Page 15 - Kill Gavin Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> we felt the vehicle was still out there somewhere. >> reporter: so find the car and maybe find out what happened to gavin. and nine months after gavin vanished, they finally got the break they were looking for. >> i said, i'm here to talk to you about your daughter and he started crying and he said, she saw everything. >> coming up. >> she was very nervous and startled. >> a new witness and a game changer of a clue. >> i kissed my partner on the cheek, it was pretty exciting. it was a big piece of evidence. >> huge moment. >> you think you can't be shocked, but you can be. >> when "dateline...

>> reporter: but they didn't meet chandy in there. they met her husband, his name was john. john creech. not pleasant. >> when they came out, they were both crying. >> reporter: they told their mom creech threatened to kill gavin if he didn't stay away from chandy. though 17 months later he vanishes after calling chandy, lisa had a very bad feeling. >> everything changed right then for me. >> reporter: detectives were suspicious, too, remember, chandy told them she didn't see gavin that night. but there was evidence to the contrary. cell phone records showed gavin's phone and chandy's were in ...

You don't normally have key witnesses who don't come forward until years later. >> reporter: in january, 2015, nearly three years after gavin smith disappeared, creech was charged with first degree murder. he had pleaded not guilty. and chandy, well -- >> we didn't know if she set it up or she had something to do with it. >> coming up, an under cover sting and chandy is the target. >> and i was like, stop it. screaming my head off. >> then a stunning moment in the courtroom. >> i wanted to get away, i was scared. i was afraid of what i would see. >> when "dateline" continues. yo. but not if yo...

Verdict. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant john creech not guilty of the crime of first-degree murder of gave insmith. >> not guilty of first-degree murder. but the jury wasn't done. >> guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter. >> a verdict, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, in other words, they believe john creech killed gavin smith in a moment of blind passion. >> i was devastated by the verdict. i am still devastated by the verdict. because he did absolutely plan on murdering my husband and thought about it for years and did it. >> what about creech's frien...

>> reporter: and you must have had a reason for knowing that. >> that's what i assume. >> reporter: it turned out lisa did know something, just not what tara expected. there were secrets which lisa and gavin kept hidden. >> he adored me, our family was exactly what he wanted to have. it just got lost. >> reporter: lost. it all started in the early ''80s even before she met gavin when he was a stunt man on the tv series "remington steele," he played a shooting victim, falling from a second story window. the stunt went wrong and he broke his back. >> he would take pain pills for his back. so usu...