WEBVTT 00:22.605 --> 00:25.316 -[sirens wailing faintly] -[helicopter blades whirring] 00:27.944 --> 00:28.987 [sirens intensify] 00:29.070 --> 00:31.197 [cryptic music playing] 00:32.574 --> 00:34.200 [man 1] March 4th, 1980. 00:34.284 --> 00:37.620 Um, I had just… was finishing a graveyard shift working patrol. 00:37.704 --> 00:39.789 My partner and I, we're about to get off, 00:39.873 --> 00:43.084 and we got a call of a possible body down at RAT Beach. 00:47.505 --> 00:51.134 It was a beach accessible through Malaga Cove. 00:51.634 --> 00:53.970 You get the call of a possible body on the beach, 00:54.053 --> 00:56.514 right away you start thinking, "We have a drunk." 00:56.598 --> 00:59.893 "Somebody that stumbled and fell. Might have an injured person." 00:59.976 --> 01:01.519 I wasn't prepared for what we found. 01:01.603 --> 01:03.229 [cryptic music playing] 01:03.313 --> 01:05.648 [Hernandez] This was an unsolved homicide case, 01:05.732 --> 01:07.275 a complete whodunit, 01:07.358 --> 01:10.445 complete mystery with zero witnesses. 01:10.528 --> 01:13.156 Thirty-three years later, I was assigned the case. 01:13.239 --> 01:16.409 [woman 1] You have to wonder what the person who did it has been up to 01:16.493 --> 01:18.078 for the last 33 years. 01:18.161 --> 01:19.412 [staticky burst] 01:19.496 --> 01:21.831 And you don't know what else they've gotten away with. 01:22.916 --> 01:24.667 [suspenseful music playing] 01:24.751 --> 01:27.587 [Tomlin] The LA County Sheriff's Department 01:27.670 --> 01:29.339 is the best of the best. 01:33.384 --> 01:36.554 [Jackson] Some of the highest-profile cases are tried in Los Angeles. 01:39.432 --> 01:42.602 [woman 2] You have to be dedicated 110%. 01:45.438 --> 01:48.358 [Lillienfeld] This is murder. There's no more serious crime. 01:50.443 --> 01:55.365 [man 2] It boils down to a passion and a sense of duty. 01:57.700 --> 01:59.994 Justice comes from finding the truth. 02:02.789 --> 02:04.791 [suspenseful music trailing off] 02:05.917 --> 02:07.919 [tense music pulsing] 02:08.795 --> 02:11.047 [Hernandez] In 2013, I went to my team lieutenant. 02:11.131 --> 02:13.758 I said, "I would like to catch some cases." 02:13.842 --> 02:16.845 So he had on his desk, sitting there, a case from 1980. 02:18.346 --> 02:21.558 I was hooked just reading through the reports on this case. 02:22.058 --> 02:24.769 Anytime a female's victimized, I think of my daughters. 02:26.521 --> 02:28.231 I start reading through the reports, 02:28.314 --> 02:31.943 thinking, "This is gonna take me to a lot of different places." 02:32.026 --> 02:35.822 'Cause I gotta find all these people in the original reports. 02:37.073 --> 02:41.411 And I find David Byington, the first responder. 02:42.579 --> 02:45.790 We talk on the phone. What a great memory he had of this case. 02:45.874 --> 02:47.959 He remembered this case because, 02:48.042 --> 02:51.212 back in 1980, he was a rookie on the department. 02:56.926 --> 02:57.927 [engine revving] 03:04.726 --> 03:06.227 [mysterious music playing] 03:07.604 --> 03:11.691 In 1980, I'm a police officer for the City of Palos Verdes Estates. 03:12.859 --> 03:16.571 Palos Verdes Estates is a little suburb south of Los Angeles. 03:16.654 --> 03:19.198 Beautiful cliffs, mansions. 03:19.282 --> 03:21.075 High-income folks live there, 03:21.159 --> 03:24.537 and most houses there go well into the multi-millions, 03:24.621 --> 03:26.080 even back in the '70s. 03:26.164 --> 03:28.666 As far as murders in Palos Verdes Estates, 03:28.750 --> 03:30.418 they were rare if ever. 03:31.920 --> 03:34.339 At the time, I was 21 years of age. 03:34.923 --> 03:39.302 I had been actually on my own for only a month or two in patrol. 03:40.053 --> 03:44.641 When I responded to the scene and realized that we actually had a potential homicide, 03:44.724 --> 03:45.975 I started shaking. 03:46.059 --> 03:48.061 [dark, foreboding music playing] 03:50.647 --> 03:55.735 There was a female found dead on the beach at Palos Verdes Estates on Malaga Cove, 03:55.818 --> 03:59.530 and she apparently had been sexually assaulted, 03:59.614 --> 04:01.699 and she had been beaten about the head. 04:03.409 --> 04:07.247 [woman] A surfer had found her purse, which had her identification in it. 04:07.330 --> 04:11.334 We were able to learn right away she was Teresa Broudreaux from Wilmington, 04:11.417 --> 04:12.877 just 12 miles away, 04:14.003 --> 04:15.755 and she was only 20 years old. 04:17.715 --> 04:22.512 We tried to check for signs of life, and I remember I had initially tried. 04:22.595 --> 04:24.722 The body was warm to the touch, 04:25.223 --> 04:27.850 but I could not tell if I was getting a pulse 04:27.934 --> 04:29.936 or if I was feeling my own pulse. 04:30.520 --> 04:32.438 I think part of that was nerves. 04:32.939 --> 04:35.525 I could see that the young lady was completely nude 04:35.608 --> 04:37.819 except for a pair of knee-high socks. 04:38.653 --> 04:43.408 She appeared to be posed in some position where her feet were facing the ocean. 04:44.492 --> 04:48.246 She had a large amount of blood covering her face. 04:48.329 --> 04:50.331 Her hair was matted down in the blood. 04:50.415 --> 04:53.584 It was difficult to see her face completely without moving the hair. 04:53.668 --> 04:56.838 She had what appeared to be a laceration on her forehead 04:56.921 --> 05:00.300 as well as some bruising and fresh injuries on her abdomen. 05:04.095 --> 05:06.431 Ultimately, the beach is a crime scene. 05:07.807 --> 05:10.685 The tide was coming in so quickly 05:10.768 --> 05:13.730 we had to pick her up physically and move her away. 05:14.230 --> 05:17.734 As we did this, my partner was trying to support her head. 05:18.985 --> 05:21.446 As we moved up the beach, my partner told me, 05:21.529 --> 05:24.449 "Oh no, my hand just disappeared in her head." 05:26.659 --> 05:29.078 She's got a large wound to the back of her head. 05:30.204 --> 05:32.248 We knew that this was not an accident. 05:35.084 --> 05:38.129 Ms. Broudreaux was my first homicide victim. 05:38.713 --> 05:41.716 It's the ultimate crime, the taking of another human life. 05:41.799 --> 05:43.885 The last thing you want to do is mess that up. 05:47.472 --> 05:50.767 The Palos Verdes Estates Police Department's a smaller agency. 05:51.267 --> 05:53.102 The sheer magnitude of this crime 05:53.186 --> 05:55.813 mandated that we would reach out to an agency 05:55.897 --> 05:58.316 that could adequately handle a murder investigation, 05:58.399 --> 06:01.694 and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, they were known to be the best. 06:01.778 --> 06:03.738 [tense music pulsing] 06:03.821 --> 06:06.324 When the Los Angeles sheriff's homicide unit showed up, 06:06.407 --> 06:08.826 I was taking note of everything they did. 06:10.286 --> 06:12.288 [Ostrowski] Any prosecutor will tell you 06:12.371 --> 06:15.208 our job isn't just to convict people. 06:15.291 --> 06:19.545 It's also to make sure that the procedure that you go through 06:19.629 --> 06:22.757 to investigate a case is done correctly. 06:23.466 --> 06:25.718 You're left having to turn to… 06:26.636 --> 06:31.015 surveillance cameras, or witnesses, or scientific evidence. 06:31.099 --> 06:34.852 And in 1980, you didn't have anywhere near 06:34.936 --> 06:38.356 as much of… or as many of those things as you do now. 06:38.439 --> 06:40.441 [erratic, suspenseful music playing] 06:42.985 --> 06:45.905 [Byington] The victim had no clothing recovered anywhere in the scene. 06:45.988 --> 06:49.158 We found a bottle of alcohol and a couple glasses. 06:49.242 --> 06:51.702 One of 'em still had, it appeared, some alcohol in it, 06:51.786 --> 06:54.705 near where this purse had been apparently dumped. 06:55.665 --> 06:57.708 That would lead me to believe at that time 06:57.792 --> 07:00.086 that there was obviously someone else there 07:00.169 --> 07:03.297 that was drinking with the victim prior to the murder. 07:03.923 --> 07:06.300 We also saw there were tire tracks. 07:07.635 --> 07:11.973 [Hernandez] They believed that this was tire tracks from the suspect's vehicle. 07:12.056 --> 07:14.475 But the tire was somewhat balding. 07:14.559 --> 07:17.478 The tread depth was not deep enough. 07:17.562 --> 07:19.438 So they couldn't cast the tracks. 07:19.522 --> 07:21.524 [suspenseful music playing] 07:23.693 --> 07:26.529 [Byington] The LA County sheriff's homicide detectives 07:26.612 --> 07:29.866 immediately hit the ground running, trying to contact family members, 07:29.949 --> 07:31.450 people closest to your victim, 07:32.535 --> 07:36.080 and find out anything that could lead you to a potential suspect, 07:36.164 --> 07:38.666 that you could start following those leads. 07:38.749 --> 07:43.671 And they determined she was married to a gentleman named Ronnie Fematt. 07:45.506 --> 07:46.883 [music trails off] 07:46.966 --> 07:48.843 [subdued, pensive music playing] 07:48.926 --> 07:53.764 [man] When I met Teresa, she was maybe 18, 19. I was about 20. 07:54.348 --> 07:59.061 Me and my friend were on the east side of Wilmington, just hanging out, whatever. 07:59.687 --> 08:02.231 And one of the girls brought Teresa. 08:02.982 --> 08:05.318 And when I saw her, I just went, "Whoa." 08:06.152 --> 08:09.864 She was very independent, very strong-willed. 08:11.657 --> 08:13.743 I don't know what she saw in me. 08:16.078 --> 08:18.664 Me and my friends, we started doing drugs. 08:18.748 --> 08:20.750 You know, dabbling in it. 08:22.501 --> 08:27.215 But when me and Terri got together, she gave me an ultimatum. 08:27.715 --> 08:29.717 Said, "Hey, buddy, you gotta stop." 08:30.593 --> 08:32.094 I…It was a no-brainer. 08:33.387 --> 08:37.058 Two and a half years we're together, and then I thought, 08:37.141 --> 08:38.976 "This is the girl I want to marry." 08:39.602 --> 08:42.897 I wanted her. I wanted to have a family. I wanted to settle down. 08:42.980 --> 08:44.982 So I did. I married her. 08:45.066 --> 08:47.360 Then she got pregnant shortly after. 08:47.944 --> 08:49.695 They said, "It's gonna be a girl." 08:50.696 --> 08:51.948 So I was elated. 08:54.116 --> 08:59.747 The manner in which Teresa was killed was extremely upsetting. 08:59.830 --> 09:02.792 It was a violent death with her head bashed in, 09:02.875 --> 09:04.919 and likely sexually assaulted. 09:06.587 --> 09:10.174 And to then find out that she was several months pregnant, 09:10.258 --> 09:16.639 there was yet another life that was also derailed and ended, 09:16.722 --> 09:18.516 is incredibly sad. 09:19.809 --> 09:24.063 On top of that tragedy, she actually already was a mom. 09:24.146 --> 09:26.440 She had a four-year-old daughter named Linda. 09:26.524 --> 09:28.526 [cryptic music playing] 09:32.196 --> 09:37.910 [woman] March 4th, 1980 was one of the worst days of my life. 09:38.411 --> 09:42.748 [shakily] My grandmother told me my mother drowned at the beach. 09:46.127 --> 09:47.128 [shaky sobs] 09:49.255 --> 09:52.258 And that she was going to Heaven with the angels. 09:54.468 --> 09:56.596 [hoarsely] And she wasn't gonna come back. 10:00.016 --> 10:01.726 I became too much to handle. 10:03.978 --> 10:07.064 I didn't want to be with my… my aunt. 10:07.148 --> 10:10.693 I didn't want to be with my grandmother. I didn't wanna be with my dad. 10:10.776 --> 10:12.153 I just wanted my mom. 10:16.282 --> 10:19.118 And I couldn't understand why she couldn't come back. 10:19.702 --> 10:23.539 It felt like the only person that ever loved and protected me was gone. 10:25.666 --> 10:28.085 And now there was nobody left to love me. 10:30.046 --> 10:31.047 [sobs] 10:34.508 --> 10:36.427 [somber, emotional music playing] 10:36.927 --> 10:40.473 [Fematt] When I first met Linda, she was probably two years old. 10:40.556 --> 10:44.685 She was still baby talk, you know? She wasn't too vocal. 10:44.769 --> 10:48.064 Cute as a bug, you know? She really was. 10:48.856 --> 10:51.233 Being that she wasn't mine, it didn't bother me. 10:51.317 --> 10:52.693 Didn't bother me one bit. 10:53.736 --> 10:56.656 We used to play "cafe." She would take my order, 10:56.739 --> 10:58.991 then go to the kitchen, act like she made me food. 10:59.992 --> 11:01.369 She was a good kid. 11:02.536 --> 11:06.332 [Broudreaux] I just used to love it. I used to make the menu with Ronnie. 11:06.415 --> 11:08.084 Then I used to take it to my mom. 11:08.167 --> 11:10.378 She was like, "How many do you want, ma'am?" 11:10.461 --> 11:12.505 And I would be like, "Two, please." 11:12.588 --> 11:16.342 And she'll just be making my little grilled cheese by candlelight. 11:16.425 --> 11:20.096 I don't know why… I don't know why it was candlelight, but yeah. 11:20.179 --> 11:22.181 [emotional music continuing] 11:30.106 --> 11:32.441 [Byington] Ronnie married this woman, allegedly loved her, 11:32.525 --> 11:35.778 was raising her… her daughter as his own. 11:35.861 --> 11:38.447 But that doesn't exclude him from being a suspect. 11:39.907 --> 11:43.744 He could have snapped, had a bad moment, bad week. Who knows? 11:43.828 --> 11:45.621 Ronnie was one of the first people 11:45.704 --> 11:47.832 the sheriff's homicide detectives spoke to. 11:52.378 --> 11:55.381 [Fematt] The sheriffs, they interrogated me, 11:55.464 --> 11:56.882 and I answered everything. 11:58.175 --> 12:01.178 On March 3rd, I was attending Harbor College. 12:01.262 --> 12:04.598 Not taking anything special. I was doing art. I was good with art. 12:05.516 --> 12:07.226 I came home. I said to my wife, 12:07.309 --> 12:10.271 "Come on. Let's go to my friend George's house." 12:10.354 --> 12:13.149 We used to hang out in the garage, drink and smoke. 12:14.275 --> 12:15.276 We went. 12:16.110 --> 12:17.611 She didn't participate. 12:18.529 --> 12:19.655 She was pregnant. 12:19.738 --> 12:22.283 She didn't want to stand up all night in a garage. 12:22.366 --> 12:24.618 So I understand she wanted to go home. 12:27.413 --> 12:28.414 We went home. 12:28.497 --> 12:31.667 I told her, "I'mma go back." She goes, "I don't want you to go back." 12:31.751 --> 12:34.003 "You can't go back." I go, "I'mma go back." 12:34.086 --> 12:37.715 "No, you better not go." I go, "Terri, I'm going back." 12:38.757 --> 12:40.676 That's when I went out the door. 12:42.303 --> 12:44.388 I went this way toward my friend's house. 12:46.140 --> 12:49.935 I heard the door slam and I turned back. She was going toward the alley. 12:50.019 --> 12:53.481 We had a gate in the alley that would take you to the other street. 12:54.398 --> 12:56.692 That's where her sister lived, down the block. 12:56.776 --> 12:57.943 I go, "She's mad." 12:58.027 --> 13:02.031 "She'll go to her sister's, and complain, and talk shit about me." 13:02.114 --> 13:03.115 "She'll be okay." 13:05.034 --> 13:06.035 But then… 13:06.744 --> 13:08.120 I never seen her again. 13:08.704 --> 13:10.706 [suspenseful, inscrutable music playing] 13:13.709 --> 13:19.089 How many times does a wife disappear and the husband says, you know, 13:19.632 --> 13:22.510 "She left. I don't know what happened to her." 13:23.010 --> 13:25.763 And nine times out of ten, that's bullshit. 13:25.846 --> 13:27.306 It's gonna be the husband. 13:28.224 --> 13:29.809 [Fematt] They asked to take my shirt off. 13:29.892 --> 13:34.522 They're looking for scratches or defensive wounds, and I had nothing. 13:35.064 --> 13:37.817 They kept asking, "You didn't do it?" "No, I didn't do it." 13:38.484 --> 13:42.530 [Lewin] When they interviewed Ronnie, he was concerned, he was nervous. 13:43.030 --> 13:45.991 When your wife is found murdered… 13:47.868 --> 13:51.789 either you're gonna be devastated, in shock, et cetera, 13:52.790 --> 13:56.043 or terrified they're gonna figure out you're the one who did it. 13:58.504 --> 14:01.090 [Fematt] After I left the sheriff's, I went back to my house, 14:01.173 --> 14:03.509 and there's cop cars stationed around the block. 14:03.592 --> 14:05.052 They're looking at my house. 14:05.803 --> 14:11.475 Very quickly, he became concerned that he was the suspect, 14:11.559 --> 14:12.893 and he was. 14:13.853 --> 14:17.231 I called my uncle, Henry Salcido, criminal lawyer. 14:17.815 --> 14:21.193 And my uncle just told me, "Don't talk to 'em, avoid 'em." 14:22.194 --> 14:23.362 So that's what I did. 14:23.445 --> 14:25.447 [music trails off] 14:27.700 --> 14:29.702 [sorrowful piano music playing] 14:30.452 --> 14:33.747 [Broudreaux] My father was absent, so when my mom got married to Ronnie 14:33.831 --> 14:35.833 and I found out I was gonna have a sibling, 14:35.916 --> 14:39.295 I immediately thought we were gonna have a full and complete family now 14:39.378 --> 14:43.173 with Ronnie, the new baby, my mom, and I. 14:43.257 --> 14:45.217 So I was super excited. 14:45.968 --> 14:46.802 So excited. 14:47.970 --> 14:50.306 But when everything happened with my mother, 14:50.389 --> 14:51.765 I did not stay with Ronnie. 14:52.975 --> 14:55.769 My dad's family came and got me right away. 14:57.271 --> 15:00.274 I really missed her when they took her. It destroyed me. 15:00.858 --> 15:01.859 [music trails off] 15:03.444 --> 15:05.446 [tense, erratic music playing] 15:09.116 --> 15:13.329 [Ostrowski] During the autopsy, essentially, a rape kit was taken. 15:13.412 --> 15:18.250 But a rape kit back in 1980 is nothing like it is today. 15:18.751 --> 15:21.545 There were clippings taken from her fingernails, 15:21.629 --> 15:25.925 because it appeared that there was material underneath her fingernails, 15:26.008 --> 15:29.345 and they could potentially compare that to blood type. 15:31.055 --> 15:33.849 There was also swabs that were taken, 15:33.933 --> 15:38.228 which we're not testing for DNA, but could test for the presence of sperm. 15:40.856 --> 15:42.483 [Fematt] They brought her to the mortuary. 15:42.566 --> 15:48.364 I went back there and asked to see her, 'cause I had to make arrangements. 15:49.990 --> 15:52.826 They pulled back the thing. They only got the sheet halfway, 15:52.910 --> 15:55.162 and I already just… My knees buckled. 15:55.245 --> 15:57.247 I just couldn't believe what I saw. 15:59.500 --> 16:01.418 As far as her features, there was none. 16:01.502 --> 16:05.381 It was just total darkness, a big hole for a face. 16:05.464 --> 16:09.176 And right away, I told the people, "I want this casket closed." 16:09.259 --> 16:12.096 "And I want the baby swaddled and put in her arms, 16:12.596 --> 16:14.723 so they're together for eternity." 16:14.807 --> 16:16.809 [sorrowful music playing] 16:25.275 --> 16:30.489 The investigators spoke with a lot of friends, a lot of family, 16:30.572 --> 16:32.825 and that's really all they had to go on. 16:34.743 --> 16:38.747 They learned that the last person to see Teresa was her sister. 16:39.331 --> 16:41.834 She gets to her sister's house. 16:41.917 --> 16:46.547 Her sister wanted her to stay there, and she didn't. 16:48.215 --> 16:50.634 Teresa Broudreaux left her sister's house middle of the night 16:50.718 --> 16:52.386 and started walking down the street. 16:53.012 --> 16:58.183 There was a cousin who remembers that, that day of, before she was found dead, 16:58.267 --> 17:00.060 she wanted to go to the beach. 17:00.144 --> 17:02.146 [delicate, unsettling music playing] 17:05.482 --> 17:08.027 [Ostrowski] Neither Teresa nor Ronnie had a car. 17:08.819 --> 17:10.571 It wouldn't be unreasonable 17:10.654 --> 17:13.532 that she would hitchhike to go get to the beach. 17:16.160 --> 17:19.204 They were really at the mercy of anybody seeing anything, 17:19.288 --> 17:22.958 and it happened at night, and she was discovered early morning, 17:23.041 --> 17:25.711 and so there were no witnesses that ever came forward. 17:27.046 --> 17:30.507 There wasn't a whole lot of investigative tools 17:30.591 --> 17:34.136 that could be used to figure out who her killer was. 17:35.679 --> 17:38.724 [Byington] They were looking at Ronnie, Teresa Broudreaux's husband, 17:38.807 --> 17:40.392 as a potential suspect. 17:41.685 --> 17:44.021 After a thorough investigation, they were able to determine 17:44.104 --> 17:45.689 that Ronnie had an alibi. 17:46.565 --> 17:49.860 Ronnie had been in a friend's garage with several eyewitnesses 17:49.943 --> 17:52.279 on the night his wife had been murdered. 17:52.362 --> 17:56.700 And that basically cleared him from the murder of his wife. 17:57.284 --> 18:01.246 And even though the police investigators might exclude Ronnie, 18:01.830 --> 18:04.583 you can't unring that bell with family members and loved ones, 18:04.666 --> 18:07.628 that thought and belief that he was responsible 18:07.711 --> 18:11.256 for their daughter, their mother, their sister's death. 18:14.384 --> 18:18.472 When I was about eight or nine years old, 18:19.098 --> 18:24.770 my cousin and I were going through her mother's boxes, her drawers, 18:24.853 --> 18:27.064 and we found the autopsy of my mother. 18:30.818 --> 18:33.362 And I'm like, "What? They said she drowned!" 18:33.445 --> 18:38.575 And I'm still, you know, in that mode where they said she drowned. 18:38.659 --> 18:40.369 I'm like, "All this happened to her?" 18:42.496 --> 18:48.210 Everyone in her family was saying Ronnie's the one that killed my mother. 18:48.293 --> 18:52.631 I believed it right away because they used to fight a lot, 18:53.340 --> 18:55.676 and I was there to see all of that. 18:55.759 --> 18:58.679 I was right there watching every single day. 19:00.973 --> 19:04.101 [Fematt] They made their choice that I wasn't a suspect, sheriffs did. 19:04.685 --> 19:08.147 But they had nobody else, so everybody thought I did it. 19:10.232 --> 19:12.359 Couldn't explain how many times I got shot at 19:13.068 --> 19:14.653 'cause people thought I did it. 19:15.154 --> 19:17.865 Whether it be her family or friends, I don't know. 19:17.948 --> 19:20.576 Nobody ever shot at me before until after her death. 19:21.577 --> 19:24.079 I was so traumatized, I didn't want to live. 19:26.874 --> 19:29.751 [Lewin] If your wife disappears in the middle of an argument, 19:30.335 --> 19:34.631 and we don't have any evidence 19:35.883 --> 19:37.926 pointing to somebody else who did it, 19:38.010 --> 19:43.223 and what you have is an alibi by people that you are close to, 19:43.724 --> 19:47.186 either that's a legitimate alibi or it's not, 19:48.228 --> 19:50.731 but you have no other suspects. 19:50.814 --> 19:52.649 We didn't have an eyewitness. 19:52.733 --> 19:57.196 We didn't really have any… any evidence at the time that could be used. 19:57.279 --> 19:59.865 There wasn't anything else they could do. 19:59.948 --> 20:03.869 Ultimately, the Teresa Broudreaux murder was never solved. 20:03.952 --> 20:08.498 It was put on the back bench as a cold case for decades. 20:18.300 --> 20:21.303 [Broudreaux] When I was little, I used to cry for my mom. 20:21.386 --> 20:23.513 And I'd ask questions over the years. 20:23.597 --> 20:27.559 There was so many questions I had that no one was willing to answer. 20:27.643 --> 20:29.686 No one wanted to talk about her. 20:29.770 --> 20:32.272 No one wanted to talk about what happened. 20:32.773 --> 20:33.774 [sniffles] 20:34.483 --> 20:35.943 No one told me anything. 20:36.652 --> 20:40.405 They would tell me to be quiet. "She's not gonna come back." 20:42.074 --> 20:44.660 I kinda got used to not having any parents. 20:46.161 --> 20:48.997 The void from my mother has never been filled. 20:49.081 --> 20:51.041 I don't think it'll ever be filled. 20:52.501 --> 20:54.962 [Fematt] I went through years of people pointing, 20:55.045 --> 20:57.381 and avoiding me, or talking behind my back. 20:57.464 --> 20:58.674 I didn't deal with it. 20:59.591 --> 21:02.135 I didn't think about my daughter. I didn't think about Terri. 21:02.219 --> 21:03.887 I'd work just to get high, 21:03.971 --> 21:06.014 so I didn't have to deal with all the pressure 21:06.098 --> 21:10.519 of people walking around town going, "Hey, that's him. He killed his wife." 21:12.104 --> 21:13.313 [Broudreaux] As I got older, 21:13.397 --> 21:15.983 I used to see him sometimes walking around. 21:17.442 --> 21:21.029 I did not want to talk to Ronnie. I didn't know what to feel, you know? 21:22.155 --> 21:24.324 I was like, "Did he really…" 21:24.408 --> 21:25.951 "Could he have really…" 21:26.451 --> 21:29.913 I started questioning people, 'cause they were the ones telling me. 21:30.789 --> 21:34.584 I seen them fighting a lot, but could he really kill her? 21:41.258 --> 21:42.259 [engine revving] 21:47.931 --> 21:49.933 [suspenseful music playing] 21:55.188 --> 21:58.400 When I got the case, the cultural background, 21:58.483 --> 22:00.319 there was a connection there. 22:03.155 --> 22:06.158 In the '80s, culture in Wilmington was very much the same 22:06.241 --> 22:08.327 as culture in East LA, the area I grew up in. 22:09.453 --> 22:11.872 It was predominately Hispanic, 22:11.955 --> 22:16.460 lowrider culture, gangs, crime. 22:16.543 --> 22:18.962 Seeing sometimes how my parents were afraid… 22:19.046 --> 22:20.589 They were afraid to call the police. 22:22.382 --> 22:25.177 1980, I'm 13 years old. I'm in the eighth grade. 22:25.677 --> 22:28.096 If you would've told me I was gonna get involved 22:28.180 --> 22:31.183 in a homicide investigation that happened in Palos Verdes Estates, 22:31.266 --> 22:35.604 which was a world away from East LA, I would've told you you were nuts. 22:38.899 --> 22:42.069 I never was a kid who said, "I want to be a cop." 22:43.945 --> 22:46.031 That was the last thing I thought I'd be. 22:46.907 --> 22:51.328 The passion really came once I started the job 22:51.411 --> 22:56.124 and started to notice the difference that you could make. 22:58.085 --> 23:01.296 Ralph's was more of a subdued, subtle kind of approach. 23:02.255 --> 23:05.425 He challenged himself and made a name for himself. 23:06.218 --> 23:09.763 Ralph never wanted to promote. He wanted to be a damn good detective. 23:12.474 --> 23:16.228 [Hernandez] People always ask me, "What is this job like, working homicide?" 23:17.145 --> 23:19.231 It's like juggling balls in the ocean. 23:19.314 --> 23:22.150 You don't want to drown, but you don't want to drop the ball. 23:24.027 --> 23:25.904 [Labbe] When you look at a cold case, 23:25.987 --> 23:31.535 there are so many different things that you have to… to overcome. 23:31.618 --> 23:35.539 Investigations change after ten, 15, 20 years. 23:35.622 --> 23:39.418 Different techniques evolve. Different thought processes evolve. 23:42.504 --> 23:45.590 [Hernandez] Ultimately, you have to do a little gumshoe detective work, right? 23:45.674 --> 23:48.301 You gotta go and find people, find witnesses. 23:49.094 --> 23:52.848 But technology is a tremendous, tremendous asset for us now 23:52.931 --> 23:54.474 on these unsolved cases. 23:54.975 --> 24:00.438 In this case, in 1980, that was years before DNA. 24:01.565 --> 24:05.360 There's different investigative avenues that can be explored. 24:05.861 --> 24:08.780 Now we can go back, and we can take that evidence, 24:08.864 --> 24:11.199 and we can develop DNA profiles. 24:13.076 --> 24:17.706 There were several items of evidence that had been kept from the scene. 24:19.166 --> 24:21.168 We knew that there were enough there 24:21.251 --> 24:24.337 that there were things we could potentially test. 24:25.630 --> 24:29.217 The sheriff's department had a criminalist who was excellent. 24:29.718 --> 24:32.596 As the criminalist is working on this evidence 24:32.679 --> 24:36.099 and trying to determine if there's enough genetic material, 24:36.183 --> 24:39.936 what we're realizing is she has very little to work with. 24:41.021 --> 24:45.650 The fingernails turned out not to be as helpful as we were hoping they'd be. 24:45.734 --> 24:48.737 The other evidence at the scene also was not as helpful. 24:48.820 --> 24:52.365 There were no prints or DNA on the bottle of alcohol. 24:52.449 --> 24:55.076 Only Teresa's fingerprint was on the cup. 24:55.160 --> 24:59.915 And contrary to what you see on CSI, the TV shows, you know, 24:59.998 --> 25:03.835 unfortunately, people don't sprinkle their DNA everywhere 25:03.919 --> 25:05.837 at whatever crime scene they go to. 25:05.921 --> 25:07.255 So we had to pivot. 25:07.339 --> 25:10.759 We had to think of a different way to try to identify her killer. 25:10.842 --> 25:13.094 That's when we turn to the coroner's evidence. 25:17.682 --> 25:23.021 The coroner's office was able to obtain the DNA found on the victim. 25:24.189 --> 25:28.026 The criminalist took the pubic hair combings 25:28.109 --> 25:30.320 and basically washed them. 25:30.904 --> 25:35.408 And from that washing, she's able to put it into a centrifuge 25:35.492 --> 25:39.996 that spins and essentially churns out a pellet. 25:40.497 --> 25:44.918 And from that pellet, she's able to look at it microscopically 25:45.001 --> 25:48.588 and determine if there's any genetic material in the pellet, 25:48.672 --> 25:51.508 and she found one sperm head. 25:52.425 --> 25:56.429 And so that's what she was able to end up testing for DNA. 25:57.472 --> 26:01.184 The goal there is that they would be able to develop an actual DNA profile. 26:01.268 --> 26:04.104 'Cause sometimes you can have bodily fluid, 26:04.187 --> 26:07.524 but that doesn't mean you have enough to come up with a complete DNA profile. 26:07.607 --> 26:10.485 Sometimes you have a partial profile. Sometimes you get nothing. 26:10.569 --> 26:14.614 If there's not sufficient evidence there, it's a dead end. 26:24.874 --> 26:28.920 [Fematt] Detective Ralph Hernandez got my case and gave me a call. 26:31.006 --> 26:33.842 I felt at ease that he understood me. 26:34.342 --> 26:37.679 He knew my style of life, what I've been through. 26:37.762 --> 26:40.390 You know, the addiction, the gangs, the everything. 26:40.473 --> 26:43.977 'Cause being from East LA, you're familiar with that stuff. 26:44.060 --> 26:47.772 Being a cop, you're more familiar. You probably see it more than I see it. 26:49.024 --> 26:51.568 He treated me just like he would anybody. 26:52.152 --> 26:55.030 Wasn't 'cause I was Chicano. He treated me 'cause I was human. 26:56.573 --> 27:00.785 So I talked to him, and I let him know I have some more information. 27:04.998 --> 27:06.458 [Hernandez] Ronnie tells us the story 27:06.541 --> 27:10.211 about how this female acquaintance from the neighborhood 27:10.295 --> 27:13.631 approached him one evening and said, "Hey, I feel bad." 27:13.715 --> 27:16.551 "I held on to this for a few years. I want you to know." 27:18.261 --> 27:20.972 [Fematt] In the late '90s, I was still spiraling out of control, 27:21.931 --> 27:23.141 and I was in a bar. 27:23.933 --> 27:27.896 One of my friends walked in who I hadn't seen in quite a while. 27:28.521 --> 27:29.856 She came up to me. 27:29.939 --> 27:32.942 "Ronnie, I know who killed your wife." 27:33.443 --> 27:35.945 [suspenseful music swells, trails off] 27:39.157 --> 27:40.909 [Labbe] People's lives continue on, 27:40.992 --> 27:43.203 and they remember vivid details 27:43.286 --> 27:46.790 of what traumatically happened to them in the past. 27:46.873 --> 27:48.667 They realize, "You know what?" 27:48.750 --> 27:51.544 "This has caught up to me. I need to tell somebody." 27:51.628 --> 27:53.630 [cryptic music playing] 27:53.713 --> 27:57.884 When I met Detective Ralph Hernandez, I had been sober a while. 27:59.094 --> 28:02.263 For so long I've been feeling so bad about this. 28:02.347 --> 28:05.392 I thought it was time I could handle some answers. 28:06.267 --> 28:08.812 She was my homeboy's old lady. 28:08.895 --> 28:11.064 She'd been gone so long I wondered what happened to her. 28:11.147 --> 28:13.358 I didn't know because I didn't keep tabs on her. 28:13.441 --> 28:16.945 We started talking, she started crying, she goes, "I know who killed her." 28:18.196 --> 28:23.076 And then I was just like, "What do you mean?" 28:24.077 --> 28:29.499 She said, "I was abducted by two guys and sexually tortured." 28:31.292 --> 28:36.047 These guys picked her up. They told her, "Put some of this on your tongue." 28:36.131 --> 28:40.468 She said immediately when she put that liquid on her tongue, she went numb. 28:41.678 --> 28:44.848 She said she could hear and see, but couldn't move. 28:44.931 --> 28:46.307 She's, like, paralyzed. 28:47.308 --> 28:49.227 They tortured her, sexually abused her, 28:50.019 --> 28:52.939 and then she told me that she heard 'em say, 28:53.606 --> 28:55.900 "What are we gonna do with her body?" 28:56.693 --> 28:58.653 "We'll take her where we dumped Terri." 29:03.241 --> 29:06.244 But she jumped out the window of the car while it was moving, 29:07.203 --> 29:10.290 and a passerby stopped and helped, and they took off. 29:12.375 --> 29:14.711 The person she mentioned, I knew him. 29:15.378 --> 29:16.463 Knew him well. 29:17.297 --> 29:20.508 With some of his characteristics, it fit. 29:20.592 --> 29:22.635 [suspenseful music pulsing] 29:24.012 --> 29:25.847 [Hernandez] It's secondhand information, right? 29:25.930 --> 29:28.224 This girl's told Ronnie. Ronnie's telling us. 29:28.308 --> 29:30.727 We need to find this girl. 29:31.311 --> 29:34.564 I had some addresses that were listed in the original reports 29:34.647 --> 29:36.816 of people who lived in the neighborhood. 29:36.900 --> 29:39.194 So I knocked on a few doors. 29:40.111 --> 29:42.655 I find out that she's living out of state. 29:43.865 --> 29:46.951 I come up with a phone number and we start talking. 29:47.035 --> 29:49.245 And she was very, uh, very cooperative, 29:49.329 --> 29:50.747 and willing to meet with us, 29:50.830 --> 29:51.831 which is huge. 29:56.461 --> 29:59.255 We fly out to her. 30:01.049 --> 30:03.802 [Fematt] Ralph actually went to Texas to go talk to her. 30:03.885 --> 30:06.804 That right there at that moment let me know, 30:06.888 --> 30:08.765 "This guy's gonna do whatever it takes." 30:08.848 --> 30:11.392 And I felt really good about this. 30:11.476 --> 30:17.148 I definitely felt that, after 33 years, I finally had somebody in my corner. 30:19.984 --> 30:23.738 [Hernandez] We had just flown in, and I get a phone call from the crime lab. 30:24.239 --> 30:25.615 The crime lab's telling me, 30:25.698 --> 30:29.911 "We got a hit in CODIS for your evidence for DNA from your scene." 30:31.788 --> 30:33.081 That was incredible. 30:33.915 --> 30:36.209 But it was a little confusing 30:36.709 --> 30:39.546 because it wasn't the person that we thought 30:40.046 --> 30:41.923 that we were being steered toward 30:42.006 --> 30:45.009 from the information we were going to get from our informant. 30:45.760 --> 30:47.971 It was a completely different person. 30:50.098 --> 30:52.934 [Ostrowski] Thanks to the criminalist, we now had a name. 30:53.434 --> 30:56.312 It came back as a match to a man named Robert Yniguez. 30:58.481 --> 31:00.775 Who was Robert Yniguez? Where'd he come from? 31:00.859 --> 31:04.612 What did he do? Where was he? Where was he 34 years ago? 31:05.655 --> 31:07.156 [siren wailing in distance] 31:09.617 --> 31:11.619 [inscrutable music playing] 31:12.662 --> 31:15.164 [Hernandez] Robert Yniguez was nowhere in the file. 31:15.248 --> 31:17.709 He was nobody who had been interviewed. 31:17.792 --> 31:20.211 He was no one whose name had even been mentioned. 31:20.295 --> 31:23.298 There were a ton of names in those original reports. 31:23.381 --> 31:24.841 His was not one of them. 31:25.425 --> 31:27.886 But it was very exciting. 31:27.969 --> 31:30.221 [suspenseful music pulsing] 31:30.305 --> 31:34.100 So we get back from our out-of-state trip and interview with the informant, 31:34.183 --> 31:36.936 which turned out to be a dead end. 31:37.020 --> 31:39.272 We quickly begin to conduct 31:39.355 --> 31:41.691 a background investigation on Robert Yniguez, 31:41.774 --> 31:45.403 and I also pulled crime reports from his previous arrests. 31:45.486 --> 31:49.824 And in 1981, Robert Yniguez was arrested for rape. 31:52.785 --> 31:57.248 The victim in that case had been a hitchhiker that he picked up, 31:57.332 --> 31:59.626 and he proceeded to rape her. 31:59.709 --> 32:01.628 That victim reports it. 32:02.211 --> 32:04.297 He gets arrested immediately after that rape. 32:05.048 --> 32:06.466 [Hernandez] He was charged in court. 32:06.549 --> 32:08.593 He was held to answer on preliminary hearing. 32:08.676 --> 32:10.803 The victim actually came to testify. 32:10.887 --> 32:13.097 And some time before the trial, 32:13.598 --> 32:16.267 it became difficult to find the victim, 32:16.351 --> 32:19.228 and the case was dismissed, and he was let go. 32:20.605 --> 32:22.899 Then fast-forward to 1982. 32:24.233 --> 32:26.569 He was arrested for another rape 32:26.653 --> 32:29.530 in which he was actually convicted, and he went to prison. 32:29.614 --> 32:34.494 And that conviction is what actually brought his DNA into the CODIS database. 32:35.370 --> 32:40.291 [Ostrowski] Because the CODIS hit is only an investigative tool and lead, 32:40.375 --> 32:44.170 we're ethically required to get what's called a "confirmatory sample." 32:45.213 --> 32:49.384 We needed to try to get a DNA sample from him in order to confirm 32:49.467 --> 32:52.971 and run it against the evidence found from the coroner's kit. 32:53.054 --> 32:56.516 So our next step had to be locating Mr. Yniguez. 32:58.434 --> 33:03.231 [Fematt] Detective Ralph Hernandez asked if I knew who this Robert Yniguez guy was. 33:04.232 --> 33:07.276 And I said no, but I was very hopeful. 33:08.069 --> 33:10.238 The DNA always catches the bad guy. 33:10.321 --> 33:12.281 And now there was DNA. 33:12.865 --> 33:15.159 Now they just had to find the guy. 33:15.243 --> 33:18.454 Sex offenders are required to register on their birthday. 33:18.538 --> 33:22.125 With Mr. Yniguez, his birthday was about four months away 33:22.208 --> 33:26.004 from when Detective Hernandez learned he was a potential suspect. 33:27.088 --> 33:30.591 So the easiest place to find Mr. Yniguez 33:30.675 --> 33:33.428 was going to be when he went to register. 33:42.228 --> 33:46.733 Yniguez is at Harbor Station getting ready to register as a sex offender. 33:48.109 --> 33:51.988 At that point, I want to find out more about him. 33:52.071 --> 33:53.948 We wanted to confirm where he lived, 33:54.032 --> 33:56.909 where he'd been, who his family was, who his friends were, 33:56.993 --> 34:00.079 because maybe there is some connection to Teresa. 34:00.705 --> 34:04.250 Also, I want to obtain a sample of his DNA. 34:05.084 --> 34:08.045 And so I told him who we were, where we were from, 34:08.129 --> 34:10.423 and he was willing to talk to us. 34:10.506 --> 34:13.634 -You went to prison in '80 or was it-- -I think it was '80. 34:14.343 --> 34:16.345 [Hernandez] Before prison, where were you living? 34:20.308 --> 34:21.142 Hmm. 34:22.935 --> 34:26.522 I believe I was living in Wilmington at my… 34:27.899 --> 34:30.526 my stepmom's house with my dad. 34:30.610 --> 34:33.613 I didn't know too many people from Wilmington. 34:33.696 --> 34:34.697 I mean… 34:34.781 --> 34:37.116 I would cruise around there, but… 34:37.200 --> 34:39.577 I didn't really know anybody over there. 34:39.660 --> 34:43.831 I actually didn't really have a big game plan. 34:43.915 --> 34:48.628 My first thought was just, "Be yourself. Talk to him, put him at ease." 34:48.711 --> 34:52.799 And it just kind of evolved from there. 34:53.382 --> 34:55.927 -Did you ever go partying at the beach? -No. 34:56.010 --> 34:58.513 -Never used to go out there? -No. 34:58.596 --> 35:02.225 And you've never been to Malaga Cove, Palos Verdes Estates? 35:03.518 --> 35:04.352 Mm-mm. 35:05.436 --> 35:09.899 Ralph's approach was to be very… 35:10.900 --> 35:12.610 non-confrontational. 35:12.693 --> 35:17.031 So he tries to get Yniguez to be comfortable, 35:17.532 --> 35:22.036 and then he tries to go through the information that he has 35:22.120 --> 35:27.166 and to see if he can lock him in to a certain story. 35:27.250 --> 35:29.585 Tell me about that case when you got arrested. 35:31.129 --> 35:32.547 Took her to Redondo. 35:33.381 --> 35:35.716 -And, you know, we had sex. -Mm-hmm. 35:35.800 --> 35:38.094 Yeah, she refused, but then… 35:38.594 --> 35:41.139 after that she gave in, and… 35:41.806 --> 35:43.891 -And they charged you with rape. -Yeah. 35:43.975 --> 35:46.102 [Hernandez] You got off because she didn't show up. 35:46.185 --> 35:47.395 -Mm-hmm. -Okay. 35:47.979 --> 35:49.856 Does Teresa ring a bell to you? 35:51.566 --> 35:54.360 -No. -No? Nothing at all? 35:54.944 --> 35:56.988 [Hernandez] I could see it in his chest. 35:57.572 --> 36:00.449 Kind of the heavy breathing people describe. 36:00.533 --> 36:02.702 They see people pounding their heart rate, 36:02.785 --> 36:04.996 or their heart's beating through their shirt. 36:05.580 --> 36:10.084 You could see the deep breaths, and he was obviously nervous. 36:11.252 --> 36:13.880 Let me show you some pictures. 36:13.963 --> 36:14.964 [Yniguez] Okay. 36:18.718 --> 36:21.888 Do you know that girl right there or remember her at all? 36:21.971 --> 36:23.139 -No. -No? 36:23.222 --> 36:24.223 Mm-mm. 36:24.724 --> 36:28.436 This lady was found dead on the beach. 36:28.519 --> 36:31.564 You sure she's nobody that looks familiar to you? 36:31.647 --> 36:33.357 Teresa Broudreaux. 36:34.025 --> 36:36.944 -No. -And this is 1980, March of 1980. 36:38.112 --> 36:39.113 No, not at all. 36:39.697 --> 36:44.160 The denials were so important because we had such powerful DNA evidence. 36:44.243 --> 36:46.037 If he came to us and said, 36:46.120 --> 36:49.290 "I… I dated Teresa behind her husband's back," 36:49.373 --> 36:51.292 "I had sex with her that night," 36:52.043 --> 36:54.128 it would have complicated our case. 36:54.212 --> 36:55.463 No. Mm-mm. 36:55.546 --> 36:56.797 -No? -Mm-mm. 36:56.881 --> 37:00.468 That's why the denial was so much more powerful. 37:01.177 --> 37:07.683 [Hernandez] Would there be any reason for your DNA to be at the scene? 37:11.771 --> 37:12.897 Not that… 37:12.980 --> 37:14.607 No, there shouldn't be. 37:14.690 --> 37:15.900 -Shouldn't be? -Yeah. 37:16.400 --> 37:17.401 We're here. 37:17.902 --> 37:19.320 We know you can help us. 37:20.112 --> 37:23.282 Because your DNA was at the scene. 37:24.283 --> 37:26.202 I don't know… I can't see how. 37:26.285 --> 37:28.371 I don't even know that girl. 37:28.829 --> 37:30.915 [Hernandez] If you want good rapport with your suspect, 37:30.998 --> 37:32.333 you gotta give 'em something. 37:32.416 --> 37:35.711 I had information for him, and he needed to know that information, 37:35.795 --> 37:39.799 and it might stimulate something for him to say something 37:39.882 --> 37:42.093 to help us get to the truth, right? 37:42.176 --> 37:44.887 Because what if he had a plausible explanation? 37:44.971 --> 37:46.931 What if he didn't do it, right? 37:47.014 --> 37:50.810 So, 100%, you're not gonna have any issues with your DNA there? 37:52.061 --> 37:53.646 -No. -And so then… 37:53.729 --> 37:57.149 you'd be willing to give us a sample of your oral swabs? 37:57.233 --> 37:58.234 Okay. 37:58.317 --> 37:59.986 And so I appreciate that. 38:01.946 --> 38:04.240 I came away from that interview with Yniguez 38:04.323 --> 38:06.659 firmly believing that we had our guy, 38:08.119 --> 38:11.122 but it was more important to build a case and to know for sure, 38:11.205 --> 38:14.208 "Okay, this is our guy," and then go out and arrest him. 38:15.710 --> 38:18.963 [Ostrowski] Getting a buccal swab of DNA from Mr. Yniguez 38:19.046 --> 38:22.800 allowed the sheriff's department to do confirmatory testing. 38:26.345 --> 38:28.014 He was in fact a match, 38:28.097 --> 38:30.808 and the match was proven through a statistic, 38:30.891 --> 38:34.895 which was one in 82.5 trillion, 38:34.979 --> 38:38.733 and there's only seven billion people on the planet. 38:38.816 --> 38:44.322 So to be one in 80-something trillion 38:44.405 --> 38:46.615 is quite a significant match. 38:49.952 --> 38:54.415 In this case, it's very clear that he's your killer. 38:54.915 --> 38:56.459 So now it's a question of, 38:56.542 --> 38:59.420 "What can you do to make the case even better?" 39:00.796 --> 39:04.050 [Hernandez] The rape case in 1981 was extremely important 39:04.133 --> 39:07.428 because Yniguez came upon a female 39:07.511 --> 39:12.141 who was in Wilmington at the bus stop and offered her a ride. 39:12.224 --> 39:15.770 We had the fact that Teresa was last seen in Wilmington, 39:15.853 --> 39:19.023 and there are potential similarities in the MO, 39:19.106 --> 39:21.901 and, luckily, I was able to locate and interview 39:21.984 --> 39:23.778 the victim from the 1981 rape. 39:25.696 --> 39:29.033 [woman] When I met the guy, I wasn't hitchhiking. I was just walking. 39:29.116 --> 39:32.328 He pulled up in his car and asked me if I wanted a ride, and I said yeah. 39:33.037 --> 39:34.372 The circumstances she's telling us 39:34.455 --> 39:38.084 is similar to what we believe happened to Teresa. 39:38.167 --> 39:42.797 [Lewin] How sure are you that this man forced you… raped you? 39:42.880 --> 39:44.131 100%. 39:44.632 --> 39:47.551 I stopped resisting because he started threatening to kill me. 39:48.803 --> 39:51.180 [dark, ominous music playing] 39:51.263 --> 39:53.766 [Hernandez] She was threatened. She gave in. 39:55.351 --> 39:57.186 Teresa was beaten and killed. 40:00.523 --> 40:02.441 I believe Teresa fought back, 40:02.942 --> 40:05.569 and Yniguez followed through with his threat. 40:06.404 --> 40:08.989 So that was extremely powerful, 40:09.073 --> 40:14.703 and just tied our case that much more together. 40:15.371 --> 40:16.372 [music trails off] 40:18.040 --> 40:21.085 [Lewin] Whenever I am looking at a cold case, 40:21.710 --> 40:26.340 I always want to sit down with the suspect if I can. 40:26.424 --> 40:28.342 [somber, inquisitive music playing] 40:28.426 --> 40:31.595 I want to myself evaluate them. 40:31.679 --> 40:34.390 I want to see how they respond to my questioning. 40:34.473 --> 40:38.185 I want to see if they're gonna end up making things worse. 40:38.269 --> 40:41.939 What are they going to admit to? Where are my issues gonna be? 40:42.022 --> 40:46.152 It's the only chance that I will ever have to have a conversation with them. 40:46.235 --> 40:49.822 Once the case is filed, I can't talk to them. 40:51.532 --> 40:56.579 Robert Yniguez told Ralph Hernandez that he had never met the victim, 40:56.662 --> 40:58.122 he never had sex with her, 40:58.205 --> 41:02.751 that he'd never been to Palos Verdes Estates, 41:02.835 --> 41:04.336 and Malaga Cove, and that beach. 41:04.420 --> 41:08.174 The more adamant he was gonna be in denying it, 41:08.257 --> 41:11.844 the better it was gonna be for the case going forward, 41:11.927 --> 41:14.763 because I could prove that that just wasn't true. 41:14.847 --> 41:19.393 John wanted to come with me to interview Robert Yniguez again. 41:20.311 --> 41:22.438 So we both went and talked to him. 41:26.775 --> 41:30.112 [Hernandez] Hi, I wanted to talk… I need to talk to Robert, please. 41:30.696 --> 41:32.323 -[woman] Who are you? -My name's Ralph. 41:32.406 --> 41:33.491 He knows who I am. 41:33.991 --> 41:34.992 And this is John. 41:35.659 --> 41:37.578 That second interview was not ideal. 41:37.661 --> 41:40.998 Part of it was his wife and his daughter were there. 41:41.081 --> 41:42.208 His family's there. 41:42.708 --> 41:43.709 [Yniguez] Come on in. 41:45.336 --> 41:46.670 [Hernandez] Thank you. 41:46.754 --> 41:48.839 [woman] You guys look like you're gonna arrest him. 41:48.923 --> 41:50.883 -[Hernandez] God, no. We're gonna… -Okay. 41:50.966 --> 41:54.887 No, we're gonna leave here. I just was hoping for ten minutes. 41:54.970 --> 41:57.806 And maybe just a little bit of privacy if that's okay with you. 41:57.890 --> 42:00.518 [woman] Why? He ain't got nothing to hide from me. 42:00.601 --> 42:02.811 -[Yniguez] I don't have nothing to hide. -Nothing. 42:02.895 --> 42:05.147 [woman] We tell each other everything. 42:05.231 --> 42:10.277 [Lewin] We wanted to give him the respect of being able to talk to him 42:10.361 --> 42:12.988 without other people here if that's what he wanted. 42:13.072 --> 42:15.574 -But if this is how-- -No, she can be here. 42:15.658 --> 42:21.372 It was highly unlikely that he would have told his wife, 42:22.248 --> 42:26.794 who was not with him at the time of the murder, 42:26.877 --> 42:30.506 "By the way, you realize I raped and murdered people 42:30.589 --> 42:32.216 prior to our relationship." 42:33.050 --> 42:35.469 So we wanted to do it in private, 42:35.553 --> 42:39.515 and no matter how much we suggested it, 42:39.598 --> 42:43.143 his position was, "No, we have no secrets," et cetera. 42:43.227 --> 42:45.271 So we had to do the interview in front of her. 42:45.354 --> 42:47.606 -[Lewin] Hear me out. -I had nothing to do with that case. 42:47.690 --> 42:49.066 Robert, just hear me out. 42:49.149 --> 42:53.779 He doesn't want to admit all of this in front of them, 42:53.862 --> 42:58.409 and when John began to press him in a bit more detail about the incident, 42:58.492 --> 43:00.119 he starts to deny. 43:00.202 --> 43:01.954 He became very defensive. 43:02.037 --> 43:04.873 And I'm gonna stay with that story. I do not know her. 43:04.957 --> 43:07.001 I've never seen her. I never met her. 43:07.084 --> 43:10.838 John did, in the interview, accuse Yniguez of committing the murder. 43:10.921 --> 43:13.799 -[Lewin] You said you never met this girl. -No! 43:13.882 --> 43:15.968 So what do you think of yours… 43:16.719 --> 43:19.054 What kind of DNA do you think we found? 43:22.891 --> 43:24.643 Probably my sperm. 43:25.144 --> 43:28.814 [Lewin] Yeah. So can you tell me how that could possibly be, Robert? 43:29.607 --> 43:32.901 It shouldn't be, because I don't even know her. 43:32.985 --> 43:34.612 I never met her. I never seen her. 43:34.695 --> 43:36.572 -[Lewin] Robert-- -I had nothing to do with that. 43:37.156 --> 43:41.618 [Lewin] We've got your semen on the pubic hair of this dead woman. 43:41.702 --> 43:46.290 This dead woman was picked up near the same place 43:46.373 --> 43:50.419 where, within a year of that time, you picked up Lori [bleep]. 43:52.212 --> 43:55.215 This woman had her head bashed. 43:55.716 --> 43:58.677 Pressing him just led to more denials, 43:59.303 --> 44:03.098 but John got him to admit he wouldn't believe his own denials. 44:03.182 --> 44:04.850 So it kind of came back full circle. 44:40.302 --> 44:44.890 [Lewin] He had a look on his face of resignation 44:45.474 --> 44:48.685 that he knew where it was going. 44:49.269 --> 44:52.731 I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna go back to prison for something I didn't do. 44:52.815 --> 44:54.441 [Lewin] Okay, so, listen. 44:54.525 --> 44:55.526 Your DNA-- 44:55.609 --> 44:59.363 I know what you're saying. My DNA is on her, but I don't know how. 44:59.446 --> 45:01.448 Are we done? This is starting to piss me off. 45:01.532 --> 45:03.992 [woman] Yeah, I'm gonna get a lawyer. We're gonna get a lawyer. 45:04.076 --> 45:06.537 -[Lewin] Wait. Listen. -Are we finished? 45:06.620 --> 45:09.248 -We're finished. We're done. -[Lewin] Robert-- No, listen to me. 45:09.331 --> 45:10.666 There's nothing more to say. 45:10.749 --> 45:13.335 [Lewin] If you tell me that you want us to leave, we'll leave. 45:13.419 --> 45:14.253 -[woman] Yeah. -Yeah. 45:14.336 --> 45:15.754 [Lewin] Ma'am, I'm talking to him. 45:15.838 --> 45:17.506 -I want you to leave. -[Lewin] Okay. 45:18.298 --> 45:20.259 All right. That's your option. 45:21.510 --> 45:23.971 [Hernandez] We were confident at that point that we had enough. 45:24.054 --> 45:27.099 We had the DNA. We had Yniguez's denials. 45:27.182 --> 45:30.185 We have some of his admissions. We got him. 45:35.399 --> 45:37.401 [intense, suspenseful music playing] 45:41.780 --> 45:44.575 [Hernandez] September of 2017, we finally make our move. 45:45.743 --> 45:49.663 We have a surveillance team follow Yniguez away from his home. 45:49.747 --> 45:51.081 [siren squawking] 45:51.165 --> 45:53.250 We get a black-and-white to make a stop. 45:54.168 --> 45:57.129 And they place him under arrest for murder. 45:58.130 --> 46:00.758 He didn't say much, but it didn't matter at that point. 46:00.841 --> 46:04.344 We had quite a bit of evidence and quite a bit of information to present. 46:06.972 --> 46:10.392 I still remember walking out and calling Ronnie. 46:12.102 --> 46:14.855 [Fematt] The phone rings. It says, "Detective Ralph." 46:15.772 --> 46:16.774 I go, "Oh, shit." 46:17.399 --> 46:18.609 "It's too early." 46:19.902 --> 46:23.197 I get nervous, and my… my feet start tapping. 46:23.906 --> 46:24.907 I answered. 46:26.325 --> 46:28.619 He goes, "Ronnie." I go, "Ralph, what's up?" 46:28.702 --> 46:31.747 He goes, "Are you sitting down?" And right then, my heart went boom. 46:31.830 --> 46:33.582 I tell him, "We got him." 46:34.291 --> 46:35.709 "We're charging him." 46:35.792 --> 46:37.795 [somber, emotional music playing] 46:39.254 --> 46:40.380 I just cried. 46:40.464 --> 46:43.467 I sat in my car and cried and cried, 45 minutes. 46:44.801 --> 46:47.012 [Hernandez] It was a very emotional phone call for us. 46:49.807 --> 46:52.226 [Broudreaux] I get a phone call saying, 46:52.309 --> 46:54.853 "In one hour, we're gonna do a press conference." 46:54.937 --> 46:57.773 "They found the person that killed your mother." 46:58.524 --> 47:01.151 And I just started crying. I couldn't believe it. 47:01.235 --> 47:03.445 They were like, "We need you in downtown LA now." 47:05.864 --> 47:07.366 I couldn't make it there. 47:08.575 --> 47:12.704 But my stepdad was there, of course. He was there for everything. 47:16.250 --> 47:18.752 [Hernandez] The press conference really was for Ronnie 47:19.294 --> 47:21.880 to be able to tell the story to the press 47:21.964 --> 47:24.091 and let them know what he had been through. 47:24.174 --> 47:25.175 Detective. 47:25.676 --> 47:26.885 Thank you. 47:28.428 --> 47:31.390 The day of the press conference, you can see me in the back. 47:31.473 --> 47:33.058 I'm sort of edgy. 47:33.141 --> 47:36.770 I was sweating, and I was starting to look like Rudy Giuliani up there. 47:37.479 --> 47:40.899 At this point, we wanted to introduce Ronnie Fematt, 47:41.400 --> 47:45.070 who was married at that time to Teresa Broudreaux. 47:45.988 --> 47:47.364 -Ronnie. -Thank you. 47:51.201 --> 47:52.202 Hello. 47:53.370 --> 47:56.832 It's been 37 years… longer than 37 years, 47:56.915 --> 47:59.877 and I've been waiting a long time for this day. 48:00.794 --> 48:04.214 I want to thank my family for always believing in me, 48:04.798 --> 48:07.676 always being by my side, and I want to thank these people here. 48:08.552 --> 48:11.221 'Cause without them, I wouldn't be here today. 48:11.888 --> 48:14.224 It's been a long time for what I've been through. 48:14.933 --> 48:18.812 And the noncertainty of not knowing why or how, you know? 48:19.771 --> 48:20.772 And, uh… 48:22.149 --> 48:23.817 I'm just glad this day came. 48:24.693 --> 48:25.903 Thank you very much. 48:26.486 --> 48:28.822 Now everybody knows it wasn't me. 48:29.573 --> 48:31.033 They took the burden off me. 48:32.618 --> 48:34.494 Now people knew the truth. 48:37.581 --> 48:42.044 It was important for me for Ronnie to have that. 48:45.589 --> 48:48.759 Once they told me it wasn't him, this other guy did it, 48:48.842 --> 48:50.218 I was like, "Oh, my goodness." 48:53.096 --> 48:56.058 We did try to build a relationship. 48:57.142 --> 48:57.976 But… 48:59.061 --> 49:01.146 Yeah, things don't always work out. 49:02.439 --> 49:04.441 [somber, pensive music playing] 49:06.526 --> 49:08.779 [tense music pulsing] 49:10.238 --> 49:12.658 [Ostrowski] On October 2nd, 2017, 49:12.741 --> 49:16.495 I filed the complaint against Robert Yniguez. 49:16.995 --> 49:21.667 The first count was murder, and the second count was rape. 49:22.876 --> 49:26.505 Based on the circumstances, the law, and evidence at the time, 49:26.588 --> 49:30.133 we weren't able to file a charge for the baby. 49:32.552 --> 49:36.431 Before we could pick a jury and try the case, 49:36.515 --> 49:38.975 the defendant, through his attorney, 49:39.059 --> 49:41.770 indicated that he wanted to enter a plea agreement. 49:41.853 --> 49:45.148 He was willing to plead to second-degree murder, 49:45.232 --> 49:48.235 which carries a sentence of 15 to life, 49:48.318 --> 49:51.446 and admit that he had in fact killed Teresa. 49:53.031 --> 49:57.786 [Lewin] My feeling is that he probably did not want his wife 49:57.869 --> 50:03.000 and his stepdaughter to hear all of the details of the crime. 50:03.083 --> 50:08.547 So, if you're in his position, and you're gonna get convicted either way, 50:09.047 --> 50:11.633 then you maybe choose an option 50:11.717 --> 50:17.472 where you can maintain your innocence in your private conversations with them. 50:20.726 --> 50:23.270 Yniguez was sentenced in October of 2019. 50:24.604 --> 50:27.024 [Fematt] You're talking 37-and-a-half years, 50:27.899 --> 50:29.985 40 to the day he got convicted. 50:30.902 --> 50:34.156 And I live with torment every day. 50:37.325 --> 50:39.828 [Ostrowski] Had the defendant been convicted at trial, 50:39.911 --> 50:44.374 there would have been a mandatory sentence of life without parole as the minimum. 50:44.875 --> 50:49.296 With a plea and pleading to 15 to life, 50:49.379 --> 50:51.298 he will be eligible for parole. 50:52.007 --> 50:55.135 But because you never know what's gonna happen with a jury, 50:55.218 --> 50:56.470 it's a risk. 50:59.056 --> 51:01.933 [Fematt] I figure at his age, 15 to life… 51:03.018 --> 51:04.311 he ain't getting out. 51:04.394 --> 51:05.896 Now I get to sleep at night 51:05.979 --> 51:08.648 knowing he's not gonna be around to hurt anybody else. 51:09.149 --> 51:12.736 I was very relieved when it was all over with. 51:12.819 --> 51:14.738 It was very overwhelming for me. 51:14.821 --> 51:17.407 Now I can, um, start healing. 51:18.700 --> 51:20.452 [tide rolling in] 51:27.000 --> 51:31.004 [Fematt] I made arrangements to have a flower shop close by Malaga Cove 51:31.087 --> 51:33.590 to make her a real nice wreath in a cross. 51:33.673 --> 51:35.675 [gentle, mournful music playing] 51:36.843 --> 51:39.679 I picked it up. Everybody, we caravaned all the way over there. 51:41.431 --> 51:43.934 [Hernandez] We're with the family. They're putting up this wreath, 51:44.017 --> 51:45.894 and on the banner, it says, "It's over." 51:48.313 --> 51:49.731 It was a weird feeling to be there. 51:50.982 --> 51:55.529 I'd been there a couple of times, but now we had Yniguez convicted. 51:55.612 --> 51:57.030 We had answers. 51:57.114 --> 51:59.116 [somber, sweeping music playing] 52:02.160 --> 52:05.372 Ralph Hernandez, he did me right. 52:05.455 --> 52:06.540 He did me justice. 52:06.623 --> 52:10.377 He gave me everything I needed to put this behind me. 52:11.002 --> 52:13.255 I can't thank him enough for the hard work he did. 52:15.048 --> 52:18.885 He's a Chicano done good. I go, "That's you, Ralph." 52:18.969 --> 52:20.554 "You should be proud of yourself." 52:23.014 --> 52:24.266 [Hernandez] I'm very proud. 52:24.975 --> 52:28.186 It felt great to be able to get answers for the family. 52:29.062 --> 52:31.565 It was, um, very satisfying, 52:31.648 --> 52:33.483 'cause you realize the fruit of your hard labor, 52:33.567 --> 52:35.360 all those hours, all those years… 52:36.987 --> 52:38.530 You made a difference. 52:45.495 --> 52:46.580 [music trailing off] 52:46.663 --> 52:47.497 [engine revving] 52:50.167 --> 52:52.169 [cryptic music playing] 52:53.295 --> 52:56.006 [Hernandez] All missing person cases come through Homicide. 52:56.840 --> 52:59.426 If you're missing, the big question is… 53:00.218 --> 53:01.219 "Why?" 53:01.303 --> 53:04.931 [reporter] Father of three, the 6'6"-tall Smith has disappeared. 53:06.057 --> 53:08.602 [Hernandez] Gavin Smith was a Fox executive. 53:08.685 --> 53:09.978 He was larger-than-life. 53:10.937 --> 53:13.773 It was highly irregular that somebody like him 53:13.857 --> 53:15.942 would just vanish into thin air. 53:16.526 --> 53:19.654 -There's some weird stuff going on here. -[woman] He was in turmoil. 53:19.738 --> 53:22.616 Gavin had a pretty torrid affair. 53:22.699 --> 53:26.411 It's a mystery, but somebody out there knows something. 53:30.332 --> 53:32.334 [dramatic outro music pulsing] t there knows something.