Killing Gavin Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: and in this case, they called in sheriff detectives ty labbe and his partner john o'brien. >> his phone was missing. there was no use of it. we checked his bank accounts from the time that he was missing. we checked his medical insurance to see if he had checked himself into a hospital. that never showed any activity. he was completely dropped off the face of the earth. >> reporter: but then, out of nowhere, a sighting. hundreds of miles north of los angeles, a businessman visiting california's central coast said he saw gavin smith and a beautiful woman at a cash-only taco restaur...

>> reporter: still, attraction is a powerful thing. isn't it? early in 2012, john and chandy were separated, but still living together. and gavin and lisa were separated, too. and that old magnetic force, gavin met chandy on that secluded road. >> did the two of you become romantic? >> yes. >> did that include kissing? >> yes. >> and while you were kissing gavin, did something happen that caught your attention? >> yeah. >> what happened? >> just something like popped up, like appeared. >> was that something the defendant, john creech? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: gavin didn't have a chance, she s...

John creech was on the phone a lot. >> he was calling multiple people very intensely. >> so like three or four or five calls to the same person over and over. >> exactly. >> reporter: some of those calls were to creech's buddies from the powerhouse gym. >> we did a multi-location search warrant, and we hit everybody that we believed might have helped on that evening. we hit all those houses all at once. >> reporter: one by one, those buddies turned. they told detectives how a frantic creech showed up late that night. how he persuaded one friend to get rid of gavin's cell phone. got another fri...

Murder of gavin smith. >> reporter: not guilty of first degree murder! but the jury wasn't done. >> guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter. >> reporter: the verdict, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. in other words, they believed 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. >> reporter: what about creech's friends jorge and stan, who helped creech cover up the killing? >> they both had significant crimi...

Welcome back. nearly three years after gavin smith's disappearance john creech was charged with his murder. police ble believe john carried out the killing as revenge with the affair with his wife khanchan c. one person could give the truth to them directly. so they figured out a way to get it. once again, here's keith morrison. >> reporter: detectives john o'brien had a problem. an important witness who wouldn't talk, chandrika creech had clammed up. but there's more than one way to get a story. they found an associate of john creech's, someone who knew chandy. they convinced him to wear a wi...