
When a woman's body is discovered at an Anaheim trash facility, a dedicated detective makes a promise to her mother to get justice. She doesn't know that search will bring her face to face with a serial killer. Keith Morrison reports.
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Lester Holt
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Keith Morrison
A true crime story never really ends. Even when a case is closed, the journey for those left behind is just beginning.
Lester Holt
Since our DATELINE story aired, Tracy has harnessed her outrage into a mission. I had no other option.
Detective Julissa Trapp
I had to do something, catch up.
Keith Morrison
With families, friends and investigators on our bonus series, after the Verdict. Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with strength.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It does just change your life. But speaking up for these issues helps me keep going.
Keith Morrison
To listen to after the Verdict, subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or@datelinepremium.com.
Detective Laura Lomeli
She was on a conveyor belt. Only her feet were exposed. The workers thought it was a mannequin. Her last hours on earth were not pleasant.
Kathy Menzies
Young women murdered or missing families in anguish.
Priscilla Vargas
I would tap and she would text right back. But this time, nothing.
Detective Julissa Trapp
When they killed her, they killed me.
Kathy Menzies
A serial killer at work. And maybe he had a friend.
Lester Holt
That's crazy. They don't work together.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Serial killers are loners, very rare.
Kathy Menzies
Two suspected killers on the hunt. Hunting them, a detective devoted to justice and more.
Lester Holt
It's almost like you've adopted these young women.
Detective Laura Lomeli
There was a lot of visits to my local church, saying, please don't let me screw this up.
Kathy Menzies
Here's Keith Morrison with good and Evil.
Lester Holt
How do you measure a mother's love or gauge the ferocity of her impulse to protect?
Priscilla Vargas
Love her as much as I could was about the only thing.
Lester Holt
How to measure love as visceral as the beating heart in her own body.
Helinda
She was my firstborn. She was my best friend.
Lester Holt
How to understand the four mothers you'll meet tonight and their connection, one that not one of them would ever have thought possible. Not in a million years. Any more than they would have expected to meet her, their guardian angel.
Detective Laura Lomeli
If I don't bring her home, who will?
Lester Holt
It's a rare mystery that's truly a confrontation of good and evil.
Detective Laura Lomeli
We have to go to the dark places in order to find answers.
Lester Holt
A rare mystery that needed an urgent answer before the evil struck again. It was March 14, 2014, early morning. An army of garbage trucks made their growling, clanking way around the thousands of Trash bins and dumpsters in Anaheim, California. Their destination a landfill that is also a literal mountain of garbage 500ft high. And then mid morning, an attendant separating debris on the conveyor belt saw something. Was that a human foot protruding from the pile of trash? Surely not.
Detective Laura Lomeli
She was on a conveyor belt. Only her feet were exposed. And initially the workers there thought it was a mannequin.
Lester Holt
But it wasn't a mannequin, as the responding homicide detective, Julissa trapped, could plainly see. It was or had been a woman, her body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp.
Detective Laura Lomeli
We had no idea who she was. We had no idea where she came from. How did she end up there?
Lester Holt
Something about the dead girl got to detective trapp ending up this way. An anonymous child of God in a garbage dump. And so the detective did what she always does. She bought a rosary.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It's a way for me to kind of connect to my victims.
Lester Holt
Unusual, maybe, that a detective should lean on her profound catholic faith to help solve crimes. But Julissa Trapp does.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Cases don't always get solved in 48 hours. You know, surprise, surprise. They take time and they take work.
Lester Holt
And that little rosary helps you?
Detective Laura Lomeli
It does.
Lester Holt
If she could solve this case, she'd give that rosary to the dead woman's family. But first, she had to figure out who she was. From just one identifying mark on her neck. A tattoo. Jody. Was that her name? Reaching now, Detective trapp pulled up the Anaheim police department's database of tattoos. Yes, they have one. Descriptions of tattoos collected from anyone they encounter. And Woody. And? No, There was a match. But her name was not Jody. It was Jeray. Jeray estep. She was 21 years old.
Detective Laura Lomeli
She had been contacted the year prior here in Anaheim on beach boulevard.
Lester Holt
Beach boulevard. Suddenly, detective Trapp's case took on a whole new complexion.
Detective Laura Lomeli
If you want to buy drugs, beach boulevard's where you come. If you are looking for a girl, beach boulevard's where you come. A lot of them came from good, stable families that just happened to run into the wrong guy who somehow got him into the job. I mean, these pimps are really good about breaking down the women and getting.
Lester Holt
Control over them, Making them a prime target for predators.
Detective Laura Lomeli
A lot of predators will start with prostitutes because they think that people won't miss them.
Lester Holt
Somebody does.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Yes, somebody does. Somebody did.
Lester Holt
Like Jeray's mother, who, records revealed, lived in a tiny town in Oklahoma. That tattoo on Jarret's neck. This is Jody. And even before the detective got the words out, I felt it that she was gone. Her Daughter had been so happy, so charming, outgoing. But then, said Jody, a boyfriend convinced Jarret that to please him, she'd have to turn tricks. This is Jeray. He just honked trying to get her attention. But she. John tv, a self proclaimed video vigilante group in Oklahoma City, caught her on camera back in 2012. But Jarret left. The boyfriend turned her life around. So Jody thought. And then that awful phone call from Detective Trapp.
Detective Julissa Trapp
I was screaming. Like screaming.
Lester Holt
The detective made a promise to that mother. Didn't matter what choices Jaray may have made. She, the detective, would work this case as hard as any she ever had.
Detective Laura Lomeli
We literally went from each little motel to each little motel, showing her picture and having the clerk run her name to see if she had stayed there.
Lester Holt
And eventually she found the room where Jarret had been staying in, which were $700 in cash and mascara, lipstick, contact lens solution, but nothing whatever to lead her to a suspect. Not here anyway. From the disposal company she got a list of the dumpsters those garbage trucks had serviced that morning. And then she and other officers went dumpster diving. Hundreds of dumpsters. What would you be looking for?
Detective Laura Lomeli
They were all given pictures of what the trash looked like that was around her. If it looks similar, take pictures of what's inside.
Lester Holt
No luck. Waste of time. Then back on the conveyor belt, an odd thing turned up in the trash collected near Jeray's body.
Detective Laura Lomeli
We got a print hit.
Lester Holt
Talking about a fingerprint here.
Detective Laura Lomeli
A fingerprint?
Lester Holt
Yes, it was on a caulking tube and it matched window installer who worked for a company called Hardy Windows.
Detective Laura Lomeli
He tells us we never throw trash out at customers homes. We always bring it back to Hardy.
Lester Holt
Windows where they found one dumpster no one had checked the trash company inadvertent had left it off the list they gave the police. Detective Trapp looked inside.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It's that same blue plastic. And it was almost like I was looking at the same trash I had seen on the conveyor belt.
Lester Holt
Bingo. And if not for that lucky fingerprint, they'd have missed it. What was that like?
Detective Laura Lomeli
It was a combination of frustration, but okay. All right. We're moving somewhere.
Lester Holt
So Jerae was dumped here sometime before the morning of March 14th. Miles and miles from the spot where, according to cell phone records, she placed her very last outgoing at 7pm the night before. How far away would it have been?
Detective Laura Lomeli
20 miles.
Lester Holt
But that's all the detective knew. A week gone by, everyone at Hardy Windows was cleared. So no suspects at all. Detective Trapp went to church, said her rosary Worried, prayed, and wondered.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I had heard a story on the news that there was three missing prostitutes in the city of Santa Ana, which.
Lester Holt
Is right next door. Basically.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Right next door, yes.
Lester Holt
What if this wasn't the killer's first time or last?
Kathy Menzies
Coming up, four young women in two neighboring towns now missing or dead. Was there a link?
Detective Laura Lomeli
We were like, well, you know, what are the odds that they're related?
Kathy Menzies
And mothers united by love and loss.
Helinda
We made thousands of flyers. Me and her were on our mission to find our daughters.
Lester Holt
Detective Julissa Trapp couldn't sleep, kept awake by the puzzle of the girl someone threw away in the trash. That's when something jogged her restless mind. Hadn't some young women vanished in the town next door, Santa Anna?
Detective Laura Lomeli
We were like, well, you know, what are the odds that they're related?
Lester Holt
So she looked them up and learned about Kiana Jackson, just 20 years old when she disappeared five months before Jarret's death. Her mom is Kathy Menzies.
Priscilla Vargas
She was just a very fun, loving child. Always made you laugh.
Lester Holt
Just look at her childhood photos, that silly grin. She loved her dog, her little brother playing softball. And then it started happening, said Kathy. Eighth grade or so, she was kind.
Priscilla Vargas
Of getting, you know, typical teenage, you know, mouthy. And then, you know, high school came. Getting around the older kids, she kind of got a little, you know, worse.
Lester Holt
How'd you cope with that?
Priscilla Vargas
It was just one day at a time. Love her as much as I could. It was about the only thing.
Lester Holt
After high school, Keanu went to college, about a three hour drive from home. A year later, she moved to Las Vegas. But though far from home now, she got closer and closer to her mom.
Priscilla Vargas
She would call me every day, talk to me every day, you know, text message.
Lester Holt
Just a loving daughter.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Yeah.
Priscilla Vargas
I didn't think anything bad was happening.
Lester Holt
No idea. Even in October 2013, when Kiana called.
Priscilla Vargas
To say she was on the bus towards Santa Ana.
Lester Holt
Did she tell you why or.
Priscilla Vargas
Visiting friends is what she told me.
Lester Holt
But then the girl who called her mother almost daily stopped calling.
Priscilla Vargas
Anything over a day or two. I would start going, wait a second. This isn't right. Something's not right. I would text her, and she would text right back. But this time, nothing.
Lester Holt
Nothing Gone. Not a peep to her mom, to her friends, to her boyfriend. Kathy went to the police.
Priscilla Vargas
When I called to file a missing persons report, they said, she's an adult and there's nothing we can do for you.
Lester Holt
But you knew that there was a problem.
Priscilla Vargas
Yeah.
Lester Holt
So Kathy started doing her own Digging tracked her daughter down to a motel in Orange county where the trail ended. Her clothes were there, but she wasn't. Again, she called the police, and they.
Priscilla Vargas
Said, well, that happens sometimes. Prostitutes just work circuits.
Lester Holt
Prostitute.
Priscilla Vargas
First I was like, no, okay, no, that can't be.
Lester Holt
But then the truth came crashing down. Undeniable. Kiana had missed a scheduled court date in Santa Ana for a prostitution charge. But wait a minute. You talk to her every day, texted with her all the time?
Priscilla Vargas
Exactly.
Lester Holt
And you knew nothing of this secret life of yours?
Priscilla Vargas
No, nothing.
Lester Holt
What does it feel like as a mother to hear that that's been going on all that time and you didn't know?
Priscilla Vargas
Heartbreaking.
Lester Holt
When she heard Kathy's story, Detective Trapp began to think she was onto something. And then she discovered that just two and a half weeks after Kiana disappeared, there was another one. Josephine Monique Vargas.
Helinda
She had a beautiful personality. They used to call her Giggles because she always made people laugh.
Lester Holt
Josephine's mother, Priscilla, had been on the local news searching for answers for months, ever since her daughter left a family barbecue, telling them she was walking to buy groceries.
Helinda
That's the last time any of us heard of her or saw her.
Lester Holt
Priscilla went to the Santa Ana police Department, filled out a report that they.
Helinda
Didn'T really do anything to look for.
Lester Holt
Her, so she did.
Helinda
Nothing was going to stop me from looking for my daughter. Nothing or no one.
Lester Holt
And it was pure chance when Priscilla ran into another mother desperate to find her daughter. Martha, 28 years old and a mother herself who just vanished one day.
Detective Laura Lomeli
There's no way she would have left.
Detective Julissa Trapp
To just say, I'm going and I'm leaving everything behind.
Lester Holt
So Martha's mother, Helinda, and Priscilla went together up and down the boulevard.
Helinda
We made thousands of flyers. Me and her were on our mission.
Lester Holt
To find our daughters, but no sign of their daughters anywhere. Detective Trapp collected their portraits, hung them on her office wall, and she stayed awake and prayed in her Catholic. Do you ever wonder why God would allow this to happen?
Detective Laura Lomeli
I do. There's been plenty of times that I've been angry with our maker. Because you have to wonder, why does this happen? I mean, I wish he would talk back to me and tell me that would be very helpful. But I just have to figure out what happened. Just read the clues, collect the puzzle pieces, and the more you can kind of keep a neutral mind, the easier the puzzle pieces fit together.
Lester Holt
No getting around it. The pieces pointed to a chilling conclusion. Those three missing women, just like Jarret, may have been murdered. And if that was true. It would mean there was a serial killer out there in the night. Had to be. More deaths would be coming. Unless one idea it was grasping at straws. Yes.
Detective Laura Lomeli
But you know what? It might work now. Why not? It's a Hail Mary, but let's try it.
Larry Yellen
Coming up, all sex offenders on parole, they will have an anklet, a GPS.
Kathy Menzies
Monitor tracking a killer victim by victim. Or is it two killers?
Lester Holt
They were in the same car.
Larry Yellen
They were in the same vehicle.
Kathy Menzies
When DATELINE continues.
Keith Morrison
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Lester Holt
Guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with one of the hottest artists in all of music right now, Grammy winner Lainey Wilson, to talk about her path from the tiny town of Baskin, Louisiana, to country music stardom. You can get our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts.
Detective Julissa Trapp
Join me, Jacqueline Coley, on a brand new podcast seen on the screen presented by Make It Universal and Rotten Tomatoes. Meet the innovative people at NBCUniversal as they share their journeys, inspirations and the movies that shape them. Each episode is an intimate and fun conversation about the impact of film seen on the screen is available now. You can find it on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your favorite podcast.
Lester Holt
The autopsy came in, the one for Jarre Estep, the girl on the conveyor belt.
Stephen Gordon
It's bad. It was bad. It was bad.
Lester Holt
Strangled, beaten, sexually assaulted viciously, according to Deputy DA Larry Yellen.
Stephen Gordon
Should have been a college girl. Should be worrying about grades and boyfriends and football games and those things.
Lester Holt
One wrong turn, you never know. Yeah. But almost three weeks in, Detective Julissa Trapp seemed stuck.
Stephen Gordon
I think she got a little frustrated and got a little desperate and came up with the idea of using the.
Lester Holt
Computer database, that is the computer database of sex offenders. If they had a serial killer on their hands, there was at least a chance he'd already run afoul of the law at some point. It was a bit like just poking a finger into the haystack, frankly, and hoping to encounter a needle. But worth a try. So Trapp called this woman sexual assault Detective Laura Lomeli, all sex offenders on parole.
Larry Yellen
They Will have an anklet. A GPS monitor.
Lester Holt
Trapp asked Lamelli, were any of those GPS monitors here where Jeray placed her last phone call? Or here where she wound up in a dumpster? If you find the same guy at both locations, you're getting somewhere. Lamelli ran the search, and what were the chances she got a hit in both locations? She called Detective Trapp.
Detective Laura Lomeli
There's only one person, she said. I know him. I said, who? And she said, his name's Frank Cano. He's a registered sex offender.
Lester Holt
In 2007, Frank Cano pleaded guilty to committing a lewd act on a minor. He was now on parole wearing a GPS monitor. But now, next question. Did Frank Cano's monitor put him near the places those other three women, according to phone records, made their last calls? Kiana, Josephine, and Martha. One by one, the detective entered the.
Larry Yellen
Coordinates and every intersection. For that date and time that they gave me, Frank Connell came up.
Lester Holt
Wow.
Larry Yellen
For every single intersection. It was. It was. I was shocked.
Lester Holt
But something about that man, Frank Canoe. He had a buddy. And Lamelli had run into them both.
Larry Yellen
I mentioned. You know, I do know that he has a friend. That's Stephen Gordon.
Lester Holt
Stephen Gordon. He'd done time for molesting a minor and later for kidnapping. He and Kanno were inseparable, Apparently. Once again, Detective Lamelli pulled up the GPS coordinates. She checked the place Martha was last seen in Santa Ana, and no Gordon. Not there. But when she checked locations for Kiana and Josephine, sure enough, there he was. So why not at the first location? She checked the record and discovered at that particular moment, Gordon wasn't on a GPS monitor, but he was wearing one at the other three places. And so was Kano. The electronics made it absolutely obvious. Here they were, Kano and Gordon driving together up and down Beach Boulevard and all around Santa Ana and Anaheim.
Larry Yellen
I mean, even when they're on the.
Lester Holt
Freeway, they were in the same car.
Larry Yellen
They were in the same vehicle.
Lester Holt
Julissa Trapp had prayed for a Hail Mary, but she never expected anything like this.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I soon realized I'm not just dealing with one, we're dealing with two. Two sex offenders wearing GPS bracelets.
Lester Holt
But for all the electronic cross referencing, the case against Kano and Gordon was purely circumstantial. Detective Trapp could not arrest them. Not without more evidence. That was terrifying. I mean, there were young women who were at real risk here.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Yes.
Lester Holt
And if you waited too long, how would you feel if somebody else was attacked?
Detective Laura Lomeli
Let me just say, there was a lot of rosaries that were Being prayed for. Sure.
Lester Holt
She set up a surveillance team to watch kano and Gordon around the clock and got authorizations for wiretaps and pulled cell phone records.
Detective Laura Lomeli
When we started reading the text messages and started seeing how prolific they were at hunting, hunting, hunting on almost a daily basis and how nonchalant they were about it, it was almost like ordering takeout. When you start reading, what do you feel like today? Asian or mexican?
Lester Holt
Oh, boy. What would they call these girls?
Detective Laura Lomeli
That was the other thing. Cats.
Lester Holt
Cats.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Cats. Be careful. When the cat knows it isn't getting away, it's gonna fight.
Lester Holt
The next victim couldn't be far away Because Gordon texted kano, kitty cat later. Yes. To which kano responded, okay. And then a sudden change. Had they spotted the surveillance? As trapp listened to the wiretap, she heard Gordon talk to kano about skipping town.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I could hear the desperation in Frank cano's voice. That desperation just kind of sent a hair on the back of my neck. And I said, no, I'm not waiting anymore.
Lester Holt
They're going to run.
Detective Laura Lomeli
They're going to run.
Lester Holt
Time to move fast. They caught up to Frank cano as he was boarding a bus. And Steven gordon. They found him where he worked. An auto body shop next door to hardy windows.
Detective Laura Lomeli
But he made a run for it. Ran out the door on a bicycle. Yes. He had a little collision with one of our surveillance units and a little flying over the handlebars, and he was taken into custody.
Lester Holt
Both men were charged with four counts each of first degree murder and forcible rape.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Hi, steven.
Lester Holt
And detective trapp prepared to confront a suspected serial killer.
Kathy Menzies
Coming up.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I knew this was going to be a lot different than any other interview I had done.
Kathy Menzies
Take out with a killer.
Frank Cano
It is spicy.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I told you. I told you to be careful.
Lester Holt
For six months, Kathy Menzies waited for news about her daughter. Kiana still woke up every day hoping she'd call or text. And dreading a knock at the door, which, in April 2014, is what happened.
Priscilla Vargas
My heart sunk when they came, Because I knew right away that it wasn't going to be good news.
Lester Holt
No, not good news at all. Anaheim police told her that two men, Frank cano and Stephen Gordon, were now under arrest for the murder of her daughter and three other young women. Women in orange county. What were you like that night?
Priscilla Vargas
I just wanted to sleep. I wanted to, like, go to sleep and wake up and pinch myself and.
Lester Holt
And make it a different world.
Priscilla Vargas
Exactly.
Lester Holt
Detective julissa trapp wanted to speak with both men, of course, But Cano Lawyered up. So she tried Gordon, still in a wheelchair after his bike accident.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Hi, Steven.
Frank Cano
Hi.
Detective Laura Lomeli
How are you? And I knew this was gonna be a lot different than any other interview I had done. He's cunning, manipulative.
Lester Holt
He didn't have to talk to you.
Detective Laura Lomeli
He did not have to talk to me. Are you cold? Do you want a blanket?
Frank Cano
If you don't mind.
Detective Laura Lomeli
No, not at all.
Lester Holt
But Detective Trapp has a way, as they say. You're actually compassionate.
Frank Cano
Thank you.
Detective Laura Lomeli
You're welcome.
Lester Holt
You were kind to him. You brought him blanket.
Detective Laura Lomeli
All righty.
Lester Holt
Food.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Here is our chips. Yes. We actually shared two meals together.
Frank Cano
It is spicy.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I told you. I told you to be careful.
Lester Holt
Even so, Gordon was reluctant at first.
Frank Cano
I can't talk to you.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Would you rather talk to somebody else?
Frank Cano
I don't want to talk to anybody.
Detective Laura Lomeli
He watched me very carefully. If I swallowed too hard, if I looked at him differently, you know, he would say, what's wrong?
Frank Cano
You had a weird look on your face when I said where. Why?
Detective Laura Lomeli
When I said where? So he was constantly trying to keep a poker face to continue to elicit information from him.
Lester Holt
And did he try to play you? It's sort of.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Oh, I think he definitely thinks he did for sure.
Lester Holt
Bit by bit, she pulled out answers for herself and for those four mothers.
Frank Cano
Does she go by the name Kayla?
Detective Laura Lomeli
It starts with a K. Kiana.
Frank Cano
No, she told me her name was Kayla.
Lester Holt
Detective Trapp presented him with photographs. He identified all four women.
Detective Laura Lomeli
So her. Her.
Lester Holt
Her.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Right.
Lester Holt
Each murder went the same way. He said he and Cano picked them up in his suv, drove them back to the auto body shop where Gordon worked. They took turns having their way. And then, just as each woman prepared to leave.
Frank Cano
Strangled her with my hands.
Detective Laura Lomeli
You strangled her.
Lester Holt
Some of the details in that 13 hour interview were almost more than even a seasoned detective could stand to hear.
Detective Laura Lomeli
As he was hurting Martha, she told him, I didn't believe in God. What I do now. There's a part of me that's grateful that she found God at the end. It's disturbing to me that in response he said, you picked a hell of a time to start believing in God. I'll never forget that.
Lester Holt
But she had it. A full confession. She called Jarret's mother, Jody.
Detective Julissa Trapp
I dropped to my niece.
Lester Holt
Detective Trapp gave me her word that she would find who killed my daughter. Detective Trapp had kept her word. Now she bought three more rosaries and wondered, could she bring those women home? Gordon had told her all of them had been left in the Same dumpster, the contents of which were brought here. Orange County's Brea Olinda landfill, where, except for Jaray, they all still were in there somewhere.
Detective Laura Lomeli
We did a lot of research, and we had every intention to try to.
Lester Holt
Dig for them, but the bodies had be 40ft deep by now. Digging for them would cost millions. They might never be found, and the county couldn't afford that. And they're. They're just over there somewhere, you know, 40ft down. What's that like? What's that feel like?
Detective Laura Lomeli
It's frustrating. It's frustrating knowing that they're here and we can't bring them that. It's like the one thing that the mothers want, and I get it. And to not be able to do that, it feels. It's incomplete.
Lester Holt
Does it drive you crazy?
Priscilla Vargas
Yes, it does.
Lester Holt
Kathy Menzies knows, logically, her daughter Kiana must be dead. But how to truly accept it without her body?
Priscilla Vargas
I would go there today and start digging if they would let me.
Lester Holt
Matters, doesn't it?
Priscilla Vargas
It does matter.
Lester Holt
Bringing her back.
Priscilla Vargas
Yeah.
Lester Holt
You give birth to him, you gotta see him right through to the end.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Yep.
Priscilla Vargas
Exactly. Exactly.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Streets don't bother me.
Lester Holt
In an attempt to make sense of it all, Kathy asked Detective Trapp and her partner, Bruce Lynn, to drive her to the place where the killers had picked up Kiana.
Detective Laura Lomeli
She wanted to go to this last spot. Why? May I ask why?
Priscilla Vargas
Mm, kind of because it was like the last known spot that she was at that I was told she was alive at that spot. So kind of a closure, you know, just to see where she was at, when. Before they took her.
Lester Holt
You know, about broke her heart to do it. Take this tour of her daughter's last hours.
Stephen Gordon
I think this is the dead end.
Priscilla Vargas
Street that Gordon kind of entered and turned around and.
Lester Holt
And somewhere in here, this little intersection right here is. Is where she was at. Just an ordinary place, but so painful.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It was hard.
Priscilla Vargas
It's difficult to see. I mean, not what I expected. The area. I mean, you know, of course, what she was doing is no mother's wish. But just to see this area, to know that it wasn't what I envisioned. It wasn't a dirty, dark, nasty, gross area.
Lester Holt
Kathy found some peace in that. The knowing, the seeing. But why Kiana's life was taken. So much harder to comprehend.
Priscilla Vargas
I don't think I'll ever be able to accept it. It's hard. It's hard.
Lester Holt
Criminal trials are one way the grieving find answers. And with a confession on tape, the trial of Stephen Gordon looked like formality, or so the prosecutor might have hoped. And then the judge made that ruling. Okay. Oh, boy.
Kathy Menzies
Coming up, a suspected serial killer acting as his own attorney turns the case against him upside down.
Stephen Gordon
It's the piece that brings everything together. And now it's gone.
Kathy Menzies
When DATELINE continues.
Keith Morrison
A true crime story never really ends, even when a case is closed. The the journey for those left behind is just beginning.
Lester Holt
Since our DATELINE story aired, Traci has harnessed her outrage into a mission. I had no other option.
Detective Julissa Trapp
I had to do something, catch up.
Keith Morrison
With families, friends and investigators on our bonus series, after the Verdict. Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with strength and courage.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It does just change your life. But speaking up for these issues helps me keep going.
Keith Morrison
To listen to after the Verdict, subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
Detective Julissa Trapp
Or@Datelinepremium.Com Hey, everyone, I'm Jenna Bush Hager from the Today show, and I'm excited to share my podcast, Open Book with Jenna. It is back for season two. Each week, celebrities, experts, friends and authors will share candid stories with me about their lives and new projects. Guests like Rebecca Yarrow, Kristin Hanna, Eggo Wodom and more. Like a good book, you'll leave feeling inspired and entertained. Join me for my podcast, Open Book with Jenna. Listen now on Apple Podcasts. Every morning, we choose how to begin our day. I think about the people at home. They tune in because they are curious, they care about their world, and they care about each other.
Lester Holt
There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe. And when we step through the morning.
Detective Julissa Trapp
Together, it makes the rest of the day better. We come here to make the most of today. We are family. We are today.
Lester Holt
Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie.
Keith Morrison
And Craig Melvin, weekdays at 7am on NBC.
Lester Holt
Orange County Deputy DA Larry Yellen liked his chances against accused serial killer Stephen Gordon, especially when Gordon decided to act as his own defense attorney.
Stephen Gordon
He's very bright. Very bright.
Lester Holt
Smart enough to know he shouldn't ought to be doing that sort of thing.
Stephen Gordon
Definitely smart enough to know that he shouldn't be representing himself.
Lester Holt
But expectation can be a dangerous thing. Before the trial even began, Gordon struck the prosecutor's case a major blow. Remember that moment early in his interview when he seemed to reject Detective Trapp's questioning?
Frank Cano
I can't doubt you.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Would you rather talk to somebody else?
Frank Cano
I don't want to talk to anybody.
Lester Holt
Gordon argued that continuing the interview at that point was a Miranda violation.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Anything you say may be useful.
Lester Holt
Even though Detective Trapp had Read him as rights. At the outset, the judge agreed. Ruled that the jury could not see a frame of Gordon's confession.
Stephen Gordon
When he makes the ruling, then it's out. It's a punch in the stomach.
Lester Holt
Oh, man. Because what are you missing then? Everything.
Stephen Gordon
Well, a confession, it's the piece that brings everything together and focuses on the four girls. And now it's gone.
Detective Laura Lomeli
All of these women have a special meaning for me. And when it got thrown out, I had a really hard time.
Lester Holt
But then Gordon asked for a meeting and sprang another surprise. He wanted yellen to drop the rape charges. And what would he give you in return?
Stephen Gordon
He said, I'll give you a statement that you can use against me in this case.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Okay, Mr. Gordon, we're gonna start by reading you your.
Lester Holt
And so, on the eve of trial, Detective trapp once again sat face to face with Stephen Gordon. And he once again took her through each crime.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Fair to say that your intention was to pick up a prostitute and ultimately kill her?
Frank Cano
Yes.
Lester Holt
Okay, that was played for the jury. And then how bizarre was this? Gordon suddenly decided he wanted the jury to hear his first confession, too, which meant that the mothers had to hear every graphic detail of their daughter's murders.
Detective Laura Lomeli
And then I thought maybe I prayed that rosary a little too. Because now we've got two statements in.
Lester Holt
The jury wasted no time convicting Gordon of four counts of murder.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Guilty of the crime of felony.
Lester Holt
To witness, they recommended the death penalty. I'll order that the verdicts be recorded. For four mothers, a measure of justice.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Thank you.
Lester Holt
Kathy Menzies had sat through the entire trial, as brutal as it was. What has it done to your understanding of human beings?
Priscilla Vargas
They're evil. There's lots of evil in this world. Lots of it.
Lester Holt
The mothers would not have to sit through another trial. Murder in the first degree. How do you plead to that? Guilty or not guilty?
Helinda
Guilty.
Lester Holt
In 2022, Frank Cano pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and murder. He was sentenced to life without parole. For detective trapp, it was a measure of relief. And finally, she gave those rosaries to four grieving mothers. It's interesting to discover in this line of work that homosex detectives are actually softies.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I think that the more you allow yourself to feel, the better you're gonna be as a detective. And we have to go to the dark places in order to find answers. The quicker we can get in and out, you know, the better it is for all of us.
Lester Holt
Answers from dark places. We went to the jail where Gordon was kept before his transfer to Death row here. He was a man who claimed to know the nature of his evil acts. But did he? We wondered.
Frank Cano
I screwed up.
Lester Holt
Is screwed up the right expression to use?
Frank Cano
Probably not. I just didn't want to say it. What I really think.
Lester Holt
Well, why don't you? It's.
Frank Cano
It's beyond evil, what happened. What. What me and him did was beyond evil.
Lester Holt
But then came, sure enough, the excuse. He's worked it out in his head that the parole system is somehow to blame for his crimes. After all, as sex offenders, he and Frank Cano shouldn't have been permitted to be together. That was a parole violation. And the fact that their parole officers didn't prevent that violation, he said, means the state is responsible.
Frank Cano
We chose to be together. We were allowed. There's a difference.
Lester Holt
No, no. I mean, are you three?
Frank Cano
What do you mean?
Lester Holt
That's what little kids say to their parents. You let me do a bad thing, it's your fault.
Frank Cano
No, I didn't say they let us do a bad thing. I said they let us sleep and hang out at the same spot. And they did. Beside what anybody believes.
Lester Holt
Did you parse that argument?
Frank Cano
Until the day I die. Because I know for a fact it's true.
Lester Holt
What I want to know is. Because that's on you. What was going on in your head to make you want to do it. To participate in whatever way you participated. To get whatever thrill you. What was the thrill? What was it?
Frank Cano
I don't think there was a thrill.
Lester Holt
Well, if there's no thrill, why'd you do it?
Frank Cano
There's no thrill in watching women die like that. But I'm going to go back to it again and again. It was my anger issues that I have from everything that happened while we were on parole and probation.
Lester Holt
We may never know exactly why Jarret was killed. Or Martha or Josephine or Kiana. But there's one more mystery hiding somewhere in this mountain. The final mystery.
Kathy Menzies
Coming up to me.
Helinda
She's an angel in disguise. An angel that carries a badge and a gun.
Kathy Menzies
An angel whose job isn't done.
Detective Laura Lomeli
He looks at me and he goes, you're missing one.
Lester Holt
Four mothers, four dead daughters. There is sorrow, of course.
Detective Julissa Trapp
When they killed her, they killed me.
Lester Holt
And a measure of solidarity to have each other, especially Priscilla and her Linda.
Helinda
Now that we know what's happened to our daughters, I know we will still be friends until the end. Because she's walking in the same shoes I am.
Lester Holt
We asked them about Julissa Trapp.
Detective Julissa Trapp
This case was solved because of her.
Helinda
To me, she's an angel in disguise. An angel that carries a badge and a gun.
Lester Holt
Their own guardian angel who brought all of the man sirs. But how, the moms wondered, did two men who were supposed to be under supervision by parole officers who were being tracked in real time via GPS ankle bracelets. How could they have committed the terrible crimes they were charged with? How could this happen?
Detective Laura Lomeli
How can this happen? Why were they not being monitored? But it was definitely a hard question to get from the mothers themselves as well. Why wasn't it caught sooner?
Lester Holt
Sure.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Can we actually look at the 14th?
Lester Holt
As for Detective Trapp, there was one last mystery to solve.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Yes. Yeah.
Lester Holt
Because when she first talked to Stephen Gordon, he revealed something she wasn't expecting.
Detective Laura Lomeli
He looks at me and he goes, you're missing one. Which caught me off guard, and I tried not to show too much emotion, and I said, okay. And that was the first time I learned about Jane Doe was from him.
Lester Holt
Okay, Jane Doe. According to Gordon, there was a fifth victim.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Did she say where she was from?
Frank Cano
She said she was from Compton.
Detective Laura Lomeli
But I feel a responsibility because Jane Doe is not a missing person. She's. She's an unknown. And I feel like if I don't look for her, who will? I know there is a family out there wondering where she is.
Lester Holt
And so she looked. She combed through missing persons reports, she put up flyers, searched, prayed, and, yes, bought another rosary. Why is it so important to give Jane Doe a name to you personally?
Detective Laura Lomeli
I. I just think because she's so helpless. You're on the street, you're working as a prostitute, and you run into Steve Gordon and Frank Cano, and your last hours on this earth are horrific. And then they discard you like trash.
Lester Holt
Trash. Detective Trap is still haunted by trash that keeps bringing her mind back here.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Even though it is a landfill. I mean, it is quite peaceful when it's quiet.
Lester Holt
Somewhere under here. In addition to Kiana, Josephine, and Martha, there was victim number five. And so Detective Travis worked her sources until she had a name. It would be reasonable to say, okay, that's her. She's here.
Detective Laura Lomeli
Absolutely. Logically, yes, absolutely.
Lester Holt
And yet, when we first spoke with her, she couldn't quite bring herself to tell yet another mother her suspicions.
Detective Laura Lomeli
I not only have to go tell her she's dead, I have to tell her that she's one of these girls. So that's going to be hard, I think.
Lester Holt
And then a couple of months later, she let us know she'd called on the fifth mother and delivered the news that Sable Pickett, just 19 years old, crossed paths with Gordon and Kano on the streets of Orange county and did not survive. No charges are pending for her murder. But another family can finally stop wondering. Homicide detectives often tell us they work for the dead up here on Landfill Mountain. We understood that a little better as Detective Julissa Trapp gripped her rosary, the one for Sable. We walked away and gave her time. And our microphone picked up something. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Priscilla Vargas
Blessed art thou amongst. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Lester Holt
Mountains of trash, things we use and cast away. But for Detective Julissa Trapp, this will always be hallowed ground.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It's hard to look at that and know that's where you ended up. But I know you guys are all in a better place. And I know that you're together and you're helping each other. You can rest now and I can take it from here.
Kathy Menzies
That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.
Keith Morrison
Friday night on an all new dateline. To bring her father's killer to justice. A daughter sets a trap.
Lester Holt
I was recording our conversations for her own mother.
Detective Laura Lomeli
It was terrifying.
Keith Morrison
A 20 year quest for truth. An all new Dateline Friday night at 9, 8 Central, only on NBC.
Dateline NBC Podcast Summary: "Good & Evil"
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Host: NBC News
In the gripping episode titled "Good & Evil," NBC News delves into a harrowing true-crime story that intertwines the relentless pursuit of justice by Detective Julissa Trapp with the anguish of grieving mothers seeking closure. Set against the backdrop of Anaheim and Santa Ana, California, this episode uncovers the dark underbelly of serial killings targeting young women.
The story begins on March 14, 2014, when a grisly discovery is made at the Brea Olinda landfill in Anaheim. Detective Julissa Trapp responds to a report of what initially appears to be a mannequin on a conveyor belt.
Upon closer inspection, it's revealed to be the body of Jarret Estep, a 21-year-old woman wrapped in a blue plastic tarp. The trauma inflicted upon her—strangled, beaten, and sexually assaulted—sets the tone for the ensuing investigation.
As Detective Trapp delves deeper, she uncovers unsettling similarities between Jarret's case and other missing women in the neighboring town of Santa Ana. This revelation suggests the presence of a serial killer operating across both cities.
The missing women—Kiana Jackson, Josephine Monique Vargas, Martha, and later Sable Pickett—share disturbing patterns in their disappearances and the brutality of their murders.
Facing a complex case with limited evidence, Detective Trapp leverages technology to trace the movements of known sex offenders in the area. The breakthrough comes when a fingerprint on a caulking tube links Frank Cano, a registered sex offender, to the crime scene.
Further analysis of GPS data reveals that Frank Cano and his accomplice, Stephen Gordon, were present at multiple locations corresponding to the victims' last known whereabouts. This digital breadcrumb trail provides crucial circumstantial evidence pointing towards their involvement.
Detective Trapp orchestrates a meticulous surveillance operation, monitoring Cano and Gordon's movements around the clock. Their complacency leads to their eventual apprehension—Cano while boarding a bus and Gordon after a minor bicycle accident during an attempt to evade capture.
During interrogations, both men display evasiveness, but Gordon eventually breaks down, providing a confession that ties them directly to the murders.
The legal proceedings take an unexpected turn when Stephen Gordon opts to represent himself. His decision results in the dismissal of critical evidence, including his initial confession, which hampers the prosecution's case.
Despite these challenges, Detective Trapp's unwavering dedication leads to a second, more impactful confession that solidifies the prosecution's case. Gordon is ultimately convicted on four counts of murder and sentenced to death, while Cano receives life without parole.
The episode poignantly captures the emotional turmoil of the victims' mothers—Kathy Menzies, Priscilla Vargas, and Helinda—who form a solidarity in their shared grief and quest for justice. Their interactions with Detective Trapp highlight the personal toll of such heinous crimes.
Detective Trapp's compassionate approach, symbolized by the rosaries she shares with the mothers, underscores the human element amidst the procedural investigation.
While the main case reaches a semblance of resolution, a lingering mystery about a fifth victim, Sable Pickett, remains. Detective Trapp's unwavering commitment leads her to identify and inform Sable's mother, bringing a measure of closure to another grieving family.
The episode concludes by reflecting on the enduring impact of these tragedies on both the families and those tasked with bringing the perpetrators to justice.
"Good & Evil" masterfully weaves a narrative of horror, determination, and human resilience. Through meticulous investigation and heartfelt testimonies, the podcast not only recounts the pursuit of two heinous criminals but also honors the strength of the victims' families. Detective Julissa Trapp emerges as a beacon of hope and justice, embodying the relentless fight against evil.
Notable Quotes:
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of "Good & Evil," providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of the episode's key events, emotional undertones, and the unwavering pursuit of justice by Detective Trapp and the affected families.