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FunTranscript
00:00:11It's hard to talk about that day, because when I look back, I just think about the tragedy.
00:00:22911, address of your emergency?
00:00:24Yeah, we have a missing person.
00:00:27The woman who owns the property where the wedding guests are staying is nowhere to be found.
00:00:33I had her neighbor go over there to check on her.
00:00:36She said, the door's wide open, the TV's blaring, and you better come over here.
00:00:43It is haunting and chilling in a way that I'll never forget.
00:00:49Did you see anything else strange when you went in the hall?
00:00:52Yes.
00:00:53There seems to be blood all over her pillow.
00:00:55There's 20-plus guests staying in the big house, and there's a wedding party.
00:01:00The house turned into a crime scene.
00:01:02It's taped off.
00:01:03The police are there.
00:01:04There's helicopters.
00:01:07There's dogs.
00:01:08All of my friends don't know how they're getting back to that house.
00:01:15These are all potential suspects in the case.
00:01:18I mean, this is like an Agatha Christie novel, like a classic whodunit.
00:01:23I knew that something really bad had happened, and it wasn't going to be good.
00:01:48The draw for Paso Robles is, of course, the scenery, the layout of the land.
00:01:55The real name of Paso Robles is called El Paso de Robles, which is the pass of the oaks.
00:02:02Oak trees, horses, cattle, and then there's the vineyards.
00:02:11The Paso Robles area, it is very much the hot spot of wineries in the county.
00:02:23Just, it's honestly like a fairytale place to go.
00:02:35I was born and raised in California.
00:02:37I have close family and friends who lived and grew up not far from here.
00:02:41I've always loved this area.
00:02:44Paso Robles, nestled halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
00:02:49A getaway town, scenic and quiet.
00:02:51But down El Faro Road, in the middle of all this beauty, something ugly took place.
00:02:58Right here, at this secluded vacation home.
00:03:04The owner of this ranch-style property was 62-year-old Nancy Woodrum.
00:03:08She lived alone after her husband passed away a few years before.
00:03:12And she was really a fixture in the Paso Robles community and ran a popular salon downtown.
00:03:18We are at Nancy's Salon.
00:03:21And this is the Strand.
00:03:22This is where I come every three weeks to have her do her magic.
00:03:28Nancy clicked with everybody.
00:03:30She just had that amazing gift of just openness, kindness, just generous.
00:03:38And she passed on her amazing gift to her daughter, Amanda, who now is my stylist.
00:03:47Do you have a favorite photograph?
00:03:50Ah, this one, my mom and I.
00:03:53What makes this photograph so special?
00:03:56We had a special bond.
00:03:58I was her firstborn.
00:03:59And it just really shows that relationship that we had sums it all up.
00:04:05How would you describe your mom?
00:04:07What was she like?
00:04:08She liked to have fun.
00:04:10She liked to do things.
00:04:11She was active.
00:04:12We were always doing stuff.
00:04:14Going here, going there with the horses, the animals.
00:04:18Oh, oh, oh.
00:04:20Okay.
00:04:20You're fine.
00:04:21Oh, all right.
00:04:22I won't move.
00:04:23I don't know.
00:04:26She loved riding.
00:04:28It was calming to her.
00:04:30And she loved being out in nature with the horses.
00:04:34You and your mother, you shared this talent for hairdressing, passion for horseback riding, but also a belief in a
00:04:42particular faith.
00:04:43Well, she raised me as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and she had very strong morals and raised me to be
00:04:53a good person.
00:04:56Nancy was always a devout Jehovah's Witness.
00:05:02We believe that the earth will be made new again.
00:05:05We believe that God created it for a purpose, and he's going to make a beautiful paradise again.
00:05:13Amanda's parents, Robert and Nancy, purchased the property on El Faro Road in 2006.
00:05:18It was a fixer-upper.
00:05:19They were going to have this project and make it their home.
00:05:23But eventually, they decided to turn this property into a vacation rental.
00:05:29My dad was a contractor, and they made it beautiful.
00:05:34They remodeled it and worked really hard on it.
00:05:37So you come in, you'd see this two-story Victorian home, wraparound porches, and this willow tree that you parked
00:05:43under.
00:05:43What did Nancy name the property?
00:05:47It was called Paradise Ranch, because she had the hope of being in paradise, the hope that the Bible gives
00:05:54us.
00:05:56On Friday, May 4th, this big group of wedding guests check into Paradise Ranch for a weekend wedding at a
00:06:02local winery.
00:06:04The bride, who found the place online, is staying there with her bridesmaids and some close friends.
00:06:09She asks us not to show her face or reveal her name.
00:06:13We wanted to do a vineyard wedding in Paso Robles.
00:06:18It was a special place to us.
00:06:21Paradise Ranch seemed perfect when we saw the pictures.
00:06:25The main house was very large and welcoming and just charming.
00:06:32And then the guest house was where I was staying.
00:06:36And that was also just very quaint and cute.
00:06:42Nancy came by the guest house and introduced herself.
00:06:46She was very warm and welcoming and gave me a hug.
00:06:50And she was so kind.
00:06:52And she mentioned that she was staying close by on the property.
00:07:01And then, on Saturday, May 5th, you received a phone call that concerned you.
00:07:08What did you learn on that call?
00:07:10My mom had not shown up for a Bible study.
00:07:12And that was very unusual.
00:07:15I had her neighbor go over there to check on her.
00:07:19She said, the door's wide open, the TV's blaring, and you better come over here.
00:07:29What did you see when you first approached your mother's apartment?
00:07:34Everything was there as she left it, but she wasn't there.
00:07:39There was a stain on the carpet.
00:07:42Her sheets and her bedding were missing.
00:07:45I looked closer at the walls.
00:07:49And when I saw what looked to be a splatter on the walls,
00:07:54that's when I grabbed the phone and called 911.
00:07:57911, address of your emergency?
00:08:00Yeah, we have a missing person.
00:08:02My mother-in-law has not been heard of or seen today.
00:08:08Did you see anything else strange when you went in the house?
00:08:11Yes.
00:08:12What?
00:08:12There seems to be blood all over her pillow.
00:08:15Okay.
00:08:16There's 20-plus guests staying in the big house, and there's a wedding party.
00:08:20There's a wedding party that was there this weekend?
00:08:23Yes.
00:08:26I was so excited, getting ready for my wedding day, and a couple family members came by,
00:08:32and I just remember, have you seen my mom?
00:08:37Have you seen our mom?
00:08:38And something about blood.
00:08:40And I freaked out.
00:08:45I just asked if they had seen my mom today, and no one had seen her.
00:08:50And what's your state of mind at this point?
00:08:52Panic.
00:08:53Shaky and frantic.
00:08:56Amanda is frantically looking for her mother.
00:08:59The cops are on the property looking for clues.
00:09:02But at the same time that this is going on, down the road, an eagle-eyed officer makes a discovery
00:09:08that could break the case open.
00:09:10What was extremely suspicious, in my mind, just really quadrupled.
00:09:40My name is Clinton Cole.
00:09:42I'm a reserve detective with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.
00:09:50I live in a house with my girlfriend, and three dogs, and two birds.
00:09:58Hi, little bird.
00:10:01I usually get up pretty early.
00:10:03I have coffee.
00:10:04I get the dogs outside.
00:10:06I feed them, and then just kind of just relax.
00:10:12In 2018, I was a senior deputy with the Sheriff's Office.
00:10:18That Saturday, it was May, so it was a pretty nice day when I received a phone call from my
00:10:24sergeant at the time, asking if I was available for a suspicious missing persons case.
00:10:35I got in my truck and was told that I needed to start heading to El Faro Road.
00:10:43So that's what I did, is I started towards that location.
00:10:52What did you first see as you pulled up to the property?
00:10:54I saw this very large White House.
00:10:59I met with the first responding deputy and the on-call detective sergeant.
00:11:04Senior Deputy Degnan came over.
00:11:08He said, this is very suspicious.
00:11:11Something's very wrong here.
00:11:13I could sense by his demeanor, his voice, that this was not good.
00:11:20You're making your way around the property, and then finally you approach Nancy's cottage
00:11:25right here.
00:11:26What's the first thing you see?
00:11:28I see this door is open as it is now.
00:11:33No signs of a forced entry.
00:11:40So this is inside Nancy's cottage here.
00:11:43What were the first red flags that you saw as you walked in?
00:11:47Well, when I first walked in, right here below me was two large blood spots.
00:11:55Blood stains right here.
00:11:57Right here on the floor.
00:12:00And then over here, there was a bench.
00:12:04And on that bench was Nancy's purse, car keys, her cell phone, her iPad.
00:12:14Her two vehicles were parked out there.
00:12:17There was a pillow sitting here, a beige pillow that had blood on it.
00:12:22And there was blood spatter on that cabinet, as well as on Nancy's headboard and against
00:12:31the back wall.
00:12:33What are all these signals telling you about what happened in this cottage?
00:12:38I felt immediately that she was taken against her will.
00:12:42You thought this was a crime scene?
00:12:45Absolutely.
00:12:46Right away.
00:12:48While investigators are on the property looking for any clues they can find, down the road
00:12:56that evening, a huge discovery is made that changes the entire case's direction.
00:13:02We received a phone call from an officer with the California Highway Patrol, who had located
00:13:11some bedding and clothing about six or seven miles from Nancy's house on LaPonza Road.
00:13:21So this area here is where items were located by the California Highway Patrol.
00:13:29Those items consisted of bedding, a pillow, a dress, a woman's dress, a pair of shorts and a shirt.
00:13:42We obviously wanted to find out if they were related.
00:13:51All of the evidence is brought back and secured in the Crime Lab Annex.
00:13:58When I opened everything up, we looked at all of the evidence more thoroughly.
00:14:06What struck me with this bedding was that there were stains that appeared to be bloodstains.
00:14:14The gingham-type print was consistent with the remaining bedding that was at El Faro.
00:14:22These items were located on LaPonza along with the bedding, and this was two of the clothing items.
00:14:32My thought was that Nancy was wrapped in part of the bedding and transported, whether it be that she was
00:14:41deceased or whether it be that she was severely injured.
00:14:45We showed these items to her daughter, who confirmed, in fact, these items did come from Nancy's bedroom.
00:14:57Did you recognize them immediately?
00:15:00Mm-hmm.
00:15:02Yep.
00:15:03It was her stuff.
00:15:04I think that's when I knew that something really bad had happened, and it wasn't going to be good.
00:15:19That's when I knew in my heart, we needed to find her, and we need to do it now.
00:15:25It's Saturday evening, and police are trying desperately to figure out who would want to hurt Nancy Woodrum.
00:15:30Well, suddenly, their potential suspect list gets really long, because returning to the property from the wedding are all those
00:15:40guests staying at the ranch.
00:15:45There were approximately 20 or more guests staying in this large White House and the smaller house.
00:15:52These are all potential suspects in the case.
00:15:55Yes.
00:15:56It's very overwhelming.
00:15:57We have a missing person on this property and potentially 20 to 24 people that could be suspects but have
00:16:06to be interviewed.
00:16:09Now you have a suspect pool of 20-plus people that you've got to ask yourself, is this a thing
00:16:15where someone came into town for a wedding and became involved in a crime?
00:16:19I really feel like you can help us, because I feel like you may have seen something.
00:16:40So you're searching all around the property, essentially every square inch, and then something catches your attention in the driveway?
00:16:48About right here, I had noticed what appeared to be two fresh tire tracks that had pulled in and were
00:16:56in here.
00:16:57And as where we're standing right below us here, I noticed what appeared to be scuffle marks, as if there
00:17:04was a fight between two people with their feet.
00:17:08The scene spoke very loudly to me that Nancy was assaulted inside of her bedroom and then taken somewhere against
00:17:18her will.
00:17:25I saw a pillow on the bed.
00:17:29To be honest, I wasn't as focused on that as much as I was kind of the rest of the
00:17:36room.
00:17:37Janine did an excellent job of getting up on top of a ladder to look down, and that's when she
00:17:43was able to see what looked like a handprint.
00:17:45From up above, when I looked directly down, I really thought the pattern of it stood out as being a
00:17:54partial handprint.
00:17:55The one side that had a lot of blood most likely was against a person that was bleeding,
00:18:03and the other side that had just the handprint was that this could very well be the weapon that was
00:18:10used to suffocate or smother.
00:18:13So investigators swabbed this pillow right in the middle of the bloodstain of the bloody hand for DNA and sent
00:18:21it off to a lab.
00:18:26I was at the property when people started coming back from the wedding.
00:18:31So, yes, we have just this huge list of potential suspects, persons of interest, whatever you want to call them,
00:18:40that had ready access to Nancy.
00:18:45So Paradise Ranch is so remote that there just wouldn't be anybody else around to have access to Nancy to
00:18:52harm her.
00:18:53So it's logical that you would look right at the wedding party for potential suspects to see if maybe anybody
00:18:59have something to do with this.
00:19:02You need to talk to every single one of them.
00:19:05Absolutely.
00:19:06Well, we had a search warrant for the entire property.
00:19:08As the wedding guests start coming, and they're being told,
00:19:12you're not allowed in here.
00:19:14Some of them had children.
00:19:15You know, my diapers, my food, my baby's food.
00:19:19The scene became a little chaotic.
00:19:21Is it even possible for us to be able to come back later and go to sleep there?
00:19:24What I'm going to do right now is go find out what the answers to those questions are for you.
00:19:31What was the bride's reaction when you told her what was going on here?
00:19:36She was very emotional.
00:19:38She was upset.
00:19:39I was in complete shock and horrified and could not believe that this was happening to Nancy,
00:19:50who I had just met, and she was so kind and lovely.
00:19:56It's extremely frustrating to us that you can see how close this house is to Nancy's residence.
00:20:03So you would think someone would hear a car drive up, a scream, or something,
00:20:09but no witnesses of over 24 people heard a thing.
00:20:14Anything unusual happen that you guys noticed in any way with anybody?
00:20:20No, not anything out of the ordinary.
00:20:24So the bride is just sleeping on the other side of the wall from Nancy's apartment.
00:20:29As hard as it is to believe, Nancy's door is here.
00:20:32It was open, and right next door, only one wall separating the two was where the bride was sleeping,
00:20:41and she said she did not hear anything.
00:20:45I, you know, went into the guest house, and then my girlfriends and I were doing, like, face masks and
00:20:51stuff.
00:20:52And then we went to bed at about, like, 11.15,
00:20:57did my usual thing where I pop in my earplugs and go to bed.
00:21:07Keep in mind that police believe that Nancy actually went missing the evening before.
00:21:15And then they learned that that wedding party that had been staying on the property,
00:21:19they were at the rehearsal dinner until late that night.
00:21:28We went straight to the rehearsal dinner, it was at Cass Winery.
00:21:33Okay.
00:21:33And got back from that around 10.30.
00:21:40I would say at, like, midnight, we all went to bed.
00:21:44So there was one wedding guest that we couldn't 100% account for,
00:21:49him being at the rehearsal dinner.
00:21:53I wasn't in the wedding or anything, so I pretty much just hung out in the house.
00:21:57So you were here the whole time?
00:21:58Yeah.
00:21:59Okay.
00:22:00He wasn't clear whether he was here, possibly alone, with Nancy Woodrum,
00:22:09or did he, in fact, go to the event at the wedding.
00:22:13And so that raised some concerns.
00:22:17And so we had to take extra time and speak to him again the next day.
00:22:23We're just trying to figure out what happened.
00:22:25And, you know, I feel...
00:22:26I would love to be helpful, but I don't have anything else.
00:22:30Like, this is kind of, this is onerous at this point.
00:22:37All of a sudden, this guy now is, like, not wanting to cooperate, you know?
00:22:45Usually, people who aren't involved bend over backwards for you.
00:22:49I really need your help.
00:22:51I don't want to impact your day.
00:22:52I don't want to impact your work.
00:22:54We can do it after work.
00:22:57I prefer not to.
00:22:58I feel like you have, may have seen something, and...
00:23:02I haven't.
00:23:04And so that immediately was a red flag for us, and it was still confusing.
00:23:13We needed to clear it up as soon as possible.
00:23:21Now, detectives decide they're going to go for round three with this particular guest.
00:23:26And this time, they go right to his home.
00:23:29And they intend to come back with two things.
00:23:32An explanation and some DNA.
00:23:35We knew we had to get this interview done with or without his permission, or at least try to.
00:23:43And did not let him know we were coming.
00:23:46And we went to the front door and knocked on the door.
00:23:51Well, how are you?
00:23:52You want to come in?
00:23:53Absolutely.
00:24:02You want to come in?
00:24:09You want to come in?
00:24:10You want to come in?
00:24:10You want to come in?
00:24:10You want to come in?
00:24:11You want to come in?
00:24:11You want to come in?
00:24:12You want to come in?
00:24:13You want to come in?
00:24:13You want to come in?
00:24:14You want to come in?
00:24:15You want to come in?
00:24:15You want to come in?
00:24:15You want to come in?
00:24:15You want to come in?
00:24:16You want to come in?
00:24:17You want to come in?
00:24:19You want to come in?
00:24:20You want to come in?
00:24:23You want to come in?
00:24:25There was one wedding guest whose whereabouts the night Nancy Woodrum disappeared were questionable.
00:24:34So we went to his residence in Northern California to try and confirm his whereabouts that night.
00:24:48Hey, I just got your call.
00:24:50Awesome.
00:24:50Hey, I just wanted to ask you a few more questions if you don't mind.
00:24:55Sure.
00:24:55You want to come in?
00:24:56Absolutely.
00:24:58I'm Dave.
00:24:58Good to meet you.
00:24:59I'm Clint.
00:25:00Good to meet you.
00:25:00Nice to meet you.
00:25:03Have a seat.
00:25:03Absolutely.
00:25:05He was no longer resistive.
00:25:07He was very cooperative.
00:25:10Actually appeared to feel bad for the way he had talked on the phone.
00:25:15We just had a couple more questions to clarify and then just a picture or so.
00:25:20Did you go to the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner or did you stay?
00:25:24No, I went to both.
00:25:26Or sorry, I went to the rehearsal dinner, not the rehearsal.
00:25:29I think there were a few pictures on my wife's phone that you can see of me at the rehearsal
00:25:33dinner.
00:25:33I can show you pictures from the property.
00:25:37His wife remembered to show us photos at the rehearsal dinner on Friday.
00:25:45So the confusion that he staked back was immediately erased.
00:25:50It was a very frustrating time for us.
00:25:53All right.
00:25:54Thank you, sir.
00:25:56The wedding guest, who wasn't legally obligated to participate in the investigation, also agreed
00:26:01to submit a DNA sample.
00:26:03While all of this is happening, police are ramping up their efforts now to find Nancy.
00:26:08This shocking disappearance makes huge news in the Paso Robles community.
00:26:12Deputies are expanding their search, asking nearby residents for security footage.
00:26:1862-year-old Nancy Woodrum has been missing since Friday afternoon.
00:26:22We're leveraging all of our resources to do the best we can to figure out where Nancy may
00:26:28have gone and what took place.
00:26:30This search is playing out all through these foothills and along the riverbed.
00:26:34There's a riverbed right behind Nancy's property line.
00:26:38We had search and rescue, search, all of this area out towards the riverbed, the exterior
00:26:45parts of Nancy's property.
00:26:52We also utilize helicopter to come in and search at a high level for signs, bodies, anything
00:27:00like that.
00:27:02We had a very good group of friends that were very close to us, and they would go out and
00:27:11go search, go down LaPonza, go down 58.
00:27:14We'd look through everything, the culverts, everything.
00:27:17And what was going through my mind is, Nancy's a tough girl, and I know that she's a fighter,
00:27:26and I'm like, she's alive.
00:27:28We will find her, and she's going to be okay.
00:27:32During the investigation, we developed another lead.
00:27:37So not only were the wedding guests on the property, but we learned that there was a fairly
00:27:46large number of other people that had access to Nancy Woodrum's property at the time she
00:27:55went missing.
00:28:01Nancy had decided to sell Paradise Ranch.
00:28:03It was too much work for her.
00:28:05She was having work done on her house to assist with the sale of the home.
00:28:10Why did Nancy decide to sell Paradise Ranch?
00:28:13Because she wanted to preach full-time.
00:28:15And she really wanted to teach people about the Bible and share her hope with other people.
00:28:25There were contractors, painters, plumbers, all doing repair work to finalize the sale of Nancy's residence.
00:28:34You needed to talk to all of them.
00:28:35Absolutely.
00:28:37Absolutely.
00:28:37Every single person that was on this property within the last couple weeks had to be located and interviewed.
00:28:47One of the pieces of evidence left behind was Nancy's iPad case.
00:28:51And all around it were pamphlets and notes and numbers.
00:28:54And there was one of a painter and the name was Carlo Fuentes and a phone number.
00:29:01And so we decided that we should call Carlo Fuentes since he was on scene and see if he saw
00:29:11anything that hadn't been reported yet.
00:29:16Hi, I'm calling because we're investigating the disappearance of Nancy Woodrum.
00:29:20Do you remember when you were there on that Thursday, do you remember if Nancy was there?
00:29:29Yes, she was there.
00:29:30He was very cooperative, very friendly with Detective Cole.
00:29:34Did you see Nancy like having an argument or disagreement with anybody?
00:29:39You know, to be honest, I didn't notice anything like that.
00:29:42And I remember she told me, oh, you're a hard worker.
00:29:47And then she gave me a tamale.
00:29:50And Amanda mentioned the name of Sean Bloom, who was a general contractor who had worked on the house.
00:29:55And she reported that Nancy and Mr. Bloom had had some dispute over work that had been performed.
00:30:01And it had become quite heated and quite contentious.
00:30:05How would you characterize the relationship between your mother and Sean Bloom?
00:30:09Sean was very frustrated.
00:30:10He eventually got fired.
00:30:12He did not get payment until escrow closed for the work that he had done up to that point.
00:30:17Like, he wanted his money.
00:30:18Sean Bloom was definitely a person of interest in one of the first couple of people that we called in
00:30:26to be interviewed once we were done with the wedding party.
00:30:29Actually, I don't like working with Nancy. It's been very difficult.
00:30:34We had issues where Nancy was not happy with our work, fired me off the job.
00:30:47All the text messages between him and Nancy made no denials about his dislike of Nancy.
00:31:21So we were like, all right, well, he won't give his DNA without talking to his attorney.
00:31:26One, he's just being cautious.
00:31:29Or two, he's concerned.
00:31:31So, which is it?
00:31:45Nancy grew up in San Fernando Valley.
00:31:48At 18 years old, she already obtained her cosmetology license and wanted to do more fashionable hairstyles.
00:31:57And so she commuted to Woodland Hills, where she worked in an exclusive salon.
00:32:03Neil Diamond's wife came in.
00:32:06She did Kenny Rogers.
00:32:08She always liked to let everybody know that by 21, she owned her own home and had a Corvette.
00:32:13And then she met her husband, Robert, who was your quintessential Southern California surfer.
00:32:29We moved up here in 1991.
00:32:32And it was the three of us kids, my parents, and we moved from Woodland Hills to the Central Coast
00:32:38area.
00:32:40I understand that there were a number of tragedies that struck the family.
00:32:48So in between me and my brother, Chad, there was another baby, Christopher, Michael.
00:32:56And he was 10 days old when he died.
00:32:59He was born with a blockage in his intestines.
00:33:01And then your sister?
00:33:05She passed away shortly before her 18th birthday.
00:33:09Nancy's daughter, Amy, passed away from cystic fibrosis.
00:33:14Amy was a great person, and it really broke my parents' heart.
00:33:22It was sad.
00:33:24And I understand then you lost your father suddenly.
00:33:30Yep.
00:33:31Unexpectedly.
00:33:32Yep.
00:33:33What happened to him?
00:33:34He had a heart attack and collapsed as he was getting into my car.
00:33:39It was hard.
00:33:40It was very traumatic.
00:33:42How did Nancy cope with all of these tragedies?
00:33:46She had really strong faith in God and a good hope that she was going to see her loved ones
00:33:52again.
00:33:52And that really got her through.
00:33:55After suffering through all these tragedies, now Nancy herself has vanished into thin air.
00:34:01And her loved ones are hoping against hope that somehow she'll turn up alive and well.
00:34:07The family's obviously anxious.
00:34:09The investigators are anxious.
00:34:11They're trying to figure out what happened.
00:34:12The community's interested.
00:34:15Is this going to happen to somebody else?
00:34:18We know that a timeline is essential to a detective.
00:34:22And about a week into their investigation, they make a critical discovery that's going to tell them exactly the time
00:34:31that Nancy went missing.
00:34:32At midnight 17, there was a 911 call that showed up on the bill for zero seconds, meaning it didn't
00:34:40go through.
00:34:41It gets shut off somehow.
00:34:43Like in a split second?
00:34:44Like very quickly.
00:34:46What that did was provide what appeared to be a pretty good time and date stamp on when, you know,
00:34:53something bad may have happened to Nancy.
00:34:58Approximately 12 days within the investigation, we got a big lead.
00:35:06The lab informed us that they had developed unknown male DNA on the pillow that we submitted from Nancy's bed.
00:35:16They submitted to the state database CODIS, but no matches were found, which meant that the person whose DNA this
00:35:26was had no record.
00:35:28To our surprise, several days later, Sean Bloom contacted us and submitted his DNA voluntarily, which cleared him as a
00:35:41suspect.
00:35:42The DNA results also cleared that wedding guest who police initially found suspicious.
00:35:48But as they started digging deeper into the case, they found something surprising that has investigators wondering whether this was
00:35:55a highly personal crime with a possible suspect much closer to home.
00:36:00In terms of looking at all potential suspects or persons of interest, there was information that was provided that she
00:36:09potentially had conflict with her son.
00:36:11I'm going to be honest with you, I haven't talked to my mother face to face in probably five years.
00:36:17I think my brother had a lot of anger growing up. He did not want to be part of the
00:36:24religion that we were in, which was his decision. And, um, but he was angry about it.
00:36:31She tends to correct our teachings, you know, about God and quickly different things, and that's when I kind of
00:36:37just squashed the relationship.
00:36:40How bitter or challenging did the relationship become between Chad and your mother, Nancy?
00:36:46At the point of her disappearance, it was not good. They hadn't spoken in quite a while, and my mom
00:36:52was not allowed to see his kids.
00:36:55But Nancy and Chad were texting each other right before she disappeared.
00:37:00Yeah.
00:37:02She was reaching out to my brother, trying to just get on common ground maybe with him that way.
00:37:10He was the last text to her that she had in her phone.
00:37:15He said he doesn't trust cops and that he's not coming to the station.
00:37:20We were welcome to come to his house and interview him.
00:37:24So we did, and he refused to give his DNA. And he was adamant about it.
00:37:31Can I mention the DNA samples? It would just solely be specifically for this investigation.
00:37:38I've, uh, I've heard of cases of misappropriated, um, samples, and, you know, it can ruin people's lives.
00:37:46And unless it's, unless it's mandatory, I strongly, uh, I strongly stand by my decision.
00:37:51So we surveilled him.
00:37:54We watched him drink five or six beers.
00:37:58He put the empties in the cab of his truck, and then he drove home.
00:38:04Chad was stopped and arrested for driving with an open container.
00:38:08While the charge was dropped, those beer bottles were sent to the lab for DNA testing.
00:38:13Chad ultimately was cleared by DNA.
00:38:18The case kind of did stall because you've got a lot of people we've looked into up to this point.
00:38:23And we're not getting a lot of traction.
00:38:26Was there a point when you felt like you were, you're desperate for news?
00:38:30Right. We just wanted to figure this out. I was more than willing to help.
00:38:34No one knew where Nancy was and, um, needed, needed something to break.
00:38:39Detectives are about to throw a Hail Mary.
00:38:41They're going to use a relatively new crime-fighting tool, one this department has never used.
00:38:47If it's successful, they'll be able to find out who was in Nancy's cottage at the very moment she disappeared.
00:38:55I'm excited. We've got something to go on now.
00:39:14I always remember Nancy liking the old country music.
00:39:18We'd always be playing music either at Nancy's house or my family's house.
00:39:24And it was a big part of our lives.
00:39:30Every summer they would set up a concert series.
00:39:33And Nancy volunteered her property for this.
00:39:36It just was a music party.
00:39:39And everyone would dance.
00:39:42And she loved that.
00:39:47This was one of her favorite songs that she liked when I sang.
00:39:51And it's called Syrup and Honey by Duffy.
00:39:57Don't you be wasting all your money on Syrup and Honey.
00:40:11It'd be good.
00:40:20We just kind of came to the conclusion that we might never know what happened to her.
00:40:30It was really tough.
00:40:31And it was tough for me, but her daughter and Chad and her grandkids like that.
00:40:41It was hard.
00:40:45We are definitely very frustrated.
00:40:50The public was unhappy.
00:40:52They felt like we weren't doing anything.
00:40:54They felt like we weren't working the case.
00:40:57We were working on it every single day.
00:40:59The case kind of did stall because it came to the point where we sort of ran out of investigative
00:41:04leads.
00:41:05Other avenues had to be explored.
00:41:07And one of the detectives had recently heard about this novel type of evidence called geofencing.
00:41:16So you've hit a wall in the investigation.
00:41:18You decide you're going to try something new called geofencing.
00:41:22And this is something that really hasn't been done in California before.
00:41:25At that time, yes, we were one of the first agencies in the state of California that did this, what
00:41:32is called a Google geofence.
00:41:38You can put a fence, a virtual fence, around an area, a house, a property, and Google will track which
00:41:48Google accounts, emails or cell phones, come within that fence in a given period of time.
00:41:54These are actually GPS coordinates that you send to Google.
00:41:58Yes.
00:41:59You're essentially able to isolate, not necessarily who's on the property, but what devices may be on the property.
00:42:07And that's giving you an avenue to now investigate.
00:42:12It doesn't matter what kind of phone you have, iPhone, Android, Google is tracking you.
00:42:17That is correct.
00:42:19As long as location services are on on your cellular device, Google is tracking that phone and you.
00:42:29In order to obtain Google geofence information, search warrants needed to be written and served upon Google for a very
00:42:38specific time period.
00:42:42Now, remember, because of that interrupted 911 call at 1217 AM, well, that gives detectives a timeline to work with
00:42:51as to when she went missing.
00:42:53Then Google sends the results.
00:42:55And what do you see?
00:42:57What you're seeing here is what we got back.
00:43:00So this is your first sense.
00:43:03Some people feel that there are privacy concerns.
00:43:06Paradise Ranch is in a rural area and there are not going to be a lot of unknown people who
00:43:12are going to be located in this geofence.
00:43:15So little by little, we're zooming in here.
00:43:17These are the phones associated with the wedding guests.
00:43:19That is correct.
00:43:20The larger circle here within this circle is all wedding guests.
00:43:26And it looks like there's four.
00:43:28Yeah, 20 plus wedding guests.
00:43:30Correct.
00:43:30The reason their phones aren't showing is their phones are probably kind of in silent mode sleeping.
00:43:35No apps are being used.
00:43:37So that's why you only see four.
00:43:40And just to be clear, this number, this is not a phone number, correct?
00:43:44Correct.
00:43:45Google assigns each cell phone its own device number.
00:43:50The device number is right here.
00:43:52And that is specific to whoever owns that phone.
00:43:57It's like a fingerprint.
00:44:00By now all the wedding guests have been cleared.
00:44:02So those numbers are not really the major focus of detectives.
00:44:09What is the major focus is what they see when they examine Nancy's cottage.
00:44:15As we get here, that is actually Nancy's studio.
00:44:21And we see a cell phone, what we call pinging, basically right in the wall of Nancy's studio.
00:44:30It pings here at 1.33 in the morning and at 01.52 hours.
00:44:37And that's the time when you believe Nancy disappeared.
00:44:39That is 100% when we believe Nancy disappeared.
00:44:45I can tell you from my perspective, I'm excited.
00:44:48We've got something.
00:44:49We've got something to go on now.
00:44:51Could it have been Nancy's phone?
00:44:52We don't know.
00:44:54But what we do know is it's at strange odd hours and it's inside her studio.
00:45:03So this is a potentially huge moment in the investigation.
00:45:06Either that phone belongs to Nancy and it's another dead end or it belongs to someone else.
00:45:12You get a name and that person becomes your most likely killer.
00:45:17100%.
00:45:18Either that device leads us to a suspect or we are back to absolutely nothing.
00:45:26Swear one.
00:45:26Yes.
00:45:40For months, it's been a daunting mystery.
00:45:46Who could have taken Nancy Woodrum from her beautiful Paso Robles property in California
00:45:51and in the middle of a wedding where more than 20 guests were staying?
00:45:54But thanks to geofencing, this cell phone tracking technology,
00:45:59investigators finally have their first big clue.
00:46:03So this is a key moment in the investigation.
00:46:05You have this huge piece of evidence, a cell phone inside Nancy's cottage.
00:46:10You have to figure out who it belongs to.
00:46:12What's next?
00:46:13We have to write another set of warrant for the subscriber information.
00:46:19So it starts the ball rolling, but there's still a fair amount of waiting, you know, wait for the data.
00:46:26Sometimes it could take a few weeks.
00:46:29It's in November.
00:46:32I'm in the courthouse and my phone rings.
00:46:38It's my partner.
00:46:39And they said, you're not going to believe this.
00:46:42We got a name of who owned that device, and it is Carlo Fuentes.
00:46:49A name you recognize.
00:46:50The painter.
00:46:52Yes.
00:46:52Carlo Fuentes was painting at Nancy's residence numerous times prior to her going missing.
00:47:03Wait a minute.
00:47:04The painter?
00:47:05Well, this is a shock to investigators, because remember, they had already interviewed Carlo Fuentes Flores earlier.
00:47:13This guy was cooperative and mild manner, and there was no reason to suspect him then, but now there's a
00:47:20reason.
00:47:20We know it's his phone.
00:47:22We know he's there.
00:47:22We know he had that opportunity because he's familiar with the property.
00:47:26He was familiar with Nancy's habits.
00:47:28All those things added up.
00:47:32There's not a reasonable explanation why anybody would be out doing painting at that time of night.
00:47:37It's looking like he's at least somebody that needs to be talked to again.
00:47:42So, once we get Carlo identified, we need to know as much as we can about him.
00:47:48What did you find?
00:47:49We spoke to people that he painted for and friends.
00:47:53Seemed like a normal, just a normal guy who had come here from Mexico.
00:48:01He was one of those guys that you'd want on your team.
00:48:05Worked on and off for me for 20 years.
00:48:07He just had a good way of communicating, which is, you know, kind of rare in the trades.
00:48:12Seemed very neat, you know, tidy painter and professional.
00:48:16He was great with clients.
00:48:18Very polite and courteous.
00:48:22Just loved being a dad.
00:48:24He was, you know, loved his daughter, like just raved about his daughter.
00:48:29He was a father, a husband, you know, and by all counts was someone who was just leading a normal
00:48:36life.
00:48:37The geofence hit was not enough to arrest him at the time, in large part because it's simply a phone.
00:48:44It doesn't prove that Carlo Fuentes Flores was in possession of his phone at that time.
00:48:48The phone could have been in the possession of somebody else.
00:48:52You looked into his criminal record, anything there?
00:48:54There was absolutely nothing in his criminal record, either in Mexico or the United States.
00:48:59We found no indication that he had a criminal history anywhere.
00:49:03It was really kind of a surprise that way.
00:49:06He wasn't in a romantic relationship with her.
00:49:09There was not a dispute over funds.
00:49:12There was simply no connection or explanation for why this normal person would try to hurt Nancy.
00:49:21Now, this is quite baffling to detectives because their initial findings just don't fit the pattern of a suspect in
00:49:28a brutal crime.
00:49:29It isn't adding up why Carlo's phone was at Nancy's cottage.
00:49:35That is, until they do a deep dive into his Google search history and find something surprising.
00:49:44You found something unexpected?
00:49:46Yes, he was doing Google searches for cougar in sexy lingerie videos.
00:49:52That's odd.
00:49:53That is odd, yes.
00:49:55As you can see, cougar lingerie porn videos, sexy cougars.
00:50:01This has a theme to it that is tied to our case.
00:50:04Nancy Woodrum was older than Carlo Fuentes by about 15 to 20 years, and this is cougar porn.
00:50:12He clearly has a thing for older women.
00:50:15Based on his Google search history, absolutely.
00:50:19As we went further into his Google search history, we found where he was searching for escorts in different cities
00:50:28that he was in.
00:50:29And did he connect with any of these women?
00:50:31We believe he did based on some things we found on his cell phone.
00:50:37We found numerous videos of him having sex.
00:50:42Videos that he shot himself with various women.
00:50:45Yes.
00:50:46I would say there was at least 10 to 15 videos.
00:50:49So this father, this husband, had secrets.
00:50:53A lot of deep secrets that most people don't have.
00:51:00There was the daytime, very nice, courteous painter, excellent painter, great at his job.
00:51:09And then there was the night kind of weird fetish, drinking too much Fuentes Flores.
00:51:19I noticed after a period of time that he was drinking more and kind of like hooking up with different
00:51:25women.
00:51:26There was times where he asked actually to borrow money from me to go to Vegas and girls of the
00:51:32night kind of thing.
00:51:34He had told me about a call girl he had picked up in Las Vegas and then there was an
00:51:41older gal that he was seeing.
00:51:42So I just told him, hey man, you're going to mess it up.
00:51:45You know, you've got a wife, you've got a daughter.
00:51:48And so I tried to warn him, you know, multiple times.
00:51:52We needed more evidence to make this an airtight case.
00:51:55So we wanted to get Carlo's DNA without letting him know that we were on to him.
00:52:02The detectives began surveillance on Carlo Fuentes Flores shortly thereafter in order to get an actual DNA sample from him.
00:52:13We used our special operations unit because what they do all day long is surveillances of people and drug dealers
00:52:22and gang members.
00:52:23Well, we know Carlo is not a drug dealer and not a gang member, but he's now on those officer
00:52:29sites.
00:52:31He has no clue what's going to happen to him next.
00:52:46So now investigators have that geofencing evidence showing Carlo Fuentes Flores' phone at the crime scene.
00:52:53And they've also got his search history of porn and escorts.
00:52:59But they're after more conclusive proof that he did something to Nancy Woodrum.
00:53:03A DNA match to that bloody pillow.
00:53:08So we followed him and he went to a local restaurant.
00:53:15Have lunch with his wife and left a Coke bottle that he drank out of on the table.
00:53:24And when it's in a public place, then we can take it without a warrant.
00:53:30They retrieved this Coke bottle.
00:53:32They took it to the DNA lab.
00:53:34They had the DNA pulled on it.
00:53:38And it matched the DNA that we had on the pillow.
00:53:42It's a match.
00:53:44And it's a critical moment in this investigation.
00:53:48Detectives are now closing in on Carlo Fuentes Flores.
00:53:55So once we received the confirmation that it was Carlo's DNA in the bloody handprint, we needed to talk to
00:54:03Carlo.
00:54:03We needed to hear his side of the story.
00:54:07Thank you for being on time.
00:54:12This is the room where you interrogated Carlo Fuentes.
00:54:15Yes, it is.
00:54:16This is the room.
00:54:17My partner, Dave, was here with me.
00:54:20I was off off to this side.
00:54:22You're asking him a variety of questions.
00:54:24And in this clip here, you're asking about his job painting at the property.
00:54:29What exactly were you guys painting?
00:54:31Like the deck, the trim fascia boards?
00:54:33No, it was the deck.
00:54:35On the big house.
00:54:36Yeah, on the big house.
00:54:37Yes.
00:54:37So you then start showing him pictures of the property.
00:54:40So that's what you consider the big main house?
00:54:42Yes, uh-huh.
00:54:43And that's where you did a lot of work in the decks back here?
00:54:45Yes.
00:54:46And you used the bathroom in there?
00:54:47Uh-huh.
00:54:48We used, there was a bathroom in the main house and down below.
00:54:51And then we used a bathroom in this area right here.
00:54:57What were you trying to do there?
00:54:59What we're doing is we're putting him on the property.
00:55:01We wanted to know that he knew where Nancy's studio was.
00:55:06They're looking for things that that person's going to tell them that is not true.
00:55:11And presumably that person has no idea what we know.
00:55:15Did you know where Nancy stayed?
00:55:17To be honest, I didn't even know that she was staying in that area.
00:55:23He was painting for Nancy and she was nice to him and gave him tamales and they read scripture together.
00:55:29And then he doesn't know what happened with her.
00:55:32What have you heard about?
00:55:34You know what?
00:55:35What happened to her?
00:55:35We just, the only stuff I heard, like, it was from my boss.
00:55:38I mean, from my boss, like, that she just disappeared and that's it.
00:55:42And then, um, we never, like, heard anything else.
00:55:46So at this point in the interrogation, he's saying he doesn't know anything about what happened to Nancy.
00:55:52But then you start applying a little more pressure.
00:55:55Yes, that was a plan of ours.
00:55:57Please don't take this the wrong way.
00:55:58But are you in any way involved with Nancy missing?
00:56:01Oh, no.
00:56:02No.
00:56:03Any reason why anyone would say that?
00:56:06Well, because I, I, there's no reason.
00:56:09Yeah, there's no reason.
00:56:11Now they ratchet up the pressure.
00:56:14They let Carlo know they have DNA evidence and they don't buy his story.
00:56:20We've done a very thorough investigation.
00:56:22Um, we've spent thousands, thousands of hours on this case.
00:56:30Because we waited for all of the evidence, we were able to say,
00:56:34no, we know you came back.
00:56:37We know a lot of stuff.
00:56:38Uh-huh.
00:56:40We're giving you a chance now to change your story and be honest with us.
00:56:44Okay.
00:56:44If, if, if you, um, have something else that you'd like to tell us.
00:56:52At that moment, in my opinion, he knew we knew.
00:56:56It was no longer, what do they know?
00:56:59It was, oh no, they know.
00:57:02And you could see his body change.
00:57:08Oh my God.
00:57:12I want to be honest with you guys.
00:57:14I know that, um, I made a mistake.
00:57:18I made a mistake.
00:57:19I could literally see my heart beating in my shirt.
00:57:24There's just a million things going through your head.
00:57:27But they aren't expecting what he says next.
00:57:33Fuentes Flores admits he killed Nancy.
00:57:36But he says it was an accident when he went to the house to retrieve some equipment.
00:57:41I went back and get, uh, one of the ladders I'm supposed to be getting for the next job.
00:57:47He said when he went and loaded the ladder up and he was backing up, he didn't know she had
00:57:53walked up behind him and he ran her over.
00:57:56So you said, you're saying you hit her with your car, your truck?
00:58:00Yeah.
00:58:00Mm-hmm.
00:58:00OK.
00:58:00And then I took her back in, in the place.
00:58:04And, uh, and that's when she collapsed.
00:58:06It was an accident.
00:58:07I hit her.
00:58:08I took her inside to help her.
00:58:10But then you start getting down a road where he probably realized he could only lie so much at that
00:58:16point.
00:58:16You're not being bullied, huh?
00:58:20Please tell us what happened.
00:58:23All right.
00:58:23OK, so, um, I got sex with her.
00:58:28I got sex with her.
00:58:32This was the first time in the interview when my jaw really hit the floor.
00:58:36How did you have sex with, I mean, tell me how that transpired.
00:58:41No, I was drunk.
00:58:42I was drunk.
00:58:43Did she invite you over there or did you just show up and...
00:58:46No, I just show up there and then just to go and get the ladder.
00:58:49He said, no, she didn't know I was coming over.
00:58:52And if we know it was not consensual and it was a rape and she's dead, then we have a
00:58:58special circumstance murder case.
00:59:01But what they don't know is, where is Nancy?
00:59:05Can we try and see if we can find where you took her?
00:59:08Yeah.
00:59:10You actually bring in an iPad and you're hoping he can point out on a map where you can find
00:59:16Nancy?
00:59:17Yes.
00:59:18And instead, this stunning moment when he offers to take you to her body.
00:59:23He did.
00:59:25If you guys don't mind, I would like to take you.
00:59:28I would like to take you.
00:59:29We would like you to do that here.
00:59:31All right.
01:00:02and he directed us due east from the Templeton substation.
01:00:07So the detectives went in one car
01:00:09and I went in a car right behind them
01:00:11as we drove from Paso Robles.
01:00:13The journey from the police stations was about an hour.
01:00:17It goes from more arable land in Paso Robles
01:00:20to kind of a more desert topography
01:00:23out to the Carrizo Plain,
01:00:24which is just on the border with Kern County.
01:00:27I'm thinking, wow, that's going to be a tough find.
01:00:30When you have something, even buried something in that area,
01:00:34animals dig it up.
01:00:35So you don't expect a lot.
01:00:39Carlo Fuentes Flores' demeanor on the ride
01:00:43was very subdued, quiet.
01:00:46I know that you guys just did your job
01:00:48and I wish that I could be forward like a long time ago
01:00:52because this time it has been killing me.
01:00:57You know, the longer we were driving with Carlo,
01:01:01the more frustrating it was becoming.
01:01:04We didn't feel like he was playing games with us,
01:01:07but this is difficult territory to remember anything.
01:01:12And so there was a time where we felt like
01:01:15maybe he wouldn't remember where he put her.
01:01:19How far off of the road was she?
01:01:21Oh, it was not far, probably like 100 feet.
01:01:26We can check like this area right here.
01:01:29You think it might be in here?
01:01:30I'm not sure.
01:01:31We can check on this area.
01:01:36I think everyone behind us who was following us
01:01:39were like, OK, what's the deal?
01:01:42Can he find her?
01:01:43The anxiety is tremendous.
01:01:44It was something like this and I even remember
01:01:48like there was a car coming and I had to bend down.
01:01:54And then there's going to be a pile of rocks around her.
01:01:59Can we try a different spot?
01:02:03Yeah, if you don't, I mean, if you don't think
01:02:06it's this one then, right?
01:02:07I hadn't brought a jacket.
01:02:09And I remember being so cold.
01:02:11And I remember thinking, how is anybody
01:02:14going to ever find anything in that grass?
01:02:17I remember looking at them just walking in circles,
01:02:21thinking, is Nancy going to be here?
01:02:24He had stopped at four or five different locations.
01:02:28Here, put it over right here.
01:02:29And we were unable to locate the spot
01:02:32that Carlo said he placed Nancy.
01:02:36I started feeling like he may not be able to remember.
01:02:40Seems like a long ways to bring her.
01:02:42Yeah.
01:02:44Do you think he came this far?
01:02:46And then we went to the next location
01:02:49and it looked the same as the first location,
01:02:53which when doubt creeped into my mind again,
01:02:56thinking, how is anybody going to tell this location
01:02:58from the last location?
01:03:01Was this far in from the road?
01:03:03No, right?
01:03:04It was this far in?
01:03:06Bunch of rocks down there.
01:03:13So we stopped about right here.
01:03:19And I looked off over to my right over this way
01:03:23and I saw some rocks.
01:03:26Rocks, I don't know, six or eight inches.
01:03:29Rocks that were kind of stacked in a circle
01:03:31that looked completely out of place.
01:03:34So I turned to Carlo, who was to my left.
01:03:38I said, are those the rocks you're describing?
01:03:42He looked over and said words to the effect,
01:03:47oh my God, yes.
01:03:50He fell to his knees, started crying.
01:04:07I saw what I believe to be a partial leg bone,
01:04:12about 18 inches or so in length,
01:04:15and some other smaller bones,
01:04:17what looked like some vertebrae bones.
01:04:20I could see a human skull,
01:04:23which was right up into this area.
01:04:29About right here, just laying on the ground.
01:04:37Quite a few remains fairly close together,
01:04:42but missing a lot.
01:04:44And because of the animal activity in the area,
01:04:48her remains could be scattered for a mile.
01:04:52And it made me feel sad for her family
01:04:55and knowing that anytime a loved one
01:04:59is missing just the emotional trauma,
01:05:03but also knowing that she was left in such a remote area
01:05:08by herself in the middle of the night.
01:05:13It always has bothered me
01:05:16that he didn't even have the courtesy to bury her.
01:05:20I looked back over at him and my partner over there.
01:05:25I was angry.
01:05:26This is treacherous wilderness
01:05:29to just leave a body out in the open.
01:05:33Once he found Nancy's body,
01:05:36his demeanor changed.
01:05:37Can you give me a big favor?
01:05:39It depends on what it is, Carlo.
01:05:43I wish that you could
01:05:47talk to my little one
01:05:50and tell her that.
01:06:11And I think he knew
01:06:13he wasn't going to go home again.
01:06:15He was emotional.
01:06:16He appeared to be contrite and sad.
01:06:23I didn't give her a hug this morning.
01:06:31And once we had that body,
01:06:33my mind immediately went towards,
01:06:35okay, we have to confront him again.
01:06:38What do we need him to say
01:06:40and what charges do I need to try and prove?
01:06:42And then when we got back to the interview room
01:06:44back an hour later,
01:06:45then he told us what really happened.
01:07:06I could see a human skull.
01:07:10After we located Nancy Woodrum's remains,
01:07:20we took Carlo back
01:07:23to the sheriff's north station in Templeton
01:07:25where we were hoping to get a complete story
01:07:29about how he killed Nancy Woodrum.
01:07:34Investigators already know a lot
01:07:36about where Carlo was
01:07:37before Nancy was killed.
01:07:39And that's because of all the tracking
01:07:41they had been doing of his movements.
01:07:43This animation shows
01:07:44where Carlo was going
01:07:46throughout the day and evening.
01:07:48Yes.
01:07:48He's now traveling
01:07:50up to Paso Robles
01:07:52and there's a church
01:07:53in a commercial building.
01:07:55Wait, Carlo goes to church
01:07:57on the night Nancy disappeared?
01:08:00Yes.
01:08:01Church was not in session
01:08:02because it's almost midnight.
01:08:04But yes,
01:08:05he pulls into the parking lot
01:08:07and he stays there for 20, 30 minutes.
01:08:10He was sitting there
01:08:11in a church parking lot,
01:08:14chilling evidence
01:08:15as he's probably pondering
01:08:17whether he's going to go
01:08:18to Nancy's or not.
01:08:20And now he's way out here
01:08:22on Highway 46
01:08:24headed towards Nancy's house.
01:08:27So his phone is pinging
01:08:29along the way
01:08:30and that's what's sort of
01:08:31drawing out this map
01:08:32and showing all of his movements
01:08:34that night.
01:08:35That's correct.
01:08:37You'll see the little dots there.
01:08:39He's getting closer
01:08:40to Nancy's residence.
01:08:41So 14 minutes after midnight
01:08:43was the last location data
01:08:46that Google got.
01:08:49The reason that is so important
01:08:52at midnight 14
01:08:53is a 911 call
01:08:55was attempted
01:08:57at midnight 17.
01:09:00When we got back
01:09:01to the Sheriff's North Station,
01:09:03we went into
01:09:05the same interrogation room
01:09:07and began questioning
01:09:08Carlo again.
01:09:10So you went into the sliding
01:09:11glass door?
01:09:13Yes, that's when
01:09:14they went inside.
01:09:15He finally admitted
01:09:16what we had suspected.
01:09:18He came in to Nancy's house
01:09:20around 12.15 in the morning.
01:09:23Where was she?
01:09:24Where was she?
01:09:25Was she in bed?
01:09:25Oh yeah, she was in bed.
01:09:27Was she awake?
01:09:28Yeah.
01:09:30Did she see you come in?
01:09:31No.
01:09:32And then he starts telling
01:09:33a different version
01:09:34about what happened.
01:09:35The real story?
01:09:37Yes.
01:09:38She just asked me
01:09:39that a lot of you.
01:09:41Then what happened?
01:09:43And they started
01:09:44having sex with her.
01:09:48He admitted that
01:09:50he went there
01:09:50with the intention
01:09:52of wanting or going
01:09:53to have sex with her.
01:09:55And Carlo tells you
01:09:56that he believed
01:09:57Nancy had been
01:09:58flirting with him.
01:09:59She offered him
01:10:00some tamales
01:10:01and he took it
01:10:03as flirting
01:10:04which seemed
01:10:05very, very odd.
01:10:07It was just
01:10:08something like
01:10:09she was being
01:10:09nice with me
01:10:10and probably
01:10:11that I took it
01:10:12the wrong way.
01:10:13He hit her
01:10:14to wake her up
01:10:15which confirmed
01:10:16the blood spatter
01:10:17on the dresser
01:10:18and the walls
01:10:19and he raped her.
01:10:20So you intended
01:10:22to kill her
01:10:22so that you
01:10:23didn't get caught
01:10:24for the rape.
01:10:24Right?
01:10:25Yes.
01:10:26He goes on
01:10:27to admit
01:10:28that he suffocated
01:10:29Nancy with a pillow.
01:10:31Yes, he did.
01:10:32After you finished
01:10:33having sex with her
01:10:35how long did it
01:10:36take you
01:10:36to put the pillow
01:10:37over her face?
01:10:3945 minutes.
01:10:41She didn't suffer.
01:10:42It was so
01:10:45quick.
01:10:46He admitted
01:10:47to raping her
01:10:48to smothering
01:10:49her to death
01:10:50but for some reason
01:10:52he wouldn't admit
01:10:53that he hung up
01:10:55the 911 call.
01:10:57And you're sure
01:10:58that when you came in
01:11:00she didn't try
01:11:00and dial 911
01:11:01and you took
01:11:02the phone away
01:11:02from her?
01:11:04You know what?
01:11:04I don't remember
01:11:05but I don't think
01:11:06she did.
01:11:07Yeah.
01:11:08I don't think
01:11:09she tried.
01:11:09Are you really sure?
01:11:11I mean,
01:11:12I was drunk
01:11:12and to be honest
01:11:14I don't remember.
01:11:14I don't remember
01:11:16the car.
01:11:17How long
01:11:18were you in
01:11:18our house for?
01:11:20It was 40 minutes.
01:11:22Yeah.
01:11:23And what did you do
01:11:24during those 40 minutes
01:11:26after you had
01:11:26sex with her?
01:11:27I went to
01:11:30put it back
01:11:31on the track
01:11:32on the tailgate
01:11:33and I just
01:11:35drove away.
01:11:38The bedding
01:11:39that was found
01:11:40on the side
01:11:42of LaPonza Road
01:11:44Carlo confirmed
01:11:45with us
01:11:46that
01:11:46he had
01:11:47wrapped
01:11:49Nancy Woodrum's
01:11:50body up
01:11:50in some of that
01:11:51bedding
01:11:52that that was
01:11:53what blew out
01:11:54of his pickup
01:11:55as he was driving
01:11:56out to the Carrizo
01:11:57Plains.
01:11:58Is this the entire
01:11:59truth?
01:12:00Yes.
01:12:00Uh-huh.
01:12:02I'm not even
01:12:04lying anymore.
01:12:05I'm just being honest
01:12:06with you guys.
01:12:07Now I have to pay
01:12:07the consequences.
01:12:08It appeared
01:12:09that he was
01:12:12sad that this
01:12:13had happened
01:12:13and that his confession
01:12:15was cathartic
01:12:16in a way
01:12:16and was bringing
01:12:18him some degree
01:12:19of peace.
01:12:20Would you be willing
01:12:21to write
01:12:21like an apology letter
01:12:23to Nancy's children
01:12:24and grandkids?
01:12:26And at the end
01:12:27of the interview
01:12:27he actually wrote
01:12:28an apology letter
01:12:30to Nancy's family
01:12:32and an apology
01:12:34to his own family
01:12:35within that same letter.
01:12:39And once he wrote
01:12:40the apology letter
01:12:41the detectives
01:12:42placed him under arrest.
01:12:47What was that like?
01:12:49It was a huge relief.
01:12:51This clip brings back
01:12:52you know
01:12:53a lot of memories
01:12:54of at that moment
01:12:56justice is going
01:12:57to be served
01:12:57for Nancy Woodrow.
01:12:59I could still see
01:13:00the emotion
01:13:00in your eyes.
01:13:02This was just
01:13:03a really sad case.
01:13:07This case was just
01:13:08a little more personal
01:13:09for me.
01:13:12Detective Cole
01:13:13presents to you
01:13:14a photograph
01:13:16and a name.
01:13:18Carlo Fuentes Flores.
01:13:20Okay.
01:13:23I was like who?
01:13:25Like who?
01:13:25Who?
01:13:26Who's this?
01:13:26We had no idea
01:13:27who it was.
01:13:29How could it possibly
01:13:30be the painter?
01:13:31Right.
01:13:32It kind of just
01:13:32opened up more questions
01:13:33like Aaron said
01:13:34why?
01:13:35Just why?
01:13:38They found her body.
01:13:40What is going
01:13:41through your mind?
01:13:42I think there was relief.
01:13:44I just wanted to find her.
01:13:46We needed to have
01:13:47some closure.
01:13:48There's a lot of people
01:13:48who never get answers
01:13:49and I was just thankful
01:13:51that we had answers.
01:13:55I mean it's the worst
01:13:56case scenario
01:13:57but knowing that
01:13:59we found her
01:14:01and she's not
01:14:02suffering anymore
01:14:03that was a comfort
01:14:05but it's still
01:14:08something that's really
01:14:09it's a hard pill
01:14:10to swallow.
01:14:11It was one of those
01:14:12quiet moments
01:14:13where you start to cry
01:14:15and just
01:14:15what a
01:14:17she just got
01:14:18so cheated.
01:14:19Finally got a chance
01:14:20to relax and do
01:14:21what she wants
01:14:22and retire
01:14:23and then this happens
01:14:24to her.
01:14:25I just thought
01:14:26how very, very unfair.
01:14:32Now all that remains
01:14:34is a trial.
01:14:35Prosecutors decide
01:14:36not to go for
01:14:37the death penalty
01:14:37but they're confident
01:14:38they've got a winning case.
01:14:40Now the defense
01:14:41has something in store
01:14:42and if the judge
01:14:44buys it
01:14:44everything
01:14:45could totally unravel.
01:14:55Hello, this is
01:14:56a prepaid call from
01:14:58Carlo.
01:14:59An inmate
01:15:00at the San Luis
01:15:01Obispo Hotel.
01:15:02Hello?
01:15:03Hello, Crystal?
01:15:05Carlo?
01:15:06Yes.
01:15:07I was responsible
01:15:08for monitoring
01:15:10any jail phone calls
01:15:11that took place
01:15:12involving
01:15:13Carlo Fuentes Flores
01:15:14the ones that were
01:15:16of particular interest
01:15:17would have been
01:15:17the phone calls
01:15:18with his wife,
01:15:19Crystal.
01:15:20Did you do this, Carlo?
01:15:22Yes, honey,
01:15:22I'm so sorry.
01:15:24Why?
01:15:26I don't know
01:15:26why that day
01:15:28that wasn't even me.
01:15:29I was like drunk.
01:15:32Yeah, I know, Carlo,
01:15:34but you did
01:15:35he did like the worst thing
01:15:37in the whole world.
01:15:39I know.
01:15:41He did a couple
01:15:42of bad things
01:15:43mixed together,
01:15:44which is just
01:15:45crazy,
01:15:46crazy.
01:15:48Despite the compelling
01:15:50evidence from the confession
01:15:52in Fuentes Flores'
01:15:53police interview
01:15:54and admissions
01:15:55to his wife
01:15:56in recorded jail calls,
01:15:58he pleads
01:15:59not guilty.
01:16:00And his defense attorney
01:16:02has a strategy
01:16:03that could
01:16:04upend
01:16:05the case.
01:16:06The defense team
01:16:08presented a very
01:16:08spirited defense
01:16:09centered on
01:16:10a motion
01:16:11to suppress
01:16:12his recorded interview.
01:16:14Carlo spoke English
01:16:16with his wife.
01:16:17He spoke fantastic English,
01:16:19but he was a native
01:16:19Spanish speaker.
01:16:20And so the defense
01:16:22challenged that
01:16:23the Miranda warnings
01:16:24should have been
01:16:25given in Spanish
01:16:27or he should have
01:16:28had an interpreter
01:16:28present.
01:16:30We wanted him
01:16:31to understand
01:16:32and make sure
01:16:33that he understood
01:16:35what he was doing.
01:16:37And so we had
01:16:38set it up.
01:16:39Do you understand
01:16:40what I'm saying?
01:16:41If there's at any point
01:16:42you don't,
01:16:43please ask.
01:16:44If you have any questions,
01:16:45the way I say stuff,
01:16:46the way I ask you stuff,
01:16:47please tell me.
01:16:48I know it's something
01:16:49I do.
01:16:50It's probably not you,
01:16:51but as long as
01:16:53you can understand me,
01:16:53if you don't,
01:16:54just let me know, okay?
01:16:55All right.
01:16:55Ultimately,
01:16:56the judge denied
01:16:57the defense's motion
01:16:58to suppress
01:16:59and found that
01:16:59the detectives
01:17:00preserved his rights
01:17:02and that they
01:17:02properly Mirandized
01:17:03him and interviewed
01:17:04him in English.
01:17:08We confessed
01:17:09and then we
01:17:10were able to
01:17:11find her
01:17:12and then
01:17:14thought,
01:17:14okay,
01:17:15we're done.
01:17:16Like, this is,
01:17:17this is the end.
01:17:18But no,
01:17:19now there's going
01:17:19to be a huge trial.
01:17:22So this case
01:17:23is set for trial
01:17:23in January 2022
01:17:26and we show up
01:17:27for day one
01:17:27and I see
01:17:29his attorney
01:17:30go and speak
01:17:30with him
01:17:31and his attorney
01:17:32comes back
01:17:32and he says,
01:17:33well,
01:17:33he wants to just plead
01:17:34to life without parole.
01:17:36He doesn't want
01:17:36to put his family
01:17:37through the publicity
01:17:38of a trial.
01:17:39Normally in a plea deal,
01:17:41the defendant waives
01:17:42his right to an appeal,
01:17:43but Puentes Flores
01:17:45wants to preserve
01:17:46his right.
01:17:47So the judge
01:17:49proposed something
01:17:50called a slow plea.
01:17:51The prosecutor
01:17:53will still be able
01:17:54to present the evidence,
01:17:55but in the end,
01:17:56the judge is going
01:17:58to find Puentes Flores
01:17:59guilty on all charges.
01:18:02So the judge reviewed
01:18:04all of the evidence
01:18:04I submitted
01:18:05and I submitted
01:18:06his recorded interviews,
01:18:07his jail calls.
01:18:09I wanted to make sure
01:18:10everything was in there
01:18:10just in case
01:18:11and the judge
01:18:12found him guilty
01:18:13of first degree murder
01:18:14and the special circumstance
01:18:16that the murder
01:18:16was committed
01:18:17during a rape.
01:18:19The man who killed
01:18:20the Paso Robles woman
01:18:21and led investigators
01:18:22to her body
01:18:23will spend life in prison.
01:18:25He was found guilty
01:18:26of killing Woodrum
01:18:27during a rape and burglary,
01:18:28which means he isn't
01:18:29eligible for parole.
01:18:31He was given
01:18:32an appropriate sentence
01:18:34in prison,
01:18:34so I think in that way
01:18:36that justice was served.
01:18:39Although the family
01:18:40will truly never
01:18:42have closure
01:18:42as a result
01:18:43of what took place.
01:18:47What about the family?
01:18:49What about what?
01:18:51Their family.
01:18:53Yeah, they're...
01:18:57I know.
01:18:59They're never going
01:19:00to get to see her again.
01:19:03It's just so stupid.
01:19:06So stupid,
01:19:07so senseless.
01:19:11Aaron, you read
01:19:13the victim impact statement
01:19:15in court.
01:19:16What did you
01:19:18and your family
01:19:18want to say
01:19:19to Carlo?
01:19:22Just let him know
01:19:24how he changed
01:19:26our lives.
01:19:27You know,
01:19:27the fact that he took
01:19:28her life
01:19:29for nothing.
01:19:30Just to let him know
01:19:32that it sickened us
01:19:33and what was the point.
01:19:35You know,
01:19:36because now he's going
01:19:36to live behind bars
01:19:37for the rest of his life
01:19:38for one foolish night.
01:19:48People, I feel,
01:19:49remember Nancy
01:19:50as a strong woman
01:19:53with the biggest heart.
01:19:56She survived a lot
01:19:58of heartaches
01:19:59and it made her stronger,
01:20:01but it made her heart
01:20:02beautiful.
01:20:04The memorial was
01:20:06probably the most
01:20:07beautiful thing.
01:20:10It was out
01:20:11at a vineyard
01:20:12on the way
01:20:13out to Nancy's property.
01:20:16It's a beautiful place.
01:20:19There was hundreds
01:20:21of people there
01:20:21and it was just
01:20:24a testament
01:20:24to the person
01:20:25that she was.
01:20:29These photographs
01:20:31were all displayed
01:20:32at your mother's memorial,
01:20:34right?
01:20:35Yes.
01:20:36They really show
01:20:37who she was.
01:20:38She loved outdoors.
01:20:40She loved the horses.
01:20:40She loved being in the barn,
01:20:42going camping
01:20:43with the grandkids.
01:20:45She was an amazing person.
01:20:47She loved God.
01:20:49She wanted that
01:20:50to be first in her life
01:20:51and she wanted
01:20:52people to know that
01:20:53and her hope
01:20:55that she had
01:20:56to see her kids again.
01:21:01This is the horse
01:21:02that my mom used to ride.
01:21:04Her name is Montana.
01:21:05She loved Montana.
01:21:09My daughter and I
01:21:10now go out
01:21:11on horses together.
01:21:14And I usually
01:21:15ride Montana
01:21:15and my daughter
01:21:16rides fire
01:21:16so we've
01:21:17passed that down.
01:21:19What I once did
01:21:20with my mom
01:21:21now I do
01:21:21with my daughter
01:21:21and that's a good feeling.
01:21:23She was a huge part
01:21:24of our life.
01:21:25She was my best friend.
01:21:27We did everything together.
01:21:29Every time I ride
01:21:30I think of my mom.
01:21:39Carrying on that beautiful tradition,
01:21:41David,
01:21:42Detective Clint Cole
01:21:43says he still feels
01:21:44a connection to Nancy's case
01:21:45and keeps in touch
01:21:46with her daughter Amanda,
01:21:48reaching out to her
01:21:49on May 5th of every year,
01:21:51the anniversary
01:21:51of Nancy's death.
01:21:53We should also point out
01:21:54tonight, Deborah,
01:21:54that Carlo Fuentes Flores
01:21:55appealed his conviction.
01:21:57It was denied
01:21:58by the California
01:21:58Court of Appeals
01:21:59in July of 2023.
01:22:01That's our program
01:22:02for tonight.
01:22:02Thanks for watching.
01:22:03I'm David Muir.
01:22:04And I'm Deborah Roberts
01:22:05from all of us here
01:22:06at 2020 and ABC News.
01:22:08Good night.
01:22:27Good night.
01:22:27Good night.
01:22:28Good night.
01:22:37Good night.
01:22:37Good night.
01:22:38Good night.
01:22:38Good night.
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