48 Hours - Killer Performance - Encore

Episode Date: September 16, 2018

A young woman is murdered, police thought her killer was on the run ... or was he? Correspondent Tracy Smith investigates a case where nothing is as it seems.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. In 2014, 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. Julie Kibuishi was a beautiful, smart, vivacious, 23-year-old young woman who is a dancer and an aspiring fashion designer, and everybody who met her fell in love with her. May 21, 2010 is a beautiful night in Southern California.

Julie went to have dinner in Long Beach and suddenly disappeared. Julie's friends were texting her frantically, text after text, Hey, Julie, your mom called me. Can you call me? Hey, Julie, is everything okay? By the next day, Julie's mom was desperate.

This kind of thing never happened to my daughter, so we called the police. And I said, I don't care. I don't care where you find her, but I need to find her. At the same time, there's another family who is looking for their beloved son, Sam Herr, who was supposed to come over that weekend and also never showed up.

I said, I'm going to drive down and make sure Sam's okay cause he's not answering his phone. I had the key to his apartment. I walked in. It looked clean, everything was fine. And then I glanced into the bedroom and that's where I saw a body there. There's a body in that same apartment.

There's a what? A body, a dead body. A dead body? Are you sure, sir? I I'm sure and first thought is what did he do within a few minutes no Sam wouldn't do something like this police under the apartment and they see a young woman laying face down on the bed with her jeans cut off written on her back was a message saying, all yours, F you. They very quickly learned that the woman on the bed was Julie.

Being a mother, you would do anything to protect your child. At that point, did you have a prime suspect? Sam. Sam's friends could not believe that this happened, because his relationship with Julie, they were very close. They were like brother and sister. However, all of the evidence pointed at Sam. Julie was found shot in Sam's apartment.

Sam's car is missing. His passport is missing. We launched a massive manhunt trying to find Sam Herr. We believed he was armed and dangerous. We believed he could kill again. I know that from the bottom of my heart from the pit of my stomach he would not harm a woman we started interviewing all of Sam's good friends and that led us to Daniel Wozniak it was like dude it's not good it's like there's Daniel Wozniak had a fiancecée named Rachel Buffett. At a certain point, you reach your shock level you can't handle anymore.

We quickly learned that nothing was as it seemed. Even the most demented Hollywood writers would not have dreamed up an ending like this. I May 22, 2010, Steve Hare's mind was reeling. Does your son know who it is? He's not here. Okay. 23-year-old Julie Kibuishi lay dead in his son Sam's apartment.

What happened? This happened. This happened. I'm seeing how she's positioned. What had Sam done to his friend? Julie was there. The white sheets were just full of blood. She was wearing a tiara, very dark, full head of hair, just covered in blood. Deceased with a gunshot wound to her head. Detectives Ed Everett, Jose Morales, and Mike Cohen

took on a case laced with mystery. Starting with that scrawled obscenity, all yours, F.U., punctuating the already obscene murder scene. I've never seen anything like that before. It seemed like there was a message, maybe possibly a love triangle happening. It didn't seem right. What do you mean it didn't seem right?

The pieces just didn't fit correctly at the time. You had to break the news to her parents? Yes, I did. It was tough. Are you Mrs. Kibush and Mr. Kibush? And I said, yes. And then they came in, and one of them told me, OK, Mrs. Kibwishi, you're to sit down. My hands started shaking,

and then they told us that they found her, and she was shot in the head. Yeah. But first I said, no, no, that's not my daughter. That's not my daughter. Julie, a dancer. And fashion designer with her own style. She's such a goofball.

A goofball? Mm-hmm. When she's home, you know she's home. Because? Because she's singing or she's got the music on. What do you want people to know? My daughter was such a... What do you want people to know?

My daughter was such a... She's the person that always kind of take care of the friends. But now, Julie Kibuishi, the young woman her mom lovingly calls a goofball, had been shot dead and possibly raped here in Sam's apartment. And investigators were about to make another discovery. We learned that he was involved in a homicide. Sam had been arrested and charged with murder before. At 18, he got mixed up with a rough crowd that included gangbangers. A person was killed, murdered, and then another person was killed in retribution to that.

And Sam, amongst 23 others, were accused of participating in that. When he went to court, he was acquitted, he was exonerated, and that was it. That part of life was over with. Was he ever in a gang? No. No. But to the cops, Sam's past confirmed all their current suspicions. Sam was their killer.

Sam was our guy. It was his apartment. And when cops checked Julie's cell phone, it was loaded with messages from Sam begging her to come over. He was just a very caring guy. That's the one thing that I learned is how someone could care so much about everyone else. Here's a photo of the photo.

Miles Foltz met Sam as he was turning his life around, leaving his bad choices behind, fighting for his country, enlisting in the army, and deploying to Afghanistan. We were both stationed at a base out in the middle of nowhere. How good of a friend was Sam? He was my best friend. This is riding in style, bro. I hope you're taping this for my mommy back home. Miles and Sam would travel the world together.

Ibiza, we went to Israel, Prague, Oktoberfest, then Munich. Sam always finding the cheapest hotels, always saving his money. He always wanted to go places but he always wanted to be a cheapskate about it. What did Sam do with his money? Saved it. How much money had he saved? Over 60,000 and it was all from Afghanistan. He saved every penny. And when they finished fighting a war, the best friends headed home to Southern California, where Sam shared his world with Miles. Did you meet Julie?

Yeah, I did. What was she like? She was a really sweet girl. They were kind of like brother and sister. Sam's mother, Raquel. We met her once because she was tutoring Sammy with anthropology, which, by the way, you got an A in that class. And she was an angel. She was very, very nice.

And according to his parents, the bottom line on Sam? Just a typical guy. Just a fun-loving guy. What'd you love about Sam? Everything. But police are certain both parents and friends don't know the dark truth about Sam. We wanted to find him pretty bad. There was no activity on his phone, so we assumed that was turned off. And the cops aren't the only detectives on this case. You pulled up Sam's bank account. Correct. And what did you see? Money was being withdrawn every day. Cash from this ATM in Long Beach, California. I had an ATM at Chase. A Chase ATM and then a pizza place called... Echo's. So, you decided to go there?

I did go there. I was hoping to see either Sam come in, maybe ordering something, or see his car. But did you see... I saw nothing, no. I saw nothing. You actually went out looking for him? Yeah. And nothing?

Nothing. Did you think it was possible that Sam could have killed this woman and been on the run? No. There was never a thought in my mind that that was possible. Exhausted, past midnight, at the kitchen table, Steve and Raquel start dialing Sam's friends, one of whom gives them a phone number for someone they'd never heard of. Daniel Wozniak. It was the only number they had with a Long Beach area code.

And the money was being withdrawn. From Long Beach. The area code belonged to Dan Wozniak. Help me, Barbara! Help me, someone! Dan Wozniak, a local actor with a magnetic personality, who would soon be starring in a real-life police drama. I'll tell you anything you want to know. Julie Kibuishi was dead and Sam Hare was still nowhere to be found as police investigators spread across Orange County and loved ones tried to make sense of the impossible.

Where is Sam? What's going on? Because he's not a guy to, you know, go and murder someone. There's still... The first thing that they said was, Sam killed my daughter and then ran away. He's on the run. What was going through your head? I hope Sammy's fine, that he's safe. I thought maybe they got him as a tie down somewhere,

ransom or something. It's hard in that sense that you know that there's something going on and you don't know all the pieces and you just want the answer and you're willing to do anything to figure out the answer. The answer would begin with Steve Hare dialing that Long Beach number one of Sam's friends had mentioned. Dan Wozniak answered the call. And he sounded nervous.

And that's when he told me Sam had problems. He was having family problems. Family problems. Family problems. Why was that such a red flag to you? Because of the closeness Sam, myself, and Raquel had. There were no family problems. Are you kidding me? And then along came Wesley Freilich. So how'd you meet Daniel Wozniak? My mom was a theater teacher, so by nature I drifted towards acting as an extracurricular activity. At the mercy of detractors. The actors met on stage back when Wesley was in middle school.

Fantastic guy. One of those guys that you actually wanted to be around, made you laugh. Very sweet person. And in 2010, Wozniak was a small-town star in the play Nine down at the community theater. Did you trust Dan? Yeah. Dan told then-17-year-old Wesley he could make fast money using a bank card.

I was just like, yeah, why not? Even though the name on the card read Sam Hare. So I went to the ATM, did exactly like he told me, and withdrew money, and then came back and gave him the money. So his credit card was still active? Yes. It was being used in the Long Beach area.

It wasn't Sam taking out the money? It wasn't Sam. What did the person look like? A young 17- to 20-year-old white male, baseball hat. Wesley in disguise, flashing Sam Hare's bank card. Somebody ordered a pizza on Sam's credit card? Yes. Ha-ha! So I ordered a pizza.

What did you think when you saw that? Well, we thought Sam was getting sloppy because he used his credit card to get a pizza. So of course you went to that house. Yes. Finished the pizza, was inside, heard a helicopter, look outside, two cop cars, FBI van, helicopter, and then that's when I open up the door and they say, get on the ground. And then that's when I open up the door and they say, get on the ground.

And then that's when they all come in. Shaken and scared, Wesley told investigators all about Daniel Wozniak. How Wozniak insisted it was perfectly okay for Wesley to withdraw money from that ATM in Long Beach. It turned out Wozniak was Sam's neighbor, and he was getting married in a few days when police showed up at his bachelor party. Daniel seemed surprised to see us. Seemed somewhat a little nervous. You could see the blood just drain from his face, and he made a statement to me that he would tell us everything.

What were you thinking? I thought at that point it was going to lead us to Sam. And you will be my true love. Wozniak's wedding looked like it might just have to be postponed. Fellow actor and blushing bride-to-be Rachel Buffett would later tell Dr. Phil all about it. I first met Dan doing a play and I quickly fell for him. In late 2008, he asked me to marry him. I looked at it as though we were going to have an awesome future.

But the curtain was about to come down on those plans. I will talk to you about anything if it gets me to my wedding on Friday. That's what I will promise. Convinced Wozniak is somehow covering for Sam. You're not going to be leaving here anytime soon. He is charged as an accessory to the murder of Julie Kibuishi. Yes, I helped Sam get away. Yes, I did not know what he was planning until then.

Wozniak first tells detectives he saw Sam the same day Julie was murdered, and he claims Sam drove off with a mysterious man in a black hat. But then... He told us that there was a light. There really wasn't a person with a black hat in the car, and it was him and Sam initially. No guy with the black hat? No guy with the black hat.

The interrogation wears on. Did you see Julie? Did you get in the apartment? No, I did not. Were you there when she was shot? No, I was not. Are you sure about that? I don't even there when she was shot? No, I was not. Are you sure about that? I don't even know when she was shot.

No. Under the spotlight, the actor heightens the drama. You're driving with Sam, and he tells you that he did something bad. He did something bad, and I'm on the freeway when he tells me this. Telling detectives Sam had actually confessed to him. But I pull up the freeway and I'm like, what the f***? What have you done to me?

What are you doing? He was like, dude, it's not good. There's a body in my apartment. I shot somebody. Daniel said that Sam had told him that Julie Kubiak was in his room and that he had killed her. Then, according to Wozniak, Sam Hare issued a death threat. And then he said, well, I know where you live. OK? Sam Hare issued a death threat. Wozniak spun the tale.

Sam as a killer on the run, desperate for cash. Wesley Freilich made the withdrawals, and Wozniak, in exchange for his silence, took a cut of Sam's money as Sam plotted his escape. Did it seem like Daniel was willing to tell you where Sam was? No, not at all. Did you think Daniel knew where Sam was? My gut instinct, yes.

And there's more to this than you're telling us. There's a whole lot more. Prosecutor Matt Murphy would eventually be tasked with putting all the pieces together in a case that shocked even the veteran DA. As far as the cases I've done, this is as ugly and as ruthless and as horrific as anything I've ever seen. Do you want to talk to us, yes or no? Yes. To hear more of Sam's father's frantic call to 911, visit 48 Hours on Facebook. It's almost 2 a.m., four hours after getting arrested as an accessory to murder. You're lying. And Daniel Wozniak is still insisting he doesn't know where Sam Hare is.

You want to talk about what happened to Sam? I don't know what happened to Sam. Sometimes whispering, sometimes yelling. I don't know what else you want me to say. I don't know. Tell us. I don't know. Wozniak stuck to the script. But what I just told you is the honest-to-God truth.

He dropped Sam off and was expecting to hear from him soon. You're done? Suspecting he was lying, the detectives turned up the heat. You always want to have that good guy, bad guy kind of cop thing going, and it always works. You can't even keep your lies straight. In our case, it worked real well the harder they pushed man up the more his story changed he went from saying he never entered sam's apartment to this he came down and said help me i went upstairs and yes i saw the goddamn body is that what you want to hear wozniak goes on to make his biggest mistake yet. What did you see? Saw two gunshots in her head.

Red flag. Yes, beyond red flag, alarm bells going off. It was that statement, says Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, that put Daniel Wozniak in a whole new category. Prime suspect. You can't see the bullet holes. What you saw on the back of her head actually was brain matter. That's what you saw. You can't see bullet holes in the back of her head.

That's really where it turned. Detectives now believed he knew more than he was saying, but they still didn't know what. You can go over and sit right there. They decided to bring Rachel in to see if that would tell them more. They want to see what she's going to do. They want to bring Rachel in to see if that would tell them more. They want to see what she's going to do. They want to test and see, could she be involved in this? This is true, isn't it? Rachel barely reacted to the news that the man she was set to marry the following day was under arrest for covering up a murder or that her wedding was off.

Did she scream at him? Did she cry? No, not one time. Another huge red flag to the detectives. Daniel told you that Rachel knew nothing. Did it seem like she knew nothing? No, it seemed like she knew more. Why did you lie to me?

It almost seemed to us that she was trying to figure out what have you told them that I need to me? It almost seemed to us that she was trying to figure out, what have you told them that I need to know? Hello? Hi, baby. When the two talked on a recorded phone call from jail, it was clear she at least knew about one thing, this backpack. Daniel had given it to his brother Tim to throw away.

Tim says he has evidence with him, or he knew where it was or something. Then I'm doomed. Do you know that Tim had some evidence? Yeah. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. This is ridiculous, and I have to go tell

the detective the truth. That can't be found. Babe, listen to me. I'm going to go do something right now, and you're not going to see me for the rest of your life. Do you understand that? No. No. I have to tell the truth on what I did,

and I think you now know what it is, and it's bad. Imagine the worst, and that's what I did. The police did find that backpack, and just as Wozniak had said, it led to his doom. He knows what's in that backpack because he put it there. Shell casings from Julie's murder, Sam's wallet, Sam's ID, the checkbook, Sam's bloody clothes. This is a bonanza of evidence. He knows he's done. You've indicated to me that you want to talk to us. That afternoon, Daniel Wozniak sent word to the detectives

that he wanted to talk. He looked emotionally drained. He just started speaking to us. What did he say? That he did it. I'm crazy and I did it. You did what? I killed Julie and I killed Sam.

The detectives couldn't believe what they were hearing. Sam Hare, the man they believed killed Julie, was dead. Not a murderer, but another victim in Wozniak's twisted scheme. What went through your head at that point? Well, we knew that now we just had to listen to him, ask him some questions, what he did with Sam. That was our biggest thing, because we wanted to find Sam. Sam is decapitated.

In a cold, matter-of-fact tone, Wozniak told detectives where to find Sam, at least pieces of him. After shooting the war hero, Wozniak dismembered him with an axe and saw, and then tossed some of the body parts across this park, not even bothering to bury them. I was in shock. And then to hear the grisly part of the dismemberment and then discarding the body parts in the park and then it's just overall attitude was just chilling for me. They said, Steve, we got to come come over. We've got to see you. They pulled up, and they came in, and they said Sam was murdered. That's when I ran upstairs to the room, and I lost it.

The detectives didn't tell the grieving parents the grisly details of their son's murder until the next day. They called me up and said, Steve, before you find out by the news, Sam was dismembered. Now that's when I just went off the anti-band. I was angry. I was angry. The police were able to find all of Sam's body parts, except his hand and head.

The next day, the Saturday, was his birthday, and I was praying for them to find Sam and head. The next day, the Saturday, was his birthday, and I was praying for them to find Sam's head. A father has to pray on his son's birthday that they find his head. Go ahead and tell me how I feel. Sam's head was found in the park under scattered leaves on his 27th birthday. His hand was never found. Sam Hare was given a hero's burial with full military honors.

His alleged killer, Daniel Wozniak, was immediately charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Daniel's brother Tim and Rachel Buffett would also be arrested, not for murder, but as accessories after the fact. Tim for hiding that backpack, and Rachel, cops say she lied to them. Is that your true name, Mr. Wozniak? Either to protect Daniel or to cover her own tracks. We always felt Rachel was a part of this. She's living with him. Do you think that Rachel was involved in this from the beginning?

Yes. Yes, that she knew about it. She knew about it before this happened. I absolutely feel like I was duped by Dan. While awaiting trial, Rachel, by then out on bail, made that appearance on Dr. Phil, telling everyone she didn't know a thing. Did you know that he had any involvement in these murders at all? Not until after the police did. Steve Hare was not about to let Rachel Buffett go on national TV without confronting her.

I was aghast when I get a call saying saying you're going on TV. My son is dead. He was cut up into pieces and you to come on here and go on the TV stations, poor me, that offends me. here but I didn't come out when everything first happened and said oh look at this horrible situation I'm the victim you know you didn't see me selling my story to Hollywood to make a movie not yet no Hollywood version could be worse than what you're about to hear coming up relax you'll see the killer describing how and why he did it. The motive behind killing Sam was... Stop it. Pull yourself together. Hi, my name is Dan Wozniak. I'll be playing the role of John Davis in Orange County. This is the face Daniel Wozniak presented to the world.

God! I'll just say it in Orange County. I can't say it in Peterborough. A happy, fun-loving actor. Yeah! Hamming it up alongside fiancé Rachel Buffett. A real nice guy. But that is not who he is says prosecutor Matt Murphy so what's the real face of Daniel Wozniak the real

face of Danny Wozniak is dark and manipulative and flat-out evil a man so evil he planned and executed two savage murders why To pay for his honeymoon. It was all just about the money. Desperate to impress his bride, the groom-to-be set his sights on friend and neighbor Sam Hare, who he knew had saved all that money as a soldier. Wozniak told the police that he lured Sam to the attic of this theater, pretending he needed help moving something. Sam being Sam obliged says mom Raquel. He loved to help people but he also was very naive. He just trusted people. He trusted Wozniak enough to turn his back on him. That's when the actor shot him. I shot him once and then he was still alive. I said, I need help, I need help.

Something hit me and it felt like an electric shock. And then what'd you do? I reloaded and fired a kill. Wozniak stole Sam's phone and credit cards, then left his body in the attic. Then unbelievably performed his starring role in Nine that night. Kara Kessner was the stage manager.

How did he seem? He seemed just like any other day. He seemed fine. He did a great job. This is the actual performance. Castmate Deborah Kennedy. I remember getting goosebumps and going, yeah, Daniel, nail it.

It was that good? Yeah. Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, they're all gone. Ciao. After the performance, by then about 10.30 p.m. on Friday night, Daniel and Rachel returned to their apartment.

Then he turned to covering up his crime, texting Julie on Sam's phone, pretending to be Sam. I was saying, you need to come over tonight. You need to come over tonight. Julie, wearing the tiara she was to wear in her brother's wedding, went to Sam's around midnight. Daniel appeared, unlocked the door. She followed him in. And said, oh, by the way, did you see this in Sam's bed? And she's like, what? He led her into the bedroom.

I said, great, lean over, look at it right there. And when she was leaning over, I put two bulletproofs in the back of her head. He then wrote, all yours, F.U., and cut her pants off. He wanted to set up Sam. He wanted to make Sam look like a rapist and a killer, so the police would be looking for him. Why?

Because the man has no heart and he has no soul, and he loved the idea of how clever he was. His murderous plot didn't end there. The next morning, Saturday, he returned to the theater where Sam lay dead and began the devil's work of hacking his body apart, an act he tells the detectives he found funny. I was actually smiling and laughing.

I had reached a point to where I couldn't believe that he was doing this. How tragic was this murder plot? A greedy groom. The pursuit of ill-gotten gain dismembers a young man and discards him like a piece of garbage. The prosecution deemed the crime so heinous it warranted the death penalty.

But Wozniak's defense team was not rolling over. In spite of his confession to police, Wozniak pleaded not guilty. Incredibly, it would take five and a half years to go to trial. No victim's family should have to be put through that. None. They're in contempt of court, from my perspective. The families blame defense attorney Scott Sanders for filing numerous motions accusing prosecutors and the sheriff of misusing informants to elicit damning evidence against his clients. You've got an informant.

He's talking. Even though prosecutor Matt Murphy told the court he was not going to present evidence from any informant at Wozniak's trial. While the families waited, Daniel Wozniak made the most of his newfound celebrity. I want people to know that I'm a good guy. Appearing on the show Lockup. I enjoy long walks on the beach. I'm an Aries. For five and a half years I have watched that man come into court wearing an orange jumpsuit bounding in with a smile on his face like Tigger the Tiger.

What is up with that smile? Daniel Wozniak's smile is a point of manipulation. You know, he gets things that way. Do you feel like Sam and Julie have been forgotten in all of this? Unless we mention their names for five years for over 100 hearings, their names are not mentioned. We've addressed the court a number of times. This case is about Samuel Heron and Julie Kibuyushi. You've got to put their names are not mentioned. We've addressed the court a number of times. This case is about Samuel Herr and Julie Kibuishi.

You gotta put their names. In December 2015, finally, their names would be spoken. Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. The Daniel Wozniak murdered them both. And ladies and gentlemen, we are gonna get to a penalty phase. Daniel Wozniak went on trial for the double murder of Julie Kibuishi and Sam Hare. If found guilty, a jury could sentence him to die.

Not good enough for this prosecutor. The death penalty is not enough for Daniel Wozniak on this. For justice to be done in this case, personally, I'd prefer proof of hell. I'd prefer proof that there's something that is waiting him after he dies. There are searches on Google. Matt Murphy presented the evidence,

painting a chilling portrait of a killer with no conscience. How to hide a body, quick ways to kill people, and Sandals Resorts. This is a guy who's planning to murder two human beings so he can have an awesome honeymoon down in Mexico. Then there was the physical evidence, the gun he stole from his own father to kill his victims and that backpack jammed with evidence.

Now from a forensic cold sterile analysis of evidence, it doesn't get any better than that for a jury. The prosecution put on 23 witnesses over four days, including Wesley Freilich, who was arrested but never charged for his role in Daniel Wozniak's scheme. What was it like to see Daniel in court? Disturbing.

He was smiling at me. The man that murdered two people just sat there and just gave you this little, just like, just like, acknowledgeable smirk, just... The defense declined to put on any witnesses. After a five-day trial, Daniel Wozniak's fate was in the hands of the jury. Steve Hare knows that nothing can bring his son Sam back. He's gone. I want now justice. I'll grieve for the rest of my life, but it doesn't run my life.

The justice for it runs my life. And has the jury reached unanimous verdicts? Yes. After waiting five and a half years... The people of the state of California plaintiff versus Daniel Patrick Wozniak. It takes the jury just two hours to reach a decision. We, the jury and the above entitled action, find the defendant, Daniel Patrick Wozniak, guilty of the crime of... Daniel Wozniak sits emotionless as a jury finds him guilty of murdering Sam Hare and Julie Kibuishi,

a verdict that is a relief, but it's not enough for the Hare and Kibuishi families. What he did to Sam and then, of course, what he did to Julie, it warrants the death penalty. The quicker, the better. Just two weeks later, the same jurors are back in the same courtroom for what's called the penalty phase. They will have to determine whether Wozniak should be given life in prison or be sentenced to death. whether Wozniak should be given life in prison or be sentenced to death. Prosecutor Matt Murphy, who has tried seven other death penalty cases in his career, says his strategy is simple.

It is get Kibuishi's and the hers on the witness stand so that the jury can understand their pain. Ladies and gentlemen, he knew that Sam and Julie were loved. Now you get to think about those people, and you get to think about those moms and what they have gone through, and you get to assign a weight to that. And that's the beautiful thing about a penalty phase, because it's not his show anymore. It is Sam and Julie's show, and it's about the families now.

It's not about him. Six people testify on behalf of Sam and Julie, but not one of Wozniak's family members ever showed up to support him. By all accounts and everything that we did in the investigation, he has very nice parents, and that might be why they're not here. They're nice people. They gave him every possible advantage, which to a certain extent is one of the things that makes this case so heinous.

When you're making a determination about death... Wozniak's defense attorney, Scott Sanders, tries to shift blame to Rachel Buffett, Wasniak's former fiancee. But remember, she's not been charged with committing or planning the murders, just as an accessory after the fact. SCOTT SANDERS, Wasniak's Defense Attorney, You will see very soon, she's the smarter of the two by far. DANNY WASNIAK, Former WOSNIAK Fiancee, Their strategy is try to get as much attention

away from Danny Wasniak and what he did. Pin it on Rachel as much as they can. Yeah, they need a villain. It takes a week before the case goes again to the jury. Matt Murphy recalls what he was feeling at that moment. Are you optimistic? Oh, gosh, no. I'm, they call it PAPV psychosis. What is that?

Post-argument pre-verdict psychosis. Every prosecutor turns into Woody Allen underneath their skin when a jury is out. Everybody is neurotic and they're self-doubting and self-loathing. You're terrified that you did something to screw it up. To everyone's surprise, the jury comes back quickly in just a little over an hour. We, the jury in the above entitled action, determine that the penalty to be imposed

upon defendant Daniel Patrick Wozniak to be death. It's been a long five and a half years. They kind of waited for this day. And it wasn't over yet. Before the judge could formally sentence Wozniak, Sanders demanded more time to explore the informant issue and argue against the death penalty. It would be eight more months before the families finally got their chance to address the court and the man who murdered their children. Steve Hare stood surrounded by combat veterans who had served with Sam.

STEVE HARE, You, Dan, are a coward and a poster boy for the need of the effective death penalty in California. My only regret that this state won't let me kill this coward myself. Thank you. Next, it was Julie's mother's turn. You took her precious life and then you disgraced her. Why? What did she do to you?

How could you do anything like that to my baby? to you? How could you do anything like that to my baby? Judge Conley then turned to Daniel Wozniak and read his decision. It is the order of this court that you shall suffer the death penalty. Finally, justice for Julie and Sam. It would take two years after Daniel Wozniak was sentenced to death for his former fiance, Rachel Buffett, to face a judge and jury for lying to police. By Monday, she knows her friend, Julie Kibuisha, is murdered, knows Sam is still missing, knows Wozniak has to be connected by this point. She doesn't want to say anything that's going to hurt Daniel Wozniak has to be connected by this point. She doesn't want to say anything that's going to hurt Daniel Wozniak.

Rachel is charged with accessory after the fact, trying to help her fiancé escape justice. Remember how Wozniak initially told police he saw Sam on the day of the murder drive off with a mysterious man in a black hat? Murphy points out Rachel told police the same lie. And in her videotaped interrogation, the lies continued. I do not believe you one bit, okay?

Rachel echoed Wozniak's lie about Sam having problems with his family. She claimed Sam mentioned it to her. There's no way that he could have told you this about his family. I thought he really did. Because he does not have problems with his family. But defense attorney Dave Medina argues Rachel is another victim of Daniel Wozniak. In order for you to believe the government's theory in this case,

you have to believe that Rachel knew that Dan butchered two of her friends. You have to believe that Rachel was okay with that. But Matt Murphy gets the last word. All of this stuff goes on right under her nose. So she doesn't have to know that he butchered two people and be okay with it. She just has to know he's involved

and tell police things that are not true in an attempt to help them. Now, I count 19 separate lies in that interview. I'm asking you to convict on one of them. This past Wednesday, after a week-long trial, the jury spent a day deliberating and reached its verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant, Rachel Mae Buffett, guilty. The sweetest sound that I heard was the clicks of the handcuffs going around Rachel Buffett.

Almost eight and a half years after the murders, the case of Daniel Wozniak and Rachel Buffett finally ends. But the feelings of loss only deepen. This is Rashid. I can still see him. What do you miss? I miss my boy. It's an honor to be a father. This is the best thing in the world.

Forever the Hare and Kibuishi families will be linked, always remembering, never forgetting, their beautiful children, Sam and Julie. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Hot shot 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 about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with

and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet.