Major Crimes s03e02 Episode Script
Personal Day
It was Ana's 15th birthday party and she sang like an angel.
She told her mother and me that it was the happiest night of her life.
After her party, Dante Gomez, this man who grew up across the street from my family and knew Ana her whole life, who said he loved her Dante Gomez shot my little girl.
And he ran away.
He left my daughter lying on the ground.
Dead.
Ana's been gone 17 years.
When I see this monster here today asking for his freedom feels like it was only yesterday.
Do not forget the victim when you hear this man.
Because we do not forget her.
We do not forget her.
Thank you, Mr.
Escobedo.
Know that the State is not indifferent to your family's suffering.
All right.
Mr.
Dante Sosa Gomez, you are 17 years into a 20 year sentence for the second-degree murder of Ana Escobedo, correct? Yes, ma'am.
And you are seeking early release for this heinous crime based on good behavior? Is that it? No amount of good behavior can justify my release.
Mr.
Gomez, at the time of your conviction, you were a 16-year-old gang member and a high school drop-out.
Is that correct? Yes, sir.
We've read your prepared statement and were impressed with the writing.
Could you read it aloud for us? "I am responsible for taking the life of Ana Escobedo.
I apologize to her family and everyone who loved her.
With no expectation of forgiveness.
But by legal standards, I am qualified to petition you for early release.
My conduct in prison should not lessen my punishment for the violent behavior that has led to so much tragedy.
I thankfully accept whatever decision you make in my regard as an expression of the will of God.
Sincerely, Dante Gomez.
" Given your clean record of prison behavior the majority of time served, and your status as a juvenile at the time of your conviction the board is inclined to grant your application of parole for two years.
Don't blow it, Mr.
Gomez.
You have three minutes.
What do you want? First, Julio, I wanna thank you.
My arrest was the best thing that ever happened to me.
All but one of my friends from before are dead.
I'm still here.
- I even got a chance at a college education.
- You're welcome.
I'll mention all that stuff to Ana Escobedo the next time I see her.
I did not kill Ana.
Oh, jeez.
Here we go.
That's not what you said in court when being sentenced.
That's not what you said last week to the parole board.
- You told the commissioners - I said what was necessary to get out of prison for a crime I didn't commit.
And I'd like your help so the truth can be told.
Okay.
I'll help you.
You shot Ana Escobedo twice in the chest.
An eye-witness saw it go down.
You confessed.
You ever need reminding you call me.
Who was the witness against me? Name is confidential.
Part of the deal you agreed to in exchange for second-degree murder.
What's this about, Dante? You're free.
Why drag it all out again? Because I didn't kill Ana.
I loved her.
When she died, I wasn't thinking straight.
It didn't occur to me until later that the person responsible is still out there.
And my grandmother is old and sick.
I don't want her to die thinking I'm a murderer.
I'm not.
Hey, keep your hands above the table.
"1709 East Carson Street.
" That's where I was the night Ana was murdered.
Look it up for yourselves.
That's where I was.
is a liquor store in Northridge.
Held up 17 years ago the night Dante Gomez murdered Ana Escobedo.
Robbery was never solved.
How far away is this liquor store from where Ana Escobedo was murdered.
Twenty-seven miles, but it doesn't matter.
We can't ID Dante from this footage, anyway.
And you can tell that the guy taking the cash isn't Dante.
- Even with this crappy video.
- Hey, it's from an old VHS shut in the case box from almost two decades.
- Had to splice it almost 100 times to play.
- Why are we even are we even pursuing this? The justice system has spoken, loud and clear, and I'm leaving soon.
Detective Sanchez is required to inform his commanding officer of any and all reported murders.
- Oh, God, the rules.
Why did I ask? Here's the evidence from the Escobedo murder.
Great.
One second, detective.
What are our chances of ID'ing anyone off this old tape.
You know, I could get some more face on the tall guy here.
Do a high-res video transfer.
Then auto-pixel each individual frame that he appears in.
- Then saturate with primary colors - Tao.
Can you ID the guy or not? - I thought you were taking a personal day.
- Fine.
Just go on like I am not here.
- See if I care.
- Okay.
If we could solve this old robbery and then locate the other suspects - Yes.
If he's still alive.
- Seventeen years.
That's a century in gang-land.
Maybe he could tell us Dante wasn't with him, and we will have done our due diligence.
Or we could review the evidence.
Okay, here is the murder weapon that I found in Dante's car the night Ana was shot.
And we had an eyewitness who saw the murder happen.
And here's Dante's Statement of Facts where he confessed to the murder in open court.
- You called the DA over this? - No.
Dante came to our office after talking to you guys.
I said I would review the evidence with you.
- Are we done? - Whoa, whoa.
Wait.
Buzz, be kind, rewind.
Just before the, uh, two bad guys exit the liquor store.
Right there.
- Can you blow that up? - This is VHS.
- Oh, right.
- It could explode, but it won't blow up anything.
According to the height marker on the door, the guy in the hood is 5 feet, 10 inches.
- How tall is Dante? - Five feet, ten inches.
That doesn't prove anything.
A shadowy figure that's 5'10" could be me.
If you were 5'10".
Is there any other reason that Dante is claiming his innocence? When Sanchez sat with him last night he took a straightforward run at trying to find out the name of our protected witness.
Ha, ha, ha.
Mystery solved.
Dante wants revenge on the guy that put him away.
It could be worse than that.
If Dante locates and hurts the protected witness, our prior knowledge makes us liable.
Not me.
I'm off today.
Bye-bye.
I suggest you contact the witness immediately and offer security.
Also, put together a list of Dante's fellow gang members who were active during the robbery and Ana's murder.
- Okay.
Why? - To see if any of their physical descriptions match the tall guy in this video.
Ma'am, why don't we just ask Dante who the tall guy is? First, we need to be absolutely sure that our confidential witness is in no danger.
- Excuse me.
- Okay.
Protecting the witness, fine.
But jumping through hoops for Dante? No way.
- He can't sue us.
- How come? We had a deal.
And the terms of that deal were that I would give you money for an electric toothbrush.
And you would tell the captain that your mother had contacted you.
- I know.
Which is why we need to reschedule this visit.
Look, lieutenant I tried to find the right time to bring it up, but it didn't come along.
And I don't want Sharon to get the wrong idea about Wrong idea about what? Um Well, uh, captain Ahem.
For what you are about to hear, I apologize.
Um My mom is here.
Well, at a rehab in Long Beach.
And I didn't tell you about it.
And I should have.
And I am sorry.
But Sharon Your mother is in rehab and you have gone to see her there? Yeah.
A couple of times.
But listen, she wants to make amends to people me, you, everyone, really, as part of her recovery, and if you don't mind Lieutenant Provenza and I, we can pick her up right now.
We could bring her here, she could apologize just to get that over and out of the way.
It would only take a few minutes, but, um, I completely understand if you don't want to.
It's not a problem at all.
I'm, uh I'm very surprised, of course but I am looking forward to meeting the other Sharon in your life.
And I am glad that she's in rehab, Rusty.
So bring her? Now.
If you can.
That would be good.
Okay, then.
Uh, we better hurry.
She just has a brief window to be out.
I'll be back with her as soon as we can manage it.
Good, and thank you, lieutenant, for all of your help with this.
Well, that was the worst part.
- Now it's over.
- Ho-ho.
No.
Around here, nothing's ever over.
I thought nobody was ever supposed to find out I spoke about Dante or my name.
Now you're introducing me to all these people.
Cesar, we need to be sure you haven't told anyone about your role as a witness against Dante.
- You think I am crazy? If those guys from his gang knew it was me.
What's going on here? Look, Dante Gomez was granted parole, and he claims he didn't kill Ana Escobedo.
That's crazy.
Wait.
Are you saying that Dante knows I turned him in? There's no reason for you to freak out.
You're with us.
Nothing can happen to you here.
Cesar, let me ask you this: Are you still 100 percent certain about what happened the night that Ana Escobedo was murdered? Yeah.
I mean, it was a long time about, but Dante and Ana were in the park, and they were arguing and I walked by them.
I was about 40 feet on.
I heard two shots.
I turned around, and she was It still shakes me up.
Dante had shot Ana twice.
She was on the ground, and he was running away with a gun in hand.
And you're absolutely sure that it was Dante? Am I sure? It happened fast, but yeah, it was him.
We'll keep our people in the background but you're gonna need protection.
Trust me.
Ma'am, why did you ask if he was sure he saw Dante? To see if there was any wiggle room in his story, and there is.
- About 40 feet.
- When Ana was actually shot, detective Cesar's back was turned.
But Dante was the shooter.
It was his gun.
Which is an excellent reason to have SIS follow him as well.
No need.
Hollywood Division called.
Dante Gomez was just found murdered.
Gomez's grandmother is the person reporting.
Regina Gomez.
Poor thing.
She's been standing on her back porch since she called 911.
An hour ago.
When patrol searched the garage, they found this in the bookshelf.
You got a time, Kendall? I'm thinking between 10 last night and 3 this morning, unless Dr.
Morales says otherwise.
- What about cause of death? - Blunt force trauma to just about everything.
- This guy was beat up.
- No sign of forced entry.
Not surprising, considering the position of the body when we arrived.
Feet there, head there, face down.
It's like he answered the door knew who it was, he turned around - and then got the crap beat out of him.
- Not sure about that.
Buzz, there's blood here on his blanket and pillow.
He may have been injured before he answered the door.
So the death blow came later.
That's strange.
I guess the killer tore this place apart.
- Looking for what? - Here's a scale and baggies so maybe coke or heroin.
The officers who cleared this place found this stuff under his bed, but no drugs.
Julio.
This wasn't your fault.
Whose was it then? I'm gonna talk to his grandmother.
I'll go with him.
Every morning since he got back, Dante came in and made breakfast.
I told him to spend the night out there.
But we eat as a family.
You kept your grandson in the garage? I thought he should earn the right to live under my roof again.
You know how hard it was for me to stay here after he killed that girl across the street? But he paid for that.
We all paid.
And what do you care? I remember you.
You hated Dante.
Ms.
Gomez, what time this morning did you begin to wonder how your grandson was doing? Around 11.
Dante was waking me up days.
So when I got up out of bed and I didn't see him around I went out to the garage.
And then l I called 911.
And you heard nothing during the night? I sleep well.
That's about all I can still do, but I sleep.
Did Dante mention any new friends, or was he acting out of the ordinary at all? Yes.
He took care of me, and then went out to look for a job.
That was not ordinary.
He read books.
That was not ordinary.
I told him, "You did your time.
Don't make trouble.
" But he went around telling everyone that he was innocent.
That was not ordinary.
Ma'am, I assure you that we will do everything we can to find the people No you won't.
You won't do anything.
My son, Dante's father, was shot to death 22 years ago and you people never found his killer.
And my other son was murdered seven years later, and nothing happened.
And now Dante.
The police come by once, and I never see you again.
What do people like us mean to you? Ms.
Gomez, we are very sorry for your loss.
We will do our best to figure out what happened here.
Sure you will.
Who's that? It's the family of the girl that Dante murdered.
They weren't happy about his release.
The older man doesn't look strong enough to beat anyone to death.
What about the sons? - Manuel and Carlos? Good place to start.
- I'll go to the morgue with Dante.
Why don't you and detective Sykes ask Manuel and Carlos downtown for a conversation.
I mean, what do you want me to say, "I'm sorry the guy's dead?" I'm not.
- That's why I have to ask you questions.
- You didn't like Dante either.
Murder is murder, Manny.
It doesn't matter how I feel about the victim.
Let's start when Dante came over to your house yesterday.
Who told you about that? You just did.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's do this for real.
Dante came over about 8, maybe.
What did he want? Say, "Hi, I am back in the hood.
Let's be friends.
" That kind of thing? Yeah.
You believe that? Asshole went right up to my father and said, all church-y altar boy, he said, "I'm not the one who killed Ana.
" You didn't do anything to him, did you? Because he's not looking too good right now.
He didn't look good last night, neither.
What's he expect? He gets out of prison for murdering my sister and suddenly we're supposed to be friends again? No way.
Hey.
What's going on? Where's the captain? Morgue.
Someone killed Dante Gomez.
- How's your personal day going? - Didn't the captain tell you? Tell us what? You'll hear about it soon enough.
He came out of prison, and we left him alone.
I didn't go to his house.
I didn't trust myself to go to his house.
Dude comes over.
Gets in our face.
Saying how he loved Ana.
Well, we all know he killed her.
So, how did you help him understand? We physically explained how we felt about his new story.
That's how.
Along with a multitude of contusions, pretty much everywhere Mr.
Gomez has a broken arm and collar bone.
I'm guessing when he was attacked he raised his left arm, but his arm was insufficient.
We found this in the bushes next to your front porch.
Did you use this to beat Dante? - There's blood on it.
- Look.
Okay.
We had to show Dante and the whole neighborhood how we felt about him saying he was innocent.
And we did it real public like, with a real bat.
Wood fibers in the laceration on the shoulder.
And in addition to being ugly, the hematoma at the base of the skull shattered his C1 cervical vertebrae.
After, Dante ran back across the street to his granny.
That would've ended all movement from the neck down.
So the attack came after he got up from his bed and opened his door.
That was the death blow.
Yes.
Hey, we didn't kill Dante.
Well, at least, not on purpose.
Why pull your punches then, if you were in the right? Because Dante was protected.
If me and Manny had finished him off, ha, ha you'd be putting me on ice too.
Dante was protected? Who protected him? Hey.
Listen to this.
Hey, Manny, we've been through a lot together.
- Don't make me arrest you to get his name.
- You ain't gonna do that.
Why do you think we read you your rights before we brought you here? Tell me who was protecting Dante, or I will book you for assault with a deadly weapon.
Hector Zamora.
Dante was protected by Hector Zamora.
You better not be lying.
Hector Zamora.
Can't wait to meet him.
Okay, let me get this personal-day crap out of the way now that we have a real murder.
Come on.
Come on.
Pick up.
Pick up.
Yes, lieutenant, what's going on? Rusty and his mother are waiting for you in the super cubicle.
What reason did you give the rehab for removing Sharon back into your custody? - Rusty's mother? Well, I told Mrs.
Beck's minders that L.
A.
P.
D.
Had an open case file on her for child abandonment and we wanted to question her.
Look, if it's a bad day for this, um, I could send her back to rehab with patrol and I'll punch in.
Hold on.
Let me see.
Dr.
Morales, is there anything else? I believe the victim was attacked twice.
Beatings came a few hours apart.
I could change my mind once I cut open the body.
Wanna wait and see? I told her you don't have much time because you're solving a murder.
She can't stay for long either.
Lieutenant Provenza promised her back by 4.
We will say a quick hello.
We will apologize for keeping No, no, no.
She wants to apologize to you.
And she has to do that.
Okay.
We will get that out of the way.
Lieutenant, how are we doing on the video from the liquor-store robbery? I've got it to where Buzz can finish it.
Five minutes, maybe.
Sharon Raydor, this is my mom, Sharon Beck.
Before I say anything else, captain I just wanna say how grateful I am to you.
For taking my son into your home and caring for him.
Putting him through school.
It's really It's a miracle to find him like this.
You don't need to thank me.
Rusty has worked so hard.
And, uh, helping him reach his potential, it's been a great joy.
Okay.
Okay.
That's enough about me.
Mom, Sharon doesn't have much time.
Right.
I know, and I'm not really allowed to be out of my treatment program for more than a few hours.
What facility are you staying at? Signal Hill Recovery in Long Beach.
Ah.
- "Ah.
" Why do you say it like that? - Well, Signal Hill is one of the rehab centers that L.
A.
County uses for, um, drug sentencing.
So, what does that mean? Honey, I told you when we were picked up by the police, Gary was sent to jail, but I wasn't.
What I didn't tell you is, uh, that I was given a choice.
Between going to trial or checking into Signal Hill.
Oh.
So you didn't go into rehab on your own? Rusty, your mom had a choice and she chose Signal Hill.
- How long do you have left on your program? - I'm 45 days sober.
At 60, it becomes voluntary, but I intend to stay.
If they will let me.
Well, it's not voluntary yet and I hate to bring this up, but we got squeezed on our schedule today.
So, uh, if we're gonna get you back on time Of course.
Of course.
You're busy.
Um, let me just say, as I've said to Rusty, how sorry I am to have left my little boy on his own for you all to take care of.
And I wish I had behaved better.
And I hope that you all will let me prove that to you.
Of course.
Of course, we will.
Come here.
Oh.
You've made a very big step forward today, Sharon.
And know too, we understand how hard addiction is.
What a positive decision it is to quit.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Well, I wish I had a camera but we'll just have to remember this as our first big goodbye.
- And the car is parked three blocks away.
- Okay.
Thank you, again.
It was so nice to meet you, captain.
- Wind it up.
- Yeah.
I'll be right there.
It's bad, isn't it? That she didn't check into rehab on her own? Rusty, how she got there is not as important as what she does with it.
Heh.
Okay.
These are screen grabs of the high-res version of the robbery.
We've been able to pull together a much clearer image of the guy Dante said he was with.
We ran his facial features through recog and we got a good partial hit.
Not admissible, but if you put the two photos side by side It's Hector Zamora.
Hector robbed the store with Dante protected him in prison and after he got out, but why? Like I'll say that's me so you can try me again.
Statute of limitations ran out years ago.
- And you're doing life.
- Nothing we can do about this now.
- So why talk about it, then? - Better cell.
Better visitation.
Better recreation schedule.
More care packages from home.
It's up to you.
- All right.
That's me.
- We know that.
- We wanna know who this other guy is.
- I'm not telling you that.
Hector, you can't protect him anymore.
- When did this happen? - Sometime late last night.
- Who? - That's for us to find out.
You can help by telling us if this was Dante Gomez in the liquor store with you the night you robbed it.
Man, what a wasted life.
All right.
Those guys in your video.
Yeah, that's me, and the only real friend I ever had, Dante Gomez.
Hector, you know Dante went to prison for killing a girl that same night? If he was with you, why did he confess? Armed robbery is a lot less time than murder.
I had two strikes, man.
If Dante had copped to this robbery, everyone would've known I was the other guy.
Dante confessed to murder to keep you out of a life term? Yeah, and I lasted for a whole seven months.
But when I got to prison, I took care of him.
Lifetime protection.
All these deals we make.
You see, Dante took one and the justice system didn't work for him.
Dante didn't let the justice system work for him.
He refused justice.
He lied.
Yeah.
Well, he's not the only liar we've spent time with lately.
Okay, Cesar, we need you to look at this picture.
That's Hector Zamora.
And here he is again with Dante Gomez.
Dante Gomez was robbing a liquor store at the very same time you said he murdered Ana.
- That's not Dante.
Can't recognize - You're lying.
Cesar, if we prove you're not telling us the truth I will end your status as a confidential witness and Hector Zamora will find out.
Or tell us the truth, and we'll go on protecting you.
- Are you sure? You can't even tell that's him.
- Did you see Dante kill Ana Escobedo or not? - Answer me! - No.
Okay? I didn't.
I didn't see anything.
I wasn't even around the park that night.
I was on the other side of town getting drunk.
But you gave a sworn statement against Dante.
Why? Listen, I am sorry I lied, okay? You're sorry? That's it? If you think Dante wouldn't end up in prison anyway, then you're just as stupid as he was.
If it hadn't been Ana, it would've been somebody else.
He's dead! Get it? The guy is dead! RAYDOR: Julio.
Julio, that's enough! That is enough.
I want you to control your temper right now.
Cesar, have a seat.
Cesar, maybe you can tell us why you lied about Dante.
They said if I didn't tell the police Dante did it, they'd kill me too.
Okay, who's "they"? Who was gonna kill you? I can't.
- Look, tell us who killed Ana, and we'll - Protect me? Like you did Dante? I may be dead already.
Don't you realize? Those people that killed him they've been threatening me for years.
They'll follow through.
They will.
They'll follow through.
How was the ride home yesterday with your mother? - It was fine, I guess.
- Good.
I don't know.
I mean, I was upset, but I didn't tell her.
- Why not? - I definitely wanna be there for her.
If she's going to stop using drugs, but But I don't wanna be, um Dr.
Joe would say Do you know what "enabling" means? Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
She never would have told me she was sentenced to rehab, if you didn't ask.
And I am definitely never living with her again or being her, like, babysitter, if that's what she's planning.
And she asked me if I wanted to go and visit her again this weekend.
And you don't wanna go? I mean, I do.
But how do I have a relationship with her where she can't make her using or not using about me in any way? Well I could go with you.
No.
No, you don't wanna do that.
I think I do.
- Really? - Really.
I would like to make my own evaluation.
And maybe I can help steer the conversation in the right direction.
Sharon, that would be great.
But I don't wanna put you out.
I mean, any more than I have over the last two years.
I already don't know how I'm gonna pay you back for everything.
Rusty, I've told you a hundred times.
I know, I know, graduate and go to college.
But Sharon, there's got to be something in all of this for you too.
There is.
Why wouldn't she tell me everything? How did she think that I wouldn't find out? Maybe she's still trying to find the right words.
The witness recanted.
It means that he took back what he says.
Yeah, I know what it means.
Why'd he recant? You know who this is? Hector Zamora.
You see when this was? The night Ana was killed.
And the other guy with Hector was Dante.
The robbery that Hector and Dante pulled off happened at the exact same time that your sister was murdered.
- Twenty six miles away.
- Looks like you two killed the wrong guy.
- We didn't kill anybody.
- Wait.
Hold on.
You put Dante in prison for killing Ana.
You told us someone saw him shoot her.
Turns out Cesar didn't actually see anything that night.
- Cesar? - Cesar Padilla.
You remember him.
You've been intimidating him ever since the night your sister was killed.
Cesar.
- They mean Shrimpy.
- Ha, ha.
That's what we call him.
Why'd we intimidate Shrimpy? - That's what we wanna know.
- No, man, Shrimpy was harmless.
Except he had a thing for Ana.
Always hanging around, giving her flowers - candy, little notes.
- We used to laugh at him.
He never had a chance with Ana.
She was all about Dante.
When we got the call about Ana, he came over to the house all crying and everything.
Why would he lie about Dante and then take it all back? Oops.
Looks like I'm taking you the wrong way.
We have to take you to our visitor center.
My apologies.
Mr.
Padilla, thank you for coming.
- What did you just do? - What? Have a seat.
- You let Hector Zamora see me.
- Sit down.
Before we get into that, do you remember all your constitutional rights? You don't have to talk to us or answer questions if you don't want.
You have the right to an attorney if you want I don't need an attorney.
I need a new identity.
You have to put me in the witness protection program or something now.
You already admitted to lying to Detective Sanchez about what you saw the night Ana was murdered.
Now you have to tell us why, or we will charge you with covering up a murder.
- What? - He never testified under oath.
So he can't be held liable for making a false statement.
Don't fixate on the details, Hobbs.
Okay.
It was Manuel and Carlos.
They're the ones who made me say Dante killed Ana.
You were nowhere in the vicinity the night Ana Escobedo was killed? - No.
- Well, now you're lying again.
We have a lot of witnesses who say you were over at Ana's house after she was murdered.
Crying because you were in love with her, Shrimpy.
- No.
No.
She was Dante's girl.
- Not after she was dead and Dante was in prison.
And they didn't date anymore after that, did they? That's my cue.
If you'll excuse me.
But you didn't expect Dante to get out of prison - and reopen Ana's murder? - You heard about that.
You were afraid it would lead back to you.
And guess what.
It has.
Mr.
Padilla.
These items were taken from Dante Gomez's garage.
Scale.
- Baggies.
- Which you planted to make it look like Dante was killed for drugs.
Just like you planted the pistol you shot Ana with in his car 17 years ago.
- I didn't do that.
- And then there's this bat.
Word all over the neighborhood was that the Escobedos beat up Dante Gomez on their front lawn with a baseball bat.
They did it in public to let everyone know how they felt.
Later that night, you went out to the garage where he was staying, with this bat.
Wait.
That's not my bat.
He's not too bright, is he? - Thank God.
- Are you saying you don't have a bat? Careful.
You've already lied too much.
No, I have a bat.
But it's not made of wood.
It's metal.
And it's got a grip on the handle, a blue grip.
Actually, I'd say the grip on that handle is more than just blue.
It has spots of red on it.
Dante's blood, I think.
I'm assuming we had a warrant to search Cesar's house.
- And car.
- We were thorough.
The bat you described so well, is yours.
- And it has your fingerprints all over it.
- No.
Mr.
Padilla, we already have two witnesses, Manuel and Carlos Escobedo.
They saw you go into Dante's garage.
They know that you killed him.
They were fine with that, until they found out you were the one who killed their sister.
No.
Come on.
Hey, this dirtbag lied to us about being a witness for 17 years.
We can lie to him about witnesses for a few minutes.
- Oh, my God.
- There are two ways this can go.
First, we get you a lawyer.
You sign a confession to both murders and we start the deal-making process which ends with you in prison far, far away, under a different name.
Or we arrest you for the murder of Dante, and you can take your chances with Hector Zamora.
But you'd protect me again if I do what's right? I'm not the same person, you know? I've changed over the years.
Oh, write that down too.
Write down how you've changed.
I'm sure it'll make a big difference when we start the deal-making process.
- Do you think so? - A big difference.
Yeah.
What's the matter? I liked seeing her, and I definitely want to see her again.
But maybe today I should just call and say, "You know, I'm glad you're doing better.
Uh, get back in touch when you're a little further along.
" And if you never hear from her again? Is that gonna be okay with you? No.
No, I'm just talking about how I'm feeling.
- Maybe.
- Hmm.
You know what? We're both ready.
Let's just go.
- I think you'll be glad you did.
- You know what I am saying? I know it's the right thing to do.
I get that.
I just wish that doing the right thing felt better.
Well, it'll feel better than doing the wrong thing.
I promise you that.
Okay.
Dante was innocent? - Yes, ma'am.
- He was a rotten kid.
He never listened.
He did a lot of bad things.
- You sure about this? - Yes, ma'am.
But that's not the only reason I came by.
I reopened the investigations into the murders of your two sons.
I need to ask you some questions.
- Really? - Yes, ma'am.
Where are all the other police? This is something that I'm doing on my own time.
Let's start with your oldest son, Marco.
He was Dante's dad, wasn't he? Yes, and the worst father in the world, and a terrible son.
But I loved him all the same.
How do you explain this to people? No one understands.
I don't need to understand, Ms.
Gomez.
I just need to arrest the person who killed him.
Can you fill out a little paperwork for me? Okay.
Sure.
You know you remind me of Marco a little.
I bet you're stubborn, aren't you?
She told her mother and me that it was the happiest night of her life.
After her party, Dante Gomez, this man who grew up across the street from my family and knew Ana her whole life, who said he loved her Dante Gomez shot my little girl.
And he ran away.
He left my daughter lying on the ground.
Dead.
Ana's been gone 17 years.
When I see this monster here today asking for his freedom feels like it was only yesterday.
Do not forget the victim when you hear this man.
Because we do not forget her.
We do not forget her.
Thank you, Mr.
Escobedo.
Know that the State is not indifferent to your family's suffering.
All right.
Mr.
Dante Sosa Gomez, you are 17 years into a 20 year sentence for the second-degree murder of Ana Escobedo, correct? Yes, ma'am.
And you are seeking early release for this heinous crime based on good behavior? Is that it? No amount of good behavior can justify my release.
Mr.
Gomez, at the time of your conviction, you were a 16-year-old gang member and a high school drop-out.
Is that correct? Yes, sir.
We've read your prepared statement and were impressed with the writing.
Could you read it aloud for us? "I am responsible for taking the life of Ana Escobedo.
I apologize to her family and everyone who loved her.
With no expectation of forgiveness.
But by legal standards, I am qualified to petition you for early release.
My conduct in prison should not lessen my punishment for the violent behavior that has led to so much tragedy.
I thankfully accept whatever decision you make in my regard as an expression of the will of God.
Sincerely, Dante Gomez.
" Given your clean record of prison behavior the majority of time served, and your status as a juvenile at the time of your conviction the board is inclined to grant your application of parole for two years.
Don't blow it, Mr.
Gomez.
You have three minutes.
What do you want? First, Julio, I wanna thank you.
My arrest was the best thing that ever happened to me.
All but one of my friends from before are dead.
I'm still here.
- I even got a chance at a college education.
- You're welcome.
I'll mention all that stuff to Ana Escobedo the next time I see her.
I did not kill Ana.
Oh, jeez.
Here we go.
That's not what you said in court when being sentenced.
That's not what you said last week to the parole board.
- You told the commissioners - I said what was necessary to get out of prison for a crime I didn't commit.
And I'd like your help so the truth can be told.
Okay.
I'll help you.
You shot Ana Escobedo twice in the chest.
An eye-witness saw it go down.
You confessed.
You ever need reminding you call me.
Who was the witness against me? Name is confidential.
Part of the deal you agreed to in exchange for second-degree murder.
What's this about, Dante? You're free.
Why drag it all out again? Because I didn't kill Ana.
I loved her.
When she died, I wasn't thinking straight.
It didn't occur to me until later that the person responsible is still out there.
And my grandmother is old and sick.
I don't want her to die thinking I'm a murderer.
I'm not.
Hey, keep your hands above the table.
"1709 East Carson Street.
" That's where I was the night Ana was murdered.
Look it up for yourselves.
That's where I was.
is a liquor store in Northridge.
Held up 17 years ago the night Dante Gomez murdered Ana Escobedo.
Robbery was never solved.
How far away is this liquor store from where Ana Escobedo was murdered.
Twenty-seven miles, but it doesn't matter.
We can't ID Dante from this footage, anyway.
And you can tell that the guy taking the cash isn't Dante.
- Even with this crappy video.
- Hey, it's from an old VHS shut in the case box from almost two decades.
- Had to splice it almost 100 times to play.
- Why are we even are we even pursuing this? The justice system has spoken, loud and clear, and I'm leaving soon.
Detective Sanchez is required to inform his commanding officer of any and all reported murders.
- Oh, God, the rules.
Why did I ask? Here's the evidence from the Escobedo murder.
Great.
One second, detective.
What are our chances of ID'ing anyone off this old tape.
You know, I could get some more face on the tall guy here.
Do a high-res video transfer.
Then auto-pixel each individual frame that he appears in.
- Then saturate with primary colors - Tao.
Can you ID the guy or not? - I thought you were taking a personal day.
- Fine.
Just go on like I am not here.
- See if I care.
- Okay.
If we could solve this old robbery and then locate the other suspects - Yes.
If he's still alive.
- Seventeen years.
That's a century in gang-land.
Maybe he could tell us Dante wasn't with him, and we will have done our due diligence.
Or we could review the evidence.
Okay, here is the murder weapon that I found in Dante's car the night Ana was shot.
And we had an eyewitness who saw the murder happen.
And here's Dante's Statement of Facts where he confessed to the murder in open court.
- You called the DA over this? - No.
Dante came to our office after talking to you guys.
I said I would review the evidence with you.
- Are we done? - Whoa, whoa.
Wait.
Buzz, be kind, rewind.
Just before the, uh, two bad guys exit the liquor store.
Right there.
- Can you blow that up? - This is VHS.
- Oh, right.
- It could explode, but it won't blow up anything.
According to the height marker on the door, the guy in the hood is 5 feet, 10 inches.
- How tall is Dante? - Five feet, ten inches.
That doesn't prove anything.
A shadowy figure that's 5'10" could be me.
If you were 5'10".
Is there any other reason that Dante is claiming his innocence? When Sanchez sat with him last night he took a straightforward run at trying to find out the name of our protected witness.
Ha, ha, ha.
Mystery solved.
Dante wants revenge on the guy that put him away.
It could be worse than that.
If Dante locates and hurts the protected witness, our prior knowledge makes us liable.
Not me.
I'm off today.
Bye-bye.
I suggest you contact the witness immediately and offer security.
Also, put together a list of Dante's fellow gang members who were active during the robbery and Ana's murder.
- Okay.
Why? - To see if any of their physical descriptions match the tall guy in this video.
Ma'am, why don't we just ask Dante who the tall guy is? First, we need to be absolutely sure that our confidential witness is in no danger.
- Excuse me.
- Okay.
Protecting the witness, fine.
But jumping through hoops for Dante? No way.
- He can't sue us.
- How come? We had a deal.
And the terms of that deal were that I would give you money for an electric toothbrush.
And you would tell the captain that your mother had contacted you.
- I know.
Which is why we need to reschedule this visit.
Look, lieutenant I tried to find the right time to bring it up, but it didn't come along.
And I don't want Sharon to get the wrong idea about Wrong idea about what? Um Well, uh, captain Ahem.
For what you are about to hear, I apologize.
Um My mom is here.
Well, at a rehab in Long Beach.
And I didn't tell you about it.
And I should have.
And I am sorry.
But Sharon Your mother is in rehab and you have gone to see her there? Yeah.
A couple of times.
But listen, she wants to make amends to people me, you, everyone, really, as part of her recovery, and if you don't mind Lieutenant Provenza and I, we can pick her up right now.
We could bring her here, she could apologize just to get that over and out of the way.
It would only take a few minutes, but, um, I completely understand if you don't want to.
It's not a problem at all.
I'm, uh I'm very surprised, of course but I am looking forward to meeting the other Sharon in your life.
And I am glad that she's in rehab, Rusty.
So bring her? Now.
If you can.
That would be good.
Okay, then.
Uh, we better hurry.
She just has a brief window to be out.
I'll be back with her as soon as we can manage it.
Good, and thank you, lieutenant, for all of your help with this.
Well, that was the worst part.
- Now it's over.
- Ho-ho.
No.
Around here, nothing's ever over.
I thought nobody was ever supposed to find out I spoke about Dante or my name.
Now you're introducing me to all these people.
Cesar, we need to be sure you haven't told anyone about your role as a witness against Dante.
- You think I am crazy? If those guys from his gang knew it was me.
What's going on here? Look, Dante Gomez was granted parole, and he claims he didn't kill Ana Escobedo.
That's crazy.
Wait.
Are you saying that Dante knows I turned him in? There's no reason for you to freak out.
You're with us.
Nothing can happen to you here.
Cesar, let me ask you this: Are you still 100 percent certain about what happened the night that Ana Escobedo was murdered? Yeah.
I mean, it was a long time about, but Dante and Ana were in the park, and they were arguing and I walked by them.
I was about 40 feet on.
I heard two shots.
I turned around, and she was It still shakes me up.
Dante had shot Ana twice.
She was on the ground, and he was running away with a gun in hand.
And you're absolutely sure that it was Dante? Am I sure? It happened fast, but yeah, it was him.
We'll keep our people in the background but you're gonna need protection.
Trust me.
Ma'am, why did you ask if he was sure he saw Dante? To see if there was any wiggle room in his story, and there is.
- About 40 feet.
- When Ana was actually shot, detective Cesar's back was turned.
But Dante was the shooter.
It was his gun.
Which is an excellent reason to have SIS follow him as well.
No need.
Hollywood Division called.
Dante Gomez was just found murdered.
Gomez's grandmother is the person reporting.
Regina Gomez.
Poor thing.
She's been standing on her back porch since she called 911.
An hour ago.
When patrol searched the garage, they found this in the bookshelf.
You got a time, Kendall? I'm thinking between 10 last night and 3 this morning, unless Dr.
Morales says otherwise.
- What about cause of death? - Blunt force trauma to just about everything.
- This guy was beat up.
- No sign of forced entry.
Not surprising, considering the position of the body when we arrived.
Feet there, head there, face down.
It's like he answered the door knew who it was, he turned around - and then got the crap beat out of him.
- Not sure about that.
Buzz, there's blood here on his blanket and pillow.
He may have been injured before he answered the door.
So the death blow came later.
That's strange.
I guess the killer tore this place apart.
- Looking for what? - Here's a scale and baggies so maybe coke or heroin.
The officers who cleared this place found this stuff under his bed, but no drugs.
Julio.
This wasn't your fault.
Whose was it then? I'm gonna talk to his grandmother.
I'll go with him.
Every morning since he got back, Dante came in and made breakfast.
I told him to spend the night out there.
But we eat as a family.
You kept your grandson in the garage? I thought he should earn the right to live under my roof again.
You know how hard it was for me to stay here after he killed that girl across the street? But he paid for that.
We all paid.
And what do you care? I remember you.
You hated Dante.
Ms.
Gomez, what time this morning did you begin to wonder how your grandson was doing? Around 11.
Dante was waking me up days.
So when I got up out of bed and I didn't see him around I went out to the garage.
And then l I called 911.
And you heard nothing during the night? I sleep well.
That's about all I can still do, but I sleep.
Did Dante mention any new friends, or was he acting out of the ordinary at all? Yes.
He took care of me, and then went out to look for a job.
That was not ordinary.
He read books.
That was not ordinary.
I told him, "You did your time.
Don't make trouble.
" But he went around telling everyone that he was innocent.
That was not ordinary.
Ma'am, I assure you that we will do everything we can to find the people No you won't.
You won't do anything.
My son, Dante's father, was shot to death 22 years ago and you people never found his killer.
And my other son was murdered seven years later, and nothing happened.
And now Dante.
The police come by once, and I never see you again.
What do people like us mean to you? Ms.
Gomez, we are very sorry for your loss.
We will do our best to figure out what happened here.
Sure you will.
Who's that? It's the family of the girl that Dante murdered.
They weren't happy about his release.
The older man doesn't look strong enough to beat anyone to death.
What about the sons? - Manuel and Carlos? Good place to start.
- I'll go to the morgue with Dante.
Why don't you and detective Sykes ask Manuel and Carlos downtown for a conversation.
I mean, what do you want me to say, "I'm sorry the guy's dead?" I'm not.
- That's why I have to ask you questions.
- You didn't like Dante either.
Murder is murder, Manny.
It doesn't matter how I feel about the victim.
Let's start when Dante came over to your house yesterday.
Who told you about that? You just did.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's do this for real.
Dante came over about 8, maybe.
What did he want? Say, "Hi, I am back in the hood.
Let's be friends.
" That kind of thing? Yeah.
You believe that? Asshole went right up to my father and said, all church-y altar boy, he said, "I'm not the one who killed Ana.
" You didn't do anything to him, did you? Because he's not looking too good right now.
He didn't look good last night, neither.
What's he expect? He gets out of prison for murdering my sister and suddenly we're supposed to be friends again? No way.
Hey.
What's going on? Where's the captain? Morgue.
Someone killed Dante Gomez.
- How's your personal day going? - Didn't the captain tell you? Tell us what? You'll hear about it soon enough.
He came out of prison, and we left him alone.
I didn't go to his house.
I didn't trust myself to go to his house.
Dude comes over.
Gets in our face.
Saying how he loved Ana.
Well, we all know he killed her.
So, how did you help him understand? We physically explained how we felt about his new story.
That's how.
Along with a multitude of contusions, pretty much everywhere Mr.
Gomez has a broken arm and collar bone.
I'm guessing when he was attacked he raised his left arm, but his arm was insufficient.
We found this in the bushes next to your front porch.
Did you use this to beat Dante? - There's blood on it.
- Look.
Okay.
We had to show Dante and the whole neighborhood how we felt about him saying he was innocent.
And we did it real public like, with a real bat.
Wood fibers in the laceration on the shoulder.
And in addition to being ugly, the hematoma at the base of the skull shattered his C1 cervical vertebrae.
After, Dante ran back across the street to his granny.
That would've ended all movement from the neck down.
So the attack came after he got up from his bed and opened his door.
That was the death blow.
Yes.
Hey, we didn't kill Dante.
Well, at least, not on purpose.
Why pull your punches then, if you were in the right? Because Dante was protected.
If me and Manny had finished him off, ha, ha you'd be putting me on ice too.
Dante was protected? Who protected him? Hey.
Listen to this.
Hey, Manny, we've been through a lot together.
- Don't make me arrest you to get his name.
- You ain't gonna do that.
Why do you think we read you your rights before we brought you here? Tell me who was protecting Dante, or I will book you for assault with a deadly weapon.
Hector Zamora.
Dante was protected by Hector Zamora.
You better not be lying.
Hector Zamora.
Can't wait to meet him.
Okay, let me get this personal-day crap out of the way now that we have a real murder.
Come on.
Come on.
Pick up.
Pick up.
Yes, lieutenant, what's going on? Rusty and his mother are waiting for you in the super cubicle.
What reason did you give the rehab for removing Sharon back into your custody? - Rusty's mother? Well, I told Mrs.
Beck's minders that L.
A.
P.
D.
Had an open case file on her for child abandonment and we wanted to question her.
Look, if it's a bad day for this, um, I could send her back to rehab with patrol and I'll punch in.
Hold on.
Let me see.
Dr.
Morales, is there anything else? I believe the victim was attacked twice.
Beatings came a few hours apart.
I could change my mind once I cut open the body.
Wanna wait and see? I told her you don't have much time because you're solving a murder.
She can't stay for long either.
Lieutenant Provenza promised her back by 4.
We will say a quick hello.
We will apologize for keeping No, no, no.
She wants to apologize to you.
And she has to do that.
Okay.
We will get that out of the way.
Lieutenant, how are we doing on the video from the liquor-store robbery? I've got it to where Buzz can finish it.
Five minutes, maybe.
Sharon Raydor, this is my mom, Sharon Beck.
Before I say anything else, captain I just wanna say how grateful I am to you.
For taking my son into your home and caring for him.
Putting him through school.
It's really It's a miracle to find him like this.
You don't need to thank me.
Rusty has worked so hard.
And, uh, helping him reach his potential, it's been a great joy.
Okay.
Okay.
That's enough about me.
Mom, Sharon doesn't have much time.
Right.
I know, and I'm not really allowed to be out of my treatment program for more than a few hours.
What facility are you staying at? Signal Hill Recovery in Long Beach.
Ah.
- "Ah.
" Why do you say it like that? - Well, Signal Hill is one of the rehab centers that L.
A.
County uses for, um, drug sentencing.
So, what does that mean? Honey, I told you when we were picked up by the police, Gary was sent to jail, but I wasn't.
What I didn't tell you is, uh, that I was given a choice.
Between going to trial or checking into Signal Hill.
Oh.
So you didn't go into rehab on your own? Rusty, your mom had a choice and she chose Signal Hill.
- How long do you have left on your program? - I'm 45 days sober.
At 60, it becomes voluntary, but I intend to stay.
If they will let me.
Well, it's not voluntary yet and I hate to bring this up, but we got squeezed on our schedule today.
So, uh, if we're gonna get you back on time Of course.
Of course.
You're busy.
Um, let me just say, as I've said to Rusty, how sorry I am to have left my little boy on his own for you all to take care of.
And I wish I had behaved better.
And I hope that you all will let me prove that to you.
Of course.
Of course, we will.
Come here.
Oh.
You've made a very big step forward today, Sharon.
And know too, we understand how hard addiction is.
What a positive decision it is to quit.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Well, I wish I had a camera but we'll just have to remember this as our first big goodbye.
- And the car is parked three blocks away.
- Okay.
Thank you, again.
It was so nice to meet you, captain.
- Wind it up.
- Yeah.
I'll be right there.
It's bad, isn't it? That she didn't check into rehab on her own? Rusty, how she got there is not as important as what she does with it.
Heh.
Okay.
These are screen grabs of the high-res version of the robbery.
We've been able to pull together a much clearer image of the guy Dante said he was with.
We ran his facial features through recog and we got a good partial hit.
Not admissible, but if you put the two photos side by side It's Hector Zamora.
Hector robbed the store with Dante protected him in prison and after he got out, but why? Like I'll say that's me so you can try me again.
Statute of limitations ran out years ago.
- And you're doing life.
- Nothing we can do about this now.
- So why talk about it, then? - Better cell.
Better visitation.
Better recreation schedule.
More care packages from home.
It's up to you.
- All right.
That's me.
- We know that.
- We wanna know who this other guy is.
- I'm not telling you that.
Hector, you can't protect him anymore.
- When did this happen? - Sometime late last night.
- Who? - That's for us to find out.
You can help by telling us if this was Dante Gomez in the liquor store with you the night you robbed it.
Man, what a wasted life.
All right.
Those guys in your video.
Yeah, that's me, and the only real friend I ever had, Dante Gomez.
Hector, you know Dante went to prison for killing a girl that same night? If he was with you, why did he confess? Armed robbery is a lot less time than murder.
I had two strikes, man.
If Dante had copped to this robbery, everyone would've known I was the other guy.
Dante confessed to murder to keep you out of a life term? Yeah, and I lasted for a whole seven months.
But when I got to prison, I took care of him.
Lifetime protection.
All these deals we make.
You see, Dante took one and the justice system didn't work for him.
Dante didn't let the justice system work for him.
He refused justice.
He lied.
Yeah.
Well, he's not the only liar we've spent time with lately.
Okay, Cesar, we need you to look at this picture.
That's Hector Zamora.
And here he is again with Dante Gomez.
Dante Gomez was robbing a liquor store at the very same time you said he murdered Ana.
- That's not Dante.
Can't recognize - You're lying.
Cesar, if we prove you're not telling us the truth I will end your status as a confidential witness and Hector Zamora will find out.
Or tell us the truth, and we'll go on protecting you.
- Are you sure? You can't even tell that's him.
- Did you see Dante kill Ana Escobedo or not? - Answer me! - No.
Okay? I didn't.
I didn't see anything.
I wasn't even around the park that night.
I was on the other side of town getting drunk.
But you gave a sworn statement against Dante.
Why? Listen, I am sorry I lied, okay? You're sorry? That's it? If you think Dante wouldn't end up in prison anyway, then you're just as stupid as he was.
If it hadn't been Ana, it would've been somebody else.
He's dead! Get it? The guy is dead! RAYDOR: Julio.
Julio, that's enough! That is enough.
I want you to control your temper right now.
Cesar, have a seat.
Cesar, maybe you can tell us why you lied about Dante.
They said if I didn't tell the police Dante did it, they'd kill me too.
Okay, who's "they"? Who was gonna kill you? I can't.
- Look, tell us who killed Ana, and we'll - Protect me? Like you did Dante? I may be dead already.
Don't you realize? Those people that killed him they've been threatening me for years.
They'll follow through.
They will.
They'll follow through.
How was the ride home yesterday with your mother? - It was fine, I guess.
- Good.
I don't know.
I mean, I was upset, but I didn't tell her.
- Why not? - I definitely wanna be there for her.
If she's going to stop using drugs, but But I don't wanna be, um Dr.
Joe would say Do you know what "enabling" means? Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
She never would have told me she was sentenced to rehab, if you didn't ask.
And I am definitely never living with her again or being her, like, babysitter, if that's what she's planning.
And she asked me if I wanted to go and visit her again this weekend.
And you don't wanna go? I mean, I do.
But how do I have a relationship with her where she can't make her using or not using about me in any way? Well I could go with you.
No.
No, you don't wanna do that.
I think I do.
- Really? - Really.
I would like to make my own evaluation.
And maybe I can help steer the conversation in the right direction.
Sharon, that would be great.
But I don't wanna put you out.
I mean, any more than I have over the last two years.
I already don't know how I'm gonna pay you back for everything.
Rusty, I've told you a hundred times.
I know, I know, graduate and go to college.
But Sharon, there's got to be something in all of this for you too.
There is.
Why wouldn't she tell me everything? How did she think that I wouldn't find out? Maybe she's still trying to find the right words.
The witness recanted.
It means that he took back what he says.
Yeah, I know what it means.
Why'd he recant? You know who this is? Hector Zamora.
You see when this was? The night Ana was killed.
And the other guy with Hector was Dante.
The robbery that Hector and Dante pulled off happened at the exact same time that your sister was murdered.
- Twenty six miles away.
- Looks like you two killed the wrong guy.
- We didn't kill anybody.
- Wait.
Hold on.
You put Dante in prison for killing Ana.
You told us someone saw him shoot her.
Turns out Cesar didn't actually see anything that night.
- Cesar? - Cesar Padilla.
You remember him.
You've been intimidating him ever since the night your sister was killed.
Cesar.
- They mean Shrimpy.
- Ha, ha.
That's what we call him.
Why'd we intimidate Shrimpy? - That's what we wanna know.
- No, man, Shrimpy was harmless.
Except he had a thing for Ana.
Always hanging around, giving her flowers - candy, little notes.
- We used to laugh at him.
He never had a chance with Ana.
She was all about Dante.
When we got the call about Ana, he came over to the house all crying and everything.
Why would he lie about Dante and then take it all back? Oops.
Looks like I'm taking you the wrong way.
We have to take you to our visitor center.
My apologies.
Mr.
Padilla, thank you for coming.
- What did you just do? - What? Have a seat.
- You let Hector Zamora see me.
- Sit down.
Before we get into that, do you remember all your constitutional rights? You don't have to talk to us or answer questions if you don't want.
You have the right to an attorney if you want I don't need an attorney.
I need a new identity.
You have to put me in the witness protection program or something now.
You already admitted to lying to Detective Sanchez about what you saw the night Ana was murdered.
Now you have to tell us why, or we will charge you with covering up a murder.
- What? - He never testified under oath.
So he can't be held liable for making a false statement.
Don't fixate on the details, Hobbs.
Okay.
It was Manuel and Carlos.
They're the ones who made me say Dante killed Ana.
You were nowhere in the vicinity the night Ana Escobedo was killed? - No.
- Well, now you're lying again.
We have a lot of witnesses who say you were over at Ana's house after she was murdered.
Crying because you were in love with her, Shrimpy.
- No.
No.
She was Dante's girl.
- Not after she was dead and Dante was in prison.
And they didn't date anymore after that, did they? That's my cue.
If you'll excuse me.
But you didn't expect Dante to get out of prison - and reopen Ana's murder? - You heard about that.
You were afraid it would lead back to you.
And guess what.
It has.
Mr.
Padilla.
These items were taken from Dante Gomez's garage.
Scale.
- Baggies.
- Which you planted to make it look like Dante was killed for drugs.
Just like you planted the pistol you shot Ana with in his car 17 years ago.
- I didn't do that.
- And then there's this bat.
Word all over the neighborhood was that the Escobedos beat up Dante Gomez on their front lawn with a baseball bat.
They did it in public to let everyone know how they felt.
Later that night, you went out to the garage where he was staying, with this bat.
Wait.
That's not my bat.
He's not too bright, is he? - Thank God.
- Are you saying you don't have a bat? Careful.
You've already lied too much.
No, I have a bat.
But it's not made of wood.
It's metal.
And it's got a grip on the handle, a blue grip.
Actually, I'd say the grip on that handle is more than just blue.
It has spots of red on it.
Dante's blood, I think.
I'm assuming we had a warrant to search Cesar's house.
- And car.
- We were thorough.
The bat you described so well, is yours.
- And it has your fingerprints all over it.
- No.
Mr.
Padilla, we already have two witnesses, Manuel and Carlos Escobedo.
They saw you go into Dante's garage.
They know that you killed him.
They were fine with that, until they found out you were the one who killed their sister.
No.
Come on.
Hey, this dirtbag lied to us about being a witness for 17 years.
We can lie to him about witnesses for a few minutes.
- Oh, my God.
- There are two ways this can go.
First, we get you a lawyer.
You sign a confession to both murders and we start the deal-making process which ends with you in prison far, far away, under a different name.
Or we arrest you for the murder of Dante, and you can take your chances with Hector Zamora.
But you'd protect me again if I do what's right? I'm not the same person, you know? I've changed over the years.
Oh, write that down too.
Write down how you've changed.
I'm sure it'll make a big difference when we start the deal-making process.
- Do you think so? - A big difference.
Yeah.
What's the matter? I liked seeing her, and I definitely want to see her again.
But maybe today I should just call and say, "You know, I'm glad you're doing better.
Uh, get back in touch when you're a little further along.
" And if you never hear from her again? Is that gonna be okay with you? No.
No, I'm just talking about how I'm feeling.
- Maybe.
- Hmm.
You know what? We're both ready.
Let's just go.
- I think you'll be glad you did.
- You know what I am saying? I know it's the right thing to do.
I get that.
I just wish that doing the right thing felt better.
Well, it'll feel better than doing the wrong thing.
I promise you that.
Okay.
Dante was innocent? - Yes, ma'am.
- He was a rotten kid.
He never listened.
He did a lot of bad things.
- You sure about this? - Yes, ma'am.
But that's not the only reason I came by.
I reopened the investigations into the murders of your two sons.
I need to ask you some questions.
- Really? - Yes, ma'am.
Where are all the other police? This is something that I'm doing on my own time.
Let's start with your oldest son, Marco.
He was Dante's dad, wasn't he? Yes, and the worst father in the world, and a terrible son.
But I loved him all the same.
How do you explain this to people? No one understands.
I don't need to understand, Ms.
Gomez.
I just need to arrest the person who killed him.
Can you fill out a little paperwork for me? Okay.
Sure.
You know you remind me of Marco a little.
I bet you're stubborn, aren't you?