WEBVTT 00:07.632 --> 00:09.634 [helicopter blades whirring faintly] 00:21.730 --> 00:23.732 [mysterious music playing] 00:24.482 --> 00:26.484 [ambient traffic sounds] 00:26.568 --> 00:29.362 [car accelerating] 00:43.626 --> 00:48.840 The first I heard that Gavin could be missing was on a Wednesday. 00:49.758 --> 00:52.427 His wife, Lisa, had called me 00:52.927 --> 00:56.556 and asked if I had heard from my brother Gavin, 00:56.639 --> 00:57.932 and I said, "No." 00:58.016 --> 00:59.434 And I said, "Why?" 00:59.517 --> 01:04.147 And she explained that he didn't pick up one of the boys from school. 01:04.856 --> 01:07.400 [reporter 1] Smith is well known around the Calabasas community, 01:07.484 --> 01:10.862 big on golf and the beach, his persona bigger than life. 01:10.945 --> 01:13.156 He was last seen Tuesday night leaving a friend's 01:13.239 --> 01:15.950 in the Oak Park neighborhood near Agoura Hills. 01:16.034 --> 01:17.410 [cryptic music playing] 01:17.494 --> 01:22.290 Gavin Smith was a Fox executive, and he was larger than life. 01:23.333 --> 01:27.629 What we need to do is figure out, "Is there reason why this person is gone?" 01:27.712 --> 01:29.923 I mean, it's a mystery. 01:31.299 --> 01:34.177 I was trying to reach out to him. 01:34.260 --> 01:37.097 I would leave messages just asking him 01:37.180 --> 01:40.183 to please call, text, say everything's okay. 01:40.266 --> 01:42.477 [reporter 2] The 20th Century Fox executive disappeared 01:42.560 --> 01:45.104 after driving off in his black Mercedes. 01:46.981 --> 01:48.691 Nobody had heard from him. 01:49.943 --> 01:51.945 No phone calls, no texts, nothing. 01:52.529 --> 01:56.032 [Labbe] This is a suspicious circumstances missing adult. 01:56.116 --> 01:58.409 You have to look at all the possibilities. 01:59.244 --> 02:02.413 [woman 1] Never ever would I have ever been able to dream 02:02.497 --> 02:05.458 that something like this could ever happen. 02:08.086 --> 02:09.838 [suspenseful music playing] 02:09.921 --> 02:12.590 [Tomlin] The LA County Sheriff's Department 02:12.674 --> 02:14.509 is the best of the best. 02:18.555 --> 02:21.724 [Jackson] Some of the highest-profile cases are tried in Los Angeles. 02:24.602 --> 02:27.772 [woman 2] You have to be dedicated 110%. 02:30.608 --> 02:33.528 [Lillienfeld] This is murder. There's no more serious crime. 02:35.613 --> 02:40.535 [man] It boils down to a passion and a sense of duty. 02:42.871 --> 02:45.165 Justice comes from finding the truth. 02:45.957 --> 02:47.959 [suspenseful music trailing off] 02:50.378 --> 02:52.380 [tense, quizzical music playing] 02:57.844 --> 03:02.015 [Labbe] In May of 2012, I had just left a special assignment 03:02.098 --> 03:04.184 from a task force that I was on, 03:04.267 --> 03:07.520 and I was reassigned back to the floor. 03:09.314 --> 03:12.609 In this particular case of Gavin Smith, 03:12.692 --> 03:14.861 he had been missing for about a week, 03:15.445 --> 03:18.948 and it had started out with the Missing Persons Unit. 03:20.033 --> 03:22.327 When it was looked at a little bit closer, 03:22.410 --> 03:25.997 the investigators brought it to our supervisor's attention. 03:26.080 --> 03:27.665 And that's when I got the call 03:27.749 --> 03:31.336 to look at it as a "suspicious circumstances" missing person case. 03:31.419 --> 03:33.296 [tense, cryptic music playing] 03:36.215 --> 03:39.510 [Hernandez] All missing person cases come through the Missing Persons unit. 03:40.929 --> 03:42.764 When you have a case like that, 03:42.847 --> 03:45.808 you're always hoping that you find the person alive. 03:46.601 --> 03:49.312 You're an adult, you can go anywhere you want to go, 03:49.395 --> 03:52.232 and you're not really required to report in to anyone 03:52.315 --> 03:54.651 unless you're on parole or probation, right? 03:54.734 --> 03:59.322 If you're missing, the big question is, "Why? Why is this person missing?" 03:59.948 --> 04:03.910 And what pushes one over to a homicide team 04:03.993 --> 04:05.787 is the suspicion of foul play. 04:05.870 --> 04:07.872 [suspenseful music pulsing] 04:10.833 --> 04:14.045 We truly need assistance from the public 04:14.128 --> 04:17.715 in verifiable information leading to the whereabouts 04:17.799 --> 04:20.843 of their father, my husband, Gavin Smith. 04:21.511 --> 04:25.014 My partner John O'Brien and I, we got the case. 04:25.098 --> 04:28.810 We brief with the missing persons detective on the case, 04:28.893 --> 04:32.230 and then we drove out and met Gavin Smith's wife. 04:33.398 --> 04:39.153 We met her in a private gated community of San Fernando Valley. 04:39.821 --> 04:42.657 [Lillienfeld] The San Fernando Valley is at least 200 square miles, 04:42.740 --> 04:45.994 which is a northern part of the city of Los Angeles. 04:46.077 --> 04:49.664 The west San Fernando Valley is primarily residential, 04:49.747 --> 04:54.502 upper-middle-class, bedroom communities that America's familiar with 04:54.585 --> 04:57.463 only because the goddamn Kardashians live in Calabasas. 04:59.424 --> 05:03.136 [Labbe] When we talked to Lisa that first time, she was obviously upset, 05:03.219 --> 05:04.804 as anyone would be. 05:04.887 --> 05:06.597 We tried to set her at ease, 05:06.681 --> 05:10.560 let her know that we're there to help her and to find her husband. 05:10.643 --> 05:13.146 They were a family in crisis. Her son was there. 05:13.229 --> 05:16.357 Gavin's sister, Tara, was there. 05:16.441 --> 05:19.902 But all extremely helpful, gave us oodles of information. 05:21.654 --> 05:24.449 We learned that he was a phenomenal athlete. 05:25.033 --> 05:27.035 Basketball became his life. 05:27.118 --> 05:30.455 He was an All-American and he played for UCLA. 05:31.706 --> 05:34.751 He was pretty much larger than life, 05:35.251 --> 05:37.337 but it wasn't just his height. 05:37.420 --> 05:40.882 He was an incredibly handsome man. 05:41.507 --> 05:45.261 He had a smile that just went on for days. 05:46.512 --> 05:48.389 We were living in San Pedro. 05:48.473 --> 05:51.976 We lived about five, ten minutes from Ports O' Call restaurant. 05:52.060 --> 05:56.356 That's where Gavin was working at the time, and Lisa came on in. 05:56.439 --> 05:58.066 She saddled up to the bar. 05:58.149 --> 05:59.734 Gavin was the bartender. 05:59.817 --> 06:01.235 And they hit it off, 06:01.736 --> 06:03.780 and, uh, it was wonderful. 06:03.863 --> 06:07.408 They had their first son within the first couple years. 06:07.492 --> 06:08.910 They were very much in love. 06:10.078 --> 06:12.163 He was in a couple movies. 06:12.246 --> 06:14.457 He was in the movie Glitz. 06:16.209 --> 06:17.710 Give me a reason! 06:17.794 --> 06:22.256 He was also doing some stunt work and he broke his back. 06:22.340 --> 06:25.218 Um, really quite devastating. 06:25.301 --> 06:27.428 But that was a real turning point for him, 06:27.512 --> 06:29.597 because he was laid up for a long time. 06:31.599 --> 06:35.103 I think that he realized, well, it just wasn't gonna be for him. 06:35.186 --> 06:39.857 And so he ended up getting a job at 20th Century Fox. 06:40.650 --> 06:45.947 He was in charge of film distribution for the west coast. 06:46.030 --> 06:49.367 He just loved being in the movie industry. 06:49.450 --> 06:51.994 [restrained, thoughtful music playing] 06:52.078 --> 06:55.289 [Labbe] Lisa had told us that Gavin didn't show up for work 06:55.373 --> 06:56.833 and didn't talk to anybody. 06:57.333 --> 06:59.794 So it was just very unusual. 06:59.877 --> 07:04.132 And then also he had not picked up his son from school, 07:04.215 --> 07:05.633 and that was a big red flag, 07:05.716 --> 07:09.053 because in all her years of knowing him, he's never disappeared. 07:10.388 --> 07:11.973 [Addeo] It was highly irregular 07:12.056 --> 07:15.726 that somebody like him would just not show up for work, 07:15.810 --> 07:20.148 or not show up to get their child, or just vanish into thin air. 07:21.732 --> 07:25.820 Lisa told us of an extramarital affair that was occurring, 07:26.529 --> 07:28.531 and he was estranged 07:28.614 --> 07:31.284 and living outside of the house at the moment. 07:31.367 --> 07:33.411 He's cheated on her before. She caught him. 07:33.494 --> 07:35.746 A promise was made that that would stop. 07:36.247 --> 07:40.751 Lisa caught him again cheating now, a year later, with a woman named Melanie. 07:41.419 --> 07:44.630 And when she found out about that, she kicked him out. 07:45.882 --> 07:49.802 And then he leaned on a coworker, and he was staying in her spare bedroom, 07:49.886 --> 07:53.389 and she said that she saw him alive 07:53.472 --> 07:55.850 at about 10:00 p.m. on May 1st. 07:57.310 --> 08:00.563 He was drying some laundry and he… 08:00.646 --> 08:02.106 he… he left. 08:02.190 --> 08:03.774 [low, dramatic music playing] 08:03.858 --> 08:08.488 [Addeo] The night before Gavin went missing, I spoke with him. 08:08.988 --> 08:13.826 And I could just sense that he was very distraught at the time, 08:13.910 --> 08:18.706 and he was in turmoil about the decisions that he had made. 08:18.789 --> 08:22.043 He had talked to me about his relationship with Melanie. 08:22.543 --> 08:25.463 From what I understood, he had broke that off earlier, 08:25.546 --> 08:32.220 and he just knew that he had to somehow get back to the family, 08:32.303 --> 08:35.431 and go back into the relationship, 08:35.515 --> 08:37.016 and be the father. 08:37.099 --> 08:39.185 That's all he really wanted to do. 08:40.770 --> 08:41.896 [sniffles] 08:41.979 --> 08:42.855 Sorry. 08:47.944 --> 08:49.737 I just remember him… 08:50.863 --> 08:53.282 just loving his boys so much. 08:54.909 --> 08:57.203 And loving our daughters so much, 08:57.286 --> 08:59.330 like they were his own. 09:00.623 --> 09:04.293 It's one of the things that I know. 09:04.835 --> 09:07.463 As a father, he could not have done better. 09:11.676 --> 09:13.678 [Labbe] There's some weird stuff here. 09:13.761 --> 09:17.598 Did he run off with one of these women or someone? 09:17.682 --> 09:19.934 Did he just go to cool his jets? 09:20.017 --> 09:22.562 Uh, did he commit suicide? 09:22.645 --> 09:26.023 Lisa's pissed off. You know, she's cheated on twice. 09:26.566 --> 09:28.109 Did she set it up? 09:28.192 --> 09:32.029 "Screw this bastard. I'm gonna hire someone to abduct him." 09:32.113 --> 09:33.864 Or, you know, "I poisoned him." 09:33.948 --> 09:35.199 It could be anything. 09:35.783 --> 09:39.036 There was just a lot of follow-up we needed to flesh out 09:39.120 --> 09:40.871 to rule anyone out at that time. 09:43.124 --> 09:45.751 We're following up on leads 09:45.835 --> 09:48.462 and all the information that we've gathered 09:48.546 --> 09:52.800 about people he's come in contact with and that he's known in the past. 09:55.261 --> 09:58.222 [Labbe] When we talked to Lisa that first time, she told us, 09:58.306 --> 10:01.392 "My husband's having an affair with this Melanie gal, 10:01.475 --> 10:03.769 and, you know, you might want to talk to her." 10:05.104 --> 10:06.105 So we did. 10:06.188 --> 10:08.190 [erratic, suspenseful music playing] 10:09.233 --> 10:13.988 She comes down wearing this white, sequined pajama outfit 10:14.071 --> 10:16.449 that's almost 100% see-through, 10:16.532 --> 10:23.122 and we're sitting across from this woman that is very sexy and seductive, in a way. 10:23.205 --> 10:26.917 And you're trying to be a professional and ask all these questions, 10:27.001 --> 10:31.088 and you're like, "This is just another moment in the life of a cop." 10:31.172 --> 10:35.384 You look at your partner and go, "Fuck, man. Don't touch me right now." 10:35.468 --> 10:39.513 "I need to get home and see my wife. This is… This is fucking crazy." 10:39.597 --> 10:42.767 [dark, cryptic music playing] 10:45.519 --> 10:47.855 [man] Melanie was very forthcoming with them. 10:47.938 --> 10:50.900 She indicated, "Yes, we had been having an affair." 10:50.983 --> 10:55.029 That Gavin was kind of in an emotional state, 10:55.112 --> 11:01.160 uh, but that she didn't want to further cause problems in his marriage. 11:01.744 --> 11:04.997 She'd told him, "I'm done. I don't want to deal with this drama." 11:06.457 --> 11:11.754 After talking to Melanie the first time, I didn't feel she was hiding anything, 11:11.837 --> 11:14.548 but we couldn't rule her out as being involved. 11:14.632 --> 11:17.093 There was too many other things that needed to be done. 11:19.303 --> 11:22.056 [reporter] They plastered Gavin Smith's picture and car. 11:23.766 --> 11:26.018 Wife Lisa and son Austin leading volunteers, 11:26.102 --> 11:27.561 combing this area of Sylmar. 11:27.645 --> 11:29.480 He's got a family waiting for him, 11:29.563 --> 11:31.565 and that we love him with all our heart. 11:31.649 --> 11:32.983 It's difficult, but… 11:33.734 --> 11:36.570 I just like to think about all the good times we had, 11:36.654 --> 11:39.448 and if we find him, many more that I might have. 11:40.741 --> 11:43.160 Lisa was, you know, trying the best she could 11:43.244 --> 11:44.412 to gather information. 11:45.371 --> 11:48.999 I knew that they could use support, 11:49.083 --> 11:52.837 and I would go down there and continued to go down there 11:52.920 --> 11:56.674 to do searches or talk to people. 11:56.757 --> 12:00.302 I did everything possible to try and find out where he was. 12:00.386 --> 12:01.637 He disappeared. 12:01.721 --> 12:04.682 He didn't actually have the longboard. 12:04.765 --> 12:08.060 [reporter] Lisa Smith is certain someone knows something. 12:08.561 --> 12:10.563 [low, mysterious music playing] 12:13.983 --> 12:16.902 Gavin Smith's phone was a big piece of the puzzle, 12:16.986 --> 12:19.613 because now you can start painting a picture. 12:19.697 --> 12:21.490 When did his phone go off-grid 12:21.574 --> 12:24.785 and what were the hours when he was last seen 12:24.869 --> 12:27.163 leading up to him being missing? 12:28.873 --> 12:32.960 Some of the phone stuff had been already done by Missing Persons. 12:33.043 --> 12:37.548 We just went back and did a more comprehensive search warrant on that. 12:37.631 --> 12:40.885 We looked at Gavin Smith's phone data and identified, 12:40.968 --> 12:45.139 "Okay, well, on the night that his phone went off-grid, 12:45.222 --> 12:48.809 he called Lisa, the three boys, Tara, 12:48.893 --> 12:51.687 and a woman named Chandrika Creech." 12:53.147 --> 12:58.360 We knew she was the last person to talk to him based on phone records. 12:58.444 --> 13:01.989 What we needed to now find out was, "All right, who is this chick?" 13:08.162 --> 13:13.793 Lisa Smith had told us that Gavin, uh, met Chandrika 13:13.876 --> 13:18.422 at a substance abuse facility called the Matrix. 13:24.929 --> 13:29.433 With all the excruciating pain that Gavin was in from breaking his back, 13:29.517 --> 13:34.563 sadly, the only thing that gave him comfort at that point was opiates. 13:35.231 --> 13:39.276 And that's where he ended up succumbing to an addiction, 13:40.069 --> 13:44.824 until he started telling me that he was in, um, you know, rehab. 13:47.243 --> 13:48.327 [Labbe] When he was there, 13:48.410 --> 13:53.290 Chandrika walked in there to try to sort out her life and her addictions. 13:54.834 --> 14:00.381 [Grace] Initially, Chandrika was somebody who was part of Gavin's counseling group, 14:00.464 --> 14:03.843 but their relationship turned into something more, 14:03.926 --> 14:08.722 and Gavin had a pretty torrid affair with Chandrika. 14:09.848 --> 14:13.727 Lisa confronted Gavin about it, and he confessed. 14:14.687 --> 14:18.774 [Grace] The relationship with Chandrika lasted for about a year, 14:18.858 --> 14:21.443 and her husband, John Creech, knew about it. 14:21.527 --> 14:25.322 And then, as a result of Lisa's involvement, 14:25.406 --> 14:29.410 Lisa felt that that relationship had ended. 14:36.458 --> 14:40.254 [Labbe] Got a missing person, and he had an affair with Chandrika. 14:40.337 --> 14:42.590 That right there throws her on the radar. 14:44.008 --> 14:48.387 So we went to interview her, and we caught her at her house. 14:51.307 --> 14:53.434 When we interviewed Chandrika, 14:54.435 --> 14:56.896 she was an emotional wreck. 14:57.479 --> 15:02.484 She was scared, apprehensive, evasive. 15:03.444 --> 15:05.195 She was all over the map. 15:05.821 --> 15:07.239 She said she talked to him. 15:08.032 --> 15:09.950 She didn't know where he went, 15:10.034 --> 15:12.286 but you could tell that she cared about Gavin. 15:13.537 --> 15:16.415 [Grace] She's adamant she doesn't know what happened to Gavin Smith 15:16.498 --> 15:20.127 after their contact on May 1st, 2012. 15:22.463 --> 15:26.550 While we were interviewing her, a black sports car pulled into the cul-de-sac, 15:27.051 --> 15:29.595 and paused briefly, backed up, and then left. 15:30.220 --> 15:32.931 And talking to Chandrika in that conversation, 15:33.015 --> 15:36.143 she admitted that that was her husband, John. 15:37.603 --> 15:41.273 [Grace] Obviously, he's somebody that the detectives want to talk to, 15:41.357 --> 15:45.486 but they can't because he took off, and they're immediately suspicious. 15:46.654 --> 15:49.281 Later, we found out he's an ex-con. 15:49.365 --> 15:54.244 You know, he's out right now on a release system with Glendale PD. 15:54.328 --> 15:57.748 He was involved in some narcotics transactions and stuff. 15:58.582 --> 16:02.169 So, yeah, immediately we know we want to find out where he's at. 16:02.252 --> 16:04.463 You know, as a cop, I look at an ex-con, 16:04.546 --> 16:07.716 I look at a guy who has narcotics background… 16:07.800 --> 16:11.261 You know, he's pissed that his wife had an affair with this guy. 16:11.345 --> 16:14.515 Say what you will, you know. A duck's a duck. 16:14.598 --> 16:17.518 I see a duck, looks like a duck, walks, talks like a duck, 16:17.601 --> 16:19.478 you know, it might be a fucking duck. 16:19.561 --> 16:22.022 We looked at him pretty hard right away. 16:25.275 --> 16:27.277 [mysterious music playing] 16:30.489 --> 16:33.909 [Labbe] We were looking at John Creech's call detail record. 16:34.576 --> 16:36.370 What we needed to now find out was 16:36.453 --> 16:42.918 how did John Creech's phone overlay into Gavin Smith's movement and call frequency 16:43.002 --> 16:44.795 on the night that he went missing? 16:45.838 --> 16:51.176 I had a very strong background in, uh, phone analytics and mapping, 16:51.927 --> 16:54.555 and we were seeing bizarre patterns. 16:54.638 --> 16:56.640 [harsh, foreboding music playing] 16:58.058 --> 17:02.604 [Grace] The police were able to determine that the night of May 1st, 2012, 17:03.105 --> 17:06.692 Gavin and Chandrika were in physical contact with one another. 17:06.775 --> 17:11.864 And in fact Gavin Smith and Chandrika's phones start to ping 17:11.947 --> 17:17.536 in an area of the Hidden Hills not far from the Creech residence 17:17.619 --> 17:21.331 in an area that's viewed as kind of a "lover's lane." 17:22.124 --> 17:25.377 Where did John Creech's phone travel to? Well, it traveled to… 17:25.461 --> 17:29.673 Holy shit! It's pinging to the area where Chandrika was. 17:30.174 --> 17:35.137 And in mapping the cell towers, we put all three phones right there. 17:35.220 --> 17:39.683 At that time, we pretty much knew that something bad had happened. 17:40.267 --> 17:44.313 Even though this case started out as a missing persons case, 17:44.396 --> 17:46.523 we knew what we had at that point. 17:47.316 --> 17:48.692 This is a murder. 17:48.776 --> 17:50.778 [cryptic music playing] 17:56.658 --> 18:00.079 [Labbe] We had no idea where John Creech was at the time, 18:00.162 --> 18:02.915 but my partner and I had enough evidence at that time 18:02.998 --> 18:07.753 to support getting a search warrant to search John and Chandrika's home. 18:08.420 --> 18:12.674 Chandrika was home. Her elderly grandmother was there. 18:12.758 --> 18:17.846 The caretaker to Chandy's grandmother was there, Reina Lim. 18:17.930 --> 18:20.265 [reporter] Neighbors say a nice family lives inside, 18:20.349 --> 18:23.811 but they also say the high shrubs and multiple surveillance cameras 18:23.894 --> 18:26.230 and warning signs to stay off property 18:26.313 --> 18:29.149 are among the many signs that have raised suspicion. 18:29.233 --> 18:30.234 "Abnormal behavior"? 18:30.317 --> 18:34.655 Like, there's certain cars that come and they stay parked outside for a while. 18:35.239 --> 18:39.368 We didn't find a lot of physical evidence to maybe help us in the case, 18:39.868 --> 18:42.746 but we were able to document a lot of things 18:42.830 --> 18:46.125 which to an investigator's mindset are meaningful. 18:46.208 --> 18:49.753 For instance, it's a cul-de-sac. There's five homes on the block. 18:49.837 --> 18:53.048 And for all intents and purposes, this house is the Bellagio. 18:53.549 --> 18:55.801 It's got an elaborate camera system. 18:55.884 --> 19:00.681 It's got $8,000 bronze statues of Buddha in the koi pond in the front yard. 19:00.764 --> 19:01.765 He's got a moat. 19:01.849 --> 19:05.227 A custom, probably at the time about $200,000 pool. 19:06.520 --> 19:07.604 The other houses? 19:07.688 --> 19:11.400 Yeah, it's West Hills. It's a nice area, but not that nice. 19:11.984 --> 19:16.321 We learn Chandrika didn't know how her husband paid for any of it, 19:16.405 --> 19:19.408 and she can't answer what he does for a living, 19:19.491 --> 19:22.452 how he makes his income, if he paid taxes… 19:22.536 --> 19:26.081 I mean, come on, are we stupid? Are we felony fucking stupid? 19:28.167 --> 19:30.210 She's not telling the truth, right? 19:31.086 --> 19:34.214 During the search warrant, she was petrified. 19:34.298 --> 19:36.300 She just didn't know what to do. 19:36.383 --> 19:38.385 I didn't know if she was involved. 19:38.468 --> 19:41.179 I knew she knew, and she wasn't giving it up. 19:41.263 --> 19:44.308 Also, she told us John was in Chicago. 19:44.391 --> 19:48.437 She had no explanation as to why he just uprooted and went to Chicago. 19:48.520 --> 19:50.272 You know? What's up with that? 19:50.355 --> 19:52.441 So, we didn't get the smoking gun, 19:52.524 --> 19:55.694 we didn't get his hands with cuts and bruises on 'em, 19:55.777 --> 19:57.613 but we got a lot of intel. 19:57.696 --> 19:59.364 We knew we were on the right path. 20:01.909 --> 20:05.495 We are still seeking the public's assistance. 20:05.579 --> 20:10.584 Uh, any information that we can glean from the public, we welcome. 20:11.293 --> 20:13.295 [phone ringing] 20:13.378 --> 20:16.465 [Labbe] We got a tip that Gavin Smith was seen 20:16.548 --> 20:19.801 at a bistro or coffeehouse in Morro Bay. 20:24.389 --> 20:26.725 [Addeo] Somebody had seen him in Morro Bay. 20:27.309 --> 20:31.271 He had gone to school to UCLA and he knew Gavin. 20:31.355 --> 20:34.900 And then the waitress verified that that was Gavin. 20:34.983 --> 20:39.404 And I'm… "Oh, my God. Yes. Okay. He just went off the grid." 20:40.072 --> 20:41.740 And then I drove there. 20:42.866 --> 20:45.410 You know, I think you just click into gear, 20:45.494 --> 20:47.621 and I was just in overdrive. 20:47.704 --> 20:50.874 We have to be in command and control of our investigation, 20:50.958 --> 20:54.670 at the same time, knowing it can spin out of fucking control at any minute. 20:54.753 --> 20:58.757 And it might be little, it might be big, but it's gonna spin out of control, 20:58.840 --> 21:00.342 and it's how you contain that. 21:00.425 --> 21:02.552 Now, you're the lead detective. 21:02.636 --> 21:06.807 You've got Tara and… and whoever, Code Three out there, 21:06.890 --> 21:09.393 going up to Morro Bay to knock on doors and do their thing. 21:10.644 --> 21:13.981 We had 60 to 100 sightings that came in, 21:14.481 --> 21:16.483 and we knew that this was a homicide, 21:16.566 --> 21:18.902 but I can't prove it. 21:18.986 --> 21:20.696 So I gotta follow up on it. 21:21.196 --> 21:22.781 So what do I have to do? 21:22.864 --> 21:24.700 I have to send two detectives to Morro Bay 21:24.783 --> 21:26.576 to follow up on this lead 21:26.660 --> 21:31.248 that he's up there at a hotel having, I don't know, French onion soup. 21:32.249 --> 21:36.795 As harsh as Ty can be, and very blunt, 21:36.878 --> 21:39.214 and to some people maybe even abrasive, 21:39.298 --> 21:41.425 he's able to… to show that, 21:41.508 --> 21:46.346 "Hey, I might be talking this way, but I am here, and I care." 21:46.430 --> 21:49.933 I call him the Ragin' Cajun, 'cause he has that personality. 21:50.017 --> 21:51.685 He's very loud, very boisterous. 21:52.436 --> 21:55.605 But as far as a detective, I know he had that passion, 21:55.689 --> 21:59.985 and he had that care about his cases, and he cared about all of us too. 22:00.068 --> 22:02.904 I was raised… "If you don't like something, say it," 22:02.988 --> 22:04.948 and I didn't care who I offended. 22:08.035 --> 22:11.288 [low, foreboding music playing] 22:13.331 --> 22:17.169 The lead from Morro Bay, it seemed so credible. 22:18.045 --> 22:20.422 The waitress came out, and she said, 22:20.505 --> 22:21.923 "Well, maybe it wasn't him." 22:22.424 --> 22:27.679 "The newsperson made it seem like it was more him than what it was." 22:28.555 --> 22:31.058 I don't even know how that all happened. 22:31.141 --> 22:34.061 But that was, uh… that was really disappointing. 22:34.144 --> 22:39.316 She… She believed that something very bad happened to Gavin, 22:39.399 --> 22:43.612 but you don't have definitive proof yet, so you're hoping they're alive, 22:43.695 --> 22:48.367 but you know the worst is probably gonna be your answer sooner or later. 22:56.792 --> 23:01.046 Detectives, they had been monitoring John Creech's movement 23:01.129 --> 23:07.010 and determined that John Creech had a history with law enforcement. 23:07.094 --> 23:11.932 In fact, he had been charged with the transportation of illicit drugs. 23:12.766 --> 23:16.269 He once pled guilty to distribution of narcotics, 23:16.353 --> 23:19.981 and in lieu of going to jail, he agreed to become an informant 23:20.065 --> 23:22.442 and work, uh, with Glendale PD. 23:22.526 --> 23:24.694 But he was absolutely useless, 23:24.778 --> 23:27.364 'cause he didn't give 'em anything. He just strung 'em along. 23:27.447 --> 23:30.117 John Creech was still in that Chicago area, 23:30.200 --> 23:34.079 and we needed to bring him in to do an interview. 23:34.162 --> 23:38.375 So we contacted the Glendale detective, Dave Kellogg, 23:38.458 --> 23:40.794 and he agreed to help any way he could. 23:43.713 --> 23:46.925 Dave called him in, and one thing we had Dave do 23:47.008 --> 23:48.718 was go sit down in a room. 23:48.802 --> 23:50.929 We had it wired for sound and audio. 23:52.013 --> 23:53.598 Then we came in. [chuckles] 23:53.682 --> 23:55.809 [erratic, cryptic music pulsing] 23:55.892 --> 23:57.394 We introduced ourselves. 23:58.228 --> 24:00.856 We asked questions about Gavin Smith. 24:01.439 --> 24:04.484 John Creech was cool and tried to be charming, 24:04.568 --> 24:06.153 tried to be quick-witted. 24:06.236 --> 24:07.320 Classic con man. 24:08.447 --> 24:11.867 "Yeah. I know that guy." "Did you threaten him in any way?" 24:11.950 --> 24:12.784 "No, never!" 24:12.868 --> 24:17.998 He just downplayed everything, and I decided to try a different angle. 24:18.915 --> 24:21.543 I tried to make Gavin look like a bad person. 24:21.626 --> 24:23.086 I said, you know… I go, 24:23.170 --> 24:26.756 "Gavin, this guy was a… this guy was a stalker." 24:26.840 --> 24:28.800 "He would cultivate women." 24:29.634 --> 24:32.721 I did everything I could just to get him fired up. 24:32.804 --> 24:35.390 I go, "I don't blame you if you did something to him." 24:35.474 --> 24:37.976 "Cut to the chase. Let's end this madness." 24:38.059 --> 24:39.853 But he wouldn't break. 24:42.939 --> 24:45.775 [dramatic music playing] 24:49.529 --> 24:54.493 [Labbe] We explain to the judge Creech's suspected involvement 24:54.576 --> 24:56.745 in the Gavin Smith disappearance 24:56.828 --> 25:03.793 and his lack of fulfilling his commitment to provide information to law enforcement. 25:05.170 --> 25:10.425 So the judge remanded Mr. Creech into custody on his narcotics case. 25:12.886 --> 25:16.973 Anytime you can get someone you believe killed someone off the street, 25:17.057 --> 25:18.141 that's a good thing. 25:18.975 --> 25:23.104 That gave us time to flesh it out and investigate. 25:25.899 --> 25:29.861 So we were looking at John Creech's phone data, 25:30.529 --> 25:32.656 who he's calling, who's calling him. 25:32.739 --> 25:37.994 And we notice that after Gavin Smith had talked to Chandrika 25:38.078 --> 25:40.205 on the night Gavin went missing, 25:40.288 --> 25:42.165 there was a series of phone calls 25:42.249 --> 25:45.293 that John Creech called back-to-back-to-back-to-back, 25:45.377 --> 25:47.295 and he's calling the same number, 25:47.379 --> 25:49.297 and that number was Jorge Valles. 25:51.258 --> 25:52.801 As we looked into him, 25:52.884 --> 25:55.262 we realized that he was an associate to Creech. 25:56.054 --> 26:01.893 Mr. Valles had done a lot of contracting work at the Creech home, 26:02.477 --> 26:07.899 and as a result, Jorge Valles and John Creech developed a friendship. 26:09.985 --> 26:12.070 [Labbe] On the night Gavin went missing, 26:12.153 --> 26:16.241 the victim's phone, John Creech's phone, and Jorge Valles' phone 26:16.324 --> 26:21.079 were registering on a cell tower right in Jorge's backyard. 26:26.001 --> 26:28.962 So, we made contact with Jorge Valles. 26:30.130 --> 26:33.341 The first time we talked to Jorge Valles, you could just tell he… 26:33.842 --> 26:35.427 Completely fish out of water. 26:36.553 --> 26:41.683 Valles tells them that John Creech had called him excitedly 26:41.766 --> 26:45.603 during the early morning hours of May 2nd, 2012, 26:45.687 --> 26:50.609 telling him that he needs help and that he's coming to his residence. 26:50.692 --> 26:53.820 Um, Valles is kind of taken aback by that, 26:53.903 --> 26:55.614 but Creech comes over, 26:55.697 --> 26:58.033 says he needs help moving this car, 26:58.116 --> 27:00.160 and it's a Mercedes-Benz. 27:01.911 --> 27:04.873 [Labbe] Jorge Valles saw what looked like a mummified body 27:04.956 --> 27:07.626 wrapped up in bedsheets in the passenger seat, 27:07.709 --> 27:11.296 and John Creech told Jorge Valles that, "I killed him." 27:11.379 --> 27:13.089 "I need you to hide him." 27:13.590 --> 27:17.177 Jorge's like, "You're out of your mind. You ain't hiding him here." 27:20.555 --> 27:23.183 [Grace] Jorge Valles was very reluctant 27:23.266 --> 27:26.227 to tell the detectives what had happened next, 27:26.311 --> 27:29.981 but he follows John Creech in the black Mercedes 27:30.065 --> 27:33.985 to this home in the Porter Ranch area, a gated community. 27:34.069 --> 27:36.321 And they drive up to one of the homes. 27:37.739 --> 27:39.949 When Creech gets to the residence, 27:40.033 --> 27:43.620 he drives the black Mercedes into the garage, 27:44.120 --> 27:46.081 leaving the black Mercedes there, 27:46.164 --> 27:48.124 and then they leave the location. 27:50.210 --> 27:54.005 [Labbe] Then John Creech told him, "I want you to get rid of this phone." 27:54.089 --> 27:56.716 And poor Jorge was stupid enough to take the phone. 27:56.800 --> 27:58.259 According to Jorge, 27:58.343 --> 28:02.097 he said, the next day, he threw it in a trash can behind a McDonald's. 28:04.599 --> 28:06.935 Jorge saw injuries on Creech's hands. 28:07.018 --> 28:09.020 He saw what he thought was the body, 28:09.104 --> 28:11.231 but he couldn't identify the license plate. 28:11.314 --> 28:13.191 He couldn't identify the body. 28:13.274 --> 28:17.070 So we still didn't have enough to take to a DA. 28:19.364 --> 28:21.866 [Grace] The detectives are able to determine 28:21.950 --> 28:27.163 that the home that John Creech and Mr. Valles had gone to 28:27.247 --> 28:30.542 was the residence of an individual named Stan McQuay. 28:32.168 --> 28:35.213 [Labbe] Stan McQuay is a workout buddy of John's. 28:35.296 --> 28:40.009 Mr. Health and Fitness Guru to the stars. 28:41.261 --> 28:44.556 Stan McQuay was brought to Lost Hills sheriff station. 28:45.056 --> 28:48.309 We went to talk to him, but he wanted his attorney. 28:49.269 --> 28:55.108 So this high-profile attorney representing Stan McQuay showed up. 28:56.484 --> 28:59.737 He was very candid with me. He said, "Ty, he's not gonna talk to you." 28:59.821 --> 29:02.240 "I'm gonna advise him not to." I go, "Go talk to him." 29:03.074 --> 29:04.075 And he did. 29:04.993 --> 29:11.124 So five minutes passed up, 20 minutes, 40, 50… 29:11.708 --> 29:14.085 I looked at John and go, "This is very good for us." 29:14.669 --> 29:16.671 "The longer he's in there, the better, 29:16.754 --> 29:19.591 'cause the longer he's in there, they're talking freely." 29:19.674 --> 29:25.138 And that attorney's jaw's probably like, "Oh, fuck! Ugh!" 29:25.221 --> 29:27.015 "What did you do now?" 29:27.807 --> 29:32.896 So he comes out, and I loved it, 'cause he looked like a whipped dog. 29:32.979 --> 29:36.399 Anytime you see a private defense attorney that looks like a whipped dog… 29:36.983 --> 29:38.276 a beautiful thing. 29:38.359 --> 29:41.696 It's just like, "Fuck, yeah. Now we're kicking some ass." 29:41.780 --> 29:44.866 These are the little things that get us detectives excited! 29:44.949 --> 29:46.493 "We got the upper hand." 29:46.576 --> 29:50.246 Sure as shit, he says, "Hey, man." He wants to talk to us. 29:50.330 --> 29:52.832 "Can we do it tomorrow at your office?" 29:53.333 --> 29:56.127 "Absolutely, man! No problem." 29:57.212 --> 30:00.965 And he says, "Hey, detectives, can you guys give him a ride home?" 30:02.884 --> 30:06.554 And I said, "Yeah, no problem, sir. We got that handled for you." 30:08.264 --> 30:10.141 This is why, as a homicide guy, 30:10.225 --> 30:13.895 you've gotta be able to navigate without using the freeway. 30:13.978 --> 30:15.230 So we took side streets, 30:15.313 --> 30:19.025 and I stopped at every fucking red light for a long time. 30:19.108 --> 30:20.318 We had a great conversation. 30:21.569 --> 30:25.073 Stan McQuay told us that John showed up, 30:25.156 --> 30:27.575 begged him to park the car in the garage. 30:27.659 --> 30:31.329 He swears he didn't know the body was in there until it started stinking. 30:32.121 --> 30:35.416 Nothing can stop the smell of a decomposing body. 30:35.500 --> 30:39.170 And so he said that he was leaning on Creech 30:39.254 --> 30:41.881 to get up there and get the body out. 30:41.965 --> 30:46.261 He said that John Creech showed up with a U-Haul van, 30:46.344 --> 30:50.473 he pulled the body out of the car, and loaded it up in the van himself. 30:54.978 --> 30:59.858 And, eventually, John Creech picked up Gavin Smith's Mercedes-Benz 30:59.941 --> 31:01.568 and moved it out of his garage. 31:07.407 --> 31:10.743 We had written a search warrant to U-Haul Corporation 31:10.827 --> 31:14.205 of all the known people so far in the case, 31:14.706 --> 31:18.459 and none of our known target subjects 31:18.543 --> 31:21.671 had rented any equipment in our time frame. 31:22.171 --> 31:23.256 It made it frustrating. 31:27.802 --> 31:30.722 Gavin was missing, presumed dead. 31:30.805 --> 31:33.308 And we still didn't have a body. 31:33.391 --> 31:35.101 We didn't have the car. 31:35.184 --> 31:37.312 We didn't know if there was a weapon involved. 31:37.395 --> 31:40.023 There was a lull to where it was getting pretty ugly 31:40.106 --> 31:43.192 that we know, "What are we gonna be able to do next?" 31:44.444 --> 31:47.780 And my partner John and I understand 31:47.864 --> 31:50.617 that it's not checkers, it's chess. 31:51.200 --> 31:56.998 And in this game of chess that we play as homicide detectives with our bad guys, 31:57.081 --> 31:59.584 there is no two-minute clock on. 31:59.667 --> 32:00.668 It's your move. 32:03.546 --> 32:08.134 Both the detectives, Labbe and O'Brien, were extremely helpful. 32:08.217 --> 32:11.971 It wasn't, like, the first 48 hours, it's… it's solved. 32:12.055 --> 32:13.139 It wasn't. 32:13.222 --> 32:16.100 But they had a lot of vested interest in this, 32:16.184 --> 32:18.269 and they were gonna see it through. 32:25.860 --> 32:28.571 [Labbe] In early February 2013, 32:28.655 --> 32:32.492 one of the detectives at Homicide Bureau, 32:32.575 --> 32:33.910 a retired guy, 32:34.494 --> 32:37.163 he plays tennis with a group of men, 32:37.872 --> 32:39.916 and one of those men 32:41.292 --> 32:42.669 is Chandrika's father. 32:44.629 --> 32:48.299 While they're playing tennis, Chandy's dad wasn't acting right. 32:48.383 --> 32:51.386 He said his daughter moved back into their house, 32:51.469 --> 32:54.806 and she was talking about how her husband killed somebody, 32:55.390 --> 33:01.020 and her dad was so shook up about it that he felt compelled to tell a friend. 33:01.771 --> 33:04.399 And so this particular detective knows me, 33:05.316 --> 33:07.819 and he gave me the information right away. 33:09.278 --> 33:11.614 I introduced myself to Chandy's dad, 33:11.698 --> 33:14.701 and he says, "I'll tell you everything I know." 33:16.703 --> 33:20.206 He told us, "I think the car is still around." 33:20.289 --> 33:21.916 "It might be cut up." 33:22.417 --> 33:26.045 "It may have been body-shopped out, but there's still some of it around." 33:26.129 --> 33:27.422 And he said, 33:27.505 --> 33:33.136 "You need to look at Reina Lim, the caretaker to Chandy's grandmother." 33:33.636 --> 33:36.097 It was quite surprising to both of us. 33:36.180 --> 33:38.433 It was like, "Nah, no way." 33:38.516 --> 33:42.186 She's just the little 70-year-old, 33:42.270 --> 33:46.524 non-suspecting, Christian, Filipino caretaker 33:46.607 --> 33:50.278 of a dying old woman related to Chandrika. 33:50.361 --> 33:53.948 And that… The bell just went on at that point, you know? 33:54.032 --> 33:56.659 "Holy fuck. She's been there the whole time." 33:59.579 --> 34:02.123 [Hernandez] This is an example of "better off lucky than good," 34:02.206 --> 34:05.460 because it is a matter of timing. 34:05.543 --> 34:08.755 Man, all of a sudden, you get that break, and it's just… 34:08.838 --> 34:10.047 it's just by chance. 34:10.882 --> 34:13.426 But you have it, you gotta run with it. 34:14.469 --> 34:15.970 I said, "Let's find her." 34:16.554 --> 34:20.433 So we started command and… uh, the surveillance on Reina. 34:21.267 --> 34:23.311 And eventually, she came out of work, 34:23.394 --> 34:25.688 and we made contact with her in the parking lot. 34:26.647 --> 34:28.900 You could tell she was a little startled. 34:28.983 --> 34:31.903 But she knew who we were. She knew what we were investigating. 34:31.986 --> 34:35.406 We just talked to her and explained to her what was going on, 34:35.490 --> 34:39.786 how her name came up in the matter, and she wanted to be completely helpful. 34:40.703 --> 34:42.747 I felt she was being truthful. 34:42.830 --> 34:45.708 She showed us documentation 34:45.792 --> 34:50.922 that proved that she was paying the bill to a storage facility for John Creech. 34:51.422 --> 34:55.802 And probably, whether she knew it or not, was paying the bill 34:55.885 --> 34:59.764 for the storage facility where evidence in a murder was at. 34:59.847 --> 35:02.809 I don't know about you, but I see a commonality. 35:02.892 --> 35:05.770 "Jorge, can you hide this phone?" 35:05.853 --> 35:09.357 "Stan, can I put this guy's car and dead body 35:09.440 --> 35:11.526 in your house for five days?" 35:11.609 --> 35:13.986 "Reina, could she just pay the bill?" 35:14.487 --> 35:16.114 Do you see a pattern here? 35:16.197 --> 35:18.032 This is a classic con man. 35:18.116 --> 35:23.371 He used anybody he could to make himself less culpable, you know? 35:24.622 --> 35:26.916 We get out there and write our search warrant. 35:26.999 --> 35:31.170 And of course when we pop the lock, we find Gavin Smith's car inside. 35:32.713 --> 35:36.342 It was pretty exciting, 'cause now we had our victim's vehicle 35:36.425 --> 35:38.928 confirmed, intact, not cut up. 35:39.011 --> 35:40.555 It's just lucky, you know. 35:40.638 --> 35:43.891 The investigative gods shined down upon us that day. 35:46.936 --> 35:49.230 [tense music playing] 35:50.773 --> 35:52.483 [Grace] After the car was found, 35:52.567 --> 35:56.946 then they became determined that this was gonna be a full-on investigation 35:57.029 --> 36:00.449 that would probably lead to a filing, 36:00.533 --> 36:02.743 and I was officially working with Ty. 36:03.703 --> 36:06.372 [Labbe] I knew that Bobby had a very strong reputation 36:06.455 --> 36:10.918 amongst investigators in my unit that I respected. 36:11.002 --> 36:12.837 He's coming out of Major Trials Division, 36:12.920 --> 36:16.883 which is a pretty tough pedigree to get anyway in the DA's office. 36:16.966 --> 36:18.467 I mean, he's a big shot. 36:24.307 --> 36:27.560 [Grace] The key piece of evidence that they want to determine 36:27.643 --> 36:32.064 is whether the car was where Gavin Smith met his demise. 36:33.065 --> 36:34.859 There is a lot of critical work 36:34.942 --> 36:37.987 that forensic analysts would have to do with the car. 36:38.070 --> 36:40.281 So they want to look for blood evidence. 36:40.364 --> 36:45.203 They want to look for serology evidence, DNA, saliva, hair, 36:45.286 --> 36:49.373 anything that would connect Gavin Smith to being in the vehicle. 36:50.875 --> 36:53.502 [Labbe] We saw that the license plates were removed. 36:53.586 --> 36:55.796 The VIN was intact. 36:55.880 --> 36:57.048 That was not removed. 36:57.131 --> 37:00.343 That's how we identified it. It was our crime scene. 37:00.426 --> 37:02.595 [intense, dramatic music playing] 37:02.678 --> 37:04.972 You could see blood, 37:05.056 --> 37:08.768 a lot of blood dried on the passenger side, 37:08.851 --> 37:12.355 floorboard, dash, roof, back seat. 37:12.438 --> 37:13.940 [tense music pulsing] 37:14.023 --> 37:16.025 There was blood spatter, 37:16.108 --> 37:18.236 meaning repeated punches and blows, 37:18.736 --> 37:22.615 uh, casting of the blood on the ceiling. 37:23.658 --> 37:26.702 We could see dried blood inside the doorjamb 37:27.286 --> 37:28.788 where the door closes. 37:29.497 --> 37:31.374 I'm not convinced, to this day, 37:31.457 --> 37:34.001 that Gavin's head wasn't put in between that doorjamb 37:34.085 --> 37:35.461 and repeatedly slammed. 37:37.171 --> 37:40.258 He brutally beat the shit out of this guy, you know? 37:40.341 --> 37:43.552 Make no mistake about it. This is an evil man. 37:45.471 --> 37:49.183 [reporter] The 57-year-old Smith disappeared May 1st 2012. 37:49.267 --> 37:53.813 A year later, his Mercedes was found at this Simi Valley storage facility. 37:57.483 --> 38:01.737 [Grace] We needed to connect John Creech to Gavin Smith's car. 38:01.821 --> 38:03.823 So you want to fingerprint the car, 38:03.906 --> 38:09.537 but you now have a real focus of where to direct forensic people to look. 38:09.620 --> 38:12.999 There was evidence in the car that indicated he was killed in the car. 38:13.082 --> 38:15.459 Mr. Creech is still a person of interest. 38:17.378 --> 38:19.714 [Labbe] The DNA samples come back, the blood evidence. 38:20.548 --> 38:23.134 The blood evidence came back to Gavin Smith. 38:25.636 --> 38:28.639 You know, I remember one of the things I saw. 38:28.723 --> 38:29.849 The license plate was gone, 38:29.932 --> 38:34.520 but the license plate screw on the left side was screwed back in. 38:35.021 --> 38:37.898 Well, I told the crime lab I wanted that tested for DNA, 38:37.982 --> 38:41.068 and it ended up being a match to John Creech. 38:45.239 --> 38:47.241 [mournful, subdued music playing] 38:49.869 --> 38:51.454 [Addeo] It was bittersweet. 38:51.954 --> 38:53.956 [chuckles ruefully, cries] 38:55.875 --> 38:59.128 [tearfully] Because I knew that… 39:01.922 --> 39:03.132 you know, that was… 39:03.215 --> 39:05.426 The way that they were describing it, 39:06.886 --> 39:12.099 I knew that there was a lot of biological and DNA in the car. 39:13.017 --> 39:15.061 So I pretty much knew then. 39:18.481 --> 39:20.399 It was kind of at that moment… 39:21.484 --> 39:24.653 Well, you know, now there's no going back. 39:24.737 --> 39:27.156 And then you just ask yourself, 39:27.239 --> 39:29.950 "How did it happen? His last moments?" 39:32.078 --> 39:33.079 It's tough. 39:36.290 --> 39:37.291 It's hard. 39:43.714 --> 39:45.883 [suspenseful music playing] 39:45.966 --> 39:49.178 [Grace] In terms of a prosecutor's view of the evidence at that point, 39:49.261 --> 39:54.183 now you can prove legally that we had strong circumstantial evidence 39:54.266 --> 39:57.436 that John Creech was the reason why he was dead. 39:58.104 --> 40:00.189 Obviously, there were still, you know, 40:00.272 --> 40:03.651 major pieces to the story that we didn't know yet. 40:04.610 --> 40:08.197 [Labbe] At that time in the case, we had two cooperating witnesses. 40:08.280 --> 40:11.742 We had Jorge Valles, Stan McQuay. 40:12.493 --> 40:17.373 The only thing we really didn't have was, uh, the victim's body, 40:17.456 --> 40:23.170 and we still didn't have an eyewitness to anyone actually seeing how it happened. 40:23.254 --> 40:26.465 There was way too many unknowns than there were knowns. 40:27.258 --> 40:32.179 "No body" cases are some of the most difficult cases to prove. 40:32.763 --> 40:36.350 All we had was the blood evidence inside the car, 40:36.433 --> 40:41.230 but you still don't know how the person died, 40:41.313 --> 40:45.025 and the coroner would not be able to tell you definitively 40:45.109 --> 40:46.819 that the person was actually dead. 40:47.403 --> 40:49.280 [Dolson] The investigation's ongoing. 40:50.614 --> 40:54.201 At this point, we are not charging anybody with anything. 40:55.077 --> 40:59.999 [Addeo] The sad part about it is the not knowing for so long, you know? 41:00.082 --> 41:01.542 It was heartbreaking. 41:02.543 --> 41:05.421 Rightfully so, Lisa was extremely upset, 41:05.504 --> 41:10.426 going every day and not knowing what happened. 41:15.764 --> 41:18.559 [Labbe] Even though more than two years had gone by, 41:18.642 --> 41:21.187 we weren't gonna present a case to the DA 41:21.270 --> 41:24.899 until we had done everything that we felt we could. 41:27.776 --> 41:30.154 In October 2014, 41:30.237 --> 41:35.034 in the mountain rolling hills area of Palmdale, California, 41:36.076 --> 41:38.496 a husband and wife were walking their dog. 41:39.121 --> 41:42.124 Their dog was off-leash, and it… it returned to them, 41:42.708 --> 41:47.338 and it was carrying what appeared to be a human bone in his mouth. 41:47.421 --> 41:49.089 [huffing] 41:49.173 --> 41:52.134 [man] If he smells something he likes, he takes off. 41:52.218 --> 41:54.970 [reporter] Buddy the brown Lab found something he liked 41:55.054 --> 41:57.389 while hiking the mountains of Palmdale with his owner. 41:57.473 --> 42:01.685 And they called the police to come investigate. 42:01.769 --> 42:06.732 So deputies responded and called it into Homicide Bureau, 42:06.815 --> 42:09.652 that they had a shallow grave with found human remains. 42:09.735 --> 42:11.195 [chilling music playing] 42:11.278 --> 42:14.698 [Grace] When the detectives go to the crime scene, 42:14.782 --> 42:17.409 they have no idea who that person is. 42:17.910 --> 42:20.454 Sometimes identifications are made by teeth. 42:21.247 --> 42:26.001 Sometimes if the remains are fresh enough, you can do fingerprinting, 42:26.085 --> 42:30.714 and in this particular case, uh, the human remains did show 42:30.798 --> 42:33.884 a number of surgeries Gavin had had over the years, 42:33.968 --> 42:39.306 so they were able to pinpoint that was, in fact, Gavin's remains. 42:46.063 --> 42:49.817 [Labbe] We sent the evidence at the scene down to the coroner's office. 42:50.651 --> 42:52.903 So the coroner begins their exam, 42:54.071 --> 42:59.159 looking at X-rays, making opinions, and determinations on what they saw, 43:00.327 --> 43:06.125 which was a defensive-type wound to his arm and fracture, 43:06.208 --> 43:10.796 like he is blocking a blow, which is consistent with what we knew. 43:10.879 --> 43:12.506 He was attacked in the car. 43:12.589 --> 43:16.552 It was evident and opined that he had a fracture to the skull, 43:17.136 --> 43:20.806 which was caused by blunt force trauma to the head. 43:21.307 --> 43:25.311 We saw complete orbital fractures of… 43:25.394 --> 43:27.896 Pretty much obliteration to his cheekbones. 43:30.983 --> 43:35.404 Finding Gavin Smith, investigative-wise, it's huge. It's pivotal. 43:35.904 --> 43:38.490 But, uh, my concern is the family. 43:38.574 --> 43:40.034 I want to be there for them. 43:40.117 --> 43:42.286 [delicate, thoughtful music playing] 43:42.369 --> 43:47.207 It should be my partner and I talking to Mrs. Smith and the boys about this. 43:48.959 --> 43:51.253 [Addeo] I remember Lisa had called me 43:51.754 --> 43:55.924 and said that he has been found. 43:56.717 --> 44:00.304 You know, I feel like that… 44:01.889 --> 44:05.601 was a closure moment, because… 44:05.684 --> 44:07.686 [stifling sobs] 44:09.605 --> 44:10.606 [softly] Sorry. 44:18.656 --> 44:20.449 You know how bad it was. 44:22.951 --> 44:24.870 But then you know it's over. 44:24.953 --> 44:27.706 Because it's true. 44:27.790 --> 44:29.958 You know, families do need closure. 44:31.877 --> 44:33.629 And bodies give closure. 44:34.672 --> 44:36.632 It's not what we wanted, but… 44:41.095 --> 44:43.305 we know he's not coming back. 44:51.855 --> 44:54.733 [Grace] Even with the discovery of Gavin's body, 44:54.817 --> 44:58.487 there's still information that we did not know. 44:58.570 --> 45:04.743 Namely, we didn't know how Creech actually killed Gavin Smith. 45:04.827 --> 45:08.414 We knew that the only person who possessed that information 45:08.497 --> 45:09.748 was Chandrika Creech. 45:11.792 --> 45:14.002 What we didn't know at that time 45:14.086 --> 45:19.466 was the extent of her involvement in Gavin's death. 45:20.384 --> 45:24.346 As a result, we made the decision to tell her 45:24.430 --> 45:26.849 that we would consider giving her leniency 45:26.932 --> 45:30.060 in exchange for giving a truthful statement, 45:30.144 --> 45:31.395 known as a proffer. 45:31.979 --> 45:35.691 Chandrika agreed to cooperate through her attorney… 45:39.611 --> 45:40.863 and told us 45:40.946 --> 45:46.910 that she had restarted her relationship with Gavin Smith, 45:46.994 --> 45:52.332 but they were not having sexual relations. 45:52.958 --> 45:55.169 And they had a connection, 45:55.252 --> 45:59.381 and they were talking to each other in the car as friends. 46:00.174 --> 46:03.343 She said she was consoling him on his breakup, 46:03.427 --> 46:07.806 and what is he gonna do, his kids, and basically being a friend. 46:07.890 --> 46:13.437 And that's when the door to the car ripped open, 46:14.104 --> 46:17.608 and Johnny jumped in on top of her and him, 46:18.317 --> 46:19.610 and started beating him. 46:19.693 --> 46:24.031 [Labbe] How many times did you see Johnny strike Gavin? 46:24.114 --> 46:25.824 -Five. -[Labbe] Five? 46:26.617 --> 46:28.076 She was yelling and screaming, 46:28.160 --> 46:32.790 and she said Johnny was just pummeling him over and over in the face, 46:33.457 --> 46:37.044 and she was able to shimmy her way out the door, 46:37.127 --> 46:39.922 and yelling at him to stop, that he's gonna kill him. 46:40.422 --> 46:45.010 And, at one point, Johnny stopped while Gavin was unconscious, 46:46.011 --> 46:47.596 uh, blood everywhere, 46:47.679 --> 46:49.348 and he looked at her and he says, 46:49.431 --> 46:51.808 "Shut the fuck up or you're next." 46:51.892 --> 46:56.563 She said she finally turned and got away out of there. 46:57.064 --> 47:01.193 And Johnny just kept beating him while he was unconscious. 47:02.027 --> 47:07.449 I think Chandy helped cover it up 'cause Chandy was scared to death of him. 47:09.701 --> 47:11.703 [intense, suspenseful music playing] 47:19.545 --> 47:23.757 [Grace] The prosecution of John Creech started in June 2017. 47:23.841 --> 47:25.342 The plan worked! 47:26.176 --> 47:27.719 Gavin Smith is dead! 47:27.803 --> 47:31.139 And he kept his secret for over two years. 47:31.223 --> 47:36.895 I had to argue to the jury that no, this isn't classic emotional killing, 47:36.979 --> 47:40.482 but in fact the defendant knew about the affair for a long time, 47:40.566 --> 47:43.694 and he took the step of tracking where his wife was, 47:43.777 --> 47:48.240 so he wasn't in a state of emotional distress 47:48.323 --> 47:51.910 such that he did not know what he had planned to do. 47:55.372 --> 47:58.083 Some of the important witnesses were, of course, Chandrika, 47:58.166 --> 48:01.837 who was able to tell the story of exactly how Gavin got killed. 48:02.337 --> 48:04.172 He wasn't fighting back or anything. 48:04.256 --> 48:07.342 He wasn't even pushing away. He wasn't moving at all. 48:09.261 --> 48:11.388 -[Grace] As a result-- -And he was moaning. 48:12.514 --> 48:14.349 [Grace] John Creech took the stand 48:14.433 --> 48:18.895 and said he got into a mutual fight with Gavin. 48:19.396 --> 48:21.356 [John] He punched me, pulled me in by my sweater. 48:21.440 --> 48:23.901 He put his hand on my throat, choking me in my throat. 48:23.984 --> 48:25.652 He's got my head pinned against the ceiling, 48:25.736 --> 48:27.529 and he's got his thumb in my right eye. 48:27.613 --> 48:29.615 I'm hanging out the car with just my head inside 48:29.698 --> 48:31.366 as he's choking me and gouging my eye. 48:32.200 --> 48:35.746 John Creech was claiming Gavin Smith was armed with a hammer. 48:36.330 --> 48:40.584 John Creech testified he was able to overpower him and take that away. 48:41.543 --> 48:46.882 Eventually, he got the upper hand and accidentally killed Gavin, 48:47.633 --> 48:49.801 but that it was completely in self-defense. 48:50.302 --> 48:53.138 And that, eventually, he took that… 48:53.639 --> 48:56.808 whatever tool or item it was back to his house 48:56.892 --> 48:59.436 and threw it in his neighbor's yard. 48:59.519 --> 49:02.856 [Grace] You made the decision not to call 911. Is that correct? 49:02.940 --> 49:04.191 I made that decision. 49:04.858 --> 49:06.485 I live with that every day. 49:10.072 --> 49:12.824 In my opinion, he lied about everything he said. 49:16.244 --> 49:18.914 [jury foreperson] We the jury in the above entitled action 49:18.997 --> 49:20.874 find the defendant, John Creech, 49:20.958 --> 49:24.002 not guilty of the crime of first-degree murder of Gavin Smith. 49:24.086 --> 49:25.754 [dramatic stinger] 49:25.837 --> 49:27.130 The verdict that came down 49:27.214 --> 49:31.385 was not guilty on first-degree murder, premeditated murder. 49:31.468 --> 49:34.304 [foreperson] We the jury in the above entitled action 49:34.388 --> 49:36.181 find the defendant, John Creech, 49:36.264 --> 49:39.810 guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter of Gavin Smith. 49:39.893 --> 49:42.396 [pensive, somber music playing] 49:42.479 --> 49:47.109 But guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the state of California. 49:47.609 --> 49:48.819 That's, "Fuck you." 49:48.902 --> 49:53.240 This was premeditated, planned, and calculated, and he killed him. 49:53.740 --> 49:58.453 Any time that you hear a verdict that isn't what you wanted, 49:58.537 --> 50:01.081 there's a deflation, sadness. 50:03.333 --> 50:05.419 The trial judge went out of his way 50:05.502 --> 50:09.172 to say that he disagreed with the jury's verdict 50:09.256 --> 50:12.926 and felt that the prosecution had proven that it was murder. 50:13.009 --> 50:15.637 Any other person sitting in this courtroom 50:15.721 --> 50:18.932 would have called 911, would have sought medical help, 50:19.433 --> 50:20.642 and you did not. 50:20.726 --> 50:24.730 And I think it's because, frankly, you're a cold and cruel person. 50:25.313 --> 50:28.316 [Grace] He was going to sentence the defendant to the maximum, 50:28.400 --> 50:29.985 which was 11 years. 50:32.821 --> 50:37.492 In my mind, I was like, "He's gonna get 30, 40 years, right?" 50:37.576 --> 50:40.412 I mean, this was premeditated. 50:40.495 --> 50:44.207 And then get 11 years? That didn't seem like justice at all. 50:44.291 --> 50:46.668 I was angry all over again. 50:47.335 --> 50:49.087 I was so mad. 50:49.171 --> 50:54.384 I mean, furious that… Gavin wasn't gonna get justice. 50:59.598 --> 51:02.392 [Grace] The good news was that he was being investigated 51:02.476 --> 51:04.978 for new drug-related charges 51:05.062 --> 51:09.816 and later on prosecuted for transportation and sale of drugs. 51:10.484 --> 51:14.654 And he got around 26 years for the federal charges. 51:14.738 --> 51:18.825 And mainly that was because he was a prior convicted federal felon. 51:19.659 --> 51:23.705 He ended up getting 40-plus years altogether. 51:23.789 --> 51:27.209 So that's some comfort to Lisa and her kids. 51:27.793 --> 51:32.005 And the fact that he got significant time in custody, 51:32.089 --> 51:35.175 which was very deserving. 51:39.471 --> 51:41.473 [sorrowful, somber music playing] 51:48.021 --> 51:50.482 [tearfully] There were a lot of things about him 51:51.566 --> 51:53.485 that were pretty incredible. 51:54.152 --> 51:55.028 You know? 51:55.112 --> 51:58.532 Not everybody is perfect, and, by far, he was not. 51:59.032 --> 52:00.492 He was a lot of things. 52:01.368 --> 52:03.286 But he was an incredible person. 52:06.748 --> 52:11.795 He took advantage of what life has, and he did a lot with it. 52:11.878 --> 52:13.880 [pensive music playing] 52:23.390 --> 52:28.103 [Labbe] It's sad, it's tragic, but I have no regrets in this case. 52:29.938 --> 52:33.650 I honestly don't think there's a lot of investigators in our building 52:33.733 --> 52:36.111 that would have done half of what we did. 52:37.362 --> 52:41.449 It boils down to a passion and a sense of duty. 52:41.533 --> 52:43.785 Our job is to seek the truth, and the facts, 52:43.869 --> 52:45.829 and bring the person to justice. 52:47.080 --> 52:49.541 That's what we do. That's what we signed up for. 52:50.250 --> 52:52.586 [car accelerating] 52:59.467 --> 53:03.221 August 20th, I get a phone call from Bruce, 53:03.305 --> 53:08.977 and he tells me that his wife, Jana, has been missing since that morning. 53:10.145 --> 53:12.272 [Labbe] Just like the Gavin Smith case, 53:12.355 --> 53:15.442 it's critical to look at anybody that has close ties. 53:16.026 --> 53:17.861 You have to look at every entity. 53:17.944 --> 53:20.822 [Shonka] Who would want to hurt her? Did she have enemies? 53:21.907 --> 53:24.576 Bruce said because of Jana's father, 53:24.659 --> 53:27.329 someone may have abducted Jana. 53:27.412 --> 53:32.000 Her father was a very prominent politician in the state of California. 53:32.959 --> 53:34.085 [Labbe] Maybe she ran away. 53:34.794 --> 53:37.631 Maybe there was an extramarital affair that was occurring. 53:38.340 --> 53:42.385 She's starting to really change her outward image. 53:42.469 --> 53:44.721 She'd had her teeth done. 53:44.804 --> 53:47.807 Something just doesn't seem right, seems kind of suspicious. 53:48.308 --> 53:51.394 [man] She's a very sweet, friendly girl. 53:51.895 --> 53:54.940 No reason for anybody to do this. 53:58.735 --> 54:00.737 [dramatic outro music pulsing] s.