Original subtitles

He was shot minutes before we walked in the door,

which is scary.

What would have happened if we were there?

Narrator: A vicious murder.

It was obvious whoever wanted to kill him was very angry

because they probably could have shot him once or twice,

but they had emptied the magazine into him.

Narrator: A dark mystery with multiple suspects.

Colwell: You know, they just didn't get along.

They were fighting all the time.

Slaman: Maybe an argument took place.

Maybe a disagreement took place.

Colwell: He said, you know, "hey, what are you looking at?

You're staring at me," and he pulled out a gun.

Narrator: The truth will be revealed.

Colwell: We know that that last phone call actually

came from after John was already found dead,

so I think that phone call came from the guy

that killed him.

Narrator: Every day in North America,

dozens of people are murdered.

The key to solving the toughest of these homicides

lies in the final 24 hours of the victim's life.

To crack the case,

detectives must reconstruct that critical timeline,

the minutes and hours containing evidence

that can help unlock the mystery

and catch the killer.

Sylvania township, a quaint, close-knit town

bordering Toledo, Ohio.

Slaman: People are happy out here.

In christmastime, the neighborhoods are all lit up.

You can tell the festivities

for the holidays are coming around.

Every neighborhood tries to outdo the next neighborhood.

Colwell: We've always been fairly lucky --

we haven't had that many homicides.

Probably the majority of calls that

we get are domestic violences,

and we get a lot of burglary calls.

Narrator: But on a quiet afternoon,

just ten days before Christmas,

two young girls make a grisly discovery.

Alessandrini: I was 13, and my sister Nicole was 12.

We were both in the same school at the time.

We were the last kids off the bus,

and we got home -- our dad's car's in the driveway.

I thought, "I forgot my keys in the house,

and thank god dad's home."

So we try to, you know, walk in the front door.

The front door is locked.

Okay, maybe he's napping.

Knock on the door. Nothing.

I go to the backdoor.

Still no answer.

We look inside, try to see what was going on.

My sister Nicole says, "dad's on the floor."

I was like, "what do you mean he's on the floor?"

She goes, "dad's on the floor. He's not moving."

There's a front window on the house.

There wasn't a lock on it, so I pushed the window open

and got my sister inside.

She unlocked the front door and we looked at our dad.

He wasn't breathing. He was blue.

At first, we thought he actually had committed suicide.

I dialed 911.

911, what's your emergency?

Alessandrini: I was scared.

I didn't know what was going on.

The 911 operator told US we needed to go outside,

because, of course, she doesn't know what's going on.

And within minutes, we had police officers

in our driveway.

Narrator: Veteran homicide detectives

Todd slaman and Robert colwell

are called to the scene to investigate.

Colwell: When the 911 call came in,

I was actually sitting in my office

in the detective bureau, and,

originally, I was told by the dispatcher that there was

a possible suicide.

And then shortly after that, there was an update

possibly that this was a homicide.

So that led US to believe that this

was not gonna be standard, regular investigation.

When we first arrived on the scene, Mr. Riebe

was laying there on the floor.

He was on his side, face down.

There was a guitar that was laying there by the body,

so you could tell this was not a suicide.

He was shot seven times.

He had several bullet wounds,

some of the wounds hit his shoulder,

one wound hit his hip,

but the wound that really killed him

had hit him directly right in the heart.

Slaman: This crime stood out.

That John riebe was shot this many times

in the middle of the daytime, that stood out.

There was the violence of it.

Arntfield: When we see someone shot seven times,

this is overkill.

Many firearms actually only have

a magazine that will hold six or seven rounds,

so someone literally emptied a gun into this man.

That is not a restrained, tactical murder.

That is a rage murder.

Narrator: John riebe was a 39-year-old

single father taking care of his two daughters.

My dad was the normal, you know, guy.

Loved football. He was a bowler.

He golfed.

He was very family-oriented.

He loved spending time with US,

doing things with my sister and I.

He was a great guy.

He met my mom at a gas station,

and he said, "nice truck."

And they swapped numbers, and then they dated

about five years before they got married,

and then I was born three years later, and my sister

15 months after that.

It was more him doing everything for US.

My mom wasn't in the picture as much as she should have been.

My dad just

finally said, "enough is enough," and, "leave,

and I'll raise the kids myself."

Narrator: John was self-employed as

a heating and air conditioning installer.

Money was tight, but he did everything

he could to provide for his daughters.

Alessandrini: My dad loved Christmas.

We were supposed to go get a Christmas tree that night.

Our house was actually a pretty small house,

but every year, my dad always got

the biggest, bushiest tree that he could find.

He would get up in the morning

and cook breakfast -- like, a big breakfast.

Always said, "breakfast before presents."

It was awesome. He loved it.

When they told US that he was shot,

I was shocked, like, "what do you mean?

No, that can't be possible. Who would do it?"

And, you know, I just wanted to know why

somebody would do that to my dad.

Narrator: To find John riebe's killer,

detectives must unravel

the last 24 hours of his life,

beginning with the crime scene.

Slaman: We started processing the scene, and,

we found casings on the floor,

gunshot casings.

The casings have the caliber of

the gun on the back of the casings.

Colwell: It was a 380 semi-automatic weapon.

They're small guns

you could just carry in your pocket,

so we knew what kind of gun

we were looking for at that point in time.

Narrator: When they scour the house,

police don't locate the gun,

but they do make some important discoveries.

Slaman: There was no sign of a struggle.

John was -- we're assuming he was playing the guitar.

He was probably sitting,

so John may have not known it was coming,

and there was no signs of any forced entry,

so we believe whoever shot John riebe,

John riebe may have known.

At the scene, the blood that was on the body was not dry,

and his body was still somewhat limber.

The flesh was still soft.

That led US to believe the crime was fairly recent.

It definitely happened in the last couple of hours.

Narrator: Detectives talk to John's daughters,

hoping to pin down

his final movements in the hours before his murder.

That day, my sister and I,

we got up for school and, you know,

the normal, brush your teeth, eat.

You know, dad was saying, "grab your backpack.

Don't miss the bus."

He told US, "I'm going to work.

I should be home when you guys get home."

We said, "okay, have a good day."

Reiter: After school let out, they got on the bus

and were dropped off near their house

at approximately 3:15 P.M. that day.

Slaman: At 3:22, seven minutes later,

the 911 call comes in from Jamie and Nicole

finding their dad

dead, shot seven times.

We're looking back and putting the whole timeline together.

Narrator: From John's daughters'

information and the state of the body at the crime scene,

detectives believe John was killed between 8 A.M.

When the girls left for school and 3:21 P.M.,

when they found him dead on the floor.

Alessandrini: The detectives wanted to know,

"do you have any clue what your dad did today?"

Like, "no, I was at school.

"He said he was going to work.

I'm not sure what he did."

Narrator: Needing to pin down John's movements that day,

investigators turn to his friend, Eric babos,

who sometimes assisted him at work.

Reiter: Eric babos was the handyman for John riebe

in the jobs that he did for the air conditioning

and heating company.

Eric and John went to high school together,

so they were longtime friends.

Slaman: Eric babos was low-key.

He was wanting to give US information.

He wanted to help US.

Narrator: But Eric tells detectives he didn't see

or talk to John the day of the murder.

Colwell: Eric advises US, December the 15th,

John was not working, and he was taking that day off.

And Eric was working at his brother's house,

which is about 3.5, 4 miles away from John riebe's house.

He advised US he'd been there all day.

Narrator: With no leads from Eric,

detectives turn their attention

to John's estranged wife, Lisa.

Arntfield: An ex-wife, an ex-husband,

um, an estranged spouse,

this is someone who,

in most circumstances, needs to be excluded

as being a suspect

and is a person of interest almost by default.

You need to look at what were

the dynamics of this relationship?

What were any strains or stresses on the relationship?

What we had heard from the girls is that, you know,

they just didn't get along, they were fighting all the time.

Alessandrini: My mom was around for birthdays and christmases

and holidays.

They kept in touch, 'cause, you know,

we're her kids, but there was a lot of fighting.

Maybe there was some sort of vendetta

or personal argument that had evolved to a certain

level where she got angry and perpetrated violence

that erupted in this horrible killing.

Narrator: Hours after John riebe

is found dead, police question his estranged wife, Lisa.

Slaman: Lisa was very upset.

She was emotionally distraught,

seeing her daughters in that state of being so upset.

She was visibly shaken.

Some suspects will go too far,

will go over the top, excessive grief.

Um, excessive theatricality.

It could have a number of motives behind it,

but everyone deals with grief differently.

So without knowing what that person's baseline

responses to trauma and what their triggers are,

you always need to dig deeper.

Narrator: To find out whether Lisa could have killed John,

investigators need to establish motive

and whether she had the opportunity.

Colwell: Maybe there was some kind of domestic issue between

the two of them -- we're looking to find out

where was she that day? What was she doing that day?

Was she the last person to see John?

Lisa said that she last talked

to John around 11:46 that morning.

Narrator: With this new piece of information,

detectives rework the timeline for

the hours before John's murder.

Arntfield: A phone call can help build a victim's timeline

much like any device-related activity.

It leaves a trail -- it provides a definitive

place where they are last seen and heard from.

And the contents of that communication can also be

very important.

Slaman: They had talked about going out possibly

the next night, getting some Christmas gifts for the girls.

She said that there was no duress, no anger.

Narrator: Detectives look into Lisa's story

and work to verify her alibi.

Lisa was a receptionist, and Lisa said

that she was at work that day.

There was a couple witnesses there that had said,

yeah, she was there at the timeframe

that we were looking at.

And when the girls called her and told her what was going on,

she left early and went right over to John's house.

Narrator: With Lisa at work all day,

detectives determined she couldn't be involved in

John's murder,

and she's no longer considered a suspect.

They were separated, but Lisa

would describe John as a good father.

He took care of the girls.

You come into a lot of homes where the common denominator

is the kids.

I think John and Lisa had that type of relationship.

Narrator: Lisa then offers up a piece of information

that sheds new light on the investigation.

Colwell: Well, in the meantime, she had checked

her phone messages, and she had realized that

John had left her two voice messages just, you know,

a minute before three o'clock that day.

And she played both those messages for US.

Reiter: John riebe had called his ex-wife,

asking her if she could go

to the heating and air conditioning business in

Toledo and pick up a check that was waiting for him for

a project that he had done earlier in the week.

And then within a minute, minute and a half,

he called back -- right back,

he says, "hey, Lisa, someone is waiting for his money.

I need you to go pick up this check."

There was a level of urgency to the second phone call.

It was more,

"hey, Lisa, why haven't you called me back?

"I need you, I'll explain it to you,

"but I need you to call me back.

I got someone here waiting."

So...

You know, there was definitely a different tone.

Colwell: This was before cellphones really had taken off,

so a lot of this was land lines,

and you knew exactly where the person was.

John had called her from his house at that time.

Narrator: These phone calls are

a significant development in the case

and further narrow down the timeline.

Slaman: From the phone calls,

we know that John was alive at 2:58.

We know that John was alive at 2:59.

We know John was found dead

at 3:21.

So whoever shot and killed John,

it was in that timeline.

Now we have a 22-minute timeframe

that we're dealing with.

Narrator: But it's what detectives hear next

that turns the case on its head.

At the 2:59 phone call,

you could hear something in the background.

You could hear a second male's voice.

That's when you also -- you can hear John say,

"I've got someone here."

Colwell: So we know he's in --

he's in the house with someone, and that someone is probably

the person that kills John,

because 20 minutes from that message,

he's found dead by his two daughters.

Narrator: Detectives now believe

if they can identify the background voice

on the phone message, they'll find their killer.

At that particular time,

um, I was involved with an FBI task force in northwest Ohio,

and we had access to Quantico, Virginia,

through our office.

So we sent the tapes to Quantico

to try to get them enhanced

so they could identify who's in the background.

The FBI had voice analysis, but the FBI was unable

to determine who that person was.

Narrator: Getting no more information

about the background voice,

detectives ask Lisa, John's ex, about his enemies.

Slaman: Lisa advises that the only person

John had arguments with was Chuck

from the heating and air conditioning company

that John had subcontracted for.

Chuck owed John

some money for completing the job.

John was very upset.

Maybe an argument took place.

Maybe a disagreement took place.

So Chuck became a person of interest

at that time.

Alessandrini: He did owe my dad money

from just previous jobs.

I didn't know if there was, like,

something going on with them.

Narrator: With suspicion swirling around

John's business associate, Chuck,

detectives pay him a visit at his hvac company.

Colwell: He was the guy that was in charge,

very confident in himself,

and he definitely wanted things done his way.

Narrator: When police ask about his relationship with John,

Chuck admits to owing him $500.

Slaman: Chuck dealt with subcontractors,

and he had learned that you don't pay your subcontractors

until the job's done or else they wouldn't

complete the project.

He thought not only John, but all other subcontractors,

if you prepaid them, they wouldn't get the job done.

But Chuck said that John had completed the job

the week before, and he actually had a check waiting for him.

Narrator: Chuck tells detectives about a series of phone calls

he had with John, all near the time of John's death.

The first phone call, I believe, was at 3:03,

and John wanted to know if he could send someone else to

pick the checks up.

And Chuck said,

"no, you have to come down and get the checks."

There was another phone call at 3:05.

John was saying, "hey, can I send someone else down?"

"No, you can't.

You have to come down and get the check."

Narrator: Eight minutes later, the phone rang again.

The next phone call,

there were two voices on the phone,

and the second voice says,

"hey, John owes me money.

It's 150 bucks, so I'm gonna come down and get the check."

That call was it 3:13,

and that's the one where Chuck said to the guy,

"hey, I told you before. I'm not changing my mind.

John has to come down and get the check."

The phone went dead. He actually hung up on him.

Narrator: Chuck tells detectives he didn't recognize

the other person on the phone.

He shares his company's phone records

to prove he's telling the truth.

Colwell: Chuck said he was in his office that day,

and he was with his employee.

The phone records tell US that they had multiple phone calls,

so we knew they were at their business.

Narrator: With the company's phone records and Chuck's

statements clearing him

from the murder, detectives colwell and slaman

now look at the implications of his story.

We narrowed down the timeframe from the phone calls.

So now we got an eight-minute timeframe

that we're dealing with.

Arntfield: The timeline in this case is remarkably tight.

We have a series of telephone calls and then, minutes later,

his two daughters coming home.

That you can't help but question whether his daughters

actually crossed paths with the killer,

and if they were just a couple of minutes earlier,

if they, too, would have been victims themselves.

Alessandrini: He was shot minutes before we walked

in the door, which is scary.

What if the bus had gone a different route that day,

and we get dropped off first instead of last?

We could have been there, walking in the door.

What would have happened if we were there?

Narrator: Working with a timeline of

just eight minutes, from 3:13 to 3:21 pm,

detectives need to uncover the identity of the man

with John the afternoon he was murdered.

What are the odds that somebody else gained access to

the home and killed him

in that same length of time and was still able to escape?

It really leaves only one possibility,

and that's the other man that was on the phone at 3:13.

Colwell: It was an incredibly tight timeline at this point,

and now it's just a matter of trying to --

to figure out who that person that was in the house.

Narrator: As business owner, Chuck, is wrapping up his interview,

he drops a bombshell, telling police that at 4:06 P.M.,

he received a final call.

Slaman: Chuck says it's the same person.

So this same guy calls again and says, "hey,

"John's in the hospital.

I need to come down and get the check."

And that's when Chuck said,

"when John's out of the hospital,

he can come and get it."

Not that Chuck believed him.

Colwell: That last phone call came in

after John was already found dead.

Chuck told US that was the same guy that was connected

with those other calls from John riebe's house,

so we believe that last phone call

came from the person that killed John.

Narrator: As police wait for a trace on the phone call,

they circle back to the crime scene,

looking for any new clues.

Colwell: The girls had never seen anybody leaving

as they were coming home.

We talked to the bus driver, and the bus driver

didn't remember seeing anybody leaving the scene.

Slaman: Where the house was,

it was a very busy road.

We combed the neighborhood, and, no --

no one saw or heard anything.

Narrator: With no new witnesses or leads,

the investigation hits a wall.

You get a little set back.

It would be much easier in a case

if, you know, a neighbor two doors down

would've said, "hey, I saw this guy running out of the house."

You know, that would have been huge.

But, um, there was nothing.

It was extremely difficult. It was extremely difficult.

Narrator: Then they get an unexpected break.

Colwell: I got a phone call from Eric babos.

He advised me that he might have

some information that would assist in our investigation.

Narrator: Eric tells police he had been at a party

at John's house the Friday before his murder

when a man came in he didn't recognize.

He told US that there was a guy that came in there,

and he was delivering drugs, and said that his name was j.R.,

and then when he was leaving, j.R. Said,

"you know, hey, what are you looking at?

You're staring at me."

And he pulled out a gun, and he pointed it at John

and Eric and threatened them.

John riebe was a dedicated father.

He took care of his daughters.

But John riebe also liked to party.

He liked the night life.

He, - he, drank.

He used drugs on occasion.

Colwell: We got John's phone to see who he had talked to

the day of the 15th -- when we were

looking at phone records, you could see that John

had called j.R.

Narrator: Detectives now zero in

on a new suspect in John's murder --

local drug dealer, j.R.

Reiter: Sylvania township police detectives,

when they were told that j.R.

Was a drug dealer, they thought that perhaps

he had something to do with the crime.

And maybe John riebe owed him money for the drugs.

Narrator: Police ask John's friend Eric

to come down to the station again,

hoping he can help identify j.R.

Slaman: Eric described him as a big guy.

He was imposing, kind of short-cropped hair,

well built, and he brandished a gun,

but he didn't recognize him.

Narrator: When detectives run the name

j.r. Through the database,

they discover his real name is valynn Rodgers,

and he's been arrested for an unrelated crime.

So myself and sergeant colwell, we went down to Lucas county

sheriff's department,

and we did an interview with him in a --

in a back conference room, and we actually sat

and talked with valynn Rodgers about John riebe.

Valynn Rodgers was a big guy.

He took care of himself. He obviously worked out.

Narrator: When detectives question valynn about the day

of John's murder,

he says he was visiting a friend 11 miles away.

According to valynn, the last time he spoke

with John was on the 10th.

That was the last time he said he'd seen him alive.

The day of the homicide, John was trying to score

some dope and had called valynn Rodgers, but...

They never connected.

Colwell: From the phone records, you could see

where it went the voicemail,

so we knew that that information

that valynn Rodgers was giving US was true.

Narrator: Valynn also denies waving

a gun around at John's party.

Valynn says, "I was at the party.

"I scored -- I scored some -- some dope for John.

I was in and out."

He said he liked John riebe.

He said he always had the money,

it was a simple transaction.

"Why would I kill him?"

Narrator: Detectives track down friends of valynn Rodgers,

and they confirm they were with him in another town until

4 P.M. on the day John was murdered.

Detectives also look closer at Rodgers' activities

the night of the party.

There was another person that Eric said was at the party,

so we called him up and basically said, "hey,

can you come in and talk to US for a little bit?"

And we ask him, "did some guy come there and deliver drugs?"

He said, "yeah, some guy came, he brought some drugs."

And I asked him, did he pull out a gun

and threatened -- threaten you guys, and he said,

"no, there was no guy with a gun."

So at that point, we know that the story

Eric babos came to tell US that night was a complete lie.

Narrator: Now investigators turn their attention back

to John's longtime friend,

Eric babos and discover he's got a criminal past.

Colwell: He had a drug and alcohol problem.

He had some dui arrests.

He had a temper problem. He had domestic violences.

His wife had moved out on him.

His kid wasn't staying with him anymore.

He was a guy that was, you know, kind of down and out.

My dad helped him out a lot.

Like, he had a kid younger than US,

and my dad helped him, like, "hey, you know,

"I know you don't have any work right now.

"You can help me out, and I'll pay you

to, you know, grab my tools, help me carry things."

Narrator: The more detectives learn about Eric,

the more red flags they find.

Colwell: The girls thought Eric was

not a good influence on their dad.

You know, he partied too much, and they never liked him.

They thought he was --

he acted strange around them.

He was kind of weird, but not anything where

I thought he would ever do anything like this,

like, shoot my dad.

Narrator: Investigators have zeroed in on John riebe's

longtime friend, Eric babos,

as their prime suspect in his murder.

Slaman: Eric's alibi was that he was

renovating his brother's house.

It was on westacre, which is about, you know,

three and a half, four miles from the crime scene.

And he said he was dropped off by his father around

10-ish and picked up by his brother

around 4:30 that afternoon,

and he had never left the house.

Narrator: Detectives colwell and slaman

reach out to Eric's family,

asking if they can confirm the handyman's alibi.

They were saying, "yeah, we dropped him off and

picked him up." But...

During the timeframe

of the murder, he's unaccounted for.

Eric babos was at the house alone the whole day,

and so he couldn't get anyone to

substantiate the alibi that he was there.

He could have, at any time,

gotten a ride from somebody else, ridden his bike,

or walked to John riebe's house.

Narrator: Through John's phone records,

detectives catch Eric in another lie.

Slaman: Eric said that he had last spoken with John the day

before the homicide, and that he had not been there that day,

he had not talked to John that day.

But from the phone records, that's a lie.

He spoke to John that -- the day of the homicide.

He spoke to him in the morning,

around eight in the morning, then he called him around

11-ish.

Narrator: Investigators confront Eric with this information,

and his story changes.

He admitted to US that he did talk to John that morning,

and he said he wanted to know if they were gonna go work

that day.

Eric said John told him, "you know,

"I'm gonna have some coffee, I'm gonna,

you know, see what's going on.

I don't know if I'm working today or not."

And then Eric said, you know, "we got to get paid."

And John said, "yeah, yeah, I'll get with you later on it."

So we knew they were talking to each other on the phone.

Thomas: Once you start lying to investigators,

they are gonna

lay hard on that person and start to look at everything

they've said, and they're gonna keep digging.

Narrator: Suspicion about Eric keeps growing

as Jamie remembers something unusual that

happened the day of her father's murder.

Eric called my house and actually asked for my dad.

And I said,

"well, no, my dad can't come to the phone right now.

"Something's going on."

And he's saying, "I want my money. I want my money."

It's $150.

Like, why?

All of a sudden you're calling and asking for money?

Slaman: Eric said he called, because he wanted to

get the $150, because he promised his son

that he was gonna take him Christmas shopping,

so he wanted that money right away.

We know that John called Lisa before three o'clock that day

and left her a voice message

and said there was a guy waiting there, and he's waiting

to get his money.

Now we find out Eric wanted to get his money.

So Eric babos actually kind of gave US his motive.

Narrator: Having identified a motive,

detectives take a closer look at Eric's movements

on the day John was killed.

Colwell: We went to his brother's house

where he was supposed to be working that day,

to see if there was work going on,

those kind of things.

It was kind of unusual, because there was a bike

in the side yard there, and you could tell

by the tracks in the snow that someone had been riding

that bike in the last day.

I actually had my son, who was 11 years old at the time,

and I had him ride a bicycle from Eric's

brother's house to John riebe's house and timed him,

and there's two or three different ways you could go to

do it, my son was able to do it in about 20, 25 minutes,

so we knew Eric could do it easily there and back.

Narrator: John was killed between 3:13

and 3:21 in the afternoon,

and Eric babos's alibi for that timeframe

isn't holding up.

Colwell: He puts himself at this house doing work.

He said he was going out, back and forth,

taking stuff out to the trash can.

We checked both the neighbors that were next to this house

and said, "did you ever see Eric babos there?"

These people knew Eric because he had actually lived

in that house for a while, and they said, "no,

we never saw Eric that day."

Narrator: With Eric in their crosshairs,

detectives get a search warrant for his home and phone,

looking for evidence that connects him to John's murder.

Slaman: Well, you're searching for anything,

a gun or clothing items with some bloodstains

or something, maybe it was on the clothes,

maybe unaccounted for money,

maybe a check stub, or anything that can

link to the crime.

Narrator: But investigators aren't able

to locate the gun that killed John riebe

or any items that yield physical evidence.

It would be pretty rare

or stupid of someone to shoot somebody seven times

and then hold on to that gun.

That gun, I'm sure, is in a river somewhere.

Alessandrini: I'm still thinking it's not real,

like,

why is this happening?

Waiting for answers, waiting for

what really happened.

Pretty much

twisted our whole world around.

It's horrible.

Narrator: While detectives have established

that Eric had the motive and opportunity to kill John,

they don't have physical evidence tying him

to the murder.

They revisit the timeline and learn that at 4:15 P.M.,

Eric's brother took him to the bank

and hardware store after picking him up that day.

There was a video camera at the bank, and there was

a video camera at the department store he was in.

Reiter: The police detectives were able to determine

what Eric babos was wearing that day

through video that was taken.

Narrator: Detectives get another search warrant,

this one specifically for the clothing Eric was wearing

on December 15th, the day of the crime.

We sent that shirt that he was wearing to the lab,

and it came back with gunshot residue on that.

It was on the left sleeve, which made sense,

because the way the gun would reject,

it would probably spray his left sleeve.

I mean, this was an investigator's dream.

Narrator: After discovering physical evidence linking

Eric babos to the murder of John riebe,

detectives colwell and slaman set a trap

for their prime suspect.

Colwell: We asked Eric babos, would there be a reason,

you know, you would have something on that shirt,

you know, do you sport shoot?

Or, you know, do you skeet shoot?

Are you a hunter or something like that?

"No, no, I don't do any -- I don't own any guns."

You know, he locked himself into that.

Narrator: Investigators are certain Eric

is their killer,

but they still don't have enough evidence

to make an arrest.

You don't always have an offender on video

pulling the trigger, you don't always have DNA.

Cases are built a brick at a time,

and when you don't have enough circumstantial evidence,

that's when you may not get convictions.

Narrator: Detectives slaman and colwell

fear Eric might get away with murder.

Then they get the break they've been waiting for.

Chuck had advised US that there was that last phone call where

someone was trying to get paid, trying to get the money.

So we got Eric's phone records for December the 15th.

We saw that that phone call

actually came from Eric babos's cellphone.

He called and asked for the money again.

So that last phone call that after -- John was

already found dead came from Eric's phone.

Slaman: That was huge.

That was a huge significant break in the case,

because now we have Eric babos

that's been identified by Chuck.

He said,

"that's the same person who said,

'i want to come down and get the check.'"

there's only one person that was connected to that --

John's helper, Eric babos.

Narrator: On December 29, 2004,

just four days after Christmas,

detectives arrest Eric babos for John riebe's murder.

We went and knocked on the door, and I remember he came down,

walked down the steps, and sat on the steps.

And we told him,

"we have an arrest for aggravated murder."

And he just got up and put his hands behind his back.

And that 100% reinforced that we had the right guy.

It was Eric babos.

Narrator: Detectives are now able to reconstruct

the final 24 hours of John's life.

Slaman: The morning of the homicide,

John riebe gets his kids off to school.

Around eight o'clock, he gets them off to the bus.

And he spoke to Lisa around 11:46 that morning.

You know, John's -- you know, stays in,

and he's got that urge to party a little bit.

So John called valynn Rodgers, but...

They never connected.

Two o'clock,

Eric, who's been dropped off at his brother's house

on westacre, decides

"I'm gonna go over there.

I'm gonna confront John because I want my money."

During that time, before three o'clock in the afternoon,

Eric gets inside the house and confronts John.

"Hey, I need this 150 bucks. We did a job for you.

I worked for you. I want my money."

Colwell: John, at that time, tried to appease him

and reached out to

the ex-wife, Lisa, to see if she would go get the money.

And he was unable to make contact with her.

At that point in time,

John called Chuck to see if it would be okay

if his helper, Eric, could just go pick up the money,

and then he was advised that John had to sign off

on the check.

Eric didn't believe that, and so John called back again,

and this time, he actually handed the phone

to Eric babos, and he asked Chuck to explain to him

why he couldn't come get the money himself.

Slaman: We think right in that time, right around 3:13,

either John is deceased

or John's going to be dead,

because at 3:21,

Jamie and Nicole find their dad dead.

There's a fourth phone call at 4:06 where Chuck

from the heating and air conditioning place

picks up, and it's Eric babos

saying, "hey, I'm John's helper.

"John owes me money.

Can I come get the check up?"

"No. John has to come."

There's absolutely no doubt in that case that

Eric babos shot John riebe seven times over $150.

Arntfield: I think money was really just the rationalization.

It was about ego and proving a point.

No one was going to deny him

that amount of money, whether it was $150

or $150,000, and at the end of the day,

what we're dealing with here is actually someone with

sociopathic tendencies who could rationalize

in their twisted mind

that that was a logical outcome.

Alessandrini: Eric's known US since...

We were born,

so it's not like he didn't...

Know US.

We had enough interaction with him.

It wasn't anything like this random guy, random person,

who's upset about something who killed my dad.

No, I'll never forgive him. I'll always be angry.

Narrator: On August 5, 2005,

a jury finds Eric babos guilty of

the murder of John riebe and sentence him to life

in prison.

My dad and Eric had been friends since high school.

Like, how could you do that

to somebody you've known most of your life?

And my dad helped him out a lot, so...

Like, why? Do you not have a heart?

Slaman: The timeline was everything.

I can't remember, in my 38 years,

a case having such a close timeline.

You almost never get something like that.

Everything played out.

You could match the crime

to the time, to the phone calls,

the 911 calls, it all fit together very tightly.

Arntfield: This case is one of tragedy.

It's christmastime.

You have a father murdered,

leaving two daughters fatherless.

A family was destroyed,

you know, reduced to ruins.

Very, very difficult.

My dad was a great dad, a hard worker.

Um, but I do, I miss his goofiness, and...

His -- his singing in the car.

That's what I miss the most.

It's hard knowing my kids won't know him.

And my son actually asks about him,

because he sees pictures of him,

and it's hard, then he's like,"who's that?"

"That's grandpa." "Where's grandpa?"

It's hard to explain, and...

Christmas is hard, but we just try to make the best of it.

So I'll always remember my dad.

Slaman: I can't imagine being that age

and finding my father shot and killed.

No matter how bad the circumstances are,

people want to know the truth, and I think we served him well.

They have closure. They can put it to bed.

They can go on with their lives.