Page 33 - Linking Sam News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> i was ready. i was, "this is it. this is who i want to be with. this is who i want to grow old with. this is who i want to have kids with." >> reporter: and they did. a year later came a baby girl. and sam embraced his role as dad. >> he was like mr. mom, you know. he stayed home and took care of the baby while i worked. >> reporter: if sam had anything to do with cathy's murder, he certainly didn't act like it. he stayed put. living with his wife and baby right down the street from cathy's mom, mary. >> she would sit outside and stare at us, and i felt like she was doing it to make me unco...

Their suspicions to the orange county d.a., the outcome was not what they expected. >> coming up, sam has a new woman in his life who soon discovers his old life. you were a little freaked out by that? >> well, yeah. ♪ ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar

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 were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at...

Memory of what had happened, but she was able to tell everybody who she had been with that night. >> reporter: the person cathy had been with that night? sam lopez. when police asked sam about that night, he remembered something very specific. >> a hickey. >> on her neck? >> on her -- right here. covered up with her bra. >> you mean way down here on her shoulder? >> right here. right here. >> reporter: sam claimed it was no big deal. >> i didn't want to hit her up, like, tell her, "hey, you know, who were you with last night?" whatever. >> reporter: but that night, police records showed sam re...

Role was helping the prime suspect -- javier's cousin sam lopez. tina montelongo, sam's then-wife and javier's friend, wasn't buying it. can you conceive of javier going through with a murder or being involved in it because of his loyalty to sam? >> no. i don't see that. if sam did it, would xavi help him just because they're close family? i don't see that. >> reporter: neither did the d.a. who decided there was not enough evidence to file charges. how do you tell mary bennett, "we had javier, but we had to let him go"? >> it was extremely difficult. there was a lot of crying on both sides. >>...