Page 4 - Sam Herr News Today

>> and steve tried to tell detectives. you said, sam couldnt do this. and police said, a, hes missing and, b, he was a suspect in a murder case once. >> correct. >> that doesnt buy you a lot of rhythm from law enforcement. >> no, and i understood that. im not that naive. i absolutely understood that. thats why it was imperative to start looking immediately. >> steve called sams friend ruben to see if he had talked to sam. and ruben told him a curious story. ruben said hed been trying to get ahol...

And dan felt he had no choice. >> and then i said, after 30 days ill have all your full money or whatever and then youre going get the [bleep] out of my life. >> then dan told detectives he dropped sam at a shopping center parking lot in long beach. and dan said that was the last time he saw sam. he later ditched sams car. and dan said he was sorry he had lied to police at first when he told them he last saw sam in the company of a man wearing a black cap. >> he doesnt exist. thats a lie. thats ...

>> i was planning a lot of stuff to do with her. so were going to be the buddies to go shopping or, you know, thats what i told julie. and were planning to do that. that was right before it happened. its so hard, you know? she was 23. >> 23 years young, and her life taken from her in the most senseless way. >> she loved to kind of design things. so she really wanted to be a stylist. >> now that would never happen. police were looking hard for sam herr. detective ed everette. >> hes on the run an...

Wanted to know, what was all this about? what drove dan to do it? >> your motive behind killing sam was? >> money and insanity. >> money and insanity. [laughter] i dont know. i dont know why i did it. >> the centuries-old motive -- money. more than $60, 000, in fact. sam herrs combat pay. >> when he was deployed, basically all the money that he was earning in the military just went into a savings account. he didnt spend it when he was deployed. >> and dan wozniak wanted that money? >> yes. >> an...

Wave us down. and so i get out and i walk up to the car window and tell them, you know, dans been arrested, yada, yada, yada. and he freaks out and has this like look of fear in his eye. >> a short time later, her phone rang. it was dan calling from his jail cell. the call recorded by police. >> what did you do? >> i helped sam cover some stuff up and helped him get some drugs. thats it. i didnt murder anybody. >> babe, why on earth would you try and cover for him? >> because we needed the money...

>> there may be but please question me and any gaps that i, i want to fill. absolutely. >> as far as your participation in this thing. >> as far as my participation? >> yeah. >> okay. >> talk to me. >> i am, officer. >> huh? >> yes, i helped him get away. yes, i knew that he had killed someone, and, yes, i knew that -- >> stop. stop right there. stop right there. >> they circled back to the dna. >> we got your dna. >> yes. >> okay? wheres that dna going to be showing up? >> in sams car. >> what ...

Sam picked them up. im like, take the shell casings so they dont find those. detectives wanted details. >> so why was, why does he write the message? >> i dont know. i dont know. he said he was just seriously messed up and had about three or four pills. >> how about her pants? >> her pants were -- it looked to be like cut. and so he said he used the scissors to cut them as best he remembered. he was blacking out a lot. he didnt remember everything that he had been doing. >> this statement seemed...

Sam herrs apartment. and then he -- i think he said, your daughters body was found or something like that. and then i just -- i think i was screaming like, no, no, thats not my daughter. you know. its not my daughter. >> julie had been shot twice in the head. her pants were down to her knees. and someone had written on her sweatshirt the words "all yours f-u." she was still wearing the tiara her brother had given her the night before. >> but i was still in disbelief of, you know, it was not my d...

An actor whod taught him theater. >> it was a good bond. you know, an older dude that i looked up to. an older cat. and was, like, definitely someone i talked to about certain things in my life. >> the actors name? dan wozniak. sam herrs neighbor. what could he possibly have to do with any of this? coming up -- busy acting and just days away from getting married -- >> definitely excited, but a lot of stress. >> dan was now also a potential witness in a murder investigation. >> i said, im going t...

Investigation. why did you feel the need to do your own police work? >> i didnt look at it as police work. i looked it as i wanted to find some answers for looking to find sam, first of all. where could sam be? is somebody helping -- is he running away? did he come up with some foul play? >> steve called sam again and again, but sams cell phone was going straight to voicemail. >> i love you. let me know whats going on. what -- whats going on? >> then a big break, and a puzzle. steve and sam had ...