this is the most terrifying crime scene i've ever seen. the suspect knew the victim. she just was the last person who should this is the most terrifying crime scene i've ever seen. >> she just was the last person who should have ever died like

that. >> she loved skiing, sailing, and friends. >> she was extremely outgoing. >> a wonderful life that came to a tragic end on a warm summer night. her life had ended, but our story was just beginning. her killer had not been caught. but, the trail grew cold, the file forgotten until decades later, someone dusted it off. >> the whole goal of this case was trying to see the thing that was hiding in plain sight. >> there were clues, mysterious weapon made of wire, a wedding invitation, a midnight sale to nowhere. were they enough to catch a killer? >> i was 100% confident he was our guy. >> now, the showdown.

a determined prosecutor against the famed defense lawyer who helped set o.j. simpson free. after 35 years, was it finally time for justice? he was alone in his makeshift workshop. had to be for what he intended. carefully, he cut lengths of a broom handle, two of them, just a few inches each. send them down, drilled a hole in each one, found a piece of wire to string between them. too thin. he doubled it for strength. his perfect weapon for his perfect crime. outside in the brilliant sunshine, it was the summer of

1979. a.i.d.s. had not happened to us yet, nor the internet, nor cell phones nor a way to read dna. all of those things were still years away. everybody word about three mile island, the iranian hostage crisis was still months away. and, in southern california in the summer of 75, in a beach town that clings to the coast of l.a., twentysomethings came from all over to work, to play, to practice in art as old as humans, mating. >> the area had a ski club. snow skiing, waterskiing, volleyball. all sorts of outdoor activities.

>> richard frank was 32 that summer. he published an independent community newspaper but on weekends -- >> we did bus trips and guys are trying to meet girls and hit on people. >> one woman in particular cut richard's eye. >> we had a thing called snow queen and she was running for snow queen and did not win but she was a very outgoing, gregarious almost tomboy kind of person. attractive. >> her name was lynn knight, a neonatal nurse. >> she was a beautiful person. she was jim carrey before jim carrey was ever around. she did the goofy stuff and everywhere, people would be in stitches. >> nurses, whether funny and beautiful or not, were in great demand in the 70s. lynn could have gone anywhere or stayed close to home. like her sister, donna, also a

nurse, also chose to do. >> i had such difficulty when she was going to go to california. i did not want her to go. >> but, she did. moved into a tiny studio apartment tacked onto the back of somebody's garage here in suburban torrance and signed on at a hospital called little company of mary and went to work with the smallest patients of all, the most vulnerable, premature babies. >> she took her job very seriously. she would arrive early. she would do double shifts. >> worked hard and played hard. >> she would work midnight shift then sleep for three or four hours then she would be gone, and scuba diving, marathoning, running. you name it, she was the most incredible tomboy ever. >> one more thing, she love the company of men. many of them, perhaps most of them were just friends, some

more than that. >> a number of them were racquetball players or skiers or whatever, so she had a lot of male friends because she was competitive. >> they were more friends than they were romantic partners? >> yeah, she went out really with professionals and good- looking professionals and that, of course, she met richard frank. >> we hit it off pretty quickly. we dated pretty heavily for a couple of months. >> it could be confusing, of course, for richard. not many young women with as many male friends has hovered around lynne, her sweethearts, as she called them. >> one of the things was trying to find out where i fit in her life. >> but, with richard, as lynne told her sister, it was romance. was she perhaps a little too intense for richards 30-year- old single self?

yes, she was. >> it was a little too much in the beginning. even her sister, donna, said that so i kind of cut it off. >> she was just a little going too fast? >> yeah. >> but, love has a way of circling back. per the end of that summer of 79 after they'd been apart for a little while, they ran into each other again on a waterskiing trip. >> i saw her and started talking and we decided okay, let's go out. it was like for me, was is this the one that got away. >> and then it was august 29th, a warm summer evening outside lynne's little studio apartment. quiet, calm, not a breath of wind. lynne was cooking chinese food. she had company, a male friend who had come for dinner, a male friend who was not richard

frank. no, this was an ex-boyfriend named joe. after dinner, lynne and joe drank some wine and then at 11:30 or so, he left and lynne went to bed . early shift at the hospital. outside, the street was silent. wednesday ticked into thursday. that is when the neighbors heard it. a high-pitched scream. and, it came from lynne knight's little apartment. coming up. >> my whole world crashed in. >> 35 years later, the scene of that apartment would still leave a hardened detective in tears. when dateline continues. blistering rash that can last for weeks. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time.

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the scream was almost beyond human-- shrill, harrowing, echoing through the quiet neighborhood on anza avenue. the man next door called 911. >> the scream was almost beyond

human. shrill, harrowing, echoing through the quiet avenue. the man next door called 911. >> i heard the screen, you know? >> who lives there? >> when torrance police arrived minutes later, the little apartment was quiet again and lynne knight was dead, lying on her bed in a pool of blood. detective emilio paerels had never seen anything like it. >> just terrible. bloody and -- i can't find other words to describe it other than horrific. >> so horrific that even now, 35 years later, talking about it was difficult. out of all the ones i worked, it was toughest. >> no wonder, the victim had

been stabbed more than a dozen times. pointing toward what? >> rage, a desire to see this particular individual good ended. >> but, there was another set of wounds detectives could not quite figure out at first, deep cuts on her neck which may have explained the horrifying sound that woke up lynne's neighbors. how did they describe that screen? >> a squeal. a loud squeal. >> after he heard that, said a neighbor, he caught a glimpse of a man who might've been the killer, a slender young man with dark, curly hair. not much to go on. >> he looked at the back of the suspect as he ran down the driveway into the street carrying something, a small satchel. >> it could not have been much inside that little black bag because very little was taken

from lynne's apartment, only her wallet, her keys, and one particular piece of jewelry. >> she had a necklace on with a pendant. at the scene we found the broken clasp and pendant, but no chain. >> but, the killer left something of his own behind, something detectives did not notice until the coroner moved lynne's body. >> it appeared to be a homemade device used to strangle a victim. it cut off portions of what appeared to be a broom or mop handle and a piece of wire. >> going between the two? >> yes. there was a great deal of planning involved. it was a homemade garrotte. >> a garrotte? detective gary hilton had not

seen one of those since he served in vietnam, but now he understood why lynne's neck was cut so deeply. >> did he actually put it around her neck? >> yes. for overkill. >> that would be an understatement. then it was time for what was perhaps the most difficult part of all of this, making the phone call to lynne's family in stratford, ontario, a family which until that very moment had assumed that their precocious daughter was perfectly safe saving babies in los angeles. lynne's sister, donna, who was just getting off her shift in a toronto hospital -- >> i got a call from my brother- in-law who was gulping for air and practically out of his skin and he said that i hate to have to tell you, but lynne has been stabbed to death, and it was like -- it was such a sad day.

>> it's not something you ever would expect to hear, no matter what. >> no. it was like my whole world crashed in and that was it. it was life altering. life has never ever been the same since. >> donna was 26, only recently out of nursing school. 35 years later, the pain lingers. >> how do you even take a thing like that in? >> you don't. it is like totally out of body. you go into shock. it is like also a great big hole in your chest. >> who would've done such a thing to lynne, the kind and compassionate nurse, not an enemy in the world? but then before dawn, a concrete lead. police saw someone suspicious running in lynne's neighborhood, the same guy the neighbors saw?

>> the suspect was seen running from the location carrying a black bag. >> they picked him up and by the look of it, with blood literally on his hands. coming up, a clue found in the strangest place. >> i saw this wedding invitation crumbled up in the trash. >> when dateline continues. >> just like i was. dryness and frizz could be damaged hair that can't retain moisture. new pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner, with first-of-its-kind melting pro-v pearls... locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage in one wash, without weigh down. guaranteed or your money back! for resilient, healthy-looking hair... if you know, you know it's pantene. [sneezes] can a can of lysol take care of my snotty sofa? can-do mildewy tiles? can-do - these? - yup, it's the can-do can. nothing kills more germs on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. (ethan) i remember seeing the menthol cigarette ads

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save money now sometimes cops get lucky. this was recorded in the predawn hours of august 31, 1979, sometimes cops get lucky. this was recorded in the predawn hours of august 30th, 1979, just after the brutal murder of lynne knight. >> a patrol unit detained and arrested an individual who is acting strangely nearby.

>> it looked like he had blood on him. >> he did. >> his name was gerardo juarez, and he appeared to match a description of a man seen running away from lynne's apartment so they held him for questioning, but before they got to that, they had to finish processing the crime scene in lynne's apartment. >> i found evidence, blood smears in the house, that looked like they were caused by gloves. back then we did not have dna. all the blood that was found was consistent with the victim. >> remember, this was 1979, years before the advent of dna. fingerprints were still the gold standard back then, but only lynne's prints were identified in her apartment. the others could not be traced back to the murder and the apparent murder weapon, the garrotte, was clean, so there was planning, a lot of it, and immense brutality. but burglary? no, only small personal items were taken.

detectives were pretty sure it could mean only one thing. >> the suspect knew the victim. she had been targeted, and i say that because the location was quite removed from the street, was not a place where there were passersby. someone would have to know how to go back there and reach the door. >> so, the detectives went back to torrance pd to talk to the possible suspect, gerardo juarez. he insisted he did not know lynne, had never even seen her, had no reason to kill her. a search of his home turned up nothing in the blood on his hands and clothes ? >> it proved not to be blood. >> what was it? >> could've been something like paint and dirt and mud. we just simply could not tie him to the crime scene. >> so much for that. gerardo juarez was released and for the moment, at least, they were nowhere.

a few days after the murder, a small funeral was held in stratford, ontario. they had been planning to have don's wedding. lynne was supposed to of been here, alive, as her sister's maid of honor. >> they dressed her in her maid of honor dress. i remember feeling such anger at whoever did that. to my sister. my parents, watching my parents grieve. but as i done to my baby? >> the coroner's report answered some questions. an autopsy determined the garrotte did not kill lynne. she died of stab wounds, and the report revealed something else, traces of two semen

samples but again, dna testing was not available back then so they could not attach identity to those semen samples. >> that is where we started a circle of friends, acquaintances, her job, anybody that knew her. >> including all her former friends and boyfriends. racquetball partners, ski buddies, work colleagues. >> we needed time to develop background on all of the various players so that we would have some idea what questions to ask. >> anyone of them could have been the one. >> anyone. >> richard frank had already called the police to offer his help, and was quickly eliminated. he had an alibi. but, what about that old flame, joe g russo? he was without a doubt in lynne's apartment the night she was killed. neighbors had seen him there even eating dinner. neighbors told the detective she was fine when he left about midnight. >> he was of course somebody we had to investigate immediately.

>> so, they took joe in for questioning. he seemed very forthcoming and if he was not concerned about what happened to lynne, he was putting on a good act. still, the detectives noticed several cuts on his fingers. he insisted they happened at work in a lab where he dropped a test tube. he would never hurt plan, he told them. had no reason for jealous rage. >> he was in a relationship with another woman and was still visiting our victim and apparently they were friends. >> by the time lynne was murdered, said joe, he was in bed with his girlfriend. what to make of the story? until his alibi could be checked out, joe giarusso remained the only possible suspect. at this time when the investigation had been underway for almost two weeks, the

knight family flew to l.a. to collect lynne's belongings. >> the sum of her bank was all of $18, because she paid for scuba diving lessons and you name it, she just did it. she was packing in every activity should could possibly pack in, so she really lived a lot in those 28 years. >> but, there was one thing donna did not find. something that was quite special to both sisters, the invitation to her upcoming wedding. and then, detective helton remembered he spotted it in a wastebasket, though he did not collected as evidence. >> i saw this wedding invitation that was crumpled up. >> did not seem like a big deal? >> no, it was just a wedding invitation. had her name on it and it was crumpled up in the trash. >> that's when we went -- they wouldn't do that.

my grandparents' pictures were right there, their wedding pictures, so we knew something was not right and also if it was crumpled up, who would have the motive to crumple it up? somebody who is ticked off that they were coming to this wedding. >> kicked off enough to actually kill lynne knight? who was it who was left off the guest list? coming up, an old boyfriend tells a startling story. is it also a valuable clue? >> it is almost surreal knowing that the incident happened and maybe it related somehow to the crime. >> when dateline continues. >> y of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. what can you do with sensitive skin? ( ♪♪ ) cetaphil moisturizing lotion hydrates for a full 48 hours. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. covid-19? i'm not waiting.

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i'm jessica with the hours top stories. from d.c. to boston, a 4.8 earthquake was felt across the east coast. that quake recorded just west of newark, new jersey. so far, no injuries have been reported but an aftershock rattled the northeast again around 6:00 p.m., reaching a magnitude 3.8. a third victim

has been recovered from the water surrounding the francis scott key bridge on friday. the construction worker, one of six believed to be dead after that bridge collapsed last week. and now, back to dateline. this was home. lovely little stratford, ontario, where lynne knight grew up, the place she intended to return for her sisters rick -- impending wedding. >> we had to cancel the wedding and it was just so horrible. a wedding is supposed to be a happy time, and -- >> nothing happy about those days. >> no. >> but, the wedding did offer an odd clue of sorts. lynne's invitation, which had been found crumpled up in her wastebasket .

>> the question was, what she have crumpled it up or thrown it in the trash, or did the suspect do it? >> the detectives were convinced that lynne's killer knew her, hated her, maybe wanted revenge for something. donna could not imagine who that might be. >> who would slaughter somebody that -- to that degree if they did not have a motive, a hatred, something. >> two weeks into the investigation, the only potential suspect was lynne's former boyfriend, joe giarrusso. he was with her hours before she died. he had cuts on his fingers and then the detectives discovered something else. >> had and he had a physical altercation with lynne at some point? >> there was a situation where

she was beaten up. >> so, they brought joe back in, grilled him again. he swore it was not a beating at all, but a minor thing, i slept during an argument and afterwards, he and lynne remained close friends. besides, said joe and his girlfriend, they were in bed together when the murder happened. they volunteered to take a polygraph. >> they both passed. >> soon after that, joe giarrusso, who after all did not look anything like the man the neighbors saw after the attack, was eliminated as a suspect. in fact, one by one, just about all of lynne's male friends came up clean and seemed to want to do whatever they could to help find her killer. >> they all had good things to say. i thought it was unusual to talk to 12 men who dated her, knew her, and nobody had a bad word. >> that, of course, included her athletic new beau, richard frank, who had rekindled his romance with lynne just a week before the murder. >> it is devastating. it is almost surreal knowing

that the instant it happened, and maybe it related somehow to the crime. >> the incident -- richard told police about a bizarre encounter he and lynne had a couple of months earlier at her apartment. the guy she once stated stop by to drop off a lamp he had borrowed. >> he -- words to the effect of excuse me, thank you, and he left. >> but, minutes later, he was back. >> he comes in and starts yelling at her and his calling her a and took the lamp and through it all over our heads, and was pretty violent with all of this and then he left. you could hear the tires squeal. and she explained it was somebody she's been trying to cut it off with. >> lynne told richard that the guys name was doug and they

had dated a few months but just before richard came to call, she broke it off. apparently, doug did not take it so well. do you remember her action then? >> obviously she was scared. i was concerned for lynne. >> in the days that followed, the incident seem to have been forgotten, as far as lynne was concerned. >> she had this calling way of taking big things and making small things out of them. she was in control. later on, she explained that she can't him down -- called him down and it was taken care of. >> detectives were intrigued. they found lynne's address book in her purse, only one doug, douglas bradford. they asked donna about him and she vaguely remembered something lynne mentioned in the letter. >> saying doug was no longer coming to the wedding and he was on the back burner and i

put it out of my mind because i had all this wedding to organize. >> this was the first bit of heat on a cold trail. they gave doug a call. he lived with his parents. he sounded shy, but agreed to meet at the house where it turned out, doug bradford had a lot to say. coming up, it is the kind of trick cops always use in the movies. >> were not going to tell him that she's dead. >> when dateline continues. 's . >> when dateline continues. choose advil liqui-gels for faster, stronger and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away.

bit was a less congestedin at thdrive in those daysation. back in '79, the cruise down the freeway from torrance to costa mesa, california, this, the working class midsection of sprawling orange county. detectives gary hilton and emilio paerels parked in front of a modest house where a 27-year-old engineering student named doug bradford lived with his parents. he seemed somewhat meek, somewhat soft spoken, it was a less congested drive in those days, back in '79. the drive down the freeway from torrance to costa mesa, california. this, the working class midsection, sprawling orange county. detectives gary hilton and emilio paerels parked in front of the modest house were a 27- year-old engineering student named doug bradford lived with his parents. >> he seemed somewhat meek,

somewhat soft-spoken, kind of a neat nick sort of a guy. >> nerdy kind of character? >> you could say that, and engineering type of person. >> nothing about doug bradford making them look or sound or act like a potential suspect. he was clearly a smart and civilized guy. about the only cool thing about doug was his car, a bright orange 240z, most worthy back in 79. according to richard frank, this same doug had engaged in a very uncivilized line throwing tantrum in lynne's apartment. also, lynne was something of a big deal in doug's life. >> she had spent easter at his home with his family. they were fairly close. the fact that he would've introduced lynne to his family is somewhat telling.

>> this is a serious relationship. >> i think he wanted it to be. >> lynne, too, apparently. why else would she have invited him to tag along to her sister's wedding in canada? back on the freeway a bit, something else you need to know. gary hilton's detective mind was oddly creative. sometimes, in ways other cops did not quite get. hilton, knowing the case had not gotten much news coverage, hatched a plan on the way to the interview. >> we are not going to tell them that she's dead, and that we were there investigating a missing person. >> just a friendly chat about a missing woman, a missing ex- girlfriend. if he was involved in the murder, how might he react to that, give something away, maybe? >> there was no giving of miranda rights. he was in his own home. he was voluntarily cooperating.

he could have stopped the interview at any time, but he opted not to do that. he wanted to speak, and he did. >> so, ask to detectives, what did they do when they dated? >> we go out to dinner quite a bit. we went flying. he took her sailing. we went skiing locally here, go out and go dancing. >> as for the relationship, it was exclusive, said doug, more or less. >> she go out with other men? >> not to the best of my knowledge, at least when i was dating her. she used to kid me about it and say no, you know, you don't have anything to worry about, but yeah, i guess she might've gone out with some men. >> with lynne, it was just fun, said doug. lots of laughs, but he never did consider lynne to be the love of his life and sure enough, he said, she wasn't. >> could you say which one of the two of you was more decisive about breaking off the relationship? >> i think lynne was more

decisive. i was just going along with it . i kind of saw that the relationship was going to come to an end. >> that became very obvious out in palm springs when a few months into her relationship, they didn't seem to be clicking anymore. >> we decided that you know, we should go our own ways. and that was it. >> that was the last time you saw her? >> yes. >> but wait, unless richard frank was lying, doug showed up at lynne's place the very next day to return a lamp, saw richard, and flew into a rage, throwing a lamp across the room, so what about that, they asked to doug. there was no rage at all, he said. disappointment, maybe. >> well, i don't know if i was really mad. i was just more upset that she

was more jumping from one relationship to the next, so i left. that is the last i saw of her. >> then, doug said something kind of strange. remember, detective hilton head decided not to tell doug that lynne was dead , rather that she was missing. listen to this. >> i don't have any reason to ever see her again or want to see her again. she's just dead, and something i want to put out of my mind. >> she's dead? why would he say that? the cops did not follow up, worried bradford might climb up. then, as detectives were about to grill bradford concerning his whereabouts the night lynne supposedly went missing, and unfortunate surprise. >> a tape recorder started making some strange sounds, and when it failed, we had to stop. >> so, they waited a few days, did some research on doug

bradford, discovered he liked to play jazz on the piano, was an expert sailor in addition to his engineering studies. and his tinkering. he liked to make things. he was accomplished. donna, however, did not like him much. not a good fit for lynne. >> i can see why she would not have wanted to go with bradford because it was not her usual type, but it was a rebound relationship. >> but, what mattered now was doug's alibi, if he had one. so, detectives drove down to costa mesa again, worried he would refuse to see them, or demand a lawyer, but he didn't. instead, doug bradford told them a story of his own which put him miles from the murder of lynne knight. coming up, doug bradford's odd alibi.

>> you didn't get much sleep? >> no, and i was sore in my shoulders and everything from paddling. >> when dateline continues. ng paddling. >> when dateline continues. a lot of them. and you don't drive like... whoa. i don't want my child being raised by a robot! other drivers are not you. yes, thank you so much to all 50 of my subscribers. nope, definitely not you. save with drivewise and get a rate based on you. you're in good hands with allstate. a mystery! jessie loves playing detective. but the real mystery was her irritated skin. so, we switched to tide pods free & gentle. it cleans better, and doesn't leave behind irritating residues. and it's gentle on her skin. tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. it's got to be tide. lowe's knows new projects come with questions. tide free & gentle is epa safer choice certified. so, we have answers. like how to keep your yard looking lush. which paint color matches your bold style. and with the mylowe's rewards credit card, you can save 5% every day. you got this. and we got you.

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nexgard® plus. torrance police detectives were a little surprised doug bradford agreed to talk to them a second time. and here they were back in costa mesa with their new recorder. again, doug described how he and lynne had once been close, how >> torrance police detectives were a little surprised doug bradford agreed to talk to them a second time but here they were back in coast to make a with a new recorder. again, doug described how he and lynne once were close, how he liked to buy her presents. >> i give her a necklace. well, actually i didn't give it to her. i helped her buy it, but she picked it out. >> that cut the cops' attention. the necklace, which just happened to be the one piece of jewelry missing from lynne's

apartment. the clasp was collected, but no chain. interesting. but now, the real reason they were here, to find out where doug was the night lynne was murdered. >> last week on wednesday night, could you tell me what your activities were? >> well, i was here most of the evening and then i went up to long beach for a bit. i went sailing and i came back , right back here a little before 3:00. >> sailing in the wee hours of the morning in the dark, alone, out there on the pacific ocean? odd, maybe, but after all, doug belongs to a local sailing club, so he had access to a sailboat anytime he wanted one. that night, said doug, he took out a 30 foot sleep, a special type of racing boat. i started off under sale but i ended up coming back and paddle power. there was no auxiliary power and i got here without any wind. >> then you arrive back here? >> by the time i got the boat put away, it could've been

1:30, 2:00. >> which was right around the time lynne was murdered. >> you didn't get much sleep that night? >> no, and i was sore in my shoulders everything from paddling. it was quite a night. >> this going out by himself on a 30 foot sleep with no motor, right? >> no motor, no auxiliary power, as he put it. >> mind you, doug was an expert skipper, said he knew how to paddle a shield, but detectives didn't like it, this to perfect, too weird alibi. >> it didn't make sense to me then and it does not make sense to me now. >> so, the paid attention to the boat club where doug claimed to of set sail that night. >> they obtain the records showing he had signed out the vote. -- boat. >> they asked another skipper,

was a 30 foot shield about a sailor can handle alone? >>'s comment was oh, yeah, you could sail this by yourself. >> so, that was the alibi. a pencil mark in a sailboat schedule book, and doug's claim that he sailed alone that night. he could never come up with anybody who actually saw him take the boat out? >> no, he said he was the only one there. >> maybe nobody saw doug sailing, but there were reports he was seen driving in front of lynne's apartment just days before the murder. now, that was interesting because remember, doug told detectives he had cut off all contact with lynne after the breakup. so, they checked with one's neighbors and showed them a photo with doug in his 280 z.

>> i got a witness to identify mr. bradford as the person who had been seen driving back and forth in front of the residence looking up the driveway. he wouldn't leave her alone. as a matter of fact, he stopped her. >> doctor? >> yes, before the murder. >> which might explain, said her sister, donna, why lynne stayed with a number of male friends for several nights before the murder. >> i know the last week of her life it looks like she slept with a lot of men, and that's not true. when i look at the pattern, my sister was afraid. she was scared. >> so, maybe doug's 280z would yield a clue for detectives. they got a warrant, but -- >> it was clean as a whistle. >> there was no evidence in it at all? >> none that we were able to recover. there was no blood found.

there was no sign of anything. >> and whoever attacked her would've been covered with blood, you would conclude that? >> yes. >> but, the cops could not help notice the smell and that 280z. >> when we opened it up, there was just an overwhelming smell of armor all. >> it had just been detailed. it was a clean car. >> after that, there was no talking to doug bradford anymore. >> i received a phone call from an attorney who said he was representing doug bradford and told me don't do anything with regard to my client unless you call me first. >> it seemed pretty clear that you were after him. >> he was number one, as i put it. >> so, the detectives took their case to the d.a., with a request to charge doug bradford with murder, but -- >> all the district attorneys pretty much said there just was not enough. they needed that -- they call it the smoking gun. >> we were sent back and told to do additional investigation and bring it back. >> which they did, but always,

the answer was the same. >> that hurt. >> well, you could put -- not put that guy in that room on that night. >> true. it was heavily circumstantial. >> it was not just the detectives who were disappointed. donna was convinced doug bradford killed her sister, but she was not holding her breath for justice to be done. >> as said to my mom there's not going to be arrest for 20, 25 years or more. >> she was certainly right about that. after three years in 1982, the investigation into the murder of lynne knight was classified as inactive , a nice way of saying it was over. and, no one saw the tantalizing clue hiding in plain sight. it is a terrible thing when a murder goes unsolved, justice undone, especially a murder as

vicious and intentional is what happened to lynne knight in her tiny torrance apartment in the summer of '79. lynne's family up in canada could scarcely stand it. >> every time you think about it, you shudder, then it is like niagara falls. you are at the bottom and it's all coming at you, and terrible, horrible. horrible experience. you just -- she just was the last person who should have ever died like that. >> as the '80s rolled out their own catalog of cores -- aids, drugs, urban decay, rampant and growing crime, donna fought to keep her sister's memory from

sinking under the weight of so many other troubles. she wrote letters, lots of them, and enlisted lynne to help. >> i got that nice picture of lynne and i pasted it there and i thought sell yourself, lynne. here goes, i'm just going to send it. >> you sent them where? >> the governor, the fbi. i have nothing to lose. >> you even wrote to ronald reagan? >> yes. >> but, she was shouting in the wind. detectives helton and paerels retired, not happy about what they left behind. >> this one weighed on me for quite a long time. it nags you in the back of your head. you don't want to leave a homicide case undone. that is just wrong. >> lead detective gary hilton second-guessed himself endlessly. >> i could've been a little bit more, done a little bit more . i just got to know lynne knight a little personally. too bad i didn't know her in life. ut cracking it.

so it was just like, oh, here we go again. but i remember one detective saying to me, ugh, >> occasionally, a new set of the detectives would dust off the file and tell donna they were optimistic about cracking it. >> so, it was just like oh, here we go again, but i remember one detective saying remember one detective saying to me, until he kills again. and i went know, no. this is not going to happen. this is not going to happen. there has got to be an answer. >> coming up, a cold case, but not a closed case, thanks to that mysterious weapon found at the crime scene. >> let's just take a look and see. >> when dateline continues. .

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and richard frank, remember him, the man started seeing again the years had ticked by, and doug bradford, the man cops long suspected of murdering lynne knight, did quite well for himself. on the successful high-tech company, a nice house in california and a young life. and, richard frank, remember him? the man lynne started seeing again just days before her death? he, too had moved on, got married, raised a family, owned a successful newspaper business but occasionally thought about her and what happened. >> i drove by the neighborhood a lot because i worked in that area, so that would be a constant reminder. >> you just wondered? >> yes, i'd call the detectives every once in a while. anything new? >> nearly two decades went by. it was 1997. someone found a little extra money for the torrance police department, and to open a cold

case unit. >> when we first opened this detail, we started looking up about 30 cases. this is one of the first ones we did. >> that is one detective jim wallace heard from donna. >> the cases i have worked, this is the most horrific, powerful, terrifying crime scene i've ever seen. there is something about the horror that lynne went through that was still evident in the crime scene. the ghost of this scene was still there. >> the ghost may be, but virtually no hard evidence, so wallace went back to the beginning, and took a good look at lynne and the company she kept. wallace reinterviewed all of lynne's surviving boyfriends. >> they were very happy with the kind of relationship they had with lynne. everyone will tell you that. >> except for two, about whom,

they could not know. joe giarrusso, the man she invited in for dinner the last night of her life had since died. and then, there was doug bradford, the ex-boyfriend who threw the lamp and was seen driving near lynne's apartment days before her murder, and had offered that odd alibi about sailing and paddling a 30 foot sloop in the middle of the night. >> i think there is always a rational element in these kinds of circumstantial cases because anything is possible but not anything is reasonable in this case is one where you really had to ask, is it possible somebody would go out on a boat at 10:30 at night? absolutely. is that reasonable? no. >> wallace could see where the initial investigation focused on bradford, but this would not be easy, which he knew was catnip for deputy district attorney john lewin. >> the cases that i enjoy are lots of little pieces, and if i get too big of a piece, it is

not as challenging to work. >> so, john lewin read the file, too and right away, it looked to him like joe giarrusso could've been the killer. then, he listened to those original 1979 interviews. >> you know, she's dead and something i really want to but out of my mind. >> i was 100% confident that he was our guy. >> it was not just the fact that his statement was so creepy and so incriminating. it was when you mix that with his alibi, which was absurd, the fact that he was the only person in her life that had motive. >> but, proving it -- creepy and absurd are not exactly legal terms. the district attorney, would laugh lewin out of his office if he didn't come up with something new to connect doug bradford with the crime so bit by bit, over the years, lewin

and his partner worked the case like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces but one didn't fit. such a brutal crime committed by a dirty engineer? >> one of the big problems i had was when you looked at doug bradford, he looked like a normal, regular guy who would live next door. this is a guy who builds a weapon to go over to murder and then mutilate someone after they are dead. in my 20 years of doing this, one of the worst scenes i've ever encountered. >> that weapon, the homemade wire and wood garrotte had been a mute resident of the evidence locker for a long time. wallace could not stop looking at it, as if it could talk. >> the whole goal in these cases is trying to see the things hiding in plain sight. >> so, the killers garrotte was

made with wooden dowels that were connected by a very thin piece of wire, a double strand. weight, double? >> why would you double it because apparently recognize this is so thin is going to break this by itself. why not just use thicker wire? it makes sense to me that you're using something that is available to you. it's not ideal, but you happen to have it on hand, so i will just settle for it. >> and the thing with the handles, like the killer cut pieces from a broom. >> we could see forensically blue specks of paint that had almost been sanded off, but not completely so i'm thinking this looks like something you're making from available materials and that is what gave us the material wow, maybe those available materials are junk that is still lying around. >> doug bradford moved out of that house years earlier, but his elderly mother still lived there. >> is it possible that some of the simple building materials you would use to build a garrotte might still be tucked

away in some old drawer, stuck a highway in the side of the garage? it's worth a look. >> wallace and his partner run the idea by deputy d.a. lewin and he liked it. >> best case scenario, could we find the same wire and in 2007 they served the warrant. >> but, by then, nearly three decades had passed, so what in the world would they find? coming up, something old -- >> what are the odds of anyone keeping it that long? but it looked old. >> and, something new. >> we knew there might be a number of things she can tell us. >> when dateline continues. us. >> when dateline continues. you know that feeling of having to re-wash dishes that didn't get clean?

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“download the gametime app some people are just really bad at taking a hint. know the type, won't take no for an answer? by the time the christmas lights went up in torrance, california some people are just really bad at taking a hint lyn. won' take no for an answer. by the time the christmas lights went up in torrance, california in 2007, lynne knight had been lying in the cold, canadian ground for 28 years. her renewed murder investigation had gone in empty circles for a decade . neither d.a. john lewin nor detective jim wallace seemed capable of giving up on it. they could not charge doug bradford with murder based on mere suspicion, so one last

effort. they got a warrant. two warrants, actually. first, wallace and his partner went to pay a surprise visit to doug bradford's current house with a hidden microphone, and asked him about lynne's case. >> i would've guessed that was solved. i hadn't heard anything more. >> no, so i wonder if we could have a few moments. >> i've been advised by counsel not to have any further discussions about that. >> no, really? >> which was just the reaction detectives expected, so they showed him their search warrant and set about poking around, snap a few pictures of the place, including one of doug sitting and steaming in his living room. they found several firearms, all legal, and that a file cabinet, two articles on polygraph tests. odd. back in '79, doug initially agreed to take one then changed his mind. >> then right next to that file

was another file that had a brochure on a crossbow, and then even more disturbing, literally a manual on how to build a crossbow, so again, that was -- >> interesting except he didn't make a crossbow. >> but whether he made the crossbow or not, if i came into your house right now, i would not find manuals on how to build exotic weapons. >> but, there was nothing in doug's house related to that other exotic weapon, the garrotte, so what little hope detectives had brought with them began to evaporate but they had a second one. for the second place doug lived the very night lynne was murdered. >> it's an old 1979 murder case that we are revisiting. >> irma brad ford was no

slouch, and saw this might be trouble for doug. a woman does not stop being a mother just because her son is 56. >> he is the straightest straight our -- arrow person your ever going to meet. >> we knew there might be a number of things she can tell us. she would know about his relationship with lynne. >> had you met this nurse? >> yeah, she came in here. doug brought her in. >> now, that was interesting. >> we had two stories, and essence. a story from doug in 1979 that really this is not a relationship he cared about but she offered that doug really thought this was a keeper, something he really thought he had something special here and he was attracted to her in that way. >> then, as they filed that

nugget away, they looked around and could not help but see the veritable gallery of oil paintings hung around the house. norma revealed that the artist was her. she loved to paint. both her late husband and doug took pride in framing and hanging them. >> she had one room that was basically a small museum of her paintings. >> wallace suddenly turned art collector and decided to take a few of them to the police station. and then, they went out to norm's garage. all kinds of old stuff lying around. look like no one had thrown anything away for quite a while and tucked away in the corner, there they were. >> we found a number of wooden dolls and not all of them were painted but one was. it was blue, so we collected it. >> would've believed it? almost 30 years later seem pretty obvious that the broom handle used to make the

garrotte was still there. the broom handle was there. the garage handles had been sanded down but specks of paint still clung to it, blue paint. >> oh my gosh, we were so excited. we had expectations, but we did not expect those expectations to be met with the actual wooden dowel that was used to build -- i mean, what are the odds of anyone keeping it that long? it looks old. >> but there is your case. >> we thought this was going to be a pretty good piece of evidence, the kind of what it is, the grain, we were that excited. >> all wallace needed was a testing lab to confirm it and prosecutor john lewin would finally have the evidence he needed to file the case. >> so, we were thinking okay. we look at it, it's blue paint, it's a dell, there is a cut one in the garage. they look like they're going to be the same. >> lewin was excited but also disturbed by what he saw.

when he compared the two samples he knew the one from the garrotte had been sanded. a person gets a chill fun one registers a thing like that. >> why would he take the time to sound down -- sanded down and the answer is just horrifying. the killer made this weapon because he is enjoying the process of i making this weapon that i'm going to use to wrap around her neck and kill her. this is a weapon someone took time to make and that someone really cared about perfecting it. >> but, now here it was, the evidence that could put doug bradford at the crime scene. they sent the samples to a specialized lab for comparison testing. >> we are expecting we are going to get a match, but we didn't. >> the lab report was unequivocal. these were two distinctive, different dowels. they did not match, and now suddenly, there was no case.

>> it was you know, it was getting kicked in the stomach. we were deflated beyond words, so the expectations we had then was that this case was dead. >> coming up. >> what i really needed was some piece of new evidence that would help. >> maybe the wood was not a match, but there was something else. >> i thought about it. i said wow, i wonder how rare that wire really is, so i went down to the local hardware store. >> when dateline continues. store. >> when dateline continues. blistering rash that can last for weeks. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time. a perfect day for a family outing! guess what? shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent

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over 10 years of effort, and they were right back but shingrix protects. at square one, at which point, it would have made perfect sense, frankly, to give it up, stuff the lynne knight file back into the purgatory of unsolved cases or not. i started to kind of look at the case to say, well, what do we have? over 10 years of effort, and they were right back at square one, at which point it would've made perfect sense to give it up, stuff the lynne knight file back into the purgatory of unsolved cases, or not. >> i started to look at the case to see, what do we not -- have? >> jim wallace picked himself up from the disappointment impact around at the bits and pieces that might build into a case, like the bit that never made sense to him, doug bradford's alibi. who sales a 30 foot racing sloop alone at night and then is able to paddle it back in? the alibi checked out way back in 79, but still, some alibis can be faked, can't they?

was this one? wallace took a crash course in boating to find out inside any skipper he could find who knew something about sailing back in 1979. >> i called every one of them and interviewed them and asked them. i don't know anything about sailing, teach me. >> one of his teachers was charlie abbott. once in officer of the very same sailing club doug used to belong to and where the shields racing boat was docked. >> sailing at night after 10:00 p.m. in southern california is a fools errand. the shield is hard to sail alone to begin with and you need light, so if you're going out in southern california in the summertime does not going to be any wind at all, or a very little bit. >> sailors have an expression for that, but doug was an expert after all, so if anybody could sail after sunset, he could. listen again to his version of

what happened that night out in the dark pacific. >> it's not windy already and it's 10:30 understanding at that dock and asking if there is enough wind for me to sail. do expected to get out there? no, that's crazy. that's one thing that was a consistent statement from every sailor. would you do this? no. >> not to mention paddling a two ton boat with one little or, who could do that in the ocean on -- in the dark but

there it was, on the reservation form a clear record that he booked out the boat the night lynne was killed. so, next question, could he have faked his sailing reservation that night? as a club member, doug did have access to the reservation book so he could've inserted his name even a couple of days after the murder. did not mean he did, but he could have but then they discovered something with doug's name all over it, very intriguing. all the reservations from 1979. >> it was just serendipitous. we had them and we found them. >> because, when wallace reviewed all of doug's sailboat bookings, what do you know? there was a very distinctive pattern. >> doug consistently reserve the boat on weekends. the first week he begins to change his reservation patter is the week of the murder.

in fact, nobody whoever reserves the boat for a post sunset sale, except for one person, doug bradford, on the night of the murder. >> now, that could be useful evidence. it certainly weakened doug's alibi, but conviction material? no. as for possible dna, there was all that blood spatter around the apartment, and those two semen samples recovered from lynne. with dna testing now available, could they connect something at the crime scene to doug bradford? >> test went out and they got samples from all the boyfriends. >> including, of course, doug, who was served with another search warrant at his house, this time seeking a swab of his saliva. >> it's just another opportunity for us to say hey, if you're not the guy the let's move on. >> one by one, dna results came in from all of lynne's old lovers and male friends, and none of them matched the dna from the crime scene, including doug bradford.

>> it was problematic because unfortunately, the more testing we were doing, we were getting dna, so there was dna in the semen belonging to two males. it just wasn't him, so it was definitely disappointing and i knew that what i really needed was some piece of new evidence that would help. >> something physical. something forensic they could take to the l.a. county district attorney. >> you had to sell this to your bosses, right? >> yeah, i do. >> but still, wallace could not get his mind off that garrotte. he must've missed something. wallace now went to his own workshop and started tinkering, made a garrotte and then another and another to understand the mind-set of the killer, and the materials used. he examined the wire very closely. then he looked again at the pictures doug's mother painted, and the wire doug used to to hang them, and both wires were

the same type, something called grade number 18 strand braided wire. >> that is the kind of wire used in the garrotte and also the kind of wire doug's mom was using to hang her paintings. >> an exciting discovery, maybe, but like the dells, it could also be pure coincidence. >> as i thought about it, i said i wonder how rare that wire really is, so i went down to the local hardware store and said gee, let me see if i can find some. i cannot find it anywhere and i started calling those manufacturers to ask them, do you guys sell a thinner wire? >> very uncommon. so uncommon that of all the picture hanging wires sold, this particular wire only accounts for one to 6% of sales. >> it is that rare, yet that is what is being is to build the

garrotte, and that happens to also be what doug had access to because of his mom's painting. >> not like dna, of course, but what they call a class match. was it enough and long with everything else to get lewin to take the case to court? >> when i got done with the work on the alibi, the work on the garage, the work on the garrotte, i thought we had a case. >> at this point, a tougher prosecutor might not have done it but lewin likes tough cases and he said yes and took the case to his boss of the district attorney's office. >> the decision to file the case was based on everything. >> and so in may, 2009, almost 30 years after lynne knight's murder, a warrant was arrested -- issued for the arrest of

doug bradford. >> a message, call detective wallace, and i tell you, it was electric. there was so much electricity in the air and the church wind chimes on my back brenda were ringing away like crazy and it was just -- wow . and the arrest, it was like yes! you know, they finally got him. >> well, maybe. quite possibly, lewin had bitten off more than he could chew this time because doug bradford had hired one of the most prominent and experienced defense attorneys in the land, a man who had won more than his share of celebrity cases, clearing clients who had faced much steeper odds than a middle aged engineer named doug bradford. coming up. >> asked him, do you have an attorney? >> yeah. >> does he have a name? >> yeah. >> what's his name? >> bob. >> bob who? you know. when dateline continues. ow. when dateline continues.

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hi, i am jessica layton with the hours top stories.

lawyers for former president trump are asking that the judge presiding over his upcoming criminal trial recuse himself from the case for a second time. the lawyer cited in propriety as the reason. that hush money trial is set to start on april 15th. independent presidential candidate robert f kennedy junior facing scrutiny after his campaign sent emails labeling january 6 rioters as activists. he later expanded the views doubting that the incident even qualifies as an insurrection. and now, back to dateline. for 30 years, he built a life, started an engineering business, made it successful, got married, obeyed the law and maintained with absolute consistency that he had nothing to do with the brutal murder of his one-time girlfriend, the canadian nurse, lynne knight. now, doug bradford was in the back of a squad car facing a charge of first-degree murder. >> you know, he was calm the whole way. he was defiant the whole way. he never wanted to talk to us.

>> no, he did say one thing, which certainly got detective wallace's attention. >> i asked him do you have an attorney? yeah. does he have a name? yeah. what's his name? line bob. i said okay. does he have a last name? i have his card and sure enough, it's robert shapiro. >> yes, that robert shapiro, the lawyer who represented o.j. simpson, the man who founded legalzoom. here was a true courtroom celebrity. robert shapiro had been practicing law for nearly 50 years, had represented scores of hollywood's rich and famous including, of course, o.j. simpson. >> oj will do everything he can to cooperate with them to help solve this horrible murder. >> almost 20 years now since he helped engineer the acquittal of the infamous trial of the century.

lynne's sister, donna, was well aware of shapiro's reputation. >> i certainly wasn't going to be intimidated by robert shapiro. >> maybe she should have been. doug bradford was out on bail within hours. the outlook for the trial? if there was a mountain of evidence against oj, the circumstantial bits and pieces piled up against doug bradford had mounted to a foothill, maybe. >> be nice if we had a piece of evidence that would lock it in. we never have those. it was completely circumstantial. >> lewin was eager to get to trial, but the defense, not so much. robert shapiro without the evidence insufficient to put on a trial at all, so he papered the court with motions seeking to have the case dismissed given its age and the lack of new physical evidence and though his requests were denied, they took time, lots of time.

a year went by, then two, then five. doug bradford remained free on bail as the case crept slowly forward. more than 2000 miles north across the border, donna waited patiently, bracing for a trial over three decades in the amazing, this coldest of cold cases. >> it wasn't cold. it was never called to me. >> then, finally, july 2014, it had taken 35 years to get here. l.a. county courtroom department 103 . storage defense attorney robert shapiro versus the d.a. who liked circumstantial cases,

john lewin. shapiro had already announced this would be his last criminal case. it was also the last one detective jim wallace was on. he would be retiring, a cop no longer, and so they all assembled. in the very courtroom where robert shapiro helped to quit o.j. simpson. sitting in the gallery, what was left of lynne knights family , though donna's mother, dead almost nine years, was on donna's mind. >> toward the end we had a lot of mother-daughter talks and she grabbed my hand and she goes, you've got him, kid. i know you got him and so, my mom died knowing. she knew. she knew. >> here for the very first time, lynne's family got a look at the man accused of killing her, the man once invited to donna's wedding. >> i really felt i was able to look him in the eye, and say a

lot of things in my head that he wasn't hearing. >> prosecutor john lewin would have to sell what was perhaps the most completely circumstantial case of his career. he enlisted cold counsel -- cocounsel to have helped. >> in cases like this you have a whole bunch of pieces and on the surface, they don't appear to be connected. it's our job to put them together to give you the final piece. the whole thing is a smoking gun. >> lewin fire the opening shot. >> the evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this man, doug bradford, on august 30th, 1979 , in the middle of the night, crept in there with that handmade garrotte, got her

while she was sleeping, and brutally murdered her. >> then, more than 20 witnesses paraded by, each to recount a memory or offer an opinion, one tiny piece of the whole. >> i will call detective gary hilton, your honor. >> gary hilton was 72 now, still tormented by his inability to close the case, so in a way, he was trying to clear his conscience here. >> i saw lynne knights body. i had never seen anybody so bad off. she was sliced, diced, and -- butchered. i wanted to be there for lynne. there were all these people talking about her, how great she was. i knew her, you know. i knew her. >> donna testified about her sister, lynne, and 35 years of deep suspicion, beginning with

what doug bradford did not do. >> at the time, did you notice one acknowledge -- acknowledgment of condolence was conspicuously absent? >> yes, nothing, not a phone call, not a card from doug bradford. >> richard frank testified about the day he saw doug bradford fly into a rage just after lynne dropped him. >> nobody had ever really seen him violent , and i had. >> he came to the sliding glass door and tore off the screen, opened up the door, shouted, rented. i think, broken lamp. he was incredibly upset. it was scary.

>> it was jealous rage, said the prosecution, rage that inspired doug to make a garrotte using materials he found in his mother's garage, and his alibi? a story that he went sailing at night, paddled a two ton racing boat, could've killed lynne? lewin called several sailing experts from local marinas to testify that the alibi was wildly improbable. >> it was so absurd that they would almost recoil, in essence, going this is stupid. why are you asking me this? >> all the while, doug bradford watched quietly, listened intently, seemed almost aloof. except, perhaps, when it came to donna. >> we had some stair down competitions. i wanted to look in his eyes, i really wanted to see in his eyes, and his body language, whether he killed my sister?

>> did you see that? >> yes. i'm going to get off because i've got shapiro. >> if that's what he was trying to say, it was for good cause because robert shapiro had as a defense ready including a special video supporting doug's alibi, a tape that might help doug sale free. coming up, the famed attorney in the spotlight, but the jury gets the last word. >> when they walked out, i studied their faces and i went oh, no. >> when dateline continues. oh, >> when dateline continues. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus. the one you want for one-and-done protection. ♪3, 4♪ nexgar♪® plus. ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪

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oh, come on! download gametime. last minute tickets, lowest price. guaranteed. now it was robert shapiro's turn, his last criminal case download gametime. in the same courtroom where he won, arguably, his greatest legal battle against what was labeled then a mountain of physical evidence, 71 now, still sharp, no, it was robert shapiro's turn. his last criminal case in the same courtroom where he won, arguably, his greatest legalom.

battle against what was labeled then, a mountain of physical evidence. 71, still sharp, a formidable presence in the courtroom. in this case there were implications, accusations, opinions, but almost no physical evidence at all. that glaring truth is where robert shapiro began to fashion what he hoped would be his final victory in criminal court. >> at least six fingerprints were found, no match to doug. blood, no match to doug. dna, the holy grail, no match to doug. >> the wire used in the garrotte, despite what the prosecution said, they could not prove was an exact match with the wire found on the back of his mother's paintings. >> can't match it.

>> but above all, said shapiro, doug bradford was not there at doug's -- lynne department the night she was murdered. his alibi was solid. he was sailing that night and paddling the 34 foot shields. >> we are going to prove to you with absolute certainty that not only can he paddle this boat -- >> is proof? this video produced by the shapiro office showing a 210 shields boat being paddled by one person, just as doug bradford claimed he did on the night of lynne's murder. >> a picture is worth 1000 words. >> but, what shapiro did not reveal to the jury is that the footage was all shot in the harbor, not far out in the ocean, and even the skipper he hired to perform the paddling admitted on the stand that nobody sales at night without wind. and then came another stumble. shapiro, famous for tripping up prosecution witnesses on the stand, called his own weather

expert, who testified there was enough wind to sail that night, a breeze of 5 to 10 miles per hour, but d.a. lewin had done his homework and discovered that some of the wind locations the experts cited were nowhere near the area doug said he was sailing. >> 32.7 north, 117.5 west. do you know how many miles that was? 86.6 miles. guess what landmass it is closest to? >> baja, mexico. >> listen, i'll give you credit. it's the right continent. >> it was a careless estimate that i made because i didn't look at it carefully enough. >> a careless mistake? maybe. but, shapiro told the jury, it did not change the fact the prosecution could not and did not prove that doug bradford killed lynne night.

-- knight. >> there is an old indian saying, do not judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. >> the prosecution gets the last word, of course. >> he fashioned a garrotte, made it by hand, held it, crafted it, fantasized about putting her out of his mind by ending her life. >> and finally, john lewin. 35 years of getting away with murder, he said, had to end. >> it is time. it is time that he is held accountable for what he did. he is a murderous monster. he needs to be held accountable. it's time. thank you.

>> we look forward to the jury verdict. >> on his way out of the courtroom, bradford stopped to answer one question. >> are you an innocent man? >> absolutely. >> i just hope we get some peace of mind, lynne gets her soul a chance to rest, and my mother's, as well and we can go on in our lives without a big stone sitting on her chest. >> one day past.

nothing from the jury. then two, still nothing. and then finally, they number three, a decision. >> and, when they walked out, i studied their faces i went oh, no. oh, no. we've lost, we've lost. >> the people of the state of california versus -- >> and then the verdict was read. >> we the jury of the below action find the defendant douglas bradford guilty of the crime of murder in -- of lynne knight . >> doug bradford submitted to handcuffs, took a last look at freedom, and was led away. no family here to weep or cry out or say goodbye. even his attorney, robert shapiro, was conspicuously absent, on vacation. >> would you like to see this guy after all those years led

away in handcuffs? >> very satisfying. he was a cocky, arrogant guy. i believe that until the time here at the verdict, thought he won. some people will delude themselves and have the capacity to lie to themselves to a degree the rest of us cannot understand. this is one of those guys. >> it was almost 35 years to the day after the murder of lynne knight. >> as he goes to jail, we are let out of jail and this team did the most amazing job that could ever be done. just a wonderful day. it's a wonderful, wonderful day. thank you, people of los angeles, for being such good angels. >> jim wallace packed away his last and perhaps most difficult case. >> i felt grateful. you don't work for your agency, you don't even work for personal pride in these things. you work for victims' families. in the end, those of the people who come up and give you a hug. >> and gary hilton, long into his own retirement, felt finally liberated, free of the case that had tortured him for

so long. >> i was thankful. it sort of allowed me to start putting the case away. >> why not? you've been carrying around that baggage all those years. >> i want to put it back on that shelf. >> now, it was time for someone else to carry that burden, the man who caused so much misery in the first place. in december 2014, douglas bradford was back in court one more time to be sentenced for the murder of lynne night. now, wearing a yellow jail suit, but still defiant as ever, as he indignantly addressed the court. >> i want you to hear me speak now, very clearly, what my family and friends already know. i did not murder lynne night. i am an innocent man wrongly convicted. i am mad as hell that i'm

paying for someone else's crime. this is a horrendous miscarriage of justice. thank you. >> bradford's words rang hollow with judge, who moments later, imposed a stiff sentence. >> the court does impose a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder of lynne knight. >> which, all things considered, said john lewin, is not such a bad deal for doug bradford. >> in the end, what happened in this case was the defendant got his parole 35 years early. he lives a life that he never should have had. the right thing happened. he is in prison today. i don't think he will ever get out, and sometimes that is the best we can do.

>> it has been a long journey. it has been a long journey. for 35 years of it always being there, to finally being able to let her go and dance with mom, that is real satisfaction. real satisfaction. an ever. with double the dawn and double the scrubbers, it removes the toughest grease and residue for an irresistible clean and shine. cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. some people just know that the best rate for you is a rate based on you, with allstate. because there are people out there who aren't you.

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and get fast speeds and a reliable connection to all your devices in the home —even when everyone is online. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." of what they did to her and, hear details of how it was carried out. it is tough to think anyone can do that to anyone.