Page 3 - Bud Fleming News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the only reason why he would lie like that is if he had something to do with the murder. when we walked away, it was, yeah, we got him. this is our guy. there's no question about it. >> and just like that, a dead, old case was fully reborn. now the man steve davis had been chasing all these years could finally be arrested. >> you're a free man. you think you got away with it, and then all of a sudden, they drop the hammer on you. >> it was davis who called christie's sister, rhonda, and her father, bud. >> i mean, i just can't even describe to you what a feeling that was for both of us that...

Guilty conscience. still, when the jury retired to consider a verdict, and the first full day dragged by with no verdict -- >> i was scared to death they were going to say not guilty. looking at the jurors' faces, i just couldn't tell where they were going. >> it took them a day and a half. arturo gutierrez was found guilty of murder in the first degree. a secret preserved by a cigarette for 14 years finally produced justice, that and a detective's determined patience. >> any time you convict a murderer, that's a good thing. but when you convict somebody that you know has gotten away with it f...

Detectives started out with a list of four possible suspects, men whom christie had dated, and each one of them was questioned, their movements and alibis checked, and then one by one, they were cleared. but christie's father, bud fleming, remembered something. there had been a young man years earlier when christie was a teenager, but he had forgotten all about the kid, wouldn't have thought of him at all except a few months before christie was murdered. >> he gets a phone call one day. "hi, this is a voice from your past." bud's, like, "well, i don't have time for this. who is this?" he's lik...

Established that there was a list of maybe three or four that were good possible suspects. >> each was questioned, submitted saliva samples, and was given a polygraph test, and within a few days, all dropped off the list of suspects. christie's father, bud, who had taught his daughter to be so security conscious, tried to help solve what he could not prevent, by hanging posters all over town. >> if anybody out there knows anything at all, i'm begging them to please come forward. we sure need the help. >> she was his baby. he was never the same. he used to be such an outgoing, fun-loving person...

So rhonda went to her mother's house anyway thinking her ungioer sister would show up. >> but christy wasn't there which was very unusual because she was always on time, never, ever late. and my mom hadn't talked to her. i called christie again. the phone is still busy. now i know something is wrong. >> panic now. rhonda called her father, bud fleming. he was divorced but raised both girls and kept close tabs on them, especially christie, who was single. >> he hadn't talked to her either. as soon as he hung up the phone from me, he drove to her house. he knew there was something wrong. >> rhon...