- Previously on "Dirty John"...
- If there's a zombie outbreak, where do you think
all the regular medical doctors are going to go?
- Ronnie, it's Mom.
I have a different phone number.
If you're free I need you to come
and meet me at CC Kitchen.
- You're gonna leave him?
- Yes. - For good this time?
- I'm gonna make your life hell
for as long as you still have one.
Get out!
The 30 grand you took out.
What's it for?
- It's my money, John.
- That's what you think?
- I'm leaving. I want a divorce.
- No more being nice, Deb. Is that what you want?
- I thought we were putting him off balance.
I thought this was a reactive guy trying to scam and scare
this decent woman and we were gonna grind him down,
but he has a plan.
[unsettling music]
♪
- The Irvine cops are bringing John
back in again on the arson.
- Oh, did they figure out where he is?
- They left him a voicemail.
- He's never gonna go in.
Well, I am going to LA for a couple of days.
I'm doing a condo in the Wilshire Corridor.
- You going alone?
- Yeah, because I've made a decision that I am
going to keep going, you know, and move on with my life.
And I'm not just gonna wait around
for the next crazy thing that he's gonna do.
You know? Burn up my other car.
Burn up my other car with me in it.
- It just seems so uncharacteristic of him,
the car fire.
I still can't wrap my head all the way around it.
But it made me remember I used to--
whenever a case didn't go my way I would box, hit the bags.
I thought it would lower my stress, but, actually,
it always made me feel worse.
And I thought, "why isn't this working?"
I asked a friend-- a psychologist.
He said, "All expressing anger against inanimate objects does
"is teach you to associate anger with your own
controlled aggression," so of course, it doesn't help.
It's just a--a snake eating its own tail.
- So are you saying that John's getting angrier?
- It's what I'm afraid of.
- It's what I'm afraid of too.
I wish I could feel safe.
I wish I felt like this was all gonna stop one day.
But I don't.
[tense music]
♪
[eerie string music]
♪
[suspenseful percussive music]
♪
[line trilling]
- Hi, Nance. - Debra, I'm leaving.
Do you want a latte?
- Oh, that's okay. - Oh, no, no, no.
I'm stopping anyway. Two stevias, right?
- Oh, yes, thanks. - Okay.
Well, I will be there in 20.
As long as it's not that barista that takes forever.
- If they don't have anything new
then what's the point in trying to talk to John again?
- Oh, well, you know, Mr. O'Neil says that if the police
are investigating him, we actually might be able
to take out a permanent restraining order.
- Well, does he think the judge
might actually grant the order this time?
- I don't know. I don't know.
He just says that it strengthens
the case or something even if he doesn't get arrested.
So that's good.
- Hm. Are you still going to LA?
- Mm-hmm.
Do you not want me to go?
- Well, I didn't, but then I got lawn seats
to the Desert Barrel Music Festival, so
just be back by Monday night.
- You wanna know what I think?
I think you should tell the judge all about
John's active dating profiles.
How he's, like, out there looking for whoever
is gonna file the next restraining order.
- Wait. What do you mean? What do you mean?
He's online dating now? - Oh, my God. Yeah.
Oh, he's, like, rampantly on dating websites.
Multiple ones. - Are you kidding?
- No. - No.
- How do you know that?
- Ronnie joined different dating sites
so she could just check up on him.
Pretty much everybody on there should hire me to do
their profiles because they're so boring or super gross.
It's stuff like,
"Cute southern Belle looking for her dream cowboy."
- Or, like, "My dog thinks I'm awesome."
- "Oh, my God, I would date the hell out of myself."
That one's kind of good though. - No, it isn't.
- [laughing]
- I can't believe he's online dating again.
You know what? Let's order in from Angelina's.
- Yes! I want a large Vesuvio with extra salami.
- I know what you want.
- And can we have, like, the hazelnut pizza
with the extra gelato? - Oh, Terra.
- Yes, it's so good. - No, Mom, please.
It's really good.
- Yes? - It's me.
- Oh, hi, come on up. [door buzzing]
[dark music]
♪
[synth-pop music]
♪
- ♪ But your body was a substitute ♪
♪ For you
♪
- Are you Max? - Veronica?
- Yeah.
So you're Max who likes to rock climb
and likes chillwave music?
Wow. - Hm.
- And you're from the greatest city in the world?
- New York. Yup.
- Huh. Max who likes
to chit-chat with his customers, huh?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, unless said customer doesn't want
to chitchat with him, right?
- Uh, yes.
- Take Sand Canyon Avenue.
- Uh, no, I was going to take Irvine Center to Jeffrey's...
Sand Canyon Avenue. Okay.
Hope this completely silent ride was to your satisfaction.
- You have to wait here until I get inside, okay?
And not just in the lobby. Like, all the way inside,
into the elevator.
I'm going to be watching you
to make sure that you're watching me.
Remember I haven't rated you yet.
- I haven't rated you yet, either.
- I heard that.
- Oh, my God.
Hey!
Oh, my God. - What?
- Hey, oh, my God, hey. Hey.
You have to follow that car. Follow that car.
- What? No, who even is that?
- It's a guy who has been stalking my mom and me. Please!
Follow him! No one knows where he's been!
Please. I beg you. Please.
- Why am I doing this? - Go, go!
- I can't--I can't-- - You're going to lose him.
Please. - I'm going, I'm going.
I'm going. Relax, please. - Yeah.
Just relax, okay? - This is insane.
- Why doesn't he have any brake lights on?
- He doesn't want anyone to see him, obviously.
Go, go, go. - Okay, I'm not doing that.
- Please go. Please go. - I'm not doing that.
- You can do this, I know you can do this!
- Ah! [horn honking]
- We're fine.
- Huh.
- That was really badass.
Keep going.
What is he doing?
[tires screech] No!
- Okay. - Damn it!
- What do we-- - Damn it!
- What do we do? Do we-- - Oh, my God this is bad.
I don't know what we do. - Do I keep following?
Do you want me to turn around? - No, no, no, wait, wait, no.
uh, go to Campus road, okay?
And then I'll direct you when we get there.
- Okay, where are we-- where are we going?
- We're gonna go to my sister's.
So? - No, no, it's not him.
The--the hood is cold.
- Okay, um...
Well, I-- I think we should check up
in the parking structure too.
- Uh, okay, do you have a key card or whatever?
- No, no, that's broken.
You can just roll it open with your hands.
- You want me to just--
- I'm gonna just check on Terra.
You go do that, okay? Oh, hold that.
Hey, thank you.
[suspenseful music]
♪
Hey, Cash. It's okay, it's just me.
[dog whines]
Hey! - Hey, no, he wasn't up there.
- Did you see a Prius? - Did I see a Prius?
Yeah, I saw, like, ten Prius.
Is that what your sister drives?
- Yeah. - Did you talk to her?
- No, but I heard her dog so I know that she's home.
- Okay, great. - Am I going crazy?
No, right? I'm not going crazy.
I'm--I'm not.
- Look, I don't really know you.
- I want to wait here and keep watch.
- You want to keep watch? - Uh-huh.
- Okay, until when? - Until it's light out.
Obviously.
I mean, I'm not going to sleep at all tonight.
And I don't want to wake up Terra and, like, freak her out
if John isn't even here.
She's way more fragile than I am.
And I'm supposed to protect her, you know?
So, yeah, I want to wait.
Hey, listen.
If you're not going to be a dick about waiting with me
then I will let you tell me your top five
favorite chillwave albums.
And you can tell me why you love each one so much.
- Ten favorites, and I get to play you tracks
to illustrate why-- - [fake vomits]
Fine. One track... - It's really not that--
- From each album. - It's not that bad.
- Sure.
[knocking]
- Yes?
- Hey. - Hi, Honey. Hi.
What are you doing here? It's, like, barely morning.
- Yeah, I know. Come sit down with me.
Come on. - Okay.
- Terra? - Yeah?
- John was outside my apartment last night.
- How do you know it was him?
- Because I saw his face, Terra. It was him.
He was on the phone, in his car, and then
he took off driving like a lunatic.
So then we chased him until we got onto the freeway,
and then we came here and we waited outside all night
to see if he came.
- Wait, "we chased him." Who's we?
- I need you to keep your eyes open.
Last night was, like, game time, okay?
- No, I get it, I just-- I get it--
- No. You can't just say that you get it.
I need you to be aware.
- So he was in, like, a black sedan, four door--
I don't actually know the make of the car
but it was black and it had broken brake lights.
- Ronnie, I'm not even gonna be around anyway.
I'm picking up Ava after work,
and we're going to Desert Barrel
until Monday, remember?
Lawn seats? - Terra.
- Okay, okay. I get it.
Black, four-door sedan...
with broken brake lights, right?
- Yeah. It was really creepy.
[dark music]
♪
- Sunscreen, phone charger, power pack thing,
flushable wipes, collapsible chair.
- I don't know where my chair is.
- Because you left it in my car.
- Oh, can you bring it?
- Yes. Jean shorts, jean mini, tees, underwear, boots, hat,
poncho--expert-level music fest packing done.
- And did you reserve a locker?
- Yes.
- And did you get the keyless kind
so someone won't lose their keys?
- Yes, bitch.
- Okay, I'll come pick you up at 5:00. Okay?
- Yay! I'll be ready at 5:01.
- Okay. - Love you, booboo.
- See ya.
- Do you think I should call the cops?
- I--I don't know, honey. Do you want to call the cops?
- I don't know. Yeah, kind of.
- Well, I mean, he stole my car and set it on fire,
and they didn't do anything.
Do you really think that you saying that you think
you saw him in his car behind your building...
- Mom, I did see him, okay?
And nothing happened because I saw him
before anything could actually happen.
- Hey. - Hey.
- I feel like you can't cover shifts this weekend,
but I can't remember why.
- No, I'm going to Desert Barrel.
- Oh, that's right.
- I don't think they're going to do anything
until something does actually happen.
So we just have to protect ourselves.
- When do you leave, again, and when are you back?
- I go from here and I pick up my friend and then I--oh.
Damn. I forgot my bag.
- But are you back by Sunday, or no?
- No. No.
- Well, I don't think he's gonna come back here.
I kind of wish he would, though.
So we could get his psycho ass on camera.
- Honey, we don't know what he's gonna do.
So we have to be careful.
He just has to get lucky one time.
- Come on. Come on.
- Hey.
You remember me? - [screaming]
- Ah! You--
- [screaming]
[dog barking]
[struggling]
Ah! Uh! Uh!
[grunting]
[slashing]
[squelch]
[dark dramatic music]
♪
[heartbeat pulsating]
[gasping breaths]
- Are you okay? You're bleeding.
- [mumbling incoherently]
- Okay, can you take some deep breaths for me?
Breathe in and out, okay?
- You got him? Is he breathing?
Turn him over. - Call 911.
- Can you just breathe? Breathe, take deep breaths.
Okay? In and out. All right.
[phone ringing] - Hi, are you on the road?
- Mom! [sobbing]
- Terra? What's the matter, honey?
- [sobbing]
- What is it? - Mom...Mom...
I--I think--I think I killed your husband.
- What? - It was--I'm sorry--
- Where are you, Terra? What happened?
- At my--at my apartment.
- I'm coming. Terra, I'm coming.
I'm coming.
[sirens wailing]
- I got him. - Come on!
Two, three. - [sobbing]
- Breathe! - Okay, do it.
[sirens wailing]
- Miss? Can you tell me what happened?
- Is he--is he dead? Is he dead?
Is he--I killed him. Is he dead? Is he dead?
I killed him. Is he dead?
[hiccupping]
- Where is my mom? Is she here yet?
- I just checked. - I want to talk to her.
- She's on her way. When she gets here we'll--
- Is he dead?
Is John?
- How do you know him?
- He's, um, married to my mom.
- He's your step father? - No, no.
- What--what does that mean?
- They were gonna get a divorce.
- So what's your relationship with him?
- I hate him.
He was trying to take my mom away.
- Okay.
So while we wait for your mom,
can you--can you try to tell me what happened?
[soft music]
♪
- Ma'am, I'm detective Layton. - Where's my daughter?
- I've been told she's doing fine.
She does not need surgery. She's being treated for shock.
- Can I see her, please?
- And as soon as the doctors give us the all clear,
I will take you to her.
But while we wait for that, there is something
that we need you to do for us.
If you'll come with me, please. - Okay.
[eerie music]
♪
- Shot to the head or stab to the head.
Then you kill the zombie.
- But you weren't thinking John was a zombie?
- No.
And I--I've had dreams of this moment.
But I just--I never-- I never thought that...
It would happen.
I just thought that if there were ever a zombie apocalypse,
I'd know what to do.
- So it sounds like you absorbed the mind-set
of the television show
more than any particular technique necessarily.
So what would you say that mind-set was?
- Kill or be killed.
- Brain death is different from being in a vegetative state.
There's no evidence of cortical brain or brain stem activity.
- What does that mean?
- That he'd be unable to cough or swallow
or breathe on his own.
- So if I say to unplug the machines...
He won't be able to breathe? He'll stop breathing?
- Yes.
- Do you know why he's here?
Did somebody tell you what he did?
This responsibility for him, I don't want it.
You'll have to find someone else.
- Hey! Excuse me, is that Terra Newell's room?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Miss Newell is being questioned.
- I need to see my sister. Please, let me see my--
Where's my mom?
She said that she was in the hospital.
- But she's here. - Where?
She should be in here with--
- We asked her to identify John Meehan for us
while we asked your sister some questions.
- Why? Wh--what are you questioning her about?
You should give her a goddamn medal.
Hi.
- Terra!
♪
- Down this way.
[dark music]
♪
- Those scans, the brain scans--that's it, right?
They're not waiting for anything else?
I mean, he's never coming back?
- No, he's not. Your brother's gone.
Honestly, he was gone when they brought him here.
- Okay.
Uh, he should go off the machines.
Take him off.
- Can I give you a couple minutes with him first?
To say good-bye? - I already said it.
- Hi. - Hey.
- Are you John's sister? - Denise.
- Denise, yes.
- You must be Debra. - Debra, yes.
Well, it's nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- Sorry, I--he told me about you, but, you know,
he lied about so many things so I'm just--
it's nice to see you're real.
- Yeah, and I didn't even know you existed
until a little while ago.
- Yes, well,
I'm the one who fell for him.
- Please don't blame yourself. He did it to me.
Conned me, lied to me.
And I know that you've been through hell.
You know, when I thought about him dying,
I thought it probably wouldn't be something natural.
An overdose or someone coming after him
for something he'd done to them.
God.
Not this.
Never anything like this.
And I'm s--
What's her name? They didn't tell me her name.
- My daughter? Terra.
She needs to meet you. Would you like to meet her?
- Oh, yes. Of course.
- Okay. Let's go.
Hi, sweetheart. - Hi.
- I brought someone I want you to meet.
This is--this is Denise. This is John's sister.
- [cries]
- It's okay. - [shudders]
He was your brother.
And he had--he had kids.
And he was someone's father.
And I--I took him away from all of you.
I killed him.
- I think it says a lot
that after everything you've been through this is what
you're thinking about.
John had daughters and a sister and a niece.
Because those are names that you call people
who are related to you by blood.
But he was as alone as a person can be.
And that's because that's what he wanted.
You didn't take him away from us.
I'm just really grateful that you're alive
so that I can tell you that.
- Okay, go ahead, sweetie. - Ow.
- Oh, is it hurting? - No, it's okay. It's fine.
- Okay, do you want me to take Cash?
- I got this. It's okay.
- You need help with your belt? - No, I'm okay.
- Okay.
- [sighs]
- Terra? - Yeah?
- I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry... - Mom.
- That I did this to you.
I brought him into our lives.
You know, I put you in danger.
- Mom, we don't have to-- we really don't
have to talk about it right now.
- Oh, I know. You're so tired, sweetie.
Let's get this girl home, Cash.
♪
- Uh, hi, Ms. Newell.
This is Chris Goffard from the "LA Times."
I know the "Daily Pilot" broke the story about your daughter
and John Meehan, and I'd like to talk to you
about your experience.
I just have a lot of questions.
Please give me a call and I'll lay out what I have in mind.
Thanks.
- Crime scene's already been through this pretty thoroughly.
They took everything they thought was relevant,
but I still thought it would be good to bring you here.
Fresh eyes.
Maybe you'll pick up on something they didn't see.
- Oh, my God.
I had no idea that this even existed,
that he was living like this.
- I--what would I be looking for?
- Um, maybe just an everyday object that might
have some meaning, might have some use for him,
um, that you recognize for whatever reason
as significant.
Or maybe nothing. It's fine either way.
Plus everything in here belongs to you as his next of kin.
- Lucky me.
Oh.
- What's that?
- Just...
Doesn't he look happy?
- He looks really happy to me.
[piano music]
♪
[fire rumbling]
- So I wanted to let you know formally
that the Meehan investigation has concluded,
and that my office has decided not to bring charges.
- [sniffles] - Well, that's great news.
Thank you. - No, thank you.
If there's anything I can do for either of you,
please let me know.
- Are there pictures in that file?
Like...
Like autopsy photos or whatever?
- There are.
- I need to see them.
When they were taking him,
no one would even tell me he was dead.
I know he's dead now.
I just don't know what that is. What I did.
- Terra, honey.
Those are the kind of things--once you look at it
you can't ever unsee it. - Your mother's right.
They're really brutal. It's a lot to handle.
- Okay, well, I don't know if I can handle it or not.
I just know that I need to see them.
- Are you okay, honey?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
[soft music]
♪
- They were on the second floor when I came out of chambers.
- Yeah, I saw them with Murphy.
- Oh, is he charging her, the daughter?
- Nope. Self defense.
- Good, I start trial next week.
Not charging her frees up Murphy to help me.
- Which one are you on now?
Married man having an affair, girlfriend tells him
he has to choose, so he kills the wife.
- Like you do.
- Of course, he met the girlfriend on the internet
and apparently, that's where the mom met this John Meehan.
Married him a month later.
- That is so not slow.
- Talk about a rotten apple.
Have you ever heard of a criminal defendant
with ongoing restraining orders
from multiple unrelated women,
multiple judges signing off independently.
- That the mom knew about? - She had to know something.
A history like his? There's always a red flag.
I'm always amazed how guys like that get away with it.
- I'm amazed she let him get away with it.
I just hope she knows how lucky she is.
99 times out of 100 in this scenario, the guy's on the run,
and the daughter's dead on the side of the freeway.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
- Hey! - There they are.
- Hello. - Say "hi," kiddo.
- There are my monkeys.
- I just think it's funny. - Oh, it's not.
- All that time, all that effort,
and all the hospital resources to help keep him alive
so they could harvest his organs?
- Oh, Veronica. - And they get in there,
finally, and his organs are totally destroyed
from all of those drugs.
[laughing]
Oh, whatever. It's really funny.
Even his organs sucked.
- I don't know how a person is supposed to eat.
- Very Veronica.
- How's Terra? How is she really?
- Well...
she says that she's fine.
- I don't know how she can be
after going through something like that.
- I know.
But you know, Mom, she is so strong.
I had no idea how strong she is.
I wish I didn't know.
I don't know.
I don't know how-- how this happened.
I don't know how I did this to her and to the family.
I don't know how I didn't see it.
- You didn't do anything to anybody.
- Well... - No, honey. Debbie,
you were in love.
You have to forgive yourself, Debbie. You do.
Terra has. I know she has.
We all forgive you. We all love you so much.
You're already forgiven.
You hear me? - Mm-hmm.
- You're forgiven. - Thanks, Mom.
[indistinct chatter]
[electronic music]
♪
[line trilling]
- You've reached Chris Goffard at the "LA Times."
Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you.
[beep]
- Hi, Mr. Goffard--uh, Chris.
This is--this is Debra Newell. I got--I got your message.
Thank you so much for your interest in our story,
and I think I'd like to get the story out there
for people to know what he did--
what John did.
And I know it's not gonna be an easy story to tell,
probably won't make me look very good but--but I--
I'd like for it to help some people and maybe
help some women to know what to look for and to know how to
avoid this happening to them
and--and if that's possible
then it'll be worth it to me.
So I hope you'll call me back,
and, uh, I look forward to talking to you.
Debra Newell. Thank you.
♪
[eerie music]
♪