Page 6 - Kill Jack Jessee News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

That was a huge, huge quantum leap for us in putting this case to rest. >> reporter: now the time had come to spring the trap. brett schrauben was arrested and soon thereafter sandra jessee herself was in handcuffs. finally to be held accountable for jack jessee's murder. >> that was wonderful. >> best three-day weekend i had. >> oh, me too. that was a pretty good day, yes. >> reporter: didn't last. for one thing, tom was not arrested. insufficient evidence, said the prosecutor. and then as he rolled out the case against the others, that little ball came off the track again. this time it happe...

Pager, one was to a boarding house. he called that last number, asked if anybody there knew a guy named schreiber. and the landlady said, nope. but there was one a tenant named schrauben, could that be the man the detective was looking for? >> brett schrauben. >> reporter: jack tracked him down to a distant suburb in the mojave desert. parked in the drive way was a 1999 pickup truck and a sea-doo, just what the anonymous bartender said. >> there was a huge break for us. we now have the name of somebody that's involved in jack jessee's murder. coming up -- >> often people throw away valuable ...

Maybe even their houses bugged. >> i want to talk for a couple of seconds -- >> okay. >> no, i'd rather pick you and up go back to the church or -- >> church? >> well, just somewhere outside. >> oh, okay. >> away from your place and my place. >> okay. >> not on the cell phone. >> okay. >> when would you have time? >> now. >> reporter: so they started meeting in shopping centers. >> we decided to put surveillance teams on each of the individuals, sandra, jessee, tom aehlert, and brett schrauben. during the duration of the wiretap, to capture some things they may do that may not be normal while ...

Could so eerily mimic a children's game. >> oh how nice! >> reporter: these are the people it happened to, the jessee clan of orange county, california. they vacation together -- >> i'm tired, i'm ready to go home. >> reporter: share birthdays -- >> this one's for bev.

Get away with murder. >> "deadly conspiracy." hello and welcome to "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. with doting grandfather jack jessee at the helm his big and blended california family seemed like one happy bunch. then jack was found stabbed to death in his living room and police wondered if the jessees weren't as close as they seemed. the case went unsolved for years until an ace detective hatched an unconventional plan to catch jack's killers. here's keith morrison. >> reporter: the game is called "mousetrap." a little ball on its track. the tiny taunting mice which, unless every lever w...