Torrez Case News Today

Look, i need time to concentrate specifically on this case." >> reporter: daron pored through the files and hunted down new leads. and then a tip came in, seemingly out of nowhere. >> so a guy from a repossession company calls the police and says, "hey i repod this car earlier today, and there was a folio in the trunk of the car. and as im going through the folio, there are articles in there about this murder in placentia from 1994 and there are receipts from sav-on. >> reporter: sav-on. the dru...

>> reporter: so whatevers going on with this guy, hes not your guy. >> he -- well, hes not personally. but is he related to -- does he know? whats the connection? why is this stuff in the trunk of his car? >> reporter: when you say to him, "why would you have articles about cathy torrezs murder and receipts from sav-on in the trunk of your car," his answers what? >> "thats all my wifes stuff." he disowns it. he separates himself from it, which now raises a little bit more suspicion. >> reporter:...

Cathy. >> we know gods there for you. >> reporter: police did jump on the case, and it seemed as if all of placentia did too. >> we had strangers, people coming to the house asking, "what can we do? where can we take the flyers? can we have some flyers" to pass out flyers. >> reporter: tina drove to the school where cathy worked. all the while, marys mantra echoed thru her mind -- find the car and youll find cathy. >> when i drove into the parking lot, i said, "let me just see her car. let me ju...

And one more thing also seemed clear. >> most likely the attack started in the car. there were pieces of the gearshift that were broken, pieces of the center console that were broken, as if a struggle had occurred. and then there was blood within the interior of the car. >> reporter: orange county prosecutor matt murphy later reviewed the case. he noted blood on everything the killer must have touched -- the steering wheel, above the glove compartment, the drivers side armrest and, of course, th...

Police had their suspicions about sam lopezs involvement in the murder of his neighbor and former girlfriend, cathy torrez. but there was no physical evidence tying him to the murder. and he had a solid alibi on the night cathy was killed. sam was with his cousin, javier. which is why when police took their case to the d.a.s office, the d.a. refused to file charges against sam. police pursued other leads too, like a possible connection to the suicide of cathys boyfriend, albert. did you think th...

It was 1996. two years had passed since the gruesome murder of cathy torrez in placentia, california. >> i had been to several places, had knocked on many doors. and all i ever wanted was the truth to come out as to what had happened to cathy. >> reporter: the case had gone cold, but its memory still clung to the breeze in this small town. daron wyatt was a patrol officer back then, and one afternoon his shift brought him to this park just across the street from where cathy had grown up. daron w...

Ignore it. >> reporter: i mean, was this like the hatfields and the mccoys? what happened? >> there was no communication, no associations with them, you know. that -- that was basically it. that they became estranged. >> reporter: which made it difficult for tina, who was still married to sams older brother, armando. police continued to work the case, but the fact was, they had no solid leads. they werent even close to arresting anyone. but then two years after cathy torrez was murdered, an unex...

>> 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 ...

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...

>> reporter: and now you really are back to square one? >> yes. >> reporter: is that the end? >> to some people. >> reporter: but not to him. and not to mary. you put a lot of faith in daron. >> i put a lot of faith in god. daron was his tool. >> reporter: but for the time being, it seemed darons hands were tied. after all, the case had been rejected by the d.a.s office twice before. this case getting a lot of baggage over the years? >> yeah, it did. >> reporter: and so if you go ahead with it, ...