Troy Roberts

Better let that anger go, brother. David Hunt and Doug Lehner maintain their innocence to this day. Did you kill Sabrina and John? No. Did your brother mastermind these killings? No.

Both men admit they were drug addicts and thieves, but insist they would never commit murder. Both of you were described as sophisticated, savvy desperados.

Those dumb things Lehner did included stealing bed sheets from hotels. But this time, even with no physical evidence, he and the other members of the Hunk Group were facing the death penalty. It's ludicrous.

So this wasn't designed to free Gerald? Absolutely not.

On the eve of the Hunk Group's trial, there was a stunning development. And it involved that birthday gift Sabrina had intended to give her sister Andrea, a blanket. Apparently, the killer had unwrapped it and left semen stains that went unnoticed for years. Those stains could now be tested for DNA, a forensic tool that didn't exist at the time of the murders.

Police asked for blood samples from the accused. What did your attorney advise you to do?

Lehner, too, was certain the DNA would prove his innocence.

And as they predicted, the DNA on the blanket did not match any of the men in the Hunk group. So in January 1993, all the charges were dropped.

By then, David Hunt and his co-defendants had spent three years in jail.

After their son John was murdered... Oh, it's so pretty. Dr. Richard Riggins and his wife Kate still had two younger children to raise, son Robert and daughter Carrie.

The lack of an arrest made it even harder. But by 2002, DNA science had advanced even more. The State Crime Lab was now routinely comparing DNA from cold cases to that of convicted criminals stored in a new database. When they uploaded the DNA from those semen stains on the blanket, incredibly, there was a hit.

The suspect's name was Richard Hirshfield. Local investigators had never heard of him, but they soon learned he had a very dark past. Who is Richard Hirshfield?

Prosecutor Dawn Bladet.

At the time of the DNA hit, then 53-year-old Hirshfield was in prison for molesting two little girls. Many years earlier, in 1975, he had been convicted of rape in Northern California.

In 2006, 48 Hours spoke to his California victims, two sisters, Marge and Michelle, who didn't want their last names used.

They were 22 and 16 at the time he entered their apartment, demanding money. when they told him they had none.

What are you thinking about right now?

Hirschfeld served only five years in prison for that crime. He was paroled in July 1980.

Five months later, John and Sabrina were murdered.

But this time, Hirshfield wasn't going anywhere. He remained behind bars in Washington in the child molestation case, while California investigators cemented theirs.

The answer to both questions was yes. Hirshfield once had friends in Davis who lived across the street from the condo Andrea and Sabrina shared. And that's where authorities believe Sabrina and John were abducted. So this was five days before Christmas? Yes. Most of the students had gone home?

And because this place was deserted, no one could hear their cries if they were abducted in the complex.

Investigators also learned that Richard Hirshfield had her brother, Joseph, who was living in this house near Sacramento at the time of the murders. It's just a few miles from where the bodies were dumped.

The next day, Joseph Hirschfeld got into his car and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. The note he left behind was a bombshell.

Joseph's DNA was never found in the Riggins van, and no one knows exactly what role he played in the murders. But even with strong evidence, Richard's DNA and Joseph's suicide note, the case was moving at a snail's pace. It took 10 years to bring this case to trial.

Why?

The case had over 200,000 pages of discovery. Hirschfeld's defense team would file more than 200 motions and be granted many delays.

Is the system broken?

And time took its toll. Sabrina and Andrea's father, George, received a devastating diagnosis. He had Alzheimer's.

Finally, in September 2012, 10 years after the DNA hit and almost 32 years after the notorious murders, the trial of Richard Hirschfeld was set to begin.

The now 63-year-old Richard Hershfield enters court in a wheelchair, barely resembling the menacing figure he once was. Why didn't you want to be in the courtroom to hear all that testimony? Some of it graphic in nature.

The prosecution has a powerful case against Hirschfeld, starting with the DNA match.

...does not deny it's Hirshfield's DNA on the blanket, but insists it could have gotten there some other way. His DNA just magically appeared on its own on this blanket.

Prosecutor Dawn Bladet points out Sabrina's DNA was found mixed in with Hirschfeld's, evidence of a sexual assault.

Then there's Joseph Hirshfield's suicide note, implicating his brother Richard in the murders.

The jury hears from Joseph's widow, Lana.

It was 2002, shortly after the DNA hit, when investigators came calling. Lana sent them to Joseph's workplace.

The next night, Lana discovered her husband's body in his car, along with that suicide note.

The prosecutor reads only part of that note to the jury because the defense has succeeded in getting the most incriminating part redacted. What the jury doesn't hear or see is this. Richard did commit those murders, and I didn't kill anyone.

The prosecutor wants the jury to have no doubt which brother was capable of committing the murders. Judge Michael Sweet allows testimony from Richard Hershfield's other victims because of similarities in the crimes. The woman Hershfield raped in 1975, Marge, is eager to help put him away for good.

Marge takes the stand and confronts her rapist for the second time in 37 years.

Marge's words are chilling as she identifies her attacker.

Faced with such damaging testimony, defense attorney Parisi decides her best strategy is to point the finger right back at the Hunt group, in spite of the DNA pointing elsewhere.

This group was exonerated years ago.

The defense's star witness is a paid police informant who at one point committed robberies with David Hunt.

48 hours agreed not to show his face. In 1987, detectives sent Ray Gonzalez to meet with Hunt associate Richard Thompson to try to get him to implicate David Hunt in the murders.

Although he was supposed to be secretly recording this meeting with Thompson, Gonzalez failed to get any of this alleged confession on tape.

And maybe that's because he had 16 beers that night.

while Gonzalez spent a great deal of time on the stand saying he couldn't remember. For David Hunt, this is one case he'd rather forget. How does it feel right now with the Hunt group back in the news?

In the end, the defense never called on David Hunt to testify, and he was greatly relieved. He says he left his criminal life behind long ago and found redemption through his Christian faith.

I understand that you're very, very ill.

Hunt is hoping to live to see his name cleared once and for all with a guilty verdict against Hirschfeld.

And as the case draws to a close.

Sabrina and John's families are hoping they can help make that verdict happen.

The case against Richard Hirschfeld is about to be handed to the jury, and the stakes couldn't be any higher. He deserves death? Absolutely. You didn't hesitate? No. Prosecutor Dawn Bladet delivers an emotional closing argument.

Blede reminds the jury of the strong physical evidence.

To cast doubt on the DNA, Linda Parisi suggests the blanket could have been contaminated through careless handling by investigators.

Blede doesn't mince words as she pounces on that other defense theory of how Hirschfeld's DNA might have gotten on that blanket.

It is November 5th, 2012.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberates less than three hours.

The verdict.

Guilty in the murders of both John and Sabrina. It is a huge relief for the families.

The jury reconvenes three weeks later for sentencing.

To decide whether Richard Hirshfield deserves the death penalty.

A private man, Dr. Richard Riggins has never so publicly shared the deep pain of his loss.

And there is more gut-wrenching testimony from Sabrina's mother.

While the prosecutor pushes for the death penalty, defense attorney Parisi hopes the jury will show mercy and spare Hershfield's life.

And Parisi believes there's another reason her client cannot help being prone to violence.

Defense witness Dr. Douglas Tucker has studied MRIs of Hirschfield's brain.

The case goes to the jury for the second time.

This time, they deliberate for only two hours.

And as Judge Michael Sweet later upholds the death sentence, he directly addresses Sabrina and John's families. It is January 25, 2013, 32 years after the murders. You have endured so much.

And the families are forever grateful to the prosecutor who finally closed this case, a case she herself will never forget. Did you make a silent promise to these young victims?

I know that you'll never forget her, but emotionally, are you free now?

I'm Troy Roberts. The Sweetheart Murders. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but I've never covered a story quite like this. It's hard to imagine that it would take more than three decades to find the killer and bring him to trial.

Sabrina Gonzalez's mother, Kim, and her father, George, weren't sure they'd live to see the day.

Over the decades, Andrea Gonzalez Rosenstein has remained devoted to keeping her baby sister's memory alive. Tell me about Sabrina.

Andrea named her firstborn Sabrina, and after having her third child, she decided to adopt three more.

Back in the summer of 1980, Andrea was already attending the University of California at Davis when her sister moved in with her. Sabrina was excited to begin her own college career. That summer, Sabrina met John Riggins while working for the town's recreation department.

John had been a popular high school athlete in Davis, but he stood out for another reason as well. When he was much younger, he had this mop of red hair that got a lot of attention.

Kate and Dr. Richard Riggins, an orthopedic surgeon, were proud of their son. John was considering following in his father's footsteps. Do you ever think about what kind of man your son would have become? He would have been 51 years old now.

The night of December 20th, 1980, Sabrina and John were expected at that surprise party for Andrea's 22nd birthday. But they never showed and never called.

It was out of character.

When you realized he hadn't come home, what was going through your mind?

Sabrina and John had been missing for 36 hours when police found the Riggins family van abandoned about 30 miles east of Davis in Sacramento County. Former detective Carol Daly.

But a few hours later, Detective Daley received the call that the bodies had been found just under a mile away, discarded in that ravine.

There were signs that Sabrina had been sexually assaulted. John had a head injury suggesting he fought to protect her. Eighteen, they're just children.

I understand that you wake up in the middle of the night thinking of your son.

The case became known as the Sweetheart Murders. Investigators from two counties mobilized to hunt down this sadistic killer, but they had no idea just how difficult that would be.

As the town of Davis said goodbye to the two sweethearts, their chilling murders had police fearing a serial killer could be on the loose.

Investigator Ron Garverick is with the Sacramento District Attorney's Office.

Police received hundreds of tips. They even released this composite sketch of a suspicious man spotted in the area.

This is the kind of rough brush that the bodies were found in? Yeah. It's just by luck that the officers found the bodies, right?

But the investigation went nowhere and the trail went cold. Year after year, the lack of answers only added to the family's pain.

Six years passed, and then a tip led police to revisit another double murder that happened around the same time to see if there was any connection.

Like John and Sabrina, this college couple was abducted from a public place, killed execution style, and then dumped around the Sacramento area. But in this case, police quickly made an arrest and got a conviction. The killer was this man, Gerald Gallego, a violent sexual predator. But on the night John and Sabrina were killed, he had an airtight alibi. He was already in jail.

And that's why police, looking at the sweetheart's case years later, arrived at an unusual theory that John and Sabrina's murder was a copycat crime committed by Gallego's friends to try and clear him.

In 1989, nine years after the Sweetheart murders, police arrested David Hunt, Gallego's half-brother, who also had a criminal past. Believing he had help, they rounded up Hunt's wife, Sue Ellen, and his partners in crime, Richard Thompson and Doug Lehner. They became known as the Hunt Group. All four were charged with the murders of John and Sabrina.

So what are you thinking when you hear that, that he purchased a car for $40?

The serial killer movie being filmed. The strange story about the red car. For Clark, it could only mean one thing.

But it was only a hunch. Clark had no hard evidence against Mark and was forced to let him go, though he wasn't going to make it easy.

Heward left the garage film set unharmed but rattled. And his unease only escalated when police asked him about that allegedly fake movie blood they had spotted in the garage.

The detectives' concern for Altinger's safety intensified when they made an unexpected discovery in Mark Twitchell's maroon Pontiac, which bore the plates Dark Jedi.

SK Confessions. Police believed SK was shorthand for serial killer.

SK Confessions told the story of a man who was lured to a garage and stabbed to death. A plot strikingly similar to House of Cards. I plunged the knife deep into his neck.

But was the document a screenplay or was it in fact Mark Twitchell's Confession of Murder?

Two weeks after the disappearance of Johnny Altinger at a garage film set, police had sharpened their focus on filmmaker Mark Twitchell. Police cameras were rolling as a forensics team processed his car in the garage he rented. And seven miles away, detectives had been at the Twitchell home, where they found Jess Twitchell, Mark's unsuspecting wife of two years.

What I said was, we're investigating a missing person.

Police soon discovered that the Twitchell marriage was already fractured.

Twitchell had been having an affair with an old girlfriend and lying to his wife about having a job.

Curiously, the document police had found in Twitchell's laptop, titled SK Confessions, also referenced a crumbling marriage and secrets. It read, I went through great lengths to bring my wife over to the comfortable belief I wasn't cheating on her.

But what was real and what was fiction? The closer police looked, the more the lines blurred. police discovered Twitchell spent countless hours making elaborate Halloween costumes.

But it was Twitchell's Facebook page comparing himself to TV's fictional serial killer, Dexter Morgan, that really raised eyebrows. Mark has way too much in common with Dexter Morgan, read Twitchell's status. He talked a lot about how he loved the show Dexter.

Twitchell even posed as Dexter Morgan on Facebook.

That profile had caught the attention of Renee Waring from Cleveland, Ohio.

Eventually, Twitchell revealed his true identity. He was a filmmaker.

Camera's rolling. Renee was intrigued. After all, she was an aspiring writer, and her friendship with a movie maker could open doors.

So, I mean, you spoke to him a couple of times a day online?

Was it flirtatious?

Their email exchanges soon became dark. It was shortly before Johnny Altinger disappeared.

At the time, Renee was upset with her ex-husband's new wife.

How do you get away with it?

For Renee, all the dark talk was just a twisted fantasy. That is until she received a disturbing email from Twitchell in mid-October.

And what did you take that to mean?

Renee tried to get Twitchell to confess to her, but he never did. However, one of his last emails confirmed her fears.

But Twitchell had underestimated the police.

Adding to their circumstantial case, Twitchell possessing Altinger's car, the SK Confessions document, and his Dexter obsession, investigators finally had hard evidence. They had found Altinger's blood in Twitchell's trunk.

On Halloween morning, 2008, while Twitchell was putting the finishing touches on his Halloween costume at his parents' home, police were busy laying a trap.

Back at the station, Detective Clark and Twitchell came face to face in the interrogation room once again.

Three weeks after Altinger's disappearance, police charged Twitchell with first-degree murder. The once talkative movie director barely uttered a line. You didn't get much of a reaction, did you?

He didn't have to. SK Confessions, which police have been dissecting word by word, spoke volumes. They were now convinced it was no screenplay, but rather a diary of murder. One passage about a knife read, I thrust it into his gut. His reaction was pure Hollywood.

but there was a crucial part of the story they couldn't verify about a victim who had survived.

Detective Bill Clark's years in the hockey rink have taught him a valuable lesson. That keeping your eye on the goal is often the key to victory. And now the game plan was finding the alleged victim who had escaped from Twitchell's garage.

But police had found a helpful clue during the search of Twitchell's home.

Police soon took to the airwaves.

Gilles Tetreault was at home, oblivious to the horror he had escaped when a friend told him to watch the news.

What Gilles heard next came as an even greater shock. Another man had been lured to the same garage and met a gruesome end. We have not found John Altinger's body. And what were you thinking when you heard this?

Exactly one month after he was attacked, Gilles Tetreault walked into the Edmonton Police Department and told police his incredible story.

But in reality, Detective Clark knew exactly what had happened next.

Gilles' story matched nearly word for word what was in SK Confessions. I grabbed him by the leg as if to drag him back into the garage, caveman style. So I know that this diary we have is true.

Seven days after Gilles was attacked, police say Twitchell wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Following the narrative, police believe Altinger was then stabbed and dismembered on a makeshift autopsy table.

That piece of tooth matched up to our victim. According to SK Confessions, the killer then broke into Altinger's apartment and sent out those emails about taking an exotic vacation. The killer then attempted to burn the remains in a barrel, but failed. He next tried to dump them into the river, but was afraid of being seen.

But where was Johnny Ultinger's body? SK Confessions described the killer finally choosing a sewer to dump the remains, but that's where the pages stopped. It was a story without an ending.

Detective Clark hoped Twitchell would provide the final chapter. I'm going to get the car ready. We're going to take a drive. You guys were driving around and there was a camera trained on him in the back of the police car. Tell me about that.

Movie's over. We can write it all down. Detective Clark was relentless, taking Twitchell on a tour of his old neighborhood.

But Twitchell remained silent. So police kept searching on their own, looking in sewer after sewer.

Weeks, then months passed, and still no luck. Frustrated, police would pay Twitchell many visits at the jail, where he awaited trial, trying to get it out of him. Then on June 3rd, 2010, a year and a half after Johnny Altinger disappeared, the homicide unit received a call.

But did the filmmaker have one last plot twist? Nearly two years after his arrest, Mark Twitchell was finally ready to break his silence about the whereabouts of Johnny Altinger's body.

So detectives met Twitchell in jail, where he gave them a Google map to the location where they would find the remains.

Police followed the map to an alleyway, ironically, just a half block away from where they had stopped their search.

For Johnny's brother, Gary, the news was devastating.

In March 2011, Gary Altinger faced his brother's accused killer in court. Edmonton Crown Prosecutors Avril Inglis and Lawrence Van Dyke had a lot to work with.

Adding to the evidence was the infamous SK Confessions document. Prosecutors called multiple witnesses to prove that it was Twitchell's diary. And who better to prove their case than Gilles Tetreault, who came face to face with this attacker at the trial. I wasn't really afraid of him at that time.

The courtroom was mesmerized as SK Confessions was read out loud.

Jorah's heard a weeping Jess Twitchell, the filmmaker's now ex-wife, testify that Mark had confided in her that he was incapable of feeling empathy for others.

Throughout it all, Mark Twitchell sat emotionless. That was until Detective Bill Clark took the stand and the interrogation tapes were played.

In the end, the only witness the defense called was Mark Twitchell. And the storyteller had one incredible tale, starting with SK Confessions, which he said was largely fiction and shorthand for a famous horror writer.

Twitchell claimed that Altinger's death was nothing more than a House of Cards publicity stunt gone horribly awry. He called this PR scheme MAPLE, an acronym for Multi-Angle Psychosis Layering Entertainment.

Lured to a garage on the pretense of a date with an attractive woman he thought he met online, 33-year-old Jill Tetra was now being held hostage by an apparent madman in a scene straight out of a horror film.

Twitchell argued he had let Gilles go so that he would create a buzz when the film came out by telling people that this had actually happened to him in real life. But he claimed Altinger became enraged at being tricked and that he accidentally killed Johnny in self-defense.

And the jury agreed. They took just five hours to find Mark Twitchell guilty. He was sentenced to 25 years to life.

The only question that remains is why? Detective Bill Clark is convinced that in Twitchell's mind, he thought he could make the ultimate serial killer film if he became one.

For Johnny's family, the pain will never go away.

You said that your children suffer from nightmares.

Gilles Tetreault struggles with feelings of guilt, but meeting Johnny Altinger's mother has helped in his recovery.

For Gilles, life has changed for the better. He now has a son, but the reality of just how close he came to death that day and how lucky he was is not lost on him.

The hockey mask-wearing man had ordered him to the ground at gunpoint.

What Gilles didn't realize was that he had been weakened by the effects of the stunned baton. And then he starts punching me on the side of the head.

That was part of your plan. You're thinking, OK, he grabs my jacket, and I can get free.

I'm dead. Gilles was thrown back in the garage. But he surprised himself and the assailant by rolling out again. Terrified, Jill ran into the alley, collapsing in front of this couple out for a stroll, Marissa Garhini and Trevor Hossinger.

Fearing for their safety, Marissa and Trevor walked quickly away, leaving Gilles to fend for himself as he retrieved his truck.

When Gilles went home, he discovered the profile had been deleted and he did his best to erase his own memory.

Embarrassed and confused, Gilles convinced himself that perhaps it wasn't as serious as he first thought. I really thought it was a mugging at the time. But Gilles didn't know how wrong he was. Just one week later, another lonely bachelor, Johnny Altinger, would answer a similar dating ad and disappear.

Gary Ultinger, Johnny's older brother, says the last time anyone heard from him was on October 10th, 2008, when the 38-year-old computer enthusiast left for a date with a woman named Jen.

What happened next made no sense at all.

That identical strange message had gone out to all of Johnny's friends as well.

But police paid little attention. Desperate for some answers, Johnny's friends broke into his apartment.

This time, the police were listening. Veteran homicide detective Bill Clark was part of the investigation.

But there was one clue that would give police their first big break in the case. On the day he disappeared, Johnny Altinger had forwarded the directions of where he was going to friends.

Armed with the directions, police are led directly to this garage.

Mark Twitchell, a 29-year-old married father and aspiring filmmaker, had used the garage as a set for a recent movie project.

Mark denied knowing anything about a missing man or a red Mazda. And he has no problem with the police wanting to search the garage. But he points out something odd about the lock.

For detectives, the disappearance of Johnny Altinger was a mystery in more ways than one.

Their only lead was Mark Twitchell's film set garage. Voluntarily, the amateur filmmaker came down to the Edmonton police station to speak with detectives.

Mark was eager to help. He came from a good home, had no history of violence, and was hardly a suspect.

In fact, he seemed guilty of nothing more than wanting to brag about his film career.

Mark Twitchell's first film project, a Star Wars fan film, had received some media buzz back in 2007.

Chewie, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Jimmy Siocas, an actor and screenwriter who played Han Solo in the film, was struck by Mark's enthusiasm.

But it soon became clear, though, that Mark may have had grand plans, but he didn't think them through.

Yet reality didn't seem to dampen Mark's ambition in the least.

As the police interview continued, detectives question Mark about his last production, a suspense thriller called House of Cards. The plot? A hockey-mass serial killer lures a man to a garage via the internet and kills him.

Hours later, Mark Twitchell even agreed to let officers back into the garage where he had filmed House of Cards. Little did they know, the case was about to take an unusual turn.

That's because police were still looking for Johnny Altinger's red Mazda. So investigators called Mark again. And again, he voluntarily agreed to answer more questions. This time, Bill Clark conducted the interview.

Clark listens while Mark tells him how he came into possession of a red car, a detail he failed to mention when he spoke with police earlier.

Do you know we have your DNA? I assume so. OK, so. Can you think of anything? I mean, this has been a long time ago. This is a pretty significant event when you agree. Yeah, the person involved in this is Dr. Robert, don't you think? Absolutely. Yeah. And so that's kind of what we're wondering, if you have any of that kind of knowledge.

According to Darren, the fight escalated, and when he turned his back on her, Charla knocked him to the ground. Darren says that's when the gun he was carrying fell out of his pocket.

Darren says as Charla stumbled backwards, she stepped on the gun. He claims she picked it up and aimed it right at him.

Darren claimed the gun had misfired, which may or may not explain why there was no evidence of gunplay. And this is the first time, by the way, that prosecutors heard anything about a gun in the garage.

According to Darren, Charla tried to pull the trigger again, but this time... He was ready for her with his knife.

Defense attorney David Chesnoff picks up Darren's story from that morning's crime spree.

The defense says Darren went into that delusional state of mind after Charla allegedly put the gun in his face.

Chesnoff says they will prove Darren was still delusional when he managed to hit Judge Weller in a single shot from 170 yards away.

Darren's attorneys were trying a unique defense strategy, self-defense in the murder of Charla Mack, for the attempted murder of Judge Chuck Weller. Is Darren Mack insane? No. No.

Despite the horrible details revealed at trial.

Darren Mack still has supporters like Garrett Idle. Help me understand that line of thinking. If it wasn't for Judge Weller, Charlie Mack would be alive today?

Garrett met Darren through a divorce support group.

Alicia Biddeson claims Judge Weller crossed the line with her too when she was before him for that custody dispute. How did Judge Weller conduct himself?

Alicia was then a captain in the Army, and she says Weller accused her of being upset because her child's father moved on.

As his friends see it, Darren's own frustrations led him to that parking garage to send Judge Weller a message.

What do you make of Darren Mack's claim that he didn't intend on killing Judge Weller? Do you believe that?

Thank you, Judge Charles Weller. In a rare turn of events, Judge Chuck Weller found himself on the witness stand.

Concerned, Judge Weller approached the head of the group and asked him about the negative blogs. Why is this happening?

Weller remembered this conversation and gave police the details from his hospital bed.

Now, it's the defense's turn to cross-examine the judge. And they begin by questioning his knowledge of the divorce case.

And then the defense tried to show just how delusional Darren was.

But Garrett Idle says the tapes don't tell the whole story. And unless you've been through it, you cannot truly appreciate how it can drive someone to the edge.

But even his number one supporter concedes Darren's approach was probably not the best way to bring attention to their cause. What do you think this case has done to your efforts for judicial reform?

Alicia says that won't stop her fight to try and improve the family court system. And it definitely won't stop her from fighting for the man she loves. Why are you still standing by his side after learning everything that's been put out there during the course of that trial? You know about the details of how Charlamac was slaughtered, and you're still there. You're still by his side.

I'm sorry.

And I've seen the pictures as well. You're still there.

None of that changes the fact that this man brutally killed the mother of his child.

Smile, honey. It's been 16 months since Darren Mack killed his wife, Charla.

16 long months that Darren says he spent anxiously waiting to tell his side of the story.

His family and friends gathered for the first day of the defense's case.

But over the weekend, there had been a change of plans. So instead of taking the stand.

Darren took a deal.

Yes. He would admit to murdering Charla, and in return, he would have a better shot at parole.

I have before me the written plea agreement. As part of the plea deal, Darren also admitted there was enough evidence to find him guilty of the attempted murder of Judge Weller.

But in the same breath.

He also managed to take a parting shot at Judge Weller by praising Judge Herndon.

And in a private meeting, he also thanked the men who were trying to convict him, Robert Daskus and Christopher Lawley.

But things were about to get even more surreal.

Just three weeks later.

Darren Mack announced he had fired his attorneys and wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

The high-profile attorneys were out, and local Reno attorney William Rustis was in. His first order of business was to try and get Darren a whole new trial.

Rustis claims his old attorneys, Chesnoff and Freeman, had coerced Darren into pleading guilty, and that Darren had agreed because he was confused, sleep-deprived, and dehydrated.

So two months later, Judge Herndon hauled everyone back into a Reno courtroom to hear arguments for a new trial. And this time, the star witnesses were Darren's former attorneys. They took the stand to defend themselves and the dual strategy of self-defense and insanity.

But David Chesnoff explains that it was Darren who insisted on the split defense.

By calling his former lawyers to the stand, Darren waived his right to attorney-client privilege. So what he had told them could now be used against him.

Darren's case continued to unravel as his other former attorney reluctantly takes the stand.

But under oath, Scott Freeman is forced to reveal that Darren never mentioned a gun in their initial conversation about what happened in the garage.

Darren told Freeman that he had thrown the gun into a dumpster. But when Freeman went to look, there was no dumpster, and therefore, no gun.

Darren Mack finally gets his chance on the witness stand.

That is correct.

That is correct. Is there any evidence to support his claim that she pointed a gun at him?

Darren insists he acted in self-defense and was coerced and confused when he took the murder rap.

after three days of testimony, closing arguments.

And defense attorney William Routzes makes a final plea to get Darren Mack another chance.

Even from behind bars, Darren Mack is still trying to get his way. there was his guilty plea, his attempt to withdraw the guilty plea, and the firings of his own attorneys. Is the circus over?

Now it's out of Darren's hands and up to the judge to decide if he gets a new trial.

It's over for Darren Mack. He now has to face the consequences for his crimes. One month later, at his sentencing, both families have a chance to speak.

Darren's son from his previous marriage begs the judge for leniency.

Then, Charla's family has their turn.

Darren is also given one last opportunity to speak, and he does, for three hours, still insisting he acted in self-defense.

And at one point, he even has the audacity to suggest that he is the one suffering.

Just one day before Charla Mack was murdered and Judge Chuck Weller was shot by a sniper, Alicia Biddison was out target practicing with her new boyfriend.

Throughout the course of the entire trial, Darren Mack never uttered the words so many had hoped to hear.

Judge Herndon sentenced Darren Mack to life in prison.

The judge then offers advice to the grandmothers who are left to raise the lone survivor of this terrible ordeal, Erica Mack, now 10 years old.

She noticed he was a pretty good shot. How good of a marksman is he?

Excellent. His name, Darren Mack. They met online, though not on a dating website, but on a blog filled with scathing complaints about family court judge Chuck Weller.

Alicia had her own run-ins with Judge Weller.

What was it about Darren that attracted you?

Did you fall in love with him?

They knew each other just three months before the family man was accused of murdering his wife, Charla. You're the person that was closest to him in the days leading up to the murder of Charla Mack. What was going through his mind? What was his mental state?

Alicia says that morning it never occurred to her that Darren could have been involved.

So you're at work and you hear that Judge Weller had been shot. And what was your reaction? What did you do?

When Garrett Idles spoke to Darren that morning, he had no clue that within hours there would be a massive manhunt on for his friend.

Did you notice anything in his voice, any kind of panic?

Alicia never heard back from Darren that day. And by 4.30 that afternoon, she knew why.

It was a shock to you?

And at that time, did you also fear for your own safety? No. Her only fear at that point was whether she too was under suspicion, since they'd been together just the day before at the shooting range.

It was only then she heard the most shocking news of all.

Charla Mack was found murdered on the floor of Darren's garage.

This special two-part edition of 48 Hours continues.

The next time Darren and Alicia saw each other was for a jailhouse visit several weeks after his return from Mexico.

Darren Mack plans to testify at his trial about what drove him to kill Charla.

But he lived in fear of his own wife.

And alone with Charla in that garage, it was she, Darren says, who attacked him. Since June of 2006, the murder of Charla Mack and the shooting of Judge Chuck Weller have been the talk of Reno.

So when it came time for Darren Mack's trial more than a year later, the show went on the road to Las Vegas.

Writer Amanda Robb followed the case for 48 hours.

Prosecutor Robert Daskus opened for the state.

A big part of the state's case would be these recordings from Judge Weller's courtroom showing the bitterness of the Mack's divorce. Over and over, they lie, lie, lie. This courtroom battle went on for over a year and a half, mostly about money.

What do you want me to do? At one point, Judge Weller even threatened to throw Darren in jail when he violated a court order.

Prosecutors believe the idea to kill Charla may have been planted a couple of weeks earlier when Darren sat for this cable access interview with a father's rights advocate. Mack railed against Weller.

And then there was this chilling remark from host William Wagner to Darren.

What was Darren Mack's reaction when that comment was made?

At some point following this interview, prosecutors say, Darren took this advice a step further and actually wrote a to-do list for his crime spree.

Friends Anne and Christine say that morning began like so many others.

Less than two hours later, Darren Mack could check one more thing off that to-do list. As Judge Chuck Weller lay bleeding on the floor of his chambers.

Now it was Darren's turn, as defense attorney Scott Freeman opened with scenes of a very troubled marriage.

The defense spared the jury no detail in describing the Mack's marriage.

Darren told friends he started carrying a knife and a gun for protection. Yet in their last court appearance together, it was Charla who said she was afraid.

Charla did want protection.

And one person is still alive.

And now, for the first time, defense attorneys reveal Darren's version of events, the morning Charla and Darren were face-to-face in that garage.

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

We're doctors and we're detectives.

Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

The opening. Exactly.

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues.

We're doctors and we're detectives.

Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues.

We're doctors and we're detectives.

Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues.