this is jodi and even before the detectiv got the words out -- >> i felt that she was gone. >> her daughter had been so happy, so charming, outgoing. but then, said jodi, a boyfriend convinced jarrae that to please him, she would have to turn tricks. this is jarrae. >> we just honked trying to get her -- attention >> a self proclaimed group vigilante group caught on camera caught her on camera back in 2012. but jarrae left the boyfriend. turned her life around, so jodi thought. and then that awful phone call from detective trapp bob. >> i was screaming, like screaming. >> the detective made a promise to that mother, it didn't matter what choices jarrae may have made, she, the detective, woodwork this case as hard as any she ever had. >> it literally went from each little motel, each little motel, showing her picture, and having the clerk right -- look at her name to see if she stayed there. >> eventually she found the room where jarrae had been staying in which there was 70 -- $700 of cash, mascara, contact lens solution, but nothing that would lead her to a suspect. nothing here. from the disposal company, she got a list of the doctors -- service trucks that service that morning. and she and other officers went dumpster diving hundreds of dumpsters. >> but would you be looking for? >> we were -- we were all given pictures of the trash that looked around her. if it looks similar, take pictures of what's inside. >> no luck. waste of time. but then, back on the conveyor belt. and odd thing turned up in the trash next to weeks jarrae's body. >> there was a fingerprint. it was on the caulking tube and a much someone, a window installer who worked for a company called hearty windows. >> they said we always bring it back to hearty windows. >> well what do you found, a dumpster that had not been emptied. there was one dumpster that had been left off the list for police. >> the same blue plastic wrapping and was almost as though i was looking at the same trash i had seen on the conveyor belt. >> bingo. they had not been for that lucky fingerprint, they would've missed. it was that like? >> it was a combination of frustration but, okay, all right, we are moving somewhere. >> so jarrae was dumped here sometime in the morning of march 14th, miles, and from the spot where according to her cellphones record she had placed her last call 7 pm the night before. how far away would it have been? >> 20 miles. >> but that is all the detective knew. a week gone by. everyone at hardy windows was cleared, no suspects at all. detective trapp went to church, said her rosary, worried, prayed, and wondered. >> i have heard a story on the news that there were three missing prostitutes in the city of santa ana. >> right next door? basically >> yes. >> what if this was not the killer's first time, or last? >> coming up with, for young women in two neighboring towns now missing or dead. was there a link? >> we were like, well what are the odds that they are related? >> when dateline continues. oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. the power goes out and we still have wifi so to do our homework.ain. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. >> detective trapp could not home of the xfinity 10g network. sleep, kept awake by the puzzle of the girls someone threw away in the trash. that's when something jog to restless mind, have not some women vanished in the town next, or santa ana what? >> we were like, what are the odds that they are related? >> so she looked them up and learned about kiana jackson. she was 20 years old when she disappeared five months before jarrae's death. >> she was just a fun loving child, always made you laugh. >> just look at her childhood photos, that's silly grin, she loved her dog, her little brother, playing softball. and then it started happening, said kathy. eighth grade or so. >> she was kind of getting typical teenage -- and high school came and getting around the older kids she got, you know, worse. >> how did you cope with? that >> one day at a time. and loved her as much as i could. it was about the only thing. >> after high school, kiana went to college about a three hour drive from home. a year later, she moved to las vegas, very far from home now. she got closer and closer to her mom. >> she would call me every day, talk to me every day, text message. >> just a loving daughter? >> yes, i did not think anything that was happening. >> no idea, even in october 2013 when kianna called to say -- >> she was in the bus towards santa ana. >> did you say? why >> visiting friends is what she told. me >> but then, the girl who called her mother almost daily stopped calling. >> i would start going, wait a second, this is not right. i would text her and she would text right back. but this time nothing, nothing. >> gone, not a peep to her mom, to her friends, to her boyfriend. kathy went to the police. >> when i called to file a missing persons report they said that she is an adult and there is nothing we can do for you. >> but you knew that there was a? problem >> yeah. >> so cathy started doing her own digging, checked her daughter down to a motel in orange county where the trail ended. her clothes where there, but she wasn't. again, she called the police. >> and they said, oh that happens, sometimes prostitutes just work circuits -- >> prostitute? >> and i said, no. that can't be. >> but then the truth came crashing down. undeniable. kianna had missed a scheduled court date in santa ana for a prostitution charge. >> but wait a minute, you talk to her every day? >> this -- is exactly. >> and you knew you nothing of the secret? >> nothing. >> what does it feel like as a mom to hear that that that was going on all that time and you do know? it >> heartbreaking. >> when she heard kathy story, detective trapp began thinking she was on to something. then she discovered two and a half weeks after kianna disappear, there was another one. josephine monique vargas. >> she had a beautiful personality. the color giggles because she made people laugh. >> josephine's mother, priscilla, was on the news searching her daughter for. months after she left the family barbecue to go get groceries. >> that was the last time that any of us saw or heard of. her >> priscilla went to the santa ana police department, filed a report. >> they didn't really do anything to look for. her >> so she did. >> nothing was going to stop me from looking for my daughter. nothing, or no one. >> and it was pure chance when priscilla ran into another mother, desperate to find her daughter. martha, 28 years old and a mother herself. who just vanished one day. >> well [interpreter] there's no way she would've left, we would say, i'm going and living everything. behind >> so martha's mother and priscilla went up and down the boulevard together. >> we made thousands of fliers she and i were on a mission to find our daughters. >> but no sign of their daughters anywhere. the detective trapp collected their portraits, hung them on her off his wall. and she stayed awake and prayed in her catholic way. >> do you ever wonder why god would allow this to happen? >> i do. there have been plenty of times that i've been angry with our maker because you have to wonder why does this happen? i wish you would talk to me and that would be very helpful. but i had to figure out what happened. just read the clues, collect the puzzle pieces, and the more you can keep a neutral mind, these are the puzzle pieces fit together. >> now getting around it, the pieces pointed to a chilling conclusion. those three missing woman, just like jarrae may have been murdered. and if that was true, it would mean that there was a serial killer out there in the night. there had to be. more deaths would be coming. unless one idea, it was grasping at straws, yes, but -- >> you know what? in my workout. why not. let's try it with. >> coming up when -- >> all sex offenders will have one -- gps monitor. >> tracking the killer victim by victim. when dateline continues. game] emergen-c crystals. we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. how's the heart? 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(upbeat music) >> the autopsy came in, the one for jarrae, the girl on the conveyor belt. >> it is bad. it was bad. the it was bad. >> strangled, beaten, sexually assaulted, viciously. according to a deputy da larry yellin. >> she should be worrying about grades, boyfriends, and football games. those things. >> one wrong turn and they're gone. >> yeah. >> but almost three weeks in, detective he detective trapp seemed stuck. >> i think she got frustrated and a little desperate and came up with the idea of using the computer database. >> that is the computer database of sex offenders. if they had a serial killer on their hands, there was at least a chance he had already ran a file with them at some point. it was a little bit like putting the finger into that haystack and was trying to encounter a needle. it was worth a. try so trapp called this woman, who laura low mentally. >> they will all have a gps meter. >> was there gps meter here where he jarrae was last making a phone call, or. here >> what's where the chances? she got a hit in both locations. she called detective trapp. >> there's only one person. she said i know. him i said who? she said, his name is the franc cano, he's a registered sex offender. >> in 2007, franc cano committed -- allude act on a minor. he was not put on a gps monitor. next question, did franc cano monitor put him near the places where the other three women, according to phone records, made their last calls? well kianna, josephine, and martha? >> and every intersection for that date and time that they gave me, franc cano came up. >> wow. >> for every single intersection, i was shocked. >> but something about that man, look franc cano what. you had a buddy. and she ran into them. both >> i knew that he had a friend. look steven gordon. the >> steven gordon, he had done time for molesting a minor and later for kidnapping. he and cano were inseparable apparently. once the detective pulled up the gps coordinates, where martha was last seen and santa ana, no the gordon. but when she took locations for kayla kianna and josephine? there he was. shed cck discovered that at that particular moment, was gordon not on the gps monitor, but he was wearing one of the other three print places. and so was cano. the electronics made it absolutely obvious, here they were cano and gordon, driving together, up and down beach boulevard, and santa ana. >> they were on the freeway -- >> they were in the same car. >> the same vehicle. >> detector trapp had prayed for a hail mary and she did not expect anything like this. >> i soon realized, i am not just dealing with one, we are dealing with two? to sex offenders wearing gps bracelets? >> well before the electronic cross referencing, the case between cano and gordon was purely circumstantial. she could not arrest them not without more evidence. and that was terrifying. >> there were young women who were at real risk here? and if you waited too long -- how would you feel if somebody else was attacked? >> there are a lot of writ rosaries that were being preyed on for sure. >> she set up a surveillance team to's watch cano around the clock. and they pulled self and records. >> we started reading their text messages and seeing how prolific they were at hunting. >> hunting? >> hunting. on almost a daily basis. and how nonchalant they were about it. it was almost like ordering takeout we start reading, would you feel like today? asian or mexican? >> oh boy. what do they call these girls? >> that was the other thing. cats. >> cats? >> well cats. be careful, when the cats know they are getting, away it is going to fight. >> the next victim can be far away because gordon texted cano, kitty cat later yes. to which cano responded, okay. and then a sudden change. had they spotted the surveillance? as we trapp listen to the wiretap, she heard gordon talk to cano about skipping town. >> i could hear the desperation in cano's wise. that desperation kind of sent my hair standing on the back of my back and i said. i am not going to wait anymore. they're gonna run. >> time to move, fast. they caught up to cano as he was boarding a bus. and stephen gordon? they found him where he worked, at an auto body shop next door to hearty windows. but -- >> he made a run for. it >> ran out the door? >> on the bicycle. yes. he had a little collision with one of our surveillance units and a little flying over the handlebars and he was taken into custody. >> both men were charged with four counts each of first agree murder, forceable rape. >> hi steven? >> hi. >> and detective trapp prepared to confront a suspected serial killer. >> coming up -- >> i knew this was going to be a lot different in any other interview i hadn't. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. >> (whisper) air wick. air wick's limited edition fragrances are infused with natural essential oils for authentic seasonal scents that fill your home with warmth and cheer. she found it. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for. sotyktu is the first-of-its-kind, once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding your back... is back. or finding psoriasis can't deny the splendor of these thighs. once-daily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. ask your dermatologist about sotyktu for clearer skin. so clearly you. sotyktu. one last relieved, 17 hostages. an exchange, israel released 39 palestinian prisoners. all of the minors. and, police in burlington, vermont, say a suspect has been arrested in the saturday night shooting of the palestinian college students. the victims families are calling on the government to treat the incident as a hate crime. and now, back to dateline. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> for six months, kathy menzies waited for news about her daughter, kianna. still woke up every day hoping she would call or text. and writing a knock on the door. which, in april 2014, is what happened. >> my heart sunk when they came, because i knew right away that it was going to be good news. >> no. not good news at all. anaheim police told her that two men, franc cano and steven gordon we're now under arrest for the murder of her daughter and three other young women in orange county. what were you like that night? >> i just wanted to sleep. i wanted to go to sleep and week up and pinch myself -- >> and make it a different world? >> exactly. >> detective julissa trapp wanted to speak with both men, of course. but cano lowered up. so she tried gordon, still in a wheelchair after his bike accident. >> hi, stephen. >> hi. >> how are you? i knew this was going to be a lot different than any other interview i had done. he's cunning, manipulative -- >> he didn't have to talk to you. >> he did not have to talk to me. >> are you called? do you want a blight kit? >> if you don't mind. >> no. >> but detective trapp has a way, as they say. you're compassionate? >> thank you,. >> you're welcome. >> you are kind to him. you brought him a blanket. food. >> there are your chips. >> yes, we actually shared two meals together. >> is it spicy? >> i told you. i told you be careful. >> even so, gordon was reluctant, at first. >> would you rather talk to somebody else? >> i don't want to talk to anybody. >> if you watched me very carefully. if i swallowed too hard. if i looked at him differently. he would say, what's wrong? >> you have a word look on your set face when i said where. >> so, he was constantly trying to keep a poker face to continue to elicit information from him. >> did you try to play you? >> oh, i think he definitely think he did. for sure. >> that by bit, she pulled out answers. for herself, and for those for mothers. >> did she go by the name kayla? >> it starts with a key, kianna. >> she told me her name was kayla. >> detective trapp presented him with photographs. he identified all four women. >> saw her, her, her, right? >> each murder when the same way, he said. he and cano pick them up and his suv. drove them back to the auto body shop were gordon worked. they took turns having their way. and then, just as each woman prepared to leave -- >> strangled her with my hands. >> you strangled her? >> some of the details in that 13 our interview were almost more that even a seasoned detective could stand to hear. >> as he was hurting martha, she told him, i didn't believe in god, but i do now. there's a part of me that is grateful that she found god at the end. it's disturbing to me that, in response he said, you picked a hell of a time to start believing in god. i'll never forget that. >> but she had it. a full confession. she called jarrae,'s mother, jodi. >> i dropped to my knees. detective trapp gave me her word that she would find who killed my daughter. >> detective trapp had kept her word. now she bought three more rosaries and wondered, could she bring those women home? gordon had told her all of them had been left in the same dumpster. the contents of which were brought here, orange county's prima deshecha landfill. we're except for jarrae, they all still were in there somewhere. >> we did a lot of research and we had every intention to try and dig for them. >> but the bodies had to be 40 feet deep by now. digging for them would cost millions. they might never be found. and the county couldn't afford that. and they're just over there, somewhere? >> yes. >> 40 feet down? >> yes. >> what's that like? what does that feel like? >> it's frustrating. it's frustrating knowing that they are here and we can't bring them home. it's like the one thing that the mothers want, and i get it. to not b