Free Final Analysis by Catherine Crier Page A

documented and photographed its position. Felix Polk was lying on his back, with his legs pointing toward the kitchen and his arms outstretched at a forty-five-degree angle as if he’d fallen backward when he died. His eyes were wide open, and there were rivulets of blood on the front and right side of his face. His head was facing the bedroom at the rear of the cottage, and there was blood on the leather chair directly behind the victim’s head.
    The scene was grisly, with “a great deal” of blood on and around the victim’s body, the investigators noted in their report. Blood smears and spatter revealed that a violent struggle had taken place. An ottoman had been turned upside down, and an open book lay next to Felix’s left foot. Police observed that there was blood on one side of the ottoman but not on the top, which led them to conclude that it was knocked over early in the struggle, before any blood was spilled. There was also blood of a“medium velocity” found on the book, indicating that the victim had most likely been stabbed and/or beaten.
    While there had been much talk about a shotgun, there was no indication that a gun of any kind had been used in this murder. In fact, all signs pointed to a blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds. The way Felix’s body was positioned on the floor indicated that he was sitting in a chair reading at the time of the attack and was most likely struck in the head, as indicated by the blood that had flowed from his head and pooled along the south wall of the living room.
    Investigators also noted that the blood on Felix’s chest and abdomen had smeared, suggesting he had been on his stomach at some point during the struggle. Police observed apparent stab wounds on the front and sides of his abdomen and chest area, and the rivulets of blood on the right side of his stomach suggested that his heart had still been pumping while he was lying on his back. Blood found on the bottom of Felix’s feet indicated he had been standing at some point during the struggle and had stepped in his own blood. Cuts were also apparent on the index fingers of his left and right hands, as well as the bottoms of his feet, indicating that he had tried to defend himself from attack. Upon closer examination of Felix’s hands, police observed several hairs wrapped around the fingers of his right hand and another hair on the back of his left hand.
    Moving to the cottage’s tiny bathroom, police collected blood from the counter near the sink and from the linoleum tile floor. They also observed a substance that looked like diluted blood on the cabinet door handle in front of the sink. A hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, and three bottles of prescriptive medication for “Felix Polk” were among the items on the windowsill above the sink, investigators wrote in their report. Lorazepam and Clonazepam, two drugs widely prescribed for the treatment of panic disorder, were among the medications that police collected from the bathroom.
    Police also removed a hair from the right faucet handle of the sink and two blue towels on the floor in front of the shower stall, which had apparent bloodstains. Additional forensic testing performed on the bloodyshoeprints leading from the kitchen to the living room showed that “all of the shoeprints appeared to have the same sole pattern consisting of various multiple geometric shapes.”
    Once they had finished examining the cottage, the investigators went on to the main house for a more in-depth exploration that yielded additional evidence for the forensic team. Inside the small office on the first floor were handwritten letters to family members from the couple’s middle son, Eli, mailed from the Byron Boys’ Ranch, the 100-bed minimum-security facility, where he was currently serving time for his probation violation.
    It appeared from Gabriel’s interview with detectives earlier that morning that he had a good relationship with his father, yet Eli’s