The obvious problem, no one could find him. This guy is potentially very dangerous. But what was real . And what was pretend . This is as diabolical as any case ive ever seen. Enter the actors. Theyre trying to say im somebody that im not. Was the killer really missing . Or was he hiding in plain sight . I said, this son of a bitch is dirty. Somebody knew the truth. Dont, dont, that cant be found. And this father refused to give up until he knew it too. Everything is based on me knowing the whole story. Places please. Theres an empty theater. A script full of twists. A troupe of actors. And someone who set the stage for an unbelievable tragedy. Im buying it. Im buying it hook, line and sinker. All of it so well done it was hard to tell what was real and what was an illusion. I just remember his performance being it was very, very real. This is a story of a man who seemed to be at the end of his rope. It looked like he was having some sort of panic attack or heart attack. But on this stage at the final curtain, the darkness remained. Because this story wouldnt win any awards. This was all real life. Julie is my first daughter. She was my valentine baby. For june and masa kibuishi, a japanese couple who built their American Dream here in Orange County, california, their third child came as a pleasant surprise. Doctor kept telling me it was another boy. But, voila, she was born on valentines day. Two big brothers had preceded her. So naturally, it was julie who became an allstar softball player as a young girl. But her passion was dance. She grew into a beautiful dancer and a remarkable young lady with the kindest of hearts. And that can kind of sometimes frustrated me. Okay, youre too nice. But you know, thats how she was. And that is how she met sam herr, who, like julie, was a student at orange coast college. Sam struggled a bit in school. Julie would help him out. She told me about sam. Hes like a big teddy bear. Hes always nice to everybody. Thats why we get together at his place, you know, a lot of times. Sam was a war veteran. Hed fought in afghanistan and made it home to california after three years overseas. Sam lived across the street from the college at an apartment complex. Its not a dorm, but i would call it a college dorm. Sams good friend, ruben, often hung out there with sam. And the poolside always had people, you know, drinking and having fun. Having fun at the pool. But despite his surroundings, sam was focused. He seemed more responsible. He seemed like he had, like, more of a plan on where he was going. He wasnt just kind of cruising on his g. I. Bill and just having fun and getting drunk every day or anything. Rachel buffett and her fianee lived near sam. He was really nice to everybody and liked to have fun and hang out with everybody. And everyone liked to be around him, too. But there was something about sam that very few people knew. He suffered from night terrors. A sort of psychic souvenir of the battlefield. Sam did share that with ruben, who was also a war veteran. Hell tell me that, you know, sometimes he feels like hell be sleeping and hell wake up in his sleep and hell be in a foxhole. So hell start screaming or looking for a weapon, and hell wake up sweating and, you know, just very stressed, i guess. Yeah. Thats tough. It is very tough. But, said ruben, sam seemed to be coping. And then came may 21st, 2010. It was a friday afternoon. Julie was going to hang out with her brother taka that evening. He was getting married, and julie was helping with the wedding plans. Then after i was cooking in the kitchen and she said, okay, bye, mom, im leaving. And then she she just went out the door. Julie made it safely to her brothers home in long beach. They had dinner together. Taka asked julie to be a bridesmaid at his wedding and gave her a tiara. But julie couldnt stay long because, she told her brother, her friend sam herr needed her. Hed been texting her all afternoon. Messages that seemed weirdly off kilter. Can you come over tonight at midnight alone . Going out for a bit. Very upset. Need to talk. Then please. No sex. I need to talk to someone. Julie texted back. Lol, ew, sam, we are like bro and sis. No sex. And then sam texted again. Im hurting with some bad fam crap. I cant be alone. No sex. Please im begging as a brother. Julie, as always, was ready to help. Yeah, thats fine, sam. Im here for you like family. She left her brothers home that friday evening and headed for sams apartment. Did you normally wait up for her . I normally do, but the thing was, though, she was with her brother. And then happened to be that saturday it was my youngest daughters senior prom. And then when i woke up and when i didnt see her, i was like okay. By now, it was saturday morning. June texted julie. No response. Then she called julie. Still no answer. So june called her son taka. So when i called him, he he was like what . Taka told his mom about sams texts. I started to get this little kind of my you know, weird feeling that, i started to feel like, okay, this is somethings wrong. By now it had been almost 24 hours since shed last seen julie. June started to panic. I probably called like 20 times her cell phone. Its just kind of already that it wont go like connected or anything. Its just like, you know, i cant even leave the message. So i called the irvine police. And then and what did they say . Oh, shes 23 . Okay. Well, she might be in drinking at the bar, or like you know, its excuse me . No, said june. Not her daughter. Julie was always quick to respond to her texts or phone calls. Across town, about 20 miles away from the kibuishis, sams parents, steve and raquel herr, also worried because they couldnt get hold of sam. I thought it was a little odd that when i called his phone, it went directly to the answering service. On saturday. Steve decided to check on his son. So i drove down there and knocked on his door. No answer. And i had the key to his apartment. So i walked in there, and i looked in to turn on the light. The living room looked fine and i said, okay. Sam . Nobody there. And thats when he saw it. I was what the hell, whats going on here . I freaked out. Coming up, a father searching for his son finds something he never expected. Theres a body in my sons apartment theres a what . A body, a dead body. A dead body . And no one can find sam. You think, okay, this guy is potentially very dangerous. Hes out there on the street. When dateline continues. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . Thats a reason to switch to jackson hewitt. No one gets you a bigger refund or you get 100. Yep, get your biggest refund or we pay you. Guaranteed. And heres another reason to switch to jackson hewitt. Guaranteed. When it comes to your business internet, which is more important . Okay, i wish i didnt have to choose. Like the more i think about it, the more i want to jump to each room. What if i said you can have it all . Comcast business gives you connectivity that goes beyond. Thats what we want thats speed, reliability, and security, all from one provider. Touchdown get started with internet and voice for an amazing price. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. It had been a beautiful california day in Orange County. Now the sun was setting and, in every sense, darkness was taking over. Steve herr, who had gone to look for his son sam, didnt find him. But he did find something. Theres a body in my sons apartment theres a what . A body. A dead body. A dead body . Is it someone that you know, sir . I have no idea who she is, i dont know whats going on. Does your son know who it is . Hes not here. Jesus, honey. Do you know where your son is . No, i dont. Costa Mesa Police Detective ed everette responded to the call. Walk into the crime scene, and we have a 20 something year old female on the bed. And shes in a position that appears she was sexually assaulted. Police quickly identify the victim. Sams tutor and friend, Julie Kibuishi. Before long, two detectives paid a visit to julies mom. This one detective told me, okay. Youre mrs. Kibuishi . Please, you need to can you sit down . And then i know that he said like, okay. Your daughter was found in this 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 fu. 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 daughter. Just cant be my daughter. I wanted to see, and they didnt allow me to see. They said i wasnt allowed to go. June could barely absorb what she was hearing. Julie was dead. And the only logical suspect was her college friend, sam. She told me that hes taking the same class with her and that he told me that hes like big brother to me and to everybody in the class because hes a little older. And he came back from the afghanistan. This guy that she thought of as a big brother, suddenly hes the suspect. It was just the bizarrest. But i still couldnt connect everything together. What happened in sams apartment that night was horrific. Julie had gone there to help sam, and now she was dead in his bedroom. And sam was somewhere in the wind. All of your new best friends that you hang out with every day . One of thems missing. A body was found in one of their apartments. This is something that, like, was affecting the whole atmosphere. Detectives soon found out sam was a war veteran, heard the stories of his night terrors. They also found julies phone in the apartment and saw sams Text Messages to her. Sam seemed plenty upset that evening. And when they searched his name in the Law Enforcement databases, they came up with a stunning result. He was arrested along with a lot of other people. A guy was killed. It was some sort of, like, gang thing. It was a gang case. He was involved in a gang incident in, i believe it was ventura county, and ultimately went to trial. It happened in 2002. Sam, just 18 at the time, was accused of luring another young man to a parking lot where the man was then attacked by more than a dozen others. While some of the attackers were convicted of murder and received life sentences, sam herr was found not guilty. He was innocent, and it was proven that way. You know, hes innocent. Four years later, sam joined the army and put all that behind him, or so his father believed. Thats why when i found julie, i knew that sam didnt do this. I knew sam would never do Something Like that. 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 ahold of sam, too, because sam was a noshow at a beach party. Ruben called him. Multiple times. No answer. Until finally someone picked up. I said, hello . And they said, hey, hey, bro. Im like, whos this . Sam never calls me bro. Right off the bat i was like, who is this . The voice was not the same. The voice was not the same. The voice on the phone said im busy right now. Im having a lot of problems with family. Im like what are you talking about . Hangs up on me. So i called again, no answer. Ruben didnt think that was sam. But if not, who was it . And more importantly, where was sam . News of julies murder was spreading and soon reached an Old Army Buddy of sams named miles foltz. When i found out it was julie, i definitely knew sam had nothing to do with it because of the way sam protects his friends and his family, and julie was one of them. Miles was stationed in afghanistan with sam. They fought together. Miles knew how sam was toward anyone he considered a friend. He wouldnt hurt her . No. Not in a million years. I thought it was something in his past that they were trying to do something to him and and try to get him. And the reason why his body wasnt there is because he was off running away from these people. Miles feared sam was in danger. Maybe sams mom and dad, too. I wanted to make sure Nothing Happened to steve and raquel. So i went to their house and, you know, during the night i spent there, you know, with my gun by my side just to make sure. I slept on their couch by their door. Detectives needed to find sam and fast, says Orange County homicide prosecutor matt murphy. You got a dead woman in his apartment. Hes missing. And then you factor in afghanistan. And you start thinking, okay, hes a trained killer after hed been accused of this before. And you think, okay, this guy is potentially very dangerous. Hes out there on the street. Then came a break. Sams atm card was being used. 400 withdrawn about 17 miles north of the crime scene. And Security Cameras captured the person who was waiting as the cash came out. It was the start of a whole new mystery. Coming up we were pretty confident he was our guy. But sams father was convinced he wasnt. And determined to prove it, he turns amateur detective. So i said, okay. Weve got movement here, let me see. When dateline continues. Yes. 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You cannot be turned down for any health reason. And it comes with two lifetime guarantees. One, your coverage can never be cancelled, and two, your rate can never go up. This is our 1 most popular whole Life Insurance plan. Take the first step now. Call for free information and youll also get this beneficiary planner free just for calling. Use it to record Important Information and helpful direction for your loved ones. So dont wait, call now. announcer and when you call right now, youll also get this free prescription savings card that can help you save up to 80 on prescription drugs at over 35,000 pharmacies locally and nationwide. Julie kibuishi, her valentine girl, was pursuing Fashion Design while living at home. It was a mothers dream. 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 and hes in the wind. And now its our job to find him and see where hes at and ask him why. Not a whole lot of question of who the suspect was at this point. No. We were pretty confident he was our guy. Steve herr was also eager to find sam but for an entirely different reason. To clear his sons name. So steve began his own 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 a joint bank account, so steve pulled the bank records and found that sams bank card was used at an atm in long beach, then again at a nearby pizza parlor. So i said, okay. Weve got movement here. Let me see. So steve drove down to long beach to check out the bank. So i hung around for about an hour, see maybe id see sam or sams car, because sams car is also missing. Nothing happened there, so i went to the pizza place and hung around there for about an hour. But there were no signs of sam. I took a twomile radius from eccos pizza, and i checked all the hotels, motels around there. I didnt see sams car. Meanwhile, detectives did something steve couldnt do. They got the images from the atms Security Camera capturing the person using sams bank card. Expecting to see a picture of sam herr, detectives were in for a shock. Because whoever it was taking money out of sams account, it wasnt sam. So who was it . Cops staked out the atm hoping the mystery man would return. They also went to the pizza parlor where an employee told them that he thought he knew the person who had bought the pizza. And the detectives got a possible address. Were set up at that point on the house. We have surveillance teams behind the house on each corner of the house. Were geared up. We got our raid vests on. While surveillance teams hoped and waited, detectives questioned people in sams circle. Neighbors Rachel Buffett and her fiance dan wozniak already knew about the body found in sams apartment. We had discussed the idea of it maybe being an accident. But like i said earlier, sam seemed like a pretty intelligent person. If it was an accident, he wouldnt have like taken off and like left his apartment and like tried to run. Both rachel and dan told the detectives the last time they saw sam was friday, the day before the murder. He was with a friend, they said, a man wearing a black hat. But they had no idea what his name was. It seemed to be a dead end. But then back at the house the cops were staking out, a big