Partner in crime . We start to see how prolific they are at hunting. Reporter hunting . Detective trapp gave me her word that she would find who killed my daughter. All of these women have special meaning for me. Its hard to not take it personally. Theres lots of evil in this world. Lots of it. We have to go to the dark places in order to find answers. Reporter how do you measure a mothers love . Or gauge the ferocity of her impulse to protect . Love her as much as i could is was about the only thing. How to measure love as visceral as the beating heart in her own body. She was my firstborn. She was my best friend. Reporter how to understand the four mothers you will meet tonight, and their connection. One that not one of them would ever have thought possible. Not in a million years. Anymore than they would have expected to meet her. Their guardian angel. If i dont bring her home, who will . Reporter its a rare mystery thats truly a confrontation of good and evil. We have to go to the dark places in order to find answers. Reporter a rare mystery that needed an urgent answer, before the evil struck again. It was march 14th, 2014, early morning. An army of garbage trucks made their growling, clanking way around the thousands of trash bins and dumpsters in anaheim, california. Their destination, a landfill that is also a literal mountain of garbage 500 feet high. And then mid morning an attendant separating debris on the conveyer belt saw something. Was that a human foot protruding from the pile of trash . Surely not. She was on a conveyor belt, only her feet were exposed. And initially, the workers there thought it was a mannequin. Reporter but it wasnt a mannequin, as the responding homicide detective Julissa Trapp could plainly see. It was, or had been, a woman. Her body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp. We had no idea who she was. We had no idea where she came from. How did she end up there . Reporter something about the dead girl got to detective trapp. Ending up this way, an anonymous child of god, in a garbage dump. And so, the detective did what she always does she bought a rosary. Its a way for me to kind of connect to to my victims. Unusual . Maybe. That a detective should lean on her profound catholic faith, to help solve crimes, but Julissa Trapp does. Cases dont always get solved in 48 hours, you know . Surprise, surprise. They take time and they take work. And that little rosary helps you. It does. Reporter if she could solve this case, shed give that rosary to the dead womans family. But first she had figure out who it was, from just one identifying mark on her neck. A tattoo, jodi. Was that her name . Reaching now, detective trapp pulled up the Anaheim Police departments database of tattoos. Yes, they have one, descriptions of tattoos collected from anyone they encounter. And, what do you know, there was a match. But her name was not jodi, it was jarrae. Jarrae estepp, she was 21yearsold. She had been contacted the year prior here in anaheim on beach boulevard. Reporter beach boulevard . Suddenly detective trapps case took on a whole new complexion. If you want to buy drugs, beach boulevards where you come, if you are looking for a girl, beach boulevards where you come. A lot of em came from good, stable families that just happened to run into the wrong guy, who uhhuh. Somehow got em into the job. I mean, these pimps are really good about breaking down the women and getting control over them. Making them a prime target for predators. A lot of predators will start with prostitutes, because they think that people wont miss them. Somebody does. Yes, somebody does. Somebody did. Reporter like jarraes mother. Who, records revealed, lived in a tiny town in oklahoma. That tattoo on jarraes neck . This is jodi. And even before the detective got the words out. I felt it, that she was gone. Reporter her daughter had been so happy, so charming, outgoing. But then, said jodi, a boyfriend convinced jarrae that, to please him, shed have to turn tricks. This is jarrae. He just honked trying to get her attention. Reporter johntv, a selfproclaimed video Vigilante Group in oklahoma city, caught her on camera back in 2012. But jarrae left the boyfriend, turned her life around so jodi thought, and then that awful phone call from detective trapp. I was screaming, like, screaming. Reporter the detective made a promise to that mother, didnt matter what choices jarrae may have made, she the detective, would work this case as hard as any she ever had. We literally went from each little motel to each little motel showing her picture. And having the clerk run her name to see if she had stayed there. And eventually she found the room where jarrae had been staying, in which were 700 in cash and mascara, lipstick, contact lens solution, but nothing whatever to lead her to a suspect. Reporter not here, anyway. From the Disposal Company she got a list of the dumpsters those garbage trucks had serviced that morning, then she and other officers went dumpster diving. Hundreds of dumpsters. What would you be looking for . They were all given pictures of what the trash looked like that was around her. If it looked similar, take pictures of whats inside. Reporter no luck. Waste of time. And then, back on the conveyor belt, an odd thing turned up in the trash collected near jarraes body. We got a print hit. Youre talking about a fingerprint here . A fingerprint, yes. Reporter it was on a caulking tube, and it matched someone. A window installer who worked for a Company Called hardy windows. He tells us, we never throw trash out at customers homes. We always bring it back to hardy windows. Reporter where they found one dumpster no one had checked. The trash company, inadvertent, had left it off the list they gave the police. Detective trapp looked inside. Its that same blue plastic wrapping, and it was almost like i was looking at the same trash i had seen on the conveyor belt. Bingo. And if not for that lucky fingerprint, theyd have missed it. What was that like . It was a combination of frustration, but okay, all right, were were moving somewhere. Reporter so, jarrae was dumped here sometime before the morning of march 14th. Miles and miles from the spot where, according to cell phone records, she placed her very last outgoing call. At 7 00pm the night before. How far away would it have been . Miles. Reporter but thats all the detective knew. A week gone by, everyone at hardy windows was cleared. So no suspects at all. Detective trapp went to church. Said her rosary, worried, prayed, and wondered. I had heard a story on the news that there was three missing prostitutes in the city of santa ana. Which is right next door, basically . Right next door, yes. Reporter what if this wasnt the killers first time, or last . Was there a link. What are the odds that theyre related. And mothers united by love and loss. We made thousands of flyers. Me and her were on our mission to find her daughters. Reporter detective Julissa Trapp couldnt sleep, kept awake by the puzzle of the girl someone threw away in the trash. Thats when something jogged her restless mind. Hadnt some young women vanished in the town next door, santa ana . You do realize everyone wins . Presents for them, kohls cash for you announcer kohls. Give joy. Get joy. This season, get 4 lines of unlimited data for 100 per month on the cricket unlimited 2 plan. Plus,switch now and get up to four free lg fortune phones. All on a network that covers over 99 of americans. Cricket wireless. Something to smile about. Thanks, i used masterpass. Master. Pass . Yes masterpass pass pass was it expensive . Priceless. Masterpass by mastercard. The modern way to pay. 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Reporter detective Julissa Trapp couldnt sleep, kept awake by the puzzle of the girl someone threw away in the trash. Thats when something jogged her restless mind. Hadnt some young women vanished in the town next door, santa ana . We were like, well, you know, what are the odds that theyre related . Reporter so she looked them up and learned about kianna jackson, just 20 years old when she disappeared five months before jarraes death. Her mom is Kathy Menzies. She was just a very funloving child. Always made you laugh. Reporter just look at her childhood photos. That silly grin. She loved her dog, her little brother, playing softball. And then it started happening, said kathy. Eighth grade or so. She was kind of getting, you know, typical teenage. You know, mouthy. And then, you know, high school came, getting around the older kids, she kind of got a little, you know, worse. Reporter how did you cope with that . One day at a time. Love her as much as i could is was about the only thing. Reporter after high school kianna went to college, about a threehour drive from home. A year later, she moved to las vegas. But, though far from home now, she got closer and closer to her mom. She would call me every day, talk to me every day, you know, text message. Reporter she was just a loving daughter. Yeah. I didnt think anything bad was happening. Reporter no idea. Even in october 2013, when kianna called to say she was on the bus towards santa ana. Reporter did she tell you why visiting friends is what she told me. Reporter but then, the girl who called her mother almost daily stopped calling. Anything over a day or two, i would start going, wait a second. This isnt right. Somethings not right. I would text her. And she would text right back. But this time, nothing. Nothing. Reporter gone. Not a peep to her mom, to her friends, to her boyfriend. Kathy went to the police. When i called to file a missing persons report, they said, shes an adult. And and theres nothing we can do for you. Reporter but you when reporter you knew that there was a problem. Yeah. Reporter so kathy started doing her own digging tracked her daughter down to a motel in Orange County, where the trail ended. Her clothes were there, but she wasnt. Again, she called the police. And they said, well, that happens. Sometimes prostitutes just work circuits. Reporter prostitute . And at first, i was like, no, w okay. No. That that cant be. Reporter but then, the truth came crashing down, undeniable. Kianna had missed a scheduled court date in santa ana for a prostitution charge. But wait a minute, you talked to her every day. That reporter texted with her this is reporter all the time. Exactly. And she reporter and you knew nothing of this secret life of hers . Nope. Nothing. Reporter what does it feel like as a mother to hear that has been going on all that time and you didnt know . Heartbreaking. Reporter when she heard kathys story, detective trapp began to think she was on to something. And then she discovered that just two and a half weeks after kianna disappeared, there was another one josephine monique vargas. She had a beautiful personality. They used to call her giggles cause she always made people laugh. Reporter josephines mother priscilla had been on the local news, searching for answers for months, ever since her daughter left a family bbq, telling them she was walking to buy groceries. Thats the last time we any of us heard of her or saw her. Reporter priscilla went to the Santa Ana Police department, filled out a report. But they didnt really do anything to look for her. Reporter so she did. Nothing was gonna stop me from looking for my daughter. Nothing or no one. Reporter and it was pure chance when priscilla ran into another mother desperate to find her daughter. Martha. 28 years old, and a mother herself, who just vanished one day. Theres no way she would have left. To just say im going and im leaving everything behind. Reporter so marthas mother herlinda and priscilla went together up and down the boulevard. We made thousands of fliers. Me and her were on our mission to find our daughters. Reporter but no sign of their daughters anywhere. Detective trapp collected their portraits, hung them on her office wall, and she stayed awake, and prayed in her catholic way. Do you ever wonder why god would allow this to happen . I do. Theres been plenty of times that ive been angry with our maker because you have to wonder why does this happen. I mean, i wish he would talk back to me and tell me, that would be very helpful. But i just have to figure out what happened. Just read the clues, collect the puzzle pieces, and the more you can kind of keep a neutral mind, the easier the puzzle pieces fit together. Reporter no getting around it the pieces pointed to a chilling conclusion. Those three missing women, like jarrae, may have been murdered. And if that was true, it would mean there was a serial killer out there in the night. Had to be. More deaths would be coming, unless one idea. It was grasping at straws, yes, but you know what, it might work now. Why not . Its its a hail mary, but lets try it. Coming up. All sex offenders who are on patrol will have a gps monitor. Is it two killers . In the same car. They were in the same vehicle. Fsz talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum. Stuff happens. Old. Shut down cold symptoms fast. With maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Tired of sore throat lozenges that only last a short time . Try new alkaseltzer plus sore throat relief. The melts dissolve quickly. Plus, the powerful pain reliever provides longlasting relief for up to six hours. Try new alkaseltzer plus. Miim alive and have a second chance. 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Reporter the autopsy came in. The one for jarrae estepp, the girl on the conveyer belt. Ga002ab its bad, it was bad. It was bad. Reporter strangled, beaten, sexually assaulted. Viciously, according to deputy d. A. Larry yellin. Should have been a college girl. Should be worrying about grades and boyfriends, and Football Games and and those things. Reporter one wrong turn, and you never know, huh . Yeah. Reporter but almost three weeks in detective Julissa Trapp seemed stuck. I think she got a little frustrated, and got a little desperate, and came up with the idea of using the computer database. Reporter that is the computer database of sex offenders. If they had a serial killer on their hands, there was at least a chance hed already run afoul of the law at some point. It was a bit like just poking a finger into the haystack frankly and hoping to encounter a needle. But worth a try. So trapp called this woman. Sexual assault detective laura lomeli. All sex offenders on parole, they will have an anklet, a gps monitor. Reporter trapp asked lomeli, were any of those gps monitors here, where jarrae placed her last phone call or here, where she wound up in a dumpster . And, if you find the same guy at both locations, youre getting somewhere . Uhhuh. Reporter lomeli ran the search and what were the chances she got a hit. In both locations. She called detective trapp. Theres only one person. Shes like, i know him. I said, who . And shes all, his names franc cano, hes a registered sex offender. Reporter in 2007, franc cano pleaded guilty to committing a lewd act on a minor. He was now on parole wearing a gps monitor. But now next question, did franc canos monitor put him near the places those other three women, according to phone records made their last calls kianna, josephine, and martha . One by one, the detective entered the coordinates. And every intersection for the that date and time that they gave me, franc cano came up. Reporter wow. For every single intersection. It was it was sh i was shocked. Reporter but something about that man, franc cano. He had a buddy. And lomeli had run into them both. I mentioned, you know, i do know that he has a friend thats Steven Gordon. Reporter Steven Gordon. Hed done time for molesting a minor and later for kidnapping. He and cano were inseparable apparently. Once again, detective lomeli pulled up the gps coordinates. She checked the place martha was last seen in santa ana and . No gordon. Not there. But when she checked locations for kianna and josephine sure enough there he was. So why not at that first location . She checked the record and discovered that at that particular moment gordon wasnt on a gps monitor, but he was wearing one at the other three places and so was cano. The electronics made it absolutely obvious here they were cano and gordon driving together up and down beach boulevard and all around santa ana and anaheim. I mean, even when theyre on the freeway reporter they were in the same car . They were in the same vehicle. Reporter Julissa Trapp had prayed for a hail mary, but she never expected anything like this. I soon realized, im not just dealing with one, were dealing with two. Two sex offenders wearing gps bracelets. Reporter but for all the electronic cross referencing, the case against cano and gordon was purely circumstantial. Detective trapp could not arrest them. Not without more evidence. And that was terrifying. I mean, there were young women who were at real risk here. Yes. Reporter and if you waited too long yes. Reporter how would you feel if somebody else was attacked . Let