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Up next...

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An innocent young woman
meets a brutal end.

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It was very violent.

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There was blood
all over the place.

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You could tell Elizabeth
fought hard to get away.

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Small town neighbors fear
a killer lives among them.

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It was awful.
It was tragic.

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It kind of rocked
the whole community.

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I was scared.

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At first, a few prints
in the dirt are the only evidence.

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Without the tire impressions
and the shoe impressions,

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we had nothing.

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And that lack of clues

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has police bracing
for another murder.

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He was on this path to
being a serial killer.

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Located on a high plain
just over the border with West Texas,

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the city of Hobbs is known as
the "oil capital of New Mexico."

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Oil and gas has been
a big part of the economy here

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for as long as Hobbs
has been here.

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It's probably what put Hobbs
on the map.

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More than
8,000 people--

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nearly 20% of the city's
population--

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work in
energy production.

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It's really like
a small town.

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The population
has grown primarily

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due to the oil
and gas industry.

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On a January afternoon
in 2002,

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two men were driving
on a dirt road

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a few miles out of town

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when they came across
the body of a young woman.

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She was laying
on her back.

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Her sweatshirt was
up around her neck.

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Her throat was cut.

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She had stabs
in her abdomen,

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her chest, her head,
her arms, her back.

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Some of the blows
to this victim were so forceful

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they'd broken bones.

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She'd been dead
for hours.

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It's such a
violent scene.

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It tends to connect
that you would think

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that she knew
who she was with.

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Investigators
got an early break.

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Since at least part
of the murder happened

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on a dirt road,

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some evidence became
apparent immediately.

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We saw tire tracks.

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And it looked like
the vehicle

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had pulled up off the main road,
and stopped.

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Right outside where
the passenger's front door

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would've been,
we located a clump of hair.

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Evidence in the dirt
showed the victim

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had been dragged
from the passenger's seat

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to where she was
ultimately killed.

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She had been scratching,
trying to get away,

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and close to those scratch marks
would be pools of blood.

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She was clearly trying to
get away from her attacker,

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and fought for her life
out there.

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Since the victim
was fully clothed,

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detectives couldn't determine
on sight

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if this was a sexually
motivated crime.

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The question now was,
who was she?

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A tattoo on her stomach
helped provide the answer.

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Her name was Elizabeth Garcia,
a 26 year-old single mother.

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Elizabeth Garcia
was a young woman

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who was really trying to make
a better life for herself.

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She had been married,
and had three kids.

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And she was
going back to school,

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attending classes at
New Mexico Junior College.

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But she had to work.

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And that meant working nights

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at a convenience store
called Allsup's

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so she could go to school
during the day.

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This created a possible
connection to the murder.

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Elizabeth was working
her shift, at night,

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at the Allsup's,

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and her boyfriend
had to go to work early.

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He had to be at work
at 3:00 a.m.

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And he was gonna
stop by,

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and just see her for, you know,
a couple minutes on his way.

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But when Elizabeth's
boyfriend, Jaime Pachecho,

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got to the convenience store,
Elizabeth was gone.

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In fact, the store
was wide open,

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and apparently abandoned.

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He could not find Elizabeth.

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Her car was in the parking lot,
but she was nowhere to be found.

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Police were called
to the store.

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10 hours later,
Elizabeth was found,

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brutally murdered,
on the outskirts of town.

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How were the store
and crime scene connected?

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Or were they connected?

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At first,
police had no idea,

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and turned to impressions
in the dirt for answers.

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Following the breakup
of Elizabeth Garcia's

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first marriage,
the single mother was determined

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to make a better life
for herself

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and her three
young children.

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Elizabeth got pregnant
in high school,

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and then had two other children
to follow.

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And so,
she was a devoted mom,

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but it definitely
changed her path

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for probably
what her plans were.

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Detectives at the
store from where Elizabeth disappeared

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were immediately dealt
a bad break.

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There were
surveillance cameras,

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but they weren't working
at the time.

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There was no sign
of a struggle in the store.

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It looked as if Elizabeth
either left voluntarily

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or was forced out
with some kind of weapon.

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It was as if
she just disappeared.

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Her car was there, her books
were there on the countertop,

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her coat was there
in the store.

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There was no money
in the cash register,

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but there was
a potential clue.

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The last transaction
was at 2:24 a.m.

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Elizabeth had written down
on a piece of paper

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that whoever had came in
at that particular time

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didn't have enough money
to pay

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for what they were trying
to purchase.

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She wrote down on the receipt
that it was a rude customer,

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or a mad customer.

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And that's the last contact
they had showing her,

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was at 2:24 a.m.

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With no surveillance
video and no witnesses,

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there wasn't a way to identify
this customer.

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Detectives now turned to
tire tracks and impressions

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from two different shoes
at the scene of the murder.

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One of those impressions
matched back

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to Elizabeth Garcia's shoes.

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The other shoe prints,
and the tire tracks,

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were presumably from the killer
and his vehicle.

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But analysts
had to work fast.

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Dirt roads do not
hold shoe impressions well.

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They don't hold
tire impressions well.

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The wind blows here
a lot.

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Analysts used
dental stone--

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the material used
to create

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permanent casts of patient's
teeth and dentures--

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to make casts of the impressions
in the dirt.

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This produced
high-quality casts,

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but detectives were unable
to definitively identify

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the brand of tires
or shoes.

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There are many, many treads
on shoes, as we found out.

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Tires are
the same way.

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So, it was hard to
narrow it down.

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However, if detectives
could identify a suspect,

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and could get their hands
on their tires and shoes,

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the casts could be matched
to a particular brand,

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and then back to
their suspect.

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Detectives were looking at
the boyfriend of Elizabeth

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as a potential suspect.

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He left after talking to
law enforcement,

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went on to work,
knowing she was missing.

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And so, for law enforcement,
that was a lot of red flags.

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But Jaime's story
held up.

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He was seen at work,
by numerous co-workers,

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around the period
when Elizabeth had been killed.

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There was not enough
time for him to kill her,

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and then be at his job
by three o'clock.

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Elizabeth's autopsy showed
she'd been stabbed 56 times,

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and was sexually assaulted.

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DNA recovered from her clothing
was tested,

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but, in 2002,
this took time.

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With Elizabeth's boyfriend
apparently eliminated

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as a suspect, detectives turned
to her ex-husband,

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Jesus Mendoza.

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He wasn't paying
child support.

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He wasn't supporting her
in any way.

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So, there was tension between
Elizabeth and her ex-husband.

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Their relationship
had fallen apart.

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Obviously, when you've got
children with someone,

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there's always a chance that,
somehow, something has come up,

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and something has triggered

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some of that reactive violence
that happens.

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Mendoza, who did not have
an airtight alibi

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for the time of the murder,
was brought in for questioning.

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And his behavior did nothing
to allay detectives' suspicions.

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I thought he was
probably our guy.

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He made several statements
that just didn't sound right.

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He told me, at one time,

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"You guys don't have
enough yet."

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He goes, "I know you're gonna be
looking at me for this."

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So, early on, I thought he was
probably gonna be our guy.

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Police arrested Mendoza
on an unrelated charge,

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and, in a jailhouse
phone call,

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he appeared to implicate himself
in his ex-wife's murder.

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We were monitoring
his phone calls.

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He called a friend,
and asked them

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to get rid of some of
his clothing and his cellphone.

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And clearly,
we thought we had him--

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"We're gonna find
the bloody clothes.

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We're gonna find the shoes.
We're gonna find the tires.

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We're gonna find everything
we need to solve this case."

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And that's not
what happened.

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The unusual level of
violence in Elizabeth Garcia's murder

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had investigators convinced
she knew her killer.

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And Jesus Mendoza--
her ex-husband--

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was acting like
he might be involved.

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When they talked to him,
instead of him just being,

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"I'm devastated
by this happening.

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I can't believe she's gone.
What can I do to help?"

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He was giving them odd replies,
and saying things like,

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"I know they probably
think I did it."

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You know, "You're probably
gonna find a way

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to put my DNA
at the scene."

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A search of Mendoza's
home turned up no shoes

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that matched the impressions
from the crime scene.

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00:10:21,229 --> 00:10:24,188
The same held true
for his car tires.

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00:10:24,232 --> 00:10:27,714
While detectives waited to see
if his DNA matched DNA

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from the crime scene,
they got a fresh tip,

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about a man named
Stephen DeMoss.

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00:10:33,023 --> 00:10:37,680
Steven DeMoss and another
person had been claiming

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they were gonna rob
an Allsup's store.

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00:10:39,639 --> 00:10:40,727
They needed money.

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They were both on methamphetamine.

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Police combed Hobbs
City, and the surrounding area,

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and couldn't find Demoss.

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00:10:48,691 --> 00:10:51,651
They contacted his,
Shelley Lovett.

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She and her husband, Paul,

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were once quite close
to Stephen.

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I remember them
coming to my house,

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and them asking me
about my brother,

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you know, that, possibly,

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they needed to question him
regarding this.

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And of course,
I just felt like,

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"There's no way.
Not my brother.

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He couldn't have possibly
had something to do with this."

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Shelley told
detectives she had no idea

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where her brother was,
but was convinced

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he had a serious
drug problem.

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I do remember, he would stay
up for maybe two or three days.

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So, there were plenty
of signs of it.

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I did suspect it pretty early,
and I knew.

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And now, police
learned of a weird connection

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between Demoss
and Elizabeth Garcia.

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Demoss' father, randy,

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was apparently infatuated
with Elizabeth.

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While trying to
understand Elizabeth Garcia,

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and who she was,

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we learned that she worked at
a parts store for a while,

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and that a man had sent her
roses, or some flowers.

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00:11:54,583 --> 00:11:57,499
And that man was
Randy DeMoss.

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Detectives
tracked down Randy Demoss.

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00:12:00,371 --> 00:12:03,418
While he admitted an infatuation
with Elizabeth,

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00:12:03,461 --> 00:12:06,900
he denied any involvement
in her murder.

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00:12:06,943 --> 00:12:09,729
And he had an alibi
to back it up.

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But the more police learned
about his son, Stephen,

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the more concerned
they became.

248
00:12:15,082 --> 00:12:17,432
Stephen DeMoss, I don't know
if he would be called

249
00:12:17,475 --> 00:12:20,522
a "collector" of knives,
but he had knives.

250
00:12:20,565 --> 00:12:22,959
He'd had
some odd behavior.

251
00:12:23,003 --> 00:12:25,570
He had shaved his head
somewhere after,

252
00:12:25,614 --> 00:12:28,225
they believe,
that the offense had happened--

253
00:12:28,269 --> 00:12:30,532
somewhere around
that night.

254
00:12:30,575 --> 00:12:33,404
When Demoss was finally
tracked down,

255
00:12:33,448 --> 00:12:35,232
he was not cooperative.

256
00:12:35,276 --> 00:12:37,452
He would twist
the questions around.

257
00:12:37,495 --> 00:12:40,107
You could tell he was
toying with us,

258
00:12:40,150 --> 00:12:43,545
and trying to be evasive
at the same time.

259
00:12:43,588 --> 00:12:45,199
He said they may have
talked about

260
00:12:45,242 --> 00:12:46,983
robbing an Allsup's store,
but they didn't do it.

261
00:12:47,027 --> 00:12:48,245
He said
he knew Elizabeth,

262
00:12:48,289 --> 00:12:52,597
said his dad knew
who Elizabeth was,

263
00:12:52,641 --> 00:12:54,077
but he said
he didn't do it.

264
00:12:55,992 --> 00:12:58,778
Detectives took
Stephen Demoss' DNA,

265
00:12:58,821 --> 00:13:01,084
and searched his home
and car.

266
00:13:01,128 --> 00:13:03,434
Once again,
no shoes or tires

267
00:13:03,478 --> 00:13:07,047
matched the casts
taken from the crime scene.

268
00:13:07,090 --> 00:13:09,397
Even worse
for the investigation,

269
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:10,790
the DNA results

270
00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:14,097
on all the potential suspects
finally came in--

271
00:13:14,141 --> 00:13:16,404
and none of the suspects matched.

272
00:13:16,447 --> 00:13:20,364
They couldn't connect
any of those individuals to her

273
00:13:20,408 --> 00:13:22,149
or to this crime.

274
00:13:22,192 --> 00:13:24,107
It was absolutely devastating.

275
00:13:24,151 --> 00:13:26,066
We've still got somebody out
there that killed this woman,

276
00:13:26,109 --> 00:13:28,198
and we have no idea
who it is.

277
00:13:28,242 --> 00:13:30,070
Police and
the general public

278
00:13:30,113 --> 00:13:32,855
feared an arrest
would never be made.

279
00:13:32,899 --> 00:13:35,989
Then, 16 months
after Elizabeth's murder,

280
00:13:36,032 --> 00:13:37,642
there was
an odd development--

281
00:13:37,686 --> 00:13:41,298
one that turned out to have a
surprise connection to the case.

282
00:13:41,342 --> 00:13:45,955
Two guys are driving down
West County Road, here in Hobbs,

283
00:13:45,999 --> 00:13:48,131
and they see a guy
walking down the road,

284
00:13:48,175 --> 00:13:49,785
at the edge of the road.

285
00:13:49,829 --> 00:13:52,701
He's got a lot of scratches
on him, got some blood on him.

286
00:13:52,744 --> 00:13:56,357
And they pull over,
to ask the guy, "Hey, you okay?"

287
00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,881
He goes, "You know, I got in
an altercation last night,

288
00:13:58,925 --> 00:14:00,404
I woke up in a ditch."

289
00:14:00,448 --> 00:14:01,884
He said, "I got beat up
pretty bad.

290
00:14:01,928 --> 00:14:03,320
Can you take me home?"

291
00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,074
In the spring of 2003,
another woman from Hobbs,

292
00:14:18,118 --> 00:14:21,469
New Mexico-- 35-year-old
Patty Simon--

293
00:14:21,512 --> 00:14:24,733
was found brutally murdered
and sexually assaulted

294
00:14:24,776 --> 00:14:26,953
on the outskirts
of the city.

295
00:14:26,996 --> 00:14:28,650
She was found
laying on her back,

296
00:14:28,693 --> 00:14:30,086
with her legs open,

297
00:14:30,130 --> 00:14:34,395
and there was a shirt
covering her face.

298
00:14:34,438 --> 00:14:38,355
She had injuries to her face,
and her head,

299
00:14:38,399 --> 00:14:41,532
and her throat
had also been cut.

300
00:14:41,576 --> 00:14:44,622
Very bloody,
very gruesome crime scene,

301
00:14:44,666 --> 00:14:47,625
much like Elizabeth Garcia's
crime scene.

302
00:14:47,669 --> 00:14:51,542
Patty Simon and Elizabeth
Garcia did not know each other,

303
00:14:51,586 --> 00:14:54,981
but there was a connection
between the cases.

304
00:14:55,024 --> 00:14:57,418
It concerned a story
about a videotape,

305
00:14:57,461 --> 00:15:00,203
allegedly made by
Elizabeth's killer,

306
00:15:00,247 --> 00:15:02,205
just after her murder.

307
00:15:02,249 --> 00:15:05,948
Rumor got around,
through the meth community,

308
00:15:05,992 --> 00:15:07,950
that there was
a videotape.

309
00:15:07,994 --> 00:15:10,213
People swore they saw
the videotape

310
00:15:10,257 --> 00:15:13,477
of the murder
of Elizabeth Garcia.

311
00:15:13,521 --> 00:15:15,131
They could never give it
to the police,

312
00:15:15,175 --> 00:15:16,698
but they swore
they saw it.

313
00:15:16,741 --> 00:15:19,570
Ultimately, this video
was supposed to have ended up

314
00:15:19,614 --> 00:15:23,313
in the possession
of Patty Simon.

315
00:15:23,357 --> 00:15:26,316
On the morning Patty's body
was found, a man--

316
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,405
shirtless and bloody--

317
00:15:28,449 --> 00:15:30,712
was walking along
a remote highway

318
00:15:30,755 --> 00:15:35,412
when two oil workers drove by,
and stopped to talk to him.

319
00:15:35,456 --> 00:15:38,285
The man said he got beaten up
after defending a woman

320
00:15:38,328 --> 00:15:41,157
at a nearby bowling alley
the night before.

321
00:15:41,201 --> 00:15:44,465
He said he staggered away,
and woke up in a ditch.

322
00:15:44,508 --> 00:15:48,338
The men who found him
dropped him off at his house.

323
00:15:48,382 --> 00:15:51,428
A short time later, they heard
of the Patty Simon murder,

324
00:15:51,472 --> 00:15:52,952
and called
the sheriff,

325
00:15:52,995 --> 00:15:55,476
who rushed to get this man
in custody.

326
00:15:55,519 --> 00:15:56,999
They go to his house.

327
00:15:57,043 --> 00:15:59,306
At that time,
when they get there,

328
00:15:59,349 --> 00:16:02,091
he's running the bath water,
but he hadn't showered yet.

329
00:16:02,135 --> 00:16:03,963
He's scratched up,
he's sunburned,

330
00:16:04,006 --> 00:16:06,269
he's got blood
on his pants.

331
00:16:06,313 --> 00:16:08,619
And they say, "You're not
getting into the bathtub."

332
00:16:08,663 --> 00:16:11,927
They detain him, take him
to the sheriff's office,

333
00:16:11,971 --> 00:16:13,624
and began
interviewing him.

334
00:16:13,668 --> 00:16:17,193
The man was
23-year-old Paul Lovett.

335
00:16:17,237 --> 00:16:19,979
Detectives investigating
the Garcia murder

336
00:16:20,022 --> 00:16:22,242
had seen him before.

337
00:16:22,285 --> 00:16:24,113
He was the husband
of Shelley Lovett,

338
00:16:24,157 --> 00:16:28,857
sister of one-time suspect
Stephen Demoss.

339
00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:32,121
Paul Lovett made a distinct
impression on detectives

340
00:16:32,165 --> 00:16:34,341
the night they interviewed
his wife

341
00:16:34,384 --> 00:16:37,648
while trying to find
who killed Elizabeth Garcia.

342
00:16:37,692 --> 00:16:40,042
I remember myself
and the other detective

343
00:16:40,086 --> 00:16:41,652
were there,
in Shelley's house.

344
00:16:41,696 --> 00:16:45,265
Paul Lovett, he sat on
the couch, kept his head down,

345
00:16:45,308 --> 00:16:46,788
didn't say anything.

346
00:16:46,831 --> 00:16:48,442
I thought, "You know,
this guy understands

347
00:16:48,485 --> 00:16:51,184
how bad
this situation is."

348
00:16:51,227 --> 00:16:54,317
Lovett said he didn't even know
Elizabeth Garcia,

349
00:16:54,361 --> 00:16:58,843
and didn't murder Patty Simon--
who, he said, was a friend.

350
00:16:58,887 --> 00:17:01,977
His story was that he was
driving around with Patty,

351
00:17:02,021 --> 00:17:04,675
and she let a man she knew,
but he'd never seen,

352
00:17:04,719 --> 00:17:09,071
into the car, and that
this stranger was her killer.

353
00:17:26,915 --> 00:17:28,351
Lovett's wife, Shelley,

354
00:17:28,395 --> 00:17:31,398
said her marriage to Paul
had been falling apart,

355
00:17:31,441 --> 00:17:34,575
and he left her shortly
after the Garcia murder.

356
00:17:34,618 --> 00:17:36,272
He stopped at the house
one night,

357
00:17:36,316 --> 00:17:40,581
and told me, "I'm leaving.
I'm moving to Alabama."

358
00:17:40,624 --> 00:17:43,192
He got in the car
with some girl,

359
00:17:43,236 --> 00:17:46,717
and her baby,
and left.

360
00:17:46,761 --> 00:17:50,547
A search of the Lovetts'
home revealed no shoes or tires

361
00:17:50,591 --> 00:17:53,289
that matched
the Garcia crime scene.

362
00:17:53,333 --> 00:17:55,509
Detectives asked
Paul's wife, Shelley,

363
00:17:55,552 --> 00:17:58,294
if she had any photographs
of Paul

364
00:17:58,338 --> 00:18:01,689
from around the time
Elizabeth Garcia was killed.

365
00:18:01,732 --> 00:18:06,128
We happened to have some photos
of a recent family event

366
00:18:06,172 --> 00:18:10,741
that we had had,
and the way that he was sitting,

367
00:18:10,785 --> 00:18:14,136
part of the bottom of his shoe,
you could see it in the photo.

368
00:18:14,180 --> 00:18:20,577
So, from that, they were
able to find out a shoe model,

369
00:18:20,621 --> 00:18:24,625
a shoe brand--
Nike Air Integrity.

370
00:18:24,668 --> 00:18:26,583
It was the same kind of
Nike shoe

371
00:18:26,627 --> 00:18:28,585
that was consistent with
the tracks

372
00:18:28,629 --> 00:18:32,502
that was found at the scene
of the Garcia homicide.

373
00:18:35,157 --> 00:18:36,593
As for the tires,

374
00:18:36,637 --> 00:18:40,423
Shelley Lovett told police
Paul's car had been sold.

375
00:18:40,467 --> 00:18:43,296
But she still had the receipt
for tires purchased

376
00:18:43,339 --> 00:18:45,776
months before the murder.

377
00:18:45,820 --> 00:18:49,128
And now, analysts finally had
had another brand

378
00:18:49,171 --> 00:18:51,347
to check against
their crime scene.

379
00:18:51,391 --> 00:18:53,828
And it was
the same brand.

380
00:18:53,871 --> 00:18:57,136
This combination of evidence
tied Paul Lovett

381
00:18:57,179 --> 00:18:58,789
to the Garcia murder.

382
00:18:58,833 --> 00:19:01,401
There is no evidence
he knew her.

383
00:19:01,444 --> 00:19:04,882
Investigators don't know
how he got her into his car.

384
00:19:04,926 --> 00:19:08,669
But the evidence indicates that,
once he got her out of town,

385
00:19:08,712 --> 00:19:12,499
he sexually assaulted her, and
then dragged her out of the car.

386
00:19:12,542 --> 00:19:14,022
A vicious fight followed,

387
00:19:14,065 --> 00:19:17,852
with Elizabeth dying
after dozens of stab wounds.

388
00:19:17,895 --> 00:19:22,204
Unknown to Lovett, he left
shoe prints, tire impressions,

389
00:19:22,248 --> 00:19:25,642
and his DNA
at the scene.

390
00:19:25,686 --> 00:19:28,819
He did know Patty Simon
through their connection

391
00:19:28,863 --> 00:19:31,822
with local
methamphetamine users.

392
00:19:31,866 --> 00:19:33,868
There was no truth
to the rumor

393
00:19:33,911 --> 00:19:37,524
there was any videotape
of the Garcia murder.

394
00:19:37,567 --> 00:19:41,528
Why Paul Lovett killed
Patty Simon no one knows.

395
00:19:41,571 --> 00:19:45,009
But prosecutors say
her blood on his clothing,

396
00:19:45,053 --> 00:19:46,707
and his on hers,

397
00:19:46,750 --> 00:19:51,102
leaves no doubt
that he was responsible.

398
00:19:51,146 --> 00:19:54,497
Paul Lovett was ultimately
found guilty of both murders,

399
00:19:54,541 --> 00:19:56,978
and is serving life
without parole.

400
00:19:57,021 --> 00:19:58,327
I was just shocked.

401
00:19:58,371 --> 00:19:59,937
It was embarrassing to me,

402
00:19:59,981 --> 00:20:04,638
that that was part of my past,
that I was married to him.

403
00:20:04,681 --> 00:20:08,729
Someone that can commit
the crimes that he committed

404
00:20:08,772 --> 00:20:09,991
is evil.

405
00:20:10,034 --> 00:20:11,471
That's a monster.

406
00:20:11,514 --> 00:20:13,516
Investigators think
Lovett could've been

407
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,605
a serial killer
in the making,

408
00:20:15,649 --> 00:20:19,218
and say he might have killed
again if not for the forensics

409
00:20:19,261 --> 00:20:22,351
that finally took him
off the streets.

410
00:20:22,395 --> 00:20:24,397
I think,
after he killed Elizabeth,

411
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,487
he didn't have any problems
with killing Patty Simon.

412
00:20:27,530 --> 00:20:29,445
My opinion is,
he would have kept killing

413
00:20:29,489 --> 00:20:31,534
if we wouldn't have
caught him.

414
00:20:31,578 --> 00:20:36,670
Thank God that they caught
him before there was another victim,

415
00:20:36,713 --> 00:20:40,413
and that, hopefully,
these two were the only two.

416
00:20:40,456 --> 00:20:41,892
Hobbs has a lot
of murders,

417
00:20:41,936 --> 00:20:44,025
but they don't have
a lot of murders like this.

418
00:20:44,068 --> 00:20:48,551
It happened on my watch,
and I took it very personal.

419
00:20:48,595 --> 00:20:52,816
And it stands out because
it was through the forensics--

420
00:20:52,860 --> 00:20:56,559
the DNA, the shoe impressions,
and the tire impressions.

421
00:20:56,603 --> 00:20:58,257
That's what made
the case.