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[Music] Julie Kibuishi was a beautiful, smart, vivacious 23-year-old young woman who is
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a dancer and an aspiring fashion designer. And everybody who met her fell in love with her.
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May 21st, 2010 is a beautiful night in Southern California. Julie went to have dinner in Long Beach and suddenly
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disappeared. Julie's friends were texting her frantically, text after text. Hey Julie,
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your mom called me. Can you call me? Hey Julie, is everything okay? By the next day, Julie's mom was desperate.
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>> This kind of thing never happened to my daughter. So we called the police and I said, "I
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don't care. I don't care where you find her, but I need to find her." At the same time, there's another family
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who is looking for their beloved son, Sam her, who was supposed to come over that weekend and also never showed up. I
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said, "I'm going to drive down and make sure Sam's okay cuz he's not answering his phone."
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I had the key to his apartment. I walked in. It looked clean. Everything was fine.
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Then I glanced into the bedroom and that's where I saw a body there. >> There's a body in my apartment.
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>> There's a what? >> A body? A dead body. >> A dead body. Are you sure, sir? >> I'm sure.
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>> And first thought is, what did he do? Within a few minutes, it's not Sam wouldn't do something like this.
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>> Police enter the apartment and they see a young woman laying face down on the
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bed with her jeans cut off. >> Written on her back was a message saying, "All yours. F you."
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>> They very quickly learned that the woman on the bed was Julie. Being a mother, you would do anything to
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protect your child. >> At that point, did you have a prime suspect, >> Sam? >> Sam's friends could not believe that
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this happened because his relationship with Julie, they were very close. They were like brother and sister. However,
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all of the evidence pointed at Sam. Julie was found shot in Sam's apartment. Sam's car is missing. His passport is
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missing. We launched a massive manhunt trying to find Sam her. >> We believed he was armed and dangerous.
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We believed he could kill a gang. >> I know that from the bottom of my heart, from the pit of my stomach, he would not
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harm a woman. >> We started interviewing all of Sam's good friends. And that led us to Daniel
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Waznjak. >> He was like, "Dude, it's not good." Was like, "There's a body in my apartment."
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>> Daniel Waznjak had a fiance named Rachel Buffett. At a certain point, you reach
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your shock level you can't handle anymore. >> We quickly learned that nothing was as
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it seemed. Even the most demented Hollywood writers would not have dreamed up an ending like this.
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[Music] [Music] [Music] I feel >> May 22nd, 2010. Steve hair's mind was reeling.
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>> Does your son know who it is? >> He's not here. >> 23-year-old Julie Kibuishi lay dead in
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his son Sam's apartment. >> What happened? This happened. This happened. I'm seeing how she's
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positioned. >> What had Sam done to his friend? >> Julie was there. The white sheets were
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just full of blood. She was right on tiara, very dark, full head of hair, just covered in blood.
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>> Deceased with a gunshot wound to her head. >> Detectives Ed Everett, Jose Morales, and
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Mike Cohen took on a case laced with mystery. Starting with that scrolled obscenity, all yours, FU, punctuating
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the already obscene murder scene. >> I've never seen anything like that before. It seemed like there was a
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message, maybe possibly a love triangle uh happening. It didn't seem right. >> What do you mean it didn't seem right?
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>> The pieces just didn't fit correctly at the time. >> You had to break the news to her
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parents. >> Yes, I did. >> Was tough. >> Are you Mrs. Kibishi and M Mr. Kipishi?
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And he said yes. And then he came in and one of them told me, "Okay, Mrs. Kibish,
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I want you to sit down." My hands were started shaking and then uh they told us that they found her and
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you know she was was shot in the head. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> But first I said no no that's not my
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daughter. No that's not my daughter. Julie, a dancer and fashion designer with her own style.
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>> She's such a goofball. >> A goofball. >> Mhm. When she's home, you know she's
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home because she's singing or she's the music on. >> What do you want people to know?
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My daughter was such um she's the person that always kind of take care of the friends.
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But now, Julie Kibuishi, the young woman her mom lovingly calls a goofball, had been shot dead and possibly raped here
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in Sam's apartment. And investigators were about to make another discovery. >> We learned that he was involved in a
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homicide. Sam had been arrested and charged with murder before. At 18, he got mixed up
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with a rough crowd that included gangbangers. A >> person was killed, murdered, and then
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another person was killed in retribution to that. And Sam amongst uh 23 others were accused of being participating in
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that. When he went to court, he was acquitted. He was exonerated. And that was it. That's that part of that part of
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life was over with. Was he ever in a gang? >> No. >> No. >> No. >> But to the cops, Sam's past confirmed
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all their current suspicions. Sam was their killer. >> Sam was our guy. Was his apartment.
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>> And when cops checked Julie's cell phone, it was loaded with messages from Sam, begging her to come over.
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>> He was just a very caring guy. That's the one thing that I learned is how someone could care so much about
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everyone else. >> Here's a photo. Yeah. Photo. >> Miles Folultz met Sam as he was turning
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his life around. Leaving his bad choices behind, fighting for his country, enlisting in
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the army and deploying to Afghanistan. >> We were both stationed at a base out in
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the middle of nowhere. >> How good of a friend was Sam? He >> He was my best friend.
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>> This is riding in styles, bro. I hope you taping this for my mommy back home.
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>> Miles and Sam would travel the world together. >> Aiza, we went to Israel, Prague,
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Oktoberfest, and Munich. >> Sam always finding the cheapest hotels, always saving his money.
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>> He always wanted to go places, but he always wanted to be a cheapkate about it.
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>> What did Sam do with his money? >> Saved it. >> How much money had he saved? >> Over 60,000. And it was all from
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Afghanistan. He saved every penny. >> And when they finished fighting a war, the best friends headed home to Southern
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California where Sam shared his world with Miles. >> Did you meet Julie? >> Yeah, I did.
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>> What was she like? >> She was a really sweet girl. They were kind of like brother and sister.
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>> Sam's mother, Raquel. We met her once because she was tutoring Sammy with anthropology, which by the way got an A
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on the in that class. >> And she was an angel. She was very, very nice. >> And according to his parents, the bottom
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line on Sam. >> Just a typical guy. Just fun, loving guy. >> What' you love about Sam?
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>> Everything. But police are certain both parents and friends don't know the dark truth about
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Sam. >> We wanted to find him pretty bad. >> There was no activity on his phone, so
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we assumed it was turned off. >> And the cops aren't the only detectives on this case.
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>> You pulled up Sam's bank account, >> correct? >> And what did you see? >> Money was being withdrawn every day.
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cash from this ATM in Long Beach, California. >> At an ATM at Chase, >> a Chase ATM and then a pizza place
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called >> Echos. >> So, you decided to go there. >> I did go there. I was hoping to see
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either Sam come in maybe ordering something or see his car. >> But did you see >> I saw nothing? No, I saw nothing.
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>> You actually went out looking for him? >> Yeah. >> And nothing. >> Nothing. Did you think it was possible
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that Sam could have killed this woman and been on the run? >> No. There was never a thought in my mind
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that that was possible. >> Exhausted past midnight at the kitchen table, Steve and Raquel start dialing
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Sam's friends, one of whom gives them a phone number for someone they'd never heard of, Daniel Waznjak. It was the
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only number they had with a Long Beach area code. And the money was being withdrawn
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>> from Long Beach. The area code belonged to Dan Mosnjak. >> Help me. Help me. >> Dan Waznjak, a local actor with a
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magnetic personality. >> Who would soon be starring in a real life police drama?
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>> I'll tell you anything you want to know. Julie Kibuishi was dead and Sam Hair was
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still nowhere to be found as police investigators spread across Orange County and loved ones tried to make
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sense of the impossible. >> Where is Sam? What's going on? because he's not a guy
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to to, you know, go and uh murder someone. >> Who killed her? Don't know. >> There's still still
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>> still investigations ongoing. >> The first thing that they said was Sam killed my daughter and then ran away.
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He's on the run. >> What was going through your head? >> I hope Sammy's fine. That he's safe. I thought maybe they got
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him as a tied down somewhere, ransom or something. >> It's hard in that sense that you know
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that there's something going on and you don't know all the pieces and you just want the answer and you're willing to do
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anything to figure out the answer. The answer would begin with Steve Hair dialing that Long Beach number. One of
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Sam's friends had mentioned Dan Waznjak answered the call >> and he he sounded nervous and that's
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when he told me Sam had problems. He was having family problems. >> Family problems.
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>> Family problems. >> Why was that such a red flag to you? >> Because of the closeness Sam, myself,
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and Raquel had. >> There was no family problems. Are you kidding me? >> And then along came Wesley Fry. So,
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how'd you meet Daniel Waznjak? >> My mom was a theater teacher, so by nature, I drifted towards acting as an
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extracurricular activity. >> The actors met on stage back when Wesley was in middle school.
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>> Fantastic guy. One of those guys that you actually wanted to be around, made you laugh, very sweet person.
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And in 2010, Waznjak was a small town star in the play Nine down at the community theater.
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>> Did you trust Dan? >> Yeah. >> Dan told then 17-year-old Wesley he could make fast money using a bank card.
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>> I was just like, "Yeah, why not?" >> Even though the name on the card read Sam Hair.
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So, I went to the ATM, did exactly like he told me, and withdrew money, and then
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came back and gave him the money. >> So, his credit card was still active. >> Yes.
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>> It was being used in the Long Beach area. >> It wasn't Sam taking out the money.
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>> It wasn't Sam. >> What did the person look like? >> A young 17 to 20year-old white male,
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baseball hat. Wesley in disguise flashing Sam hair's bank card. Somebody ordered a pizza on Sam's credit
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card. >> Yes. >> So I ordered a pizza. >> What did you think when you saw that? >> Well, we thought Sam was getting sloppy
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because he used his credit card to get a pizza. >> So of course you went to that house.
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>> Yes. >> Finished the pizza. Was inside. Heard a helicopter. Look outside. two cop cars,
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FBI van, helicopter, and then that's when I open up the door and they say, "Get on the ground." And then that's
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when they all come in. >> Shaken and scared, Wesley told investigators all about Daniel Waznjak.
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how Waznjak insisted it was perfectly okay for Wesley to withdraw money from that ATM in Long Beach.
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It turned out Waznjak was Sam's neighbor and he was getting married in a few days
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when police showed up at his bachelor party. Daniel seemed surprised to see us. Seemed somewhat a little nervous. Uh,
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you could see the blood just drained from his his face and he made a statement to me that he would tell us
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everything. >> What were you thinking? >> We thought at that point he was going to
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lead us to Sam. [Music] >> Waznjak's wedding looked like it might just have to be postponed. Fellow actor
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and blushing bride to be Rachel Buffett would later tell Dr. Phil all about it. I first met Dan doing a play and I
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quickly fell for him in late 2008. He asked me to marry him. I looked at it as though we were going to have an awesome
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future, but the curtain was about to come down on those plans. >> I will talk to you about anything if it
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gets me to my wedding on Friday. That's what I will promise. >> Convinced Waznjak is somehow covering
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for Sam. >> You're not going to be leaving here anytime soon. Okay. >> He is charged as an accessory to the
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murder of Julie Kibuishi. >> Yes, I helped Sam get away. Yes, I did not know what he was planning till then.
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>> Wnjak first tells detectives he saw Sam the same day Julie was murdered. And he
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claims Sam drove off with a mysterious man in a black hat. But then >> he told us that there was a light. There
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really wasn't a person with a black hat in the car and it was him and Sam initially.
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>> No guy with the black hat. >> No guy with the black hat. >> The interrogation wears on.
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>> Did you see Julie >> dead in the apartment? >> No, I did not. >> Were you there when she was shot?
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>> No, I was not. >> You sure about that? >> I don't even know when she was shot. No.
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>> Under the spotlight. Sit down. Sit down, Daniel. >> The actor heightens the drama.
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>> You're driving with Sam and he tells you that he did something bad. >> He did something bad. I'm on the freeway
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when he tells me this. And it >> telling detectives Sam had actually confessed to him.
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>> But I pull up the freeway and I'm like, "What the what what have you what have
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you gotten me into? What are you doing?" He was like, "Dude, it's not good. There's a body in my apartment. I shot
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somebody. Daniel said that Sam had told him that Julie Kubio was in in his room and that
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he had killed her. >> Then according to Waznjak, Sam hair issued a death threat >> and then he said, "Well, I know where
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you live." Okay. He's like, "You wrap me out, I'm going to kill you." >> Wnjak spun the tail. Sam as a killer on
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the run, desperate for cash. Wesley Fry made the withdrawals and Waznjak in exchange for his silence took a cut of
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Sam's money as Sam plotted his escape. >> Did it seem like Daniel was willing to
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tell you where Sam was? >> No, not at all. >> Did you think Daniel knew where Sam was?
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>> My gut instinct, yes. >> And there's more to this than you're telling us. There's a whole lot more.
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Prosecutor Matt Murphy would eventually be tasked with putting all the pieces together in a case that shocked even the
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veteran DA. >> As far as the cases I've done, this is as ugly and as ruthless and as horrific
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as anything I've ever seen. >> Do you want to talk to us? Yes or no? Yes. [Music]
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It's almost 2:00 a.m. 4 hours after getting arrested as an accessory to murder. >> You're lying.
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>> And Daniel Waznjak is still insisting he doesn't know where Sam hair is. You >> want to talk about what happened to Sam?
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I don't know what happened to Sam. >> Sometimes whispering, sometimes yelling. >> I don't know what else you want me to
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say. >> I don't know. >> I don't know. >> Waznjak stuck to the script. >> But what I just told you is the honest
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to god truth. >> He dropped Sam off and was expecting to hear from him soon. >> You're done.
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>> Suspecting he was lying, the detectives turned up the heat. >> You always want to have that good guy,
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bad guy kind of cop thing going, and it always works. You can't even keep your lies straight.
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>> In our case, it worked real well. >> The harder they pushed, >> man up. >> The more his story changed. He went from
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saying he never entered Sam's apartment to this. >> He came down and said, "Help me. I went
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upstairs and yes, I saw the goddamn body." Is that what you want to hear? >> Waznjak goes on to make his biggest
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mistake yet. >> What did you see? >> Saw two gunshots in her head. >> Red flag. >> Yes. Not beyond red flag. Alarm bells
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going off. >> It was that statement, says senior deputy district attorney Matt Murphy,
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that put Daniel Waznjak in a whole new category. Prime suspect. >> You can't see the bullet holes. What you
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saw on the back of her head actually was brain matter. That's what you saw. You can't see bullet holes in the back of
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her head. That's really where it turned. >> Detectives now believed he knew more
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than he was saying, but they still didn't know what. >> You can go over and sit right there.
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They decided to bring Rachel in to see if that would tell them more. >> They want to see what she's going to do.
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They want to test and see could she be involved in this. >> This is true, isn't it?
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>> Rachel barely reacted to the news that the man she was set to marry the following day was under arrest for
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covering up a murder or that her wedding was off. >> Did she scream at him? Did she cry?
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>> No. Not one time. Another huge red flag to the detectives. >> Daniel told you that Rachel knew
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nothing. Did it seem like she knew nothing? >> No. It it it seemed like she knew more.
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>> Why did you lie to me? >> It almost seemed to us that she was trying to figure out what have you told
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them that I need to know. >> Hello. >> Hi, baby. >> When the two talked on a recorded phone
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call from jail, it was clear she at least knew about one thing. This backpack Danielle had given it to his
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brother Tim to throw away. >> Tim says he has evidence with him or or he knew where it was or something.
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>> Then I'm doomed. >> Do you know that Tim had some evidence? >> Yeah. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
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>> This is ridiculous. And I have to go tell the detectives the truth. >> That can't be found. Babe, um, listen to
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me. I'm going to go do something right now. And you're not going to see me for the rest of your life. Do you understand
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that? >> No. No. >> I have to tell the truth on what I did and I think you now know what it is and
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it's bad. Imagine the worst and that's what I did. >> The police did find that backpack and
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just as Waznjak had said, it led to his doom. >> He knows what's in that backpack because
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he put it there. Shell casings from Julie's murder. Sam's wallet. Sam's ID. The checkbook. Sam's bloody clothes.
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This is a bonanza of evidence. He knows he's done. >> You've indicated to me that you want to
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talk to us. Correct. >> That afternoon, Daniel Waznjak sent word to the detectives that he wanted to
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talk. >> He looked emotionally drained. He just he started speaking to us. >> What did he say?
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>> That he did it. >> I'm crazy and I did it. >> You did what? >> I killed Julie and I killed Sam.
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>> The detectives couldn't believe what they were hearing. Sam Hair, the man they believed killed Julie, was dead.
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Not a murderer, but another victim in Waznjak's twisted scheme. >> What went through your head at that
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point? >> Well, we knew that now we just had to listen to him, ask him some questions.
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What he did with Sam? That was our biggest thing cuz we wanted to find Sam. >> Sam is decapitated. Okay. In a cold,
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matter-of-fact tone, Waznjak told detectives where to find Sam, at least pieces of him. After shooting the war
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hero, Waznjak dismembered him with an axe and saw, and then tossed some of the body parts across this park, not even
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bothering to bury them. >> I was in shock. And then to hear the grizzly part of the dismemberment and
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then discarding the body parts in the park and then this just overall attitude was just chilling for me.
00:24:09
>> They said, "Steve, we got to come over. We got to see you." They pulled up and
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they came in and they said, "Sam was murdered." >> That's when I ran upstairs to the room
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and I lost it. The detectives didn't tell the grieving parents, the grizzly details of their
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son's murder until the next day. >> They called me up and said, "See, before you find out by the news, Sam was
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dismembered." And that that's when I just went off the ant deep end. I was angry. I was angry.
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>> The police were able to find all of Sam's body parts except his hand and head. The next day, the Saturday was his
00:24:53
birthday. And I was praying for them to find Sam's head. A father has to pray on his son's birthday that
00:25:03
they find his head. Go ahead and tell me how I feel. Sam's head was found in the park under
00:25:12
scattered leaves on his 27th birthday. His hand was never found. Sam Hair was given a hero's burial with
00:25:25
full military honors. His alleged killer, Daniel Waznjak, was immediately charged with two counts of
00:25:33
firstdegree murder. Daniel's brother, Tim and Rachel Buffett, would also be arrested, not for murder, but as
00:25:41
accessories after the fact. Tim for hiding that backpack, and Rachel, cops say she lied to them. Is that your true
00:25:50
name, Mr. Wosak? >> Either to protect Daniel or to cover her own tracks. >> We always felt Rachel was a part of
00:25:56
this. She's living with him. >> Do you think that Rachel was involved in this from the beginning?
00:26:01
>> Yes. Yes. That she knew about it. She knew about it before this happened. >> I absolutely feel like I was duped by
00:26:08
Dan. >> While awaiting trial, Rachel, by then out on bail, made that appearance on Dr.
00:26:16
Phil telling everyone she didn't know a thing. >> Did you know that he had any involvement
00:26:23
in these murders at all? >> Not until after the police did. >> Steve Hair was not about to let Rachel
00:26:29
Buffett go on national TV without confronting her. >> I was a guest when I get a call saying,
00:26:35
"You're going on TV. My son is dead. He was cut up into pieces and you to come on here and and go on the TV stations.
00:26:43
Poor me. That offends me. I understand and maybe I made a bad judgment call by coming on here, but I didn't come out
00:26:52
when everything first happened and said, "Oh, look at this horrible situation. I'm the victim." You know, you didn't
00:26:58
see me selling my story to Hollywood to make a movie. >> Not yet. >> No Hollywood version could be worse than
00:27:08
what you're about to hear. >> Coming up, >> relax. You'll see the killer describing
00:27:14
how and why he did it. >> The motive behind killing Sam was Okay. Stop it. Pull yourself together.
00:27:32
>> Hi, my name is Dan Waznjak. I'll be playing the role of John Davis. Orange cat.
00:27:38
This is the face Daniel Waznjak presented to the world. >> I'll just say Orange County. I can't say
00:27:44
>> a happy, fun-loving actor, >> hamming it up alongside fiance Rachel Buffett. A real nice guy. But that is
00:27:54
not who he is, says prosecutor Matt Murphy. >> So, what's the real face of Daniel
00:27:59
Waznjak? >> The real face of Daniel Waznjak is dark and manipulative and flatout evil. A man
00:28:06
so evil he planned and executed two savage murders. Why? To pay for his honeymoon.
00:28:14
>> It was all just about the money. >> That was it. >> Desperate to impress his bride. The
00:28:20
groom to be set his sights on friend and neighbor Sam Hair, who he knew had saved
00:28:26
all that money as a soldier. Waznjak told the police that he lured Sam to the attic of this theater,
00:28:33
pretending he needed help moving something. Sam being Sam obliged, says mom Raquel.
00:28:40
>> He loved to help people, but he also was very naive. He just trusted people. >> He trusted Waznjak enough to turn his
00:28:49
back on him. That's when the actor shot him. >> I shot him once and then he was still
00:28:55
alive, saying, "I need help. I need help. Something hit me. It sounded It felt like an electric shock.
00:29:01
>> Uhhuh. And then what'd you do? >> I reloaded and fired again. >> Waznjak stole Sam's phone and credit
00:29:10
cards, then left his body in the attic, then unbelievably performed his starring
00:29:16
role in Nine that night. Cara Kessner was the stage manager. >> How did he seem?
00:29:23
>> He seemed just like any other day. He seemed fine. He did a great job. [Applause]
00:29:33
>> This is the actual performance. Castmate Deborah Kennedy. >> Like I remember getting goosebumps and
00:29:39
going, "Yeah, Daniel, nail it." >> It was that good. [Music] >> After the performance, by then about
00:29:48
10:30 p.m. on Friday night, Daniel and Rachel returned to their apartment. Then he turned to covering up his crime,
00:29:55
texting Julie on Sam's phone, pretending to be Sam. >> I was saying, "You need to come over
00:30:02
tonight. You need to come over tonight." >> Julie, wearing the tiara she was to wear
00:30:07
in her brother's wedding, went to Sam's around midnight. Daniel appeared, unlocked the door. She
00:30:15
followed him in >> and said, "Oh, by the way, did you see this in Sam's bed?" And she's like,
00:30:20
"What? He led her into the bedroom. >> I said, "Read lean over. Look at it right there." When she was leaned over,
00:30:29
I put two bullets in the back of her head. >> He then wrote, "All yours, f you." And
00:30:35
cut her pants off. >> He wanted to set up Sam. He wanted to make Sam look like a rapist and a killer
00:30:43
so the police would be looking for him. >> Why? >> Because the man has no heart and he has
00:30:47
no soul. And he loved the idea of how clever he was. His murderous plot didn't end there. The next morning, Saturday,
00:30:56
he returned to the theater where Sam lay dead and began the devil's work of hacking his body apart. An act he tells
00:31:04
the detectives he found funny. >> I was actually smiling and laughing. I reached a point where I couldn't even
00:31:11
believe I was doing this. >> How tragic was this murder plot? A greedy groom. The pursuit of ill ill
00:31:19
gotten gain dismembers a young man and discards him like a piece of garbage. >> The prosecution deemed the crime so
00:31:26
heinous it warranted the death penalty. But Waznjak's defense team was not rolling over. In spite of his confession
00:31:34
to police, Waznjak pleaded not guilty. Incredibly, it would take 5 and 1/2 years to go to trial.
00:31:43
>> No victim's family should have to be put through that. None. They're in contempt
00:31:47
of court from my perspective. >> The families blame defense attorney Scott Sanders for filing numerous
00:31:53
motions accusing prosecutors and the sheriff of misusing informants to elicit damning evidence against his clients.
00:32:01
>> You got an informant. He's talking. >> Even though prosecutor Matt Murphy told
00:32:06
the court he was not going to present evidence from any informant at Waznjak's trial.
00:32:13
While the families waited, Daniel Waznjak made the most of his newfound celebrity.
00:32:19
>> I want people to know that I'm a good guy. >> Appearing on the show Lockup. >> I enjoy long walks on the beach. I'm an
00:32:25
Aries. >> For 5 and 1/2 years, I have watched that man come into court wearing an orange
00:32:32
jumpsuit, bounding in with a smile on his face like Tigger the Tiger. >> What is up with that smile?
00:32:36
>> Daniel Wac's smile is a point of manipulation. You know, he gets things that way.
00:32:42
>> Do you feel like Sam and Julie have been forgotten in all of this? >> Unless we mention their names for 5
00:32:48
years for over 100 hearings, their names are not mentioned. We've addressed the court a number of times. This case is
00:32:55
about Samuel Herren and Julie Kibushi. You got to put their names. >> In December 2015, finally, their names
00:33:02
would be spoken. >> Sam, her and Julie Kibuishi. The Daniel Waznjak. He murdered them both. And
00:33:08
ladies and gentlemen, we are going to get to a penalty phase. >> Daniel Waznjak went on trial for the
00:33:14
double murder of Julie Kibuishi and Sam Hair. If found guilty, a jury could sentence him to die. Not good enough for
00:33:22
this prosecutor. >> The death penalty is not enough for Daniel Waznjak on this. For justice to
00:33:27
be done in this case, personally, I would prefer proof of hell. I'd prefer proof that there's that there's
00:33:33
something that is awaiting him after he dies. There are searches on Google. Matt
00:33:37
Murphy presented the evidence, painting a chilling portrait of a killer with no conscience.
00:33:43
>> How to hide a body, quick ways to kill people, and Sandals Resorts. This is a
00:33:49
guy who's planning to murder two human beings so he can have an awesome honeymoon down in in Mexico.
00:33:56
>> Then there was the physical evidence, the gun he stole from his own father to
00:34:01
kill his victims. And that backpack jammed with evidence. Now, from a forensic, cold, sterile analysis of
00:34:08
evidence, it doesn't get any better than that for a jury. >> The prosecution put on 23 witnesses over
00:34:15
4 days, including Wesley Fry, who was arrested, but never charged for his role in Daniel Waznjak's scheme. What was it
00:34:24
like to see Daniel in court? >> Disturbing. He was smiling at me. The man that murdered two people just sat
00:34:33
there and just gave you this little just like this like acknowledgeable smirk. Just
00:34:40
>> The defense declined to put on any witnesses. After a 5-day trial, Daniel Waznjak's fate was in the hands of the
00:34:49
jury. [Music] It's been like to be sitting behind him. >> Steve Hair knows that nothing can bring
00:35:08
his son Sam back. >> He's gone. I want now justice. I'll grieve for the rest of my life, but
00:35:17
but it doesn't run my life. The justice for it runs my life. >> And has the jury reached unanimous
00:35:23
verdict? >> Yes. After waiting five and a half years, >> the people of the state of California
00:35:29
plainif versus Daniel Patrick Waznjak. >> It takes the jury just two hours to reach a decision.
00:35:35
>> We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Daniel Patrick Waznjak guilty of the crime of
00:35:41
>> Daniel Waznjak sits emotionless as a jury finds him guilty of murdering Sam Hair and Julie Kibuishi. A verdict that
00:35:50
is a relief, but it's not enough for the hair and Kibuishi families. >> What he did to Sam and then of course
00:35:57
what he did to Julie, it warrants the death penalty. The quicker the better. >> Just two weeks later, the same jurors
00:36:05
are back in the same courtroom for what's called the penalty phase. They will have to determine whether Waznjak
00:36:11
should be given life in prison or be sentenced to death. Prosecutor Matt Murphy, who has tried
00:36:18
seven other death penalty cases in his career, says his strategy is simple. >> It is get Kibuishi's and the hers on the
00:36:27
witness stand so that the jury can understand their pain. Ladies and gentlemen, he knew that Sam and Julie
00:36:34
were loved. Now, you get to think about those people and you get to think about those moms and what they have gone
00:36:40
through and you get to assign a weight to that. And that's the beautiful thing about a penalty phase because it's not
00:36:46
his show anymore. It is Sam and Julie's show and it's about the families now. It's not about him.
00:36:52
>> Six people testify on behalf of Sam and Julie, but not one of Waznjak's family
00:36:57
members ever showed up to support him. >> By all accounts and everything that we
00:37:01
did in the investigation, he has very nice parents. And that might be why they're not here. They're nice people.
00:37:06
They gave him every possible advantage, which to a certain extent is one of the things that makes this case so heinous.
00:37:12
When you're making a determination about death, >> Waznjak's defense attorney, Scott
00:37:16
Sanders, tries to shift blame to Rachel Buffett, Waznjak's former fiance. But remember, she's not been charged with
00:37:24
committing or planning the murders, just as an accessory after the fact. >> You'll see very soon. She's the smarter
00:37:32
of the two by far. >> Their strategy is try to get as much attention away from Daniel Waznjak and
00:37:37
what he did. >> Pin it on Rachel as much as they can. >> Yeah, they need a villain.
00:37:40
It takes a week before the case goes again to the jury. Matt Murphy recalls what he was feeling at that moment.
00:37:48
>> Are you optimistic? >> Oh gosh, no. I'm I'm They call it PAPV psychosis. >> What is that?
00:37:56
>> Post-argument pre-verdict psychosis. Every prosecutor turns into Woody Allen and underneath their skin when a jury is
00:38:04
out. Everybody is neurotic and they're self-doubting and self-loathing. You're terrified that you did something to
00:38:11
screw it up. >> To everyone's surprise, the jury comes back quickly in just a little over an
00:38:18
hour. We, the jury, in the above entitled action determined that the penalty to be imposed upon defendant
00:38:24
Daniel Patrick Waznjak to be death. >> It's been a long five and a half years. They kind of waited for this day.
00:38:36
>> And it wasn't over yet. Before the judge could formally sentence Waznjak, Sanders
00:38:41
demanded more time to explore the informant issue and argue against the death penalty.
00:38:46
>> I'm right. There's not a question. >> Good afternoon. >> It would be eight more months before the
00:38:52
families finally got their chance to address the court and the man who murdered their children. Steve hair
00:38:59
stood surrounded by combat veterans who had served with Sam. >> You, Dan, are a coward and a poster boy
00:39:07
for the need of the effective death penalty in California. My only regret that this state
00:39:15
won't let me kill this coward myself. Thank you. >> Next, it was Julie's mother's turn.
00:39:23
>> You took her precious life and then you disgraced her. Why? What did she do to you? How could you do
00:39:33
anything like that to my baby? >> Judge Connley then turned to Daniel Waznjak and read his decision.
00:39:43
>> It is the order of this court that you shall suffer the death penalty. >> Finally, justice for Julie and Sam.
00:39:56
It would take two years after Daniel Waznjak was sentenced to death for his former fiance Rachel Buffett to face a
00:40:03
judge and jury for lying to police. >> By Monday, she knows her friend Julie Kibuisha was murdered. Knows Sam is
00:40:10
still missing. Knows Waznjak has to be connected by this point. She doesn't want to say anything that's going to
00:40:16
hurt Daniel Waznjak. Rachel is charged with accessory after the fact, trying to help her fiance
00:40:23
escape justice. Remember how Waznjak initially told police he saw Sam on the day of the murder drive off with a
00:40:30
mysterious man in a black hat? Murphy points out Rachel told police the same lie.
00:40:38
And in her videotaped interrogation, the lies continued. >> I do not believe one bit. Okay.
00:40:46
Rachel echoed Waznjak's lie about Sam having problems with his family. She claimed Sam mentioned it to her.
00:40:54
>> There's no way that he could have told you >> this about his family. >> I thought he really did
00:40:59
>> because he does not have problems with his family. >> But defense attorney Dave Medina argues
00:41:05
Rachel is another victim of Daniel Waznjak. In order for you to believe the government's theory in this case, you
00:41:12
have to believe that Rachel knew that Dan butchered two of her friends. You have to believe that
00:41:20
Rachel was okay with that. >> Rachel, >> but Matt Murphy gets the last word. >> All of this stuff goes on right under
00:41:28
her nose. So, she doesn't have to know that he butchered two people and be okay with it. She just has to know he's
00:41:34
involved and tell police things that are not true in an attempt to help him. >> Now, I count 19 separate lies in that
00:41:44
interview. I'm asking you to convict on one of them. >> This past Wednesday, after a week-long
00:41:50
trial, the jury spent a day deliberating and reached its verdict. >> We, the jury, find the defendant, Rachel
00:41:58
May Buffett, guilty. The sweetest sound that I heard was the clicks of the handcuffs going around
00:42:09
Rachel Buffett. [Music] >> Almost 8 and 1/2 years after the murders, the case of Daniel Waznjak and
00:42:19
Rachel Buffett finally ends. But the feelings of loss only deepen. >> This is her sheet.
00:42:28
I can still s [Music] >> What do you miss? >> I miss my boy. It's an honor to be a
00:42:45
father. >> This is the best thing in the world. Forever, the Hair and Kibuishi families
00:42:52
will be linked, always remembering, never forgetting their beautiful children, Sam and Julie.
00:43:06
[Music] I don't know. [Music]