But the killer caught red handed starts pointing fingers. The burglary was staged. This is a guy who aspired to be a hit man. He was a sitting target. Doesnt mean you can now go out and charge em all with murder . I have no facts. So detectives lay a trap. Trying to play cat and mouse. He was already really paranoid about being fed up. You hand a little note that says are you wired . Will they catch their prey . You hold your breath. The world kind of stops. The trap. Hello and welcome to dateline extra. Im craig melvin. It seemed like one of those openandshut cases. Police were standing directly outside a home when a woman was killed. Investigators immediately believed they knew who did it and why. But it was not that simple. Solving lynn shockners murder would take years and involve tapping phones and hidden cameras. And longheld family secrets would be revealed. Heres Keith Morrison. Reporter you never think its gonna be you. Oh, no. No. No. No. Reporter no. The young man is right. In fact, this is the kind of thing that just doesnt happen to anyone. No. Never. Never wouldve thought i would have ever seen anything like this. Reporter no one, not here, not in this neighborhood, in this house. But certainly not, surely not, at the very moment when at least three policemen were just outside the front door. And just over the backyard wall, not more than 30 feet away. We had to be told a few times just to get it in our heads what happened. Reporter what happened here in broad daylight under the very noses of the cops . Was murder. Long beach, california. A town that may have been cheated a little in the city pride department. A lot of people assume its like l. A. But its not. Its different. It has its own identity. You think its different culturally . I think so. I think long beach is sort of its own beast. Sure. Its a little more working class. Yes. And its one of those 50s suburbs in search of a city that everybody calls l. A. But long beach is a brauny city unto itself. Half a million people. 52 square miles. A busy airport. A big university. An oceanfront. A long beach. And its share of wealth and poverty and, of course, crime. Lots of scope for a person whos no shortage of work for yeah if you cover crime. Reporter tracy covered the police feed of the local paper, the Long Beach Press telegram. She was fair to the tops. They trusted her. So maybe thats why one november morning. Contact within the Police Department came over to me in the midst of this sort of press conference. And said you need to go to bixby now. And i was a little taken aback. Taken aback because bixby was not a name you heard on the crime beat. So it was very clear to me something major was going on. Packed up my stuff. Ran out the door. And got to the scene. Reporter the scene was in bixby knolls, quiet and affluent. Leave it to beaver homes on carefullytended tr carefullytended tree line treats. Violent crime is unheard of in bixby knolls, which is just the way they like it here. Maybe thats why if they grew up here or moved here, theyd rarely leave. Like, rachel kerns. Everybodys very friendly and always waving. You dont get that a lot in southern california. Reporter rachel still lives in the house she grew up in. We were able to play as kids at all hours of the day. We didnt have to worry about anyone ever hurting us or coming after us. It was a really safe neighborhood. Reporter but then came that november morning when tracy mansor roared over there in her car. I had no idea what i was going to, what i was going to find. But i knew based on how i was told about it that it was going to be something, you know, very bad. Reporter oh, and it was. I was barely out of my car before i saw the homicide lieutenant, the homicide sergeant, two commanders, and obviously a bank of black and whites. Uhhuh. So my first thought was there was an officerinvolved shooting. Either an officer had been shot and killed or an officer had shot someone. Reporter but no. Not that. No. What really happened was far stranger than that. Long beach Police Department. Yes. Id like to report i believe we have an attempted breakin going on at the moment. It was a neighbor who saw it. At the start of some dreadful shock movie rolling out in slow motion. It was 11 03 a. M. Its taking place at my neighbors, which is the house just to the west of me. Okay. One just west to you . Yes. Its the shockner residence. The shockners. The callers next door neighbors. As they talked to the 911 caller, they heard and saw a Little White Dog barking incessantly from a window at the shockners house. It was a little what american eskimo or something . Yeah. Not a very large dog. Fluffy, yappy dog. A petiteframed woman came to the window to see what her dog was barking at. An officer gestured to her, come outside. Clearly bewildered, she finally opened the door. So he is telling her that they got a call from a neighbor that they saw a prowler. And would it be okay if they looked in her backyard . And looked around the house. And she had said that that was fine. Reporter but hold on, the woman said to the police, let me grab the key. The gate is locked. So she closes the front door. Walks through the house and walks out the back door. Reporter three cops waited outside the front door. Two more cops pulled in right here in the alley behind the house. And then, to their great surprise, the prowler jumped over the backyard wall, practically into their arms. They searched him. Found jewelry in his pocket and a taser and a cell phone. And a knife with blood on it. The cops out front waited for the woman to return. She didnt. Ten seconds. 20 seconds. Did a minute go by . They decided time to go in. They opened the door. Looked through the house. What they saw was not just terrible but a riddle of deception. A piece of pure evil. Coming up. What couldve happened in that house while it was surrounded by Police Officers . I didnt believe it. I thought it was a joke. Reporter until your father arrived with tears in his eyes. That was when i knew something was wrong. When the trap continues. S. When the trap continues its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Little things can be a big deal. Psoriasis, thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with. An increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. That particular november 8th. California weather. Not quite noon. And as usual, it was quiet in bixby knolls here in long beach. Quiet and in that quiet, more menacing than anybody understood. As Police Responding to a call about a prowler waited outside the front door, neither they, nor the halfawake homeowners sensed the jeopardy as she closed the door in their faces and went in search of a key for the gate to the yard. Seconds tick by. The dog barked. The woman didnt return. So the cops, still not getting it, went in too late. She was attacked and she was killed right then and there while the officer was on her front porch. Reporter just extraordinary. Yeah. Reporter the victims name was Lynn Schockner. She was 50 years old. When they found her lying quite dead just outside her own back door, they could clearly see the bright red gash across her throat. How was it possible . The policemen were just outside her front door. And more cops were in alert mode out in the alley. But the only apparent witness to the silent murder of Lynn Schockner was lynns little dog, zoey. Horrified officers found her lying by lynns side. Her white coat spattered red. Back at police headquarters, long beach cops, like undercover man chris nelson, heard the chatter. We were sitting in the office and we used to have a police radio on in the office listening to whats going on in the street. Reporter this was bad. We were right down the hall from homicide. And you knew right away this turned into a call out. You know, where somebody got killed. Now, crisis mode. Detective Richard Birdsaw took the call. Get down there fast. Your first thought at that time. Do you remember what it was . Its just its a burglary gone wrong. Did you have at the same time a sense of how the hell could we screw up like that . Like anybody else, youre trying to discern why she did what she did and what did the officers say . What was the conversation . Oh, yes, there were lots of questions. This would be ugly. Why did she go back in the house . Why did the cops let her . Why didnt they move in faster . How could they let the murder happen right under their noses . That was really disturbing. And, you know, you hate to second judge another cop. But there were mistakes made. Reporter after all, a neighbor reported a prowler in the back alley. A prowler who may have sneaked into her house. But she, the victim, didnt seem to believe that. She had a little little eskimo dog that barked at butterflies. Theres theres reporter she was wrong. She was wrong. Lynns son charlie was a freshman in high school then. He was sitting in math class. Somebody told him he was wanted in the principals office. On the way there, he thought he was in trouble. And then when they told him. I didnt believe it. I thought it was a joke. Reporter until your father arrived with tears in his eyes. That was when i knew something was wrong. Reporter his father, manfred, or fred as most people call him, came to take charlie home. How was your father . Upset. I mean, he was definitely he was crying. He couldnt drive. You know, i didnt really have eyes for him in that moment really. Youre just a mess. Yeah. And charlie still could not believe what he was hearing. It really didnt set in really until i actually saw the house. And then it really just all came crashing down. Reporter his home was a crime scene. The house was taped off. And just people going in and out of the house. A lot of neighbors around. Like everything you see on tv. Reporter you never think its gonna be you. Oh, no. No. No. No. Its surreal. Very much so. Reporter what does that loss feel like . Yeah. I i cant put it into words. It was tremendous. It was awful. I immediately called mark and im babbling on the phone. I cant even speak. Mark is charlies uncle, lynns brother. After the initial shock, theres disbelief. I didnt burst into tears right away. I didnt start screaming. I was just stunned. Lynn grew up in ohio. She was the baby of the family. The only girl. Here she is with her two older brothers, john and mark. But lynn was not like them. She was a tentative girl, whereas my brother and i were very outgoing. Their father died young. Lynn often fought with her mother. Love hate, call it what you want. She got married. Moved to california with a brand new husband. It didnt work out. It ended pretty quickly. But then one day, she went to a ball game. Dodgers versus somebody. Who knows . And she found him. The right guy. Her guy. Fred schockner. He was almost 14 years older than she was. But didnt seem to matter. Didnt hurt either that fred was a very successful man. Anyway, this time, it clicked. They had an intimate wedding on a boat off the california coast. The captain did the honors. And they lived alone together in that house in bixby knolls. Until, finally, after 11 years, they had a son. Who grew up to be charlie. As parents, they encouraged him to try new things. The olympics and we were watching gymnastics. I turned around to my parents and i go im gonna do that. And i think like a month later, i enrolled in gymnastics. So it was very much a supportive environment. Reporter and lynn doted on her only son. It might be trite to say this but she loved him more than life itself. He was the center of her universe. Reporter so after what happened, mark flew out to california right away to comfort charlie and fred. And to make funeral arrangements for his only sister lynn. And at the very same time, as if in another world altogether, detective Richard Birdsaw poked around this burglary gone bad. He could perhaps write up a report, be done with it, make the bad press go away. But no, richard was a troubled man. Usually, we know somethings wrong. My partner and i just feel somethings wrong but we dont know yet. Wrong . Well, of course it was. But the wrong the detective had in mind was not the grief or the loss or the vitriol thrown at the police. No. It was almost like a smell. The kind that sticks in your nose. Something off. Coming up. One of the strangest things of all was the alleged killer himself. Not your typical burglar. In his words, he always wanted to be a cop. And this was not your typical burglary. I worked Burglary Division for four years but ive never had one come with a device thats used simply for killing. When the trap continues. K when the trap continues wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. You have a brother in the secyes sir. Alion . Theyre walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow mornings attack. [ dramatic music ] why in gods name did you have to choose me . If you dont get there in time. It will be a massacre. We will lose sixteen hundred men. Your brother among them. Its versus the other guys. Eese cheering clearly, velveeta melts creamier that will makeout washington insiders very uncomfortable term limits. You and i both know we need term limits, that congress shouldnt be a lifetime appointment. But members of congress, and the corporations whove bought our democracy hate term limits. Too bad. Im tom steyer and i approve this message because the only way we get universal healthcare, address Climate Change and make our economy more fair is to change business as usual in washington. Young charlie was a lucky kid to grow up in a place like bik bi bix bixby knolls. Tree line street. Beautiful neighborhood. Its a wonderful place to grow up. Would ride my skateboard all around the block. Take my dog with me. He was lucky, too, to have lynn for a mother. How did she make you feel . I guess how a parent should. Safe . Safe. Happy. Welcome. Loving. Just good. Reporter but now, Lynn Schockner was gone. Killed in a burglary. And charlie, just 14 and grief stricken, was so angry at the police. You didnt do your job. How could that happen with you being right there . Thats just negligence. Reporter charlie was far from the only one. Fr this was a broad daylight murder. Police officers just outside the front door when it happened. I can imagine people in the neighborhood would be upset. A burglar had been there, robbed a house like that, killed a woman, and the cops couldnt prevent it. Right. I think the majority of the neighborhood was just stunned and shocked by the violence. You know . How how does somebody whos in her own home die within a matter of seconds with officers all around her home . Tracys paper, the Long Beach Press telegram was reporting on the community backlash. There was fear, and of course anger. Cops often tend to pull together in the face of a thing like that. But in private, harsh judgments, said the undercover cop chris nelson. Im sorry. You just dont let her go back into a situation like that. So what was it police 101. Very minimum. You go with her. So what was the feeling and the talk around the department when this happened . They [ bleep ] up. Detective Richard Birdsall, used to asking tough questions, suddenly found himself answering them. Reporter i got to think that the department would kind of adopt a bit of a defensive stance at that point because you know the publics going to say what the hell was going on here . Why did you guys let that happen . Right . Yeah. They did. You know, because youre trying to defend the officers, they didnt do anything wrong. You were waiting for someone to bring you the key. They waited a short period of time. Within a minute. You know, theyre yelling for her. Maam, can you come back . Hello . Where are you . Reporter just a minute or so. Enough for lynn to surprise the burglar who stabbed her in the neck and grabbed some jewelry and ran. Into the arms of the police. The detective prowled around the crime scene. We see that theres a bedroom. Drawers are being were open. Jewelry. Things are thrown around. So you look like a lot of things in disarray. Reporter looked like a standard daytime burglary gone horribly bad, of course, when lynn encountered the robber. But one thing stood out like, well, like a bloody knife. I worked Burglary Division for four years but ive never had one come with a device thats used simply for killing. Reporter so time to focus on that socalled burglar. Caught with a bloody knife in his pocket. His name was nicholas harvey. He was 22 years old and this was unusual. He didnt have a criminal background. He had never been in trouble with the law before. Seemed like a reasonablynice young man . Yeah, very personable. I mean, he came across that way. He wanted to ingratiate himself with us as law enforcement. You know, in his words, he always wanted to be a cop sometime in his life. And heres robbing and killing a woman. Correct. Hed been an athlete in high school. Still worked out a lot. Was a personal trainer at his local gym. Big muscle character. Correct. Thats way up the coast. By ventura. In other words, about 70 miles from the crime scene. But why would he commit a robbery so far away from home . Thats one of the flags that immediately came up. When detective birdsall and his partner first asked him, nick gave them an answer that, frankly, still didnt make sense. We came at him and his initial story was i heard this is a good area. Reporter really . There wasnt a good area closer to home . Well, then nick gave them another answer. He wanted to get out of his area. And he worked out at a local gym up there. He was a gym rat and he worked out with Police Officers and did martial arts with Police Officers. He felt they would recognize him. When he said that, did it did it seem plausible . No. It wasnt plausible at all. Reporter and one other thing. Remember how when Police Arrested him, they found jewelry in his pocket . Turned out it was fake. Even though lynn had lots of real diamonds, right there to be taken, along with other valuable items. If you can do a daytime burglary and just kill somebody, youre