Fiancée speaks out after ex-boyfriend Gregory Bender shoots and kills her husband-to-be Patrick De La Cerda: “My whole world was taken away.”

[This show first aired on November 13, 2021. It was updated on July 9, 2022.]

For Patrick De La Cerda and Jessica Devnani, 2018 was shaping as much as be a 12 months to recollect. 

“I was looking forward to getting married,” she tells “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant.  “We’re going to have, like, the fairy-tale life.”

Patrick proposed simply six months after they started courting – and ordered a custom-made engagement ring for Jessica. “He never got to give it to me,” says Jessica.

On February 27, 2018, Patrick was gunned down, ambush-style on the entrance door of his dwelling Deltona, Florida, dwelling.

Who would need to hurt him? Detective Chad Weaver of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office realized from Jessica that the couple had been harassed by her jealous former boyfriend, Greg Bender, who left the couple threatening messages.

“It’s almost like he never left.  Like he was shadowing my life, like he was not accepting of it at all,” says Jessica.

Weaver knew he had a chief suspect in Bender, however little proof linking him to the crime – till he received a tip from Bender’s former spouse, who advised the detective Bender had written a homicide plan. But what have been the probabilities Weaver would discover it? 

A DEADLY AMBUSH

What began as a gradual Tuesday morning in 2018 for Volusia County, Florida, Sheriff’s Detective Chad Weaver modified dramatically when a fragmented 911 name from a neighbor reporting Patrick De La Cerda’s demise got here in.

OPERATOR: 911, the place is your emergency?

CALLER:  … has been shot and killed!

OPERATOR:  When did that occur?

CALLER: I do not know.

OPERATOR:  You do not need to strive CPR, right?

CALLER: No, No.  He’s useless.  He’s chilly.

Within minutes, sheriff’s deputies carrying physique cameras entered the plush, 9-acre compound on the outskirts of Deltona, frightened that the killer should be right here.

DEPUTY [body cam video, shouting into the building]:  Sheriff’s Office! If you are inside, it is advisable announce your self now!”

Detective Chad Weaver: When the deputies confirmed up, they’d their weapons out and … making ready for the worst however hoping for one of the best.

With the gunman nonetheless at giant, Detective Weaver took cost of the crime scene as TV news choppers hovered above.

Det. Chad Weaver: As we walked as much as that space, you could possibly see a male, appeared like he was in his early 20s … appeared that he was affected by a number of gunshot wounds.

WKMG NEWS REPORT: Deputies say somebody shot proper by way of his entrance door.

Patrick De La Cerda, 25, had been shot 4 instances by a high-powered rifle, proper within the doorway of the home he shared along with his father, Max, who was out of city that day. 

Max De La Cerda: I by no means received to say goodbye to my son, I by no means received to speak to him…nothing

Detective Chad Weaver: You might see the entrance door was open, there was glass in every single place, there’s plenty of blood. … You know, proper off the bat you are going, “OK, this is probably going to be a whodunit.” 

At the scene, Detective Weaver and a number of deputies approached a traumatized Jessica Devnani, Patrick’s 29-year-old fiancée, 

OFFICER: Whose home is that this?

JESSICA DEVNANI: My boyfriend’s home and his dad’s home.

Jessica Devnani: I was simply strolling in circles round, like, the entrance yard, simply pacing up and down.

OFFICER [to Jessica]: Ma’am, come over right here. Stay right here behind the tree.

Just two months earlier — at this very location — Patrick had popped the query to Jessica and introduced her with a short lived engagement ring.

Jessica Devnani: It simply got here out of nowhere. … He simply requested, “Like, you know, will you marry me?”

Peter Van Sant: And what did you say?

Jessica Devnani: Of course I mentioned sure, I was so excited.

The marriage proposal could not have come at a greater time for Jessica, who labored as a financial institution teller. Months earlier, she had ended a tumultuous eight-year relationship and then met Patrick on a courting app.

Jessica Devnani: We simply fell in love, like instantly. … It was a connection from the start. So, it was form of like love at first sight.

Jessica and Patrick, who labored a development job along with his father, partied and performed collectively as their romance blossomed. 

Patrick ordered a custom-made murals to be delivered to his dwelling for Jessica’s everlasting engagement ring. He was a romantic, says his mom Patricia Ronze.

Patricia Ronze: Patrick was a beautiful son. …  And he liked youngsters. He liked infants. … And I actually was trying ahead to have grandchildren from him.

Jessica and Patrick lived in several cities. She was in Orlando, whereas Patrick lived along with his father in Deltona, 30 miles away.

On the evening of February 26, 2018, Patrick left her this candy voicemail:

PATRICK DE LA CERDA VOICEMAIL: “I love you, good night, sweet dreams. In the morning I’ll call you, I’ll send you a text when I wake up a little later, all right? Love you. … Good night, bye.”

It can be the final voicemail she would ever obtain from her love. The subsequent day, a sequence of what appeared like random occasions would change the whole lot. The first got here when Patrick’s father Max, who was 70 miles away engaged on a development job, obtained a telephone name.

Det. Chad Weaver: Max will get a telephone name from an unknown individual stating that they’ve a package deal to ship to his son, Patrick. Max hangs up the telephone, he tries to name Patrick. Patrick does not reply.  … So, he sends him a textual content message: “Hey, there’s someone with a delivery.” Max by no means hears from Patrick once more after that. He by no means solutions, by no means responds.

Meanwhile Max and Jessica stored calling Patrick with no luck. Jessica feared the worst due to these disturbing threats the couple had obtained.

Peter Van Sant: You’re pondering he is been harmed?

Jessica Devnani: Yes. Yes. For certain.

Max and Jessica rushed to the home. She received there first. 

Jessica Devnani: I’m approaching the entrance door and that is the place his physique laid. … Patrick simply laying there on this huge pool of blood and simply — he was simply lifeless.

Soon after Jessica found her fiancé’s physique, Patrick’s dad arrived. He took “48 Hours” again to the crime scene with Jessica.

Max De La Cerda: My son was mendacity down there [pointing to the floor inside the doorway]. His head was proper there. His foot have been nonetheless on prime of this [tapping the second step of the staircase], in order that signifies that he fell again.

Peter Van Sant: And that tells you the gunman was proper right here [standing outside the front door]. … Because no bullet can take a right-hand flip.

Max De La Cerda: That tells me — precisely, precisely. That man was proper there. My son noticed this man, he rotated and the man shot him as a result of my son was similar to this.

Max De La Cerda [laying on the floor the way Patrick was found]: My son was like this.

Peter Van Sant: Wow.

Detective Weaver’s crew combed by way of the home. They quickly found that the killer had taken Patrick’s laptop and the arduous drive from the house’s safety digicam system.  Investigators additionally recovered distinctive shell casings from 300 Blackout ammunition, bullets typically utilized in semi-automatic weapons like an AR-15.   

Det. Chad Weaver: When we noticed the shell casings … with how shut they have been to the physique … Immediately realized that this was a calculated homicide. This was — this was deliberate.

But why would anybody need to kill Patrick De La Cerda? Weaver realized a few weird incident in 2017.

WKMG NEWS REPORT: In an odd twist, News6 has found the younger man has been shot at earlier than …

When Patrick known as police, saying his neighbor had fired some bullets after arguments again and forth about trespassing. Patrick wasn’t harmed.

Det. Chad Weaver: There had been some complaints. … And Patrick felt that the neighbor was taking pictures in direction of their home.

There’s evening footage of the person being tackled and arrested by police for that incident. It was an intriguing lead till Weaver realized the person was in custody on the day Patrick was murdered.

Det. Chad Weaver: We have been in a position to examine him off the checklist.

Detective Weaver then centered on some ominous voicemails that had been found:

GREGORY BENDER VOICEMAIL: “Call me back, talk to me.” 

…. which led them to a person that Patrick and Jessica knew fairly nicely.

GREGORY BENDER VOICEMAIL: “I’ll talk to you soon, I hope.” 

Jessica Devnani: I was actually scared as a result of. … Like, he was all the time shadowing my life.

OMINOUS THREATS

A pair in love with the whole lot in entrance of them, desires of marriage and household about to come back true.

Then got here February 27, 2018.  When Jessica Devnani stumbled on her fiancé, Patrick De La Cerda in a pool of blood at his dwelling shot 4 instances at shut vary by an murderer.

Jessica Devnani: I believe my thoughts simply does not need to settle for it … My whole future was taken away. My whole world was taken away.

The ambush style-assault of Patrick made it seem to be the killer was mendacity in wait. Detective Chad Weaver was hoping Jessica might need a lead that might leap begin his investigation.   

Det. Chad Weaver: And we have been talking to her about any enemies or any issues with anybody, you understand, that Patrick had had.

The detective realized that there was somebody who wasn’t proud of Jessica and Patrick’s whirlwind romance.

Peter Van Sant: Who was that individual?

Jessica Devnani: My ex, Gregory Bender.

Jessica advised Detective Weaver that proper earlier than she met Patrick, she broke up with Bender, her ex-boyfriend of eight years. It was a breakup that he was not proud of. 

Jessica Devnani: He was not accepting of it—it is nearly like he by no means left.  Like he was shadowing my life, like he was not accepting of it in any respect.

Det. Chad Weaver: He was very controlling.

And as Weaver was about to be taught, Jessica and Bender had a really sophisticated, love-hate form of relationship over the eight years they have been collectively. 

Jessica Devnani: He might be very charming and manipulative.

At 42 years previous, Bender was nearly twice Jessica’s age once they first met on-line in 2009. He was a profitable hedge fund supervisor who lived on this home in Windemere, a rich suburb exterior of Orlando.

Jessica Devnani: He had a really charismatic persona. He was very clever. … It felt like we might recognized one another all our lives. He grew to become my finest good friend.

Peter Van Sant: Was he a down-to-earth form of man?

Jessica Devnani: Not a lot within the sense that he did like to indicate off. …  He liked quick vehicles and he liked weapons as nicely.

But what, if something, did Gregory Bender should do with Patrick’s demise? Detective Weaver needed to know extra.

Det. Chad Weaver: Patrick was center class, blue collar, hard-working younger man. Gregory, then again, who’s white collar, nicely educated, lived in a 3 quarter of 1,000,000 greenback home … Totally totally different individuals from completely totally different walks of life.

Jessica advised the detective that Greg Bender merely could not tolerate the thought of another man in her life. She advised a narrative about what occurred when she briefly dated another person after first assembly Greg. 

Jessica Devnani: He did stalk the person who I was courting. And he described precisely the place he lived. And he mentioned that he would tie him up and hurt him.

Peter Van Sant: So, a relationship that had love in it now had a bit little bit of terror in it.

Jessica Devnani: I by no means feared what he might do to me, however I feared what he might do to different males.

Despite his jealousness and verbal threats, Jessica accepted Greg’s proposal to marry a couple of years into their relationship.

Jessica Devnani: I was in love with him on the time. And perhaps I was a bit bit naive on the time. I did not need to discover another person.

And there may be one other twist in Jessica’s twisted relationship with Gregory. In early 2016, he was having a process performed at an area hospital. Jessica determined to drop by for a shock go to.  When she entered his room, one other girl was there.

Jessica Devnani: I was like, “what is she doing here?”  And she’s like, “What are you doing here?” … And I advised her, I’m like his fiancée and I confirmed her the ring.  And then she confirmed me her ring.  She’s like, “I’m his wife!”

She was Daymara Sanchez.

Peter Van Sant: He’s secretly married to this girl? 

Jessica Devnani: Yes. … My coronary heart simply dropped. I could not imagine it. I was in shock.

Several days handed when Bender lastly known as Jessica, and tried to clarify that he had solely married Sanchez so her son might go to highschool within the district the place his home was situated.

Jessica Devnani: And he mentioned, “I’m so sorry.” …  And he advised me that he had solely married her, as like, a enterprise marriage. He was simply attempting to assist her out and they’d an association collectively.

At that time, Jessica had type of had sufficient.

Peter Van Sant: So, you find yourself giving Greg Bender an ultimatum. What was that?

Jessica Devnani: Yes, I advised him that he had till the tip of the 12 months to go away her.

Peter Van Sant: He needed to divorce her, not solely depart however divorce.

Jessica Devnani: Yes.

But that “business marriage” line was simply one other of Bender’s lies and he stayed married to Sanchez. With that, Jessica lastly ended the connection in 2017. One month later, Jessica met Patrick and started courting him. But Bender was typically on her thoughts.

Jessica Devnani: I was afraid that he would discover out about our relationship.

But simply 5 months after dumping him…   

Jessica Devnani: Gregory Bender…got here throughout our Facebook web page.

Jessica Devnani: He instantly began messaging Patrick on his Facebook, threatening him … And he mentioned, “I know where you live. I’m going to harm you guys.”

Bender left ominous voicemails like this one:

GREGORY BENDER: “I’m giving instructions. And I’m going to have my plan put into action.”

Peter Van Sant: What’s he speaking about? 

Jessica Devnani: At that cut-off date, he had talked about to me that he was going to rent successful man…or he was going to do the job himself.

Peter Van Sant: And what job was that? 

Jessica Devnani: To kill Patrick.

Enough was sufficient. Jessica and Patrick had these tapes and textual content messages introduced to a decide who issued a restraining order. Bender was ordered to keep away from Jessica and flip in his giant assortment of firearms to authorities. 

Peter Van Sant: Did Greg Bender go away?

Jessica Devnani: We thought he did go away. We did not hear something. And we felt assured.

Until she advised Detective Weaver that on the morning of Patrick’s homicide, Gregory Bender known as for the primary time in two months.

Jessica Devnani: He known as my job that very morning.

But Jessica mentioned she did not reply.

Det. Chad Weaver: So, when she received the telephone name and noticed on the caller ID that it was Gregory Bender, flags began going up and that is what made her so frightened.

Flags have been additionally going up for Detective Weaver. He believed he now had a chief suspect in Patrick’s demise. And, Weaver had an thought; now was the time for Jessica to return Bender’s calls and investigators would pay attention in.

Det. Chad Weaver: She actually needed to resolve Patrick’s homicide, so she did that with out hesitation.

DET. WEAVER: OK, name him and put him on speakerphone.

GREGORY BENDER: Hello.

JESSICA DEVNANI: Hello. 

Detective Weaver was hopeful Bender may say one thing to implicate himself:

JESSICA DEVNANI:  You ruined my life. … You received your revenge, and you ruined my life. 

GREGORY BENDER: What are you speaking about?

THE MURDER PLAN

It was a tense, awkward second. Just a couple of hours after she’d seen her fiancé’s physique, investigators’ requested Jessica Devnani to name the person they thought could have murdered him. Gregory Bender rapidly spoke up. 

GREGORY BENDER: I noticed what occurred on the news, I need to inform you, I really feel sorry for you. 

Jessica Devnani: I simply needed to attempt to do the whole lot I might to assist the investigation. 

She reminded Bender about his earlier threats.

JESSICA DEVNANI: You mentioned, “Enough is enough. I can’t do this. I’m going to hire a hitman. I’m gonna kill him.”

GREGORY BENDER: No. That’s not. No, no, no, I did not say that.

Peter Van Sant: Did you ask him outright, “did you shoot Patrick?”

Jessica Devnani: I did.         

JESSICA DEVNANI: But that is why I need to discover out whether it is you, like …

GREGORY BENDER: No, it isn’t. I’m your good friend. I didn’t do that.

Peter Van Sant: Could you inform he was mendacity to you?

Jessica Devnani: Yes, I might inform he was mendacity. 

While Bender denied any involvement in Patrick’s demise, Detective Chad Weaver says there was sufficient proof to arrest him: not for homicide, however for violating that restraining order.

Det. Chad Weaver: We had seen that he …. tried to contact her twice at work, which we discovered was a violation of that injunction.

Even with Bender behind bars for the evening, Detective Weaver did not have a lot to link him to Patrick’s homicide. Then he obtained a telephone name from the lawyer of Bender’s now ex-wife Daymara Sanchez — the girl Jessica had first met within the hospital.

Det. Chad Weaver: And he mentioned … “She has some information that will be valuable to your case.”

Sanchez requested to fulfill Detective Weaver in a parking zone.

Det. Chad Weaver: She’s very, very nervous. … She did not need us coming to her home.

It turns out Sanchez had a reasonably good cause to be nervous. She was about to supply a vital piece of proof.

Det. Chad Weaver: So, we spoke with her, she had advised us that … her and Gregory had gotten a divorce and she had moved out in December of 2017. Around that very same time, she had found what she believed to be a homicide plan in a spiral pocket book that she had seen Gregory writing in previously.

A homicide plan, handwritten in a pocket book detailing an elaborate plot to kill. Sanchez mentioned when she confronted Bender about it, he advised her it was all a fantasy. And she forgot about it till she noticed the report that the person Bender was supposedly fantasizing about killing had simply been murdered.

Det. Chad Weaver: Once she advised us in regards to the homicide plan, that gave us what we wanted to get into the home to see, you understand, what else was in there.

Volusia County Prosecutor Ashley Terwilleger says studying in regards to the homicide plan was a possible sport changer — if investigators might discover it. 

Ashley Terwilleger: So, the following day, February 28 of 2018, they execute the search warrant at Gregory Bender’s dwelling in Orange County, Florida, in Windemere.

Detective Weaver had some doubts. But nearly as quickly as he entered Bender’s home, Weaver hit paydirt. He noticed a number of balls of crumpled-up observe paper. 

Det. Chad Weaver: I appeared within the trash can and … I was in shock, there isn’t any approach that we simply discovered this homicide plan. The very first thing I needed to do was attain within the trash can, seize it.

Weaver correctly held off whereas this paper was bagged and tagged for forensics. Later, when he was in a position to learn the plan, it was simply as Sanchez mentioned — an in depth street map for murdering Patrick De La Cerda.

Det. Chad Weaver: Some of the primary issues in it have been instructions. … It truly had Patrick De La Cerda’s handle. Howland Boulevard.

Weaver took “48 Hours” to the crime scene to clarify how the plan matched the precise homicide.

Det. Chad Weaver: This street leads down the facet of the property, it is off of Howland Boulevard. This is necessary due to the filth street that was drawn on the homicide plan runs down the facet of the property. … It’s fairly closely wooded down this manner, so I believe he walked on foot till he received to this opening and that is the realm, we imagine Gregory Bender accessed to sneak up on our sufferer. … The sketch of the property was spot on.

The plan was proof of Bender’s obsession with element and compulsion to kill, says Weaver.

The plan learn: “Put duct tape on the bottom of a second pair of shoes so no tread prints” … “wait for confirm that he is alone. Then turn off cell phones” …  “and dispose of clothes, plate, tracker, gloves” 

With the homicide plan in hand, Weaver had a strong case in opposition to Bender. And with the invention of this ammunition, there was now a direct link to these distinctive bullet shells discovered on the scene. 

Ashley Terwilleger: They discover that arsenal of 300-blackout ammunition. 

Remember, Patrick was shot 4 instances with that sort of distinctive ammo, however solely two shell casings have been recovered on the crime scene. That’s what made one other discovery by investigators at Bender’s home so necessary.

Ashley Terwilleger: They discover a shell casing in a desk drawer, basically a junk drawer.

Det. Chad Weaver: The casing … matched the 2 recovered shell casings from the crime scene. …  Short of truly discovering the homicide weapon, um for my part, I believe that was in all probability crucial piece of proof that we discovered.

That’s as a result of the homicide weapon has by no means been recovered, though Jessica remembers seeing a strong rifle at Bender’s home once they dated.

Peter Van Sant: The AR-15, this semi-automatic rifle.  Did he have a type of?

Jessica Devnani: Yes, he did.

Det. Chad Weaver: I believe it is in all probability on the backside of a lake someplace. 

The proof was overwhelming – Weaver now had a transparent and concise concept of the crime.

Det. Chad Weaver: Greg Bender was mendacity in wait within the bushes, simply out of view. He made the telephone name posing as a supply man. Patrick receives a textual content message simply pondering that he has a package deal.

Det. Chad Weaver: And as Patrick answered the door, he shot and killed him.

Less than 48 hours after Patrick’s demise, an arrest warrant was issued for Gregory Bender, charging him with the homicide. Volusia County sheriff’s deputies had a straightforward time finding their suspect, who had been launched from jail after violating that restraining order. Bender was in his personal entrance yard, says prosecutor Andrew Urbanak.

Andy Urbanak: Mr. Bender truly confirmed up, bonded out from the Orange County jail simply a short while after they began executing that warrant.  

Det. Chad Weaver: You cannot make these things up.

For Patrick’s mom, the arrest is simply step one in opposition to a person she despises.

Patricia Ronze: Psychopath, that is what he’s. … You need me to say his title? I’ll by no means pronounce his title. I do not need to pronounce his title. That is hurting my mouth to only say his title.

Peter Van Sant: Why did Patrick should die?

Jessica Devnani: Just out of jealousy of a person that was obsessed … and he thought that, by doing this, that I’d return to him. 

But with no weapon, no eyewitnesses, and no DNA on the crime scene … 

Richard Parker | Defense lawyer: Ultimately, this case … is a circumstantial case.

… Bender and his attorneys are planning a vigorous trial protection.

And.utilizing undercover video shot by a personal eye, they plan to problem Jessica on the stand about the true nature of her relationship with Greg Bender. 

RICHARD PARKER [to Jessica in court]: You began courting Patrick in June. Why are you eating with Greg and going to Greg’s home in November of 2017 in the event you’re fortunately transferring on with Patrick? 

THE MURDER TRIAL

Two months after Patrick De La Cerda was gunned down as he went to his entrance door anticipating to select up that engagement ring for Jessica Devnani, she was lastly in a position to placed on the ring at her thirtieth birthday celebration — a shock lastly delivered by Patrick’s household.

Jessica Devnani: … he received me the proper ring.

Peter Van Sant: Why do you put on that ring at present?

Jessica Devnani: I put on it as a result of Patrick will all the time be the love of my life.

And Jessica will likely be carrying the ring on the homicide trial of Gregory Bender, her former boyfriend, who stands accused of stalking and killing the person she had hoped to marry. 

This day couldn’t have come quickly sufficient, says Patrick’s devastated mom, Patricia. 

Patricia Ronze: Jessica and I — we felt victimized each single day for 3 years-and-a-half as a result of we’ve no voice, completely no voice.

Prosecutor Ashley Terwilliger is now the voice Patrick’s family members had longed for as she started her opening assertion.  

ASHLEY TERWILLIGER: Patrick de la Cerda was the sufferer of a homicide, An in depth and meticulously thought-out homicide plan and a tragic ending during which he was shot 4 instances within the head, face, chest and hip.

Defense lawyer Richard Parker says the state’s case isn’t any slam dunk.

RICHARD PARKER: We will present that there is greater than only one or two those who have motive and alternative on this case.

Jessica is the prosecution’s star witness and would be the first to testify.

Jessica Devnani: It was actually arduous. I was actually nervous.

Jessica describes for the jury how Gregory Bender was a person consumed by jealousy, who made many threats. 

JESSICA DEVNANI: He would message me saying if I did not depart Patrick, he would hurt Patrick.

And Jessica learn a type of threatening texts for the jury:

JESSICA DEVNANI: “Think about it. If I don’t hear from you or the cops call again, I’ll just do what I said and move on.”

Jurors realized that Bender went to extraordinary lengths to poison Jessica and Patrick’s relationship. On secretly recorded video, it seems Bender and Jessica are at lunch, and then per week later at a restaurant having fun with dinner, just some months after she began courting Patrick.  

PROSECUTOR ANDREW URBANAK: Did you truly see these movies?  

JESSICA DEVNANI: I did.

The encounters have been captured by a personal investigator employed by Bender. There’s a scene of the 2 of them coming into and leaving Bender’s dwelling. He’s seen rubbing Jessica’s leg for the digicam; they maintain palms, and he leans in for a kiss. 

Jessica Devnani: I felt actually odd as a result of I felt like he was attempting to placed on a present trying again, as a result of he stored, like, attempting to get near me. …  like attempting to carry my hand, which he by no means used to do. …  I was like, “what are you doing?” I was like, “we’re just friends right now. … what are you trying to do?”

But prosecutors say the video was all a setup.

ANDREW URBANAK: What did he do with it?

JESSICA DEVNANI: He had given it to Patrick.

ANDREW URBANAK: Did that trigger some strife between you and Patrick and your relationship?

JESSICA DEVNANI: Yes.

JESSICA DEVNANI: We had a battle and we had broke up for a couple of days.

ANDREW URBANAK: Did the 2 of you find yourself getting again collectively after that? 

JESSICA DEVNANI: Yes.

Defense attorneys tried to make use of their shopper’s video manufacturing to persuade jurors that Jessica and Bender truly have been extra than simply associates.

RICHARD PARKER: Why are you eating with Greg and going to Greg’s home in November of 2017 in the event you’re fortunately transferring on with Patrick?

JESSICA DEVNANI: Because the defendant was threatening, and I was attempting to calm him down. And he mentioned that if I went to see him, he wouldn’t hurt anybody.

The protection tries one other tactic. Making what prosecutors say is an unfounded allegation that Patrick’s father Max was interested in Jessica.

RICHARD PARKER [to Jessica]: Did Max De La Cerda remark in a really optimistic approach relating to your look? 

ANDREW URBANAK: Same objection decide, nonetheless a rumour assertion.

DEFENSE [to Max De La Cerda]: Would you say you had an excellent relationship with her?

MAX DE LA CERDA:  I did not have any relationship with her in any respect! 

That led to a combative cross examination when Max took the stand.

MAX DE LA CERDA: What you’re asking me is unnecessary! … I do not suppose that has nothing to do with Patrick’s homicide. 

And the protection implied he could have had the motive…. and the chance to kill his personal son due to discrepancies of his whereabouts that day. 

RICHARD PARKER: Your girlfriend mentioned that you simply have been in truth staying with her//is it her reminiscence that is unsuitable or is it yours?

MAX DE LA CERDA: It could be mine, sir. I’m continually on the go. I work right here, I work there, I do not hold observe of telephones, I do not hold observe of time. …  so, what level are you attempting to make? I do not know!

Ashley Terwilleger: They needed responsible it on Max and you’ll be able to inform … he is indignant that his son was killed unnecessarily, violently, horrifically and now he needs to be in a room along with his son’s killer.

Throughout the trial, Bender remained stoic till his ex-wife Daymara Sanchez took the stand and spoke by way of an interpreter.

ANDREW URBANAK: Were you married to Mr. Bender? 

DAYMARA SANCHEZ: Yes.

During Sanchez’ testimony, Bender broke down, displaying emotion for the primary time within the trial.

And jurors heard her audio interview with Weaver in regards to the homicide plan.

DAYMARA SANCHEZ: It was a plan to kill the man.

DET. CHAD WEAVER: The man is Patrick?

DAYMARA SANCHEZ: Yes.

During a break in her testimony, Bender seems to say “I love you” to somebody …  within the gallery and is admonished by an official. 

Bender mouths “I love you” 

COURT OFFICIAL: Don’t discuss to anyone within the courtroom.

When Detective Weaver took the stand, the protection grilled him in regards to the lack of forensic proof within the case.

RICHARD PARKER: How about any hair or pores and skin or DNA, something like that from the scene that was useful to your investigation? 

DET. CHAD WEAVER: Uh, no, sir.

Prosecutors responded by calling cellular phone consultants who might join Gregory Bender’s private telephone to a burner telephone that was tracked to a cell tower close to the homicide scene.  

ASHLEY TERWILLEGER: So, the burner telephone … is the cellphone that made the decision to Max De La Cerda that morning at 7:18 a.m.? 

SGT. AMRHINE: Yes

ANDY URBANAK: The state would relaxation right now.

After the prosecution rested, Gregory Bender selected to not testify. 

JUDGE: Are you snug with the choice you made?

RICHARD PARKER: Yes.

ANDY URBANAK: Thank you, your honor.

JUDGE: Thank you.

For closing arguments, prosecutors mentioned Gregory Bender was the one one who had motive to kill Patrick.

ANDY URBANAK: He could not take that Jessica left him and would not come again to him due to Patrick De La Cerda.

In his closing, protection lawyer Richard Parker insisted that Bender’s homicide plan didn’t equate to guilt.  

RICHARD PARKER: This case is in regards to the distinction between a fantasy and actuality.

RICHARD PARKER: People shouldn’t be judged on their worst ideas simply because they put them to paper. But that is what they’re doing on this case.

Finally, after 4 days of testimony, the case went to the jury. Prosecutor Andy Urbanak was unsure about what verdict they’d come again with. 

Andy Urbanak: Once it goes to a jury, we won’t make any ensures.

But Jessica Devnani was assured a responsible verdict would lastly put an finish to Bender’s reign of terror. 

JUDGE: It’s my understanding you could have a verdict…

Jessica Devnani: I simply needed to see the expression on his face

THE VERDICT

Memories. Tender phrases from a son. 

Max De La Cerda: This is from a Christmas card that he gave me. “Dad, with all my love, thanks for all the time being there for me. To many extra years. Love, Patrick. [crying].

Max De La Cerda surrounds himself with reminders of his son, taken violently, and far too quickly.

Max De La Cerda: I really feel my son’s presence right here. I have not moved his stuff, I have not, you understand, the whole lot is just about the identical as a result of I really like this child a lot, man.

Patricia Ronze: The solely cause it makes me really feel higher, is … I misplaced my little one for love.

Patrick’s mom Patricia has discovered some solace in her struggling.

Patricia Ronze: He had love in his coronary heart when he handed, he was happening the steps to get …  the ring.

And Jessica Devnani nonetheless wears that very engagement ring, in honor of a wedding that by no means befell. 

Jessica Devnani: It’s been a tough previous three years. I’ve been residing in respect to Patrick.

But now, Patrick’s family members huddle collectively, hoping lastly, three years after Patrick’s homicide, the jury will give them justice.

During 4 days of testimony, they relived the horror of his demise — listening to excruciating particulars of Bender’s homicide plan.

WITNESS: We can see the doorway wound on the best facet of the face.

JUDGE: It’s my understanding you could have a verdict. Is that right?

As the decision was about to be learn, Bender turned his head to Jessica.

Jessica Devnani: He was taking a look at me. … I do not know what was occurring in his head.

JUDGE: Madame clerk, in the event you can please learn the decision.

CLERK [reads verdict]: We the jury discover the defendant, Gregory Bender, as follows responsible of the cost of first-degree homicide as charged within the indictment.

Peter Van Sant: It’s responsible and his face does what?

Jessica Devnani: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

In Florida, a conviction of first-degree homicide carries an automated life sentence with out parole. So simply moments after the emotion of victory, Patrick’s family members are allowed to deal with the court docket as Gregory Bender listens just some ft away.

PATRICIA RONZE: And I need to thank all of you for having put evil the place it belongs.

Jessica then spoke however selected not to take a look at her tormentor.

JESSICA DEVNANI: You won’t win. You have solely misplaced. I hope you are feeling some peace Patrick. Rest assured the person who took your life goes to pay along with his personal life now.

Then it was Max’s flip. 

MAX DE LA CERDA: I’ll miss my son. … And I remorse that I wasn’t there for him to save lots of him (cries). 

Remember that through the trial, the protection shamefully tried to recommend that Max could have been concerned in his son’s homicide. 

MAX DE LA CERDA [addressing Bender]: I hope they hold you in jail till you die there, till you die. Because the second you step out, I’m going to complete you off. I’m going to peel you want an onion. The similar factor you probably did to my son.

ANDREW URBANAK: Mr. De La Cerda, Max, it’s important to handle the decide, it’s important to handle the decide.

MAX DE LA CERDA: You perceive that?

ANDREW URBANAK: … handle the decide.

MAX DE LA CERDA: And I’ll miss my son. … he was a gorgeous soul. A gorgeous child.

And with that, Gregory Bender was carted off to jail for the remainder of his life. 

Jessica Devnani: He misplaced the whole lot. … He’s not going to win once more, ever once more.

Jessica and Patricia are indignant that this restraining order they felt would supply safety for Patrick, turned out to be nugatory.

Patricia Ronze: My son can be at present alive if the restraining order had been enforced by the regulation enforcement.

Bender had been ordered to show over his gun assortment to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. He by no means did … and with out possible trigger for a search warrant, regulation enforcement lacked the authority to grab these weapons

Jessica Devnani: It failed us. It failed Patrick.

Now behind bars, the times of Gregory Bender lurking within the shadows of Jessica’s life are lastly over.  

Peter Van Sant: Will you go on with life, as Patrick would really like you to do?

Jessica Devnani: I’ll. I’ll go on for Patrick. I’ll stay in his completely happy reminiscences near my coronary heart.

 
One week after Greg Bender’s conviction, was what would have been Patrick’s twenty ninth birthday.

Jessica Devnani: Patrick’s mother and I, we went out to the cemetery in West Palm Beach and we simply celebrated his life. We introduced some cake, and we introduced some champagne.

Peter Van Sant: And what did you say to Patrick on this birthday if you have been at his grave?

Jessica Devnani: I mentioned … “we finally did it. We got the guilty verdict.” … We all the time inform him we love him. … We will all the time love him.

Gregory Bender’s attorneys are interesting his conviction.

They contend the search of his home that produced the homicide plan was unlawful.

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Produced by Chris O’Connell. Tamara Weitzman is the event producer. Jordan Kinsey is the sphere producer. Marlon Disla, Ken Blum and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Kayla Laine is the affiliate producer. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.