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Investigation. they had their shooter, but they also had lingering questions about whether danielle may have somehow been involved. obviously, one of the first things that comes to mind, the wife has a hand in this. she s linked. she s got to have something to do with it. reporter: and as mcdonald and szalbirak sifted through the evidence, they became more confident they were on the right track. what they discovered stunned even these two seasoned investigators. for over a month danielle had been spying on both sam and dianne. danielle was just totally obsessed with what sam was doing, which went beyond anything that i ve seen before in investigations. reporter: what s more, it appeared to them that danielle had persuaded michael to help her. they had basically stalked them. they actually put a tracker on their vehicles. reporter: this is spy equipment? correct. reporter: sheriffs deputies discovered it in the wheel well of sam s pickup. ....
These stairs. he said at some point while the two were in the stairwell, sam turned. michael claims that he was in fear and closed his eyes and just fired his gun. then he, you know, comes toward me and i just you know, i just i closed my eyes and i just pulled the freaking trigger and i m so sorry. with all the things he s telling you he s in a relationship with danielle, do you start to think we need to talk to danielle dreher. yes, so the next step was let s hear danielle s story. so detective szalbirak left michael and headed to the hospital where danielle had been waiting for updates on sam s condition. all she had been told was that sam had been shot. no one told her by whom. when i got over there, she was crying. she was very upset. detectives recorded the interview. we re trying to piece what all happened. okay, let me get calm here. at first detective szalbirak didn t reveal he knew about danielle s lover michael minor ....
He found her tone to be strangely flat and unemotional. that was troubling to me. that was disturbing to me. i cannot believe he did this. danielle went on to say she had no idea michael planned to talk to sam that day. so michael never said anything about going over there? no, he didn t. but detectives were skeptical. they wondered if danielle knew more about michael s intentions than she was letting on. at this point, i don t know whether to believe her or not. you re not done with danielle dreher? oh, no, we re not done with her. for the moment, szalbirak left her at the hospital to be with sam s family. it was up to danielle to reveal the identity of the shooter and explain the sordid details of how she was connected to him. she said, i need you to sit down. i have something to tell you. and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. first, cindy learned sam and danielle were getting a divorce. then that both danielle and sam were having affairs. most shocki ....
Him? i described him. little did she know a man fitting that very same description had just been arrested. he had approached sheriff s deputies moments after they arrived on scene and confessed to the shooting. the deputy that had him in the back of the patrol car already told us that he made statements that he was the shooter. did you feel like this could be an easy one, case closed or did you think there s got to be more to this story? there s never an easy one. there s always more to the story. the man identified himself as michael minor. detectives mcdonald and szalbirak immediately brought him to the sheriff s office for questioning. he s very distraught but he s willing to talk to us. we were very much ready to listen to him. he outlined for detectives the details of the shooting. he started by insisting it was all an accident. i never intended to pull that trigger. but detectives weren t so ....
For me to be there than worry about how awkward i felt. reporter: to her surprise, sam s family embraced dianne. they all received me well. in fact, they invited me to come up and sit with them. she s truly a lovely person. and i think she made him happy. and he deserved to be happy. reporter: you ve come down pretty hard on danielle for her affair. sam was also having an affair. yes. reporter: do you condemn him for that behavior as well? no. i don t think he intended to meet someone. i don t think he intended to have an affair. he met dianne. he had known her three months. that s a far cry, you know, a world apart from danielle seeking a man on ashley madison and having a long-term affair with him for four years. reporter: in the weeks following the funeral, detectives mcdonald and szalbirak continued their ....