Loop. When he found out that my mom had met somebody else. Police had a suspect and a case that was about to take an unbelievable turn. E one of the most shocking things ive ever seen in a courtroom. Hello and welcome to dateline. Deede keller had made a comfortable life for herself. A successful realtor in southern california, she lived in a charming neighborhood where she was surrounded by family and friends. Then suddenly deede disappeared. As her loved ones launched a frantic search, investigators would follow the trail of clues to a suspect with a dark obsession. But the final twist in this case would leave the courtroom stunned. Heres Josh Mankiewicz with betrayal of trust. Southern californias south bay. A singularly stunning strand of shoreline with familiar names like hermosa, redondo, and manhattan. We call it the sandbox. No one thinks that this part of los angeles exists, but it does. This Seaside Playground is lined with Beachfront Properties worth millions. And nestled among these small beach towns is an oasis called el segundo. Its main street usa. Its a great place to raise kids. And in 2003 one of the rainmakers in the real estate business selling those Beautiful Homes in el segundo and the south bay was a woman named julia keller, known as deede. She really just embraced everyone that came into her path. Deedes best friends, mortgage executive cindy ertman and Real Estate Sales partner Linda Dondero. She was good at her job . I loved working with deede. Everybody did. She was just so easy to like and always wanted the best for everybody. And her clients were very loyal over the years. Deede was loyal too. Not only to her clients but as a divorced mom to her children, mike and julie. I remember my mom explaining to me when i was about 10 years old that as you get older were probably not going to be as close or you wont like me quite as much. And it never happened. If anything, we just got closer. But deede keller had a heart problem. Not literally. It may have been a little too big. She loved without limits. And she simply hated to disappoint or let anyone down. She loved dogs so much she literally couldnt say no to another one. She was surrounded by them at home. I always joked that as soon as i graduated college thats when she started, you know, replacing us with dogs. You know, she never stopped being a mom. And she never stopped sort of loving everybody i guess. No, she never did. She was ready to be embraced and to embrace you whenever you wanted it. But there was one area of her life in which deede kellers honesty and embrace hadnt caught hold. Your mom was so lucky and life was so easy in so many ways. She couldnt quite make the man in her life thing come out right. She had a wonderful life. But no, i guess she hadnt found that person. She did have a longrange relationship but that ended sadly in 1997. Soon after she met someone new. He was a real estate client named erwin howard, a pilot, an Airline Mechanic, originally from bolivia. I remember deede telling me that she was not going to date anyone else until they loved, treasured and adored her. And she did feel loved, treasured and adored by erwin. You know, he treated her like a queen. When erwin popped the question, deede said yes. At deedes bridal shower in march of 1998 erwin dutifully delivered his fiance to the surprise party. But the smiles didnt last after the engagement was over and the marriage began. It wasnt more than six months after they were married, she just blurted out that she had married him on the rebound. And was having second thoughts . Apparently so. It was very hard for her to think about ending it because of what it was going to do to him because she knew he loved her. So much in fact that the marriage lasted another four years after that conversation. Ultimately their divorce was amicable, and a year after the split in the summer of 2004, deede seemed to be finding her footing once again. Shed begun dating a wellknown south bay car salesman named bobby lowe. That new relationship was going so well that on the evening of thursday july 8th bobby lowe took deede out to dinner at this restaurant to meet his father. I talked to her before her date. Any sign that she was nervous about anything . She was in a happy state when i talked to her, and we had made plans to hopefully get together the following night, so i could get the update on the date. But that conversation never took place. I called her on friday, and she didnt call me back, which was not unusual for deede. I called her on saturday and she didnt call me back. That was pretty typical. But by sunday i started getting concerned. Concerned too was daughter julie. She talked of meeting her mom that same friday during a layover at l. A. X. As julie headed for cabo san lucas, mexico. Shes like you know, i might have an appointment that morning but if i dont ill come by, ill text you, well have coffee. So i laid over in los angeles. I didnt get a text. It was a little odd but didnt think much of it. Deedes son mike was beginning to worry after he returned from a business trip to the San Francisco area. When i called her cell phone, the voicemail was full. And that had never happened with my mom and she prided herself on being responsive. So you go over to your moms house. So i went in the back gate and then instantly it was clear that she had not been there for a while. What made that clear . The dogs water dish was bone dry. My mom would die of thirst before her dogs went without water. Mikes first call was to cindy. And he said cindy, wheres my mom . And i just i instantly knew in that moment that something had happened. I just knew. And i just said michael, call the police, im on my way. Where was deede keller . Not only was there no water left outside for deedes beloved dogs but detectives noticed lots of other things wrong inside the house. Her purse was there but her wallet was missing. And this was a woman with money, a lot of it. Was deedes hefty bank account a factor in her disappearance . Investigators follow the money trail. Coming up who got that money in the event of her death . The beneficiaries were her two children. And detectives wondered where were deedes son and daughter when she vanished . Both out of town at the time their mother went missing. When dateline continues. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. Another bundle in the books. Got to hand it to you, jamie. Your knowledge of victorian architecture really paid off this time. Nah, just got lucky. So did the thompsons. That faulty wiring couldve cost them a lot more than the mudroom. Thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. 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And live. Well. Introducing mywalgreens. A whole new way to wellness. On a sunsplashed sunday in l. A. s south bay clouds were rolling in over one household. It was july 2004. El segundo Real Estate Agent julia keller, known to the world as deede, was missing. Deedes son mike had gone to her home when he hadnt heard from her in three days. The biggest red flag, deedes beloved dogs left without food or water. What did you think happened . I didnt know at that point. I just knew that something was very, very wrong. Mike called his moms best friends, Linda Dondero and cindy ertman. Cindy, whod last spoken to deede three days before as deede prepared for a date, rushed to the house. You could tell just the dogs had been, you know, running around for days. But the way the tv was on and the way the shades were i felt like thursday night had never ended. I felt like friday morning never came. Cindy immediately phoned deedes new boyfriend, car salesman bobby lowe. He reported theyd had dinner on thursday at a local restaurant, then returned to deedes house for a nightcap. He said shed had a little bit too much wine and she laid down on the couch and was kind of starting to fall off to sleep and so he just said good night and let himself out. Anything about what bobby lowe said sound in any way suspicious to you . Not at all. The next call, to el segundo police. And soon on the scene then detective sergeant carlos mendoza. This does not happen in el segundo, especially people that are known as well as deede is. And what detectives found in their initial search of deedes home only deepened the mystery. In the kitchen deedes purse, her cell phone still inside but no wallet. A vodka bottle that police learned was usually kept in the freezer was out on the counter. And in the living room the tv was on cnn. We discovered that whenever she left the house shed always put the tv on to a Classical Music station. So it would relax the dogs. But it was on cnn when we came into the house. So deede was watching cnn, had the dogs there, was having a drink, and then left for some reason . Suggesting kind of whatever happened happened in a big hurry. She didnt have time to do her routine that she usually does before she leaves. And it appeared deede had left in her car. The garage was empty. Her silver 1999 mercedes gone. But strangely, police found the car keys sitting on deedes patio. We decided to call the l. A. County Sheriffs DepartmentHomicide Bureau to come and assist us. Jimmy gates was the detective who answered that call. There was no forced entry whatsoever, and when we started walking through the house i noticed several articles that were very valuable. So she let in whoever it was, and it wasnt robbery. Absolutely correct. If she didnt let them in, that person let themselves in. And they may have had a key. Gates wondered, had deede left in her car with someone she knew . And how did her car get taken without its key . If you dont have a key, is it easy to steal a car as movies depict . Its certainly not a 1999 thats hard to hotwire. Its hard to steal it. You almost need a key to gain access to it. If your car doesnt have a key, the next stop is a car dealership to have a new one made. But first gates and his crew searched the house, looking for deedes spare mercedes key. Without success. And gates quickly became convinced of one thing. You thought finding deedes car was going to be the key to this. That was going to be extremely important. Deedes friends and family printed up posters and along with Law Enforcement launched a massive search. An army of people banned together to try to help find her, and we broke up into teams and we mapped everything out in onemile increments to start to search every parking lot looking for her car. We would ask people, have you seen this woman . Have you seen this car . It was frantic. It was heartbreaking. And it was leading nowhere. At the same time detective gates wondered who might have had a motive to have abducted deede from her home. Those most common of motives, love, money, jealousy, are always the ones police hug first like old friends. Deede made a lot of money being a realtor. She was successful. Yes, sir. How much money did she have in the bank . I think it was over seven figures. Seven figures. A lot of murders committed for a lot less than that. Absolutely. Who got that money in the event of her death . The beneficiaries were her two children. And the detective noticed something about the whereabouts of deedes two children, mike and julie. At the time of deedes disappearance. Theyre both out of town at the time that their mother went missing. Why is that significant . Why wouldnt the reverse be more true . I thought that the mother goes missing and it just so happens mikes in san jose and julies down at a resort and its been my experience that people sometimes dissipate stress after they commit a crime in different ways. Some people drink. Some people take drugs. And some people leave the area just to dissipate stress. And there was strangely one more person who just happened to have been traveling near the time of deedes disappearance. Her exhusband, erwin howard, had just flown to his home country of bolivia. And erwin was a mechanic who worked for American Airlines in l. A. The Common Thread in all these trips . Nearby l. A. X. Airport. And so the detective thought, what better place to dump a car. L. A. X. Is a big place. Very big place. A lot of parking lots. A lot of parking lots. And it took a few days. You looked through them all. Every one of them. No mercedes. And no shortage of persons of interest. A lot of people close to deede keller were about to be hugged like old friends. Coming up, detectives were about to get blunt with julie and her brother. All of a sudden he says did you have anything to do with your moms disappearance . I think it was more did you kill your mother . When dateline continues. With mucinex nightshift youve got powerful relief from your worst nighttime cold and flu symptoms. So grab nightshift to fight your symptoms, get your zzzs. And get back to your rhythm. Feel the power. Beat the symptoms fast. In the days after the disappearance of el segundo realtor deede keller all of l. A. s south bay seemed to be looking for her and for her missing mercedes. Leading the search, her best friends cindy and linda. A lot of times when people disappear they get the immediate family working on it and everybody else is like, well not in this town. She had an army. Deedes daughter julie rushed back to l. A. From a trip to mexico. It was the most surreal experience. Only to be greeted by suspicion. L. A. Sheriff detective jimmy gates had discovered that in the event of their mothers death julie and her brother mike stood to inherit more than a million dollars. So he confronted deedes kids, using one of the oldest tricks in the investigators handbook. Do you remember an interview that you did with jimmy gates . I do. In which he asked you some pretty basic questions like, you know, whats your name, where do you live, pretty ordinary stuff, and then all of a sudden he says, did you have anything to do with your moms disappearance . I think it was more did you kill your mother . And youre what, startled or angry . It was a horrible question, but i can understand why it needed to be asked. Detectives asked similar questions of julie. Next, in attempting to rule out as suspects those closest to deede, detectives turned their attention to her exhusband, erwin howard. It turned out that although deede and erwin had been divorced for more than a year at the time of her disappearance friends told police she had recently invited him back into her life. About six months earlier deede had been in a car accident and as she recovered she needed help with her dogs. Deede also apparently felt bad about the pain their divorce had caused erwin. She called erwin to help her because that was what he did best, was to help and assist her. So he helped kind of nurse her back to health and take care of the dogs and the house and her. And in taking a hard look at erwin howard the detective found he had a rock solid alibi. On the night of deedes disappearance, july 8th, erwin had clocked into work for his job as an Airline Mechanic at the American Airlines hangar at l. A. X. At 8 30 p. M. He said he worked all night. But it wasnt just erwins word. He had to use an electronic key card to get into the hangar. Thats a pretty good alibi. Thats not something that generally the employee can influence. Thats correct. Thats absolutely correct. That left the last person to admit seeing deede alive, her new boyfriend, car salesman bobby lowe. Lowe said he left deedes house between 11 00 and midnight that night, then gone to the gym the next morning. What possible motive could bobby lowe have to want deede either dead or out of the picture . There was no motive that i could determine whatsoever. And lowe provided investigators with two important clues. First he said while he was at deedes that night her dogs had all started barking at something outside, as if someone were lurking. And the next morning he discovered someone had keyed the side of his ford explorer, leaving a long scratch. Which suggests what, somebodys following them on that date . Absolutely. Thats what it meant to me. But who was following deede and bobby . Who was that angry . That act of vandalism pointed away from bobby lowe. I was an investigator for several years and id never known anybody to vandalize their own car. That kind of thinking is what would make it a perfect alibi. Sure. Sure. If hes sophisticated enough but his background indicated he was a wellliked guy, kind of successful himself, didnt have a lot of enemies. And then even as investigators looked at suspects came the news that all who knew deede had at once hoped for and feared. Deedes car had been found, not at l. A. X. , not in l. A. , but 2 1 2 hours down interstate 5 in san diego. That silver mercedes had been parked on this street in downtown san diego for days, earning it several parking tickets. When the local pd ran the plate, it came up as belonging to a missing person. And when the trunk was finally opened, there was a body wrapped in sheets, covered by a blanket, which was itself decorated with dog paws. Deede keller was no longer missing. Police asked to meet with deedes family. It was just a wide range of emotions. There was almost some type of relief they had found her because we were starting to think at that point how long could this go on. Hardest days of my life. And one of the hardest days for my children, and all of her friends and her family. Deede keller was dead at age 54. An autopsy showed shed been asphyxiated. And the clues that were and were not left in her car were about to take this case back in a familiar direction. Coming up just days before she was murdered, deede had a visit from a stalker. She said she was in the shower, kind of pulled her out of the shower, and they had this huge altercation, he was calling her every name under the sun.