little freaked out by that? >> well, yeah. ♪ ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of ...

This time though, something different happened. a prosecutor unfamiliar with the case agreed to take a fresh look. his name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. >> the first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. >> 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...

Memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. >> reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. >> a hickey. >> on her neck? >> on her -- right here. covered up with her bra. >> you mean way down here on her shoulder? >> right here. right here. >> reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. >> i didnt want to hit her up, like, tell her, "hey, you know,...

Role was helping the prime suspect -- javiers cousin sam lopez. tina montelongo, sams then-wife and javiers friend, wasnt buying it. can you conceive of javier going through with a murder or being involved in it because of his loyalty to sam? >> no. i dont see that. if sam did it, would xavi help him just because theyre close family? i dont see that. >> reporter: neither did the d.a. who decided there was not enough evidence to file charges. how do you tell mary bennett, "we had javier, but we h...

"yeah, we found javiers profile on her sock, on the back of her knee, and under her right armpit." >> reporter: "did we tell you?" no, we didnt tell you. how long had they known that? >> a couple of months, at least. >> and they, what, forgot to call? >> i think the examiner who had been doing it was waiting for additional results and didnt realize that she hadnt notified us. >> so the idea of touch-dna paid off? >> it did. >> reporter: but not quite the way they had all hoped. unbelievable that...

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 the best. >> how long have you known cathy? >> jeez, ive known her for ov...

>> reporter: to daron wyatt, it felt more like fate. and just months later, in january 1997, his lieutenant suggested daron apply to the homicide unit. >> so i ended up putting in for that job and being selected. >> reporter: it wasnt long before he cracked open the doors that housed the homicide files. >> and i open the cabinet and i see the torrez case. and i remembered the incident with debbie from about a year earlier. so i pulled it out and i started reading just on free time, just reading ...

Essentially the same room. >> reporter: eventually, daron wyatt felt he had enough new information to get a search warrant. >> there was a loud pounding on our door. >> 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. >> re...

Cathy torrez? >> yes. >> reporter: he hadnt told you that? >> he hadnt told me that. that was in the first couple of weeks that i was dating him. >> reporter: sam emphatically denied any involvement in 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 s...