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00:00:11it's hard to talk about that day because when i look back i just think about the tragedy
00:00:229-1-1 address of your emergency uh yeah we have a missing person
00:00:27the woman who owns the property where the wedding guests are staying is nowhere to be found i had
00:00:33her neighbor go over there to check on her she said the door's wide open the tv's blaring
00:00:40and you better come over here it 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 yes there seems to be blood all over
00:00:54her pillow there's 20 plus guests staying in the big house and there's a wedding party
00:01:00the house turned into a crime scene it's taped off the police are there there's helicopters
00:01:07there's dogs all of my friends don't know how they're getting back to that house
00:01:15these are all potential suspects in the case i mean this is like an agatha christie novel
00:01:20like a classic whodunit i knew that something really bad had happened and
00:01:31it 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 it's honestly like a fairy tale place to go
00:02:35i was born and raised in california i have close family and friends who lived and grew up not far
00:02:41from here i've always loved this area paso robles nestled halfway between san francisco and los angeles
00:02:48a getaway town scenic and quiet but down el faro road in the middle of all this beauty something ugly
00:02:57took place right here at this secluded vacation home
00:03:04the owner of this ranch style property was 62 year old nancy woodrum she lived alone after her husband
00:03:10passed away a few years before and she was really a fixture in the paso robles community and ran a
00:03:16popular
00:03:16salon downtown we are at nancy's salon this is the strand this is where i come every three weeks to
00:03:25have her do her magic
00:03:28nancy clicked with everybody she just had that amazing gift of just
00:03:34openness kindness just generous
00:03:39and she passed on her amazing gift to her daughter amanda who now is my stylist
00:03:47do you have a a favorite photograph uh this one my mom and i what makes this photograph so special
00:03:56we had a special bond i was her first born and it just really shows that relationship that we had
00:04:02sums it all up how would you describe your mom what was she like she liked to have fun she
00:04:10liked to do
00:04:10things she was active we were always doing stuff going here going there with the horses the animals
00:04:26she loved riding it was calming to her and she loved being out in nature with the horses
00:04:34you and your mother you share this talent for hairdressing passion for horseback riding but also a
00:04:42belief in a particular faith well she raised me as one of jehovah's witnesses and um she had very
00:04:50strong morals and raised me to be a good person
00:04:56nancy was always a devout jehovah's witness
00:05:02we believe that the earth will be made new again we believe that god
00:05:07created it for a purpose and he's going to make a beautiful paradise again
00:05:12amanda's parents robert and nancy purchased the property on el faro road in 2006.
00:05:18it was a fixer-upper and they 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
00:05:28home my dad was a contractor and they made it beautiful they remodeled it and worked really hard
00:05:36on it so you come in you'd see this two-story victorian home wrap around porches and this willow
00:05:42tree that you parked under what did nancy name the property uh it was called paradise ranch because
00:05:49she had the hope of being in paradise the hope that the bible gives us
00:05:56on friday may 4th this big group of wedding guests check into paradise ranch for a weekend
00:06:02wedding at a local winery the bride who found the place online is staying there with her bridesmaids
00:06:08and some close friends she asked us not to show her face or reveal her name we wanted to do
00:06:15a vineyard
00:06:16wedding in paso robles it was a special place to us paradise ranch seemed perfect when we saw the
00:06:24pictures the main house was very large and welcoming and just charming and then the guest house was where i
00:06:35was staying and that was also just very quaint and cute nancy came by the guest house and introduced
00:06:45herself she was very warm and welcoming and gave me a hug and she was so kind and
00:06:54she 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 what did you learn on that
00:07:09call my mom had not shown up for a bible study and that was very unusual i had her neighbor
00:07:16go over
00:07:17there to check on her she said the door's wide open the tv's blaring and you better come over here
00:07:28what did you see when you first approached your mother's apartment everything was there as she
00:07:36left it but she wasn't there there was a stain on the carpet
00:07:42her sheets and her bedding were missing i looked closer at the walls and when i saw what looked to
00:07:51be
00:07:52splatter on the walls that's when i grabbed the phone and called 9-1-1 9-1-1 address of
00:07:59your emergency
00:08:00uh yeah we have a missing person uh my 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 yes what there seems to be blood all
00:08:13over
00:08:13her pillow okay there's 20 plus guests staying in the big house and there's a wedding party and
00:08:20there's a wedding party that was there this weekend yes i was so excited getting ready for my wedding day
00:08:28and a couple family members came by and i just remember have you seen my mom have you seen our
00:08:37mom
00:08:38and something about blood and i freaked out
00:08:45i just asked if they had seen my mom today and no one had seen her and what's your state
00:08:51of mind at
00:08:51this point panicky shaky and frantic
00:08:56amanda is frantically looking for her mother the cops are on the property looking for clues but at
00:09:03the same time that this is going on down the road an eagle-eyed officer makes a discovery that could
00:09:09break the case open what was extremely suspicious in my mind just really quadrupled
00:09:40my name is clinton cole i'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 i have coffee i get the dogs outside my feet home and then just
00:10:08kind of
00:10:10just relax
00:10:12in 2018 i was a senior deputy with the sheriff's office that saturday it was may so it was pretty
00:10:21nice day when i received a phone call from my sergeant at the time asking if i was available for
00:10:28a
00:10:29suspicious missing persons case
00:10:35i got in my truck and was told that i needed to start heading to el faro road
00:10:42so that's what i did is i started towards that location
00:10:51what did you first see as you pulled up to the property i saw this very large white house
00:10:58i met with the first responding deputy and the on-call detective sergeant senior deputy degnan came over
00:11:08he said this is very suspicious something's very wrong here i could sense by his demeanor his voice that
00:11:17this was not good
00:11:20you're making your way around the property and then finally you approach nancy's cottage right here
00:11:26what's the first thing you see i 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 what 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 right here on the floor
00:12:00and then over here there was a bench and on that bench was nancy's purse car keys her cell phone
00:12:09her ipad
00:12:14her two vehicles were parked out there there was a pillow sitting here a beige pillow that had blood
00:12:21on it and there was blood spatter on that cabinet as well as on nancy's headboard and against the back
00:12:31wall
00:12:33what are all these signals telling you about what happened in this cottage i felt immediately that
00:12:40she was taken against her will you thought this was a crime scene absolutely right away
00:12:48while investigators are on the property looking for any clues they can find down the road that evening
00:12:56a huge discovery is made that changes the entire case's direction we received a phone call from an
00:13:06officer with the california highway patrol who had located some bedding and clothing about six or seven
00:13:15miles from nancy's house on la ponza road
00:13:21so this area here is where items were located by the california highway patrol those items consisted of
00:13:31bedding a pillow
00:13:36a dress a woman's dress a pair of shorts and a shirt we obviously wanted to find out if they
00:13:46were related
00:13:51all of the evidence is brought back and secured in the crime lab annex
00:13:59when i opened everything up we looked at all of the evidence more thoroughly what struck me with this
00:14:08bedding was that there were stains that appeared to be blood stains the gingham type print was consistent
00:14:18with the remaining bedding that was at el faro these items were located on la ponza along with the bedding
00:14:27and this was two of the clothing items my thought was that nancy was wrapped in part of the bedding
00:14:37and transported whether it be that she was deceased 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
00:15:02yep it was her stuff i think that's when i knew that something really bad had happened and
00:15:14it wasn't going to be good
00:15:19that's when i knew in my heart we need 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
00:15:30woodrum well suddenly their potential suspect list gets really long because returning to the property
00:15:38from the wedding are all those guests staying at the ranch there were approximately 20 or more guests
00:15:49staying in this large white house and the smaller house these are all potential suspects in the case
00:15:55yes it's very overwhelming we have a missing person on this property and potentially 20 to 24 people that
00:16:04could be suspects but have to be interviewed now you have a suspect pool of 20 plus people that
00:16:13you've got to ask yourself is this a thing where someone came into town for a wedding and became
00:16:18involved in the crime i really feel like you can help us because i feel like you have may have
00:16:24seen
00:16:34something
00:16:35so you're searching all around the property essentially every square inch and then something
00:16:46catches your attention in the driveway about right here i had noticed what appeared to be two fresh tire
00:16:53tracks that had pulled in and were in here and is where we're standing right below us here i noticed
00:17:01what appeared to be scuffle marks as if there was a fight between two people with the with their feet
00:17:08the scene spoke very loudly to me that nancy was assaulted inside of her bedroom and then taken somewhere
00:17:17against her will
00:17:25i saw a pillow on the bed to be honest i wasn't as focused on that as much as i
00:17:33was kind of the rest of
00:17:35the room janine did an excellent job of getting up on top of a ladder to look down and that's
00:17:43when she was
00:17:44able to see what looked like a handprint from up above when i looked directly down i really thought
00:17:50the pattern of it stood out as being a partial handprint the one side that had a lot of blood
00:17:58most likely was against a person that was bleeding and the other side that had just the handprint
00:18:06was that this could very well be the weapon that was used to suffocate or smother so investigators
00:18:14swabbed this pillow right in the middle of the bloodstain of the bloody hand for dna and sent it off
00:18:21to a lab
00:18:25i was at the property when people started coming back from the wedding so yes we have just this huge
00:18:34list of potential suspects persons of interest whatever you want to call them that 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
00:18:52to harm her so it's logical that you would look right at the wedding party for potential suspects to
00:18:58see if maybe anybody have something to do with this you need to talk to every single one of them
00:19:05absolutely well we had a search want for the entire property as the wedding guests start coming
00:19:11and they're being told you're not allowed in here some of them had children you know my diapers
00:19:16my food my baby's food the scene became a little chaotic is it even possible for us to be able
00:19:23to come
00:19:23back later and go to sleep there what i'm gonna do right now is go find out what the answers
00:19:28to those
00:19:29questions are for you what was the bride's reaction when you told her what was going on here she was
00:19:37very
00:19:37emotional she was upset i was in complete shock and horrified and could not believe that this was
00:19:48happening to nancy who i had just met and she was so kind and lovely it's extremely frustrating to us
00:19:58that you can see how close this house is to nancy's residence so you would think someone would hear a
00:20:05car
00:20:05drive up a scream or something but no witnesses of over 24 people heard a thing anything unusual happen
00:20:16that you guys noticed in any way with anybody no not anything out of the ordinary so the bride
00:20:25is just sleeping on the other side of the wall from nancy's apartment as hard as it is to believe
00:20:30nancy's door is here it was open and right next door only one wall separating the two was where the
00:20:40bride was sleeping and she said she did not hear anything i you know went into the guest house and
00:20:48then my girlfriends and i were doing like face masks and stuff um and then we went to bed at
00:20:54about like 11 15
00:20:56um did my usual thing where i pop in my earplugs and um 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 because i had cass winery okay and got back from that
00:21:38around 10 30. i would say at like midnight we all went to bed so there was one wedding guest
00:21:46that
00:21:46uh we couldn't 100 account for him being at the rehearsal dinner i wasn't in the wedding or
00:21:55anything so i pretty much just hung out in the house so you were here the whole time yeah okay
00:22:00he wasn't clear whether he was here possibly alone with uh nancy woodrum or did he in fact go
00:22:11to the event at the wedding and so that raised some concerns and so we had to take extra time
00:22:19and speak to him again uh the next day we're just trying to figure out what happened and you know
00:22:26i would love to be helpful but i don't i don't have anything else like i this is just kind
00:22:32of
00:22:33this is onerous at this point all of a sudden this guy now is like
00:22:41not wanting to cooperate you know usually people who aren't involved bend over backwards for you
00:22:48i really need your help um i don't want to impact your day i don't want to impact your work
00:22:53we can do
00:22:54it after work um i prefer not to i feel like you have may have seen something and i haven't
00:23:05and so that immediately uh was a red flag for us and it was still confusing we needed to clear
00:23:16it up as
00:23:16as soon as possible now detectives decide they're gonna go for round three with this particular guest
00:23:26and this time they go right to his home and they intend to come back with two things
00:23:31and explanation and some dna we knew we had to get this interview done with or without his permission
00:23:42or at least try to and did not let him know we were coming and we went to the front
00:23:48door and knocked on
00:23:49the door well how are you do you want to come in absolutely
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
00:24:49hey i just got your call awesome hey just wanted to uh just ask you a few more questions if
00:24:54you
00:24:54don't mind sure you want to come in absolutely yeah i'm dave good to meet you i'm clint nice to
00:25:00meet
00:25:00you have a seat absolutely he was no longer resistive he was very cooperative actually appeared to feel
00:25:11bad for the way he had talked on the phone we just had a couple more uh questions to clarify
00:25:18and then
00:25:18just um a picture so did you go to the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner or did you stay no
00:25:25i went
00:25:25to both or sorry i went to the rehearsal dinner not the rehearsal i think there were a few pictures
00:25:30on my wife's phone that you can see of me like at the rehearsal dinner i can show you pictures
00:25:34from
00:25:34the property like his wife remembered to show us photos at the rehearsal dinner on friday
00:25:45so the confusion that he stayed back was immediately erased it was very frustrating time for us all right
00:25:54thank you sir thank you the wedding guest who wasn't legally obligated to participate in the investigation
00:26:00also agreed to submit a dna sample while all of this is happening police are ramping up their efforts
00:26:07now to find nancy this shocking disappearance makes huge news in the paso robles community deputies are
00:26:14expanding their search asking nearby residents for security footage 62 year old nancy woodrum has been
00:26:20missing since friday afternoon we're leveraging all of our resources to to do the best we can to figure out
00:26:27where nancy may have gone and what took place this search is playing out all through these foothills and
00:26:34along the riverbed there's a riverbed right behind nancy's property line we had search and rescue
00:26:40search all of this area out towards the riverbed the exterior parts of nancy's property
00:26:52we also utilize helicopter to come in and search at a high level for signs bodies anything like that
00:27:02we had a very good group of friends that were very close to us and they would go out
00:27:10and go search go down la ponza go down 58 we'd look through everything the culverts everything and what
00:27:18was going through my mind is nancy's a tough girl and i know that she's a fighter and i'm like
00:27:27she's alive we
00:27:28will find her and she's gonna be okay during the investigation we developed another lead
00:27:37so not only were the wedding guests on the property but we learned that there was
00:27:45a fairly large number of other people that had access to nancy woodrum's property
00:27:53uh at the time she went missing
00:28:01nancy had decided to sell paradise ranch it was too much work for her she was having work done on
00:28:06her
00:28:06house to assist with the sale of the home why did nancy decide to sell paradise ranch because she
00:28:13wanted to preach full-time she really wanted to teach people about the bible and share her hope with other
00:28:21people
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 absolutely every single person that was on this property within the
00:28:39last couple weeks had to be located and interviewed
00:28:47one of the pieces of evidence left behind was nancy's ipad case and all around it were pamphlets and
00:28:53notes and numbers and there was one of a painter and the name was carlo fuentes and a phone number
00:29:02and so we decided that we should call carlo fuentes since he was on scene and see if he saw
00:29:11anything that
00:29:13hadn't been reported yet hi i'm calling because we're investigating the disappearance of nancy woodrum
00:29:20do you remember when you were there on that thursday um do you remember if nancy nancy was there
00:29:29yes she was dead he was very cooperative very friendly with detective cole did you see nancy like
00:29:35having an argument or disagreement with anybody you know what to be honest i didn't notice anything
00:29:41like that and i remember she told me oh you are a hard worker and uh and then she gave
00:29:48me a tamale
00:29:50and amanda mentioned the name of sean bloom who's 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 uh quite heated and quite contentious how would you characterize the relationship
00:30:07between your mother and sean bloom sean was very frustrated he eventually got fired he did not get
00:30:12payment until escrow closed for the work that he had done up to that point like he wanted his money
00:30:18sean bloom uh was definitely a person of interest in one of the first couple of people that we called
00:30:26in to be interviewed once we were done with the wedding party actually i don't like working with nancy
00:30:32it's been very difficult we had issues where nancy was not happy with our work fired me off the job
00:30:38okay um when was the last time you talked to nancy i was doing a really better text to have
00:30:46it here
00:30:48all the text messages between him and nancy made no denials about his dislike of nancy
00:30:56and what was the nature of this text um let's see here so i said if i don't get payment
00:31:03quickly i'm
00:31:04beginning with lawsuits against you and everybody involved we're asking everyone we talked to do
00:31:09you mind providing what we call a buckle swab and see if there's any dna that might be associated
00:31:17i i hear what you're saying um i'm gonna say let me talk to my attorney so we were like
00:31:22all right well
00:31:23he won't give his dna without talking to his attorney one he's just being cautious or two he's concerned so
00:31:31which is
00:31:45nancy grew up in san fernando valley at 18 years old she already obtained her cosmetology license
00:31:53and wanted to do more fashionable hairstyles and so she commuted to woodland hills
00:31:59where she worked in a exclusive salon neil diamond's wife came in she did kenny rogers she always liked
00:32:09to let everybody know that by 21 she owned her own home and had a corvette
00:32:12and then she met her husband robert who was your quintessential southern california surfer
00:32:29we moved up here in 1991 and it was the three of us kids my parents and we moved from
00:32:37woodland hills to the central coast area
00:32:39I 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, and he was 10 days old
00:32:59when he died.
00:32:59He was born with a blockage in his intestines.
00:33:02And then your sister?
00:33:05She passed away shortly before her 18th birthday.
00:33:09Nancy's daughter Amy passed away from cystic fibrosis.
00:33:15Amy 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.
00:33:30Yeah.
00:33:31Unexpectedly.
00:33:32Yeah.
00:33:32What 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?
00:33:47She 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 and her loved ones are hoping
00:34:02against 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.
00:34:13The 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 and about a week into their investigation, they make a
00:34:25critical discovery that's going to tell them exactly the time that 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.
00:34:45What that did was provide what appeared to be a pretty good time and date stamp on when something bad
00:34:54may have happened to Nancy.
00:34:58Approximately 12 days within the investigation, we got a big lead.
00:35:05The lab informed us that they had developed unknown male DNA on the pillow that we submitted from Nancy's bed.
00:35:17They submitted to the state database CODIS, but no matches were found, which meant that the person whose DNA this
00:35:25was had no record.
00:35:27To our surprise, several days later, Sean Bloom contacted us and submitted his DNA voluntarily, which cleared him as a
00:35:40suspect.
00:35:42The DNA results also cleared that wedding guest who police initially found suspicious.
00:35:47But 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
00:35:56with 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.
00:36:20He did not want to be part of the religion that we were in, which was his decision, but he
00:36:29was angry about it.
00:36:40How bitter or challenging did the relationship become between Chad and your mother Nancy?
00:36:45At the point of her disappearance, it was not good.
00:36:49They hadn't spoken in quite a while, and my mom was not allowed to see his kids.
00:36:55But Nancy and Chad were texting each other the night 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.
00:37:14He 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.
00:37:28He was adamant about it.
00:37:31Can I mention the DNA samples?
00:37:33It would just solely be specifically for this investigation.
00:37:38I've heard of cases of misappropriated samples, and, you know, it can ruin people's lives.
00:37:46Unless it's mandatory, I strongly stand by my decision.
00:37:50So 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.
00:38:03Chad 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 desperate for news?
00:38:30Right.
00:38:30We just wanted to figure this out.
00:38:32I was more than willing to help.
00:38:34No one knew where Nancy was and 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.
00:38:56We'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, and it was a big part of
00:39:26our lives.
00:39:30Every summer, they would set up a concert series, and Nancy volunteered her property for this.
00:39:36It just was a music party, and everyone would dance, and she loved that.
00:39:47This was one of her favorite songs that she liked when I sang, and it's called Syrup and Honey by
00:39:54Duffy.
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, and it was tough for me, but her daughter and Chad and her grandkids like that,
00:40:39it 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, you decide you're going to try something new called geofencing, and this
00:41:22is 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, and
00:42:07that'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.
00:42:28In 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 a.m., well, that gives detectives a timeline to work
00:42:51with as to when she went missing.
00:42:53Then Google sends the results, and what do you see?
00:42:56What you're seeing here is what we got back.
00:43:00So this is your first fence.
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.
00:43:21The larger circle here within this circle is all wedding guests, and it looks like there's four.
00:43:28Yeah, 20-plus wedding guests.
00:43:29Correct.
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, and 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, so 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, and we see a cell phone, what we call pinging, basically
00:44:27right in the wall of Nancy's studio.
00:44:30It pings here at 1.33 in the morning and at 0.152 hours.
00:44:36And 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.
00:45:25Square 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, investigators finally have their
00:46:00first 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.
00:46:25Sometimes it could take a few weeks.
00:46:29It's in November.
00:46:33I'm in the courthouse, and my phone rings.
00:46:38It's my partner, and 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, a name you recognize, the 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
00:47:11Fuentes Flores earlier.
00:47:13This guy was cooperative and mild-mannered, and there was no reason to suspect him then.
00:47:19But now, there's a reason.
00:47:21We 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, very 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.
00:48:43It 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 Carlos'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.
00:50:00This has a theme to it that is tied to our case.
00:50:04Nancy Woodrum was older than Carlo Fuentes by about 15, 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.
00:51:40And then there was an older 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.
00:51:51We 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 thereafter, more conclusive proof that he did something to Nancy Woodrum, a DNA match to that bloody pillow.
00:53:08So we followed him, and he went to a local restaurant, had lunch with his wife, and left a Coke
00:53:19bottle 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, and it matched the DNA that we had on the pillow.
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.
00:54:07Yeah, thank 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 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.
00:54:37So 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.
00:54:48There was a bathroom in the main house 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,
00:55:28and they read scripture together, and then he doesn't know what happened with her.
00:55:32What have you heard about?
00:55:34You know what 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 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.
00:55:51But 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.
00:56:12Now 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.
00:56:24We've spent thousands, thousands of hours on this case.
00:56:30Because we waited for all of the evidence, we were able to say, no, 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.
00:56:41All right.
00:56:42To 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.
00:57:20I 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.
00:57:33Juventus Flores admits he killed Nancy.
00:57:36But he says it was an accident when he went to the house to retrieve some equipment.
00:57:42I 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,
00:57:52he didn't know she had walked up behind him and he ran her over.
00:57:56So you said, you're saying you hit her with your car, your truck?
00:57:59Yeah, mm-hmm.
00:58:00Okay.
00:58:00And then I took her back in the place and, 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 going to have to wait on us.
00:58:20Please tell us what happened.
00:58:22All right.
00:58:23Okay.
00:58:24So, 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.
00:58:37How did you have sex with, I mean, tell me how that transpired.
00:58:40You know what?
00:58:41I was drunk.
00:58:42I was drunk.
00:58:43Did she invite you over there or did you just show up and, no, I just show up there and
00:58:48then 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?
00:59:10You 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.
00:59:25Do you guys don't mind that 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.
00:59:51When Carlo Fuentes Flores told us that he would take us to Nancy Woodrum's body, we placed him in a
01:00:00car and he directed us due east from the Templeton substation.
01:00:07So the detectives went in one car and I went in a car right behind them.
01:00:11As we drove from Paso Robles, the journey from the police stations was about an hour.
01:00:17It goes from more arable land in Paso Robles to kind of a more desert topography.
01:00:23Out to the Carrizo Plain, which 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, animals dig it up.
01:00:35So you don't expect a lot.
01:00:39Carlo Fuentes Flores' demeanor on the ride was very subdued, quiet.
01:00:45I know that you guys just doing your job and I wish that I could be forward like a long
01:00:51time ago because this time it has been killing me.
01:00:57You know, the longer we were driving with Carlo, the more frustrating it was becoming.
01:01:04We didn't feel like he was playing games with us, but this is difficult territory to remember anything.
01:01:12And so there was a time where we felt like maybe he wouldn't remember where he put her.
01:01:35I think everyone behind us who was following us were like, okay, what's the deal?
01:01:42Can he find her?
01:01:43The anxiety is tremendous.
01:01:48There was a car coming and I had to bend down.
01:01:54And then there's going to be a pile or rocks around her.
01:01:59Can we try a different spot?
01:02:03Yeah, if you don't.
01:02:04I mean, if you don't think it's this one then, right?
01:02:07I hadn't brought a jacket.
01:02:09And I remember being so cold.
01:02:12And I remember thinking, how is anybody going to ever find anything in that grass?
01:02:17I remember looking at them, just walking in circles, thinking, is Nancy going to be here?
01:02:24He had stopped at four or five different locations.
01:02:28Here, pull over right here.
01:02:29And we were unable to locate the spot that Carlo said he placed Nancy.
01:02:35I started feeling like he may not be able to remember.
01:02:39Seems like a long ways to bring her.
01:02:42Yeah.
01:02:44Do you think we came this far?
01:02:46And then we went to the next location and it looked the same as the first location,
01:02:53which when doubt creeped into my mind again, thinking, how is anybody going to tell this
01:02:58location from 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, and I saw some rocks.
01:03:26Rocks, I don't know, six or eight inches that were kind of stacked in a circle that looked
01:03:31completely 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, oh my God, yes.
01:03:50He fell to his knees, started crying.
01:04:00Stay here with me, okay?
01:04:07I saw what I believe to be a partial leg bone, about 18 inches or so in length, and
01:04:16some other smaller bones, what looked like some vertebrae bones.
01:04:20I could see a human skull, which 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, but missing a lot.
01:04:44And because of the animal activity in the area, her 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 is missing just the emotional trauma, but also knowing that
01:05:05she was left in such a remote area by herself in the middle of the night.
01:05:13It always has bothered me that 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 to just leave a body out in the open.
01:05:33Once he found Nancy's body, his demeanor changed.
01:05:37Can you do me a big favor?
01:05:39It depends on what it is, Carlo.
01:05:43I wish that you could talk to my little one and tell her that.
01:06:10And I think he knew he wasn't going to go home again.
01:06:15He was emotional, he appeared to be contrite and sad.
01:06:23I didn't give a hug this morning.
01:06:31And once we had that body, my mind immediately went towards, okay, we have to confront him
01:06:37again.
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 and back an hour later, then he told us
01:06:46what really happened.
01:06:47I'm not even, uh, not even, you know, let's be honest with you guys.
01:07:06I could see, uh, a human skull.
01:07:10After we located Nancy Woodrum's remains,
01:07:20we took Carlo back to the Sheriff's North Station in Templeton, where we were hoping to
01:07:27get a complete story about how he killed Nancy Woodrum.
01:07:34Investigators already know a lot about where Carlo was before Nancy was killed.
01:07:38And that's because of all the tracking they had been doing of his movements.
01:07:42This animation shows where Carlo was going throughout the day and evening.
01:07:48Yes.
01:07:48He's now traveling up to Paso Robles, and there's a church in a commercial building.
01:07:55Wait, Carlo goes to church on the night Nancy disappeared?
01:08:00Yes.
01:08:01Church was not in session because it's almost midnight.
01:08:04But, yes, he pulls into the parking lot, and he stays there for 20, 30 minutes.
01:08:10He was sitting there in a church parking lot, chilling evidence, as he's probably pondering
01:08:17whether he's going to go to Nancy's or not.
01:08:20And now he's way out here on Highway 46, headed towards Nancy's house.
01:08:27So his phone is pinging along the way, and that's what's sort of drawing out this map
01:08:32and showing all of his movements that night.
01:08:35That's correct.
01:08:37You'll see the little dots there.
01:08:39He's getting closer to Nancy's residence.
01:08:41So 14 minutes after midnight was the last location data that Google got.
01:08:49The reason that is so important at midnight 14 is a 911 call was attempted at midnight 17.
01:09:00When we got back to the Sheriff's North Station, we went into the same interrogation room
01:09:07and began questioning Carlo again.
01:09:10So you went into the sliding glass door?
01:09:13Yes, that's when they went inside.
01:09:15He finally admitted what we had suspected.
01:09:18He came into Nancy's house around 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.
01:09:26She 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 a different version about what happened.
01:09:35The real story?
01:09:37Yes.
01:09:48He admitted that he went there with the intention of wanting or going to have sex with her.
01:09:54And Carlo tells you that he believed Nancy had been flirting with him.
01:09:59She offered him some tamales and he took it as flirting, which seemed very, very odd.
01:10:13He hit her to wake her up, which confirmed the blood spatter on the dresser and the walls,
01:10:19and he raped her.
01:10:20So you intended to kill her so that you didn't get caught for the rape, right?
01:10:25Yes.
01:10:26He goes on to admit that he suffocated Nancy with a pillow.
01:10:30Yes, he did.
01:10:32After you finished having sex with her, how long did it take you to put the pillow over
01:10:37her face?
01:10:3945 minutes.
01:10:41She didn't suffer.
01:10:42It was so, so quick.
01:10:46He admitted to raping her, smothering her to death.
01:10:50But for some reason, he wouldn't admit that he hung up the 911 call.
01:10:57And you're sure that when you came in, she didn't try and dial 911 and you took the phone away
01:11:02from her?
01:11:04You know what?
01:11:04I don't remember.
01:11:05I don't think she did.
01:11:07Yeah.
01:11:08I don't think she tried.
01:11:09Are you really sure?
01:11:11I mean, I was drunk and to be honest, I don't remember.
01:11:15I don't remember that part.
01:11:17How long were you in her house for?
01:11:20I would say 40 minutes.
01:11:22Yeah.
01:11:22And what did you do during those 40 minutes after you had such a blur?
01:11:27I went to put it back on the truck, on the tailgate, and I just troubled me.
01:11:38The bedding that was found on the side of LaPonza Road, Carlo confirmed with us that he
01:11:47had wrapped Nancy Woodrum's body up in some of that bedding, that that was what blew out of his
01:11:55pickup as he was driving out to the Carrizo Plains.
01:11:58Is this the entire truth?
01:12:00Yes.
01:12:00Uh-huh.
01:12:08It appeared that he was sad that this had happened and that his confession was cathartic
01:12:16in a way and was bringing him some degree of peace.
01:12:19Would you be willing to write, like, an apology letter to Nancy's children and grandkids?
01:12:26And at the end of the interview, he actually wrote an apology letter to Nancy's family
01:12:32and an apology to his own family within that same letter.
01:12:39And once he wrote the apology letter, the detectives placed him under arrest.
01:12:47What was that like?
01:12:49It was a huge relief.
01:12:51This clip brings back, you know, a lot of memories of, at that moment, justice is going
01:12:57to be served for Nancy Woodrum.
01:12:59I could still see the emotion in your eyes.
01:13:02This was just a really sad case.
01:13:07This case was just a little more personal for me.
01:13:12Detective Cole presents to you a photograph and a name.
01:13:18Carlo Fuentes Flores.
01:13:20Okay.
01:13:23I was like, who?
01:13:24Like who?
01:13:25Who?
01:13:26Who's this?
01:13:26We had no idea who it was.
01:13:29How could it possibly be the painter?
01:13:31Right.
01:13:32It kind of just opened up more questions, like Aaron said.
01:13:34Why?
01:13:35Just, why?
01:13:38They found her body.
01:13:40What is going through your mind?
01:13:42I think there was relief.
01:13:44I just wanted to find her.
01:13:46We needed to have some closure.
01:13:48There's a lot of people who never get answers.
01:13:50And I was just thankful that we had answers.
01:13:55I mean, it's the worst-case scenario, but knowing that we found her and she's not suffering anymore,
01:14:03that was a comfort.
01:14:05But it's still something that's really, it's a hard pill to swallow.
01:14:11It was one of those quiet moments where you start to cry and just, what a, she just got so
01:14:18cheated.
01:14:19Finally got a chance to relax and do what she wants and retire.
01:14:23And then this happens, too.
01:14:24I just thought, how, how very, very unfair.
01:14:32Now, all that remains is a trial.
01:14:35Prosecutors decide not to go for the death penalty.
01:14:37But they're confident they've got a winning case.
01:14:40Now the defense has something in store.
01:14:42And if the judge buys it, everything could totally unravel.
01:15:06I was responsible for monitoring any jail phone calls that took place involving Carlo Fuentes Flores.
01:15:14The ones that were of particular interest would have been the phone calls with his wife, Crystal.
01:15:20Did you do this, Carlo?
01:15:22Yes, honey, I'm so sorry.
01:15:24Why?
01:15:26I don't know why that day.
01:15:28That wasn't even me.
01:15:29I was, like, drunk.
01:15:32Yeah, I know, Carlo, but you did, like, the worst thing in the whole world.
01:15:40I know.
01:15:40You did a couple of bad things mixed together, which is just crazy.
01:15:46Crazy.
01:15:49Despite the compelling evidence from the confession in Fuentes Flores' police interview
01:15:54and admissions to his wife in recorded jail calls,
01:15:58he pleads not guilty.
01:16:00And his defense attorney has a strategy that could upend the case.
01:16:06The defense team presented a very spirited defense centered on a motion to suppress his recorded interview.
01:16:14Carlo spoke English with his wife.
01:16:17He spoke fantastic English, but he was a native Spanish speaker.
01:16:20And so the defense challenged that the Miranda warnings should have been given in Spanish,
01:16:27or he should have had an interpreter present.
01:16:30We wanted him to understand and make sure that he understood what he was doing.
01:16:37And so we had set it up, do you understand what I'm saying?
01:16:41If there's at any point you don't, please ask.
01:16:44If you have any questions, the way I say stuff, the way I ask you stuff, please tell me.
01:16:48I know it's something I do.
01:16:50It's probably not you, but as long as you can understand me.
01:16:53If you don't, just let me know, okay?
01:16:55All right.
01:16:55Ultimately, the judge denied the defense's motion to suppress and found that the detectives
01:17:00preserved his rights and that they properly Mirandized him and interviewed him in English.
01:17:08We confessed and then we were able to find her and then thought,
01:17:14okay, we're done.
01:17:16Like, this is the end.
01:17:18But no, now there's going to be a huge trial.
01:17:22So this case is set for trial in January 2022.
01:17:26And we show up for day one.
01:17:28And I see his attorney go and speak with him.
01:17:31And his attorney comes back and he says,
01:17:33well, he wants to just plead to life without parole.
01:17:36He doesn't want to put his family through the publicity of a trial.
01:17:39Normally in a plea deal, the defendant waives his right to an appeal.
01:17:43But Fuentes Flores wants to preserve his right.
01:17:47So the judge proposed something called a slow plea.
01:17:51The prosecutor will still be able to present the evidence.
01:17:55But in the end, the judge is going to find Fuentes Flores guilty on all charges.
01:18:03So the judge reviewed all of the evidence I submitted.
01:18:05And I submitted his recorded interviews, his jail calls.
01:18:09I wanted to make sure everything was in there just in case.
01:18:11And the judge found him guilty of first-degree murder
01:18:14and the special circumstance that the murder was committed during a rape.
01:18:19The man who killed the Paso Robles woman and led investigators to her body
01:18:23will spend life in prison.
01:18:25He was found guilty of killing Woodrum during a rape and burglary,
01:18:28which means he isn't eligible for parole.
01:18:31He was given an appropriate sentence in prison.
01:18:34So I think in that way that justice was served.
01:18:39Although the family will truly never have closure as a result of what took place.
01:18:47What about the family?
01:18:50What about what?
01:18:51Their family.
01:18:53Yeah, they're family.
01:18:57I know.
01:18:59They're never going to get to see her again.
01:19:03It's just so stupid.
01:19:06So stupid, so senseless.
01:19:11Aaron, you read the victim impact statement in court.
01:19:16What did you and your family want to say to Carlo?
01:19:22Just let him know how he changed our lives.
01:19:27You know, not the fact that he took her life for nothing.
01:19:30Just to let him know that it sickened us and what was the point.
01:19:35You know, because now he's going to live behind bars for the rest of his life
01:19:38for one foolish night.
01:19:48People, I feel, remember Nancy as a strong woman with the biggest heart.
01:19:56She survived a lot of heartaches, and it made her stronger, but it made her heart beautiful.
01:20:04The memorial was probably the most beautiful thing.
01:20:10It was out at a vineyard on the way out to Nancy's property.
01:20:16It's a beautiful place.
01:20:19There was hundreds of people there, and it was just a testament to the person that she was.
01:20:29These photographs were all displayed at your mother's memorial, right?
01:20:35Yes.
01:20:36They really show who she was.
01:20:38She loved outdoors.
01:20:39She loved the horses.
01:20:40She loved being in the barn, going camping with the grandkids.
01:20:45She was an amazing person.
01:20:47She loved God.
01:20:49She wanted that to be first in her life, and she wanted people to know that,
01:20:53and her hope that she had to see her kids again.
01:21:01This is the horse that my mom used to ride.
01:21:04Her name is Montana.
01:21:05She loved Montana.
01:21:09My daughter and I now go out on horses together, and I usually ride Montana, and my daughter rides fire,
01:21:16so we've passed that down.
01:21:19What I once did with my mom, now I do with my daughter, and that's a good feeling.
01:21:23She was a huge part of our life.
01:21:26She was my best friend.
01:21:27We did everything together.
01:21:29Every time I ride, I think of my mom.
01:21:39Carrying on that beautiful tradition, David,
01:21:42Detective Clint Cole says he still feels a connection to Nancy's case
01:21:45and keeps in touch with her daughter, Amanda,
01:21:48reaching out to her on May 5th of every year, the anniversary of Nancy's death.
01:21:53We should also point out tonight, Deborah, that Carlo Fuentes Flores appealed his conviction.
01:21:57It was denied by the California Court of Appeals in July of 2023.
01:22:01That's our program for 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 at 2020 and ABC News, good night.
01:22:31We are here at Oregon.
01:22:33And enjoy your time, son, whatever.
01:22:38Thanks for watching.
01:22:38We have in the time we have a response to now.
01:22:38Thanks, everybody.
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