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Alone. even when he arrested javier in 1997 for the murder of cathy torrez, he thought javier's real 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, ...

The minute i said no to her, she blew up. she started cussing me out. you know, and, "if i don't get it through you, i'm going to get it through somebody else." >> reporter: and then, sam said, cathy got in her car and took off. >> so i'm like, you know, i mean, what can i do now? i mean, shoot, a girl cusses you out, i mean i can't go chasing after her. you know, 'cause i never thought she was going to -- i mean, this was going to happen. >> reporter: sam shared his suspicions about what had happened to cathy. the same rumors about albert that were circulating around placentia. >> but you kno...

Arrested and charged with cathy's murder, but he wasn't alone. just as prosecutors now believed he wasn't alone the night he stabbed cathy to death. sam's cousin javier was also arrested and charged with murder. police also arrested sam's older brother, armando, who was once married to cathy's sister tina, and had helped search for cathy. >> it's just a tragic loss. it hurts. everybody loved cathy. >> reporter: armando was charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping cover up the murder. >> we believe that he was telling people who had information that could help convic...

And the detective found there was something else -- another major piece of evidence investigators had initially overlooked. >> when you look at the crime scene photos in the trunk of the car, something jumped out at me. and it just -- it hit me like i got punched in the face, was there was arterial spurt on the sidewall of the trunk panel. >> reporter: meaning only one thing -- cathy was still alive when she was placed in the trunk of the car. so, if javier put her there, he could be charged with murder. why not grab javier up that day and say, "okay, your dna and fingerprints were at the scen...

"i don't know who did." finally he sat there and he put his fist in front of his mouth to keep himself from talking. >> reporter: but javier had already managed to talk his way into an arrest for murder. nearly four years after cathy's death, he was booked into the orange county jail. cathy's family was stunned when they heard the news. tina included. remember, she was still married to armando, who was sam's brother and javier's cousin. >> yes. that -- that was a shock. that was a shock. >> reporter: you didn't see that coming and police didn't tell you? >> right. that was part of their