millions of people who will be jessie, if not murdered, sexually assaulted and hav their lives changed foreve because of it. >> those who loved jessie, say that verged zest for lif changed them for the better an still lives on through her music. and her spirit >> started thinking differentl because of her, started acting differently because of her >> have the tables turned? you are always the one proud o her? and now do you feel that she i the one proud of you >> i feel like she is the on lifting me up and encouragin me through life where used t be the other way around. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that is all for this editio of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching

>> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales >> and this is dateline. >> i felt like this was the on that i have been waiting for maybe it was too good to b true oh. did he love me or was this all a game >> a beautiful businesswoman falls for a dashing doctor but her daughters have doubts. >> i had lots of suspicions. >> she thinks his fingernail are dirty. this knit does not look to her like the hands of an actua doctor >> who was this guy? >> his nickname was "dirty john". >> this woman knew him all too well >> i started snooping and found everything >> this reporter made some

unnerving discoveries too. >> he scared a lot of people he swindled a lot of people. >> the story of his dirty deed riveted the nation in a hi podcast. >> this is "dirty john". >> but dirty was about to turn dark >> he's got duct tape, he's go all the tools ready to kidna her. >> will this mom and her daughters learn the truth in time >> she was in a panic. she said, i saw john outside i a car. >> a story ending in savagel that would stun even a police. >> there's no way he gets away with this. unless he killed her >> hello, and welcome to "dateline" after string of failed relationships, debra newel thought she had finally foun her mr. right. john meehan seems smart, handsome and kind. but from the get-go, debra's daughters said something fel wrong about him. so, the girl started digging into his past. their harrowing search for answers would reveal a doubl life and expose a dangerou men. but with the truth will th

truth be discovered too late here's keith morrison with "th women & dirty john". >> in the beginning was desire natural, human desire, for connection, for love and so, she aimed her arrow at that online ocean of intimat strangers. and found? him. >> newport 9-1-1, do you nee police or paramedics >> hi, i need an ambulance right away and the police >> it was summertime when th awful climax came. a late afternoon a marmalade sun beating down o the parking lot of the renta apartment complex in newport beach, california. that's when they heard it. >> and she says this woman i just screaming >> all right

>> the whole complex must of herd it terrified, howling, desperate. >> is she okay >> there was a man down there. they could see him he had a knife he was stepping at the screaming woman. and nobody was helping her >> it's really bad - >> all right, i understand we have officers on the way. >> too late. too late >> oh, the ambulance is here they're doing cpr on somebody. >> the bloody ending but the story, the whole terrible tale, is much deepe than that one thing. dreadful though it was the story christopher goffar of the "los angeles times" spent months unraveling. strand by disturbing strand. >> it's a story about trust an betrayal and it's a story about family. >> about a woman, tw protective daughters and what those daughters did when the man came into their mother's life, before the deat in the parking lot >> hi i'm christopher goffar

-- >> the story became a podcas produced with the podcas network wondery. the number one podcast in th country at one time. voted by "entertainment weekly", "usa today" and "the guardian" as one of the best of 2017 download a 28 million times in the first year of its release. the story and the man at the heart of it was called dirty john >> he was a very creative, supermilitant of the militia people live, charismatic handsome, charming intelligent. >> he was a nightmare to everybody. >> but not to her. two debra newell of orange county, california, the man wh

presented himself on the datin web side doctor john meehan, anesthesiologist, looks very promising. >> he was the total package. doctor very intelligent family man, loved his kids >> not that attracting men had ever been difficult for debra, or any of the women in the family according to her daughter, terra. >> men kind of flocked to them [laughs] >> really? what is it about women in your family >> well, they have really grea hearts and they're pre-pretty decen looking. >> good, women, happy, successful, attractive >> i love those bar stools - >> debra owned a thrivin interior design firm and a moving company and a silk flowers business. had dozens of employees. certainly, no money worries. but, she was in her 50s. marriages behind her and she was looking. each potential mate carefull vetted by her watchful daughters. >> we were very judgmental o all the men that she dated >> a little too judgmental maybe. >> me and my sister could go over the top sometimes

just very protective over my mom. >> but now debra wanted romance. just for her on her terms >> i had always done everythin for my children. so, i felt like it was me time >> and this guy on the website it was me time, too. >> he's just back from a yea and iraq, where he volunteered with doctors without borders >> he was charming kind of old-fashioned. when he asked her out, h didn't just meet her somewhere and wait in his car. >> he insisted on coming upstairs to get me so, that's why a gentleman does >> yes he took her to a fancy place for dinner and oral courtl manners paid the not inconsiderable bill.

on their second day, he arrive in medical scrubs. he'd come straight from an operation and he was handsom and tall and very fit and very into her. >> he swept me off my feet said everything right. took me everywhere that wanted to go >> did he have that did yo have that walking on air feeling? >> yes, i fell in love >> she called me one day and told me that she met someone amazing and that she reall liked this guy she wanted me to meet him. >> but true to form perhaps, debra's daughters reacted just as they often did to a new man in her life. especially terra's sister. >> she didn't like him immediately. and i thought, oh, she'l eventually like him. he's a lot of fun. he will win her over >> debra rented a house. part of her new start. in a picturesque part of newport called balboa island and she ran her business with new likeness and at night was love by thi accomplished doctor. this sensitive man what did he do for you >> everything.

from run errands for me to bac rub every night. just would listen to my day. we would take walks ever night. he held my hand. i mean, he was everything that you would want >> pinch yourself. you've got it, finally >> yeah. >> then, just before thanksgiving, as terra helpe her mother moved into th balboa house >> he started moving his stuff in, to >> terra didn't like it. not a bit. she confronted her mother. >> i told her it was fishy i don't get it she told me i needed to mind m own business and he came up behind her -- >> what did he say >> he was saying that you ar just trying to get your mom al to yourself. and i started screaming back a him, no, john that's what yo are trying to do >> the next day wa thanksgiving and debra, quite fed up, tol her suspicious daughters and

not to bother showing up for dinner neither one of you >> neither one of us >> what was that like? >> really hard >> hard for debra, to. but she needed her own life. she and john asked a counselor for advice >> and the counselor suggested that i have rules for th girls. >> boundaries. >> the therapist said, look at you, have a right to be happy. this is your relationship. and john's position was this therapist is absolutely right. >> so, debra weighed the options. listening to her family? or embrace what felt like th best thing to come along i years? she chose love or what certainly felt like it what's the old expression? till death do us part? >> the bond between mother and daughters already fraying, might just break thanks to a startling decision by debra. coming up -- >> i knew my family would be not very happy with me >> their daughters fight bac by doing some digging into john >> she bought these trackers four cars and she put one on m

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>> las vegas, nevada, the grea glittering temples to gambling will happily take your money of course, and perhaps you leave the city a little poorer but if you want to bet you

heart in las vegas, well, yo could put that on the line a well if you are in a betting mood and debra newell was >> i felt very adored and very loved and i thought oh, well if he's the love of my life, i am ready >> they've been dating two months when she went to vega on business in december of 2014 john meehan went along and.. >> we went to a courthouse and just got married before judge. >> like that >> just like that. >> married nobody there but them. and their secret, they decided said debra, they wouldn't tell anyone >> i knew my family would be not very happy with me >> what did it feel like >> very mixed emotions a little empty knowing tha they are not on board with this >> but that's all on that on side the other side this is rush of happiness and good feeling >> yes >> so, debra's daughters

protective as usual, had no the other mother was a newlywed the therapist debra had seen recommended to keep he relationship separate from her family but of course christmas wa coming and they were very important family traditions like the one where terra would have our own special time with nieces and nephews of her extended family so they made a deal. john would stay in a different room while terra had the kid to herself >> she was going to be able to enjoy the kids and he had to sort of stay away. >> didn't work out so well what actually happened >> well, he walked in with all the presents and of course the kids congregate all around him he went straight up to them, h gave them gifts. >> like being santa claus, o something? >> something like that >> yeah. >> did he do it on purpose of course, thought terra >> that made me so upset >> terra was very emotional, i

thought, just suck it up it' christmas. have fun >> instead she felt that man had come and usurped something >> yes >> something >> yes >> not only stolen their christmas, not the daughters but both of them worried he wa stealing there too trustin mother taking advantage of her. she just let him drive her car why would he need to wasn't he a prosperous doctor, and anesthesiologist, couldn't he afford a car? well, there is a reason, debra told them. while john was in iraq working with doctors without borders he was robbed. >> his house, his clothes, his cars, he was working wit insurance company getting th claim. so, i let him borrow my car. >> john would get all his mone back soon enough, said debra didn't wash with terra sounded like a shaggy dog tale >> at that time, i had lots of suspicions >> that's when she and her sister decided to do som snooping >> she bought these trackers for cars and she went and pu one on my mom's tesla, so sh found out where john was going >> where was he going? >> he was going to multipl doctors offices. >> not so unusual, perhaps, fo

an anesthesiologist. but the sisters notice something. >> he was there for not that long of time >> not long enough to conduc any medical procedures, so wha were those quick visits al about? seemed more like a man tryin to get access to something lik maybe drugs. it was just a hunch. but they went to debra wit that, said maybe he is a addict and debra refused to entertain their wild suspicions. >> this is more like sto interfering in my life >> somewhat, yes but i'd fallen in love >> debra's daughters were no about to be put off. >> one of her daughters is particularly suspicious. she doesn't know why he wear surgical scrubs everywhere it seems to be a costume he' wearing. she thinks his fingernails are

dirty and doesn't look to he like the hands of an actua doctor >> and so they started digging and an investigation that woul be halfway across the country. to the depths of evil. to an appointment with death >> coming up, troublin revelations about john >> they learned he was not a doctor >> discoveries that we're abou to go from disturbing to terrifying >> i said he's very, ver dangerous. >> when "dateline" continues to get pregnant in the future. find it yourself in the family planning aisle no prescription, no id. i've got this. ♪♪ my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions,

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were inseparable >> he has unconditional love and he wants to be there, no matter what. [laughs] >> terra went to cosmetology school but chose to work wit four legged clients instead, a a dog groomer. what do you like about dogs? >> i really like that they are innocent they don't have any evil i them unless they were taught t have evil in them. >> and terra was something of student of evil. she was a fan of the tv show "the walking dead" zombies. and she had a feeling that evi was lurking in the life of joh meehan so did her sister. they knew he was hidin something said reporte christopher goffard, and the were determined to find ou

what it was. >> they hired a privat investigator to look into hi past >> debra, meanwhile, was i love the newlyweds had settled into a simple life on newport beach 's balboa island debra, convinced she'd found the perfect man, even when sometimes things didn't quit make sense like the time she picked up th mail and saw a strange retur address on the letter to her husband. you opened a letter to him >> yes, i did. [laughs] i was so curious and he wa irate. that's fraud you know, i can't believe yo did that >> but what had caught her attention was that letter wa from an inmate at the orange county jail. did you read the letter? >> i did >> what was in it? >> it was talking about ho lucky he was that he had found love, and that his life ha turned around. i'm thinking, life had turne around so, i questioned him and h said that he writes and send

care packages to people in prison >> sounded plausible enough to debra. but not to the sisters especially not once they'r private investigator began reporting his findings on john meehan >> they learned that he was no a doctor he was not an anesthesiologist >> john had worked as a nurs anesthetist, but not recently. and he had certainly not bee in iraq with doctors without borders. instead, just before he me debra -- >> they learned that one of hi recent addresses was the orang county jail. >> john was not a center o care packages. he had been an inmate. and then in march 2015, four months after john moved in wit debra, the sisters snooped t around the balboa house an jackpot, they found a stash of paperwork john had left there. legal documents. police reports

>> reports that he stalked other women and that other women had restraining orders o him. >> john's papers outlined long criminal history. multiple arrests and incarcerations, drug convictions. alarming stuff >> and debra was hesitant to believe this stuff she believed john. >> even after her daughter told her what they had found debra went straight to john. and he said, they had the wron guy. >> he said, there is going t be allegations that other john meehan's did i thought well, okay, you've got a point. >> john said he was a victim o mistaken identity, in some cases. and in others, he was framed >> and he said, i was set up and i said, but you lied to me he goes, because i knew yo would never date me if you kne the truth. and i said, you're right, wouldn't have. >> thing was, john was so sad. seemed so sincerely contrite

>> he started crying and cryin and crying and he said please forgive me. i love you so much i can never live without you >> and it was true that he mad her feel like she was the only woman in the world when they were along together, she felt truly loved >> i'm thinking, okay, 90% o me doesn't believe him but there is that 10% that maybe he is right. and i'm going to throw away th person that i fell in love wit without trying to work i through. >> and so, she accepted hi explanations and she for gave him there's always a reason? >> yes >> in march, 2015, soon afte they found that stash of papers, terra and her sister discovere their mother was married to th guy. that was it. they were fed up refused after that to speak to her. this is a very big, bad proble in your life >> yeah.

>> just how big and how bad? they didn't know yet but buried in that stash o john's papers was the name o someone who did. a detective, way off in ohio one of the sisters picked up the phone. called him why did you think when you got her call >> i said, he's very, very dangerous. you need to talk to your mother you need to have her call me i will tell her everything >> that is, the strange an disturbing tale that begin with her >> coming up - thousands of miles away, thi woman also had questions about john >> i started snooping and found everything >> and when she spoke up that's when things got reall scary. >> tonia, you enjoy your tim left on this earth, okay tri-zone,because that's what in to come down to.

>> when "dateline" continues in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®. ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. >> i'm jessica layton in new

york and here's what's happening. russian president vladimir putin traveled to crimea saturday, a day after th international criminal court issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged wa crimes putin is accused of bearing th sponsor billet-y for overseein the unlawful abduction and exploitation of children fro ukraine to russia. and in france protesters too to the streets for a third straight night on saturday this comes as presiden emmanuel macron forced his proposal to raise th retirement age do th parliament without a vote. and now let's go back to dateline ♪ ♪ ♪ >> welcome back to "dateline". suspicions about their mother' new husband, john meehan, ha driven debra newell's daughter to become amateur detectives

so far, they had uncovered a hornets nest of deception. not only had john lied about being a doctor, several wome had restraining orders against him. and he had served time for multiple crimes. yet debra was still standing b her man. now a woman from john's past was about to tell even mor disturbing tale. was debra in danger? here is keith morrison wit "the women & dirty john" >> who was this man, who had a stolen debra's heart this john meehan tonia bales had no idea either when he stole her heart. decades ago. >> he was playful, he wa interested, engaging, smiling. >> it was the late 19 eighties tonia was a young nurs anesthetist in dayton, ohio. john was in law school there until he met her, that is, and said he had a kind of epiphany >> he said, you know, i'm no sure i will be happy being a attorney i think i want to be a nurse anesthetist. and i think my jaw fell to the ground

because i thought he was secon year law student >> in fact, he wasn't, he ha been kicked out. though he didn't tell her that so, in her blissful ignorance, she married him. in her family's church, in 1990 >> mr. and mrs. john meehan. >> and she helped put hi through nursing school they had two daughters before things stopped adding up >> i found out he was having a affair >> tonia wondered what else di she not know about her soon to be ex-husband? like, why did he refused t invite his family to their wedding? why not let her even meet them she decided to call his mother >> i said, dolores, this i tonia, i'm married to your son john the phone was quiet for moment and she said, oh, tonia i knew you'd call me someday >> wow

>> so then, of course, my hear was racing and my knees ar shaking just to make the phone call and she just unloaded on me al the details of trouble in th past >> according to his own mother john had been cheating and stealing and lying for years even lied to tonia about his age, lopped off five years oh, and he had been convicte of cocaine trafficking >> she said, you know, is he still using drugs? and i said, what >> so, in something like shock tonia became a sleuth. who was this man >> i started snooping, and i found everything under my nose all the time >> evidence of a crimina double life and something else >> a cedar box full of fentany and some other things that aren't controlled substances >> she started watching that cedar box. >> and things did come and go. so now, i thought -- >> it's a stash. >> it's a stash, yeah. >> was he using his position a a nurse to steal drugs

like getting a ticket to be in the candy store all day long >> right i mean, it's like putting an alcoholic as a bartender >> she told the authorities sh had to it was the law >> he had to be stopped. he was going to hurt patients. >> and on a dime.. >> he turned on me he flipped like a switch >> now the man she thought she once knew turned scary threatening. she began recording their phon conversations. >> listen to me, tonia >> i'm listening >> i got a big smile on my face, and you know why because it's going to get done >> what's going to get done? you're not making any sense. >> well, i don't have to you will understand when the time comes and that's all i got to say. when it happens, tonia, and yo see it in your eye, yo remember it was me, okay >> remember what, john >> keep that in mind, it was me tonia, you enjoy your tim left on this earth, okay because that's what it's going to come down to. >> he was arrested for makin

threats against tonia in june, 2001, was convicted of menacin and put on probation >> he wasn't the man she thought he was >> that's exactly right. there was another version of john >> dennis luken was a police detective back then. he investigated the source o those drugs tanya bound in the cedar box. he started at john's house, an found a gun. illegal because john was o probation. so, he was arrested again an sent to jail >> when he went to montgomer county jail, i called th supervisor and said you've got an individual there, joh meehan, and he is going to try to con you out of drugs. he says, he already has. he claims he fell out of the top bunk and he got pain medication >> you are dealing with an incorrigible person here >> yes, sir, you're dealin with an addict a very smart, articulate addict >> eventually, thanks to luken john did jail time for stealin drugs in ohio and michigan and tonia felt guilty.

wondering if she'd misse warning signs, wondered what else john might've hidden from her. never thought about the clue way back at the beginning, o her wedding video. >> and the groomsmen who had some drinks and had their arms around each other, and they ar talking about how they'd met him. >> here to celebrate john. >> one of the groomsman said - >> john meehan's nickname is filthy john meehan >> filthy john meehan over the years became dirty john and th nickname stuck >> he found out later on there was a story to that? >> yes he was basically conning littl old women out of money for job that he didn't do, and als that he had away with th

ladies >> luken discovered darker secrets as well. john supplied the opioids that killed his own addicte brother. he was alone with his sick father, the old man died rathe suddenly john wasn't charged in those cases, but there were others said luken, and as the years went on, he developed a certai criminal specialty >> he would go on dating websites and would find wome that usually had good financia backing. he always told people he was a doctor >> he seemed like an ideal catch, i suppose, for a lot of these women? >> he was a true con man he'd take their money, and whe they would find out about him, john would threaten them, he would terrorize them >> how bad was he? >> john was the most dangerous treacherous, manipulative, deceitful, criminal that i'd investigated in 40 years of la enforcement. >> once terra learned abou john's past, she was consume with worry >> i was very distraught at th time >> because this dangerous ma was now married to a ver successful businesswoman who happened to be terra's mother.

>> he couldn't get enough of me >> that's a good feeling >> it is >> the trickery of love. >> yes >> trickery, but something far worse than that was coming soon >> coming up, one of debra's daughters is about to make a ominous discovery. >> she was in a panic. she said, i saw john and i said, where? she goes outside in a car. >> makes it more are thiss worst fears about to come true when "dateline" continues. t's covid, paxlovid. authorized for emergency use, paxlovid is an oral treatment for people 12 and up... who have mild-to-moderate covid-19 and have a high-risk factor for it becoming severe. my symptoms are mild now, but i'm not waiting. if it's covid, paxlovid. having even one risk factor, like being over 50, diabetes, or smoking increases your chances of severe covid.

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to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems, and changes in certain labs have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection, liver or kidney problems, high triglycerides, or had a vaccine or plan to. sotyktu is a tyk2 inhibitor. tyk2 is part of the jak family. it's not known if sotyktu has the same risks as jak inhibitors. find what plaque psoriasis has been hiding. ask your dermatologist about sotyktu for clearer skin. so clearly you. sotyktu. >> debra newell had fallen i

love with a con man. and when her daughter spok with a detective who had bee investigating john meehan fo years -- >> i said, this guy is bad news you need to get your mothe away from him. >> debra bought a house near las vegas were john could live away from her family she split her time between there and orange county. but the daughters went int rescue mode. one thing they found especiall alarming was yet another polic report about dirty john. this one from just two years earlier and much closer to home the police in laguna beach had arrested john meehan for stalking a woman and they discovered he had rented an office space in whic they found zip ties, cyanide and two loaded guns.

what did all of that seem to you? >> he might be a killer and sh has to get out of this >> has to? >> has to. >> john had an explanation, of course even for that cyanide. >> he says, he has multipl sclerosis and that he kept the capsules around in case he needed to kill himself, if the got too painful for him. >> this time, however, john' story didn't ring true not even to debra. >> he still continued to treat me incredibly well but he tried to isolate me fro everyone >> especially your family? >> especially my family. >> and now, chastened an afraid, she reconciled with he daughters and read everythin they had uncovered about joh meehan's past. i assume by this time, you didn't feel in love with him anymore? >> no. >> what did you feel >> confusion i thought, how could this ma fake it to this degree did he love me or was this all a game i realized i was his newes victim

>> and april 2016, 16 months after marrying john meehan, sh fled from the home they shared in las vegas, back to orange county and from a safe distance, sh filed for an annulment and soon discovered it just as tonia bales had discovered years before that john could turn on a dime he started by trying to ruin her reputation sent weird, inappropriat emails to her colleagues and clients. did he send photographs of you to anybody >> he sent nude photos yes. >> that's a nightmare for an woman to be in >> oh, yeah. there are so many things tha he did but one of them, he burnt my car. he took it, stole it, and then set it on fire >> did he threaten you physically >> yes, but not in a direc way. he would say, i know where you are. it's not going to be far long. >> the same way he threatene tonia. >> tonia, you enjoy your tim left on this earth okay because that's what it's going

to come down to. >> i went into hiding. i bought a dark wig, changed m clothes, got a rental car, stayed in different hotels i went everywhere that h wouldn't suspect >> how long did that go on >> six months. >> wow >> yeah. >> now, stories jon had told her before she left played ove and over in debra's worrie mind disturbing stories he told similar ones to toni years before stories about the mafia. >> if they want to get back at you, say you took money from them or something, they don' kill you but they kill someone you love because then you would be in pain the rest of your life knowing that your action caused the death of a loved on and now you don't have them. i learned that from him. >> and the man debra once loved, she now feared that had to be a very, ver strange feeling. >> very much yes. scared for my life >> and not just her own life -

>> i was afraid he would kil my mom i was also afraid he would kil me or my sister. or someone >> after all, they had ruine all of his plans in the summer of 2016, debra began staying in secret with her other daughter hoping she was safe there. and then, it was the night o august 19th -- >> she came home and she was i a panic. she said, i saw john i saw john and i said, where? she goes, outside in a car >> watching them he was supposed to be in las vegas. why was he back in orang county she didn't have to wait long t find out >> someone's been stabbed. >> someone's been stabbed? >> coming up - the evil that had been gathering for almost two years explodes into broad daylight >> he's planned this out this was a revenge killing >> and the shattering end that would stun even the cops when "dateline" continues.

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debra newell had finally accepted the unsettling realit of her husband john meehan, wa a dangerous con man. she had filed for an annulment and was now in hiding, fearing for her life in the lives of her children then, her daughter saw him lurking outside their home he came prepared, but this

story how to twist in store. here is keith morrison with th conclusion of the women an dirty john >> august 20th, 2016, 5 pm a 14 year old named skylar sepulveda was returning home from her junior lifeguar training, and she heard a woma screaming. out in the parking lot of he newport beach apartmen building >> i never heard anybody els scream like that before. >> a lot of people to dive under the covers and say i hop that stops >> yeah, once i found out wa going on i knew what i had t do >> she raced to the parkin lot. her mother called 9-1-1. >> she's, like mommy, somebody screaming, and she saw this gu raising his hand up and down >> okay, we have offices on th way with the lights and sirens she said she saw blood >> i don't know. somebody else she's bleeding she's bleeding >> skyler reached the parkin lot, saw a man and a woman she didn't know. >> as i was running, i could

see everything that was goin on, so i saw him stab her. >> that woman being stabbed wa terra, who, with her dog cas had just stepped out of her ca to find someone waiting. dirty john >> he said, do you remember me he looked me right in the eyes >> there was no pause, no time to think terra sitting here talking about it was still strugglin with what happened still visibly keeping an emotional distance as it happened to somebody else >> he was trying to push m into the car, he actually ha the trunk wide open. >> trunk he wanted to in the trunk of his car? >> yes >> john was six to, a foot taller than terra as he pushed her he began hitting her with bag. something hard in it >> it just felt like i was getting punched over and ove again. >> but it wasn't that. there was a knife in the bag cutting her, slicing into her. >> and i put my arm up with my

purse, above my heart, and i tried to get away from him and i was screaming. he put his hand over my mout and i bit as hard as i could >> cash, the dog, barked furiously. bit into johns ankle >> i got thrown down onto th ground, somehow, and i pushed, pedal kicking him, trying to block the knife when he is stabbing me. and i kicked the knife out o his hand and it landed on my right hand side. >> and then, full of adrenaline, she did something astonishing. >> i picked up the knife, and started just whaling on him an stabbing him and i pushed him down, i stabbed him at the top of hi head, and last time was in the eyeball. >> did you aim for that? >> i did that's the zombie kill >> that show, the walking dead her education for fighting

evil >> what did you understand fro watching that show about how you deal with zombies? >> you have to kill them in th head like, you have to kill their brain. >> the police arrived. their dash cam video picked up skylar and the junior lifeguar leading a very shaken terra to the curb >> at the bottom, okay >> where, still terrified, she called her mother. >> i think i might have killed him. i'm sorry. i'm so - i knew this was going to happen did i not tell you he was goin to try to hurt us? >> she said, mom, i just kille your husband, i'm so sorry i'm thinking... what >> debra raced over there. >> you could see police cars blocking it off, fire engines. it was crazy >> they wouldn't let you and >> they said it was a crim scene. >> john meehan never gaine

consciousness. four days later, dirty john wa dead right after the attack, newpor beach detective rick henri found john's killer, terra, at the hospital her dog, still guarding her. >> she told me the whole story >> the whole story is a pretty complicated mess >> yes >> as doctors treated terra' moons, detective henry began investigating. the whole family waited, and worried. >> what were you afraid of >> well, i didn't know if they would for sure know that it wa him attacking her, and it wa self-defense >> so, you are afraid they might charge her with something? >> yes >> there is a process the la must follow. careful consideration. august became september, october, november. debra didn't know it, but th detective had discovered something. in the trunk of john's car - >> we found a backpack wit numerous other knives inside we found a zip ties, we foun

duck tape. we found his passport. >> it took some organization he has planned this out. this was a revenge killing >> orange county deput district attorney met murphy believed the evidence spoke fo itself >> there is an image of this young woman in the hospita with her dog, sitting on her bed. talk about a picture sayin thousand words it screams out that this is an innocent woman who came very close to being murdered by a really bad guy, and fought bravely and survived >> the prosecutor said it wa an easy decision this was self-defense, cas closed >> did a feeling come with that? >> a sense of relief, that it's, like finally, -- >> john meehan's ex-wife tonia bales was working when she got the news >> do you remember that moment >> oh, yeah. it made me tremble i was in the middle of a cas and it popped up on the screen as a notification.

john was killed. by the time i took the patient out of the room, i was i tears. yeah i wasn't in tears because he died, i was in tears because i had to tell his children and that made me very sad, t have to tell them. it was awful >> her daughters, 16 and 21 at the time said they regretted not being able to show him how well they turned out in spit of him and now, debra still struggles with guilt >> i would have never in m entire life put my kids in fea or in danger that was the last thing on m mind, that he would be going after one of my kids >> we feel lucky, in a way >> i feel very lucky i believe terra saved many lives. saved my life, many othe victims. >> terra was diagnosed wit ptsd she still has some healing t do, but she returned with us t that parking lot

>> i don't want to poke an prod too much, but what happen inside your stomach when you hear it? >> i just get a lot of anxiety i have flashbacks of me runnin down the ramp and just going t the cement >> she showed us the spot wher she looked death in the eye an struck back. this wasn't an easy thing to do >> i'm just taking it all in right now. >> i think you are a tough cookie, aren't you >> yeah, that's what a lot o people say [laughs] i guess so >> and dirty john meehan is an ever more distant memory now this trail of victims say from his terror thanks to a young woman, and a little dog who fought for he life, and won. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching.