NEED TO KNOW

Richard "Ricky" Cowles Jr. was found shot in the California apartment he shared with his girlfriend Amy Preasmyer, who was 16 and pregnant

William "Billy" Hoffman was convicted of murder, and witnesses claimed during his trial that Preasmyer asked him to kill her boyfriend

Preasmyer was convicted of orchestrating Cowles' death in 2007

In August 1997, 21-year-old Richard “Ricky” Cowles Jr. was found beaten and shot inside the Lancaster, Calif., apartment he shared with his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend Amy Lynn Preasmyer.

A re-aired 2023 Dateline investigation is shedding new light on the old case, which saw Preasmyer eventually convicted for conspiring to kill her boyfriend.

Police initially arrested William “Billy” Hoffman, who had allegedly told several people th

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