Southern California’s Daniel Wozniak case

vo see the definition of idyllic Southern California living beautiful weather gorgeous people and this is as diabolical as murder gets a shocking crime that sends police on a manhunt for a trained killer served in Afghanistan combat veteran police were looking for an armed man who may be suffering from PTSD but the odyssey to find their man will unravel a deceitful and deadly plot that no one would see coming this guy's a monster he was colder than an iceberg no feelings no emotion just nothing there the ripple effect and the people that were hurt by this it goes out forever like the tides of the ocean it all comes back to the shores of Orange County California inside Costa Mesa police dispatch when that 911 costa mesa police rush to an apartment complex where they make a brutal and bloody discovery at this point all we knew was that we have a young female deceased with a gunshot wound to the back her head she was in the bedroom lying partially on the bed and her legs on the floor and there's more and it's personal there's things written on the back of her shirt a few all yours it really looked like it was your I mean I hate to say run-of-the-mill but it looked like a run-of-the-mill domestic violence murder a purse and wallet near the body revealed the victim's identity her name is Julie key buoy she crime reporter Jeremiah dobra covered the story for the local paper the daily pilot Julie by all accounts was a sweet young woman she was 23 loved dance it was very talented but now Julie is the victim of a violent murder and the prime suspect is the tenant of the apartment his name is Sam hare a war veteran who's currently am ia the police zeroed in on Sam pretty quickly it seemed pretty obvious this girl was found in his apartment he seemed like someone who could be capable of killing someone techs recovered from Julie's cell phone at the scene suggest a volatile romantic relationship the phone is blowing up between the two of them where he is apparently sending a message saying I'm having a hard time I need a friend to talk to there's a text from Sam that reads can you come over tonight at midnight alone going out for a bit very upset need to talk a minute later please don't tell anyone please and then please no sex I need to talk to someone I'm really not doing well Julie text yeah that's fine Sam I'm here for you like family authorities believe they've solved the whodunit part of the case now they just need to find Sam they questioned Sam's father who discovered the body and made the 911 mr. her was in disbelief repeatedly said no my son couldn't be involved in this there's no way we didn't quite believe him at that point just because we couldn't find him was his apartment dead girl and it seemed like he was on the run but bringing in their fugitive won't be easy he's an Army veteran trained killer and he's been accused of murder before Sam Hurra had a criminal history that led us to believe that he was a suspect in this crime when detectives run Sam hares record they're shocked to discover that eight years earlier he was arrested and charged with capital murder this pretty quickly got police thinking Sam was the killer and they started looking for him as their number-one suspect it's an all-points bulletin on the lookout for Sam took an account his military background we didn't know where he'd served in Afghanistan if he was exposed to PTSD we didn't know what the relationship between Julie and Sam was we didn't know if the message on her sweater was intended for someone third party or for us the police department we didn't know if we had a love triangle so he was our number one guy then police get a tip from Sam's bank his ATM card is being used at one of the branches and it appears they're wanted man is close by we know that Sam her is basically on the run from this homicide case and we are tracking his credit-card activity and we see that his credit cards are being used in Long Beach area investigators pull the bank's surveillance cameras expecting to see Sam but they don't who is this person using Sam hares ATM card and where Sam minutes later a second ATM swipe this time at a pizza place police arrived just in time to catch the delivery driver and route we were able to stop the pizza delivery guy several blocks away confirm that that was the credit card it was Sam Hearst credit card now cops plan to make their own delivery Costa Mesa police detectives are on a manhunt for Army veteran Sam hare investigators believe he killed his lover Julie key Beuys she and now he's on the run police we're looking for an armed man who may be suffering from PTSD who might have murdered this young woman in his apartment that's high priority that's all-points bulletin that gets that kind of attention cops are trying to track his every move they turn their focus on his ATM transactions and hit gold hairs just ordered a pizza on his cart the pizza delivery is headed to a home address in Long Beach California now stationed outside Harris house SWAT teams prepare to take down a violent and mentally deranged combat veteran but when they knock on the door a shocker this 16 year old boy's name was Wesley Fralick hardly an armed and dangerous fugitive it's a pimple-faced teenager who's scared to death Wesley Fralick is immediately ruled out as a suspect in the murder of Julie QE she in fact Wesley doesn't even know Sam hare but he does know this man Daniel Wozniak told us that Dan Wozniak could give him the credit card and he had just been there a couple hours earlier and he had picked up $400 but who is Daniel Wozniak and what's his connection to Sam hare Danny Wozniak was a community theater actor he lived here in Costa Mesa right across from when she goes to college he was engaged he had a hard time holding a job he's a young guy he's in various plays apparently in community theater leading men are in demand people who have time to go through a production and are willing to take the lead in the play so that's what he's spent most of his time doing as seen here and outtakes for an upcoming play hi my name is dan Wozniak I'll be playing the role of John Davis in Orange he really loved doing this place he didn't want to work he kept getting fired from job after job and he wanted to maintain this lifestyle where he's got you know pretty young fiancee they're about to get married Daniels fiancee is his acting partner Rachael Buffett their wedding is less than 48 hours away by all accounts he's living the high life in fact he was at his bachelor party in Huntington Beach but his world was about to come tumbling down homicide detectives break up the party with an arrest warrant one team went in the front entrance myself and Sergeant Keith Davis went in the rear so no one could flee the restaurant we went into kind of a private party room opened the curtain and Dan Wozniak and several his friends were in this room lieutenant ed Everett finally lays eyes on the elusive Daniel Wozniak I immediately looked at Dan Wozniak he made eye contact with me and he immediately turned white you can see the blood kind of drain from his face I knew at that point there was more to him than either knew or Sam was was that he was hiding Sam helped Sam flee or he had more involvement in this than he was letting on cops halt Wozniak in and back at the Costa Mesa Police Headquarters Daniel denies any involvement in Julie's murder he claims his only crime was a credit card scam that he and Sam had concocted basically came up with some scheme about using the credit card and he was gonna give the credit card to Wesley and they were gonna pull all this money out of Sam's account and then Sam would report that he was a victim of theft but before Daniel could cash in he claims Sam made us startling confession I they're being told in the door it was Sam it's like there's a dead body of my apartment he's like ok ok so they as soon as you left me I started doing some frozen turkey Anthony because I was very depressed again I said what did you do he's like I got a gun and he asked for sex history you said no Daniel claims after the confession he dropped Sam off at a local shopping center and never saw him again but police believe Daniel is covering for Sam so they turn up the heat during their interrogation and demand a DNA sample once the DNA is collected Daniels memory starts to sharpen at that point he became visibly nervous that's when he started to add more details to the story and change make some changes now I was in Sam's apartment Friday afternoon and I know I did use the bathroom I use the bathroom and I went I'm not sure if I went out in the patio most the time I do but detectives are starting to get the impression that Daniel is worried his DNA will show up in Sam's apartment but why please question me not any gaps that I want to fill absence what are your participation is that as far as my participation yeah yes to get away yes I knew that he'd killed someone and yes I knew that I started to stop right there detectives remind him they have his DNA [Music] [Music] at that point he basically is now saying yeah I was in the apartment I may have touched these things and this and that but again it's not indicating any any real contact with Julie detectives still suspect Daniel is holding something back they decide it's time for a little good cop bad cop first up back up we're done I will talk to you about anything if it gets me to my wedding on Friday that's what I would promise enter good cop lieutenant ed Everett Dan Wozniak was an arrogant guy I think he thought he was gonna act his way out of this but Daniel seems to be cracking under the pressure from Costa Mesa finest when Dan Wozniak was changing the story he indicated he was in Sam's apartment at this point that's kind of our aha moment that he's involved in this more than what he's leading on to be then detectives press hard they know Daniel is about to break so they Bluff detectives tell Daniel his DNA was found on Julie's body even though those results won't be available for weeks okay so much of DNA get longer you need is to just fall off don't know District Attorney Matt Murphy is watching in the next room he's not impressed you know what he is he's very bad at improv you know great at memorizing his lines very bad at improv and these detectives are all about putting somebody to it putting them on their heels and seeing if the story [Music] [Music] [Music] basically told us he was in the apartment and saw two bullet wounds - Julie's head I knew at that point he was lying there's no second take for this actor Daniel can't keep his lines straight and his script has just been flipped by his own admission anybody that's actually seeing a woman who's been shot in the back of the head you can't see how many bullet holes she had long beautiful black hair you can't see how many bullet holes and that immediately that is the moment that the investigation turned because those those detectives who were there who saw her they know that you couldn't see two portholes police detectives in Costa Mesa California are grilling Daniel Wozniak they believed he had something to do with Julie key Beuys she's murder you just told us you saw two boys [Music] but cops had no idea just how involved Wozniak was his acting ability on the stage probably was better than it was in our interview room then a sudden stalemate Daniel refuses to talk he wants to go back to his jail cell while behind bars Daniel calls his fiance Rachel Buffett he calls Rachel who has just talked to his brother Tim and she's learned that Tim has evidence relating to the murder she doesn't know what it is but he's got some evidence police record the conversation my mom's working on cancelling all the wedding plans now and I just talked to Jim and I need to make a phone call to the detective now what Tim said he has evidence with the murderer he knew where it was or something yeah do you know that Tim had some evidence when we listen to those GL recordings it showed us that there was panic in Dan Wozniacki voice that was the one of the few times that there were some emotion and it was emotion that he was going to be caught Rachel Buffett was cool calm collected and currently out on bail for an accessory to murder charge now Rachel must choose between her fiance or freedom suddenly Daniel is desperate to speak to detectives and spills his guts you said you wanted to talk to me what's going on I'm crazy and they did it you gave one they killed Julie and I killed him okay alright alright Tim came first it was all just about and there's more much more even veteran homicide detectives will be left speechless his head and hands have been decapitated as well as the sort that attempt to and you did it he was colder than an iceberg he no feelings no emotion just nothing there finally Daniel breaks down the timeline of the events in his diabolical murder plot it begins with a simple favor he asked Sam to help move some boxes in a theater attic at a local military base Sam was doing a good deed when Sam turned his back he knelt down Wozniak produced his father's gun shot him in the back of the head but he wasn't dead yet and he said oh my gosh I've been shocked I need help and we asked him at that point well what did you do next and he said well I reloaded the gun and shot him in the back of the head again then after killing Sam Daniel does the unthinkable he murders Sam her and that afternoon goes to Fullerton and acts in this play we've got it on videotape it's astounding things laughing and he's singing and he's dancing and then he goes new murders Julie later that evening cops say Daniel sent texts from Sam's cell phone to lure Julie over that night once inside the apartment Wozniak snuck up and shot her in the back of the head then he stages the crime scene to frame Sam next morning an act of pure evil it's Saturday morning he gets up he goes back to the military base he cuts off Sam her his head in his hands he throws them in a park and perhaps the most depraved and callous act after committing double murder and decapitating and dismembering one of his victims Daniel returns to center stage and then he goes down and he acts again in the play singing and dancing and because the play was coming to a close they had the big the big cast part of that as evident in this cast party photo recovered by detectives Daniel Wozniak's had a cast party with a beer in his hand laughing and joking with other members of this play and I mean if a picture says a thousand words we've got a photo of him there on the the Shaka sign with his girlfriend next to him at this cast party about a care in the world and the motive for this heinous crime money more than sixty thousand dollars hair got for serving in the military Wozniak wanted money so that he could go on the Royal Caribbean's cruise line and take an awesome cruise like that's he literally wanted this money for his honeymoon he killed these two people so he could take a trip but before he could take his honeymoon he needed to get away with double murder and it would have been the performance of a lifetime if not for the seasoned detectives working the case he was so enamored with his own ability to to act and his own ability to put on a show he had no doubt in his mind going into this if he was gonna be able to convince a bunch of dumb detectives that Daniel Wozniak was not responsible Wozniak thought he to convince the world that Sam her murdered Julie and he was somewhere out in the wind and he thought he'd fooled him but in reality we had a group of really good detectives who believed in a word of it investigators managed to solve this murder case in less than a week with a full confession and damning evidence thanks to Daniel's brother Tim was it's not a real sophisticated guy and he just had these instructions to get rid of this stuff and instead what he did is he threw the backpack over a fence at his parents house and when detectives open the backpack it was a cornucopia of evidence I mean DNA expended shell casings the victims financial information it's everything a prosecutor could ever want and of course that also led us to the murder weapon itself so it's like that's investigation wise the home run of home runs in any case the murder weapon and DNA and blood and you know credit cards passports you can't ask for more as a prosecutor and in one of the fastest deliberations in the history of Orange County capital murder trials the jury takes just one hour to find Daniel Wozniak guilty of double murder and recommends the death penalty detectives claim Rachel Buffett knew about the murder and her case is still pending she's charged with three counts of accessory after the fact she's pleaded not guilty Daniel Wozniak is a poster boy for why the death penalty exists in certain states for a lot of murders there are extenuating circumstances but there are a few that are so awful and unnecessary and the grief that they cause is so profound for the most trivial reasons that that they really should be subject to the ultimate punishment and this is one of those cases you

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 2,266,726

Keywords: Costa Mesa California, Orange County California, Daniel Wozniak, Rachel Buffett, Crime Watch Daily, True Crime Daily, Costa Mesa Police, Julie Kibuishi, Sam Herr, Orange Coast College

Id: XiK5tF8sAV4

Length: 23min 49sec (1429 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 09 2020