front door, and then staging it to look as if he had come in the window. But it was hard for anyone to imagine why he would go to all of the trouble to do this. So the window, which was cloaked in darkness and hidden from the parking lot by overgrown bushes, continued to be the logical point of entry.
In addition, there was physical evidence supporting the theory that the killer came through Emily’s window. An empty blue hamper just below that window inside the apartment held a handful of pine needles and leaves from the bush just outside the apartment. Lieutenant Morgan thought they could easily have fallen off of the killer’s clothing as he crawled through the window.
No one knew for sure what time the killer entered the apartment or how long he was in there before he attacked Stephanie. But based on the fact that some of the items from Emily’s bedroom were found to have been moved into her closet, one hypothesis was that he climbed in the window when Stephanie was still awake, and then hid in Emily’s closet until Stephanie fell asleep.
In that scenario, after Stephanie went to bed, the killer would have waited to make sure she was in a deep sleep before leaving the safety of the closet. Morgan imagined the man probably then crept quietly across the hallway, so as not to disturb his sleeping victim. Like a cat pouncing on his prey, the killer then jumped onto the bed where Stephanie slept, startling her into sudden wakefulness. For a moment, she would’ve resisted the evil force bearing down on her; Morgan believed the bruise on her face might have come from the killer hitting Stephanie in the eye in order to scare and subdue her while he was restraining her arms and legs. He probably had a gun, a gun that he would’ve held to her head in order to terrify her into immediate submission.
Once Stephanie was tied up and no longer posed a threat to her attacker, Morgan assumed the killer then took her tousled covers and piled them neatly on the floor at the foot of her bed where investigators later discovered them. This chilling detail alone always gave Morgan a reason to pause and wonder what kind of meticulous freak show of a person they were dealing with. Morgan felt like the killer had a playbook that he was going by, a set of rules and rituals he needed to follow in order to feel like he was truly in control of the situation. This particular detail regarding Stephanie’s bed covers further convinced him they were not dealing with an ordinary murderer, but someone who methodically planned and carried out an organized pattern of evil.
Three pillows were left on Stephanie’s bare bed in a U-shape. Morgan could almost imagine the young woman fitting snugly inside this little cocoon as she dreamed about her impending move to South Carolina to be with her boyfriend. It was the protocol for how she usually slept according to family and friends. Seeing the pillows this way further assured Morgan that Stephanie must have been sound asleep when the killer slipped into her room under a cloak of darkness. Maybe he was even able to pull back the covers first and fold them neatly on the floor without being detected by his sleeping victim, which would have given him unfettered access to restrain her quickly without any obstacles or interference.
The medical examiner’s report stated that when police arrived at the apartment, rigor mortis had already set in. Rigor mortis, the buildup of lactic acid in the deceased’s muscles that makes a body rigid, begins to take place within three hours after death. Morgan estimated that in this case, Stephanie may have already been dead eight or more hours by the time her body was discovered. Although the autopsy couldn’t pinpoint an exact time of death, it was believed to have taken place sometime after midnight.
LeGrand listed the official medical cause of death in the autopsy report as “ischemia secondary to ligature strangulation.” This meant the blood flow was cut off to
In addition, there was physical evidence supporting the theory that the killer came through Emily’s window. An empty blue hamper just below that window inside the apartment held a handful of pine needles and leaves from the bush just outside the apartment. Lieutenant Morgan thought they could easily have fallen off of the killer’s clothing as he crawled through the window.
No one knew for sure what time the killer entered the apartment or how long he was in there before he attacked Stephanie. But based on the fact that some of the items from Emily’s bedroom were found to have been moved into her closet, one hypothesis was that he climbed in the window when Stephanie was still awake, and then hid in Emily’s closet until Stephanie fell asleep.
In that scenario, after Stephanie went to bed, the killer would have waited to make sure she was in a deep sleep before leaving the safety of the closet. Morgan imagined the man probably then crept quietly across the hallway, so as not to disturb his sleeping victim. Like a cat pouncing on his prey, the killer then jumped onto the bed where Stephanie slept, startling her into sudden wakefulness. For a moment, she would’ve resisted the evil force bearing down on her; Morgan believed the bruise on her face might have come from the killer hitting Stephanie in the eye in order to scare and subdue her while he was restraining her arms and legs. He probably had a gun, a gun that he would’ve held to her head in order to terrify her into immediate submission.
Once Stephanie was tied up and no longer posed a threat to her attacker, Morgan assumed the killer then took her tousled covers and piled them neatly on the floor at the foot of her bed where investigators later discovered them. This chilling detail alone always gave Morgan a reason to pause and wonder what kind of meticulous freak show of a person they were dealing with. Morgan felt like the killer had a playbook that he was going by, a set of rules and rituals he needed to follow in order to feel like he was truly in control of the situation. This particular detail regarding Stephanie’s bed covers further convinced him they were not dealing with an ordinary murderer, but someone who methodically planned and carried out an organized pattern of evil.
Three pillows were left on Stephanie’s bare bed in a U-shape. Morgan could almost imagine the young woman fitting snugly inside this little cocoon as she dreamed about her impending move to South Carolina to be with her boyfriend. It was the protocol for how she usually slept according to family and friends. Seeing the pillows this way further assured Morgan that Stephanie must have been sound asleep when the killer slipped into her room under a cloak of darkness. Maybe he was even able to pull back the covers first and fold them neatly on the floor without being detected by his sleeping victim, which would have given him unfettered access to restrain her quickly without any obstacles or interference.
The medical examiner’s report stated that when police arrived at the apartment, rigor mortis had already set in. Rigor mortis, the buildup of lactic acid in the deceased’s muscles that makes a body rigid, begins to take place within three hours after death. Morgan estimated that in this case, Stephanie may have already been dead eight or more hours by the time her body was discovered. Although the autopsy couldn’t pinpoint an exact time of death, it was believed to have taken place sometime after midnight.
LeGrand listed the official medical cause of death in the autopsy report as “ischemia secondary to ligature strangulation.” This meant the blood flow was cut off to
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