Murder in Brentwood Read Online Free PDF

listen to it. Every aspect of the case must constantly be questioned. You must try to put yourself in the suspect s mind and walk through the crime in different ways. What did he see? Was the suspect mad or methodical? Was he sloppy or neat? Was the crime planned or spontaneous? Was this the work of a professional or an amateur?
    I sat down on the living room couch and continued writing my preliminary notes. At that point my partner Brad Roberts arrived, walking into the house from the garage. I gave him a general briefing before walking him through the scene. He commented on the apparent lack of a struggle inside the house,
    The first thing that struck me is that the victims did not match.
    and I agreed. We moved onto the front porch, and I pointed to the shoeprints and blood drops. We both examined the drops more closely than I had before and noted that the bleeder appeared to have been moving west, corroborating the direction of the shoeprints. I also pointed out the other visible pieces of evidence-the cap, glove, and white envelope.
    At this stage we couldn’t get any closer to the victims, so I took Brad down the north walkway, showing him the bloody shoeprints and blood drops. When we walked toward the alley, we noticed two additional blood smears on the gate that were not observed in the initial walk-through. We were carefully scanning the gate with our flashlights
    [The first thing that struck me was that the victims did not match.]
    when we were both shocked by the sight of a bloody fingerprint on the brass deadbolt knob.
    In our years on the force, Brad and I had seen thousands of fingerprints. This print was no doubt at least several “points” in quality. The more identifiable points of comparison, the better the chance of identifying the suspect. This print was identifiable, comparable, and high in quality. I wrote these observations down in my notes.
    As we walked onto the rear driveway, I pointed out the coins and the blood drops on the ground or nearby. Together, we came up with one possible explanation. The suspect had come down the walkway, bleeding as he walked, then reached for his car keys, turning the pocket inside out and sending loose change spilling onto the ground. This would suggest that the suspect was male, as females generally do not carry change in I heir pants pockets, and that the suspect was very excited, not calm and professional.
    The suspect had dropped or lost a left glove in a struggle by the walkway at the front of the house. So, his left hand had been bare and apparently bleeding. As he approached his vehicle, the suspect reached into his pocket with his ungloved left hand, and the change fell from the pocket as it was turned inside out.
    Brad walked around to join Ron Phillips in front of the house while I went back into the house to complete my notes. When I was about two-thirds done writing down my observations, Ron walked in from the garage.
    “I just talked to Bureau Chief Frankel,” Ron said, standing over me. “He’s assigning the case to Robbery/Homicide.”
    I looked at Ron.
    “Okay, just let me finish my notes, and I’ll be right out.”
    Being relieved of a case such as this one brings on a combination of emotions. Initially, any good detective, particularly a homicide detective, wants to keep a “Whodunit.” But if the female victim was really Nicole Brown Simpson, there would be extreme pressure to solve the case, and a lot of people would be putting their fingers in the pie. From the beginning I know that Ron, Brad, and I could not handle the case purely from a logistical point of view. The case would absorb the attention of the detectives assigned to it every waking minute. Brad and I could not take such a case. We were responsible for all the murders committed in West Los Angeles, and those investigations could not come to a halt because of a single case. Conversely, Robbery/Homicide does have the luxury of assigning detectives to only one case, as would be