Paul Brown by The Rocketbelt Caper

Author:The Rocketbelt Caper [Caper, The Rocketbelt]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-05-29T17:33:00+00:00

The Unsolved Murder

Joe Wright’s Colton Hollow home was a modern one-story building with a brick and oak exterior. It boasted an ample garage and a large yard laid with wooden decking. It had clearly been acquired at the peak of Wright’s business success. Like most upscale modern homes, it was fitted with several security features. An eight-foot brick wall surrounded the building, security lights were fitted to the exterior walls, and a surveillance camera allowed occupants to vet visitors. None of this had deterred Wright’s killer. Indeed, there was no sign at all of forced entry. It seemed Wright had willingly opened the door to whoever had bludgeoned him to death.

Because of the appalling state of Wright’s body, it was impossible for the coroner to determine a precise time of death. All that could be said was that Wright had been killed sometime between Thursday evening and Friday evening, the 16 and 17 July 1998, 24 to 48 hours after the speakerphone meeting with Larry Stanley and the attorneys. Although there was very little physical evidence, the brutal method of Wright’s murder was clear.

Wright had been struck twice at the door with a blunt object, perhaps a baseball bat. He stumbled backwards and attempted to fend off more blows. He headed for the master bedroom where he kept a gun, but the blows continued. Wright fell onto a rug in the entrance of the bedroom, and the assailant hit him with the blunt object again and again. He was killed by a succession of fierce blows to the head. Investigators estimated that at least 14 such blows had been delivered. Even after Wright was dead, the beating continued. The killer did not stop until Wright’s entire upper body had been crushed into a bloody and unrecognizable mess.

Even then the killer was in no hurry to leave, and began to clean up the murder scene, removing all traces of his presence. Even the rug on which Wright had fallen was removed and placed in the bathtub, although it was so completely soaked in blood that the killer made no real attempt to clean it other than turning on the bathwater, which was still running when Wright’s body was found. And then the killer left, taking the murder weapon with him. A neighbor reported she might have seen someone climbing over Wright’s perimeter wall on Friday evening at around 11.30pm. She could give no further details. Another neighbor reported seeing a black sedan outside Wright’s house. The car was never traced.

The running bathwater partially flooded the crime scene and ruined some evidence. Sheriff’s Department investigators did take hair and DNA samples, but could not be confident any of them were from the killer. They checked Wright’s documents and financial records but did not properly check Wright’s computer. Those close to Wright referred to him as a ‘file junkie’. He had computer files on everything, they said. His entire life was on his hard drive, carefully filed and organized. Yet the computer was left untouched at the murder scene and eventually turned over to Wright’s family.

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