Good & Evil

Summary

Dateline NBC Podcast Summary: "Good & Evil"

Release Date: April 1, 2025
Host: NBC News

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Introduction

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.

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The Discovery of Jarret Estep

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.

• Detective Laura Lomeli: "She was on a conveyor belt. Only her feet were exposed. And initially the workers there thought it was a mannequin." [01:16]

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.

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Connecting the Missing Women

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.

• Detective Julissa Trapp: "When they killed her, they killed me." [01:34]

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.

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Investigation and the Role of GPS Data

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.

• Detective Laura Lomeli: "But for that lucky fingerprint, they'd have missed it." [08:25]

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.

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The Capture and Confession

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.

• Detective Laura Lomeli: "They were in the same car." [21:36]

During interrogations, both men display evasiveness, but Gordon eventually breaks down, providing a confession that ties them directly to the murders.

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The Trial and Convictions

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.

• Stephen Gordon: "It is beyond evil, what happened." [38:34]

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.

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Emotional Impact on the Mothers

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.

• Priscilla Vargas: "Love her as much as I could was about the only thing." [10:08]

Detective Trapp's compassionate approach, symbolized by the rosaries she shares with the mothers, underscores the human element amidst the procedural investigation.

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Continuing Mysteries and Closure

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.

• Detective Laura Lomeli: "Even though it is a landfill. I mean, it is quite peaceful when it's quiet." [44:07]

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.

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Conclusion

"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.

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Notable Quotes:

• Detective Julissa Trapp: "When they killed her, they killed me." [01:34]
• Detective Laura Lomeli: "We have to go to the dark places in order to find answers." [02:55]
• Priscilla Vargas: "I would tap and she would text right back. But this time, nothing." [01:30]
• Detective Julissa Trapp: "I knew this was going to be a lot different than any other interview I had done." [24:22]
• Frank Cano: "It's beyond evil, what happened. What me and him did was beyond evil." [38:34]
• Priscilla Vargas: "I don't think I'll ever be able to accept it. It's hard. It's hard." [30:09]

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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.

Transcript

[Lester Holt]

What if you could turn your curiosity for true crime into a degree at Southern New Hampshire University? You can. Southern New Hampshire University offers over 200 degrees you can earn online, including subjects like forensic psychology and criminology. And with some of the lowest online tuition rates in the U.S. southern New Hampshire University makes earning your degree affordable. Find your degree at snhu. Edu Dateline. That's snhu. Edu Dateline.

[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, [e-mail].

[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]

Five immersive worlds, one amazing theme. Mark, get ready to explore the all new Universal Epic Universe. Featuring the wizarding world of Harry, Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, how to train your dragon, Isle of Burke and Dark Universe. Epic Universe opens May 22 at Universal Orlando Resort. Our universe will never be the same. Tickets and packages on sale [e-mail] hey.

[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]

[e-mail] 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.