Personal killing. Thats a very angry killing. Hello, and welcome to dateline extra, im craig melv melvin. At first the fatal fire that struck a young couples home appeared to be an accident. Then investigators took a closer look and what they discovered around the fire and this couple left them with burning suspicion. Heres keith morrison. Is everybody out of the house . I dont know. Its on fire. Really strong. The fire in the cottage on addison avenue was hungry. Devouring almost everything in the bedroom. All right. Well have Fire Department on the way. Do you see smoke coming out of the windows . Its pouring out of from inside the house. Within minutes, firefighters knocked it down. The smoke clearing. The city water running the streets. And then as the mopup began, the word flashed out like something electric, the house was occupied, someone didnt get out. And up through the ashes a mystery flared like a stubborn ember, glowed and smoldered and demanded an answer. The inhabitants of the rented cottage as investigators soon learned were two young beautiful peop people, sort of glossy and successful types you might expect to see on some reality show. Their names were paul zumot and jenner in skipsi. Jennifer an ambitious Award WinningReal Estate Agent who lived like a rock star, or so said her buddy, roy. You know, shed be, like, im knocking them out with dominos, baby, i just worked out, went to starbucks and im on my way to a meeting and its only 6 33. So paul seemed to be just the right kind of guy for jennifer, said roy. Because he was an entrepreneur and he seemed like he was a very driven person. And thats definitely the quality that jennifer was looking for. Jordanian american, paul, sleek, attractive, educated, enga engaging. Paul owned a local hangout, a cafe. Unusual place by north american standards, where customers could smoke flavored tobacco through water pipes called hookahs. The place and paul were popular. She was a fan. Hes a good looking guy. He looks good. He smells good. He presents well. Hes witwitty. Hes senator. Hes affectionate. So love at first sight . Well, maybe, said their friends. From the minute that he told me about her, he always talked about how wonderful she is, how shes perfect. He definitely was very charismatic and he liked to joke around. And money . There was a lot of it around, apparently, too. And jennifer and paul having worked hard to get it seemed only too happy to spend it. When jennifer and paul first got together, paul took jennifer to new york city. And i remember he was like a kid in a candy store, just planning all these elaborate wonderful things that they were going to do together. They were passionate, these beautiful people. They both had strong personalities. Their love burned hot. Squen fjennifer was a very s independent woman and she would not accept anyone disrespecting her. Or even looking at her inappropriately. And she was very strong willed in that. Me, like i always did, told him you need to be careful, you know . Because girls can be evil. So he said, no, shes different. I love her. You know, i already love her, shes great. So in september of 2009, paul and jennifer moved into that charming Little Cottage on addison avenue here in palo alto. Time to play house. Paul started to think about marriage. And for pauls 36th birthday, jennifer planned a party full of promise. She invited most of his Close Friends to dishdash, one of his favorite restaurants. And i think they had over a dozen people there. Almost 20 people or something. Jennifer created a cute table setting. She created the Perfect Party for paul. Cake and everything. In fact, people who were there described the party as almost like a wedding reception. It lasted through the evening into the wee hours of the monk. And now here it was just the very next evening and it was gone. In ashes. All of it, the excitement, the glamour, all of it, the promising dpupromise ing future, up in smoke along with the house in addison. And the person inside we have a beody. I need medics in place. Swre we have a body badly burned. The next day jim skipsi was driving with his parents to a dinner engagement. His phone rang. It was an old friend. He picked it up. I said, jake, youre going to tell me something bad, arent you . He said, jim. Just kept repeati ining your name . Yeah, said three times i guess so. I said, jake, hold on, man, i got to pull over. I didnt want to hear it. I didnt want to hear what he had to tell me so i gave the phone to my dad. And he told my dad. My dad hung up the phone and me and my mom, we were all holding each other. And he told us, jenny was gone. It was his jennifer, his daughter who died in that fire. Daughter who died in that fire. Now along with almost unbearable grief, Something Else started to burn inside jim. Something searing. It was suspicion. You know, accidents will happen. Theres a lot of tragic things that happen to a lot of people in this world. But this was no accident. It didnt have to happen. Coming up police give paul the bad news. I dont know how to tell you this, man, but theres a body in the house. Its been burned. When burning suspicion continues. Whoooo. Looking for a hotel that fits. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Welcome back to dateline extra. Jennifer skipsi and paul seemed like a perfect couple. She a gorgeous and successful Real Estate Agent and he a handsome entrepreneur. They were both passionate about their lives and passionate about each other. But one day, a terrible house fire left one of them dead and the other facing questions from investigators. Here again is keith morrison. While the deadly fire was burning at his home on addison avenue, paul was as his Hookah Lounge just minutes away. Someone called, told him about the fire. He rushed over but could only pace helplessly back and forth. As firefighters did their jobs. Soon after that, he sat down with Palo Alto Police to try to help sort out what happened. Though as you can see in the video recording of the meeting, sat is not the best description. Paul was full of Nervous Energy and frantic questions. At this point, no one told him jennifer was in that fire. Im worried about my house. Worried about my girlfriend. What caused the fire . I dont care about this. I want to know about jennifer right now. Im not sure i know any more than you do. My job is basically to talk to you and find out what exactly you know. You probably know more than me at this point. No. So together he and police talked about the hours before the fire. Where she had been, what thhad e and paul been doing . Yesterday was my birthday. Went out. Everything was fine. Whos we . Me and her and all the friends. Whos her . Jennifer. Thats your girlfriend . Yeah. Paul explained to police that he spent the afternoon at an appointment in san jose, got back to palo alto in time for his cafe to open for the evening. There was traffic. I got to the cafe because thats when they opened. I had to log into the computers. And as soon as i sat down, i have a smoke at the Hookah Lounge. Started smoking, my landlord calls me, says your house is on fire. I flew through the red lights and came here. Now i am really frustrated. Im really confused. Im really exhausted. I want to know what happened. I care less about the house. My jennifers safety. I cant think anything right now, guys, to be honest with you. I cannot think anything. Then in the middle of his conversation with detectives, pauls phone rang. It was jennifers mother who told him he hadnt seen or heard from her daughter. You can see what happened. Paul fell to pieces. Yeah. I know. I know. Yeah. I know. I cant find her. To this point, he told detectives hed been clinging to the hope that jennifer might be with her mother, anywhere really, but at home . She wasnt with her mother, wasnt anywhere. And thats when the officer broke this news. I dont know how to tell you this, man, but theres a body in the house. Its been burned. We have no way of knowing who that is. I need to get out of here. Get out of here, please. Okay. Im trying to be as sensitive as i possibly can be. I understand this is your you know, i dont know that this is jennifer. I hope not. I hope not. Listen, we have not confirmed who this is. But its a really, really odd set of circumstances, okay . We need to figure out is this on purpose, is this an accident . Okay. This is just, unfortunately this is just the beginning for all of us, okay, to try to answer some questions. Okay . But, of course, it had to be jennifer and it probably wasnt an accident. As that news sank in, paul began to think about who may have wanted to harm jennifer and came up with some potentially helpful information. Two brothers, hisham and tony gonma, theyd already threatened her, said paul, thered been a confrontation just weeks earl r earlier. So what happened is he called me, told me hes going to kill me. He spoke in arabic. I speak arabic fluently. He spoke to her. We called the police. He and jennifer had filed rye straining orders against both brothers. Shes was scared from him. Im scared from the guy. I know these guys like this. Yesterday she walked home and said, hey, somebody was probably stalking me. Had the brothers killed her, too . Police listened, took some notes and then just as a precaution, of course, had paul give them his clothes for forensic testing. Questioned by police, his home destroyed, his girlfriend dead, paul zumot was very nearly in shock, said his friend, nikita. His mind was that are they sure jennifers gone . And oh my god, shes never coming back. And as the weeks went by, she said, paul was in a kind of daze. The gist of our conversations for the first few weeks were the fact that jennifers not coming back. He was completely destraut about the fact that jennifer was in that fire. Meanwhile, as those same weeks went by, investigators went quietly and steady about their task. Picking through the cinders of the fire and coming to the conclusion that none of it smelled right. Literally. Coming up was gasoline there . No question at all. It was in her hair. You can smell it and smell it when you walked in just with your own nose. Investigators now knew the fire was not an accident. What they discovered next was an even bigger shock. Hey, sir losealot thou hast the patchy beard of a prepubescent squire thy armor was forged by a feeblefingered peasant woman. Your mom as long as hecklers love to heckle, you can count on geico saving folks money. Boring fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Money managers are pretty much the same. All but while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other money managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Welcome back to dateline extra. Investigators believe the fire that killed Jennifer Schipsi was no accident, but who would have wanted her dead and why . Here again is keith morrison. The morning after the fire on addison avenue, the ruins still warm, a yellow lab named rosie sniffed around what was by then a sealed crime scene. Rosie was trained to identify some of the tools of arson kerosene, oil, gasoline. Rosie stopped in her tracks. Shed apparently found something. Chuck gillingham is a Deputy District Attorney in palo alto. Was gasoline there . No question at all. Its in her hair. You can smell it when you walked in just with your own nose, and in fact, the remnants of the gas can was found next to her right hip. So there was still enough remnants of the gas can for us actually to identify the type and make and model of the gas can. Wow. Thats like somebody leaving a gun beside the body with their fingerprints all over it, isnt it . To fingerprints, obviously, and no physical evidence beyond that. But it was so clear that it was an arson . Correct. And the arson was not at issue. No, it was coldblooded murder that was at issue because Jennifer Schipsi did not die in the fire. According to forensic experts, she was dead before the fire started. The method . A particularly intimate form of killing. Death by strangulation. Strangling someone is a very personal killing. Its a very angry killing. Its not like shooting someone from a long way away, i dont imagine. I mean, youre absolutely touching the person and feeling their lifes blood ebb from them. Who could have been so angry with jennifer . Paul had told detectives that he and jennifer had taken out restraining orders against those brothers, hisham and tony ghanma. Both part of his social circle, men whom he considered former friends. Theyre trying to get us. They are trying to harm me. Who is that . Hisham. Thats the guy, okay the guy you have a restraining order against . Several restraining against him. He hit me. He has a restraining order against me. And just one night before, after pauls Birthday Party celebration, paul told police some guys in a truck tried to follow jennifer home. She had broken her heel and she says somebody was stalking her. Its fine. Its okay with me but we had people threatening us in the past, okay . I dont know whats going on. I believe thats what caused the fire. I believe somebody was threatening us. Okay. So was paul zumot on to something . Detectives went to talk to the brothers and, of course, checked to see where both men were the day of the fire. And there was no doubt they were nowhere near the fire. They had alibis. At the time of the fire, we know exactly where both of them were. One of the brothers was in their cafe, hes on videotape. The other was at Frys Electronics and home depot about 20 miles away. We have videotape and receipts from both of those locations. So once the ghanma brothers were in the clear, the cops did what they always do in cases like this. In fact, its practically police work work 101. They took a closer look at the victims boyfriend, paul, and there was a curious moment in that Police Interview the day of the fire when paul admitted he wasnt always the best sort of boyfriend. Me and my girlfriend were broke up, and thanks to palo alto pd, put an emergency restraining order on me in august because she said paul threatened me, blah, blah, blah. I said, no, she came to the cafe and broke the door. In my cafe. We always had problems like this, me and her. I never touched a girl in my life. You can see the police reports. Suspicious . Sure. But as they asked around among the couples friends, police learned a few things that put pauls behavior into context. Maybe he wasnt any more to blame than she was. Their relationship was chaotic. Theres no disputing that, absolutely. But he was no more violent in the relationship than she was. Whether it be physically, verbally, emotionally. As police gathered evidence, bit by bit, asking around about paul, one of them noticed something a little odd. Paul told a friend, also a policeman, by the way, two slightly different stories about his whereabouts the day of the fire. First conversation, day of the fire, reported the cop friend, paul said he wasnt home all day. Then, second conversation, next day, paul said he stopped briefly at home en route to his hookah cafe. As we say, odd. But peoples memories can be tricky. Was that one little difference enough to add up to suspicion of murder . Police apparently thought so, especially once they added that to the rest of what they discovered. Paul was arrested. Im going to wait for my attorney. Whats that . I will wait for my attorney. Okay. They charged paul zumot with arson and murder, which struck some observers as strange. After all, there had been just that one little inconsistency. And although paul and jennifer did fight sometimes, they seemed crazy in love, too. Paul had been shopping for a diamond ring, for heavens sake. There was a part of paul that was mourning his girlfriend, and then there was a part of him that was he didnt understand why he was in custody. And he didnt understand why he couldnt just cry for his girlfriend and for his life that had just changed 100 . It certainly did. Paul zumot was taken to jail to await trial on a charge of murder in the first degree. Big mistake, said paul zumot. When i first saw him, he all he was really still telling me is, you know, me being in custody, all of this is going to blow over with. You know, theyre going to realize im not the person who did this, and this will be over with. Coming up drawing back the curtain for a peek of life with paul. In jennifers own words. Sweeps her off her feet. Candles everywhere. Flowers. When burning suspicion continues. My bladder leakage was making me feel like i couldnt spend time with my grandson. Now depend fitflex has their fastest absorbing material inside, so it keeps me dry and protected. Go to depend. Com get a coupon and try them for yourself. We are the tv doctors of america, and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. From scandalous romance, to ridiculous plot twists. gasping son . Dad we also know you can avoid drama by getting an annual checkup. So were partnering with cigna to remind you to go see a real doctor. Go, know, and take control of your health. It could save your life. Doctor poses dad cigna. Together, all the way. Dad were all under one roof now. Congratulations. Thank you. How many kids . My two. His three. Along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. That is quite the family. Quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. A lot of colleges. You get any Financial Advice . Yeah, but im pretty sure its the same plan they sold me before. Well your situatio