- [narrator] a bride to be
Murdered a week before her wedding.
- [detective] we're gonna find out what happened.
- Somebody wanted her dead.
- Who did it?
Who the hell did it?
- If you had any suspicions,
Would you tell us?
- Yeah, because if y'all find out I knew, I'm (beep).
- [narrator] can detectives get a confession?
Or will a cold-blooded killer go free?
- [detective hernandez] don't lie for him.
If you... - I'm not lying for him.
- We just needed
Really that one person to finally break.
- [narrator] investigators, searching for answers-
- [officer freeman] rowlett police.
- [narrator] in the interrogation room.
- [ranger holland] this is probably the most important
Moment of your life.
- [narrator] every suspect accused of a crime
Has the right to remain silent.
Many agree to be interrogated anyway.
But they can stop the interview at any moment,
Making it a race against time.
Justice hangs in the balance.
- [operator] okay.
- [brian] my name's brian.
(sirens wailing)
- When we arrived on scene,
The fire department advised on the radio
That they had gone in and backed out
Because they had found a bullet
Casing next to the body.
Gerard.
- [officer 2] yes, sir.
- She was shot
One time in the eyebrow
And she died right there.
- Now to our other breaking news in rowlett,
Where police are trying to figure out
What led to a woman's death inside her home.
- [reporter] right now,
Police only calling it a death investigation
And could not go into many details
Surrounding the nature of the death,
Or who it is.
- As we were in the process of obtaining a search warrant,
We were able to
Determine that it was laura grillo
That was deceased on the floor in the kitchen.
Laura grillo was 37 years old,
She was very active in her community.
- She was like this ray of sunshine.
She wanted to
Just make the world a better place.
She was gonna get married in a week.
Laura and john were together about seven years total.
- Together they have one child, four years old,
And laura has two older children
From previous relationships.
And they lived together with laura grillo's brother, brian.
- John had asked laura
To marry him
On more than one occasion.
She finally said yes.
She really was excited about the wedding and
She asked me to be the maid of honor.
We were having a good time planning.
(women cheering)
We went and picked out dresses together.
- Yay.
- Laura's youngest daughter was with us
During a lot of this planning.
You know, it was really sweet.
She was so in love with her.
I'm really sad.
We were supposed to grow old together,
You know, and be best friends.
- John and laura were both
Volunteers with the police department,
In a program called vips,
Which is volunteers in public safety.
John engaged in a conversation with me,
He's from greece,
So he spoke with a heavy accent.
He had asked if
Laura was in the house.
As we were searching the master bedroom,
We observed some drawers flipped over
And the safe was actually open
Where it looked like possibly a burglary had occurred.
- But there were things inside the scene
That just didn't look right.
We did not find any forced entry to the residence at all
And the rest of the home appeared to be untouched.
This did not appear to us to be a random attack.
Somebody wanted her dead.
- [female news anchor] new information from rowlett,
Where neighbors are in disbelief.
- We just got an update from rowlett police
About 30 minutes ago
And they tell us the death investigation
That's happening just behind
Us here inside this home
Is now considered a homicide.
- [male news anchor] with no signs of a forced entry,
Investigators say on Friday morning,
Either someone followed laura into her home
Or was already inside
When she returned home from taking her children to school.
- Laura grillo's brother, brian,
Told us that he was asleep at the house.
He got up
About noon and he found the female body face down
In the kitchen.
A lot of blood.
He exited the house
And called 911.
- That was a concern for us initially that
A gunshot that goes off inside a house
Is typically pretty loud.
But, you know, he told us that he's hearing impaired.
- And we were able to confirm,
So brian was eliminated as a suspect.
We didn't find any motive.
There was nothing but love between laura and brian.
- I had the children,
They were staying the night with me.
They couldn't go back home, of course.
And then that's when john
Was at the police station being questioned.
(soft suspenseful music)
- Basically, the goal was to
Confirm john's whereabouts on the morning of the murder.
- When we started the interview,
He cried quietly
For about 60 seconds.
- John answered my questions
That he didn't owe anybody no money,
Nobody was threatening the family.
They were pending
A wedding and he seems to be excited.
He was able to start a detailed written statement.
John said that he had left early in the morning
And went to a home improvement store
In north dallas,
And that he had met up with
Two workers in his construction business.
A lot of times in my past,
When I've investigated something, a tragic event,
People are not physically able
To actually start writing down.
We have to give 'em
Some time, you know, a day or two to collect themselves.
So, that struck me a little bit odd.
But my first interview with john,
He didn't stand out to
Be a suspect.
- The very next day,
John showed up at the police department unannounced,
Wanting to speak with me.
- [detective] mm hmm.
- He wanted to be in charge
Of what was going on
And kind of controlled what information
Was gonna be released to the public.
And we just let john talk to
Get as much information from him as we possibly could.
And he doesn't really seem to be
Too upset about
The fact that his fiance,
That he was supposed to marry in a week, is dead.
He's more concerned about wanting to
Clean everything up and move on with his life.
- And he's not talking about any security measures
That he's gonna implement
After he's returning to the murder scene,
With not only his own life,
But also the kids.
- [female news anchor] now to a developing story,
Investigators say the death of a 37 year old,
Rowlett mother appears to be a homicide.
Lori grillo was shot and killed
Inside her own home Friday morning,
Shortly after returning from
Dropping her children off at school.
- [male news anchor] she was supposed to be getting ready
For her wedding,
Scheduled one week from tonight.
But instead, friends and family
Are planning her funeral.
- She was a fantastic, loving mom,
Friend, sister.
She had a rough childhood growing up,
But she was trying to
Create this really fantastic life for her kids
That she didn't have when she was a kid.
It's a real nightmare
Not knowing what happened to someone
When they're here one day,
And then they're just like murdered the next day.
But laura's fiance, john,
Was acting strange from the get go.
Just a few days after laura was killed
John asked me, he's like,
"I have a feeling that
The rowlett police department is gonna try to pin this on me
And take the kids."
I knew something was wrong.
(soft suspenseful music)
- We were able to
Gather video surveillance footage from
A couple of home improvement stores that
John told us he went to that morning in dallas,
Which proved that he was actually there
At the time that laura was killed.
So, we knew that he wasn't responsible for this himself,
But we couldn't
Say at that point that he didn't have some involvement
In setting this up.
- And we were able to confirm that
A short time later,
He had met up with two workers in his construction business.
(soft suspenseful music)
- Jesus worked with john
And they were best friends.
He was gonna be part of the wedding party.
- Jesus was john's right hand man,
Kind of his job foreman,
John's go-to person.
- James said that he only been working for the company
For three weeks.
So, he had barely met john.
(deep suspenseful music)
My goal was to find out
Are they a person of interest or a suspect.
- [detective] okay.
Both jesus and james were very upfront,
Very cooperative, very talkative.
The stories matched.
- They both said they were together the entire morning,
And both james and jesus denied
Being in rowlett that morning,
Having any knowledge about what happened to laura,
Or who was responsible for it.
(soft eerie music)
- Right.
- Jesus seemed a little too laid back,
You know, just laughing and joking around
In the interview room.
Some of that stuff didn't really make sense
When his boss's fiance,
Who he had also known for several years, was just killed.
Kind of felt like he was making a very good effort
To deflect any attention from himself.
(deep suspenseful music)
We found some things that were suspicious to us.
Rowlett is about 30 minutes east of dallas.
Jesus told us in his initial interview that
He stayed in dallas the entire morning laura was killed,
And his phone records showed otherwise.
- And what we found is about 8:26,
He pinged a tower in rowlett.
- And the time that
His phone hit a cell tower in rowlett,
About a mile from laura's house,
Was right about the time that we believed that
Laura was killed.
That was a big problem for him.
There was a lot more
To this that
He wasn't telling us.
We needed to figure out exactly what did happen.
A lot of the people that we talked to
Described john as a very controlling person,
He didn't treat laura very well in public.
- He was mean, he yelled,
He had a terrible temper,
He was possessive.
It was a little
Surprising when she accepted his proposal.
There were actually
Several times when laura was thinking about leaving john.
The last time I spoke with laura
Was the night before she was murdered.
And she said there was just a big fight that happened
Regarding the wedding dress.
There was definitely turmoil.
- We found out that
John wanted out of the relationship with laura,
But he also was trying to
Maintain possession of his daughter.
We know that james and jesus were together that morning,
Prior to them meeting up with john.
We wanted to talk to james again,
To let james know that we knew jesus was lying to us.
- [detective hernandez] it's important.
In any interview,
We've gotta get that person to understand
That we do
Know more than
What we're leading on.
And we explained what the penalties are for murdering,
He could spend the rest of his life in prison.
I think the thought of that scared him.
I was trying to let him know,
Don't cover for him.
It helps build rapport,
And if you have rapport with somebody,
It makes it more difficult for them to lie to you.
- Still, even as we confronted him with facts that we knew,
He continued to deny,
But I classified him as a weak denial.
We knew that he knew something
About the murder.
He gave us consent to search.
We did recover a usable amount of marijuana
In a backpack that was underneath his bed.
I noticed a change in his demeanor
When I pulled out the backpack.
I opened it up, it had latex gloves in there,
It had two brand new
Phones in there.
It was a little bit odd for me.
- So that gave us even more suspicion
That now we're onto the right people.
- Also happening right now,
Police are looking for a man who they say
Is a person of interest
In the murder of a rowlett mother.
- And rowlett police say
This new person of interest,
Jesus emmanuel trevino,
Lied about where he was
The day that laura grillo was
Murdered here in her home,
And that he's now on the run.
- He fled the area,
We were not able to locate him.
And we had some concern that james may do the same,
We decided to go ahead and charge him with that marijuana.
That's the reason why james ended up back in jail.
- The texas rangers are
The state police here in texas.
That's a...Are very helpful in assisting
Smaller agencies to investigate crimes of this nature.
James seemed to be
Very intrigued by the texas rangers.
He seemed to be impressed.
(soft suspenseful music)
- [james] mm hmm.
- James knew that it was a very serious situation,
But we just,
We couldn't get james to
Tell us what he knew
At that point.
(soft suspenseful music)
- They were clearly concerned about
James being at the police department for so many hours
And what he was telling us.
(soft suspenseful music)
- We needed to determine
If there was anything that john was willing to provide us
That would explain
Why he would be having a conversation with jesus
About what james was gonna say.
He was surprised to see us approach him
At the home improvement parking lot.
He seemed very nervous.
- If he was not involved,
That was an opportunity for him to say
And explain that he was not involved in the murder
Of his fiance.
(soft suspenseful music)
- [detective] listen.
- He seemed very nervous
And he couldn't explain it.
He could not explain
The recorded conversation.
- We were able to get in contact
With a couple of his ex-girlfriends,
A former roommate of his,
And these people had direct knowledge
About jesus being hired by john
To kill laura.
Two of these people gave us information that
Jesus personally came to them
And offered them
Money to drive him out to rowlett
So that he could
Commit this murder.
Both of those people
Didn't want anything to do with his plan.
So, at this point in the investigation,
Our theory was that
James was most likely the driver
And we felt that john paid jesus to kill laura.
- Also, we were able to get a tip
That jesus was in florida,
And we provided that information to
The united states marshal service.
- [male news anchor] all new at 10 o'clock,
Handcuffed in florida.
Take a good look at the photo.
This is on a warrant out of rowlett,
Us marshals arresting jesus trevino.
- Jesus had been arrested
But we still did not have proof
That john was an active role,
Co-defendant in the murder of laura grillo.
- We just needed really that one person to
Finally break and just confirm
Everything that the investigation had showed
Up to that point.
- [detective hernandez] jesus had a felony criminal history.
He has multiple arrests,
He has a lot of knowledge
Of dealing with police.
- And james didn't have as close of a relationship
With john that jesus did.
So, we felt that james would be the weaker person
In that type of a situation to
Cooperate with us
And tell us what he knew
About how laura was killed.
(ticker clicking)
- James seemed to be very intrigued by the texas rangers.
He really seemed to,
To like dealing with the rangers,
Like talking to the rangers.
- Texas rangers, they're a legend here in texas.
I think it made an influence on james
In order to
Give more of the truth.
- He understands that
Now we know
A little bit more
Than we did the last time
We sat down.
- You see, his arms are open, he's pretty relaxed,
And that's a good posture to move in,
To draw in more of the truth.
(indistinct chatter)
- (indistinct)
- If you recognize the person,
Not just for the event of the criminal act,
But for other things in their life,
They feel that they've got some type of connection with you,
That you're not judging them on one criminal act.
In some witnesses,
It can give them the comfort that they need
In order for them to provide truthful information.
- [texas ranger] mm hmm.
- James did agree to
Get in the car and actually show us the route
That he and jesus drove
From dallas to rowlett that morning.
- [detective sawyer] and james was able to show us
Several places that evidence was discarded.
- [detective] okay.
- Once james finally did
Decide to tell us what he knew,
We were able to
Take john into custody as well.
- We entered through a garage
Where he was doing some work.
He was taken to the ground and handcuffed.
During the arrest, his glasses fell off.
And the only thing he said is,
"can I get my glasses?"
And he never said a word,
He never spoke.
We were instructed to
Drive him to the dallas sheriff's office
And turn him over to ranger holland.
- This was a well planned murder
And we needed to close this case.
We needed john to confess.
(soft suspenseful music)
(deep suspenseful music)
- [texas ranger] mm hmm.
- When ranger holland interviewed james,
He was able to
Get his cooperation to the point that james
Agreed to testify against the other two defendants,
Which was very positive for our investigation.
James says he drove jesus to rowlett
To laura grillo's house.
Jesus entered the house,
(gunshot bangs)
He shot her to death,
And then they drove to
The home improvement store in north dallas
And met up with john.
And that john wanted jesus to
Kill laura before the wedding.
- That wedding wasn't gonna happen.
It was all to cover up,
You know, there's a darkness to it.
- You know, both john and jesus were sentenced to
Life in prison without the possibility of parole.
And because james did decide to cooperate
In this investigation,
He was allowed to plead guilty to a murder charge,
Instead of capital murder,
And he was sentenced to 25 years.
I was glad we were able to
Hold the individuals responsible,
You know, accountable for what they did.
- They took a lot away
From a lot of people.
They took a mother, a friend, a daughter.
I'm just really glad that this case got solved
And that they worked so hard for her,
Because anybody's worth it,
But you know,
Laura was worth it.
- They had been planning this murder for months,
And they believed that they had a plan that was gonna work.
Luckily, in this case,
We got justice for laura grillo.
- She's awesome, and she's strong, and she's like her mom,
And laura's always gonna
Have a place in her heart.
She's resilient, I'm really blessed to have her.
Laura still lives on,
She lives on through her daughter's smile,
And through me trying to be a better person,
Every day, because of her.