Narrator: A rugged rodeo cowboy lives his old west dream life.
Allan sr.: He wanted to ride bulls.
He loved riding bucking horses.
Lisa: He was like clint eastwood
Since the day I met him.
Narrator: But when he disappears
From a dusty desert town
Without a word...
Lisa: He should have already been in my house,
Should have already texted me.
Narrator: ...A strange call to 911 deepens the mystery.
Narrator: Police discover
He has more enemies than friends.
Lisa: People were saying that he had stolen money
Or he didn't do what he said he was supposed to do
With the horses.
Justin: She said he was sleeping with your girlfriend.
I have seen people killed for a lot less.
Allan sr.: And I told him,
"you're upsetting the wrong people."
Narrator: Investigators search for answers stretches
Across the desert and across the west.
Det. Kirby: We're basically chasing a ghost.
Narrator: But the truth could lie buried
Beneath the hot sands of the mojave.
Allan sr.: People disappear in the desert real easy.
[♪♪]
Narrator: The mojave desert in southern california
Is a barren yet beautiful landscape.
Trevor: It's vast. It's rural.
It's dirt roads.
It's big sky, beautiful sunsets.
Shawn: Looks like the moon sometimes.
And it's hot.
And it's windy.
And it makes you old quick.
Trevor: One of my favorite things to do
Ever since I've lived in the desert
Is get on my dirt bike, point at a direction,
And you just go.
[engine revs]
Trevor: You get to explore,
And it was just absolutely beautiful.
Narrator: On a crisp, early December afternoon,
Trevor is biking through a familiar trail
In the high desert when he notices something strange.
[♪♪]
Trevor: What caught my eye
Was a no trespassing sign just off the road,
Out in the middle of the desert.
And I thought, "wow, that's weird.
That's never been there before.
What doesn't somebody want me to see?"
Right across the way there
From where the no trespassing sign
Was-- was a couch.
So looking at it a little bit closer,
I saw ripped blue jean levis buried in the sand.
It appeared that there was blood on the levis.
And then I noticed a human leg bone.
I was a little freaked out.
It was surreal.
There was no doubt this is a human body
Buried in the sand.
Yeah, I didn't touch anything that was in that area.
And I went back to my dirt bike and I called 911.
[siren wailing]
Narrator: Investigators arrive at the scene
Just as the sun sets over the desert.
Det. Kirby: The male victim was placed facedown
Into the grave.
Justin: He was hogtied.
His arms tied behind his back with a rope
That went from his hands up around his throat area
And tied his wrist together.
Det. Kirby: He also had a big piece of duct tape
Around his entire head and over his nose and his mouth.
It was extremely upsetting.
Justin: There was no identification in the grave.
No wallet or cellphone
Or anything that would indicate who this person was.
Det. Kirby: He was wearing blue jeans.
We also found a belt buckle.
It appeared to be a rodeo-style belt buckle.
There was also a ring
And a necklace in the shape of a cross.
Justin: The first question that investigators have is,
"who is this person that's buried in the sand?"
Kelly: Phelan, california is a small horse community,
Ranching town.
Narrator: Located in the heart of california's high desert,
The town of phelan seems like a place from another time.
It's a rugged community,
Luring a special breed of folks
With the call of the old west.
Trevor: Phelan definitely has more than its fair share
Of horse people, cowboys, ropers, bull riders.
Shawn: Rodeo, cowboy's life
Is about the relationship between a man and his horse.
[♪♪]
Shawn: Training horses, bronc riding, shoeing horses,
If you wanna do it, it's a passion.
Narrator: It's the love of horses
That brought allan godfrey jr. To phelan.
Allan sr.: Allan was a cowboy.
He loved being in the rodeo.
He wanted to ride bulls.
He loved riding bucking horses.
That was his thrill.
That's where his heart was.
Narrator: Even though he was born back east,
Allan idolized the open west and the cowboy life.
He grew up in new york,
A small town on the outside of poughkeepsie.
Narrator: When his parents divorced,
Allan found solace in tales of the old west.
Allan sr.: At one point, he was staying
With his uncle in kentucky,
And they had a horse farm.
So I believe the wild west thing
Started when he was there.
Narrator: By his mid-30s,
Allan's years as a bronc rider on the pro rodeo circuit
Have taken a physical toll.
He retires and finds work as a horse trainer
Roaming from montana to new mexico,
From texas to wyoming,
And starts using his middle name, rick.
Rick was very talented as a cowboy.
Narrator: Kelly kapko saw that firsthand
When she hired rick to help with her horses.
Kelly: And there was a little wild mustang
That I was have-- I was having trouble with.
He went out there and worked with that mustang,
And I'm not kidding, within 30 minutes
Of him showing up,
He was riding him.
He just had genuine talent with the horses.
Narrator: The handsome horseman also earned himself
Another kind of reputation.
Allan sr.: He made a lot of friends in the rodeo.
Mostly females.
He must had quite the charm.
It seemed to attract a lot of women.
Narrator: But rick life isn't always charmed.
And not all his ranch bosses are impressed with him.
Whenever there's conflict,
Rick's response is to move on down the road
And start again.
That's what he's hoping to do in phelan
When he lands a job on a ranch just outside town.
Allan sr.: Debbie harris and dale brewster
Were his landlords.
He rented a small mobile trailer
And he was shoeing horses,
Doing ranch work.
And debbie had party horses
She took to birthday parties and stuff.
And he helped out with her horses.
Narrator: Dale and debbie's ranch is the perfect place
To settle down with his loyal dog, zip.
Rick is also in a new relationship with a woman
Who lives on the coast a couple hours away.
Lisa: Rick and I met on a dating website
Around the beginning of February.
He was a total cowboy,
Like clint eastwood,
Since the day I met him.
Narrator: On a Thursday night in April 2015,
Rick makes the drive to lisa's place
To help her move to a new apartment over the weekend.
Lisa: And then the next morning,
He was really upset because he had received
A text message from his landlord, dale,
That he had to return the truck that he borrowed to move me.
And they got in a little bit of an argument,
And dale said, "you have to come home right now,"
Which is about a two-hour drive.
And I said, "just go home and come back."
And so he left.
I got off work around 5:00, 5:30 pm,
And nothing. Radio silence.
Like he should have already been at my house,
Should have already texted me.
I was concerned.
I knew him enough that if he said
He was gonna show up, he'd show up.
Narrator: By the time Saturday rolls around,
Lisa decides she's waited long enough
And calls rick's father allan sr.
Who lives in a nearby town.
Allan sr.: I tried calling my son's phone.
It just kept going to voicemail.
And I kept calling and I kept calling and I kept calling.
Det. Kirby: Allan godfrey sr. Called
In a missing persons report on April 18th, 2015.
Narrator: Investigators head to the ranch in phelan.
When they get there, rick's landlord, dale,
Makes a surprising confession.
Justin: Dale brewster told the sheriff deputy
That he had gotten into a physical fight
With allan godfrey jr., who went by rick.
Brewster said that he beat rick up,
And that rick took off, jumped brewster's fence,
And said he hadn't seen him since.
Narrator: Dale doesn't go into details about why they fought,
But he tells the officers that he actually called 911
Himself to report the brawl.
He says he wanted to make sure police
Knew about it in case there was any fallout.
Narrator: Police know phelan is a rough and tumble community
Of ranch folk who tend to settle their own disputes,
But they hear something concerning in dale's story.
Justin: Mr. Brewster also indicated
That when rick jumped the fence to leave the property,
He also saw rick hit his head
On the ground as he jumped over the fence.
Det. Kirby: We have somebody who's missing
And possibly maybe, um, left the area hurt,
And maybe laid down and possibly died
From injuries in the desert.
We need to find allan godfrey jr.
Allan sr.: Something wasn't adding up.
Det. Kirby: There was a lot of people out there
Who may want to settle the score
With allan godfrey jr.
Kelly: She responded with a vengeance
That I've never seen come out of a person.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Concerns are growing for horse trainer,
Allan rick godfrey jr.
The rancher he works for says rick ran off
Into california's mojave desert
After they got into a big fight.
That was two days ago.
Det. Kirby: The fact that nobody ever heard
From allan godfrey jr. Again,
That was unusual.
Narrator: Investigators press rick's landlord,
Dale brewster, for an explanation
Of exactly what happened.
He tells them the day rick disappeared
Started with an unexpected visit
From another rancher who came by looking for rick.
Det. Kirby: Dale explains that a lady named laura vasquez
Showed up and that she was very upset
With allan godfrey jr.
Justin: She told dale brewster
That rick godfrey owed her a lot of money
And that she was trying to locate him.
Det. Kirby: Laura was explaining to dale,
"hey, you don't know who's living on your property."
She tells dale,
"he stole a bunch of money from me,
Thousands and thousands of dollars."
She also shows dale brewster a photograph of a--
A bracelet that rick godfrey had stolen from her property.
Narrator: Dale tells the police he found laura's accusations
So disturbing that he texted rick
Demanding he leave his girlfriend
And return with dale's truck to the ranch immediately.
Det. Kirby: When allan godfrey jr.
Returns to the residence,
Dale brewster notices that godfrey
Is wearing the very bracelet that laura vasquez
Said was stolen from her.
Justin: Brewster told detectives
That he confronted rick
About whether or not he had stolen from laura vasquez.
He said that rick godfrey threw a bracelet at him
And that the fight was on.
Det. Kirby: Dale was very egotistical.
We understood his personality to be
"I'm the man and if you don't do what I say,
You're going to get the worst end of what I have to give you."
Justin: Dale indicated that he clearly won the fight
And left rick bloody as rick ran away from the property.
Detectives also spoke to debbie harris
Who was dale brewster's girlfriend.
She said she was not home at the time
Of the altercation between brewster and rick.
She didn't know where rick was.
She hadn't talked to him. She hadn't seen him.
Narrator: It's a strange story,
But in cowboy towns like phelan,
Investigators have heard taller tales.
Dale allows the police to search his property
And they find nothing unusual.
Justin: Although there were some red flags
About what brewster was saying,
There certainly wasn't enough to conclude
That a crime had necessarily occurred.
Allan sr.: It wasn't unusual for my son
To just pick up and leave.
But something wasn't adding up.
Why doesn't he answer his cellphone?
My son, if he was in trouble,
Would have made contact with me right away.
So he's gotta be hurt.
Det. Kirby: At that time, the deputies took
The initial missing persons report.
They spoke with allan godfrey sr.
And he saying,
"hey, my son would have never left his dog here.
My son has all of his belongings at the ranch."
Something was not right.
Lisa: He always had that dog with him.
If he didn't have his dog, it was like not having
Your six-month-old child.
Justin: Dale brewster didn't indicate that anything
Out of the ordinary occurred after the fight,
Or that he saw rick ever again,
Or that there was anything else
That he could add to the detectives' search
For rick godfrey and what happened to him.
Narrator: To confirm dale's story,
Investigators subpoena the cellphone records
For both rick and dale,
But they won't get them from the phone company
For several weeks.
In the meantime, all investigators know for sure
Is that rick's phone is turned off.
Justin: Law enforcement puts a search party together,
A search and rescue, and they do a search
In the area out there
To locate rick godfrey
And, uh, find him alive or dead.
Nothing.
When you have a missing persons
And you're thinking that potentially
It could lead to a larger investigation,
You wanna start to look into anybody
Who could have a motive to hurt that person.
You have laura vasquez admitting
That rick godfrey owed her a lot of money.
And, certainly, I have seen people killed for a lot less.
Det. Kirby: So the next logical thing to do
Was to go speak with laura vasquez.
Justin: Laura vasquez tells detectives that rick
Was a business partner that lived with her for a time.
Ms. Vasquez said that she had lent rick up
To $25,000 that rick still owed her,
And that, at some point,
Ms. Vasquez called the sheriff's department
To get rick godfrey removed from her property.
Keely: I guess they had an agreement.
They were gonna get this ranch going,
All those other stuff.
I don't know if there was romance involved
But there could have been. And then things went really bad.
Laura responded with a vengeance
That I have never seen come out of a person.
She put out so much
Just frightening threats to him
That I think she--
She really-- I don't know.
She wanted something to happen to him.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Police are searching for allan rick godfrey,
Who may be on the run after getting into a fistfight
With his landlord. But they've also learned
That he's in the middle of a heated dispute
With another ranch owner named laura vasquez.
She claims he stole $25,000 from her
In a partnership gone bad.
Police wonder whether she could be looking for revenge.
Justin: Detectives asked laura vasquez
About where she was in the late afternoon hours
Of April 17th when rick godfrey had gone missing.
Ms. Vasquez told them that she was at home,
Which is about 40 minutes away
From the dale brewster residence.
Det. Kirby: We checked everything.
We did request cellphone search warrant
Information from laura vasquez,
And then we have to wait for them.
Narrator: Meanwhile, rick's phone records
Are now available and investigators spot
A possible lead.
Justin: After he returned home
To the brewster residence,
Rick had made a phone call to a cab company.
Det. Kirby: If the cab company did come and pick him up,
He really could have floated to any area of the high desert
Or even possibly got himself out of state.
We contacted the cab company
To see if they did give allan a ride.
Allan had refused to give his address
But said he insisted that they come out and pick him up
On the corner of wilson ranch road.
The cab company didn't feel comfortable
Going out to an unknown location
And just a corner of this street
And this street so they denied him.
They told us that they did not pick up allan
And that nobody ever saw him or drove him anywhere.
At this point in time,
We realize that he's nowhere to be found
And that we're basically chasing a ghost.
Allan sr.: There was just a strong sense my son is gone.
Is he gonna be the one that, you know, everybody says,
"you know, I wonder what happened to him?
Where is he?" you know what I mean?
So I wanted that answer.
Narrator: After several days with no sign of rick,
There's news that gives his family new hope.
Debbie harris, the girlfriend of ranch owner,
Dale brewster, tells the police
That rick's beloved dog, zip,
Is suddenly gone from their ranch.
Det. Kirby: It was always the understanding that
If allan godfrey had left the property,
He would be coming back fairly quickly for his dog
Because that dog was his whole entire world.
And after allan godfrey jr. Went missing,
The dog also went missing from the property,
And there was a possibility that allan godfrey jr.
Came back for it.
Narrator: While detectives puzzle over the disappearance
Of rick's dog, zip,
The phone records of their potential suspect,
Laura vasquez, finally come in,
And they begin pouring through them.
Justin: Records show that ms. Vasquez' phone, at least,
Was near her home and not near the brewster residence
During those hours on April 17th.
Narrator: It seems to support laura's alibi.
Laura immediately points them
In a different direction, social media.
Det. Kirby: As we started really looking
Into some of the social media outlets,
We understood that there was a lot of people out there
Who may want to settle the score
With allan godfrey jr.
Keely: People in facebook groups,
People up here in the desert,
People that are in with the horses,
It's all very, um, interwoven.
We all know each other.
Like the instant he went missing,
Messages were coming up all over facebook,
On his pages or other people's pages like,
"I hope he's dead." you know, it just--
There was no remorse
Of this one section of the community
That just was like, you know,
"hope he's gone. Hope he's dead.
Hope someone murdered him. Don't care."
Keely: I started to read the posts being put
On our local horse groups about how he had ripped people off,
How he had burned them for money.
He was always accused of it all
But I don't know about any of that.
Lisa: And, honestly, since I met him,
He had a community of people
Who disliked him and were saying bad things,
Saying that he had stolen money
Or he didn't do what he was supposed to do with the horses.
He was always stealing and-- and sleeping with women.
I don't know.
Keely: Anything rick has been accused of,
He turned around and accused them of it,
And they were pissed.
People were after him.
Then comments started getting posted,
"give me his address. Where is he at?"
Narrator: The deeper investigators dig
Into the online mob,
The more hate messages
And death threats they find.
Their suspect pool has just exploded.
Keely: There were over 45 people that had
Put it on facebook that they would kill him.
Allan sr.: I told him I'm concerned...
Because I believe you're upsetting
Some of the wrong people.
They live in the desert.
People disappear in the desert real easy.
Justin: The person who did this to this victim
Thought of them like trash.
Det. Kirby: We know who committed this crime
And every time they just disappear on us.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Police in california's high desert
Have been searching for allan rick godfrey
For more than two months.
Their investigation has unearthed
A nest of online vipers,
Fellow ranchers and cowboys,
Who have taken to social media
To claim rick has done them wrong
And are vocal about their desire for revenge.
Lisa: This is hateful.
"I hope he's dead. If he's not dead, he should be."
Like it just was the grossest-- grossest stuff ever.
Narrator: But are the threats big talking old west bravado
Or a sign of something more sinister.
Det. Kirby: Investigators followed every social media lead
We possibly could.
And as we spoke with each person,
What we realized was none of these people
Had anything to do with his disappearance.
We were easily able to rule all of them out,
Mostly because they were all several states away.
Narrator: Although phone records seem to clear
Laura vasquez, investigators meet with her again
To see if there's anything else she can tell them.
And she reveals a new detail about her talk with dale
On the day rick vanished.
Justin: She indicates that she told dale brewster
That any woman rick is living with,
He's sleeping with.
She told dale brewster
That that means he's also sleeping
With your girlfriend, debbie harris.
Narrator: Dale failed to mention laura's accusations
When he talked to police.
The detectives know that jealousy
Can be a powerful motive.
Whether or not it's true,
Laura's allegation could have enraged dale.
But with no evidence of a crime,
All they have is suspicion.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Another six months passed with no new leads.
And then the sprawling high desert
Finally gets up its secret.
Det. Kirby: On December 8th, 2015,
Trevor thompson is riding his off-road motorcycle
And he comes across the remains of a body
In a shallow grave.
San bernardino county sheriff's department
Immediately recognized that that sounds like
Our missing person from eight months prior.
Narrator: Authorities obtain dna swabs from rick's dad
And send them to the lab for comparison.
Det. Kirby: The dna samples from his father proved
That it was allan godfrey jr. That was buried in the sand.
Allan sr.: Waiting is a hard thing to do.
For months, some part of me was hoping he'd come to me
In a dream and tell me where he was, you know?
Tell me something.
Uh, when I got the phone call
That they found my son's body in the desert,
My heart just sank.
Narrator: Because of decomposition,
It's unclear exactly how rick died,
So the investigators call in a forensic anthropologist.
She carefully combs through the skeletal remains
And discovers a tiny detail.
Det. Kirby: The decedent's body had a break in the hyoid bone
Located in the neck,
Which indicated that allan godfrey jr.
Was strangled.
And since we ruled out all others,
Our main suspect was dale brewster.
Narrator: And as they take a deeper look at him,
The detectives learned dale is no stranger to violence.
Justin: Dale brewster had a prior conviction
For a-- a serious felony
And assault with a deadly weapon in 1991.
Det. Kirby: In speaking with his ex-wife,
We understood also that
He was physically assaultive to her as well.
Justin: When he spoke to the police,
He indicates that he's like mike tyson
And that if you put your finger in his mouth,
He'll bite it off.
That gave me a very, very good glimpse
Into who dale brewster was.
Det. Kirby: But we needed to get enough evidence
That he had committed this murder.
Narrator: That's proving to be difficult.
Eight months exposed to the harsh dry
Desert environment has degraded
All the evidence found with rick's body.
Det. Kirby: I had the duct tape sent to csi
To see if we had a fingerprint on it.
I was hoping that a fingerprint would come back to anybody else
Who was wrapping that tape around the victim's head.
That came back with nothing.
I also had the rope sent
To see if there was any dna
From the person who tied the knots.
That came back with nothing.
Narrator: But their interviews with people connected to dale
Help convince them that they have the right suspect,
And that his girlfriend, debbie, may also be involved.
Det. Kirby: Debbie harris made several statements
In her interviews to investigators
That zip was gone,
And it led investigators to believe
That allan godfrey jr. Came back for his dog.
However, later, in speaking to debbie's daughter,
It was found out that it was actually debbie
Who had driven the dog off and let it go
Just in the middle of the desert to get rid of it.
And if there was a possibility that allan godfrey jr.
Was alive, there would be no reason
For her to dispose of this dog in this manner.
So dale brewster and debbie harris knew
That godfrey was gone and he was not coming back
For any of his belongings.
Narrator: With dale and debbie in their sights,
Investigators head to his ranch
Hoping to catch them off guard.
But it's the investigators who were caught by surprise.
Det. Kirby: One of the neighbors told me that
Dale brewster collected all of his belongings fairly quickly.
And when I arrived,
Dale had already left town.
Narrator: With all other suspects in the murder
Of allan rick godfrey cleared,
Investigators zero in on ranch owner, dale brewster,
And his girlfriend, debbie harris.
But dale and debbie have fled.
And as they search for them,
Detectives are coming up empty on hard evidence.
Det. Kirby: I went looking for physical evidence
And I just kept coming up with nothing.
Then another sergeant investigator said,
"hey, try this google search warrant."
Narrator: The technology is so new at the time
That few people even know it exists.
Det. Kirby: It's only been done one other time in our division,
So it's a big deal.
When you have a gmail account like dale,
Basically it means that google is running on your phone.
The gps coordinates that come off of google
Is much more extensive
Than what you would get off a cellphone tower.
You basically can get hits every three meters,
Depending on if you're in a rural or an urban area.
Narrator: Investigators obtain a warrant for dale's phone,
Hoping they can use the newly-available
State-of-the-art tech to precisely reveal
His every movement
Around the time of rick's disappearance.
Det. Kirby: Dale told investigators he was at home
The whole day of the 17th
And really didn't leave his house much the 18th or the 19th.
Justin: But when we looked at the google records
For dale brewster's phone on April 17th,
The records clearly showed him
Moving from his home in phelan
Out to the highway towards where rick's body was found.
Det. Kirby: We could track his car
Traveling a path
That went straight out to the gravesite.
We're able to determine that
He goes out there for enough time
To possibly dig this grave site,
Put allan godfrey jr. In it, and then return home.
And that was on April 17th, 2015,
The date that rick went missing.
We didn't have a whole lot of forensic evidence with dna.
What we did have was a very conclusive timeline
Stamped by cellphone workups and gps coordinates.
And that's what put dale and allan godfrey jr.
Together the day he went missing
And dale brewster out of the gravesite
Where he was disposed of.
Narrator: Now able to definitively link dale
To rick's burial site,
The investigators piece together their theory
Of what happened the day rick godfrey
Vanished in the desert.
Det. Kirby: Laura vasquez went to dale brewster's property
To find allan godfrey jr.
But she found dale brewster.
She painted a really clear picture of allan godfrey
Based on who she believed him to be,
A thief, fraud, a womanizer,
And that there's a good chance
That "he's also probably sleeping with your girlfriend."
That caused dale to become enraged,
And when he came in contact with alan godfrey,
That things very quickly spun out of control.
Once dale brewster was able to get rick
Down on the ground,
He then took the rope,
Hogtied him with his hands behind his back
And the rope around rick's throat.
Det. Kirby: He was scared. He was alone.
I don't think allan godfrey knew
This was gonna be his last moments.
Justin: Anytime you have a homicide
Where a victim has been left out in the desert
And buried in the sand,
It tells you that the person who did this to this victim
Thought of them like trash and something that they could
Throw out, and nobody would care and nobody would find them.
Narrator: For those who loved rick
Knowing just how much he likely suffered
Is hard to bear.
Lisa: This is a human being
Who I cared about and was in my life,
And he didn't just pass away.
Like people went after him.
And that's just horrifying.
I don't care who you are, it's just a horrifying thought.
Allan sr.: My son was in a lot of pain.
He was probably panicking
'cause he knew he was about to die.
That just filled me with rage,
Because my heart says,
"this is my son.
I love him for whatever--
I love him," you know?
He didn't deserve to die.
Justin: A decision was made by
The district attorney's office at that point
That there was enough to file murder charges
And a warrant was issued for dale brewster's arrest.
Det. Kirby: We had enough probable cause to obtain
An arrest warrant for debbie harris as well.
Justin: Once the arrest warrant is signed,
Then the detectives turned their attention
To locating and placing dale brewster under arrest.
Det. Kirby: We learned that debbie and dale
Have moved to kingman, arizona.
We decided to travel up to arizona,
And with the help of the local authorities
Make the arrest on dale and debbie.
Narrator: But that might not be as easy as it sounds.
We didn't know how debbie and dale knew
That we were honing in on them,
But it seemed like every time
We were getting really close to arresting them,
They were gone.
We know who committed this crime.
We want to bring them to justice.
And every time, they just disappear on us.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Homicide suspects, dale brewster and debbie harris,
Have fled from california
And managed to stay a step ahead of the police.
Eight months after the murder of allan rick godfrey jr.,
Authorities believe they've traced the pair
To kingman, arizona.
Det. Kirby: They were turning off their phones.
Once your phone goes off, you can't track anybody
Because the signal is gone.
After three days of playing cat and mouse,
We'd make the decision to go back to california.
As we're packing up to leave,
All of a sudden we start getting information
That their phones are back on and we can see where they're at.
Narrator: According to the phone data,
Dale and debbie are holed up in a motel
In nearby seligman, arizona.
California detectives meet up with their arizona counterparts
And rush to the location.
Dale and debbie were pretty surprised
To see that law enforcement was there at their door
To arrest them. They thought that maybe
They eluded police once again.
Allan sr.: Detective kirby told me, "we found them.
They were in a motel.
We're bringing them back to california."
And I was like, "yes.
We got the sob."
Narrator: But prosecutors eventually determined
There is not enough evidence to try debbie as an accomplice.
Det. Kirby: We really couldn't place her
In disposing of the body
Or the actual murder of allan godfrey jr.
Narrator: The murder trial of dale brewster is set to begin
Almost three years to the day
After rick godfrey vanished.
Justin: To strangle someone to death,
To then bury them and throw them away
Like trash in the sand,
I need to show that there is some motive
For that type of anger and hatred.
And you see that coming from the statements
That laura vasquez made to dale brewster
Insinuating that dale's girlfriend
Was having an affair with rick.
This was willful, deliberate, and premeditated.
Narrator: But when the defense calls dale himself to the stand,
He offers a very different story about the night rick died.
Justin: Brewster testified that after the fight with rick,
He was feeling stressed out.
He said that there were some tires
On his property that he'd been meaning to throw away.
Narrator: Dale doesn't deny that he drove into the desert
That night as shown by the google data
But he claims it was only to toss out the tires.
Justin: The jury was out for several days.
That's a nerve-racking moment
As investigators and myself
And the victim's family think about
What they're gonna do with the case.
Narrator: With tensions high,
The jury finally returns with a verdict.
Justin: The verdict was read
And dale brewster was convicted of the first degree murder
Of rick godfrey.
Allan sr.: It was definitely a moment of elation.
It was--
It was a weight lifted off of me.
It was-- it was like a blessing, you know?
Narrator: Rick godfrey lived his childhood dream
To become a cowboy, a bronc rider,
Part of the rough and tumble world of the american west.
But a vicious rumor in a desert town
And an evil attempt at frontier justice
Brought a senseless end to the cowboy life he loved.
[♪♪]
Allan sr.: I look at his pictures
And I try to remember him in good light.
Never seems to be long enough
'cause I always see the after, you know?
I'm missing out on one thing I want in my life,
And that's all my kids together
One place with me
Just enjoying life, you know?
That'll never happen.
There will always be one that's missing.
[♪♪]