Original subtitles

We've all had relationships that break off,

and you probably think you're going a little crazy.

I think that she went into a complete mental crisis.

It's almost like she got caught up in this fantasy,

like this fantasy mission.

They put her on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

I mean, this is the list that Osama bin Laden was on.

[narrator]ú On September 2nd, 2015,

WFAA's crime correspondentú Rebecca Lopez is on duty

when word comes in

of a serious incident in anú upmarket area of Dallas.

Initially, I got a tip,

and we had alsoú heard it on the scanners

that there had been a shootingú at the Gables in uptown.

And that was unusual

because the Gables is a swanky apartment complex

in a area of Dallas that has very few crimes.

And so I knew something was up.

I get to the scene, and I had sources that were on the scene,

And immediately, my sources say she's a woman,

she's been found in her scrubs.

We think she's a doctor of some kind.

They weren't quite sure at that point.

[Kristin] There's a man, a young man who lives in the building.

He's coming down in the parking garage

and the doors to the elevator open.

And he hears a woman screaming.

And then he heard a gunshot.

He ran over and he saw

a woman lying in a pool of her own blood,

still in her scrubs.

He calls 911 right away.

Eventually they come to find out

this is the deceased body of Dr. Kendra Hatcher.

She is a pediatric dentist.

She's been shot in the back of the hate.

Her purse is missing, keys are missing,

money is missing, cell phone is missing.

[Rebecca] They thought it was maybe a robbery.

But one of the officers out at the scene

said that it doesn't feel right

why would they rob someone in a gated garage.

Like robberies are usually crimes of opportunity.

In the news this morning, úneighbours on alert in Dallas

as police search for a killer still.

We are hearing from co-workers too,

of 35-year-old Kendra Hatcher,

the young dentist, shot andú killed in a parking garage

on Wednesday.

Friends say she was aú vibrant and caring woman,

always laughing.

So many of them just stunned by all of this, Carla,

and coming together to giveú each other some comfort.

[reporter] That's right, Jason.

Family and friends of Dr. Kendra Hatcher

are just beginning to mourn her loss.

You can see this memorial here

that has sprung up outside the parking garage

where she was shot and killed.

Kendra Hatcher is from Pleasant Plains, Illinois.

She's active in her church.

She's one of the top students in her high school.

She is outgoing.

And she's that- that typical American girl.

Everybody knows her and loves her.

[Glen] She was a true giver.

She gave of her time, gave of her talents.

Wanted to work in the Dallas area

because she spoke Spanish

and wanted to connect with that community.

She also liked working with those less privileged.

And she would volunteer a lot of her time

in that regard as well.

[Rebecca] Kendra is just a light.

She is a ray of sunshine.

She is kindness.

She is giving.

And she is very well-loved by her friends and family.

[reporter] People who live inú this building still have

a lot of concerns about their safety.

Of course, a young doctor gunned down

inside a secure parking garage.

And that killer is still on the loose.

We've been told that tonight,

those residents will be meeting at seven o'clock

to discuss some of those concerns.

But last night was all aboutúremembering Dr. Kendra Hatcher,

a small group of people

who said they worked with Dr. Hatcher

at Smile Dental in Irvingú started a small memorial

outside the parking garage where she was found.

[Kristin] In the summer of 2015, Kendra is working.

She's thriving.

She's dating.

And she ends up meeting a local dermatologist, Dr. Ricky.

And they meet on a dating app, Tinder,

and they quickly fall in love.

You can see in the pictures

that they are just smitten with each other.

Within just a few months,

they're already talking about marriage.

They're planning vacations together to Mexico,

Ricky brings Kendra to meet his family in California,

and look, she's 35, he's 38.

So this is really happening.

They could get married very quickly,

and that looks like what they were doing.

The first person that is on the scene that the police talk to

is Ricky Paniagua.

That was Kendra Hatcher's boyfriend.

And he had actually been in her apartment that day.

They were getting ready to leave on a trip to Cancun.

He had left the apartment to go get Mexican food.

So he stumbles back on the scene

and immediately he's like, "What's going on?"

[narrator]ú As reporter Rebecca Lopez

begins piecing together initial findings

in the murder of Kendra Hatcher...

Dallas Police held a newsúconference, not that long ago,

and they really want the public's help

in catching a killer.

[narrator]...one crucial detail from the crime scene

stands out.

The killer had dropped a magazine near her body.

They actually found theú magazine of a gun close by,

and I knew that from day one

and that they were going to go

look throughú the surveillance videos

and my sources very quickly they knew

that there was surveillance video

and they don't have anyúother real leads at this point

because there's noúfingerprints on the magazine,

There's no gun that's left.

There's no physical evidence, really.

Ricky was questioned.

And initially they thought it was odd

that Kendra is killed at the garage of her car.

And Ricky is one of the first people

at the scene with some tacos.

But detectives right away told me

that when they told him that it was Kendra

who had been shot and killed,

that he was genuinely distraught.

He wasn't really considered

a serious suspect from the beginning,

but he was questioned at the time.

[Kristin] So police quickly start looking for surveillance.

They see that there is this black Cherokee,

but they can't figure out who the car belongs to.

So, ultimatelyú they decide, very smart,

to go to the media,

give a picture of this card to the press

and see if someoneú recognizes the vehicle.

[reporter]ú A daytime murder in uptown

dims a bright smile forever.

Police release surveillanceú photos just two hours ago

in an effort to find

35-year-oldú Kendra Hatcher's killer.

[reporter 2] Take a close look at this vehicle.

Police say they want to talk to the driver.

The old model Jeep Cherokee drove into the Gables

around 7:45 last night, ú parked in a spot and waited.

That Jeep was very unique because it had gotten,

I think, sun damaged or something.

So there was a weird sort of pattern on the top of the Jeep.

It kind of stood out.

So they put that Jeep out.

And right away, this guy sees it and says,

"Wait, that's my Jeep", because he knew that his Jeep

had that same pattern on the hood of the vehicle.

So, Jose Ortiz right away notices

that that is his Jeep once he sees it on the news.

They bring him in and they question him

and he says, "Oh, but I wasn't in possession of that Jeep.

I loaned that Jeep to my friend, Brenda Delgado."

[narrator] With the Jeep identified,

the investigation takes a crucial turn,

leading detectives to the friend

the owner claims he trusted with it.

Brenda Delgado is 33 years old.

She grew up in Texas, but she's actually from Central Mexico.

She is incredibly intelligent.

She got her degree in dental hygiene.

She goes to church routinely.

There is nothing about Brenda's background

that indicates that she is any sort of violent history at all.

But during this time, she went to her friend Jose.

She said, "Jose, can I borrow your car?"

"I need your car."

And Jose, of course,

"yeah, absolutely, you can borrow my car."

[Rebecca] They bring in Brenda

and they start interrogating her.

And she says, "Oh, but I wasn't driving the vehicle

and I have an alibi,

I was studying all day at the library

and I went to go eat at Chili's restaurant."

And "Oh, by the way, here's a receipt."

And she pulls a receipt right out from the top of her wallet

which is very suspicious to investigators

that she's got the receipt ready to go as her alibi.

And she tells police, first of all,

she has no idea who Kendra is, never heard of her.

There's nothing that indicates

that she would have anything to do with something like this.

She clearly isn't the shooter, and she tells them,

"Well, I loaned that car to my friend Crystal Cortez."

Crystal Cortez, she's a 23-year-old single mother.

She's someone that Brenda knew.

Both Crystal and Brenda met through being dental assistants.

They did know each other that way.

Crystal tells police, I was driving the Jeep

and I had my son in the back of the vehicle with me

and this guy, we see the shooting

and so I take off in the vehicle

because I was scared.

You know, I was afraid that he was gonna get us

and so that's her first version.

But then police are like, listen,

we got Brenda in the other room,

and you know, this isn't making sense.

And so she tells police different scenarios.

And Crystal tells them that she had been carjacked,

and that the carjacker made her drive into the garage,

and that her son was in the car at the time,

and that the car jacker killed Kendra.

And police are going through the video.

First of all, they don't see a kid in this vehicle at all,

and they look at the surveillance.

And it just doesn't make sense to them.

They're like, this is a very elaborate story.

Crystal, as police described later to me,

was a big liar.

[news] News 8's Rebecca Lopez joins us now live

with more fromú the family and Rebecca,

the latest on this murderú investigation is what?

[ Rebecca] News 8 has learnedúthat the suspect in this case

Crystal Cortez, is aú registered dental assistant.

We're not sure if that means that she knew

Dr. Kendra Hatcher before the murder.

We can tell you though that DPDúcontinues to search for answers

and continues to search for that shooter,

the man who took the lifeú of a very beloved dentist.

Eventually, they show her the video and they say,

"This is you driving this car and we know it's you."

And police are like, "Yeah, but Kendra ends up,

you know, shot to death, so what happened?"

She's not willing to tell them the truth,

but by this time, they've now gotten warrants

and they've confiscated their phones,

and they've seen that both of them have the same phone number

of... somebody.

And eventually, they run that phone number,

and it turns out to be Christopher Love.

[narrator] Christopher Love is a new name

and a far more dangerous connection.

[Glen] Christopher Love grew up in Memphis, Tennessee.

He moved to Dallas withú the mother of his children

and some of his kids.

He was living here

doing low level, type criminal law offences.

Christopher Love wanted to become

a bigger player in the Dallas drug scene,

probably in the Dallas trafficking scene.

Christopher Love, when he is arrested,

they confiscate his vehicle.

It's taken in to the Dallas Police Impound Lot.

They've got a search warrant for the vehicle.

And they're going through the car,

they take the car part and lo and behold,

there's the murder weapon.

They had the gun, literally the smoking gun.

Now to new informationú about a high profile murder,

in Dallas' uptown neighbourhood.

Police sayú Crystal Cortez admitted

that she drove a man to the garage

so he couldú carry ou that shooting.

Crystal and Christopher were in the car

and had actually staked out the garage.

And at one point, Crystal had to go pick up her son

from school or wherever he was,

and then she had to come back to this scene.

Crystal Cortez thinks Christopher Love,

who is masked in the back of her car, hiding,

is gonna jump out with a gun.

She knows that, but she thought it was just to scare Kendra.

She didn't know he was gonna kill her,

at least that's what she told investigators.

[Rebecca] That's what initially she claims the plan was

that they were just gonna steal her purse,

steal her identity, and they were gonna be gone.

And that was it.

And then something terribly went wrong.

[Kristin] Christopher Love shot Kendra in the head, execution.

She dies instantly.

Dr. Kendra Hatcher is a wonderful woman.

This woman was helping poor children, building churches,

And here she is, gunned-down execution style.

[narrator] By September 5, 2015,

Crystal Cortez is under arrest,

accused of taking part in Dr. Kendra Hatcher's murder

after investigators link her to the Jeep used in the killing.

A vehicle tied to her friend, Brenda Delgado.

Crystal has no criminal record,

and is a single mom.

She was a dental assistant, she had a son

and no criminal history.

She was just living a normal life

until Brenda Delgado came into her life.

She and Crystal would often spend the night together.

Well, eventually Crystal basically

throws Brenda under the bus and says,

"This is what happened, this is what she planned,

and this is what she told me."

Crystal Cortez tells police,

Brenda wanted me to scare Kendra Hatcher

by just stealing her purse

because she wanted her purse as she wanted her identity.

[narrator] Crystal Cortez tells police

that Brenda Delgado does know Kendra Hatcher.

She told Crystal Cortezú even that she hated Kendra.

Before the relationshipú with Ricky and Kendra,

Brenda and Ricky have beenúdating for two to three years,

and at the end of their relationship,

Ricky broke it off.

And she tells police that Brenda knew exactly who Kendra was.

News 8, obtained documents late this afternoon

that show authorities interest

in the woman Kendra Hatcher's boyfriend used today.

[Rebecca]ú We have exclusively obtained

three search warrants in this case,

and they seem to indicate thatú the motive for this murderer

may have been a jilted lover and jealousy.

[narrator] Brenda Delgado is Ricky"s ex.

[Glen] She had a relationship with Ricky Paniagua.

They had worked together,

they had lived together in the past,

but had broke up months before this incident.

Brenda Delgado met Ricky, or Ricardo Paniagua,

I think in 2012,

and she met on a dating site.

And she was somebody who grew up

as an immigrant from Mexico.

She had dual citizenship,

her family had some financial struggles.

Her dad was a factory worker.

And she was a very ambitious kid from all accounts.

She met Ricky.

She felt like he was absolutely the man of her dreams.

He... They got along. They were compatible.

And one of the things she loved about him

is the fact that he was a physician.

He was ambitious as well.

He was... he was just going somewhere.

They moved in together.

In early 2014, he had given her promise ring.

And I think for her,

she really thought this was the man I'm going to marry

and have a family with.

She made a lot of effort in that relationship to keep it going

and to be a good girlfriend and those kinds of things.

So when all of a sudden, to her, I think it was all of a sudden

when he broke up with her,

it was devastating to her.

She thought that they had a future.

And it was a little disturbing.

[Kristin] Friends say that at that point,

Brenda became obsessed.

[Rebecca] Brenda was stalking him and

was always around, that she didn't want to let go.

I don't even think he knew the level

at which Brenda was stalking him.

He didn't realise that she still had access

to his iCloud password

and was able to get inúand look at all his pictures.

She had an app on her phoneú that would track Ricky.

She's seeing all of these pictures.

In fact, on her phone there are pictures

of Kendra Hatcher and Ricky on the phone.

Brenda's friends say around this time,

she was mad.

She was mad all the time,

even just in her regular life, right?

Everything made her mad.

She would have looked at Kendra Hatcher

and said, "This is the person that I want to be,

this is a person who is a dentist, a real dentist,

not a dental hygienist, a dentist.

You know, this is a person who is from a middle-class family

in the Midwest.

She came obsessed with the relationship

between Kendra and Ricky,

because she was telling her friends,

she told Crystal Cortez even

that it was, she hated Kendra.

Crystal and Brenda met through being dental assistants.

Brenda would have Crystal over to her place

or she would go over to Crystal's.

In some ways, it was...

detectives implied

that Brenda was trying to lure this young single mom, Crystal,

to do exactly what she wanted to get rid of, Kendra.

Police right away start suspecting Brenda because

the only person with a motive in this scenario

is Brenda Delgado.

And they tell her that when they're interrogating her

because she's like, well, I don't know why

anybody would kill Kendra Hatcher

and I don't even know who she is.

But that's not true.

We know that you were jealous and we know that you're lying

and your motive is definitely jealousy

because you did not want them to have a relationship.

[narrator] News reports fromnWFAA includes footage of police

questioning Brenda Delgadoú on September 4th, 2015.

[Anchor] Listen how he tries to understand

how every piece of this investigation

from the car, to the victim, ú to the people involved,

centres around Brenda Delgado.

[police] My friend is borrowingú my other friend's Jeep,

and my ex-boyfriend'sú girlfriend gets killed.

I asked her, I said what were...

She said that she went to do errands

and that she was going to eat at that restaurant.

And that she went in and out,

like she went intoúa parking space and that's it.

And she had her kid with her, that's all.

[police] Well, there's more to the situation than that.

There really is. úThere's more to the situation

than somebody looking for a parking spot.

Somebody looking for a parking spot

never got anybody killed.

[Rebecca] I think that she thought

she was going to get away with it.

And I think that she thought that if Crystal has the vehicle,

then Crystal's just going to be the one that gets in trouble.

[narrator] Assistant District Attorney Glenn Fitzmartin

must decide where the greatest culpability lies.

Is it with Crystal Cortez, Brenda Delgado,

or Christopher Love?

We determined that Crystal Cortez,

although culpable and fully culpable,

was the least culpable of the individuals

that were involved.

Therefore, it was determined by the team

that we would try to make a deal with Crystal Cortez.

Crystal very much loved Brenda and would do anything for her.

And she knew that she was poor and she was a single mom.

And so Brenda used all of that to her advantage

and convinced Crystal for $500

to do this.

And Crystal, when they asked her,

you did this for $500?

She said, "yeah, you don't know what it's like to be poor,

$500 for me is a lot."

Brenda Delgado was looking for individuals to help her

to get to either Dr. Hatcher or Ricky Paniagua.

She had talked to some of her acquaintances,

some of her friends,

asked some people to hit her with a baseball bat,

hit him with a baseball bat.

She'd asked her roommate at the time

if she would inject her with a substance.

Anything to kind of get her out of the picture.

Some of these people told her,

"Drop it, you should let it go, leave it alone."

One woman, she had convinced to help out,

but then she abandoned the idea as well.

It wasn't until she was able to put together

these perfect couple of Crystal and Christopher

that she was able to carry out her scheme.

Christopher Love, he's a 31-year-old drug dealer

that she knows casually

and she convinces Christopher Love

that while I'm from Mexico and I know the Mexican drug cartel

and I'm going you a steady stream of drugs.

Oh, and I'll also pay you $3,000 for killing this woman.

But in addition to that, I'm also going to

get you all these drugs

you're going to become wealthy.

You're going to have this steady stream of drugs from Mexico.

So Brenda is at the heart of all of this.

I think there was an emotional attachment on Crystal's part

that she loved being around Brenda,

she loved the attitude that Brenda had

kind of her position with her family in the community.

And I think Crystal wanted all of that.

With Christopher, it was purely a monetary type arrangement.

He believed based on what Brenda was telling him

that she had connections with the cartel.

He saw those dollar signs his greed took over,

and he was more than willing to participate in this scheme.

She also had access to some cars.

She was able to drive a Mustang

that was one of her family members.

She drove a Lexus herself.

There was also a BMW that she had access to.

So I think when individuals see her flashing around money,

flashing around these different possessions,

they felt like she was actually able to provide

the connections that she said that she had.

[narrator] After hours of questioning,

in September 2015,

investigators are circling Brenda Delgado.

They believe she's at the centre of it,

but crucially, they still can't prove it.

And without that, she walks free.

There's not enough evidence to hold her

or arrest her for capital murder at this time.

So she had some outstanding traffic tickets.

She gets arrested on those outstanding traffic tickets.

But they were releasing people on those minor offences

pretty quickly.

But because they let her out within hours,

she's out the door.

I believe she knew that the noose was tightening around her.

Once Brenda Delgado realizes that police are coming for her,

she flees the country.

She goes to Mexico.

Brenda skips town, goes to Mexico,

and isn't seen for seven months.

We had learned early on that Brenda Delgado had fled.

The federal government,

along with the Dallas Police Department,

and our office worked to get her back from Mexico.

Eventually she was put on the FBI 10 Most Wanted List,

which opened up some funds, opened up some resources.

I mean, this is the list that Osama bin Laden was on.

These are the Ted Kaczynskis,

some really notoriousú terrorists are on this list,

and there's Brenda Delgado now on this list

with a $100,000 reward.

New developments aboutú the Dallas murder suspect

caught in Mexico.

Brenda Delgado just madeú the FBI's Most Wanted List

for the murder of dentistú Kendra Hatcher this week

and is already in jail.

Channel 8's Bradley Blackburnúis live in our Dallas newsroom

where we are learningú it could be quite some time

before Delgado returnsú to the US to face charges.

You know, it's been monthsú since this case started,

but it certainly moved quickly this week.

She was taken into custodyú yesterday in northern Mexico

after authorities trackedú her family cell phones.

Here in the US, she facesú a capital murder charge

for allegedly ordering the killing

of Dallas dentist, ú Kendra Hatcher last year.

All because Hatcher was datingú Delgado's ex-boyfriend.

Authorities call her a master manipulator

and say she fled to Mexicoú after they questioned her.

Delgado is a Mexican citizen

and we're told that could complicate

the extradition process.

Because Brenda had dual citizenship

and was a Mexican citizen and American citizen,

when she fled to Mexico,

Mexico, because they do not have the death penalty

would not extradite her unless there was a deal

that they would not seek the death penalty against her.

Mexico will not extradite one of their citizens

or anybody who is arrested in Mexico.

Unless we, as the state of Texas, will agree

not to seek the death penalty on that individual.

We did sign that agreement.

We did the paperwork to bring her back.

And working with the Mexican authorities,

we were able to extradite her.

[narrator] On April 8th, 2016,

Brenda Delgado is brought back to America.

Police call the "mastermind"

in the murder of Dallasú dentist Kendra Hatcher

is expected to land inú Texas at any moment now.

Mexican authorities extradited Brenda Delgado today,

six months after her arrest.

Rebecca Lopez has been followingúthe story since the beginning.

She's live at the county jailú with much more, Rebecca.

Well, Mexican authorities turnedúBrenda Delgado over to the FBI

at the Mexican International Airport earlier today

and they have been en route back here to Dallas.

They sent in FBI agents

and the Mexican police, Mexican authorities,

picked her up and brought her to the United States.

I was actually at the Sheriff's Department

when they brought her in in handcuffs.

And they took her out of the van,

and they almost kind of paraded her.

Once she arrives around six o'clock or so,

she will be turned over toúthe Dallas Police Department.

DPD will bring her here to the jail

where she will wait untilú she stands trial for murder.

She's been on the run since last September,

Brenda Delgado fled to herú native country of Mexico

shortly after the murder of Dr. Kendra Hatcher.

[narrator] Now, prosecutors must prove to an American court

that Brenda Delgado didn't just play a part,

but orchestrated the murder of Kendra Hatcher.

I was part of the trial team.

I was brought in to select jury

and to work up the cases for trial.

[narrator] In October 2018,

Christopher Love is first to face a jury

for the murder of Kendra Hatcher.

I was at the trial,

they triedú Christopher Love first.

I think they wanted, I thinkú one of the prosecutors,

one of the DAs, ú called that the "appetizer"

for Brenda Delgado's case.

But they wanted Christopher Love on the stand

and/or convicted before they got to Brenda.

[news] Tears from the family of Dr. Kendra Hatcher

as they left the courtroom today.

This was moments after a jury convicted her killer,

Christopher Love.

Prosecutors brought in more than two dozen witnesses

to prove that Love was the gunman

in this murder-for-higher case.

Co-defendant Crystal Cortez testified

that they planned the murder for weeks.

She says it was part of a plot,

master-minded by Brenda Delgado,

who was upset that Dr. Hatcher

was dating her ex-boyfriend.

I hope you come to appreciate

the horrific nature of this offence.

There's no reason in the world that Dr. Hatcher should be dead.

She's dead for a really stupid and disgusting reason.

And that man participated in it.

[news] Crystal Cortez cut a deal

for a 35-year prison sentence for her testimony.

Crystal Cortez, for years, has denied

she was part of the murder plot to kill Dr. Kendra Hatcher.

Tuesday morning, she confessed she was a part of it all.

Probably two weeks after I met Brenda,

we started planning this murder.

[news] She went into detail on what happened

on the day of the murder.

Now she and Christoper Love

waited for Dr. Hatcher at her apartment.

There's a picture showing the Jeep

they were in at the location.

He exits the vehicle and I hear Kendra's scream,

"help help help me",

and then I heard the shots fire.

[Anchor] After the murder she says Delgado called her.

She asked me if the task is complete,

meaning did we commit the murder?

[Anchor] Later, the two of them posed for a selfie

and Cortez took a picture of $500

shaped in a heart.

That was my payment for completing the task of driving

Christopher Love to kill Kendra Hatcher.

Crystal Cortez when she's been given the $500 by Kendra,

she makes the the money into the shape of a heart

and she takes a picture with the money

that she's been paid by Brenda Delgado

to commit this crime,

and she's posing with the dollar bills

or the, you know, these 500 dollars

in the shape of a heart and she's smiling

and displaying these dollar bills

that are heart shaped at this point.

I mean, and that just seemed so callous.

Who takes a picture with the money

after this woman is dead in the shape of a heart

and takes a selfie with it.

As much as Crystal tried to act like

she was the innocent person in all this,

she was pretty cold blooded.

[narrator] While Cortez gets 35 years,

Christopher Love as the shooter

is sentenced to death.

[news] No Dallas County jury hasú sent someone to death row

since 2013.

The punishment phase begins on Monday morning.

It was pretty evident.

The evidence was pretty overwhelming

that he committed this.

And so I don't think they had much to work with

in the guilt and innocence phase.

So their focus I think was more on the punishment phase.

In this case, the jury assessed his punishment

at death by lethal injection.

500 dollars and drugs, are you kidding me?

[news] Last fall at Love's sentencing,

Ashley Turner said, her baby sister

would have given so much more to save her own life.

Now, a jury will decide if Brenda Delgado

will spend the rest of hers in prison.

[narrator] The capital murder trial of Brenda Delgado

begins on June 3rd, 2019.

One of the most moving parts of the trial,

in Brenda's trial, was when

Kendra Hatcher's sister took the stand.

And she is having to face Brenda Delgado.

And she is just crying like, why would you take her from me?

[narrator] Ricky, Kendra Hatcher"s boyfriend,

and Brenda Delgado's ex, soon takes the stand as well.

[Rebecca] And then Ricky took the stand.

And Ricky had not faced Brenda Delgado since this happened.

And he's on the stand and he won't even look at her.

Like he is just straight ahead, won't look at Brenda.

He at one point, they ask him,

do you recognize the suspect Brenda Delgado?

And he's like, yes, I know who she is.

Well, can you identify her in the courtroom?

Which is common.

And he's forced to look at her.

And that's the first time that they lock eyes.

And then he identifies her and he looks back

and he is visibly shaken, like almost at tears.

Our David Goins was in the courtroom today

and prosecutors brought in witness after witness.

David, all claiming Brenda Delgado

tried to get them involved too.

One witness Jennifer Escobar told jurors

she was offered $2,000, drugs, and a car

if she would kill Hatcher and put Delgado's ex-boyfriend

Ricardo Paniagua in a coma.

For Kendra Hatcher, an injection needle,

to put it in her back of her neck.

She just wanted to eliminate Kendra Hatcher

or even both of them.

[Rebecca] Brenda didn't take the stand.

She actually had a very good lawyer.

A guy by the name of George Milner.

He is a very high profile lawyer in Dallas

and I kept asking him before trial,

what is going to be your defence?

I mean, you've got Christopher Love

already convicted of being the hitman

and you've got Crystal Cortez in jail.

And he said, "well, you know, you'll see".

And really at the end the day,

his defence was Crystal Cortez is lying.

You can't believe anything she says.

And so is Christopher Love.

But that didn't fly with the jury.

He really didn't have a defence for Brenda Delgado.

I've covered a lot of trials in my career.

I mean, dozens and dozens and dozens,

high profile trials, trials with serial killers,

trials with all kinds of people.

This was the fastest verdict I have ever seen in my career.

They came back in 18 minutes.

[news] We're following up on breaking news,

a verdict in a murder-for-hire trial.

The jury found Brenda Delgado guilty of capital murder

for hiring a hitman to kill Kendra Hatcher.

That means Delgado will spendthe rest of her life in prison.

It only took a matter of minutes for the verdict to come back.

And we're going to have a reaction today at 4 o'clock.

Ultimately, when the verdict is read,

there's a great amount of relief that your part in the case.

You did what you needed to do.

You're never going to bring the individual back for the victims,

but at least you've delivered a bit of justice to them.

[narrator] On June 7th, Delgado receives her sentence.

I have no doubt

that if Brenda Delgado had not fled to Mexico

and we didn't have to agreeú with the Mexican government,

not to give her the death penalty,

she would have gotten it.

She is the mastermind of this entire thing.

Brenda Delgado is going to spend life in prison.

She's not going to have the death penalty,

but she will be in prison for life.

You realize that Brenda,

she went into a complete mental crisis

and didn't know how to cope.

She didn't have the coping skills

to know how to deal with the loss of Ricky

and what it meant to her and her life

and thus she reacted this way.

Not to give her any kind of empathy or compassion at all,

but she definitely had some mental health issues.

Christopher Love pulled the trigger.

And I'm sure he regrets every single moment of the day

that he got involved with Brenda Delgado.

Crystal Cortez made a really dumb decision.

She just believed this person

and believed that this was what the plan was

and now look, 35 years in prison.

So, but at the heart of this is Brenda Delgado.

Kendra Hatcher in no way deserved this

and Neither did Ricky, you know

Ricky is also a victim in this.

He lost this woman who was at that point,

the love of his life.

You know, if Brenda Delgado was going through something,

she should have gotten therapy.

Gotten therapy, gotten on some meds,

done some reading, some self-care.

Not develop this plan to murder a good human being.

It would be so nice if we couldú always look at a crime,

a violent crime and kind of go,

"Oh, here they were, ú here were the red flags."

We don't see those in this case.

And certainly, Kendra Hatcher had never met this woman.

And as far as Ricky was concerned,

I think Brenda put on this really good front.

So while I would love to be able to say

here are the three red flags in this situation,

I don't know that either one of them

could have seen that coming.