Page 14 - John Creech News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> and did that upset you? >> very much so. >> reporter: so weeks later, two men arrived with a trailer. >> and did you watch them take the mercedes out of your garage? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: that, said prosecutor grace, is when they moved the mercedes into reina's storage locker. where, months later, detective labbe noticed one crucial little detail that survived the attempted cover-up. >> i was looking at the license plate, and i see that it's not there. there should be a california license plate. it's not -- >> you'd kinda think. >> it's gone. and i also see that there's one screw miss...

But made no connection between that and something she noticed about her boyfriend john creech. >> i discovered he had scrapes on his hands and on his arms. >> she didn't think he had anything to do with the disappearance. >> reporter: but when detective o'brien heard about creech's scrapes, he immediately thought of gavin smith's wounds. he needed to talk to john creech again, and he found him in jail serving eight years on a cocaine charge. his second conviction for dealing drugs. not exactly an upstanding citizen. but could they prove he murdered gavin smith? >> we went to him, didn't ask hi...

It's a serious business, covering for a crime that awful. but chandy had a card to play. she agreed to testify. >> members and alternate members of the jury. >> reporter: and in june 2017, john creech went on trial. on the face of it, it looked like a solid case. the phone evidence, the coverup, the truly appalling crime scene in gavin's car. but did it add up to first degree murder? gavin smith had been dead five years. >> he was killed in his mercedes-benz in an act of almost stunning brutality. by the defendant john creech who's sitting here in the courtroom. this became gavin smith's tomb....

>> john had gavin pinned down. >> reporter: later, she said, creech wanted her to drive him back to the crime scene, help him take gavin to the hospital. a block and a half away, she refused to go closer and dropped creech off. >> why didn't you take him all the way back to the scene? >> because i was afraid of what i would see. >> reporter: gavin was dead by then. and the prosecutor told the jury creech wasn't going to any hospital. he was setting out to recruit help for his cover-up. >> so the first person he calls is jorge valles. >> reporter: jorge valles was the first of a series of frien...

Not after she found herself in the middle of a homicide investigation when police came across her while doing surveillance on john creech. lauren used to work in the pro shop of the powerhouse gym in chatsworth, california. and that's where she first met creech. >> he was beautiful. he was tall, and he was muscular. and a lot of women especially wanted to date him, a lot of men wanted to be him. >> reporter: lauren fell for him. he told her he was separated from his wife chandy, but that didn't stop chandy from calling lauren. >> she texted and called me and was very belligerent and rude. >> r...