“Explain the photographs numbered five, six, and seven, please.”
These were close-ups of the foundation joists, which seemed to run perpendicularly from the house out to the edge of the deck where part of the railing was missing.
“As you see, there is a large patch of blood here on the edge of the joist.”
“Did you form a hypothesis as to how the doctor died?”
“Yes, sir.”
Looking up at me, Fletcher pointed to the line of new planks that had been nailed to the joists. “It would appear that he had been working near the edge here, probably on his hands and knees. See this can of nails?”
I nodded.
“We think he was struck from the front and fell backward, hitting his head on this first joist and opening the wound that was subsequently found in the autopsy.”
The next picture was a close-up of the joist. “This is where we found hair from the doctor’s head. Whoever did it then pulled him to the edge and shoved him over, getting smears of blood on the edge of the planks.”
Burke directed our attention to photograph number ten. “You are speaking of these smears here on the joist and at the edge of the deck?”
“Yes, sir. If you’ll notice, there’s also a fingerprint.”
“Has the source of that blood been identified?”
“It was the decedent’s.”
“What about the fingerprint?”
“It was from the defendant’s right middle finger.”
“Photograph twelve?”
“Those are fibers caught in some splinters at the edge of the deck.”
“Did you subsequently identify the source of those fibers?”
“Yes, sir. They came from the decedent’s trousers.”
“Were these photographs taken before or after Dr. Ledwig’s body was retrieved?”
“Before.”
“You’re quite clear on that?”
“Yes, sir. As you can see, the photographs are time-dated. I believe you have photographs taken when the body was being lifted up and you can see that the time is several minutes later. The fibers and blood were photographed before we brought the body up.”
“Describe photograph eighteen, if you would. What are we looking at there?”
Fletcher dutifully shuffled through the pile while Ms. Delorey and I did the same. It showed the reddish brown imprint of a diamond and two indistinct lines on the decking. I’d looked at enough shoe tracks in the last month to realize these were the tread marks of someone’s sneaker. And guess who was the only one on that deck wearing sneakers with those marks?
You got it.
Further questioning revealed that it was the blood on the joist that made them question whether the doctor had fallen accidentally. Dr. Ledwig had spoken by phone to a colleague at the clinic at 2:15. Freeman’s 911 call was logged at 4:37. The autopsy confirmed that Ledwig had indeed died during that time period, but when the autopsy also showed that the fatal head wound had probably been administered with a hammer, deputies had gone back to the ravine and searched until they found it. Blood and hair from the doctor’s head were still on the hammer.
Finally, in addition to the traces on the soles of his sneakers and his fingerprint on the edge of the deck, a smear of the doctor’s blood was also found on the young man’s jeans.
Each separate thing could be explained away by a skillful attorney, and when it was her turn, Ms. Delorey proved to be just that. She suggested that the young man’s actions were the natural actions of a close friend of the family. Of course there was blood on the soles of his shoes. He had come to help his girlfriend’s father work on the deck. When the doctor didn’t answer the door, he’d walked around to the back, and yes, he’d crossed the deck to see how the repairs were coming. He hadn’t noticed the blood on the edge of the planks and walked right through it. And when he saw the body and knelt down to call to the doctor, he’d knelt in blood and accidentally got some on his fingers.
“Couldn’t all that be true, Detective Fletcher?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.
“The blood on my client’s pantleg. Was it a smear or a spatter?”
“It appeared to be a smear.”
“But if he’d hit the doctor with a hammer, wouldn’t he have been spattered with some of the blood?”
“Not necessarily, ma’am.”
“When the hammer was found, was it tested for fingerprints?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Were any found?”
“Only the decedent’s, ma’am.”
