They found the body upstairs in the master bedroom. The victim was clearly shot with a handgun. The kids are missing, julie was missing. Reporter was this a case of murder . This is our neighborhood. These are our friends. Youre just in utter shock reporter there were secrets in that house. Who would unlock them . I didnt want my friends to know, i didnt want my family to know devious, manipulative. This was our best friend it didnt have to end like this. Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres keith morrison. Reporter grief, like the ocean rolled into their lives in waves. Ride the waves or sink, it seemed to say. Ride them again and again. Its just a shot through the heart. Reporter once there were four fast friends four tall men, before it all went down and the waves took on their new meaning. It didnt have to end like this. Reporter no. Except it did. And when it did . Just felt like someone hit you in the stomach really hard and wanted to cry. Reporter what could they do . Ride its what harp would have wanted, after all. Harp. Jason harper, sports loving, outdoors loving california boy. With a childhood best friend named paul severns who, as they grew, became tall paul. We were always together. In the early years, he was always taller than me. But then i caught up to him. We were both the two tallest guys in school. Reporter so when they got to high school, there was one sport they were very wellsuited to play volleyball. Harp was a stud, you know. Im not gonna lie to you. Im not gonna sugar coat it. He was you know, mvp on the team. Reporter yes, and went on to play at ucla. Where he met jeremy brandt. Here they are together on ucla bruins talk, on Public Access tv. Everybody came back and goes were not going to lose or whatever and we came back and havent lost since then. We can beat a lot of the teams out there. You know, we could definitely be a final four contender. I always said we ran the same speed. And so we would run the warmups the same speed. And we would end up talkin together. And we became roommates throughout college. And just a great guy, a great friend. Reporter quiet, mind you. Shy at least around the girls. He wasnt quite the ladies man. You know, im not gonna lie to you. Reporter and then one night back in 2000, four years after he graduated from college harp met a girl at a party. Tall paul was there, too. The girls name was julie cihak. She kinda zoned in on harp right off the bat and started to talk to him. Reporter so i get the impression she picked him. Yeah, exactly. Reporter it went pretty fast after that. And why not . Julie was pretty and smart, and from a welltodo family. Still, when harp proposed just three months after he met this first real girlfriend. I felt like it was the first girl that he really loved and theres a lot that goes with that and i just didnt want to him to be, have the wool pulled over his eyes. Reporter but they stood up for him and the marriage at san diegos Historic Hotel del coronado was a great happy party. I remember the first dance. They were in this giant ballroom. And they did a very nice ballroom dance, you know. And harp had reporter go figure. A big old smile on his face. Reporter they moved to the seaside to carlsbad, california just north of san diego and jason harper signed on as a math teacher and volleyball coach at a local high school. Jason was your typical Southern California surfer, beach volleyball, Public School teacher. Reporter where he met the third of those tall friends andy tompkinson. Andy and his wife kristin taught at the same school carlsbad high. On a campus of 3,000, 2,500 students, you tend to notice other people who are at the same eye level as you. And jason bein 66 and myself bein 69. Reporter there arent too many people at the same eye level as you. No, no. So you do notice, after a while, who they are. Reporter the two became fast friends surfing, pick up basketball, poker. Guy things. And then jason and julie started a family jake first, then jackie. J names. Even if that meant not playin cards with the boys or goin on a surf trip those kids always came first. Reporter were there times when you wanted to do something with him, and he said, no. Sorry, i gotta stay home . Absolutely. Yes. Reporter home was here in the terraces at sunny creek a brand new gated place not far from the beach. These were their neighbors. So many neighborhoods now, you dont even know who your nextdoor neighbors are, but this thats not like this place at all, right . No, not at all. Julie ran the mother tot group in the neighborhood. So she would actually organize all those activities. She was a good mom. She was really involved with her kids. Reporter and hard to know exactly just why things changed after joshua, their third, was born in 2011. Julie just didnt seem the same. And, as time went by, you would see less and less and less of her. She would say, hi, and get in her car and drive away really quick. Reporter but she like she was hiding from everybody. Yeah. Reporter but jason . He was part of the permanent landscape of our neighborhood. He was there every day. I mean, literally, every day. Every day. A very handson father. Id look out my door to see if hes out there and wave, you know, and wed walk over. Bring the kids over and walk on the driveway, and the kids would Start Playing right when we got home from school. Reporter and then it was an august morning in 2012. You dont know whats happened but you know its not something good. Your some stomach kind of sinks. Reporter didnt take a rocket scientist. Something was awfully wrong. There was crime tape. My house is inside the crime tape and theres a Police Officer stationed at the base of my driveway. And so i ask the Police Officer, is everything okay . And he said, no. No, its not. What had happened that morning . When we come back. They said they found the body up starts in the master bedroom. The kids are missing, julie is missing. What are you talking about. The kids. The safety, number one, their safety. Are they okay . Discover the world animals, seen those before but sometimes they do it on their own mmm foot wow food for giants oooo no wonder no one has eaten this sandwich kids discover the world with their mouths detergent is harmful if swallowed, so keep laundry pacs up and away from children brought to you by tide can this much love be cleanedrlin by a little bit of dawn ultra . Oh yeah. One bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Thope to see you again soon. Whoa, whoa, i got this. Just gotta get the check. Almost there. I cant reach it. If you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. What . Its what you do. I got this. Thanks, dennis if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Growwwlph. Its what you do. Oh that is good crispy duck. Sc johnson. And theres moving with thermove free ultra. It has tripleaction support for your joints, cartilage and bones. And unlike the big osteobi flex pills, its all in one tiny pill. Move free ultra. Get your move on. Our bacteria familys been on this alright kiddos erations. Everybody off the backpack, we made it to the ottoman. I like to watch them clean, but theyll never get me on the mattress finally theres a disinfectant mist designed for sofas, mattresses and more. Introducing new lysol max cover. Its innovative cap has a 2x wider spray that kills 99. 9 of bacteria. Max cover is another great way to lysol that. Reporter at 7 30 in the morning on the 8th of august, 2012, Michele Cullen gazed on the police cars, the crime scene tape and asked the cop in her driveway whats happening . You need to go inside. You need to turn on your television. A policeman told you this he told me that, yes. What are you talking about . Reporter that was apparent soon enough when they wheeled out the body bag. One of our colleagues and friends called us and said, i think something really bad has happened. They say that they found a body upstairs in the master bedroom. And it looks like its jasons house. Reporter bit by awful bit, andy and the rest of them heard the details. The body had been hidden under a blanket and other debris. One bullet still lodged in the chest. Death was, at least, quick. The victim was the beloved member of that tall quartet, the neighborhood dad, jason harper. That was terrible enough. But it wasnt all. The kids are missing. Julie was missing. And as details unfolded, we were in complete shock. This afternoon officers continue their investigation at the harper residence. Were all in shock. Jasons dead. Were flippin out. And theyre saying, have you seen this woman . And where is she and flashing her plates and her picture wow. On the news. Reporter so what happened . Home invasion . Kidnapping . Murdersuicide . Did you worry about their kids . Yeah. Thats was the worst part. Absolutely. Absolutely. Their safety. Number one, their safety. Are they okay . Reporter but the Carlsbad Police department had one piece of information the neighbors lacked. Which came in a strange phone call at 11 00 p. M. The night before. Sergeant jeff smith, was the lead detective. The watch commander working that night, got a phone call from an attorney asking him to go or the Police Department to go do a welfare check at a residence. Reporter a welfare check . Seemed like an odd request. Who was this lawyer who called . It was attorney paul pfingst. Reporter that paul pfingst . He just happened to be the exd. A. And now criminal defense attorney, who knew the Police Department very well. Hed called an internal extension that unlike a 911 call was not recorded. The cops went to the house, and they found jasons body. But not julie and the kids, they were gone. So, police talked to paul pfingst again, who said not to worry, julie and the kids were fine. Julie was not a victim, she was his newest client. He arranged the safe return of the children to a local childrens hospital. And then 15 hours after the cops discovered jasons body, pfingst orchestrated julies surrender, at her fathers house. Did she talk to you . No. Reporter but her attorney spoke with local reporters. Shes very upset. Shes upset about her children. Shes upset about her health. Shes upset about seeing that basically at this point her life is in shambles. Its a catastrophe all the way around. Reporter so it was. But what happened in the bedroom . Neither julie, nor attorney pfingst, would say. So the police launched an investigation to figure out what was julie guilty of if anything . To begin, they had specialists interview the two older children ages 8 and 6 who said their day started like a typical summer morning. And then sometime between 8 00 and 9 00. When you were watching cartoons uhhuh. Yesterday morning and you heard the loud clunk. Clunk. A thud. Thats all they could tell ya . A loud thud. Did they know at that point that their father was dead . I dont believe so. They must have been very confused. Yes. Frightened . Yeah. Young children. And the only things you know are theres a guy with a bullet hole and the kids heard a thump yes. Not a lot to go on. Not a lot. So what did you do next . We talked to neighbors whod possibly seen things. One neighbor said that they saw miss harper leaving right around 9 05 in the morning, and exiting the the their gated community. So now you know when they left the house anyway. Roughly. Reporter now the detectives did what they could to retrace julie and the kids movements. During their interviews, the kids said their mom took them to a coffee shop first. From that point they went to a local playworks, or jumpy type house place. And from the kids accounts thats where they stayed for a short period, and played. And we were able to corroborate that with cell phone analysis. Reporter which led to a disturbing thought if the thud the kids heard was jason being shot, then the coffee run and the play date happened afterward while he lay, wounded or already dead on the bedroom floor. On august 9th, two days after the shooting, a medical examiner conducted an autopsy and recovered the bullet that killed jason. It came from a. 38 caliber handgun. We did find a gun in the home where mr. Harper was found. Reporter but it was not the gun that killed jason. So, no murder weapon and the only suspect wasnt talking. We believed that there was an argument between the two, and a gun was produced, and she shot him. And we were we didnt know why. Reporter not an easy question, under the circumstances. Oh, there was an answer. But do you think anyone intended coming up i dont understand why any of it happened, you know what i mean. New clues. She was preparing for a new journey in her life. My wildest dreams, i would reporter by the time julie harpers attorney arranged for her to turn herself in, her husband jason had been dead for a day and a half. For reasons nobody could understand. They appeared to be a solid couple. Why would she shoot him . Thats what carlsbad detectives were determined to figure out. Julie wasnt talking so they interviewed friends and family and peeled back the layers. Sergeant jeff smith learned that a whole year earlier, julie sent a friend some envelopes for safe keeping. Reporter what was in the envelopes . Journals, writings Bank Statements personal history. Reporter in that personal history signs of a marriage that wasnt as perfect as it seemed julie wrote that jason yelled at me and, maybe divorce is the answer. It appeared that they were not happy with each other, and that their marriage was going towards the an end, or divorce. Reporter whatever was going on jason tended to keep to himself, said his teacher friends andy and kristin. He would never say any ill words or bad things, he kept it very personal and private. Reporter but it was pretty clear, they said, that the marriage was winding down. Arrangements were bein made. Jasons parents actually bought a house down here. And it had enough room for jason and all the kids. I mean, they were preparing for him to be able to leave. Reporter julie seemed to be getting ready to get out, too, said sgt smith. In fact, she filed for divorce 5 days before the incident. And that same week made some unusual financial transactions. Days prior to miss harper had taken out about 10,000 in cash out of a dormant account that was under her daughters name. And shed written two 4,500 checks to herself. And it was against a credit card in mr. Harpers name. Reporter julie had pulled out nearly 20,000 cash. We found that to be very suspicious. Reporter Deputy District AttorneyKeith Watanabe was assigned to the case on day one. Did it suggest to you that she had been hoarding money in anticipation of something . She was preparing for a change in her life. Reporter but did the change involve divorce or murder . Julies father john cihak lived here 30 miles or so from jason and julies house. This, apparently, was where julie and the kids spent the night after the shooting. So sgt. Smith got a search warrant for dads place and found nothing useful. There were other guns but none of them fired the bullet that killed jason. Perhaps a little frustrated eight days later he got a second search warrant. And this time there was something new tucked away in the garage attic. In a spot they searched the first time around a blue backpack. Must have been hidden between searches. They opened up this blue backpack and they discovered julie harpers wallet, credit cards and id, her passport, a different gun and Jason Harpers last will and testament. Reporter also, jasons cell phone. Its batteries removed and call and text history cleared. The backpack gun was also clean not the one used to shoot jason. This had to be a getaway bag, the prosecutor decided she must have packed it up after she killed jason. Thats the only reason to take a persons last will and testament. Its because she realized he was dead. Reporter julies actions before and after the shooting raised all sorts of questions. And foremost for the prosecutor was did she plan this . Was it premeditated . And, if so for how long . We believed we could prove firstdegree murder, not on the theory that she had planned this murder the days or weeks before the shooting had taken place. Instead we were relying on the theory that, even during this argument, she took enough steps in order to get the gun, that this wouldve been planned and premeditated, even if it was only for a minute or two before the shooting. Reporter and thats enough . In california that qualifies as firstdegree murder. Reporter so thats what he charged her with first degree murder. Julie pleaded not guilty but otherwise kept her mouth shut and sat in jail. But strange details kept coming out. Like what julies dad said at her preliminary hearing about the blue backpack. There had actually been 39,000 inside that backpack. Reporter julies father admitted that he found the cash in the backpack. And gave it to julies lawyer to help pay for bail and legal fees. Reporter what did you think when you heard that . In my wildest dreams i wouldve never expected that. Reporter by the way julies dad testified at the prelim only after being granted immunity he initially pleaded the 5th. And even though bail was 2 million dollars, julies family eventually coughed it up and after more than a year in jail she moved back into the house on badger lane three doors down from michelle miller. She knocked on my door to let me know that she was back and that were gonna have a good talk someday when this is all over. Reporter what did you say to her . I was just completely shocked. I couldnt believe it. Reporter all those comfortable notions about her neighbors and maybe michelle didnt know them at all. I dont understand why any of it happened, you know what i mean . He was our friend and hes gone. I dont know who she is. Reporter and when julie finally did Start Talking well. Coming up i said stop, stop. What are you doing . Stop. On the stand, her life on the line. And figure it out. 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