tauris a year. that's a lot of people. >> how good does that beer taste ? >> really great. >> reporter: the taste of the towns come back. nbc news, potosi, wisconsin. >> choose to potosi. i wish you a good night. you can catch me every weekend, saturday and sunday show, right here on msnbc. next, we have a look back at donald trump's criminal trial, today. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thank you for joining us. see you this weekend. he would tell stories about how he had angels protecting him, and people who had crossed him in the past he would tell stories d dia how he had angels protecting him, and people who had crossed him in the past had gotten

really sick or their family had died. he would get this terrible grin that just looked evil. >> reporter: they were sisters whose mom let them come here to live in this tight knit commune. >> we had meals and there were a lot of parties. >> reporter: a swimming pool. a fleet of cool cars. it seemed like a kid's fantasy. >> you were the little girl who got a horse for your birthday. >> i got three horses. >> reporter: it was called angel's landing. a special place for a chosen few. a community of free spirits. but also, some would come to suspect, troubling secrets. >> she fell and hit her head and drowned. >> reporter: it started with a strange sudden death. then, another. and another. >> he had been crushed under a vehicle working on it. >> it didn't smell right. >> reporter: a journey into the

super natural. >> he would say that even though we couldn't see her, she was there. >> reporter: who or what had a grip on this place? >> amber was the angel of death. she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> reporter: a terrifying tale of dark power and diabolical prophesies. >> he predicted my mom was going to die. you might as well be telling me to go live on the moon because that was something that didn't happen. i never once thought about leaving. i thought about killing myself, but i didn't think about leaving. >> reporter: rolling out past the downtown grid, north of wichita, kansas it would be

easy to zip by the small cluster of homes nestled between the corn and wheat fields. not notice them at all. but the nondescript compound had a whimsical name. angel's landing. and it was a large put together family. a commune including two sisters. >> we had a great relationship. i had everything i wanted. >> reporter: but angel's landing gnawed at a county detective. he couldn't shake the place or the people who lived there from his mind. >> you thought there was a criminal scheme going on there? >> it didn't smell right. it was a game of cat and mouse. >> reporter: after a decade long obsession, the detective's hunch would be proved right. it turned out to be far more sinister than anyone could have imagined. >> we had kept this a secret ten years and no one knew. >> reporter: he would uncover a supernatural tale of angels and demons. an investigation into the saga of a traveling family that dabbled in most of the seven

deadly sins. >> amber was the angel of death. >> did you believe it? >> yes. >> reporter: lies, plenty. lust, greed. murder. angel's landing had all of that and more. >> all i could think about was how are they going to believe me? this is such a crazy story. what if they don't believe me? >> reporter: growing up near kansas city, missouri, the two sisters, sarah and emily had about as normal a life as any suburban girls in the midwest. >> my sister and i use today play together when we were younger. my mom, it seemed like she was always home with us. and my dad was always there for dinner. and things like that seemed like. >> reporter: their dad built houses, mom, jennifer, a realtor, sold them. and the girls were close despite a seven year age gap. >> we would go fishing together. she would take me to the pool every day during the summer.

things like that. we were close. but we fought like siblings. >> reporter: sarah was 16. emily, just nine. and a star student. >> i was a teacher's pet. and i was usually one of the top of my class. >> so you were always prepared? >> yeah. i was a suckup. >> you said that, i didn't. >> totally was. i didn't know it then. but i was. >> reporter: everything was easy sailing for the girls until their parents' lives went in different directions. >> i knew my parents were getting divorced. i didn't know why. they never fought in front of us or anything. >> that is always tough for kids. >> reporter: that summer, 2001, their mom, jennifer, was showing houses to a new client. a man named luke castro who with his long hair and western hat looked for all the world like a well heeled young cowboy. >> he seemed really charismatic and outgoing and friendly. like he had a lot of money.

>> he would tell everybody he had cattle in south dakota and he was trading stocks. he told me he had a bunch of cars in texas somewhere. and that he owned a mansion down there. >> reporter: this soft spoken man was looking for a country property for his somewhat new agey family commune just down from south dakota. a young married couple, trish and bryan hughes, their baby girl and a young woman from north dakota. jennifer found them just the right parcel. but even after turning over the keys, there was something about that lou castro guy that emily's mom found irresistible. he had become more than a client. >> at first he was someone mom was doing business with. but they went to lunch. >> as you look back, emily, what do you think went on with your mother? >> i don't know. >> but something was going on? >> something was. >> reporter: and something was going on with lou, too. no sooner had he settled down in greater kansas city, then his family commune was on the move again. and guess who was going with

them? jennifer, the realtor, and her two girls. >> what did your dad think? >> my dad was devastated. >> reporter: just like that in the fall of 2001, emily, sarah, and their mom were packing up a u-haul and headed out for a fresh start to life. >> you got the leave your neighborhood. your play mates. your class kids? >> at first i was upset. but then it seemed like a new adventure. >> reporter: the new home for all three was a ten acre mini farm north of wichita. they moved in with lou and his family commune in the spread they called angel's landing. the girl's mom jennifer bought the adjoining ten acres and built a second house. and after they added a swimming pool and a dirt track for atvs , the commune later put up a third house. >> so was a the routine of the household? >> we were all having meals together and we didn't really do chores. >> reporter: while the girl's

mom resumed her real estate business, lou organized the down time. >> he would throw parties every weekend. there was a lot of drinking. other people would bring their kids. we would swim. play pool. a little lavish but pretty normal stuff. >> reporter: lou loved toys with engines and there were a couple of workshops big enough to garage his enormous radio controlled planes and a fleet of snazzy cars. >> going to a dealership to get a corvette was like going to a toy store. that is how quickly he would go and pick it out. >> corvettes? dodge vipers? >> mini corvettes. a few dodge vipers. suburbans, big trucks,. >> reporter: they had vanity plates. angel 1, angel 2, and so on. >> so a lot of it is a kid's dream huh? >> yeah.

i got everything i wanted. >> reporter: while the sisters stayed in touch with their dad who had moved nearby, lou's promise of whatever your heart desires found a sweet spot. >> lou asked me what i wanted for my birthday. i said i would love to have a horse and i know it is expensive. so we won't do that. he said no, you're getting a horse. >> you are the little girl who got a horse for your birthday? >> i got three horses. >> you were the princess of the house. >> emily being the princess didn't always sit well with sister sarah so the other young mom in the family sometimes stepped in to referee their sibling rivalry. >> she was the disciplinarian? >> kind of. there was a specific way to do things and you did it her way and that is what was expected. >> what did you think of trish? >> she was wonderful. i loved her like another mom. >> so she really was substitute mom. >> she was. >> reporter: so the sisters will never forget that awful day in june, 2003. emily, just 11 years old, found

herself standing by the swimming pool. >> trish was floating in the shallow end of the pool face down. >> reporter: a beach sandal floated on the water. trish was dead. coming up, the horror of losing one of their own. for emily and everyone else, the sunny life at angel's landing had changed in an instant. >> it was very traumatic. >> reporter: and later there would be more shocks in store. mysterious accidents. dark threats involving the spirit world, and one seemingly demonic transformation. >> he wouldn't blink. he would get this terrible grin that just looked evil. >> reporter: when dateline continues. orter: when dateline continues. copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had.

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spending friends near wichita, the two sisters, emily and sarah were still living in the family commune called angel's landing. lou who had money and lots of spare time was the patriarch. and trish who was married to bryan and had a baby daughter took care of the home. >> trish kind of was the one that would be there before we went to school. and after we went to school. because my mom had to work. >> did you like her. >> i loved her. i loved her. >> reporter: so what happened in june, 2003 at angel's landing came as a sudden life altering shock. the day began normally enough for the sisters. >> we all had gone to lunch. trish and her daughter, a friend of mine and her baby. and then, lou and my sister. and, then, we came back to the house after lunch and trish and emily and the baby were going to clean the pool. >> that was the plan for the

afternoon? >> right. and lou and i were going to go to davis moore. >> the car dealer? >> correct. >> so go off to the car dealership with lou? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: back at the swimming pool, something truly awful had happened. >> i called 911. >> reporter: she told the operator that trish's toddler had fallen into the pool and when trish tried to save her little girl, she had slipped backwards. >> she tripped and fell and hit the concrete? >> she fell and hit her head and drowned. >> an the baby was in trouble in the pool? >> right. >> did you rescue the baby but couldn't help? >> right. >> reporter: emily got the baby out of the pool. but because she was just a whisp of a thing, try as she might, emily could not lift trish's body out of the water. hopeless. across town, sarah and lou were checking out cars at the dealership when sarah's phone rang. >> i received a phone call from emily. and, she says that trish fell in the pool, i need you to come home. >> did she say that trish was

dead? >> yes. >> so this is shocking news. you all just had lunch a few hours before. >> uh-huh. >> now you are hearing trish is dead. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: lou and sarah raced back home to angel's landing where police and emts were already on the scene. >> no reason to believe she was under the influence of anything at this time. >> reporter: they had pulled trish's body from the pool and taken photographs. a single beach sandal floated on the water's surface. pieces of trish's hair clip were in the pool. it had snapped apart when she banged her head, they presumed. and there were small bruises and a cut on her forehead. the medical examiner determined trish's death was due to a freakishly bad accident. trish was just 26 years old. >> and trish was gone. >> yeah. >> reporter: the family was in a state of shock. >> devastated. >> trish had been kind of a mother of the house the way you talk about her. >> yeah. >> for you, too. >> absolutely.

it was really hard. it breaks my heart. >> reporter: and it was hard for lou. trish was someone he regarded as his best friend. lou had met trish in the mid 90s in south texas after serving in the navy as a plane mechanic. and for eight years, they were inseparable travelers moving onto south dakota and ending up in wichita. >> it was very traumatic. >> reporter: as the family commune tried to come to terms with the tragedy, trish's husband bryan embraced his little daughter closer and gradually, they got on with their lives. >> then you are going back to school doing the usual things? >> exactly. >> reporter: still, it was hard for the family to put trish's death behind them. and something else was troubling. emily and sarah had a fuzzy recollection that trish wasn't the first person in the family commune to die. they met a teenager who had been on the fringes of the commune and he told a story with painful echoes. coming up, a tale of

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at angel's landing, the family commune for free help, was slowly mending after the devastating loss at angel's landing, the family commune was slowly mending after the devastating loss of trish hughes who had drowned in the swimming pool. sisters sarah and emily saw trish's husband, a broken man left to raise a daughter. >> bryan loved trish more than anything in the world and he loved his daughter immensely. he was really just a good person. he missed his wife. bryan was sad. >> reporter: as they coped with

the loss themselves, emily and sarah had a flashback and pieced together another incident when tragedy struck the family two years before. >> i wasn't there and i'm glad i wasn't there. it would just be more that i had lost. >> reporter: not long before trish's death, the sisters met 15-year-old cody griffith from texas who had once been on the fringes of the family commune. he had been close to trish and lou thanks to his mom mona. >> my mom and trish were great friends. >> reporter: cody's mom mona was something of a flower child. >> she was very loving and free spirited. everything was spontaneous. there was really no planning. she could say let's get in the car and drive somewhere. >> could have been a hippie in an earlier day. >> maybe. just extremely loving. very accepting. >> reporter: when cody was growing up in corpus christi in the mid 90s his mom mona was

going through a difficult divorce and financial trouble. she, cody, and cody's young sister lindsey moved in with their good friends trish and lou from the apartment complex. >> i remember lou taking us to baseball practice. my sister. >> reporter: his mom mona and trish took turns cooking for the beginnings of the commune. >> so really an extended family. >> it is like living with an aunt and uncle. >> reporter: so when trish and lou decided they wanted to pick up sticks and move to south dakota, mona wanted to go, too. and to take cody and his sister, lindsey along as well. >> i will never forget it. it was just like yesterday. and i told her no. i'm not leaving. and i had gotten extremely upset. >> reporter: the very thought of being so far away from his dad was too much for cody. >> so what did she say?? >> she let me make that decision. >> reporter: so in lathe 1998,

mona and lindsey left corpus christi and settled in rapid city, south dakota. cody paid them a visit. >> it was a small home in the mountains. we even cut our own christmas tree. >> off the grid. >> reporter: the cabin was a tight squeeze for sure, but the family commune was growing. it was here that trish met and married bryan, the auto mechanic, and they had a daughter. mona, cody's mom, had also found a boyfriend. a rapid city realtor and experienced private plane pilot. >> you were okay with that? >> of course i wanted my mom to be happy. and i looked forward to meeting him. >> did you ever meet him? >> no. >> reporter: one friday in february of 2001, mona and her boyfriend decided to take daughter lindsey on an exciting birthday trip to nebraska. mona's boyfriend would fly them there himself. they took off from rapid city. but not long after, something

went terribly wrong. >> how did you found out about the plane? >> my dad looked at me and i knew something wasn't right. he said hey, your mom and sister have been missing. >> your dad must have been all ripped up. >> there is nothing you can say. there was no way he could explain to his son that his sister and mom were gone. >> and you imagine they have food and water in a tent waiting for search and rescue to find them. >> that is the only thing i could pray for. >> reporter: as cody was praying for a mir cool, mona's sister got a phone call from another sister. >> and she is crying hysterically and she said that mona and lindsey had left on a plane and the plane had never reached its destination. and they didn't know where it

was. >> reporter: mona's boyfriend hadn't filed a flight plan so the plane could be anywhere. >> rugged territory. >> correct. up in the bad lands area we assume. or nebraska. we really had no clue. >> reporter: but in south dakota, lou castro, a former navy plane mechanic, was on it. when lisa paid a short visit to try to help find her sister and niece, lou was in constant touch with search and rescue. a huge comfort. >> soft spoken. nice. funny. friendly. he seemed very concerned. very distraught over mona and lindsey's disappearance. and very helpful. i mean, he was very gracious. and, whatever we wanted. >> so it is thank goodness we have lou at the helm here. >> exactly. he didn't work. so, he seemed to have plenty of time. he seemed to know everybody. they knew him. we were grateful that there was

somebody that was, that had taken control and was keeping us in the loop, also. >> reporter: at a gathering of lindsey's school friend in support of the search, lou seemed especially popular with all the girls. >> oh, they were mesmerized by him. >> he was telling stories? jokes? >> uh-huh. laughing. he knew them all. quite well. >> was there something a little creepy about it? i don't want to plant an idea here that didn't exist. >> they all knew lou, but they didn't know lindsey's mom. i just found that strange. >> reporter: six weeks after the plane went missing, lisa and cody got the news they were dreading. the wreckage had been found. no survivors. >> that's the end of this. >> reporter: cody traveled back to rapid city and once again saw lou who seemed distraught. >> he starts crying telling me my little sister was never supposed to be on the plane.

if my mom had been on the plane only, he says i know we would have taken your sister and we would have left. >> how would he know? >> do you know what he meant by that? >> every day. every day. >> reporter: an ntsb investigation found in mechanical problems with the plane leading to a theory bad weather contributed to the crash. >> when do you miss your mom and sister the most? times along the way growing up. cody, i don't think you need to put any words to it. >> really can't. >> reporter: lou and trish, not blood relatives, determined the burial place for mona and lindsey. a surprise to lisa who raised an eyebrow when she saw her sister and niece's obituary. >> and it lists myself, my two

sisters, and her brother, lou. we are like, where did we pick up a brother? >> reporter: later as emily recalled the awful story of the plane crash, she, too, remembered lou telling her what he had told cody. >> he said that lindsey wasn't supposed to die. >> reporter: whatever that meant, in 2003, after trish's death in the swimming pool, emily and her sister sarah weren't the only ones trying to make sense of it all. a local detective in wichita was taking an interest in the plane crash and the death of trish hughes and in whatever else might be going on at angel's landing. something wasn't adding up. coming up, one thing was adding up. the death toll of commune members. another was just around the corner. >> we got the call that he had been crushed underneath the car he was fixing. >> when dateline continues. ing. >> when dateline continues. it's new olay body wash. silky indulgent moisture. bye bye, dry skin. hello glow in just 14 days.

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a news update. a string of tornadoes in the

midwest damaging hundreds of structures leaving thousands without power. a warning for severe threat of tornadoes and damaging hail remain ins iowa through tonight and into saturday. and an nbc news investigation found palestinians were killed in areas that where israel's military designated as safe zones. from january to april. seven deadly air strikes hit the southern city of rafah and near humanitarian zone. israel's military claims it was unaware of that strike. now, back to dateline. >> reporter: in late 2003 after the drowning death of 26-year- old trish hughes, the mood at angel's landing was grim. sisters emily and sarah watched as the family commune patriarch lou tried to cheer everyone up. another young woman had joined the family commune. and soon, lou and she were

engaged with a little girl on the way. and as the clouds lifted over angel's landing, shiny new rides appeared in the drive. >> before trish died, there was three corvettes. and everybody else had an suv. and then after trish died, we got more and more and more extravagant. >> more vehicles, higher priced vehicles. >> sales men must be licking their chops to see him coming. >> they were. we had the dealership owner's cell phones on speed dial. yeah. >> reporter: in fact, lou spent a million-and-a-half dollars on cars in just a few years. and his lavish generosity didn't stop at the family. civic minded lou was showered with high fives from the city council after he donated $19,000 toward a new police vehicle and cops were always welcome at the extravagant parties thrown by lou at angel's landing. >> one of the officers in the county dated one of the women

there. >> that was me. >> that was you? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: but not everyone in the uniform was joining in the fun. >> it didn't smell right. >> reporter: a local informant gave a check it out to wichita detective ron goodwin who was an undercover narcotics officer. he recruited two law enforce. heavyweights and the detective was eyeballing the commune from the shadows, zeroing in on lou castro. >> why were you drawn to him? >> he drew attention to himself. he had unexplained wealth. drew attention to himself with parties. high optioned vehicles. each vehicle had an angel vanity plate with a number after it. one, two, three, four. >> maybe he had old family money? >> sure and that was something we had to look at without violating any of his rights. >> you thought there was a lot smoke around this guy, but didn't know what it was coming from. >> there was. >> reporter: and the smoke kept billowing when he learned about

the death of trish hughes. >> so her death didn't trigger your interest in him. >> it absolutely triggered more of my interest in him. >> reporter: goodwin wanted to find out exactly who lou castro was. he ran castro's name and law enforcement data bases and quickly discovered he was trying to put his finger on a man who seemed to have no past. a virtual ghost. and not long after trish hughes' death, he trolled the internet. >> i started researching and noticing that there were other deaths associated with him. >> reporter: he landed on that obituary of mona and her daughter lindsey and bingo. there was lou's name. >> that was the first time i had seen lou castro in print. >> reporter: underlying goodwin's suspicion, he theorized he had a drug case. >> i work drug cases and unexplained wealth is something you look at. >> reporter: so he set out to collect evidence from angel's

landing. he began with the trash bags. maybe inside, there was evidence of drugs. incriminating documents or a fingerprint. >> maybe if you get a fingerprint, somewhere he'll be in the system and you'll come up with a name. you tried to get a fingerprint? >> i did. >> and the tech guys couldn't come up with anything? >> no. >> reporter: frustrating. no evidence of drugs. and nearly three years later, there were still no clues as to who lou castro was. >> a good flyer. >> reporter: but in 2006, came another shocking coincidence. bryan hughes, trish's husband, and experienced 31-year-old mechanic sufficiented an unimaginable accident. as emily tells it, bryan was visiting family in south dakota. >> one day, he called and he spoke to lou for a little while. then he asked to speak to his daughter who was still in wichita.

and, the story goes that he told her good-bye. >> told his daughter good-bye? >> right. >> and then a couple of hours later we got the call he had been crushed underneath the car he was fixing. >> reporter: bryan was dead. really? that didn't make any sense to emily. >> he would have put blocks under the tires. >> he knew his way around a vehicle. >> right. >> and then he was dead. >> yeah. >> reporter: the bodies were piling up. five now. but none of the findings in any of the cases including bryan's concluded there was foul play. >> it was classified and still is classified as an accident. >> reporter: detective goodwin decided he was going to have to find a new angle on the enigma of lou castro. >> there had to be something he was hiding from. the mystery of lou castro. >> reporter: one thing was for sure, goodwin wasn't going to let this go. coming up, another member

of the commune meets a tragic end. but this time, a lightbulb would go off. >> what we saw was a pattern. >> reporter: as investigators dig into lou's past. he starts to seem like a ghost. >> there should have been credit records. drivers license records and we could find none. >> reporter: when dateline continues. >> reporter: when dae continues. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. (screams) bleeding gums are serious, jamie. dr. garcia? woah. they're a sign of bacterial infection. crest gum detoxify's antibacterial fluoride works below the gumline to help heal gums and stop bleeding. crest saves the day. crest.

in 2007, wichita detective ron goodwin crest saves the day. was investigating lou castro at angel's landing, a commune of about a dozen people. in o 2007, wichita detectiv ron goodwin was investigating lou castro at angel's landing. a commune of about a dozen people. he was keeping count of the mysterious deaths, five so far. mona, her boyfriend, and her daughter lindsey had perished in the plane crash. trish had drowned in the swimming pool. and now bryan had been crushed to death beneath the car he was working on. and while all the deaths were deemed to be accidents, really, he wondered, how could any family be so unlucky? but what baffled him the most was that he didn't know who the central man lou castro really was. rifling through angel's landing trash cans hadn't worked.

>> what did you do next? >> one day i was out on a day off. i just happened to see lou castro with a female in an suv vehicle. and i followed them to a restaurant on the north end of town. >> reporter: he sat in the restaurant, watched and waited. >> after they finished i contacted the manager and asked if i could collect the dishes and glasses they had used. >> reporter: the idea was to get fresh fingerprints that could maybe id castro. >> that's a pretty cool move. did it work? >> it did not. we tried every piece of dinner wear. >> so he is still a mystery man. >> reporter: so goodwin tried another fingerprint ploy. he took glossy photos, walked up to lou castro's home and cooked up a story about burglaries in the neighborhood. could lou recognize any of the cars or people in the photo ins. >> so you hand them to the guy

you believe is lou castro? >> i do. >> how does he handle them? >> he takes them and holds them between his palms and once the photos are out of the the envelope, he moves them around with his fingernails and does not pick up the photos by his fingers. >> he knew exactly what you were doing. >> he did. >> and he wasn't going to leave a print. >> no. >> what did that tell you about the guy that had become your nemesis? >> it raised my suspicion more. >> reporter: he needed help. he called clint snyder who had worked high profile cases like the wichita bt case serial killer. >> it was an amazing thing. in this business you don't believe in coincidences. >> reporter: ron enlisted another big gun to help id castro. fbi supervisory special agent

john sullivan. >> we checked our fbi data bases and private data bases. we checked every lou castro we could find none matched the lou castro we had in wichita. >> how unusual is that that the fbi cannot come up with a name and an id on a guy? >> that is extremely unusual. especially in this day and age. usually everybody has a trail. there should have been credit records and drivers license records. there should have been all sorts of records and we could find none. >> reporter: none of the car purchases, the property deeds, even the utility bills at angel's landing were under the name lou castro. they were all under the names of commune members. but just as goodwin was feeling stumped, another extraordinary tragedy was about to shake angel's landing. it happened in 2008 when sarah was 24, emily 17. >> i called mom after school to have dinner with her.

and she didn't answer her phone. and i was so angry with her. because she ignored my phone call. about 30 minutes into the test that i was taking, they pulled me out of class. my dad was there. he said emily, we have to go. and, he started driving me to my house. and i said dad, we have to go to the hospital. and he said no, emily, we don't. >> 911, what's the location? >> reporter: their mother's car had swerved into the oncoming traffic. >> she had hit a gravel truck head on. on a rural road. >> so your mother is suddenly dead. an awful event. maybe a distraction or we had to turn away from trouble.

we don't know. >> we don't know. she had just bought a little yorkie and for the past couple of weeks she had been happy. >> what did the accident investigators made of that? >> they said it was an accident. >> reporter: meanwhile, the investigators, goodwin, snyder, and sullivan couldn't ignore that jennifer's head on highway death was the sixth in eight years from the same family commune. >> does that change your interest in the case? >> are you amped up more? >> we all were. >> reporter: approximately every two-and-a-half years there was a mysterious death deemed each time to be an accident. and while the officers suspected lou castro was somehow involved, they had no hard evidence on which to arrest him. they had to just wait. >> it is not that easy. we did not want to tip off what we were looking at. and if he knew we were looking at him, he could get up and move. change the way he does business. >> and you didn't know who he was. >> and we did not know who he was. >> reporter: a year later in 2009, lou castro did what they

feared. he took off. but just as the investigators thought lou castro might haveshipped away, they got their first big break. coming up, a troubling encounter shakes sarah. >> he was very angry with me. scary angry. >> reporter: and then someone new gives detectives their first look inside the mysterious world of angel's landing. >> the authorities were very interested in what you had to say. >> yes. >> when dateline continues. say. >> yes. >> when dateline continues. well, with your home, auto, boat and rv all bundled with progressive you've got the peace of mind to really wander. yeah. yeah, i just hope it stays this way. once word gets out about these places they tend to -- -are you done? -aaand there it is. well, at least your vehicles are protected. let's hit the road. hey fam! i'm just at this beautiful lake that i just discovered. practicing gratitude, manifesting abundance. hi. i use febreze fade defy plug. and i use this.

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detective ron goodwin believed the man for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. known as lou castro was somehow linked to six mysterious deaths >> reporter: detective ron goodwin believed the man known as lou castro was somehow linked to six mysterious deaths in the midwest but he didn't know how or why. and now unbeknown to the detective, lou castro had slipped away. left wichita. it happened suddenly. after their mother's death in the 2008 car crash, emily and

sarah were still traumatized when lou announced a move to tennessee. >> he said we really needed to go. i was angry with him. i didn't want to go and i wanted to stay. >> he said we will be closer to vanderbilt, the college i wanted to go to. and this whole move was for me. >> flattering to hear. >> yeah, and how do you say no when the entire thing is about you? >> you were still the princess? >> right. >> reporter: emily was 17. but sarah was nearly 24 and edging away from the smothering nest. >> i moved out. >> how did you do that? that is a huge step. >> they were leaving to go to tennessee and i didn't want to go. and i just lost my mom. and i couldn't stand the thought of losing my dad. i never have been able to stand that thought. my daddy is so important to me.

>> did you tell lou to his face i'm not going? i'm not getting in the car? >> yes. >> how did that go down? >> he was very angry with me. scary angry. and i just, did. i can't. i'm not doing that. i don't want to be that far away from my dad. i don't. there is no way. >> reporter: emily might have gone to live with her father, but she remained with the commune. >> i wasn't going to leave what i considered my family. >> and your dad was part of another family back when? >> i still visited my dad and loved my dad. but that is not where i was going to live. >> reporter: so, as the family and emily moved to a beautiful colonial home on acreage in columbia, tennessee, sarah stood her ground in wichita. she could exhale at last and one evening she went out and met a guy. his name was daniel. an expert marksman in the kansas national guard. as they fell in love, she began to spill the buried secrets of

her past. >> you think nobody could have these dark stories that are part of your life. but you had just awful, awful things to tell. >> uh-huh. yes. >> reporter: sarah was still in touch with the family commune now living in tennessee. and daniel wanted to know more about this lou character sarah was telling him about. >> i started researching all these deaths, trying to figure out how much out of the was related to the individual. >> which is what law enforcement was doing. what did you feel? >> a lot of mixed emotions. i didn't know how to handle that stuff at the time. it was very fresh and new to me. just stuck with her and decided you know, let's try to make things right. >> reporter: and secretly, daniel decided to take action. >> you put together a remarkable bether from the fbi. >> yes. >> took some guts to do it. >> i was tired of me carrying

all that information myself. i found out enough that i believed that it should be in somebody else's happens that can do something with it. >> reporter: daniel laid out his suspicions. painting an alarming picture of the angel's landing commune. a series of mysterious deaths. a code of silence enforced with sickening threats. and a big clue as to where all the money might have come from. and at the centerover it all, the man who called himself lou castro. even for the veteran of the wars in afghanistan and iraq, reporting to the authorities carried its risks. >> did you worry about that? >> i did. i decided this is something i had to do. >> turns out the authorities were very interested in what you had to say. >> yes. >> reporter: so in december of 2009, nearly seven years after the wichita investigation began, detectives goodwin and snyder and sullivan got their

first break. the email from daniel. >> and in the email, he told us what he thought was happening. but the great thing about it was for the first time, we had somebody from the inside that could confirm some of our suspicions. >> saying you guys need to look at this guy. >> yes. >> and i guess you get a holy cow phone call. >> yes. we finally have a cooperating witness that will help us determine who lou castro is. >> reporter: in secret, without sarah knowing, they brought daniel in and peppered him with questions. >> he related to us how lou castro and the others have moved to a residence in columbia, tennessee. we were reluctant to talk to his girlfriend because we didn't want to tip off lou castro. >> reporter: and daniel, their inside man, delivered the mother load. >> they would bring me pictures. can you identify these people. >> they are out at the gate looking. watching cars come and go. but you are able to put the picture together for them. >> correct. >> reporter: armed with

daniel's email and his intelligence, goodwin, snyder, and sullivan got an official green light to pursue castro and try to take him out of business. >> john's counterpart ins tennessee obtained a license tag on a vehicle out there registered to a guy named joe vanegas. so we had a new name that could be a new family member or lou castro. >> reporter: at the same time as the investigators were looking for joe vanegas, they were transferring money. >> the money had transferred from wichita kansas to columbia tennessee banks. >> reporter: emily remember it is day lou set up a new account. >> did you go to the bank with him that day? >> i did. >> you don't know that the local authorities had been looking at him for years back in wichita? >> nope. >> reporter: after they got in touch with the bank, the investigators pulled the security camera video. there, clearly visible, was emily. and there was a man called joe

vanegas opening an account. >> and who did you see? >> lou castro. >> so lou castro of wichita is now joe vanegas of tennessee. >> that is correct. >> reporter: the investigators believe he was neither lou castro nor joe vanegas and now he had been made. identity fraud is a federal crime so the investigators now had grounds to arrest him. a week later, they moved in. coming up, investigators finally get inside the doors of the commune. and later, sinister stories of angels' landings' dark angel. >> amber was the angel of death. she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> reporter: and you will hear from lou castro himself. when dateline continues. himsel. when dateline continues.

[theme music] narrator: it's a striking colonial house deep in the countryside outside nashville, tennessee.

and in 2010, this was where lou castro's houseful lived. it's a striking colonial house deep in the countryside outside nashville, tennessee. and in 2010 this was where lou castro's household lived. there was luke and his fiancee, and their daughter. emily was there too, and other commune members. based on information sara's boyfriend daniel had supplied to the three determined investigators the fbi was now for dogging the property. occupants inside were oblivious. >> so the house looked very nice. you weren't concerned about leaving classmates in wichita, but were you pleased at what the prospects were in tennessee? >> i was. it was hard going to school and things, but i focused on getting to college and things like that. >> emily recalls there had been so many changes, and one change in particular was unusual. lou now wanted to be called

joe. >> how did he explain that to you? don't call me lou anymore? >> i think he didn't have the proper identification to be legitimately established as lou, so he needed an actual social security card and drivers license. >> wichita investigators found out lou was going by joe. they believed he committed identity fraud which gave them what they needed to make an arrest. >> we went to the front of the residence, knocked on the door, mr. castro and his common-law wife answered the door. >> we actually approached him as joe venegas, we called him joe venegas to his face and he corrected us and told us he was not joe venegas but in fact lou castro. so he went back to his old identity. >> was he shaky to see law enforcement? >> i didn't think so. >> he was confident he was going to be able to explain away why we were there.

>> the officers arrested him, charged him, and searched the property. >> we found normal things, paper documents, computers, we found 11 weapons, guns, inside the house. >> any smoking guns? >> no. >> emily was on her way home from school when she received a call from detective goodwin. >> i said i don't know who you are. he said i am detective goodwin, you need to come home. >> first time you heard the name? >> i showed up and goodwyn practically had to carry me into the house, because i was terrified. i remember i didn't tell them anything. >> lou was confounding officers by not giving up his real name. >> we swept him array a way to the jail, we wanted his

fingerprints, we wanted to know who he was, and that did not occur. >> the fingerprints did not show up in any federal database, even after a six hour interview he didn't crack. >> after the search warrant, after the tennessee trip we came back to wichita partly happy because we had arrested lou castro , but we didn't know who he was at that point. >> when castro pleaded guilty to id fraud and was sentenced to two years in federal prison goodwyn thought that was a ploy to avoid larger charges, serious crimes over many years, and he was determined to get to the truth. seven years after opening his investigation into angel's landing he set off to the place he believe lou castro's criminal journey began and at last found castro's true identity. coming up, the discovery that would break the case wide open. >> i it out of his hands and

say where did you get that? >> when dateline continues. lin . but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. we planned well for retirement, but i wish we had more cash. you think those two

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the nemesis of detective ron goodwyn, a man who called himself lou castro, but would not give up his real name, was behind bars after confessing to id fraud. the nemesis of detective ron goodwyn, a man who called himself lou castro, but would not give up his real name, was behind bars after confessing to id fraud. but, even after seven years of investigating, goodwyn was just getting started. he believed castro was involved in much more serious crimes, heavy duty stuff, maybe even

those mysterious deaths. the plane crash that killed mona, her boyfriend, and her daughter, lindsay. the death of brenda he was under a collapsed vehicle. that inexplicable head on tragedy in which sara and jennifer died. and trish hughes's drowning. as investigators called everyone with links to castro, the trail took investigators to south texas. >> trish hughes was from beeville, texas. >> sister recalled tricia had gone with the guy way back when. >> a guy by the name of daniel perez. >> had you ever heard that name? in all your years of flying about the name training? >> never. >> was record of a daniel perez and a mug shot. >> they faxed it to me that day. >> i remember when ron got the fax from texas . i snatched it

out of his hands saying who, where did you get this? we knew it was daniel perez. >> lou castro was daniel perez , born in texas in 1959. daniel perez pleaded no contest to two sets's crimes in the 1990s. he was believed to be dead. >> he was not dead because you saw him in wichita. you saw him driving his corvettes, so he was on the lam. >> in kansas and tennessee interviews with the angel's landing commune helped goodwyn connect the dots between six states and more than a dozen commune members over a period of about 15 years. and something else happened, emily wrote a letter to lou while serving time for id fraud. >> i said i'm finally going where i want to do and doing the things i want to do. he wrote me back and chewed me

out for not caring about him. >> that was the price of being his princess? >> i would say i was happy and he took that as a slap in the face, and i stopped talking to him. >> emily talked to investigators, but she and sara trickled out their stories fearing they might be implicated in what goodwyn suspected. >> it took a lot of questioning in tears, and lots of detective goodwyn telling me that it was going to be all right, and that i was not in trouble. >> sara and emily's terrifying saga began when emily was just 10, and sara, 17. their mom got to know the man they called lou in 2001 as they prepared to move into angel's

landing. >> mom said, i think sara was in the car. does special? i said he's pretty nice. she said he is actually a seer. mom told her he was hundreds or thousands of years old, that he could see what was going to happen in the future, and that the reason we followed him was that she just had that instinct and just knew that she needed to be close to him, because he could protect her and keep her safe. >> did you believe it? >> i was skeptical at first, but i think when you're 9 or 10, and your mom says this is really what's happening you give it a little bit more credibility. >> and it was not just emily and sara's mom, others at angel's landing believed lou was a direct descendent of geronimo, with the power to make it rain and bring good

health. >> similar incidents, where lou had been dead, or an animal had been dead, or somebody was sick, and he made them better. >> did you believe it? >> yes. he could see people from the past, like people that had arty died. he could see those people too. >> see them, because he said he was an angel. >> he said your mom is right, i am hundreds of years old. this is really my body. i've died several times, this is just the one i am in right now. it seemed really cool, you know? it was like being so special, and being around this thing that nobody gets to do. >> your very own angel. >> it's like santa claus, you get excited at 10 years old, and he said he would take care of us and make sure we were safe. >> but safety meant lou needed

control. >> he was the one that told everybody what they were going to do. >> very bossy guy. >> kind of, he was very good at manipulating you, i guess you could say. >> was your mom vulnerable? he seemed to know where people's buttons were. >> very much so. >> he's stepping in like the boss? >> acting like my dad. >> what was that thing he put together you got pulled into? >> the cult. >> what is that thing he had? did you feel power? he could say crazy things, and you think is telling the truth? >> yeah. >> detective ron goodwyn was incredulous listening to this, but nothing could have prepared him for what came next. lou castro , the seer had

three alter egos. >> david, amber, and arthur. like arthur was mean. and daniel was more kind. >> you didn't want to meet either? >> no. >> amber was the angel of death, so she would come around when somebody was going to die. >> he could see who was going to die? >> right. >> did you ever see that personality? >> i did. he wouldn't blink. he would get this terrible grin that just looked evil. >> the sisters say before their mom's death castro had a vision. >> he predicted my mom was going to die. >> how did you feel? >> devastated. >> it was awful. >> the outlandish stories were shocking to rod goodwyn, a seasoned detective, who was about to discover more about lou castro's power over life and death. emily was about to take the

detective back to the summer day in 2003 when trish used around in the swimming pool at angel's landing. >> her story is that trish hughes is not an accidental drowning? >> yes. what emily heard, and what emily saw, when dateline continues. ok, someone just did laundry... no, i add downy light so the freshness really lasts. yeah, most scented stuff gives me a headache, but this is just right. and i don't like anything. but i like this. get a light scent that lasts with no heavy perfumes or dyes. ( ♪ ♪ ) coarse hair

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detective ron goodwyn was scarcely able to take in the story of the cult and the occult detective ron goodwyn was scarcely able to take in the story of the cult and the

occult at angel's landing. sisters emily and sara recounted that lou castro, whose real name was daniel perez, had brainwashed them into believing he was a seer, and that he took on the personalities of dark, manipulative angels, who could predict someone's death. they believed it really happened. eight months after castro's arrest emily took the detective back to 2003, and the tragic death of tricia hughs. this was a different story than the one she told at the time when she was 11. and it began with a prediction similar to the one lou castro made before her mom's death in 2008. >> she tells of an incident prior to patricia hughes' drowning in the swimming pool. >> about a week before tricia's death emily, tricia's toddler, and tricia, were sitting at a table when lou castro the seer, as emily believed him to be, had a vision.

>> he said emily, something big is going to happen, he said tricia is going to die, and i started crying. he said, it's okay, it's her time. >> she says castro told her not to worry. he couldn't be there when tricia died, because it would destroy his power as a seer, he would still bring tricia back to life. >> he said she will come back. >> tricia is listening in on all of this, hearing this? >> yes. >> is she startled? does she say not me? >> no, she was quite involved. >> on the appointed day the angel's landing family had gone to lunch. >> we got back from lunch, and he said all right, we are going to go to the dealership to look at a car, i think it was for sara. i don't remember. he said but, the pool needs to be cleaned, you and tricia will stay and clean it. and he said emily, it's time. and i said, okay. >> she says lou castro set up

the cleaning equipment for the pool a few feet away from the workshop. >> he said he'll wait inside the workshop with the little one. i gave tricia a hug on the diving board, and i started crying. she said why are you crying? i said i'm going to miss you. she said it will be okay. >> emily took the toddler and waited inside the workshop where there were minutes going by. >> there was a splash, a scream, like a shriek. and then lou came in, and he was panting or out of breath . he looked sad. his arms were wet. >> she says lou gave emily an order. >> wait 20 minutes, then go out there, make sure you and the baby jump in so you are what . so we play with the kittens in the shop, and i waited. it was an agonizing 20 minutes.

>> trying to entertain the little girl? >> knowing that tricia was outside. >> you leave the shedding go to the pool? >> yeah, we went to the pool. tricia was floating in the shallow end of the pool, facedown. so i got the baby and jumped in. expect to get yourself what? because you had to come of the story? >> right. >> that you attempted to rescue the baby? how awful! you see tricia floating in the pool. >> i lost it. >> even so emily called 911 as she was ordered by castro and told the story that tricia slipped while trying to rescue the baby and banged her head and drowned. in the crucial 20 minute window lou had taken sara to the car dealership . expected he give

you a hint of what was going on? >> no. >> what did lou do at the pool? >> i believe he drowned tricia. >> not an accident? pushed her in and killed her? >> yes. >>tech div trend 12 detective ron goodwyn . lou saying with his powers he put her in a time warp, convincing her she wasn't at the pool when tricia drowned. innocent 11-year-old emily waited and waited for lou to bring tricia back to life, but she was gone. for years her death remained an accidental drowning. >> i know that it was, because of the story i told, and there's a lot of regret that comes along with that. >> but you're not to blame for this, you get that, right? >> trying to come to terms. >> the control he had over her was unlimited.

she would do anything for him. she truly believed he was this person. >> with emily's story he had the evidence he had been seeking for so many years of castro's grievous crimes. >> taste on this little girl's story, what she saw and took part in as a girl you have a murder case. >> yes. >> as if murder wasn't enough emily and sara had more to tell. there were more crimes to reveal, even more ugly stuff. sara and emily were about to take the investigators into their truly diabolical world. coming up, the dark truth at the heart of angel's landing. >> emily, here's the difficult part of your story. i'll let you tell as much of it as you like. >> when dateline continues. lin ! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy.

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testimony from his longtime assistant to authenticated trump's old contacts from both stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. the two women with whom he is alleged to have covered up affairs. protesting students at columbia university remained at a stalemate. encampments have spread to over 40 campuses as students demand an end to israel's military bombardment of gaza, resulting in 34,000 deaths. now back to dateline. wichita detective, ron goodwyn, listening as emily and sara reveal the awful story of tricia hughes' murder at angel's landing. not the email from daniel, the story about tricia is drowning, or his wildest suspicions about lou castro to prepare him for what he was about to hear next.

emily, here's the really difficult part of your story, and i'll let you tell as little or as much as you like, but you seem right away to be sharing a bedroom with lou. as a fourth-grader? >> i was 10. >> 10 years old? >> yes. i was in his bed every night. he convinced me this is what i needed to do to take care of him, and this was my job. >> why did he say he needed you? >> he said that for a seer he needed to have a pure little girl. to have sex with him, so he could survive. >> that would recharge his batteries as the angel that's thousands of years old? >> right. he would validate it with old debacle stories, or things like that about how little girls are special. that he really needed a little girl. that i had to take care of him. expected you think it was wrong or out of line at the time? >> no. i wanted to take care of him, that's what i was supposed to do. it's hard to explain, but i

loved lou. i loved him quite a bit. so i did it. it was uncomfortable and painful, and it breaks my heart now. it's really hard for me to look at pictures of myself from when i was little. spike your childhood was stolen from you from this man. >> even when castro got engaged and had a child the abuse didn't stop although emily was pushed out of the bedroom. >> are you jealous? >> i was, i was 12 and felt like i was getting divorced. >> for sara the awful reality was not dissimilar, she too was subjected to castor's mind games. she says he sought to control her. >> like trying to drive a wedge

between my sister and i. >> where you jealous of emily? >> he tried to make me jealous of her, yes. >> she says castro was more violent with her than her sister. >> if you didn't follow his way what would happen? >> he would rape me. >> rape you? how awful! >> there are hundreds of times, and i can tell you every single time, but you try not to remember those things. >> how old were you? >> 17. >> castro's abuse was backed up by demonic threats if the girls did not obey. >> he told me he was going to take me to purgatory. >> he would threaten people with purgatory so they would be in limbo forever. >> that was his capacity and skills as an angel? >> right. it's important to remember he, lou would never make these threats, it was the angels who were inhabiting his body who would make these threats. so the next morning he would wake up and be like i love you,

i'm so sorry. and i'm like really? >> where is your mom when all this goes on? >> it was like usually really late at night. and so she would be sleeping in her house. >> by then you had moved properties? >> what about the other adults? >> this brian, tricia, the people coming and going to the pool parties, nobody intervened? >> nobody saw it. >> nobody saw the abuse, and i've spoken to people who were there, and i guarantee you nobody knew. he was very careful, i never had a bruise, just psychologically. so it wouldn't be weird for us to disappear for an hour or two. nobody knew. >> castro didn't just

manipulate the girls for sex he ordered sara to tape a young child in a bathroom , orders backed up with a most sadistic of threats. >> was he happy with what you showed him? >> he said the first time i didn't get what he needed me to get. >> if you had said no, i'm not going to go with that little girl what would he have done to you? do you think? >> he said i'm going to make your worst nightmare come true, i'm going to kill your dad. >> it was the same reason she never told her dad about the abuse. >> he was always threatening to kill my dad. >> that was his go to with you? >> yes, because i'm a daddy's girl. >> and he knew that. >> the acute fear in moments escalated when he was drunk. >> he fired a gun next to my

head. >> he enjoyed the pain, he enjoyed making people miserable and terrified. he enjoyed it. >> but so great was castro's power that leaving didn't seem to be an option for the younger girl. >> you had no money or plan b-- >> i think it's a pretty common thing for people in these types of situations, that everybody says well you could have left then or then, but that didn't seem like a possibility. the thought of leaving was scarier than the thought of staying. the scary part is what if he's right i am useless? nobody will love me? what if he is right and he is a seer? >> and does have an avenging angel who will get you? >> that's scarier than staying. i know i physically could have left now. but i never once thought about leaving.

i thought about killing myself, but not leaving. >> how do you get over that? >> you don't. i have ptsd. >> i am not at all surprised. ron goodwyn, aghast at what he was hearing, believed he had learned of crimes that would put trent eight behind bars for a long time. >> he is a sexual predator, who is willing to do anything to get his way and do what he wants to do live a life like he wants to live. he will stop at nothing, including murder and rape. and he didn't stop to get what he wanted. >> they waited until castro completed his sentence then immediately rearrested him, and he ended up being charged with 28 counts of first-degree murder, child exploitation, and multiple counts of sexual

crimes and fraud. kansas versus daniel perez was heading to court. as witnesses filed into the courtroom the investigators wondered their star witness, emily, perhaps vulnerable, would hold up when she saw the man she knew as lou castro sitting before her. >> how much courage did this young woman have? >> i can't imagine what it took . >> now she's going to take him on? >> yes. >> coming up, despite all the evidence at least one part of the case may not be a slamdunk. when dateline continues. nervi'f ala reduces nerve discomfort in as little as 14 days. now i can help again. feel the difference with nervive.

(♪♪) (♪♪) try dietary supplements from voltaren, for healthy joints. trat sedgwick county district court in wichita, kansas.

you must determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. narrator: daniel perez, aka lou castro, went on trial. he was charged with the first degree murder of trish hughes, at sedgwick county district court, in wichita, kansas. >> you must determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty. >> daniel perez, a.k.a. lou castro, went on trial, charged with the murder of tricia hughes, with sexual crimes including child exploitation and fraud. eventually 28 counts in all. there were no charges in any of the other mysterious deaths. emily and sara would both testify, though at the time, not yet wanting to make public their identities, and they would face down the accused who controlled them both for so many years. >> i can't imagine how anxious you must have been, because the case depends on you. >> right. all i could think about was, how are they going to believe me? this is such a crazy story. what if they don't believe me? >> the state, mr. bennett and i

will ask you to hold him responsible and find him guilty. >> district attorney mark bennett and assistant da kim parker prosecuted the sprawling case. were you worried about explaining this to a jury? >> we had facts from across several states, facts that involved a multitude of witnesses. >> this was like an imax movie, and you went with the dramatic version of the daniel perez story. >> you can't understand otherwise. if you can't tell the whole story the jury would be lost. >> the judge allowed evidence from beyond cancers to be entered. criminal accusations that goodwyn, snyder, and sullivan, uncovered , would be heard by the jury. >> patricia hughes had died. >> the murder charge, the das

alleged even though tricia hughes might have been a willing participant in her own death it was nonetheless perez who held her head underwater. >> the primary distinction between homicide and suicide is suicide is at your own hand literally in this case. homicide, hand of another. his hand was necessary to complete this act. >> there is circumstantial evidence to prove the charge and the star testimony of only one witness. emily, 11 years old, at the time of tricia's death. was this the weakest part of the case? >> this was the only count that had the testimony of one individual, so yes it was the most difficult to prove. >> i kept thinking nobody is going to really think that it's as bad as it was. nobody's going to think he should serve life in prison. >> beyond emily's account the prosecution put on an expert witness to testify to the small bruises seen on the top of tricia's head consistent with

finger pressure, he said. likewise the broken hair clip found on the pool bottom got there because someone pressed on the top of her head as she was held underwater. moving on, the next charge, the exploitation of a child carried a life sentence. this was the incident in which sara accused perez of forcing her to videotape a young girl as she got undressed. >> how did it feel to see him in court? >> terrifying. i felt like he could jump across the table and get me. >> even then? >> the das alleged perez wanted the video filmed twice. >> right off the bat that was important as they described it.

>> it was surreal and terrifying to sit before 12 people that i did not know and tell them all of these terrible things in terribly graphic detail that happened when i was 10. >> there were more witnesses, and of the four young women from three states alleged victims unaware of one another agreeing that lou castro claimed malevolent angels were controlling him as he assaulted them sexually. >> the mo of attacking his victims was similar. >> they didn't know each other. they were thousands of miles apart. the story was essentially the same. >> but it was the fraud charges that revealed what daniel perez and angel's landing were all about. you didn't have to go far down the paper trail before you realized perez signed nothing. the car loans, the mortgage applications, all filled out by followers. the prosecutors said he manipulated family members into using their own names to buy

all that real estate and lavish toys. and it got worse. it turned out tricia, mona, and lindsay, died in the plane crash , brian hughes, was killed under a collapsed vehicle, and emily and sara's mother who died in a car crash, all had two things in common. daniel perez predicted each of their deaths, and each had juicy life insurance policies, payouts totaling $4.2 million, or made to commune numbers perez controlled. and it seemed whenever coffers were running low someone would die, and there would be a big insurance payoff. >> absolutely. less than $5000 in the account, that's around the time someone was going to die. >> the da summed up their case against 55-year-old daniel perez. >> it's a story of domination, control, manipulation of the

most vulnerable . it spans 15 years. multiple victims. multiple deaths. life insurance policies, and he moves through several states, so he can satisfy his own sexual appetite. >> daniel perez was about to take the stand and tell the court that it had been a big misunderstanding. next, you will hear him speak directly to us. coming up. >> mr. perez i have heard you described as a cult leader, child rapist. who are you? good thing there's resolve. love the love. resolve the mess. (angie) tobacco companies target people like me with their menthol cigarette marketing. realizing this made me angry enough to quit. my tip is, this should make everyone angry. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now.

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for years, he had traveled through texas and the midwest through texas and the midwest going by the name, lou castro. in tennessee, he was 13. >> you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give- - >> now as he faced charges of murder, child exploitation, sex crimes, and fraud, he took the stand in his own defense. this time with his real name. >> daniel perez. >> he told the court everything had been invite invented by the prosecution. no angels, no insurance fraud, and no murder. perez sat down with dateline, and we went over the points of his defense. >> i've heard you describe described as a cult leader, a

child rapist. who are you? >> no one in particular, i'm just me. >> are you a seer? why are you telling people that? >> and never told them anything. >> who are your angel alter egos? >> is no such thing. there were no alter egos. from having sex with somebody i didn't want them using my real name. >> after being charged with six crimes in the mid-'90s he left texas, because he was on a job. >> i was moving money, that was it. i delivered money, and i got

paid for it. >> illegal money? >> yes sir. >> you still have the money? >> yes sir. >> half 1 million? >> probably close to that. >> did he sit emily and tricia down at a table and predict tricia's death? >> did you tell her her time had come? did you tell emily that tricia's time had come? >> no. no. >> and have that girl set up an alibi for you? you are saying they made up all of that about tricia and the pool? there's no question you are at the car dealership later on. key question, it wasn't your hand pushing patricia hughes' had under the water? >> no and killed patricia hughes. >> there's a big insurance money. let's go back to the airplane incident. did you read that plane to crash? years go by, then it is

tricia's time in the pool. a few more years go by, it is brian, the husband, trapped underneath a car. >> yeah, he passed away in south dakota. expected you mind games with jennifer? >> no sir, i had nothing to do with anyone's death. >> what about the instructions he gives sara with the video camera? >> you didn't order someone to take these obscene naked pictures of this little girl? >> no, they found the pictures and the videos on her computer, not mine. has anyone considered the fact that she is the one who was doing it? >> are you a pedophile, do you have an appetite for little girls? so what you get up for the morning is to drive your flashy cars around and look forward to raping a young girl? >> that's the picture that

comes together, but it's not true. >> she testified you raped her hundreds of times. using you didn't do it? >> no. they were of age and willing consent. we were just having fun. expect the stories that come out from these people he used to be in your family is that you were manipulating them, you're going to kill their father, they felt terrorized by you. >> and one of them was dating the police officer, we have police officers, law enforcement that hang out at the ranch for at least eight years, it's not logical. how are you going to sit there and be raping an individual, and that individual doesn't go to the police? >> a lot of people die around

you, how do you explain that circumstantial pattern they say is your criminal enterprise can mark >> i can't explain it. >> were you a cult leader? >> there was no commune, there was no cold. >> that's in essence what daniel perez told the jury. the state had it all wrong top to bottom. the jury got the case and retired to deliberate. in about three hours it was with a verdict. judge joseph bribiesca read it to the court. daniel perez was found guilty on all 28 counts, and the following month in march, 2015, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the first degree order of tricia hughes, and for the exportation of a child. >> evidence conclusively shows that mr. perez used people as mere objects.

>> he received another 33 years for the other charges. a 55-year-old won't be eligible for parole for more than 80 years. those who feel the pain of loss speculate perez might have been involved in the other deaths, like the car crash in which emily and sara's mom died. do you think there's more to it than a simple road accident? >> probably. >> or the plane crash? perez was a plane mechanic in the navy . >> he did it someway somehow. he found a way to alter the aircraft. >> you believe? >> in my heart i do. >> you don't have any evidence? >> i can prove anything. >>'s heart goes out to emily and sara. >> i lost my mom and sister, but those girls? lost-- i can't even imagine. >> who is daniel perez? >> he used so many different stories it is hard to piece

them together. >> is just a guy from south texas? telling stories? >> right. >> for what reason? >> he liked it. he realized that if he could find a way to generate capital without having to work he could have access to whatever sorts of things his heart desired. things including me and my sister. >> in the end it was tenacity and old-fashioned doggedness that took perez down. >> i would not have my life back if not for detective goodwyn and detective snyder, and supervisors should agent sullivan. and the das. it's amazing what they have given me. >> the last time we sat down with sara and emily they were

trying to move on but still reflecting on the shocking abuse . >> looking back, she had to have known. >> you would think. >> that she must have lost her mind. there's no way that my mom would allow that to happen to her children. >> the sisters are now closer than ever, and closer to their dad, tulsa, who was anguished when he heard his daughter's' stories. >> there are many times my dad could have given up, and he didn't. >> he wanted to know why i never told him. >> in your mind you are protecting him? you are keeping him from the demon. demon.

similar things that i did, being manipulated people out there experiencing similar things that i did. being manipulated, and being abused, were scared to leave. >> those people might not have a good one looking out for them and writing up with a white hat and a posse. >> but there are white hats out there, there are. there are a lot of people who care. maybe i can help somebody. at least i want to. some light has to come out from all of his darkness. hello, i am andrea canning, and this is dateline. something wasn't right at