Dateline NBC - The Black Widow of Lomita

Episode Date: November 12, 2019

A California woman’s two former husbands are mysteriously murdered, nearly 20 years apart. She becomes known as the “Black Widow of Lomita” and is able to elude police, until fate catches up with her. Keith Morrison reports from the Philippines on this international story which features the sister of one of the victims who never stopped fighting to learn what really happened to her brother. Originally aired on NBC on November 8, 2019.

There's lots of definition for evil, but it's hard to pinpoint until you actually experience it. Did you feel that you were in danger? I did. I kind of thought to myself, what did we just get ourselves into? It's very diabolical, isn't it? Yes. It seemed to be the kiss of death. I literally dropped to my knees. It was a huge shock.

He was the pride of the family. It haunts you the rest of your life. It hurts. Just written on the floor, oh my God. This was 100% driven by greed and money. They are basically murdering anything and anybody they can. Outside of Game of Thrones, it's not what you're really expecting. How many murders can you have in one family?

She just had to come here. Had to see it. Had to feel what happened in this dark, empty parking lot. So far from home. I feel somewhat numb. I'm just so senseless. I'm angry. I'm very angry. Her name is Sherry Jackson.

She has been looking, searching. It has come half a world away. But this one moment. Well, this is our last hope. To finally solve the mystery that has haunted her, what happened to her big brother? What did they do to Larry? Larry Riskin. He loved life.

Just being around him and in his presence, you too would feel carefree. Larry Riskin was a Navy man, joined the service after high school, and rose through the ranks to become a commander, a leader of men. Went to the Gulf War. And back home in Olympia, Washington, his sister Sherry heard all about it. Then Sherry heard about her. Someone set up this blind date at a barbecue in California somewhere. Was it like he fell for her right away? Yes. Did he have much experience with

women? No. Her name was Sonia. Sonia Rios. A very pretty woman from the Philippines who owned a beauty salon in the Los Angeles suburb of Lomita. Did he know she was 16 years older than he was? Whatever. Didn't matter. He was naive. It's not the sort of image you have in mind for a Navy commander. Right. His kindness made him naive. Larry had always been close to his family, visited whenever he could. But, said Sherry, after Sonia came along, Larry stopped coming.

Sonia would be sick. She'd have a headache. She would sabotage every time he had planned to come home. A year or so in, Larry and Sonia got married. They settled into Sonia's house in Lomita, across the street from Nicole and Jim Thompson. She was very pleasant, very generous, very nice. She seemed quite normal. It looked like just a normal marriage. Although there was this odd thing about it, given Larry's authority at work. Although he was a commander in the Navy, she was the stronger one of the two. Far off in Olympia, Sherry got the same impression.

To her, it seemed almost sinister. She had complete control over him. Complete control. One weekend when Larry was away on duty, Sherry and a friend came to L.A. and stayed with Sonia. Until she locked them out of the house and then blamed Sherry. She told Larry some story that was not true, and Larry never followed up on it. Was that the final break?

Yes, because we didn't speak after that for a while. A while stretched into years, more than a decade of cold, stony silence. So Sherry wasn't there when Larry retired from the Navy, and she heard very little about his new career as a high school special education teacher. He loved kids. He loved his job with students. This is fellow special ed teacher Eileen Stevens. As you got to know each other, did he talk about his personal life? He talked about his family. He hadn't seen them in years. He wasn't allowed to.

As Eileen and Larry grew closer, he shared more and more secrets. It was not a good marriage. No sexual relations. She had emasculated him to a point that, honestly, I don't think he would speak much. Larry did make his feelings known about one thing. He wanted children. But Sonia, remember, was way older than Larry, well into her 40s when they wed. It seems like she hadn't been forthright about her age because she wanted to give the impression she was able to have children. But Larry had found an alternative. He had gone to the Philippines often to see Sonia's relatives,

and Larry had come to love her brother's two grandchildren. Their names were Quincy and Jetmark. Jetmark still remembers vividly. He's a nice man, love kids, friendly. How did you feel when you were around him? I feel safe and secure with him. Always happy when I'm with him. Jetmark and Quincy's parents hoped Sonia and Larry could provide a better life in the States.

So the family supported Larry's offer to adopt them. And Sonia agreed, as long as she could handle the adoption process. But a year passed, then two, more than three. Sonja agreed, as long as she could handle the adoption process. But a year passed, then two, more than three, and the process Sonja promised didn't happen. He found out that she was sabotaging the adoption for the kids to actually come. So there would be a date, and then that date would come and go, and he finally figured that out. That was sort of his last chance to have children at that point. He was very upset about that.

So upset he demanded a divorce, and Sonia agreed. But with one stipulation. Sonia came over, and she said, Larry's going to go to the Philippines and we have a taxi business there and he's got to get that taken care of. Which she agreed to do. After all, he wanted to see Quincy and Jetmark and Quincy's 16th birthday was coming up. But Sonia? She didn't want to go. Exactly. I brought that up. Well, it's her family. Why doesn't she go? And he said what? No, I need to go. It was whatever Sonia decided.

But before leaving for Manila, Larry needed to take one other trip. Back home. Back to Olympia for the first time in 13 years for a family reunion. It was great. He was very happy to start another chapter in his life without her. Without her, but with, he gushed, the niece and nephew he still hoped to adopt. Sherry listened and worried. This was not going to be an easy divorce. Larry would say, everything's okay, I'm going to go to the Philippines,

and when I get back, we're going to go through the process of divorce. He trusted her, and when I took him to the airport, I really, really felt, I'm never going to see him again. Sherry's premonition was about to come true in a troubling, violent way. I went, what? Oh my God. A murder. I just said, you had something to do with it. I know you did. Then two.

It haunts you the rest of your life. It hurts. Then three. My mom's been on the floor. Just been on the floor. Oh, my God. Did you feel in jeopardy yourself? I did, because anything could happen. Larry Riskin landed in Manila and headed south to the town of Tonza

to see Quincy and Jetmark, those two kids he so desperately hoped to adopt. Say happy birthday, Quincy. Where he attended a Sweet Sixteen birthday party for Quincy. You're going to have some cake and ice cream? During the party, Larry noticed that Jetmark's cousin had an eye infection. Larry think that he must go to the hospital

to have it checked out. There we go. Go see doctor. As the party broke up and Larry got everybody ready to leave, one of the parents called Sonia back in the States. And she said, we're going to the hospital at that moment. So Sonia knew. Go. Because we're about to bring my cousin to see the doctor. going to the hospital at that moment. So Sonia knew. Go. Yeah.

Because we were about to bring my cousin to see the doctor. So Larry put the girl in a Jeep, and then he and Jet Mark and a few family members headed to the hospital. They parked in the back. They went inside. After the girl was treated, everybody left the ER and piled back into the jeep. It was just before 7 p.m.

Then someone approached us. Someone approached you how? At our side with a motorcycle. And suddenly the world exploded. One of the two men on the motorcycle started shooting, point blank, into Larry's head. Into his stomach.

Shock then, and chaos. The killer sped away. In the confusion and panic, Jetmark reached for Larry. I tried to stand him up from the seat, but I already see the blood coming. I was thinking that he's still alive. And I am shouting out, help, help. It seemed like forever to get Larry back into the emergency room.

I was just praying that he would be alive. That's why I can't forget what happened that night. Larry Riskin never had a chance. He was just 43. Moments earlier, Jetmark had felt so safe and secure with Larry, awaiting a new life with him in California. I never felt that again when he's gone. Back in Lomita, it was the middle of the night when Nicole and Jim Thompson got a call from Sonia. She goes, Larry's been shot and he's dead.

And I went, what? Oh, my God. I said, you want me to come over? And she said, yes, please. And she was shaking. And, you know, I put my arms under, and she kept rocking back and forth. Later that morning, Sonia had Nicole call Sherry in Olympia to give her the news. Nicole left a voicemail. The woman said, I'm Sonia and Larry's neighbor. I need you to call me. And I knew. I went into my coworker, and I knew.

I went into my co-worker, and I said, I'm going to return a phone call, and this person's going to tell me my brother's dead. Which is exactly what happened. And I said, hi, Sherry, I'm sorry to give you bad news. And she just said, she did it. I know she did it. She did it. It was Sherry who called the police in Lomita, told them to rush over to Sonia's place. After they arrived, an officer called Sherry back. I said, we'll put Sonia on the phone. And she was just, I believe, acting. My husband, my husband is dead. And I just said,

you had something to do with it. I know you did. The Thompsons didn't quite believe that. Not then. But the very next day, Sonia again asked Jim to come over. She goes, can you help me go through these papers? I'm looking for life insurance policies. And that really stunned me. He'd been gone maybe 30 hours tops, and she's looking for insurance papers. And I'm, no, I'm not doing this. A former Navy commander gunned down in the Philippines was front page news in Southern California, right in reporter Larry Altman's part of town. And one of his first calls was to the newly widowed Sonia Riskin, who, to his utter surprise, was already back at work. She told me that she hadn't had a report yet, but that tourists get robbed, and that perhaps was what had happened.

Was it? Thousands of miles away in the Philippines, Tanzan police detective Celino Javier was just starting an investigation. Did anybody see this happen? Yes, there is some witness, but they cannot remember the place of the suspects. Could not identify them? Yes. No identifiable suspects meant no arrests.

And the investigation quickly went nowhere. The murder of Larry Riskin, the execution really, here in a hospital parking lot of all places, was devastating for his family back home in the States. But to add insult to the injury, because his wife Sonia had jurisdiction over the body, she elected not to bring it back for burial. Instead, had him cremated and ensured his ashes remained here in the Philippines with somebody. That news reached Larry's family as they were preparing for his funeral. When we found out that Sonia had him cremated and the remains were not coming back,

that was yet another slap in the face of Sonia controlling everything. The family still held the funeral and left a headstone with a small empty niche. Someday they told themselves, someday they would retrieve Larry's ashes and put them here at home. For his remains to be in the Philippines is, it's unthinkable. How much of this was a kind of a middle finger to you and to the family?

A lot. A big one. Whatever Sherry's suspicions about Sonia, there wasn't much she could do except hope and pray that the tiny Tanzan police department Whatever Sherry's suspicions about Sonia, there wasn't much she could do, except hope and pray that the tiny Tanzan police department halfway around the world would solve the case. But she didn't know, of course she didn't, that Sonia had a history. Dive back in time, peel away a decade or two, find another mystery, another man, and another murder. She had a previous husband who was killed 19 years earlier in the Philippines in a similar manner.

The dark story of husband number one. I said, don't go. And then he hung up and then he was dead. Larry Altman had no idea that spring morning in 2006. Not a clue. As he drove to his office at the paper, yes, sure, he'd broken a story about a murder halfway around the world of that local teacher and ex-Navy commander Larry Riskin.

But that was three days ago. He'd moved on. But then he got to the office and, well, surprise would be far too mild a word for what he heard about Sonia. I had several messages that she had a previous husband who was killed 19 years earlier in the Philippines in a similar manner. What did you think when you heard that? Wow. I managed to get a name for the first husband, Earl John Bordeaux. Took a minute to sink in. Sonia had another husband that he too was shot to death in the Philippines?

How messed up was this crazy story? And who the heck was Earl John Bordeaux? Altman dug through the newspaper's archives, looking for any old stories about the man or the murder. We couldn't find anything. And so I just did a Google search and came up with Bordeaux in Iowa. The Bordeaux family lived in Davenport, Iowa, along the Mississippi River, in the very same house where Earl grew up. Back then they called him Duke, a handsome, friendly, Midwestern kid. This is his brother, Dennis. He was the pride of the family.

Your big brother. Yeah. Yeah, I looked up to him a lot, and we were kind of each other's protector. Duke joined the Marines during Vietnam, but was stationed in the Philippines, where he met a pretty young Filipina named Sonia, who sang at a nightclub near the base. And she was worth writing home about. Dennis kept the letters.

And it wasn't long before he got a call from Duke. He said that he'd gotten married. Holy cow. Would he fall in love at first sight or something? I think he must have. It was almost a big secret. A few months later, Duke brought the secret bride back home to Iowa to meet the family. But the Bordeaux's and Sonia never clicked.

And maybe that's why, after Duke's hitch in the Marines ended, the newlyweds settled in Southern California. A few years later, Sonia opened a hair salon. Well, Duke worked at a bakery. What was their relationship like back then in the beginning? It looked like it was real good. They were holding hands. All lovey-dovey. Yeah.

She definitely was the boss, and there was no doubt about that. Sound familiar? Sonia ran the show, and Duke, the ex-Marine, found himself taking orders all over again. He definitely was scared of her. Scared of what?

She was just a pint-sized thing, right? That she was going to get mad and blow up and then he wouldn't be able to do things. But somehow his strange and secret of marriage survived over two decades. Dennis urged him, get out. And finally Sonia agreed to a divorce.

But, and this may sound very familiar, first, Duke would have to go to the Philippines without her to sell her little taxi business there. He was very, very depressed. And he goes, I gotta to go. She's making me. Duke kept begging his brother to go with him. But Dennis couldn't get a passport in time. So Duke went alone. There was a plane change in Hawaii. And he called me, then he called Sonia and told her that he didn't want to go any further. And she said, you had to go. You had to go or what? That's what I told him. I said, then don't go. And he said, I'm not you. That was his last words to me. I'm not you. And then he hung up and then he was dead.

Another murder in the Philippines. It haunts you the rest of your life. You just dream about when he calls and begging you to go someplace and you didn't do it. That survivor's guilt is a real thing, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It hurts. Then the danger travels home. I got maybe 200 death threats. What would they say on the phone? You've had it. Watch every step you make. It was almost like night, humid, hot, when Duke Bordeaux landed in Manila.

Then he drove south to a town called General Trias. It was about midnight when Duke arrived at this little house. Sonia's family lived here. Duke was exhausted. He crashed on the couch, fell into a dead sleep. And then he was dead. When police arrived, they found Duke lying in a pool of his own blood. He'd been shot to death. And soon, the awful news made its way to Iowa. It haunts you the rest of your life.

You just dream about when he calls and begging you to go someplace and you didn't do it. That survivor's guilt is a real thing, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It hurts. You let him down and you let your parents down. What happened in there? Who killed Earl John Duke Bordeaux? John Bordeaux was murdered in cold blood. Bong Oteza is a private investigator who once worked for the Philippine equivalent

of the FBI. Somebody went inside the house. They thought it's just a burglary or a home invasion, something like that. But it didn't make sense. There was no sign of a break-in, and Duke was the only one shot, pretty much execution style. The police here in the town of General Trias jumped on the Bordeaux case right away, and pretty soon they had identified some suspects, brought them in, charged them with murder.

Three of those people, three of those men, were members of Sonia's family. And then two more were picked up, so five members of Sonia's family were charged with murdering Duke. Here's the criminal complaint. One of Sonia's brothers had fresh human blood on his shirt and pants. The evidence police had gathered seemed overwhelming. Case closed. But soon after, said Detective Celino Javier, remember him?

Soon after, there was a little surprise. They filed a case against the suspects, but it was dismissed. Why? For the reason that Sonia Liskind failed to attend the preliminary hearing. Did you get that? Because Sonia was next of kin, she had to attend the hearing

here at the local courthouse to make the charges against her family stick. So no Sonia there meant no charges. Case over. Local authorities said their hands were tied. her family's dick. So no Sonia there meant no charges. Case over. Local authorities said their hands were tied. That was the official version, anyway. Didn't wash, said ex-Philippine investigator Bong Oteza.

I think that there is some magic happened. Magic? You can easily pay people around just to be silent. Pay to make it go away. Magic. Pay it to make it go away. Yep. According to Bong, who's worked in law enforcement over three decades, that magic is not so uncommon. A thousand dollar payoff and poof, it all goes away. So that wouldn't surprise you at all?

Oh no, that's expected. Back in Iowa, Dennis was convinced Duke's execution was ordered and financed by Sonia and that she paid off whoever she needed to. Sonia has so much power, everybody was afraid of her. Almost like a little godfather or something. Yeah. If she said something, people moved. Sonia moved fast, too. She scooped up her dead husband's entire six-figure estate.

Her attorney told me everything goes to Sonia. Don't bother her, don't call her. Dennis called a lawyer in the Philippines, spent thousands on his own investigation, he said, hoping he'd at least put some heat on Sonia. But instead, said Dennis, he became a target. I got maybe 200 death threats just by phone. But what would they say on the phone? Your family has had it. You've had it. Watch every step you make. It was almost like they were watching.

And this happened to you why? Who was doing this? Us. I believe it was Sonia's family. Because I had done some things that scared Sonia. Like reporting her to the local police and the FBI. Dennis said he also showed them death threats he got in the mail. And then one day, he was fishing near his home. And... All of a sudden, something was hitting beside us. I could see a guy cross the lake, and you could see the muzzle flash. The mystery shooter missed, said Dennis, but that could see the muzzle flash.

The mystery shooter missed, said Dennis, but that wasn't the end of it. Later, he said, it happened again, right outside his very own garage. They were standing right back almost where you were for those two bullets there. Who were these people? I don't know. But these are... These are the two bullet holes there. There's one here. Dennis documented everything.

Said he told the FBI repeatedly. But nothing happened. And years passed. The Bordeaux case faded away, far away in the Philippines. Until, well over a decade later, Dennis got that call from reporter Larry Altman about the murder of Larry Riskin. That was the first you heard she even had another husband.

Yeah. Did he tell you how he died? He told me just how he got shot in the head, too. Just like your brother? Yeah. Did you immediately think, oh boy, she's done it again? Yeah, I did. Maybe now, hope Dennis, all the renewed interest in Sonia

might finally reignite the investigation into his brother's case. I thought Sonia was going to be hung from the highest tree and serve a lifetime behind bars. Understandable, if naive. Had she been arrested, Larry Ruskin would be alive today. You looked into her past, right? Oh yeah, very extensively. What other secrets might Sonia be hiding?

It was a huge shock. When I heard that, I literally dropped to my knees. Two military men, two murders, nearly two decades apart. At the center of it, the woman who was married to both of them, Sonia Riskin. Reporter Larry Alpin knew he had a hell of a story on his hands and soon coined a headline-grabbing nickname for Sonia. The Black Widow of Lomita.

That caught on. That did catch on. Nicole and Jim Thompson saw the headlines, heard the stories. It was hard to believe this was sweet little Sonia, their nice neighbor they were once so friendly with. But not anymore. I believe this was sweet little Sonia, their nice neighbor they were once so friendly with. But not anymore. For her to send two husbands back to the Philippines and both of them get murdered,

that changed the relationship permanently. I'm going to keep my distance. I said, this is way too coincidental. It's just too weird for me, and I don't want to be a part of it. But up in Olympia, Washington, Sherry Jackson hadn't seen Larry's stories about the black widow. And so, when Philippine authorities called her and told her that Sonia had a previous husband, and that he was murdered too... It was a huge shock. When I heard that, I literally dropped to my knees. Then, Jerry called Dennis Bordeaux. The similarities were eerie. The same circumstances, same straight-out executions. And after they talked, she felt even more certain. Sonia had also ordered Larry's murder.

Did she kill Larry for his money, or was she angry at him, or both? She was not going to let him walk away, and she was a woman who needed control, and that would certainly jeopardize that. Not to mention the money. And so, for a second time, Sonia was in line to inherit a murdered husband's estate, including a big life insurance payout. But then the insurance company got a little suspicious and hired a private investigator named Bill Marshall. The insurance company called me one day and said, Bill, I got a doozy of a case for you. So Marshall's contact gave him a name, Sonia Riskin,

and a little backstory, and set him loose. And, oh my. This woman had a history of fraud. You looked into her past, right? Oh yeah, very extensively. She had burned down a hair salon that she owned at one point to collect the insurance.

Did she wind up collecting the money? She did. Collecting, yes. Paying taxes? Well, according to Marshall, Sonia did most of her business transactions in cash to avoid paying the IRS. And she launched frivolous lawsuits and bogus bankruptcies and stole Social Security numbers. Sonia did get caught for a couple of her scams, though, was ordered to pay restitution.

What did she get financially for the murder of Larry Riskin? Well, hundreds of thousands of dollars. She owned two properties. There was one in a home in Apple Valley, which I think was worth about a half a million. The home in Lomita, four or five hundred thousand maybe. There were expensive automobiles. So these may all have been co-owned, but now she owned them. Right. With him out of the picture, they all belonged to her.

Marshall turned in his report, and the insurance company prevented any payments to Sonia. But he didn't stop there. Sherry and her family were so impressed with Marshall's work, they too hired him to investigate, not money, but murder. And just maybe solve the mystery about what really happened to Larry Riskin and who was responsible. What were you hoping he would accomplish?

To tell us the final days of what happened with Larry in the Philippines. And are these the people that killed her first husband? We wanted to get to the bottom of all that. By then, Marshall was hooked. For months, he ran an operation from California to the Philippine town of Tanzu. He watched Sonia's house in Lomita, her hair salon, even got a haircut from her. Here's the receipt, hoping to learn anything more about Sonia and her activities. And he also hired investigators in the Philippines, including Bong Oteza. Bong poured through old police files, found new witnesses, and cultivated confidential sources. Pried open what he believed was the secret true story of the murder of Larry Riskin.

And it all led directly to Sonia and her family. The brothers are the ones that did it. Or they hired a killer. But definitely it's within the Palme de Circle. And they defended their financial stability to Sonia. So they will do whatever Sonia's request. Marshall believed Felicia and the Philippines had much the same information. It looked like they gathered very damning evidence against Sonia's brothers. So they put them on trial, right? No, witnesses suddenly got cold feet and retracted their statements.

And interestingly, Sonia showed no interest in pursuing the investigation. Almost like a replay of what happened after Duke Bordeaux was murdered years earlier, when police charged five members of Sonia's family but then let them go. Bong was certain somebody paid to make both murder cases go away. And he didn't for a minute buy the line Detective Celino Javier was selling.

The general police station filed a case, but the court dismissed the case. Do you think there might have been any corruption in that? Anybody get a little money under the table? I don't think so. Don't think so. Payoffs or not, it all led Bill Marshall to a disturbing conclusion. Larry Riskin didn't have to die. It wasn't just that Philippine authorities released the suspects. The FBI also knew about Sonia. Remember? Duke Bordeaux's brother Dennis reported her to them years earlier. Had she been arrested, Larry Riskin, I believe, would be alive today.

We asked the FBI for a response, but they declined to comment. Back then, Sherry turned over Marshall's findings to the FBI, hoping that this time, they, along with investigators in the Philippines, would finally crack both Larry and Duke's cases. I was under the impression there was now going to be an investigation to where she was responsible for these two murders and that she would have to pay for it. But weeks passed.

Then months. Nothing changed. It was business as usual at Sonia's salon. And she remained free as a bird. Then Christmas came. The first Christmas without Larry. Not a peep from the Philippines or the FBI. I tried to get information, but it's an investigation and there wasn't much anyone was going to tell me. And then, just after New Year's, an email arrived. And then another. And then more emails.

Sent, apparently, by a secret relative of Sonia's. Now what could that mean? Mysterious messages with a sinister offer. He was offering to kill her. Wow. Basically to pay someone to kill Sonia. Soon, there'd be murder number three. My mom's laying on the floor, just laying on the floor.

Is she breathing? I don't think so. Please send somebody, please. Oh, my God. What did we just get ourselves into? The murder of Larry Riskin in this hospital parking lot soon faded into local history. And two decades of life and constant noisy traffic have pretty much erased any memory of the killing in this house of a man named Duke Bordeaux. Just two more mysteries competing for attention in the vast archipelago of humanity in and around this huge city, Manila.

This is arguably the most densely populated city in the world, and somewhere here, among all of these people, were the killers of Larry Riskin and Duke Bordeaux. So, truly a mystery. But to add to the mystery, somewhere here also were the remains of Larry Riskin. Somebody had them, but where and who? Back in Olympia, Washington, Larry's family still had slim hope

they might eventually see Sonia caught and convicted. But for now, their priority was bringing Larry's ashes home, giving the man a loving send-off, a formal burial. But even that seems impossible. There'll be no closure without my brother's remains back here. And I was just losing hope that anything was ever going to happen. It was all just going to go away. It was just all going to go away.

Sure seemed that way. And yet here was Sonia still living the Southern California good life, driving her Corvette, running her salon. She never mentioned wanting to find a killer, nothing. And she never seemed angry at the fact that her husband was murdered. She never mentioned wanting to find a killer. Nothing. And she never seemed angry at the fact that her husband was murdered. Getting justice never came up. But then, nine months after Larry was murdered, as Sherry was about to give up, a strange thing happened.

Or things. Emails suddenly popped up in Sherry's computer. They talked about Sonia being responsible for my brother's murder, and he was offering to get my brother's ashes back. He signed them John Bordeaux. But wait, Earl John Duke Bordeaux was long dead, so who was the guy sending the emails? I had learned that Sonia's first husband

adopted a child by the name of John Bordeaux when they were first married. Yes, Sonia had a secret son, a biological son born in the Philippines before Sonia married Duke. We couldn't find any adoption papers, but the boy assumed Duke's last name considered him his stepfather. I never knew that until after my brother passed away. And you never heard a thing about him? No. Larry Riskin apparently didn't know Sonia had a son either. So Sherry, a little suspicious about these uninvited emails, wrote back, all chummy,

as if she and John Bordeaux were online buddies. My goal was to try to get my brother's ashes back, so I was just kind of stringing him along. But the more Sherry corresponded with this John Bordeaux guy, the more she worried about what sort of person he was. There were quite a few emails asking for money. A lot of money. $35,000 to recover Larry's ashes. It was very, very unsettling to receive emails. It was so outlandish that it was hard to make sense of. So this John Bordeaux had to be a con artist. Maybe worse. And then another email.

He was worse. John Bordeaux offered to add an extra little service. He was offering to kill her. Wow. Basically to pay someone to kill Sonia. First extortion, and now murder? Did you feel in jeopardy yourself? I did, because at this point, anything could happen.

Oh, and sure enough, something was happening. And it wasn't pretty. I need a sheriff's deputy to help you. My mom's laying on the floor, just laying on the floor. Is she breathing? I don't think so. Please send somebody, please. Something had happened, something big, in LaMita.

We're on the way, sir. Please. Oh, my God. Reporter Larry Altman was at work, got a call from a local, who said... We have a murder out here, and it's that woman with the two dead husbands. And I shouted into the phone, are you kidding me? Sonny Riskin's been murdered. The body of the 60-year-old Filipino hairstylist was found here in her home. The Black Widow of Lomita, the woman suspected of arranging the executions of not one, but two husbands, had met exactly the same fate.

L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Detective Mike Rodriguez was on his way home when his commander called. And he says, can you call this reporter, Larry Altman? As you're going down to the murder scene. And I'm thinking to myself, it's very odd protocol. And he says, well, there's a tremendous backstory to your victim. I called Mr. Altman, and he provided us with a tremendous backstory. And I kind of thought to myself, what did we just get ourself into? Sonia's cold-blooded killing. What had been done to her? Looks like she was shot execution style.

What, like a bullet in the back of the head or something? Yes. Whoever did this didn't break down any doors. They walked in, fired the shot, walked out again. That's what it seemed to me. Another dark tale is about to unfold. They are basically murdering anything and anybody they can to enhance their financial well-being. How many murders can you have in one family? Detective Mike Rodriguez raced through L.A. traffic, quite unaware that he was driving into the most convoluted case of his career, the murder of the Black Widow of LaMita, Sonia Riskin. What had been done to her? Looks like she was shot execution style.

What, like a bullet in the back of the head or something? Yes. Whoever did this didn't break down any doors. They walked in, fired the shot, walked out again. That's what it seemed to me. Sonia was ambushed, shot in the head, just like her two dead husbands. Rodriguez took a look around the house. Sonia's purse was still there, $1,700 in cash in it. Around the neighborhood, nobody saw a thing. Jim and Nicole Thompson were out of town, got word from Jim's dad and mom. She said, Sonia's been killed. And we were like, what?

I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. First of all, you don't think of a murder in your neighborhood. The media was kind of spinning it like, well, justice has finally been done. And the black widow is now gone. Fate got her. Some of Sonia's relatives also showed up at what was now a full blown crime scene. One of them was literally waving his hands at the crime scene tape and couldn't wait to tell us what he thought had happened. Who was that? Her nephew, Eric Delacruz. Eric Delacruz, another member of Sonia's sprawling family. A special member, actually, seemed obvious he was Sonia's favorite. They treated each other like grandmother and grandson.

She talked very highly of Eric, you know, was very proud of him. Proud because Eric was a sailor aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. He had just arrived back home after a tour of Asia when he heard his beloved great-aunt Sonia, the woman he called grandmother, had been murdered. And he told detectives he just knew. Told us that John Bordeaux, Sonia's son, was a bad guy, and that if something happened to Sonia, that he was the one that did it.

John Bordeaux wasn't hard to find. He was the guy who discovered Sonia's body and called the cops. Bordeaux was at the crime scene when they arrived. And Rodriguez immediately noticed a subtle but significant clue about this mother-son relationship. There wasn't a single picture of her son, John Bordeaux. It was as if he didn't exist to her. So those were concerns with us right away.

So police took their own pictures of Bordeaux when they brought him in for questioning. Was he in an emotional state? More of anxiety. To me, it's like, is this guy telling us the truth? And we were really trying to figure out, is he really the biological son? Bordeaux said he was born in the Philippines. Sonia was just a teenager then.

Rodriguez got the distinct impression that this mother-son relationship was complicated. It was kind of like an outcast of the family. He was brought over from the Philippines as a young boy. And that's when he took on Duke's last name. But John Bordeaux swore

he hardly knew his mother's next husband, Larry Riskin. It was, he said, a topic that was strictly off-limits with her. Porto's behavior and story seemed suspicious. So, just days later, they brought him back again, this time for a polygraph test. Were you involved in the shooting of Sonia? No. I would never hurt my mom. I love my mom.

What was the biggest resentment that you had against her for a long time? Not giving me enough love. And though Bordeaux said he and his mom sometimes didn't communicate, things had gotten better. But they kept pushing. Either you're the shooter or you're involved.

I will not change my answer. I didn't shoot my mom. I did not kill my mom. I have no involvement to my mom's death. Who is it that you think is responsible for this? Wait a minute. Sherry Jackson? Really? But then, nobody seemed to hate Sonia more than Sherry hated Sonia. Nobody except, maybe, Dennis Bordeaux. They asked me if you had the opportunity to kill her, would you?

And I said in a heartbeat. Who else might want Sonia dead? The list was long. She certainly had a motive, didn't she? Yes, her and about a hundred other people. Secrets. So many secrets.

Sonia Riskin had taken them to her grave. At the top of that dismal list, what did she do to those two husbands of hers? And who killed her? And why? A few days after Sonia's death, several FBI agents showed up at Dennis Bordeaux's house. They asked me, do you know Sonia Bordeaux? And I go, yeah. And he said, if you had the opportunity to kill her, would you? And I said, in a heartbeat. Probably not the wisest thing to say to the FBI. Made him an instant suspect. The FBI questioned Dennis, covered the bases, and he had an alibi. They cleared him.

But remember, up in Olympia, Washington, Sherry Jackson had despised Sonia for years, believed Sonia ordered her brother's death. So Detective Mike Rodriguez paid her a visit, searched her computers, questioned her, also discussed those emails that offered Sherry a way to murder Sonia. When we reviewed the emails from the John Bordeaux account, you have emails that basically solicit Sonia's death. So that would be Sherry taking revenge through John Bordeaux? Yes, on that John Bordeaux account. Well, she certainly had a motive, didn't she?

Yes, her and about 100 other people. But just like Dennis, Sherry was cleared, and quickly. Sherry's a law-abiding citizen. Other than she had no love for Sonia, she never entertained having Sonia killed. She did the right thing. She forwarded this to authorities, to the FBI. In fact, Sherry forwarded those John Bordeaux emails to the FBI the moment she received them. Come on, we don't need three dead people.

It needs to stop. As always, the FBI kept a lid on their investigation, which was frustrating for Sherry. We weren't kept apprised of what was going on. I tried to get information. It wasn't something that was discussed with us. Pretty frustrating for you. Very frustrating. Even more frustrating for Sherry was what happened to Sonia. Despite all her hatred of the woman, Sherry was not happy that Sonia was murdered.

Not at all. Because I wanted her to pay for what she did. And now she's dead. So there was no satisfaction in that for me. Did you really care whether or not they figured out who killed her? Yes, because I just knew that the person who killed her had something to do with these emails. It was just a big web. That maybe John Bordeaux could untangle.

Remember, detectives had given him a polygraph test shortly after his mother was murdered. And his answers didn't sound believable. I didn't shoot my mom. He didn't do very well. So Rodriguez met with him again, in front of

his house. This time, he grilled him. Listen to me, I'm going to tell you something. If you had anything to do with it, now is the time to tell me. I don't expect you to believe me, okay? That's my home. You can arrest me all you want, I'm still going to tell you I didn't do it. But Bordeaux didn't break. He stuck to his story that somebody else must have murdered his mother. I have nothing to hide.

But you have to admit, there are some things that are very suspicious about the way you act. He didn't exactly pass the polygraph. You have an email account bearing his name. Yeah. Doesn't look good for him. Correct. Especially with Sonia's own relatives lined up to accuse him. And leading the charge was the one Sonia seemed to care for more than her own son, the great nephew who called her grandma, Eric Delacruz, who kept insisting.

John Bordeaux did it. He had to have done it. He's a bad guy. He's a drug guy. He did it. Eric was determined to get justice for his beloved grandmother, Sonia. He'd even paid a visit to her neighbors, Jim and Nicole Thompson, looking for leads. He was distraught. He had, like, tears in his eyes and a quivering voice. You know, his voice was like, do you know anyone? Do you know who killed my grandma? The more Eric dug, he said, the more certain he was that Sonia's very own son, John,

was the killer. And he called and met with detectives often, sharing his insights. My grandma died. Right. I'm right now, I'm mad right now. Do you think he'll ever admit to us, or he'll just...

Not sure. Even though he killed her, he just got to say, I'm'll just... And maybe Eric was right about John Bordeaux. He kept insisting no one else had the motive, the means, the opportunity to kill Sonia other than her very own son. Why didn't you arrest John Bordeaux? He's the guy who discovers the body. He's the guy with the beef against this woman

who should have been loving toward him and wasn't. There wasn't one thing that jumped out that kind of crossed that bridge that we would arrest him. Something told Rodriguez to hold off. Not now. Wait. And sure enough, there was another big fat clue, courtesy of the Black Widow herself. An individual shows up to her shop,

and she can see him in the parking lot on the phone. A mystery man stalking Sonia. Could this caller be the killer? She says, I don't know the guy, but it's the same guy who came two days ago, and when he called me, it was on the phone. I wrote down the number. here it is. The black widow of Lumita was dead, but her body was hardly cold when police found a curious piece of evidence left behind by Sonia herself. A few days before her death, Sonia had called police to report two strange incidents at her salon. The first one...

An individual shows up to her shop, and she can see him in the parking lot on the phone because she's on the phone with him asking for a haircut. She becomes suspicious because she said, this guy has short hair like a military haircut. He doesn't need a haircut. And she tells him, I only give haircuts to my usual clients. And you're not one of them. And she shoos him away. This is where we begin to hear from Deputy District Attorney John Lewin

about the second incident at Sonia's salon. Two days later, that same guy comes back, and according to Sonia, who calls the police, he shoots at her. They aimed the gun on my head. Were they robbing you? No, I just come in and shot me. When the police come, she says, I don't know the guy, but it's the same guy who came two days ago. And when he called me, it was on the phone.

I wrote down the number. Here it is. And this is it. The actual note Sonia made of the guy's cell phone number. And they end up identifying that as belonging to Fernando Romero. Fernando Romero? Who is he? Other than the phone number, we didn't really know who this person actually was. And neither did Sonia, but she was determined to protect herself. The next day, she said, you know, I've got a gun. She says, but it's locked up. She says,

do you think, you know, Jim could, you know, get some bolt cutters and cut the lock? And I opened it up and it was, it was a 44 Magnum. It was the dirty, hairy gun, but she wanted something big and showy and powerful. But even Sonia's.44 Magnum couldn't save her. But just a week later, she was dead. So was the mysterious Fernando Romero the killer? Or John Bordeaux? Or is it possible they were both involved somehow? By this time, Romero, whoever he was, had vanished.

Might never have found him. Except cell phones. Such handy little crime-fighting tools, aren't they? All detectives needed was a warrant, and pretty soon they were looking at Romero's call history. We fully expected to see this person's phone records linked up as having communication with our most likely suspect. John Bordeaux. John Bordeaux.

We didn't see John Bordeaux's number on those records. This was going to be their big break, finally connecting the dots directly to Bordeaux. Not anymore. But then, it was moments later. Just by chance, I get a phone call on my cell phone, and the caller ID of the phone number pops up, and I see that phone number on those records. I couldn't have scripted it any better. Who was it? Sonia's loving nephew, Eric Delacruz. Eric Delacruz? Really?

Why was he talking to Fernando Romero, of all people? And not just once, but often. Especially in the hours just before and after Sonia's murder. And then a week later, the FBI piped up. They'd been doing a deep dive into all those emails Sherry was supposedly getting from John Bordeaux and had isolated their IP or Internet Protocol addresses, a complicated code of numbers to track where the emails originated. Some of these IP addresses were from ports in Asia, Hong Kong, Korea.

These IP addresses are Navy IP addresses. They knew Eric Delacruz was a sailor on the USS Ronald Reagan. So, Rodriguez enlisted the Navy's investigative unit, the NCIS, to check out Eric. And before long, he got a call back. The NCIS just by chance asked us, had we ever heard of an individual by the name of Fernando Romero. I did like three cartwheels and I said, yes, we have a phone number that comes back to an individual named Romero that we can't seem to identify. Former NCIS agent Romy Christensen was part of the investigation. And imagine this. Romero was also assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan. Coincidentally, in the same department as Eric Dela Cruz.

Wow. So they would have seen each other all the time. Absolutely. They lived in the same berthing. They actually hung out together. Was it possible those two were actually plotting a murder and were doing it from a ship at sea? So we basically looked at where the ship was at the time that those emails were sent. Digging through all the data

would take the NCIS some time. So while Detective Rodriguez waited for the results, he kept stringing Eric Galam. Did not give him a hint that he, not John Bordeaux, was now the prime suspect. It was almost like we were championing a cause together, that he was on our team.

You're going to be a good cop. You just do what you're doing today. Yes, sir. And while that was going on, the NCIS figured out exactly where Eric was when those emails, supposedly from John Bordeaux, pinged in Sherry's inbox. He was in port in Japan and Hong Kong and South Korea at the exact dates and times that these emails were sent to Sherry Jackson and her family. So who would have had access to a Navy network? Who would have been in Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea

during that time frame? And that person was Eric Delacruz. Sending extortion emails was one thing. But why would Eric hatch a murder plot to execute the woman who seemed to care for him more than her very own son? Families, they can be so interesting, can't they? Especially hers. A chilling motive for a murder in the family. Guess what he wants to know from the lawyer?

How much am I getting in the will? But Sonia would have one last card to play from Beyond the Grave. It was starting to look like a murder plot that spanned the globe. Much of it orchestrated long in advance aboard a Navy ship, thousands of miles from that little house in Lomita, where the Black Widow took a bullet to her brain. Deputy D.I. John Lewin believed the man behind it was Eric Dela Cruz. Eric's motive? Simple, thought Lewin. The same as the woman he called his grandmother. Money.

Sonia was killed late Friday night. On Monday morning, guess who shows up at Sonia's lawyer's office before he even opens? Eric Delacruz. Eric Delacruz. Guess what he wants to know from the lawyer? How much am I getting in the will? But to Eric's utter surprise, he got nothing. Sonia left her money and her property to her son, John Bordeaux. He wanted to make sure that

John Bordeaux didn't get anything, and what better way to remove him from the problem is what? Having him sit in jail for a crime that he didn't commit. Then Eric got another nasty surprise as he played innocent with the detectives. And my partner pulls out a picture of Fernando Romero. And Eric completely goes off the rails to the point where he can't even speak.

He is so spun up. You think this guy may be involved? No. You know that guy? I know this guy. Who is that? He's in the name. Okay.

Fernando. Romero Fernando. Mr. De La Cruz gave us a bunch of denials of why Fernando Romero couldn't have done this. Because I think he knows now that's a link to him. They let him go then, let him stew, as they gathered just a little more evidence. And then they tracked Eric down at a Navy base in Virginia and had another little talk. Time to play the email card, those extortion emails he sent to Sherry. So now we know, without a shadow of a doubt, you were sending a John Bordeaux email.

No, sir, no. They traced it when you were in Japan. Eric, this is undisputable, son. No, sir, no. Eric, this is undisputable, son. No. Oh, my God. Eric, you're no dummy, but this is the most important day of your life. Well, I didn't come out without a license, sir. They knew they'd arrest him, of course, but they didn't rush. Instead, they tracked his cell phone as he drove from that Navy base in Virginia back to his home in California. And there in Eric's driveway, they slapped on the handcuffs,

and Rodriguez had one more chat with his former investigative partner. And I walked up to him, and I told him, you're under arrest. How'd he take it? He just kept kind of mumbling to me that I had the wrong person. Surprise traveled fast to the Thompsons in Lomita. Finding out that they arrested him, completely shocked. It can't be him. It's just not in his character, who loves his grandma,

who's destroyed over her being murdered. He's the actual murderer? No way. But truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. That same day, Fernando Romero was also arrested, and both he and Eric were charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutor John Lewin theorized Eric De La Cruz arranged the hit, and his sailor pal Fernando Romero did the dirty work. Romero's the one that pulled the trigger. My guess would be that Dela Cruz let Romero in the house and Romero shot her in the back of the head.

As the trial approached, Lewin wrestled with a unique problem. Because the person murdered was herself suspected of killing two husbands for money. I've never had a victim like Sonia Rios. She was an absolutely horrific individual, and it created an issue for me with the trial. Because she is your victim at the same time. Villainous victim. A victim who just might make Sonia's accused killers seem very sympathetic, especially to a jury. Sonia's treacherous family saga. Sonia and her family murdered Earl Bordeaux. Sonia and her family murdered Earl Bordeaux. Sonia and her family murdered Larry Riskin. And Eric Delacruz ends up murdering his beloved great aunt.

How many murders can you have in one family? What would a jury do? February 2011. The Black Widow case went to court. Eric De La Cruz, along with his Navy pal and accused partner in crime, were tried together for the murder of Sonja Riskin. But the case presented a predicament for Prosecutor John Lewin, because Sonja, too, was an alleged killer and equally devious, having apparently ordered the murders of two husbands. So I did not try to present her as anything other than she was, as a cold-blooded killer.

And so if you're really looking at kind of poetic justice, she really got what was coming to her. And now Lewin was determined to see that her killers got what was coming to them, too. For the extortion, the killing, and the evil plan to frame Sonia's son, John Bordeaux, for everything. The defense argued there was no murder weapon, no DNA, no eyewitnesses putting them at the scene. But the jury didn't buy that. They deliberated less than a day, finding Romero and Dela Cruz both guilty of murdering Sonia Riskin. It's ironic that Sonia murdered two good men who were nothing but good to her. Eric murdered somebody who was nothing but good to him.

So in the end, Sonia really reaped what she sowed. Fernando Romero, the presumed shooter, was sent away for 26 years to life. So was Eric Delacruz, who masterminded the murder of the woman he called grandmother. For her money, which in the end he never got. He went to such extremes for money. This not only was the person that killed Sonia, he's also the person that was trying to extort money from my brother's remains. Betrayal apparently runs deep in that family.

Very deep. They are basically murdering anything and anybody they can to enhance their financial well-being. Sonia and her family murdered Earl Bordeaux. Sonia and her family murdered Larry Riskin. And Eric Delacruz ends up murdering his beloved great aunt. So how many murders can you have in one family? But for one member of Sonia's family, the verdict meant vindication. John Bordeaux, Sonia's once estranged son, who might have been charged with murdering his own mother, had cleared his name.

You talked to him after the trial? Yes. He obviously was still petrified of myself and law enforcement. I told him that I was sorry, that I did what I felt was best for the case. And I hopefully that he understood that. He said that he did. But how do you not still be affected or kind of traumatized by that? Because he was like within that family, public enemy number one for a while.

But the verdict offered little consolation for Sherry Jackson or Dennis Bordeaux. No justice for their brothers. And with Sonia dead, there probably never will be. Dennis can only imagine now. What's lost is lost. I go out every couple weeks, and I put flowers on the grave. Just wish he was here.

But in Olympia, an empty place in the family plot was all Sherry could see. If she could only find her brother's remains, give him a proper burial, she could feel, she thought, something like peace. Is it worth going to the Philippines to try to find them? Yes. feel, she thought, something like peace. Is it worth going to the Philippines to try to find them?

Yes, because I believe they are still there. But she worried, too, because maybe the people who pulled the trigger in that parking lot killing Larry might come after her if she came snooping around. Must be a little scary. Oh yes, knowing what has happened over there with two people being murdered. It's that important to you? Very important that he be brought back here. And in June of 2019, Sherry Jackson left for the country that had haunted her for so long. To begin the most daunting quest of her life. I feel somewhat numb that I'm actually standing where he's murdered. It's just so senseless.

An emotional meeting, an impossible mission. Well, this is our last hope. Can she bring her brother home? Sherry Jackson steeled herself as the big jet sank slowly into the hot damp air of the Philippine summer, Manila. The city that drew her like a nightmare to the place her brother died. As if walking in his last footsteps would bring him close, help heal what had long felt unhealable.

When I got off the plane, I got very emotional because I realized that was Larry's last walk. When he came here, he had no idea what was going to happen to him. We were coming here anyway. So, in 2019, we brought Sherry along. No turning back now. Until now, she'd only imagined the place where her brother Larry died.

But here on the ground, it was suddenly real. Here we are. How does it feel? A lot of anxiety. Yeah, a lot of anxiety. Yeah, a lot of anxiety. She had arranged a kind of buffer for that on this first anxious day. A slightly odd family reunion with people she'd never met. A family that never was. Quincy and Jetmark, the two kids Larry wanted to make his own,

in limitless America, were adults now, with children of their own. Oh, hi! Nice to meet you. Hi. They opened presents. All right, so there's more stuff to go look in here. And shared memories of Larry. That was the last time I saw him. She told them how she longed to find what was left of Larry,

his remains, his ashes, and bring him home. So do you think we'll actually find them? Jedmark said he'd heard the ashes had been passed around among Sonia's relatives on orders from the man who orchestrated her murder, Eric Delacruz. He said to give the ash to my Auntie Susan. Auntie Susan? Where was she? Jetmark didn't know. In a city of ants and cemeteries and 20 million haystacks, Larry's ashes could be anywhere.

Her dream of finding them an impossible errand. So she looked for him another way. She came to the place he was last alive. The hospital parking lot where on Sonia's orders, somebody executed her brother. I feel somewhat numb that I'm actually standing where he's murdered. At a place you never ever thought you'd be? Right. It was just so senseless.

And I'm angry. I'm very angry. But the dark, empty parking lot did not speak. There was nothing here. Then a couple of days before departure, a tip. Jetmark got an address for that Auntie Susan woman, the last relative known to have Larry's ashes. She lived an hour's drive from that hospital parking lot. And here it was, the biggest house on the block.

Well, this is our last hope. Yeah. We don't know what's in there, but I say let's find out. Taopo! We knocked, waited, and waited, but we could see no one had been here for a long time. I'll never know. Yeah. I'll never know.

So what do you do about that? I mean, if you can't get it... I have to just let it go. Okay. That's tough, huh? And then, as if on cue, the day darkened and the rain came. So, is there a thing called closure, that much overused word? On her last day in the Philippines, Sherry got a wreath of flowers, boarded a boat, and took her grief out onto Manila Bay.

Her own personal memorial. I'm not leaving with his ashes, so it was just something I felt to memorialize him in that way. Since he is still here. She hopes he'd be proud of her, his little sister. But she doubts he'd be proud of her, his little sister. But she doubts he'd be surprised. She's been searching for whatever bit of dust is left of him. Though he'd probably tell her, if such a fantasy were possible,

that he's lived all along in her heart.