Page 11 - Linking Sam News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> cathy had so much to live for and was a very happy person, a people's person. >> reporter: that was armando lopez speaking back in 1994. armando was cathy's brother-in-law, tina's then husband. but that wasn't the only connection between the two families. it turned out cathy had dated armando's younger brother, sam, off and on. and the families lived right down the street from each other. you can see one house from the other. >> exactly. >> reporter: and she's going out with sam. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: you marry his older brother. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: so that house wasn't just another h...

Lot. cannot forget all that he knows. so when he's talking, all that information is in -- is in his brain, and it can slip out. >> reporter: another reason to think sam knew much more than he was saying? in his second interview after cathy's body was found, police spoke with sam for 90 minutes before he asked them a single question. and when he finally did -- >> so did you -- do you guys know how she was killed? >> uh, yeah, we do. >> reporter: larry noticed a telling statement. >> thought you were never going to ask. >> well, i didn't want --'cause i don't want memories to come back, you know...

Police had their suspicions about sam lopez's involvement in the murder of his neighbor and former girlfriend, cathy torrez. but there was no physical evidence tying him to the murder. and he had a solid alibi on the night cathy was killed. sam was with his cousin, javier. which is why when police took their case to the d.a.'s office, the d.a. refused to file charges against sam. police pursued other leads too, like a possible connection to the suicide of cathy's boyfriend, albert. did you think that cathy's disappearance had anything to do with albert? >> no. >> reporter: coincidence. >> yeah...

>> reporter: sam and his wife had also separated by this point. she was at work when her sister called her and told her police had once again come for sam. >> what'd you think when you heard sam was arrested? >> the same that i always had. like, here we go again. >> nothing to it, and he'll be out soon. >> yeah. >> reporter: after all, they'd detained sam once before and had to release him. but as daron wyatt now explained to sam lopez, this time was different. >> "i've told you before that we wouldn't give up until -- until we were able to bring resolution to this case, and that's where we're...

The same unit that had rejected it twice before. this time though, something different happened. a prosecutor unfamiliar with the case agreed to take a fresh look. his name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. >> the first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. >> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldn't do it? >> they tried very hard. that's right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldn't do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons wer...