but there was no mistaking their love. >> she wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for me. >> and when her daughter became a mom, life itself seemed perfect. but, not for long. >> the sergeant said please tell me that this isn't true. he said i can't. >> but who wanted her daughter dead? she had lovers, not enemies. >> -- how would you describe her relationship? >> friends with benefits. >> the question for police, which friend was the father and which the killer? >> it doesn't seem as if she only made the best choices. >> no. >> hello, and welcome to dateline. single mom torino was surrounded by love. in addition to her baby dean, she had a boyfriend, a best friend, and a mother who adored her. the grown-ups worked as a team carry 14, but when tragedy struck, the tories mother realized the only way left to help was to fight for justice. here is josh mankiewicz with complicated. >> in some families, the birth of a child can change everything. >> i wouldn't of carrot if we had a boy or girl. but it was going to be nice to have a little boy. >> dana eras was over the moon when her first grandchild was born. dean robert spring stewed came into this world on september 26, 2005 weighing seven pounds, stretching out to 20 and a half inches. >> he was beautiful. i was madly in love with him. >> her husband,, roitfeld the same way. >> you were charmed? >> i was absolutely shocked. yes. >> the baby's mother, dane's daughter tory the no, was just 21 and not ready for the challenges of parenthood. but, as they begin grew from a newborn into a happy instant with a sweet smile, tory grew as well. >> he was something that we didn't know we were missing until he came and it was one big fat wall of love. and he opened up my daughter. it is like you could see her heart go huge. it was a beautiful sight to see, watching her become a mom. i think every mom should be able to see that with their child. >> all of that joy turned to horror on the evening of july 26th, 2006. >> my sisters roommate, i don't know what happened to her. >> take a deep breath. take a deep breath so i can understand. >> i don't know, i don't know. >> we tell a lot of sad stories here on dateline, while this one is not easy to tell, it might make you think about the relationship you have with your kids or your parents. what happened here in san diego turned a happy mother and grandmother into a fighter who now wants the world to know what happened to her family, because, she says, there are lessons here. they are about life, trust, and they're about the choices that we make. what she has learned might be a gift to someone else's family. >> before we go ahead i want to ask you something. are you sure you want to do this? >> yes. >> this is not going to be pleasant. >> i think it's important. i think it's important to do. tori could've been any girl. >> but, of course that she wasn't any girl. she was dana's. >> tori was the perfect daughter for me. she wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for me. and, from the minute she was born we were two peas in a pod. she was perfectly flawed, i believe. >> most mothers probably would argue that their daughters don't have flaws. >> no, she had. flaws >> dana says that story would get so focused on a goal that she sometimes ignored signs of problems along the way. >> stubborn? >> yeah. >> it doesn't seem as if she always made the best choices. >> no. there is a flaw there. >> tori best friend daniel mullin always remembered how tori always seemed to fall for the wrong guy. >> what kind of guys was she going out with? >> to me they weren't stable guys. >> bad boys? >> kind of. >> guys that weren't that nice to her? >> not that nice to her and not that nice in general. >> maybe that shouldn't be a surprise, given that our relationships as adults oftent e witnessed as children. tori was a barely two when her father left and cut all ties with her and dayna. and though stepdad roy filled issues later on and certainly loved her, tori spent years dealing with her mother's issues. >> i will say this, from the jump, i am a recovering alcoholic and, up until she was 16, her life was fairly normal. and then i crashed. i think i've always been an alcoholic, but it came to a head at this point. >> although you are drinking, you are functioning? >> i was functioning. but then i could no longer function. >> and then what? >> then i just couldn't stop, i woke up and i had a drink. and i would take my daughter to school. >> gronk? >> yeah. >> as many children of alcoholics do, tori helped her mother cover-up the drinking, hiding bottles, denying there was a problem. for a while, that worked. but, at 16, tori felt she couldn't take it anymore. >> tori said i love you, but when you drink. i will not want to destroy your life. i found a place to interview for a recovery home and you get one shot. and if you fail at this i'm not coming back. i need my mom back. >> that had to feel good knowing that, whatever mistakes you might have made, you raised a daughter who had that kind of backbone. >> i was very proud of her. >> and, so dayna what often we have for nearly a year. roy moved away to deal with the family collapse in its own way, and tori, still in high school, lived with friends and worked as a waitress. when dayna emerged nine and a half months later dry and sober it was tori turned to be proud. >> i wanted her to see that you could stand back up when you fall and you could get your life back together, we put our marriage back together. we put your family back together. >> over the next few years, tori and dayna became closer than ever. then, one day tori came home with some news of her own. >> she came to the house and she said i need to talk to you. she kept humming and hawing and i said speak to doubt and tell me and will deal with whatever it is. she said i'm pregnant. >> it should have been the beginning of a happy new chapter in the lives of both mother and daughter. but, sometimes, as we told you earlier, the birth of a child can change everything. >> coming up, and so can a phone call. >> he said haven't the police contacted you? i said why would the please be calling me? >> when dateline continues. dateline continues [♪♪] did you know, there's a way to cut your dishwashing time by 50%? try dawn powerwash dish spray. it removes 99% of grease and grime in half the time. dawn powerwash has 3 cleaning boosters not found in traditional dish soaps that remove food and grease 5 times faster. and, because it cleans so well you can replace multiple cleaning products for counters, stoves, and even laundry stains. try dawn powerwash dish spray. brand power, helping you buy better. after advil dual action back pain: yo. who. haha. 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>> yeah, is my little buddy, is my best friend. >> really? >> i watched him every day when everyone was at work. that means doctor's appointment, visits, going to the store. he was my right hand man at the. time >> then it was amazed and amused by the three way childcare that tori had figured out. >> the three of them were comical. and dean was just filled with love. >> but by the summer of 2006, when baby dean was ten months old, tori and neil had broken up. daniel had moved home with his mom, though he continued to help out daily with deans care. mother and baby were living in low income housing in a rough part of san diego. but, even, so grandma dayna still thought life was good. the last time you saw them they were all in the pull together? >> she had gotten into a bikini, she was very proud of. that >> she lost the baby weight? >> yeah. and daniel was in the pool with dean and roy was in the pool with dean. and dean had learned how to splash. he realized it was his hand that was making the water splash and he would just roar with laughter and thought it was the funniest thing. and i said, isn't our live perfect? we have come full circle. doesn't it sound like music from heaven when he left? >> that was what? >> that was a sunday the 23rd of july. >> three days later, on a wednesday night, dana was struck by a news story about a mother and her baby. >> that night is on the news that, i think they said a mother that was a 27 and a child that was eight months had been murdered. >> one of the roommates came home to the south crest complex before nine and -- >> apart from that family, that is horrible. i went to bed, thought nothing more of. it >> but the next day, dana got a call from tori's workplace. she hadn't shown up. she called daycare, baby dean wasn't there. so she called daniel mullen who is with tori and dean nearly every day, and daniel, in an almost matter of fact way, told dayna the worst news she had ever heard. >> he said haven't of the police contacted you? i said why would the police be calling me? and he said, the mother and child on the news last night was tori and dean. >> it was too terrible to hear. >> i was engulfed in need, and i know that when i went back, the line was dead. >> dayna called police to find out more. they confirmed the news that both her daughter and grandson were dead. they held back the details because it was a gruesome crime. but, soon enough, it dayna would hear it on the news. tori had been beaten, both she and ten month old baby dina had been strangled. dean was still in his crib. >> i call the sergeant and said, please tell me that this isn't true. he said, i can't tell you that. and then the nightmare began. >> by the time dayna had learned what happened to her baby grandson and daughter, please had already gone through the apartment, dusting for parents, searching for dna, looking for anything that might explain this double murder. >> first of, all what can you tell from the crime scene? >> just that it appeared to be a violent assault. >> lieutenant kevin rooney supervisors the san diego police homicide unit. >> there is no forced entry into the apartment, but it was not uncommon for tori and her to her mates to leave the door unlocked. >> sexual assault? robbery? what did you guys think? >> she was glad with a bra, but there were some tears to her clothing, so at the beginning we were open to the possibility that maybe it was an intruder who attempted to rape or. >> but this is an attempted rape that went wrong, why kill a ten month old child who's not gonna be able to testify? >> exactly. a ten month old boy who doesn't speak? >> right away, the cops started bringing in tory's friends. >> you didn't kill, or did you? >> i talked to her wednesday went. >> tory's best friend daniel, the one who had taken such good care of baby dean, was also brought downtown. >> that is your typical interrogation? >> a little tiny room, a light on me, talking. >> what did please ask you? >> they asked me where i was. >> take your fingerprints? >> yes. >> confiscate yourself? and >> yes. >> did you feel like a suspect? >> i didn't feel like i suspect the first night. >> that changed? >> that changed big-time. >> dateline returns after the break. after th break. e only maternal given between 32 through 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect babies against rsv from birth through 6 months. 6 millions breaths to meet your baby. know you've helped protect them against rsv. abrysvo is not for everyone and may not protect all babies of vaccinated mothers. don't get abrysvo if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. people with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to vaccination. the most common side effects among pregnant women are headache, pain at the injection site, muscle pain and nausea. in clinical trials with abrysvo, low birth weight and jaundice were reported more frequently than placebo. every breath matters. talk to your obgyn or other healthcare provider about pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo. why are we the only birds heading this way? or other healthcare provider about pfizer's [ screams ] we're trying to get to jamaica. stay close and... everything will be all right. i'm ok. i'm ok. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): tori and dean were gone. san diego detectives were piecing together tori's life. >> tory and dean were gone, san her mother dayna was planning a double final farewell. diego detectives were piecing together tori's lies. her mother dayna was planning a double final farewell. >> how do you get through a funeral for your only child and her brand-new baby? >> in a days. >> did you think about drinking again? >> never. >> because it seems like that would be something you think about. >> i would never dishonor that way. i made mistakes when she was growing up with my drinking, i wasn't going to make it again. >> but dayna was aching. she bought 43 books on grieving, hoping in vain that one would reveal a clue to living through the bird rule murder of a daughter and grandson. she also looked for answers from the san diego police, but didn't find them there, either. they told her that she was working the, case which is typical police procedure. >> frustrating? >> extremely. >> and that made you angry? >> i was angry from probably week two. i felt that they were sweeping tori and denied or the carpet. >> so this grieving mother and grandmother decided she had to do something. maybe what you did was a form of a therapy. maybe it wasn't just that she needed to screen something at someone, at the top of her lungs. >> we're not going away, we're just getting bigger and we're getting louder. >> she organized candlelight vigils. she worked with groups like crime stoppers and put out playing cards with tory and these photos. guards that said, please call if you know anything. and, in frustration, dayna held a press conference right in front of the headquarters of the san diego police. >> nobody deserves to die in this way, and certainly not an infant who cannot get away. he couldn't speak, he was a baby. >> all along, she kept calling lieutenant kevin rooney, asking for details. and he wasn't giving up anything. >> we were investigating a murder. there were many details and progress that we won't reveal. dana was very angry. i understand. >> she feels like you guys are getting no? or >> she was very upfront about that. >> police were making progress, but progress in a real homicide rarely happens as quickly as it does in a tv crime drama. subpoenas have to be issued for things like cell phone records and computer hard drives. and all of that would take weeks, if not months to come in. >> what police did learn quickly buttery was that she did not seem to have any enemies. she did, however lead a very complicated life. tory was juggling not just work and motherhood, but also three men. her boyfriend, neil springstube, powell daniel, and the old boyfriend dennis mickjal potts. they quickly established than it was in florida at the time of the murders, so that left to. >> give me a brief capsule of each one of them. >> dennis knew tory since high school, they attended the same high school. they had as what was described as a not exclusive relationship, for whatever reason they were constantly drawn back to one another and did have a sexual relationship that existed over the years, since school. >> daniel mueller never qualified as a boyfriend. maybe he was too nice, or just two shy. >> daniel knew her for a long time, from when they had that earlier job together. he described him as best friends, but he wanted more. i believe that he loved her and wanted a romantic relationship with her. >> you knew that sometimes made daniel, if not, angry at least unhappy? >> it sure seemed as though, of the three people, the three men in her life, he seemed to be the one on the outside looking in. >> however, in the weeks before tori was killed, things are beginning to change between tori and daniel. she seemed open to the possibility of making their relationship more than just friends. but she wasn't sold on it. >> she wasn't quite into that whole idea as you were? >> i don't think so, no. >> did that bother? you're >> not really. >> i don't believe you. >> i was upset that she still talked to dennis and other people, but i knew how she was before, so i kind of had to accept her for how she. was >> daniel had spent years being forgiving of tori's weaknesses. despite that loyalty, dayna told detectives that something didn't seem right to her about daniel, specifically how he knew so much so soon about the murders. you had to, during that time, sort of flashback to how much more daniel was into daniel then tori was into daniel. >> it scares me the way that he knew that they were dead in the way that he told me they were dead. that kind of scared me, is what i told police. >> in turn, police made sure that daniel knew that he was in their sights. the cops start coming at you pretty hard? >> yes. >> frightening? >> after they told me that i was the main suspect, yeah, a little frightening. >> they said you are the main suspect? >> i believe i was the only suspect at that time. >> with the pressure, on daniel told the cops that he didn't do it and he wanted to help find out who did. he shared with them these unusual text messages that he received from story, a little before seven pm that night. daniel said it was soon after he got back from work from a break. it was also around the time that police believed tory and dean were killed. >> that's why i left my phone with him that night, because i said i got a lot of texts before. i don't know if that has anything to do with. it >> there is some scary guy standing by my car, looking into my place, right one. daniel told the police that was odd because tory didn't think of her shared apartment as her place. he also told detectives about another text he thought was even stranger. >> dean was sleeping like a dead dog. >> she said that dean was sleeping like a dead dog? >> yeah. >> was that the way she talked? >> not at all. >> and an age demographic that was reduced to text messages, emotions as a complex and different as love and hate, desire and friendship, tori's texted words to dani