Page 8 - Torrez Case News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: you didn't see that coming and police didn't tell you? >> right. that was part of their investigation, and we had no knowledge of that. >> reporter: but they were relieved. at last the case was moving forward. daron wyatt was confident he had enough evidence to prove javier lopez had killed cathy torrez. but once again, the orange county district attorney did not agree. the d.a. decided not to charge? >> correct. >> reporter: and so javier's set free? >> javier walks. a detective who refuses to quit -- now has another good reason not to. >> my first daughter was born. and i reme...

>> reporter: there were no new murders in placentia in 1997, allowing daron to focus his full attention on this old one. >> and because you have -- you have mary bennett and the family, who's persistent, who are very well known and very well liked within the community, it did give me a lot of leverage when i went forth and said, "hey look, i need time to concentrate specifically on this case." >> reporter: daron pored through the files and hunted down new leads. and then a tip came in, seemingly out of nowhere. >> so a guy from a repossession company calls the police and says, "hey i repo'd th...

Shea might have missed. they have the help of an eagle eye detective. known the the evidence whisperer. prosecutor matt murphy thought daron wyatt's investigation of cathy torrez's murder was compelling. but he knew that making the case against sam lopez wouldn't be easy. the d.a.'s office had declined to try it twice before. so murphy called for help from a detective whose legendary skill with cold cases has earned him a reverential nickname. >> larry montgomery is the real deal. i mean, the guy is -- the evidence whisperer. another nickname for him is st. larry. >> reporter: larry sees thi...

Boyfriend attempted suicide. now her family was pulling out all the stops to find them but this missing person case was about to take a tragic turn. here again is josh mankowitz. the torrez family had planned a major search for cathy on saturday, a week after she disappeared. but at 3:40 that morning, mary had a visitor. >> a police officer. >> reporter: he asked for cathy's keys. >> i gave him the key and i asked him if it was cathy's car. and he just looked straight and he didn't look at me. and he said he didn't know, that they had just told him to come and pick up the key. and he left. >...

>> remember, this interview happened while cathy was still missing. sam seemed to be implying she might have hurt herself or that another boyfriend might be involved. >> i mean, look, she, she's had, i know she's had a lot of problems in the past with boyfriends. >> reporter: then there was the second interview, the day cathy's body was found. detective wyatt studied that tape, too. >> there was one thing that was important that sam didn't display that you would expect to see in a case like this. >> reporter: which is? >> emotion. he showed more emotion over the contents of a coke can. he pick...