I look down, I can see an adult male
laying on his back.
Neighbors describe David as just
the nicest, most helpful person ever.
David was having problems with his brother-in-law.
When you're dealing with two men that have been trained
by the best military in the world,
there's a great deal of harm
that one could do to another one.
[gunshot blasts]
GRUNDMANN: In David's wallet, we find a name and a phone number --
it sets off bells.
ARNTFIELD: He was looking to actually turn this into
a televised shootout, going out in a blaze of glory.
GRUNDMANN: He's a liar. He's a criminal.
He's just a bad, bad human being.
[gunshot blasts]
NARRATOR: Every day in North America,
dozens of people are murdered.
The key to solving the toughest of these homicides
lies in the final 24 hours of the victim's life.
To crack the case,
detectives must reconstruct that critical timeline,
the minutes and hours containing evidence that can
help unlock the mystery and catch the killer.
Just 45 minutes from Tampa, Palm Harbor,
Florida, is a coastal town located in Pinellas County.
Palm Harbor is a very quiet, pleasant place to live.
It has a very relaxed atmosphere.
It's just a beautiful part of Florida.
I would often see families walking their dogs,
kids out in the streets playing.
It's a quiet and quaint community.
NARRATOR: But at 5:30 p.m.
on Saturday, March 8th, 2003,
the Pinellas County Sheriff's office receives a phone call
that changes everything for one family.
NARRATOR: A sheriff's deputy is dispatched to a home on
Parkway Place to conduct a wellness check on the resident.
As I approached the residence,
I noticed the driveway was empty, and the garage door
was down.
The house itself looked to be a neat order.
I do recall the yard being freshly cut.
Inside the mailbox, there was mail piled up.
I walked up to the residence, and I noticed there were
three large newspaper rolls by the front door,
and the front door was opened slightly.
I knocked and announced my presence.
And as I opened the front door,
I can see the living room area was in complete disarray.
There were some chairs that were overturned.
There was dark stains on the carpet
that appeared to go towards the hallway.
As I approached the hallway, I looked down,
I could see an adult male laying on the ground.
There were large amounts of blood pooled
around the victim's body,
around his head, and he had some severe head trauma.
I called for backup to respond.
I secured the crime scene and waited
for homicide and the medical examiner to arrive.
NARRATOR: Sergeant Tim Grundmann of the Pinellas County
Sheriff's Office will lead the homicide investigation.
GRUNDMANN: When I arrived at the scene,
I noticed the victim is on the floor with an obvious
gunshot wound to the back of his head.
There was blood everywhere and brain matter.
We located a driver's license,
looked at the photo, and were able to determine that
the victim is 56-year-old David Lunz.
David Lunz was a retired Marine,
and he was currently working as an airplane machinist.
David was located in a crumbled state, where he had
apparently been kneeling on the floor when he was shot.
The wounds that David received from the gunshot indicated
that it was a close-range, high-power weapon.
GRUNDMANN: We found a shotgun shell on
the floor, but there's no weapon found.
There was a pillow on the floor with a gunshot going
through it -- clearly, it's from
the shotgun, because on one side,
there's a contact mark where there's burns,
and on the other side, there's blood.
In the nightstand next to the master bedroom bed
is a box for a handgun that has
a serial number, the make, model decal on it,
but there's no handgun in that box.
Who could have possibly taken this gun?
NARRATOR: Sheriff investigators fan out to search
the rest of the house.
GRUNDMANN: The living room was in disarray.
Furniture had been knocked over,
so there had obviously been a struggle in that room.
On the coffee table, we locate two drinking glasses.
So it led us to believe that David might be
expecting company.
The glasses were swabbed for DNA
and samples sent off to the lab.
Investigators find a piece of paper in David's wallet with
the name Liz on it that had a phone number.
a number of questions that investigators would have.
Who is this person?
What relationship are they?
GRUNDMANN: During our search of the rest of the house,
we located several hundred dollars in cash.
So robbery appeared to be out of the realm of being a motive.
SAVAGE: I check the sides and the rear of the residence.
The windows were closed and secure,
as were in the back doors.
I found no obvious signs of any kind of forced entry.
Because all the doors leading inside to the house
were locked, the front door
appeared to be the point of entry
and the point of exit for the killer.
NARRATOR: Based on the evidence,
Detective Grundmann forms a theory of
how David Lunz's murder took place.
From the evidence that we see,
it's obvious that David is expecting some company.
They come in.
A fight breaks out.
The struggle begins in the living room.
Furniture gets knocked over, the fight
moves into the hallway and into the bedroom, where David is
ultimately placed into a kneeling position.
Somebody held a pillow over the end of a gun
to try to muzzle the sound before pulling the trigger.
[gunshot blasts]
After the murder, the killer found the Smith and Wesson
handgun in the nightstand,
took it, and left through the front door.
NARRATOR: As investigators consider
who committed this crime,
they take one more factor into account.
David is a well-built ex-Marine.
ARNTFIELD: Given that the victim is a retired Marine,
is someone of notable stature, is in excellent
physical condition, and yet was apparently overpowered to
the point that they were able to be murdered...
[gunshot blasts]
this is an important clue.
Investigators need to question who had not only the motive
but specifically the physical means to carry out this crime.
NARRATOR: To figure out who killed David Lunz,
investigators must reconstruct the last 24 hours of his life.
GRUNDMANN: We speak to David's supervisor, Greg,
at his place of employment as a airplane machinist.
Greg advised that David was at work on Thursday morning.
He got off work around five o'clock and went home.
David was scheduled to work on Friday
but didn't show up for work.
The newspapers on the front doorstep were dated
for Friday and Saturday,
which means that he did not pick up his newspaper
as he normally does.
NARRATOR: This suggests David died after arriving home
from work at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday,
March 6th, but before his newspaper
was delivered at 5:30 p.m. Friday night.
The forensic pathologist offers
a more precise window for when the killer struck.
GRUNDMANN: Based on the medical examiner's findings,
the time of death was Thursday,
March 6th, 2003, between the hours of 6 and 10 p.m.
NARRATOR: Investigators canvass David Lunz's neighbors
for anything they may have seen
or heard in that four-hour window.
GRUNDMANN: No neighbors saw or heard anything suspicious.
They didn't see any vehicles that visited, nothing.
When we advised them that David's been killed,
everybody's in shock.
They describe David as just
the nicest, most helpful neighbor ever.
Never a mean word.
LEOPARD: David moved to Palm Harbor with his second wife,
Layla, in 1998 from Delevan, New York.
But Layla was diagnosed with breast cancer
prior to moving to Palm Harbor.
Layla passed away on February the 5th, 2003,
approximately one month before David was killed.
NARRATOR: While most neighbors reported nothing noteworthy
at David Lunz's home on the day he was killed,
others recall one odd detail.
GRUNDMANN: The neighbors advised us that the lawn had been mowed
on Thursday morning on the day of the homicide,
which was very unusual, because it was a normal routine for
David to mow his lawn on Saturday morning.
He had been in the military,
and he was very regimented in what he did.
NARRATOR: The cut lawn, along with the two glasses
on the coffee table,
reinforces investigators belief that David was
expecting company before he was killed.
So the question is who might that have been?
For answers, investigators reach out
to David Lunz's closest relative.
The only known next of kin was his son
from his first marriage,
Christopher Lunz.
Christopher is living approximately
nine hours away in North Carolina.
I speak to Christopher.
I advise him that his father is deceased.
He asks me no questions about how he died.
Chris tells me, "Forgive me for not being upset,
but I barely knew the guy."
He explains that they only met a couple times.
When police notify Chris that his father is dead,
his response could be characterized as
disinterested, flippant.
This naturally strikes investigators as unusual.
STOCKDALE: Christopher's behavior towards investigators
is strange, but he is estranged from his father.
There's not a relationship there.
And so maybe the odd responses are because of that.
NARRATOR: Investigators ask Christopher
if he can think of anyone who might have wanted
his father killed.
GRUNDMANN: All of a sudden, Christopher gets angry,
and he says, "You think I killed my dad.
You think I'm a suspect."
And he tells me in so many words
what I can do to myself,
and if I have any more questions for him,
contact his lawyer, and he hangs up on me.
So now we would really want to find out
what kind of a person Christopher is.
Is he violent?
Does he have the potential of coming
down to Florida and killing his dad?
[gunshot blasts]
NARRATOR: After ex-Marine David Lunz is brutally
murdered at his house in Palm Harbor, Florida,
his estranged son Christopher's bizarre outburst
on the phone raises investigators' suspicions.
Christopher was living in a rural part
of Jackson County, North Carolina.
It was in a trailer off the main beaten path,
out in the middle of nowhere.
The local police department in North Carolina
advised us that they were very familiar with Christopher.
LEOPARD: Christopher had run-ins with the law before for
stealing a vehicle,
for fleeing from courtroom proceedings,
and also some minor drug violations.
GRUNDMANN: Through interviews with friends and relatives,
we were able to determine that Christopher had been to
Florida as recently as February of 2003
for Layla's funeral.
NARRATOR: The funeral of his father's wife, Layla,
was a month prior to the murder,
but there's no evidence Christopher returned to Florida
before his father was killed in March.
We don't have anything other than his behavior
that tells us he's our suspect.
We couldn't link him to the crime.
NARRATOR: And with David Lunz's son
600 miles north from the murder scene,
sheriff investigators turn their attention elsewhere.
That's when a separate set of David's neighbors
point to a different member of the Lunz family.
Neighbors told investigators that David was having problems
with his brother-in-law, Raymond.
GRUNDMANN: A relative of Raymond and David's wife,
Layla, had passed away, and Raymond was placed in charge of
the estate in dividing
the money up amongst the family members.
David didn't think that they got their fair share
from the estate,
which is where the argument began.
His feelings was that Raymond had embezzled the money.
STOCKDALE: You always have to follow the money.
I mean, in this case, there's hard feelings
based on how an inheritance was divided.
And so, certainly a suspect is viable
if the victim felt aggrieved by that person's behavior.
Emotions run high when it comes to money.
Investigators realize that they may have been looking at
somebody who is incentivized to carry out this crime.
LEOPARD: Raymond could potentially have motive
to kill David, because if David is dead,
then there's that much more money that Raymond stands to
gain, or if Raymond had done
something with embezzling it, and David was calling him out
on it, then Raymond wouldn't get in trouble.
GRUNDMANN: So now we want to investigate Raymond.
We learned that he was a Chief Master Sergeant
in the U.S. Air Force for 30 or 40 years.
We also learned he was currently
a volunteer at the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.
He would assist with the homicide unit there.
Based on his status and his work
at the Citrus County Sheriff's Office,
one might believe that he might
know how to commit the perfect crime.
[gunshot blasts]
At the time of the murder,
Raymond is living in Beverly Hills, Florida,
which is about a two-hour drive north of Palm Harbor.
So we go to Beverly Hills, Florida, to interview Raymond.
While we're speaking to Raymond,
we're asking him questions about gun ownership.
He admits to us that he does own several weapons.
ARNTFIELD: Raymond has a military background.
He is strong and fit.
He's adept with firearms, and he lives near the victim.
Each of these new discoveries moves him up
the chain in terms of his interest to police.
When you're dealing with two men that have been trained by
the best military in the world,
they go head-to-head,
there's a great deal of harm
that one could do to another one.
NARRATOR: But as investigators continue to question Raymond,
they start to have doubts about him as a suspect.
GRUNDMANN: Raymond indicates David had accused him
of taking money from the estate,
but he said nothing could be further from the truth.
LEOPARD: There was no evidence at all
that Raymond had embezzled the money.
NARRATOR: Detectives' suspicions dwindle further
when they witness Raymond's grief.
GRUNDMANN: Raymond is obviously shook up about this,
and he's very upset that David has been murdered.
The shoe just did not fit in this case.
This is not our suspect.
NARRATOR: With David's immediate family eliminated,
investigators follow up on a contact
they recovered earlier at the crime scene.
In David's wallet, we find a piece of paper
that has a name and a phone number --
Liz Falcone.
When you find a phone number in somebody's wallet,
it sets off bells.
NARRATOR: Before calling Liz Falcone directly,
sheriff investigators turn to one of David's
close friends to gather some background on her.
GRUNDMANN: His friend told us that David recently
met a woman, and he was very excited.
Her name was Liz, they had exchanged phone numbers.
He was gonna call her and set up a date.
Apparently, David was a little concerned that he
had met somebody that he was very interested in
so soon after the death of his wife.
NARRATOR: Because most murder victims know their killers,
Liz Falcone becomes a person of interest.
David is emotionally vulnerable, and police have to
wonder whether in that state
he had a lapse in judgment and allowed somebody very dangerous
into his home.
We have to talk to this woman in case
they had actually made a date, and something went south.
LEOPARD: Did he have Liz over to his place
the night of the murder?
Could she be responsible?
[gunshot blasts]
NARRATOR: After Palm Harbor, Florida, resident
David Lunz is gunned down in his home,
investigators find a contact for Liz Falcone in his wallet.
David's friends say that he had planned to date her.
Now, investigators consider whether
a romantic twist could have turned deadly.
When it's learned that David is dating someone new,
this person becomes a logical suspect, because you're more
likely to be killed by someone you know.
And so she certainly would be
a suspect, or perhaps others that know her.
Perhaps one of them is jealous of this new relationship.
GRUNDMANN: Maybe she had an ex-boyfriend.
Maybe she had an ex-husband or a current boyfriend that David
didn't know about, and that person
came to the house and committed a murder.
[gunshot blasts]
We didn't know what the connection was here,
but we've got to talk to Liz.
NARRATOR: The team tracks down Liz Falcone to
see what she has to say about David Lunz.
GRUNDMANN: She said, "I met that guy,
"and he seemed like he was interested,
"so I gave him my phone number.
He seemed like a very nice guy."
We asked Liz if she had ever been to David's house.
She said, "No, he hasn't called yet,
but we were gonna set up a date."
So according to Liz, they hadn't even been out on
a date yet.
NARRATOR: Investigators don't have to
just take her word for it.
They have another way to confirm
whether she's telling the truth.
GRUNDMANN: At David's house,
there were two drinking glasses located on
the coffee table in the living room.
The glasses were swabbed for DNA.
LEOPARD: When the DNA swabs come back from the lab,
the only positive match that they had was David.
They did not have anyone else.
NARRATOR: With none of Liz Falcone's DNA
recovered at David's home,
investigators eliminate the possibility
that she was the killer.
GRUNDMANN: Every time we get a new name, a new suspect,
there's a bit of excitement,
but obviously, you know that we have to follow the evidence.
In this case,
it was another dead end, unfortunately.
NARRATOR: To find new leads, the team takes a closer look
at the empty gun case found beside David Lunz's bed.
The box was for a Smith and Wesson revolver.
It had the serial number on the box,
and we are wondering who could have possibly taken this gun.
We're hoping that it's the suspect.
NARRATOR: Investigators input
the gun's serial number into the National Crime Information
Center, or NCIC.
If the gun has been located anywhere else in the US,
the NCIC can tell investigators
where and under what circumstances.
Protocol dictates that we do not enter items as stolen in
the NCIC computer unless we're certain that they're stolen.
It's possible that David could have sold the gun,
but we really needed a lead.
So my superiors finally agreed with me,
and we entered it as stolen in the NCIC computer.
NARRATOR: But the gun's serial number doesn't return any hits.
With all leads exhausted, the investigation stalls.
It's not until around Thanksgiving
when the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
hears about a crime in neighboring Hillsborough County
that may be related
and it's just 10 miles from David Lunz's home.
Eight months after the murder of David Lunz,
Richard and Karla Van Dusen were trying to sell
their 1971 Chevy Cheyenne.
Richard Van Dusen listed his car for sale in the local newspaper.
Someone responded to Richard's ad.
On November 25th, 2003,
that person came to the house and met
with the Van Dusens regarding the sale of their car.
The Van Dusens were never seen alive again.
Their cash and their car were stolen.
The Van Dusens' bodies were found
face-down on a gravel road,
shot in the back of the head.
NARRATOR: A trail of cellphone and DNA evidence
led Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputies
to the car's buyer, 51-year-old William Deparvine.
Based on the evidence, Deparvine was charged
and convicted for the murders of the Van Dusens.
NARRATOR: Pinellas County investigators are struck by
similarities between
the retired couple's murder and David Lunz's murder.
Besides living close to the retired Marine,
the Van Dusens were also killed by
a single shotgun blast to the back of their heads.
[gunshot blast]
Perhaps even more chilling,
David Lunz had also advertised
a used vehicle in the classifieds
just prior to his murder.
David had listed his deceased wife Layla's car for sale.
GRUNDMANN: After Layla died, David had no use for two cars.
He was keeping his PT Cruiser, but he had taken
out an ad in the newspaper to sell his Mazda Miata.
We found it interesting that the Van Dusens
were selling a car, got murdered.
David Lunz is selling a car, got murdered.
LEOPARD: Did the same person do it?
Is there someone targeting older people
and using their vehicles as
a way to get to them to rob them
and then ultimately kill them?
GRUNDMANN: Is there a connection with
William Deparvine and David Lunz's homicide?
NARRATOR: Eight months after the murder of retired Marine
David Lunz in his Palm Harbor, Florida, home,
sheriff investigators consider whether his death is connected
to the killing of Richard and Carla Van Dusen.
After the retired couple listed their vehicle for sale,
they were executed by 51-year-old William Deparvine.
We were very excited about the possible link
between the Van Dusen homicide and the Lunz homicide.
David Lunz was retired from the military.
The Van Dusens were also retired.
GRUNDMANN: Both had listed their vehicles
for sale when they got murdered.
David was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun.
The Van Dusens were also shot in
the back of the head with a shotgun.
GRUNDMANN: The Van Dusens' bodies were found only
about 10 miles from David Lunz's house.
So now we're wondering if William Deparvine
had something to do with David Lunz's murder,
since the situations seem to be similar.
[gunshot blasts]
NARRATOR: Besides Deparvine's conviction
in the double murder of the Van Dusens,
investigators learn he remains
a suspect in several other shotgun murders.
GRUNDMANN: So now we're gonna look into
where he was when David was killed.
We learned that, unfortunately, William Deparvine was in
custody in the county jail
at the time of David Lunz's murder.
NARRATOR: Deparvine was serving time on
a weapons charge in March 2003,
exactly when David was killed.
GRUNDMANN: He had a solid alibi.
We have to eliminate William Deparvine as a suspect.
At this point, we're extremely frustrated,
because we're back to ground zero.
There's a lot of pressure from the community itself
due to this being such a brutal murder
in a very quiet neighborhood.
You do diligent work, and days, weeks,
months, and even years can go by -- it can take a physical
and mental toll on your wellbeing.
NARRATOR: More than two years go by without any new leads.
And then in December 2005, investigators receive
a phone call from the Macon County
Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.
GRUNDMANN: There's a lake in North Carolina called Bear Lake.
Every year, they drain the lake
a little bit to compensate for snow melting.
A fisherman was out wade fishing,
and while he's fishing, he stepped on something,
and he reached down, and there's a gun,
a little Smith and Western revolver.
The fisherman turns the gun
into the Macon County Sheriff's Office.
They run the serial number and get a hit.
It's stolen from Pinellas County, from David Lunz.
The case for this revolver was found in
the nightstand next to the master bed at David's house,
and the case was empty.
NARRATOR: Now the question is,
how did David Lunz's gun from Florida end up in
a North Carolina lake 600 miles away?
Swain County, North Carolina, sheriff's detective
Brian Leopard alerts investigators in
Florida that he has a witness who may know that answer.
I contacted Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
and advised them that we had
received information about a homicide that had
happened in their county.
Detective Leopard tells us that they received
a tip from a woman named Sophia Magana.
LEOPARD: Sophia had called the sheriff's office.
She explained that a couple of years prior, her boyfriend had
gone to Florida, and when he came back,
he had confided in her that he had killed someone,
and her boyfriend, his name was William Westerman.
NARRATOR: But for North Carolina investigators,
Sophia's story about William was initially
too short on details.
She said she didn't know the victim's name
or where in Florida
William allegedly killed his victim, and she waited two years
to tell police her story.
Sophia did not come forward immediately after William
returned from the road trip and told her what had happened.
LEOPARD: She finally came forward a couple of years after
and contacted law enforcement
because she was mad at William Westerman,
her ex-boyfriend at that time -- there was drug use going on,
and they had a child together.
She was just upset with the lifestyle
that her ex-boyfriend was living.
STOCKDALE: Because information is coming forward from someone
who's involved in a bitter custody battle.
Detectives are suspicious, because people want to
know what is the motivation for this person to come forward?
Is it because she wants something in terms of
the custody battle,
wants to gain an advantage?
NARRATOR: With dubious motives and limited details,
Sophia's story remained questionable
to North Carolina investigators,
but with the recovery of David Lunz's gun
in Bear Lake, Sophia's story suddenly becomes more credible.
After we had contacted Pinellas County,
and they were able to confirm
that they did in fact have an unsolved homicide of
David Lunz,
the investigation stepped into another gear.
We didn't know what the connection was here,
but we have to talk to this woman.
LEOPARD: Plans were made for the investigators from
Pinellas County to immediately come to North Carolina,
and a time was set up for Sophia to come into the office
and sit down and speak with investigators.
NARRATOR: Florida investigators catch the next flight to
North Carolina.
We were extremely excited.
We now know where we're gonna look and who we're gonna
look at -- is there a connection?
NARRATOR: More than two years after retired Marine
and Florida resident David Lunz is murdered,
Pinellas County investigators interview
Sophia Magana in North Carolina.
She claims she may know the murderer.
When Sophia came in for her interview,
she explained that her ex-boyfriend,
William Westerman, had gone on a road trip to Florida
with one of his friends.
William does not have any idea of where they're going to
and had been instructed by his friend
not to bring any credit cards or cellphones.
While they're on the road trip,
according to Sophia, William is told by
his friend that he plans on killing someone.
NARRATOR: According to Sophia, William and his friend
went to the intended target's house.
There, William's friend subdued the man inside,
then told William to kill him.
She says that William told her that he got
the shotgun that his friend had brought with him.
William grabs a pillow to muffle the sound of
the shotgun, holds it over the end of the shotgun,
and shoots the victim in the head.
[gunshot blasts]
The gun kicked back and hit him in
the forehead, causing a big gash and blood.
NARRATOR: Sophia realizes investigators still have doubts
about her story since she's in a custody dispute with William.
So she brings proof.
LEOPARD: She pulls a photograph out that
she had taken of William Westerman.
Sophia's photograph is a critical turning point,
because along with that wound is the disclosure to Sophia that,
"I got this when a gun kicked back
while I was shooting someone."
That is enough for investigators to move on.
[distant sirens wailing]
NARRATOR: The sheriff's office wastes no time
tracking down William to his current address.
They bring him in for questioning.
William is asked about the rumor
that he was involved in a homicide.
He denies any knowledge of the murder.
NARRATOR: Investigators confront William with Sophia's story
about the shotgun kicking back and wounding his head,
and they show him the photo she took.
LEOPARD: When confronted with that information,
William took a big sigh,
like it was a weight being lifted off of him.
William Westerman came clean about the homicide.
LEOPARD: He admitted to killing David.
He said that it had been eating at him and that
he was glad to get it off of his chest
and finally tell.
One of the first questions he is asked
is who did you go with to Florida?
William have stated that he was with
one of his friends, named Christopher Lunz.
NARRATOR: Christopher Lunz is the victim's son, who detectives
spoke to days after his father was killed.
GRUNDMANN: It was like a chill that ran down my spine,
because at the very beginning,
we felt that Christopher was involved somehow
just based on the short conversation
I had on the phone with him three days after the homicide.
NARRATOR: Investigators press William for
more details about Christopher's involvement.
William says that Christopher contacted him and said, "We need
to go on a road trip to Florida."
While en route,
Christopher says, "We're going to kill my dad."
Williams hesitant about it,
but he goes along with it, because he is scared to death
of Christopher.
Williams says Christopher is basically a psychotic nut job.
So he believed that Christopher had killed before,
and there were possibly burned remains underneath his trailer.
NARRATOR: According to William, after he and Christopher
arrive in Palm Harbor, Florida,
they park at a restaurant near David Lunz's house.
They go to the house, knock on the door.
They're greeted by David.
NARRATOR: William says David is
expecting them and even hugs his son.
But what should be a pleasant family visit turns violent.
William said a fight ensued between David and Christopher
and that he felt that actually, at one point,
David was gonna end up getting the best of Christopher.
But ultimately, Christopher was able to
get David down on the ground
and got him into a chokehold.
Christopher is yelling at William, "Shoot him,
shoot him, shoot him."
So William grabs a pillow to muffle the sound of
the shotgun, holds it over the end of the shotgun,
and shoots David in the head.
[gunshot blasts]
Before they fled,
they ruffled through some drawers, and they came across
the Smith and Wesson handgun.
Christopher took that handgun for a memento
or why, we don't know.
But then as soon as they got back to North Carolina,
they threw it off a bridge and into Bear Lake.
Westerman's story lines up perfectly with the crime scene.
He admits that he pulled the trigger,
so now we have the trigger man.
Now we need to get Christopher in custody.
LEOPARD: Because of local media reporting about the arrest of
William Westerman,
Christopher gets wind of the investigation and decides
that he wants to make one last stand.
So Christopher contacts the local TV station
and tells them that he is willing to turn himself in,
but he wants it to be on camera.
Chris agrees to meet at
the overlook on Highway 441 on Cowee Mountain.
Surveillance is set up a couple of hours before
the time -- once they confirm
that Christopher is at the overlook,
we start approaching.
This televised surrender, aside from sounding insane,
is fraught with risk.
It's an entirely unpredictable situation.
We know that this individual has access to firearms.
We know that they may be looking to actually turn this
into a televised shootout, going out in a blaze of glory.
NARRATOR: Instead of surrendering, Christopher
begins acting wild and erratic.
LEOPARD: Chris gets up on top of the picnic table
and started reciting lines from the movie "Gladiator."
I think it was, "Are you being entertained?"
Once we allow him to finish his lines from "Gladiator,"
he steps down off the picnic table,
turns around, we handcuff him, and transport him to jail.
I have yet to ever experience anything like that again.
NARRATOR: While in custody, Christopher Lunz
refuses to talk,
but investigators are still missing one crucial piece of
the puzzle before they can take their case to trial.
Why would Christopher want to kill his own father?
The team learns that two weeks after the murder,
Christopher called the attorney in charge
of his father's estate.
Christopher was wanting to know what his portion of
the estate was and what he was gonna be receiving.
GRUNDMANN: Christopher was living in a trailer at the time
of the murder, and it was obvious
that he didn't have much money.
LEOPARD: The attorney advised Christopher that he was
not in the will -- he was receiving nothing.
Christopher responded to that very upset.
He became irate enough that
Clearwater Police Department had to be called.
NARRATOR: With a motive established,
investigators believe they
finally understand exactly what happened
in the hours leading up to David Lunz's death.
GRUNDMANN: Days before the homicide,
Christopher contacted his father and said, "Hey,
I'd like to come visit you."
LEOPARD: Christopher asked William Westerman to go on
a road trip with him to Florida to visit his father.
-William Westerman agrees. -GRUNDMANN: On March 6th,
David gets up around 5 a.m.
has breakfast.
David mowed the lawn sometime around 8 a.m. that morning.
LEOPARD: At 8:30 a.m., David leaves for work.
GRUNDMANN: David started work at 9 a.m.
LEOPARD: At 5:30 p.m.,
David arrives home and gets ready for
his guests to arrive. -GRUNDMANN: At approximately
7 p.m. Christopher Lunz and William Westerman
arrive at David's house.
LEOPARD: David Lunz hugs Christopher when he walks in.
They sit down in the living room.
There's some casual conversation.
At 7:15 p.m., Christopher stands up
says that he has a present for his father.
GRUNDMANN: A few moments later, Christopher returns with
a shotgun and hits David
in the back of the head with the butt of the gun.
LEOPARD: Then a struggle ensues with father and son
as they wrestle in the living room.
William Westerman watches.
GRUNDMANN: The fight proceeds into the hallway
and into the bedroom, where Christopher has David in
a headlock and yells at William, "Shoot him, shoot him."
William grabs the pillow,
puts it over the end of a shotgun,
and shoots David in the head.
[gunshot blasts]
David Lunz was shot and killed sometime around 7:30 p.m.
on the night of March 6th, 2003.
Moments after the homicide, Christopher and William found
the Smith and Wesson handgun in the nightstand,
took it, and decided to get the heck out of dodge.
At about 7:45, William and Christopher get back in
their car and drive all the way home to
North Carolina in the middle of the night.
NARRATOR: On June 6th, 2006,
3 years after the murder of David Lunz,
William Westerman pleads guilty to his part in
the homicide and receives 30 years.
Christopher Lunz admits to killing his father.
He says his motive wasn't money but revenge.
In court, Christopher had claimed that his
father molested him when he was younger.
But the only time that we are aware that he ever met
his father was when he was 10.
It was strictly a visit at a park.
They were never alone together.
So it was totally unverified that he ever
molested Christopher.
STOCKDALE: It's possible that Chris develops this idea
or this story that his father has sexually
abused him because he thinks the jury or other people would
be more sympathetic towards him
if that was the case.
In court, Christopher Lunz admits to killing many more
people that he caught in the act
of sexual abuse of children and young people.
NARRATOR: After a 3-day trial in June of 2006,
Christopher Lunz is convicted of first-degree murder,
punishable by death in Florida.
FARNELL: During the penalty phase of the proceedings,
he looked at the jury, and he asked them, in his words,
to fry him, to execute him.
Instead, jurors recommend life in prison.
NARRATOR: Once in prison,
authorities in North Carolina assess
Christopher Lunz's claim of multiple murders.
LEOPARD: Investigators find human remains on
Christopher's property.
NARRATOR: But before the Macon County Sheriff's Office
can open a new investigation,
Christopher's story takes a final tragic twist.
LEOPARD: In 2009, Christopher kills himself
inside Florida State prison.
GRUNDMANN: This one's totally senseless.
Christopher never got any money.
Christopher probably was never molested by David.
I think it was just greed.
SAVAGE: I know for the community itself,
it definitely puts them at ease.
From their personal perspective,
the son was finally convicted for this crime,
but also, having a sense of justice for Mr. Lunz.
Reality doesn't matter. It's how Chris perceives it.
The callousness of this crime, gaining attention,
manipulating accomplices --
these are all hallmarks of somebody who's a psychopath.
In the end, we have a case
of a widower murdered by his own son
a month after his wife dies of cancer.
This is a series of cascading tragedies.
I mean, it is an injustice any way you look at it,