48 Hours - Death of a Dream

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

This classic episode of “48 Hours" reports on Catherine Woods, an aspiring dancer, who moved to New York in 2002 in search of fame and fortune. She became involved with fitness instructor Paul Cortez. On Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, Catherine was savagely murdered.  Cortez became a suspect in her murder. “48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. This "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/7/2008. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother, a lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, wherever you get your podcasts.

You can now listen to 48 Hours ad-free on Apple Podcasts with a 48 Hours Plus subscription. Yes, try and keep your chest lifted. I'm going to roll a ball for a race. Catherine had a wonderful ballet bass. She would take jazz class, she would take theater dance class, any kind of dancing just to be a dancer. I remember being really interested in her right away. She was dancing in one of the studios. We started talking.

The very next day, she called me. I was just like blown away. I never really had someone be that kind of interested in me like that. I don't really know what to say. She came home on vacation for a few weeks. I met her in the parking lot. Spoke to her and she just seemed real nice.

And I was just like, wow, I've never seen this girl before. You know, she's beautiful. We definitely liked each other. She accepted me for who I was. She became my best friend. I told her everything. We were best friends. She wanted to be friends with everybody. She needed people, and she needed to be around someone

that she felt cared about her. I loved her deeply, and I would do anything for her. I loved her. I would have did anything for her. anything for her. I loved her. I would have did anything for her. You have a young girl who comes from Ohio to New York. Welcome to 40 Seconds for a T.

A young girl trying to fulfill her dreams, trying to make it in the big city. You have to pay the rent. You have to work several hours a day. And then you have to dance several hours a day. It's grueling. It's tough, and not everybody's gonna make it. Things with her apartment and money and everything was really tight. Not a lot of people knew what she did to pay her rent.

You get concerned for someone who feels the need to do that. You could work one or two days a week, make as much as a person would make a normal week at a full job. She would hide some things from me because she would know that I wouldn't approve of them. She wouldn't want me to be ashamed of her. She said she was living with someone, an ex-boyfriend. She tried to kick him out several times. I moved out for a few weeks, kind of to give us both space to clear our heads.

And we both came to the conclusion that we could still live together. Their relationship was strictly platonic. They were friends. As far as I knew, you know, they were friends. We loved each other. We always were thinking about each other. The day I met him, he actually had said that he had been seeing Katherine since August of the year before. I know from the conversation that I had with him that it was the first time he found out that we were intimate.

I heard him out, but I told her and she denied it. He called me up and he was like, you better not see her anymore. I remember a few incidents where she was a little worried. I told Catherine to get a restraining order. The Newswatch never stops. An aspiring Broadway dancer found stabbed to death... 16 years as a police officer, never in my life have I seen anything so violent.

My name is Detective Steven Goetz, and I was the lead investigator on the Catherine Woods homicide. She was just such a beautiful person, and I think that's why I fell in love with her. I felt like she was my angel. David and Paul were our two main suspects. Death of a dream. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California.

Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert, to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn.

And it harbored a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse

and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Every seven, eight, nine, ten year old that goes and sees a Broadway show, all they can think about is, oh, I'm going to be up there someday. Some children never lose that fantasy. Catherine Woods was one of them.

It was her dream. It's what she wanted to do. She wasn't going to be happy until she reached her goal, which was to dance on Broadway. She just looked like a dancer, looked like a star. Katie Miller and Catherine met as children in a Columbus, Ohio dance studio. With her big smile and personality, Catherine was the image of the all-American Midwestern girl. You can't take your eyes off her, and it comes through in her dancing and in her personality.

Were other girls that you would dance with a little jealous? I would say I was. Sometimes I'd be like, well, wait a minute, I'm here too. Katherine's father, John Woods, the well-known director of the Ohio State University Marching Band and a music professor, had hoped his oldest child would follow him into music. I would think in the Woods family, don't you have to play an instrument? Well, we like to see that. But Catherine made it clear all she wanted to do was dance.

For some people, dancing is like breathing. I mean, why would I do anything else? I need to dance. She told me that if she didn't leave now, she never would. She had these taken. In the summer of 2002, when Katherine was just 17, her father and mother Donna drove her to New York.

They were filled with hope and anxiety she had never lived away from home I mean this was a true coming of age going to the biggest city in the United States and gonna start putting a career together for the next three years Katherine seemed to thrive in New York, taking dance, voice, and acting lessons. And on a visit back home, Catherine found love. Met her at a pool hall.

David Hahn, then a 20-year-old rap musician, was selling his CDs in a parking lot when he met Catherine. You started off as friends. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever think you'd end up dating her? I wasn't sure. I felt chemistry. We definitely liked each other. Weeks later, David moved to New York to be with her and pursue his career.

I think we fed off each other. I know I really fed off her. In many ways, they were an unlikely couple. Catherine grew up in middle-class comfort with her parents and two younger siblings. really fit off her. In many ways, they were an unlikely couple. Catherine grew up in middle-class comfort with her parents and two younger siblings. David was raised in foster homes. Being with Catherine made you feel that you had a family again?

Yeah, she made me feel confident about myself. I looked up to her so much, almost in a way as a parent. How serious were you and Catherine? We were real serious. Marriage? I'd say we thought about it. But sometime in 2005, the relationship became strained.

Catherine was paying David's bills, and the money was tight. Finally, she broke it off with David, although she allowed him to remain living in the apartment. She told me she wanted him to move out, but she didn't want to kick him out because she would feel bad. We still got along. We were still friends. We were best friends.

When you first started dating Catherine, did you know she was living with David? No, not at first. Katherine was 20 years old when she met 24-year-old Paul Cortez, a trainer at her gym. By early 2005, Paul says they were dating. Do you think David knew you existed? I don't think so. I think, you know, in that situation when one is just breaking up with someone else and, you know, and you're seeing someone new, I don't think, I wouldn't think Catherine would tell him about me. That summer, Paul unexpectedly showed up at the apartment while David was there and told David that he had been dating Catherine for almost a year. How did he react?

He was upset. He was surprised. But Paul got his surprise as well. Did you realize that David still thought they were boyfriend-girlfriend? Yeah, that's what he told me, and I was like, okay, well, that's not good. Later, David called Paul. How would you describe the tone of that call? Oh, he was definitely angry. He was upset.

Did he threaten you at any point? Yeah, he was like, don't see her again or else. And what was that or else? I don't know. I don't know what the or else was. For the next four months, Catherine continued to live with David and secretly date Paul. But according to Katie, Catherine was still searching for true love.

She'd say, why do I always get these guys? Why can't I find Mr. Wright who rides up on a horse and comes and picks me up, and we go riding off into sunset. One week after Katie last spoke with Catherine, Catherine was dead. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own.

She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access,

I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy

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On the night of November 27, 2005, Catherine Woods was getting ready to go to work when David Hahn says he left their apartment to pick up his car. How long were you gone? 20, 30 minutes. When he returned, David says he made a chilling discovery. It was a bad scene. There was blood everywhere, so it was bad. My first instinct is to call 911.

Baby girl, Catherine. Catherine, baby girl. Oh my goodness, I don't know what happened. Is she there? He had his blood everywhere. I don't even know if she's alive. I'm scared to look at her. Catherine was on the bedroom floor, face down, in blood.

I didn't know if it was an accident or what it was. I really didn't know. I just was really in shock. Catherine had been stabbed 20 times. Her throat cut twice. It was a brutal scene. The manner in which she was killed was absolutely horrible. Did you find any weapon? No. New York City Police Detective Steven Goetz led the investigation. To be honest with you, the first thing that I remember thinking to myself was this girl is dead on her floor in her bedroom, and she has a family out there,

and they don't even know that she's dead. Catherine's mom and dad were 500 miles away at home in Columbus when three police officers arrived. I said, how bad is it? And he said, it's bad. And I said, is she dead? And he said, how bad is it? And he said, it's bad. And I said, is she dead? And he said, yes. Once I heard she was dead, I was in shock

and have trouble remembering some of that conversation. Wednesday news time, 543. An aspiring Broadway dancer found stabbed to death, nearly decapitated in her Upper East Side apartment last night, and police are interviewing the boyfriend who called them to say he found her. At the precinct, police began grilling David Hahn. I really just couldn't believe it was happening. I kept asking God in my head, you know, why is this happening?

Detective Goetz says the killer left what appeared to be a bloody handprint on a bedroom wall and several bloody boot prints in the apartment, including one left on Catherine's back. What size of shoe left those prints? I believe it was estimated at a ten and a half. And what size of shoe does David Hahn wear? Ten and a half. Did the police at first accuse you? I mean, did they say, come on, David?

Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah. And what did you say to them? I told them, no, you have the wrong person. You have the wrong person. I would never, never hit that girl. Not at all. I loved her. I would have did anything for her.

I loved her. I would have did anything for her. As the interrogation wore on, David showed little emotion or grief. I couldn't even cry, even afterwards. The detectives were asking me, if you love this girl so much, why are you not crying? Look at him, I don't know. I really don't know. Now to a murder investigation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. A 21-year-old woman found dead in her apartment on East 86th Street. The brutal end to a beautiful young woman's life and dreams was the lead story that morning.

Yvette Cortez heard it on the radio as she was getting ready for work. They mention a dancer, Katherine Woods. When Yvette saw Katherine's picture in the paper, she recognized her instantly. Her face was there. Yvette is Paul Cortez's mother. She knew her son had been seeing Catherine Woods, which is why the rest of the story sent her into a panic.

Woods' boyfriend is still here inside the 19th Precinct station house where he's being questioned by police. They just kept on mentioning the boyfriend being held, and I didn't know what that meant. Well, you didn't know whether they were referring to Paul. Exactly, but I tracked him down. He was at work. He didn't even know what that meant. Well, you didn't know whether they were referring to Paul. Exactly, but I tracked him down. He was at work. He didn't even realize what was happening.

Yvette went to the health club where Paul was working to break the news to him. She told me that Catherine was killed the night before. Just like, I just buckled I remember just kind of sitting on this stoop right almost outside of the club and and I just couldn't believe it I was just in complete shock later that day the police called Paul and brought him in for questioning how would you describe Paul Cortez? Quiet.

He came to the precinct with his mother. He seemed like a very nice person. As police were questioning Paul Cortez in one room of the precinct and David Hahn in another, they were learning something else about Catherine's life that could have a bearing on her death in the months before Catherine was murdered she was working as a dancer in a topless club for the tabloid press it was suddenly a sensational story for investigators it

opened up a whole other line of possible motives and suspects. Probably the sweetest girl that's ever walked in here, or the most innocent. Yeah, definitely. Chloe hired and managed the dancers at a club called Privilege. I looked at her and I'm like, what is this girl doing here? Because she looks like the girl next door. She needed to have money to live on. Catherine, who worked under the name Ava, danced nights so she could audition and attend classes during the day. She hid that part of her life from her parents. Would you tell your parents if you were doing that? I mean, I certainly wouldn't tell my parents. But Catherine did confide in friends from home like Katie Miller. I just was like, you know, this isn't you.

This isn't what, she's like, I know, I know. Was Catherine having trouble with one of the customers? If so, she never mentioned it to anyone. Katie spoke with Catherine the week before she died. And did she seem worried about anything? Not at all. Afraid of anyone? No.

Six hours after Paul Cortez and his mother, Yvette, arrived at the police precinct, they were allowed to leave. They just let the two of you go? Mm-hmm. And did you think it was over then? Absolutely. It wasn't over then? Absolutely. It wasn't, though? No. Police discovered that Paul, like David,

wears a 10-and-a-half size shoe. And there's more. A serious problem with a written statement Paul gave to police, detailing what he did the day of Catherine's murder. Where did Paul say he was at the time Catherine was murdered? He said he was home in his apartment. According to Detective Goetz, Paul told police he was making calls at his apartment

a mile and a half away from Catherine's. But when police set out to verify his story, Paul's cell phone records indicated something else. Paul called Catherine a dozen times shortly before 6 p.m., the evening she was killed. If he had been home, his calls would normally go through a cell tower in his neighborhood. Instead, some of those calls were handled by a tower just two blocks from Catherine's apartment. Did at any time Paul say to any officer that he was in Catherine's neighborhood

when she was murdered? No. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Paul always had goals and that ambition to strive for them. Yvette Cortez always believed her son Paul was going places. He's just done so much with his life and lived vicariously through all his accomplishments.

Yvette was a single mom when she was raising her three children in a tough neighborhood in the Bronx. That's my Paulie. Paul, her youngest, earned scholarships at some of New York's most prestigious prep schools. I don't mean to ask a personal question, but could you have really afforded to send him to these private schools on your own? Of course not. He actually had to win those spots. Absolutely. He worked really hard for everything that he has.

But it meant Paul had to rise before dawn each day for the two-hour ride to school. He has this tiny little thing carrying a book bag that was probably twice his weight in his little suit. He didn't just thrive academically. Paul also stood out on the stage, starring in high school productions of Pippin and West Side Story.

He has done such amazing pieces that it blows me away. Paul got a scholarship at Boston University, where he majored in theater, the first in his family to get a college degree. He sounds like, in some ways, he was really kind of the future of your family, the hope of your family. Absolutely. We always saw him that way. At 24, Paul replaced show tunes with rock.

He was the lead singer and lyricist for a New York band, Monolith. He's got a great voice. He's a fantastic singer. And he had lots of ideas. Paul also had a day job. He worked as a trainer in the gym where he met Catherine Woods. She was playful. That's what I liked about her. She was really, like, open. And you could see, like, a compassion in her eyes.

And I loved that about her. Within a couple of months, Paul and Catherine were dating. We would just talk to each other all night for like hours on end, just about everything. Aspirations, you know, our dreams, our, you know, how much we cared about each other. But when Paul learned Catherine was dancing on the side in topless clubs, he insisted that she stop. When you told her you didn't want her dancing in these clubs, how did she react? Well, it was basically like, you know, I know what you're saying, but it really isn't any of your business. And I'm going to be careful and nothing's going to happen to me. But in April 2005, something did happen while Catherine was working at Privilege.

In the middle of the night, Catherine called me, and she was crying. And she was like, please come, please come here. Paul went to the club to get her. I had never seen her like that, just stumbling, and her eyes were just like pins. She looked like she was on drugs or really drunk. Catherine believed a customer slipped drugs into her drink and that she might have been molested. I told her I can't have anything like that ever happen again.

When she told him she planned to go back to work, Paul went through her cell phone and found her father's telephone number. It was in the morning, wasn't it? It may have been in the morning. Paul called Catherine's father and told him where Catherine had been working and what had happened that night. Did you tell her you were going to call her dad? No.

When he told me it was her father, I thought, wow, you know, thank you for this information. John took the next flight to New York to confront his daughter, but Catherine told her father the story wasn't true. How did Catherine react to the fact you called her parents? Oh my gosh, she was so mad. She was really mad.

They broke up, Paul says, but not for long. We realized that we loved each other. We always were thinking about each other, and we got back together. But just how serious a relationship it was is in dispute. Playing the best music on Earth, Monolith. Catherine did go to one of Paul's performances

that summer, and he introduced her to his mom. He did mention that he loved her. Yet apparently, Catherine never told her friends or family that she was even dating Paul. If the two of you were in love with each other, why didn't she tell any of her friends she was dating you? I don't know. I thought she did.

As for Catherine's other boyfriend, David Hahn, Paul believed he was out of the picture. I moved out for a few weeks. I went to a friend's. But in fact, David moved back in with Catherine, not long before she was killed. You didn't know that he had actually moved back in with her? No, I didn't. She never told you? Mm-mm. before she was killed. You didn't know that he had actually moved back in with her? No, I didn't.

She never told you? No. I believe that he loved her, but I do believe that there was a certain obsession there. Lead detective Stephen Goetz says Paul's obsession and jealousy is plain to see in the journals he wrote. And so is something else.

The writings were very violent, spoke about slashing people's throats. Police point to some of the songs and poems Paul wrote as proof that he had a deep-seated anger towards women, and Catherine in particular. At one point, Paul, you wrote, she wipes clean the shaft that cuts her throat. And then Catherine's throat is cut. That's how she dies. It's a poem. I mean... Paul says he wrote that poem eight months before Catherine's murder,

after she told him she had once been sexually assaulted at knife point. I mean, to say I was plotting this thing eight months before, it's ridiculous. I didn't know what was going to happen to her that night. You can take anything out of context and make it sound the way you want it to fit and tailor it to your needs. But the meaning of Paul's writings wouldn't have mattered at all if Paul could prove where he was when Catherine was murdered. On the night that Catherine was killed, did you go to her apartment? No.

You loved this woman. She had lied to you over those months. Did you, in fact, that night just snap and kill her? No. I would never do that. Paul could have had an alibi. We had rehearsal scheduled for 6 p.m. that Sunday night, and Paul didn't show up.

Alex Rude was one of Paul's bandmates in Monolith. Was that normal? No, he usually showed up. So that night he just didn't show up at all? No. Alex says Paul's performances have been getting erratic, and he had planned to ask Paul to leave the band that night. So where was Paul? I called him around 8 o'clock,

and I asked him why he wasn't there, and he said that he had overslept. One of the few times you'd ever miss a practice happens to be at the time that Catherine is killed. I didn't go to rehearsal because they were gonna tell me, you're not part of the band anymore. And I didn't wanna have that whole conversation that night. Are you troubled though by the fact

he didn't come to your rehearsal at 6 p.m. Of course. That very night? If he had come, then there would be no problem. course. If he had come then there would be no problem. We would all vouch for him. There would be no problem at all. He was with us. It's impossible. He would have been a hundred blocks away. We're convinced she knew this person and that this person knew her. The two men who knew Catherine Woods best are both suspects. But as days passed, Detective Stephen Getz focused less on David Hahn and more on Paul Cortez. My feeling is if Paul Cortez had nothing to do with this, then he had no reason to lie. Police say Paul hid from them the fact

that he was in Catherine's neighborhood at the time of the murder, leaving it out of his written statement. In here, you never mention that you were right down in her neighborhood, just blocks from her house. Why not? I just remember that point just being a haze. I was still in shock. I just found out that someone that I loved dearly was killed, that I was a suspect for it as well. And I didn't

know what to do or what to think or what to really put in. And then police got a big break. And then police got a big break. In the midst of this bloody crime scene, they say they were able to isolate one single fingerprint. We were able to match that fingerprint to Paul Cortez's fingerprint. Paul Cortez has been indicted now on murder charges. Paul Cortez was arrested and held without bail. That person had nothing to do with the Paul Cortez I know.

Marguerite Shenouda had met Paul just a few months earlier on a yoga retreat. He had been at my house a couple of weeks before Catherine was killed. And he was flirty. He was fun. He was warm. She is so sure of Paul's innocence,

she used her own money and borrowed thousands more to help pay for his defense. Don't tell me your friends say, Marguerite, why would you put yourself out on the limb so much for this guy? Yeah, some of my friends do say that. So they seem to fall into two camps. The one camp thinks I'm crazy,

and the other camp thinks I'm a saint. Over the next year, Marguerite created a website to build support for Paul Cortez. Let's just go through like the DD5s. And helped hire lawyers. How confident are the two of you in this case that you'll be able to get Paul Cortez acquitted? I'm confident. We believe we have somebody who's innocent. Defense attorneys Don Florio and Laura Miranda. He has a very gentle,

caring soul about him. I can't even imagine that somebody like this could have committed such a vicious crime. We really need to focus, you know, because of her profession, she was exposed to so many people who could have done her harm. They say there could be any number of other suspects. That a customer from one of the topless clubs could have killed Catherine. Catherine, baby girl. Catherine, baby girl.

I'm scared to look at her. They also believe police were too quick to clear David Hahn. David is the one who gave up his life. He came from Ohio to live with this woman. Catherine was kicking David out of the apartment. So if anyone had a motive, I'd say it was more David than Paul.

Her reasoning, a neighbor testified hearing screams coming from Catherine's apartment about 20 minutes before David said he left the apartment. But police investigated David's movements that night, and they believe he was out of the apartment for a much longer time, and couldn't have been there at the time of the murder. John Woods was the first person to take the stand

in his daughter Catherine's murder trial. 14 months after Catherine's death, Paul Cortez goes on trial for murder. The People's case is designed not to prove that Paul Cortez is the kind of person who would have done this, but that in fact he was the person who did this. Manhattan assistant district attorney

Peter Casalero paints Paul Cortez as an obsessed boyfriend who didn't want to share Catherine with anyone else. Failure in love often leads to anger and murder. And that's precisely what happened here, ladies and gentlemen. Casalero says that after months of Catherine seeing other men, Paul was like a volcano ready to erupt. And on that night, Paul waited outside the apartment,

watched David leave, and then slipped in to kill Catherine. It's the defendant's persistent use of his cell phone that puts him in hot water here. Casalero introduces the phone records that prove Paul was in Catherine's neighborhood, calling her numerous times right before she was killed. And then the phone calls stop. He never, ever, ever calls Catherine Woods again. Is that a coincidence? calls Catherine Woods again, is that a coincidence? Is that why he stops calling her? Or is it because he already knows she's dead and there's nobody to answer the phone?

How do you explain that? There's nothing to explain. I called her many times and I left messages. That was before 6 o'clock. Yeah, and I figured after I left the last message of, hey, call me when you get out of work, I figured that was it. Did Paul have any injuries after? No, none at all.

None. Was there any DNA of Paul's found underneath Catherine's fingernails? Absolutely none. No DNA found in the apartment whatsoever. There is little physical evidence that connects Paul to the murderer, but what does exist is incriminating. His fingerprint is in her blood put there at the time of the murder, and there is no innocent explanation for that. But the defense attorneys say there is other evidence that points to someone other than

Paul. And look at his hair. Take down your hair. Unidentified strands of hair found in Catherine's hand that didn't belong to Paul and were never tested by police. Catherine had hair in her hand, and there were hairs that were never tested for DNA. The last piece of really critical evidence are the footprints. The footprints are undoubtedly left by the killer. Those bloody footprints in Catherine's apartment, say the prosecutor, were left by a man wearing Skecher boots, size 10 1⁄2.

Do you own any Skecher boots? No. And police never found any. But they did find a surprise witness. His name is Spencer Leibowitz. He knew Paul from the gym. Spencer testified that he saw Paul at this bar the night Catherine was murdered and that Paul was wearing Skecher boots. Why would Spencer say that? I don't know. I don't know why he would say that, honestly. I don't. Surprising testimony, because a year earlier, Spencer told 48 Hours that he had no memory of what Paul was wearing. Did you get a close look at Paul?

No. How was he dressed? Do you remember? No. Paul claims that he was wearing these Johnston & Murphy shoes. You're sure that that afternoon you were wearing these Johnston & Murphy shoes? Yes. Shoes, not boots of any kind? And Paul's attorneys say they have video that will prove it.

This surveillance tape from a store that shows what Paul was wearing just hours before the murder. As the trial comes to an end, it's the evidence that the defense hopes will convince the jurors that Paul Cortez is Katherine 20 times. He slit her throat and then stabbed her larynx. There is no doubt in my mind that he's a monster. He slit her throat and then stabbed her larynx.

There is no doubt in my mind that he's a monster. John and Donna Woods don't need to wait for the verdict. They are already convinced Paul Cortez killed their daughter. Did you, in fact, kill Catherine Woods? No, I didn't. But what will the jury think? I worry about everything that might give the jurors reason to doubt. For Paul's family, there's nothing but doubt.

How can you have a crime scene with hair samples and not follow up on that? That doesn't make sense to me. How could you brutally murder someone like that and walk away clean? What do you think the verdict's going to be? Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty.

Not guilty. Paul's lawyers are feeling confident, too. We think that there is no way that this jury will be able to convict him. I didn't want to be convicted! As one day of deliberations rolls into two... There could be a hung jury. ...the pressure on everyone intensifies.

I was very nervous. I couldn't concentrate. I didn't really eat. I didn't really sleep. Anything and everything is a possibility when it comes to the jurors. He's this creative person. He worked very hard with his life. He had no history of violence. He had a loving family. Behind closed doors, jurors were fighting it out. I really thought he was innocent. Guilty, especially with the fingerprint. At the beginning the

majority believed Paul Cortez was guilty. It was seven guilty, five innocent. Four jurors sat down with us. They asked not to be identified by name, but they were willing to give us a rare look back at the drama that was unfolding inside the jury room The first time in my life I've ever cried in public, I think Three of the women thought the cops may have gotten the wrong guy For them, David Hahn, Catherine's other boyfriend, was a much better suspect At first I thought he was guilty Actually, I thought he could have done it

I thought he was more likely the type of personality to do it rather than the defendant. Still, almost everyone on the jury was concerned that Paul gave police the impression he was at home the night Catherine was murdered. He was, in fact, just blocks away. That was so gripping for me, you know. Everybody looked at that. Yeah. He lied on there, clearly. They were even more bothered by the fact that Paul

had no alibi for the time Catherine was killed and never tried calling her after that. If you're that worried about her, you would call, but he didn't call. As the hours wore on, two jurors stubbornly refused to convict.

If they didn't change their minds, there was going to be a hung jury, and Paul Cortez could go free. And then they decided to look at one more piece of evidence, this video. The video that Paul's defense put into evidence at the end of the trial. to evidence at the end of the trial. It's the surveillance tape from the appliance store P.C. Richards, where Paul Cortez had gone shopping just hours before the murder. I watched that clip by clip by clip.

Paul's attorneys say the video proves Paul was wearing these shoes that day, not these boots, which are similar to what the killer wore. To me, it looked like the Johnston Murphy shoes that's why I put it in but what did the jurors say it was very clearly boot the boots it was boots there right there that's boots look at the back leg look how thick that sole is right there yeah the bulk of the shoe on top that's the first thing I noticed.

Boots usually have a bigger front. This clearly had a bigger front. For the holdouts, it was the tipping point. This grainy, blurred video made everything crystal clear. They believed Paul was wearing the sketcher boots. That really convinced me. I couldn't hold on onto my position any longer. And if I hadn't changed, it would have been a hung jury. That defense really gave us something against him.

In a bitter irony, the evidence that sealed Paul Cortez's fate came from his own defense lawyers. Either they are dumb or they are very careless. They were the ones to help him hang. This just in to the WCBS Newsroom. It was a guilty verdict. Guilty for Paul Cortez. After a day and a half of deliberations, the jury finds Paul Cortez guilty of second Degree Murder. Your heart drops to your stomach and then you just...

It just kind of obliterates you. What did you think the jury was going to do? I thought at least they would not be able to decide. What if I told you that two individuals who were on the fence, who might have hung the jury, changed their mind based on that videotape? It would be the mistake of our lives, and it's terrible.

I know I'd feel responsible for him being convicted. The verdict changes nothing for Paul's mother, Yvette. Paul will always be my baby. I'll always be there for him and so will this family. But for Katherine's parents, John and Donna, the verdict comes as a relief, although it is no consolation. There's no happy ending to this. It isn't like anybody really wins. We've lost a daughter and the Cortez family will have lost a son.

But loss is no longer what John and Donna Woods want to focus on. They want to remember how much their daughter Catherine lived in her very short life. She was 20 years old, independent and strong, and going after her dream. With a little luck, she might have made it. Paul Cortez was sentenced to 25 years to life.