Crime Scene Investigators (2025) Season 1 Episode 6
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00:00There's a ball bat next to a man, and there's blood all over it.
00:15It was brutal, and for a man who's 87, that makes it even sadder.
00:20There's kind of an old adage in crime scenes that you only get one chance, and you don't
00:25want to screw it up.
00:26Most likely, the killer knew the victim.
00:30We're right next to his room.
00:32We go back and more closely examine the bedding.
00:34You guys are trying to frame me, man.
00:37Nope.
00:38No, you are.
00:39Nope.
00:40I want to catch the bad guy.
00:41When homicide investigators collect evidence from a crime scene, they hold the pieces of
00:47a puzzle.
00:49Only by connecting those pieces back together can they catch the killer.
01:02Bremerton is the largest city in Kitsap County.
01:04We're directly west of Seattle and across Puget Sound.
01:08The best thing about Bremerton is the views.
01:11You have the skyline of Seattle, Mount Rainier, along with the Cascades.
01:17Also, the Olympic Mountains.
01:20There's a nice mix of young families and working class folks.
01:24Also, a lot of people find this is a good place to retire after they're done working.
01:33On November 7th, 2015, at 444 in the evening, our 911 dispatch center received a call.
01:41Kitsap 911, what are you reporting?
01:44Yes, this is Craig Miller.
01:46I need police, ambulance.
01:50I take care of an 87-year-old man.
01:52The caller identifies himself as Craig Miller, a neighbor of the occupant of the apartment,
01:59an 87-year-old man named Floyd Semwald.
02:03There's a ball bat next to him, ma'am, and there's blood all over it, and this is a very
02:08high crime area.
02:09He's not moving at all?
02:12I don't know.
02:13Police are dispatched to the scene.
02:19Officer Switzer was a brand new officer for us, had just come from the police academy,
02:25and he was riding alone.
02:28Craig steps out of the house itself, out onto the front porch, while he's waiting for the
02:32police to arrive.
02:36The neighborhood that Floyd lived had kind of fallen on harder times.
02:45When Officer Switzer arrived, Craig Miller told him he had made a roast for his buddy,
02:52and he had set a timer, and was just coming to take it out of the oven.
02:57He said that when he got to the door, he noticed the door was unlocked, and he knew that he
03:03locked the door when he left.
03:06So he found that odd.
03:09Officer Switzer told Craig to wait there, and then he steps into the apartment.
03:21He enters the bedroom.
03:23He sees Floyd laying on his side with his head in a trash can, obviously deceased.
03:30We have a baseball bat that is within arm's reach of Floyd's body.
03:36It appears that that bat was used to bludgeon Floyd with.
03:44Officer Switzer calls for additional officers and additional help to the scene.
03:49While homicide detectives and CSI techs make their way to the crime scene, Officer Switzer
03:54rejoins Craig Miller outside Floyd Zumwalt's apartment.
04:01It's rainy out that night, and Craig wants to return to his apartment, which is just
04:05across the parking lot.
04:07But before he does so, Officer Switzer snaps five photographs of Craig.
04:14Overall photo of the front, an overall photo of the back, just documenting what he's wearing,
04:20and then close-ups of tops and bottoms of both hands.
04:24Craig doesn't appear to have any blood on him.
04:25He doesn't look like his clothes are a mess or he's been in a fight or anything like that.
04:32It was agreed that Craig would wait at his apartment across the parking lot to be contacted
04:36by the police.
04:39I arrive at the apartment complex, and as I walk into the bedroom inside the apartment,
04:45it was a shocking scene.
04:48Floyd is in what could be described as a semi-fetal position.
04:52He's got a large laceration on his elbow.
04:56His head is opened up.
04:59There's blood around him, pooled.
05:02His hair is mangled in blood.
05:07It was shocking to see the amount of violence that was taken out on Floyd.
05:12An 87-year-old man, he's lived a long life, and this is, you know, how he meets his demise.
05:17It's terrible.
05:21Crime scene technicians now begin to photograph the crime scene and collect evidence.
05:27He's laying on his right side, so you see his left ribs.
05:32His shirt is kind of pulled up a little.
05:36The baseball bat, it's later identified as belonging to Floyd himself and one that he
05:41kept beside his bed for protection.
05:44It's covered in blood.
05:46There was also a lot of cast-off on the walls.
05:52The first time that you hit somebody with something, it doesn't cause that cast-off.
05:56It's only once that weapon has been applied to wet blood, and then it's lifted up again,
06:02and then it comes off as a motion of centrifugal force, where it's cast off onto the walls
06:06and ceilings.
06:08And so we knew from that that whoever had done this had hit Floyd many times over and
06:12over and over and over.
06:16It is an obvious assault, a vicious assault.
06:21So that bat is a very important item to us.
06:26It's the one thing that we know our killer has touched, so it becomes our primary focus
06:31for DNA.
06:33We don't do any swabbing at scene.
06:34We just try to preserve the bat exactly like it is and have it transported directly to
06:39the crime lab for analysis.
06:44Once that was done, then it was a matter of collecting all the other evidence that we
06:48could use to document the case.
06:51We collected blood off of the walls and off of the comforter, as well as the other bedding
06:55at the location.
06:57We collected everything from his pockets at the scene, but you leave the clothes in place.
07:02He had over $1,000 in cash in his back pocket.
07:07It was unusual that if it was a robbery, all that cash was left in his pocket.
07:12But then we don't know if some other large amount of cash is missing.
07:17Some of the items that were in the kitchen area were collected as well.
07:23And we also collected his cell phone.
07:27Investigators found a bank statement that had a very low balance.
07:32There was a bicycle, a child's bicycle, that was found inside the apartment.
07:38There was also a small baggie with a crystalline substance inside.
07:43And that was sent to the lab.
07:47The door was examined and found not to have any forced entry.
07:52So the person was either let in or had a key or came in some other way.
08:01When Floyd's body was lifted off the floor, there is a broken knife blade that had been
08:07under him.
08:11It's a butcher knife.
08:12I'd say it's approximately eight to 10 inches long by maybe two, two and a half inches blade-wise
08:20tall.
08:21So it's a large blade.
08:24It's really surprising.
08:25We didn't even realize that Floyd had suffered any sharp force injuries.
08:32So at that point, we take a closer look at Floyd's condition.
08:36He had been stabbed at least six times.
08:42We more closely examined the bedding that was on his bed and were able to find that
08:49there's actually a slice through the comforter on his bed, indicating that he was in bed
08:57and covered up with his bedding, presumably asleep at the time that he is attacked.
09:03So it was what would be considered a surprise attack.
09:08It appears that once he was surprised with that, his natural reaction was to roll away
09:15from it.
09:16And that's most likely what broke the handle on the knife.
09:21And when the killer realizes that this knife has now broken, he's got just an empty handle
09:26in his hands, he has to switch to something else and spots that bat that's sitting beside
09:31Floyd's bed and uses it as a weapon of opportunity and use that to beat Floyd to death.
09:39We searched all throughout the apartment and the handle was never found.
09:47After collecting all the evidence at Floyd Zumwalt's apartment, police now have the pieces
09:51of a puzzle.
09:53Their next step is to start putting the pieces together to deduce who killed Floyd Zumwalt.
09:59And so far, the fact that there are two murder weapons, a bat and a knife, makes it clear
10:05that whoever killed Floyd was likely motivated by rage.
10:10For someone to stab someone multiple times is heinous enough as it is.
10:17But then on top of that, to bludgeon someone to death is, I would say, overkill.
10:24That says that it's a crime of passion and most likely that the individual, the killer,
10:30knew the victim.
10:33It's particularly telling that the person who finds the body, Craig Miller, is a self-admitted
10:39friend of the victim.
10:41Naturally, investigators' first person of interest is therefore going to be Craig Miller.
10:48That night, when detectives were free, they went to interview Craig Miller about what
10:52he had seen more in depth.
10:54But when they arrived at his apartment, shockingly, he was not at home.
11:00Suddenly, Craig Miller's a suspect.
11:03He clearly had the opportunity, and in spite of telling police he'd wait at his apartment
11:07until they came for him, he's gone.
11:10Investigators wonder if the same man who made the 911 call was, in fact, Floyd's killer.
11:22We couldn't find Craig at his apartment, so we called him on the telephone and he says
11:26that he had left and gone to a friend's house because he's so upset by what he's seen.
11:32That his friend, John Mills, lived close by and he would return home shortly.
11:40He did return to his apartment shortly thereafter, so we checked to see if he has any fresh injuries
11:46on him.
11:48We also collect his DNA with his consent.
11:52He says that he has actually changed clothes since the time of the murder, so he retrieves
11:58the clothes that he was wearing at the time that he found Floyd's body and gives those
12:03to us.
12:05Mr. Miller is not disheveled, he's composed, his clothing is not in disarray, he does not
12:11appear to have been in a struggle.
12:13Investigators just aren't satisfied that the evidence is there pointing to Mr. Miller as
12:17the actual killer.
12:19Investigators subsequently interview Mr. Miller in his home in order to obtain further information
12:24about Floyd and who may have wanted to kill him.
12:28Floyd's a well-spoken and intelligent person.
12:32Craig identifies himself as a retired fire captain.
12:35He had formerly worked in a fire department back east.
12:39He comes from Illinois.
12:42He's been living at the apartment complex for eight to ten months.
12:46Craig had been friends with Floyd for maybe six weeks.
12:51They had just fallen into a friendship because they lived so close together.
12:57Craig would come over, Floyd would make him coffee, and Floyd would typically have a beer
13:02or two while they conversed.
13:06We learned that Floyd is almost exclusively homebound.
13:13Getting up out of chairs, sitting, you know, getting into his bed, out of his bed, things
13:18like that were difficult for him.
13:21So Craig would help Floyd out.
13:24Craig had begun running small errands for Floyd, so he would run up to the grocery store
13:30and purchase items and bring them back to Floyd.
13:35Craig tells us that Tuesday, November 7, 2015, started out as a normal day.
13:42Craig said that Floyd had asked him to bake a pot roast.
13:47Floyd, as was his usual course, went to take a nap in the late morning, early afternoon.
13:54And at that point, Craig said that he left to run some errands and set an alarm on his
14:00watch so that he would be back in time to take the roast out of the oven.
14:06He provided receipts to both Safeway and Walgreens to confirm that he had been there for Floyd.
14:16Craig says that he returns to the apartment complex and finds Floyd's door unlocked, which
14:22is unusual.
14:23He enters Floyd's apartment at approximately 4.42 p.m.
14:29He said he takes the roast out of the oven first, sets it on top of the stove, and then
14:35goes back and finds Floyd.
14:39He immediately calls 911.
14:41I was here two hours ago, and we had food in the oven.
14:47And I just got back, and this is what I found.
14:53And that call is logged at 4.44 p.m.
14:57Based on their conversation with Craig, investigators believe Floyd was killed sometime between
15:022.30 and 4.30 p.m. on November 7.
15:07Given that cash and some kind of drugs were present at the crime scene, detectives consider
15:11whether someone entered Floyd's apartment looking for these items during that two-hour
15:16window.
15:18So the morning after the murder, investigators canvassed the neighborhood looking for leads.
15:23We heard from the neighbors that Floyd primarily was living on Social Security.
15:28But as is the case with a lot of people that are on Social Security as their sole source
15:33of income, it makes things kind of tough.
15:37And he had begun selling his medication on a regular basis for cash on the street.
15:45Another neighbor tells investigators she saw Floyd's grandson, Jordan Slate, arrive in
15:50a Volvo at the apartment complex around 3 o'clock on the afternoon Floyd was killed,
15:55an hour and 45 minutes before Craig discovered Floyd's body and called 911.
16:02The neighbors saw Jordan enter the complex and he stayed for a short time and he left
16:06very quickly.
16:09Police learn more about Floyd's grandson, Jordan, during Craig's formal interview at
16:13the police station on November 8, the day after the murder.
16:18You're willing to talk to us, is that correct?
16:20Absolutely.
16:21The one we're talking about.
16:22Can you tell me about him?
16:23Odd character.
16:25Craig Miller, he informed us that when he would be at Floyd's, Jordan would come over
16:32frequently.
16:33He'd always ask for money.
16:36And many times this would cause arguments between the two.
16:40He said that he manipulated him.
16:42He would steal from Floyd.
16:44Well, Floyd was complaining, basically, that they all use him for money.
16:49And that's about it.
16:50Every time that man has money, they're there.
16:53And he has no money, they won't even answer the phone when he calls.
16:59Was this one of those situations where Jordan arrived, wanted some money from his grandpa,
17:06his grandpa said, no, not this time.
17:09And then they get into a physical fight and it goes too far.
17:18We do some background research on Jordan and we find that he has an unrelated warrant for
17:23his arrest.
17:24The warrants for a failure to appear on a drug charge and a look into Jordan's history
17:29finds that he's got an extensive career with drug-related offenses.
17:36The day after the murder, investigators go to Jordan's house.
17:43He lives with his mother, Laura Bennett, and he's only about four miles away from Floyd's
17:49residence.
17:51When investigators arrived, they were met by his mother, Laura Bennett.
17:55Jordan was not home.
17:57They delivered the message that Floyd had passed away.
18:01She was very shocked.
18:03We found out that on the day of Floyd's murder, Laura and Jordan were hosting a birthday party
18:10at their house for Floyd's youngest son, who was turning eight that day.
18:17Floyd had another ex-wife, Tessa Caldwell, and they had started dating when he was in
18:22his early seventies and were married for several years.
18:27But Floyd and Tessa were not speaking to one another at that time, so he wasn't invited
18:34to the party.
18:37We learned that Jordan had borrowed his mother Laura's car on the day of Floyd's murder in
18:42order to go to Floyd's house and pick up a bike that Floyd had purchased as a birthday
18:47present for his son.
18:49That was somewhere in the ballpark of 3 to 3.15 p.m., which was during the time period
18:57of Floyd's death.
18:59Laura explained that Jordan returns after a short time being gone and rushes into the
19:05house acting strangely.
19:08Laura told investigators he immediately went into the bathroom and he was just acting erratic.
19:16He took off all of his clothes, threw them in the tub, then poured Lysol all over him
19:22and then took his shoes and threw them in the dryer.
19:27Laura asked Jordan what was going on and he wouldn't answer.
19:33She asked, well, how was grandpa?
19:36And he said he never made it to grandpa's.
19:38And then he left.
19:40We know that Jordan is lying because we have several witnesses at the apartment complex
19:45that saw him arrive at Floyd's apartment that afternoon.
19:49So you know, he looked good for this murder.
19:54Jordan at this point is absolutely our number one suspect.
20:01The day after Floyd's homicide, Jordan Slate was located and was arrested on drug charge.
20:12He was brought back to the police station where he was questioned.
20:15Jordan's cooperative, when he's initially brought in, he understands he's under arrest
20:20for his warrant.
20:21Do I have your permission to take this interview with you?
20:25Yeah, Bob.
20:26Right on, man.
20:27Do you know what happened?
20:28No, I just heard him pass away.
20:29Okay.
20:30Do you know none of the details or anything?
20:33No.
20:34Okay, all right.
20:35All right.
20:36Well, it was not by natural means that he passed, okay?
20:42And I understand that you may have been over there.
20:45Jordan absolutely denies it.
20:47Says I was never there.
20:48And I'll be honest with you, that was the one thing, I want to say it was more than
20:52one person said, yeah, he was over here and they saw you in the parking lot, in the car.
20:57No, I didn't.
20:59Never?
21:01All right.
21:02I'm locking you in on that then.
21:03No, I swear to God, I put that motherfucking everything I love.
21:07When he starts getting questioned about his grandfather's demise, his attitude changes.
21:15You guys are trying to frame me, man.
21:17Nope.
21:18No, you are.
21:19Nope.
21:20I want to catch the bad guy.
21:21You got to trust me.
21:22I don't trust cops.
21:23He's speaking in odd, quasi-religious type analogies.
21:40We challenged Jordan with the information that he had told his mother he was going to
21:46visit his grandfather that day and borrowed the car to do that.
21:53Why not?
21:54What happened?
22:00Dean continues to insist that he was never in the parking lot and never went to his grandfather's
22:07house.
22:08We secured a warrant and got DNA from him.
22:12We swabbed his hands and took photos of him.
22:17Eventually, Jordan asked for a lawyer and questioning has ceased.
22:22At this point, we 100% thought that he was our guy.
22:29At this point, he's been booked on his drug warrant and he's being held on that warrant.
22:36We got a search warrant for his house and got the clothes that he had been wearing when
22:40he visited his grandfather's house.
22:42And all the stuff is tested at the crime lab for Floyd's DNA.
22:48On January 29th, 12 weeks after Floyd's murder, investigators finally get the lab results
22:55back of the clothing that Jordan Slate had dumped in his bathtub, doused in Lysol and
23:01hot water, which was presumed to contain DNA from the crime scene.
23:05Unfortunately, there was no evidence of Floyd's DNA on any of those items.
23:13If those clothes were worn during the course of this savage beating, even if Jordan poured
23:20Lysol all over them, there definitely would have been DNA from Floyd on them.
23:25Not fully satisfied that the lab results necessarily exonerate Jordan, investigators now begin
23:31to wonder if maybe they were looking in the wrong place.
23:34Rather than Jordan having perhaps taken DNA from the murder with him, perhaps he left
23:40something of himself at the actual scene.
23:43All the items collected at Floyd's apartment, the sheets, the bat, the knife blade, there
23:53was no foreign DNA found.
23:57At this point, Jordan's still in jail, but there's nothing that ties him directly to
24:02the murder other than his opportunity, which isn't enough to hold him.
24:07But he's also not been eliminated.
24:10He had the opportunity and he's lied about his opportunity, so he remains a suspect.
24:16Soon after Jordan's released, Crime Lab technicians make a new forensic discovery on an article
24:21of clothing police recovered from the man who found Floyd's body, Craig Miller.
24:26Craig Miller's clothing was sent to the Washington State Crime Lab for analysis.
24:37No blood or DNA from the crime scene was found on any of Craig Miller's clothing except for
24:44one single spot of blood on the insole of one shoe.
24:50Detectives bring Craig into the station to ask him about the spot of blood they found on his shoe.
24:56Craig said that he just assumed that one spot of blood on his shoe was because it was so
25:03close to the crime scene, but he confirmed that he had not gotten closer to Floyd than arm's length.
25:10During his interview, Craig brought up his own girlfriend, Claire Prescott.
25:16He tells us Claire frequented Craig's apartment and she had met with Floyd at least two times.
25:25Craig tells us that his relationship with Claire is on again, off again.
25:31She's on drugs, they don't get along.
25:33Craig paints the picture of Claire as a drug abuser.
25:40She frequently hangs out with criminal vagrants.
25:45She is in the life of crime herself.
25:52Based on Craig Miller's new information, investigators begin to wonder whether Claire Prescott,
25:57given her background, access and opportunity, may have been drawn to Floyd's apartment in search of cash or drugs.
26:06Craig told us that Claire was a likely suspect because she knew that Floyd sometimes sold his pills
26:16and had a large amount of money on him.
26:19This rang true with investigators because we found a large amount of cash on Floyd at the time that he was murdered.
26:26So for Craig to connect Claire to Floyd made sense to us.
26:32Craig also tells us that he thinks Claire was involved in a similar attack on an elderly man in Bainbridge Island,
26:41which is about 45 minutes from Bremerton.
26:45He said that Claire told him the reason she hit the man over the head was self-defense.
26:54At this point, Claire seemed like a good suspect to us
26:59because she not only knows Craig, who was the last person to see Floyd alive,
27:04but she's also got a connection to the drug business.
27:08Then on top of that, Claire had assaulted another elderly male with a 2x4, beating him in the head.
27:17We did a background check on Claire Prescott
27:20and we found that she and Craig Miller had a significant history with the police.
27:27We know that the relationship between Craig and Claire was an acrimonious one.
27:32Claire had called police on Craig several times and accused him of holding her against her will.
27:38But police are unable to locate any reports related to the attack by Craig Miller.
27:45And we're unable to find any evidence related to the attack by Claire on a man on Bainbridge Island.
27:54After some investigation, we are finally able to identify him.
27:59He is 70-year-old Grant Mitchell.
28:02He lives on Bainbridge Island and has several DUI-related offenses, but no other serious crimes.
28:09Once we make contact with Grant,
28:11Grant runs the length of his head where it's been split open and he's had it put back together.
28:17Grant Mitchell had four surgeries, spent several months in rehab,
28:22and is permanently disabled as a result of the attack.
28:26He was so out of it for so long, he just assumed that somebody was investigating it,
28:31even though it had never been actually reported to the police.
28:35In reference to Claire, Grant says that they were friends and would occasionally meet up.
28:41But then she attacked him out of the blue with a two-by-four.
28:46He just laid out the whole story and when we asked him if he'd be willing to follow up with charges,
28:51he said that he would.
28:53Claire Prescott is charged with assault one of Grant Mitchell and an arrest warrant is issued for her.
29:00Claire was arrested in a nearby county a number of weeks later
29:05and I transported her from the jail that she was being held at to our local jail.
29:11She was actually still drug-affected, so she was what we refer to as on the nod.
29:18She was actually falling asleep.
29:22At first, Claire denies any involvement in Grant's assault,
29:26but eventually admits that she did hit him with a two-by-four,
29:31but adds that he provided her drugs and once she was asleep,
29:36she woke up with his hands in her pants and it was self-defense.
29:41But she is adamant she had nothing to do with the attack on Floyd.
29:46We did ask Claire whether or not she'd been at Floyd's apartment
29:51and although she claimed to know and wave at Floyd as she was in the area visiting Craig,
29:58she claimed that she had never been in his apartment.
30:01After Claire's interview, she was booked into jail for the assault on Grant Mitchell.
30:06But Claire had an alibi for Floyd's murder that she was at a friend's house.
30:11We confirmed with that friend that she was at his house at the time that the murder was going on.
30:17And investigators can't find any evidence that Claire is linked to Floyd's murder.
30:23Claire is eventually convicted for the assault on Grant Mitchell.
30:28But investigators rule her out as a suspect in Floyd Zimmel's murder.
30:32With Claire Prescott ruled out,
30:34detectives review the evidence against Floyd Zimmel's grandson, Jordan Slate.
30:40Floyd Zimmel's neighbors told police they saw Jordan at Floyd's house around the time of the murder,
30:45but that's something Jordan adamantly denies.
30:48I had never been over there.
30:50I'm locking in on that then.
30:52No, I swear to God, I put down my everything I love.
30:56So we went back and took a look at the evidence.
30:59So we went back and took another look at the statements of the neighbors from the night of the homicide.
31:08A neighbor that lived next door to Floyd, Avery Sinclair,
31:11stated she heard thumps coming from his apartment.
31:15She had said she heard that around 424.
31:19We bring Avery in for questioning and she's a perfect witness.
31:23She describes herself as a nosy gossip.
31:27Okay, so it was you and Joseph and the baby.
31:30And where were you guys at?
31:32We were in the living room on the couch and the couch was actually on the wall.
31:37But that's like right next to his room.
31:40When I thought I heard something either like hit the wall or dropped or something.
31:46I just know I heard a bang next door.
31:49She said that she quieted the TV to hear anything additional that might be happening,
31:55but she didn't hear any cries for help or any additional noise.
31:58At that point, she gets up to see if she can tell what's going on.
32:02She looked out her window and saw Craig leaving Floyd's apartment.
32:07But like once I saw him disappear, I went back into the living room and sat down.
32:13That puts Craig there in Floyd's apartment,
32:16contradicting his story that he didn't get there until 442.
32:19And we had food in the oven and I just got back and this is what I found.
32:30Now almost 12 months into their investigation,
32:33detectives turn their attention back to Craig Miller,
32:36the neighbor who made the initial 911 call.
32:39When we run his criminal history,
32:42we find that he doesn't have any local criminal history.
32:48But he does have criminal history from another state, Illinois,
32:52where he has actually served some time in jail and is a registered sex offender.
32:59He was convicted of placing secret cameras in his house to record his stepdaughter
33:04and also of molesting his stepdaughter.
33:09Craig's the only person in this investigation that we ever located any physical evidence on.
33:15So at this point, Craig goes from being the most helpful of witnesses
33:20to now our number one suspect.
33:27Now that Craig Miller had risen to the top of the suspect list,
33:31we re-evaluated people he was in contact with on the day of Floyd's murder.
33:37When investigators went to interview Craig at his apartment the night of the homicide,
33:42he wasn't at home.
33:44He had actually gone to visit his friend John Mills.
33:47Police also spoke to John Mills in their original canvas,
33:50so now they reach out to him again.
33:52When we re-interviewed John Mills, he told us that Craig had said
33:58Floyd had been beaten and stabbed.
34:04And the significance of this is that it was unknown to investigators at this point
34:09that a knife was even involved in the murder
34:12because of the positioning of the body and the knife blade hidden under his body.
34:17How would Craig know that Floyd had been stabbed when train investigators didn't even know?
34:24So at this point, I decide to go back and take a look at the evidence from the crime scene.
34:31One of the first photos taken was of Craig standing in front of the apartment
34:35by the first officer that arrived on scene.
34:38I examined that photo under magnification
34:41I noticed in the picture that the stitching on the fly of Craig's jeans was curved
34:52and the stitching on the fly of the pants that he had given us was straight.
34:59They were not the same pants.
35:02This was the first hard proof that we had that Craig had actually tried to deceive investigators.
35:08I knew at that point that Craig had been lying to us all along.
35:13Craig led us down the wrong path with Jordan
35:16and he's also led us down the wrong path with his own girlfriend.
35:21Now investigators review everything Craig shared with them on the night of the murder
35:25and they consider more closely how a drop of Floyd's blood landed on Craig's shoe
35:30if he really did keep his distance from Floyd's body as Craig himself claimed.
35:35The blood drop is important
35:37so there's no way physically possible that blood could have gotten on the inside of his right sole
35:45if he had not been closer to Floyd.
35:49It was also a droplet that was in movement when it hit his shoe.
35:55The teardrop shape, for lack of a better word, of the blood drop
35:58also indicated that it was moving in a centrifugal pattern
36:03away from the body consistent with medium velocity cast off
36:07which strongly suggests that Mr. Miller was not only at the scene at the time of the murder
36:12but got close enough to Floyd for the blood to be cast off onto him in the fashion that it did.
36:18Investigators speak with Craig again.
36:20There are still some unanswered questions that we think that you could probably help clear up for us
36:24and we're hoping that you're willing to do that.
36:26And Craig's reason behind the blood on his shoe changed several times.
36:31He kept dancing around his answers.
36:33Maybe he was close to Floyd.
36:35Maybe he wasn't.
36:37I'm not a freaking lawyer.
36:39Okay.
36:40This is bullshit.
36:42There's also the issue of Floyd's neighbor Avery hearing and seeing Craig
36:46both inside and outside Floyd's apartment 20 minutes before the 911 call was placed.
36:52Craig's story was that he arrived just before he called 911.
36:56Another inconsistency.
36:58And this is enough to arrest him for murder too and book him into jail.
37:03While Craig is in jail, police keep digging for more hard evidence to secure a conviction.
37:08I recalled that an open bank statement had been found on the kitchen table at the crime scene.
37:14Investigators proceed to check Floyd's phone records
37:17and determined that he actually telephoned his bank at approximately 11.30am on the day of his murder.
37:23I reached out to the bank to see if they had a recording of that call and they do.
37:27I'm Noelle's father, this is Nicole. May I please have your account number or your debit card number?
37:31Hello, my name is Floyd.
37:34Hello. How can I assist you?
37:37Well, I wonder if you can tell me what's going on.
37:41I have no money in the bank.
37:43One of my checks should have went in last night.
37:47Craig would often take Floyd's debit card to the store to buy beer and cigarettes for Floyd.
37:55But it turned out he was also making cash withdrawals for himself.
38:00I think that Floyd realized that Craig had been stealing from him.
38:05Craig, I believe, wanted to save face.
38:09We think that was his motive.
38:12But we don't have to prove motive here in Washington.
38:15We don't have to prove the why.
38:17But we have to prove that Craig intended to kill Floyd.
38:22Four months after Craig Miller's arrest, his cellmate came forward with some information.
38:29He pretty much explained how he did it and told me that he showed up.
38:33He had took off his shirt and put on a flannel type button-up that belonged to the old man.
38:40He stabbed the man several times.
38:42He mentioned to me something about the handle of the knife being broke off,
38:47being broke off, something blade or something along those lines.
38:52And with a baseball bat, he hit him several times.
38:55And he acted this out sadistically and jumped around like a child.
39:02He then told him he got rid of the knife handle by throwing it in the bushes outside of Floyd's apartment.
39:09And told me that the detectives were still looking for that part of the evidence.
39:16So we get permission from the owner of the apartment complex
39:19to cut down the bushes next to Floyd's apartment and look for that handle of that knife.
39:26We get search and rescue out there followed by detectives with metal detectors
39:31who survey the area.
39:33And within an hour, we get a hit on a knife blade handle
39:37that's there in the bushes 22 months after the original murder.
39:42I was actually very shocked that it was still there.
39:46The cellmate also tells police that Craig told him
39:49that he had worn one of Floyd's shirts during the murder.
39:52And after he was done, he took it off and hung it back in Floyd's closet.
39:56Floyd's shirts were found in his granddaughter's basement.
40:00She had taken the shirts because she heard about making a memory pillow
40:04out of a deceased relative's shirts.
40:06But she had never gotten around to doing it and they were still in her basement.
40:10At this point, detectives believe they know exactly what happened to Floyd Zumwalt.
40:15On Tuesday, November 7th, 2015, Floyd Zumwalt got his mail
40:20and it was a bank statement.
40:23We think Floyd opened his bank statement,
40:26realized there were ATM withdrawals that he did not make,
40:31and immediately got on the phone with the bank to question it.
40:35Craig Miller can hear Floyd on the telephone.
40:38And he panicked.
40:40Craig puts Floyd to bed and goes on his errands.
40:43He comes back and finds Floyd asleep.
40:47Craig finds one of Floyd's shirts,
40:51puts his shirt on.
40:53The fact that Craig put on Floyd's shirt before he committed this murder
40:58tells us that he was thinking about what he was doing
41:02and that he was intending to kill Floyd and did not want to get caught.
41:07Craig was able to grab a knife.
41:10During the attack, the knife handle broke off of the knife and Craig panicked.
41:14He grabbed the bat that Floyd kept next to his bed for his own protection
41:19and ironically used it to end Floyd's life.
41:24But he doesn't realize he gets a spot of blood on his shoe.
41:28But he doesn't realize he gets a spot of blood on his shoe.
41:34Later, Craig switches out of the pair of pants he was wearing
41:38and gives investigators a different pair of jeans.
41:43Craig admitted to his cellmate that he wore the pants that he wore during the murder
41:49to a local charity thrift store
41:51where he switched into the new pants and hung up his murder pants
41:55back on the rack for somebody else to purchase later.
41:57They were never located.
42:00The shirts recovered from Floyd's granddaughter
42:03as well as the knife handle recovered from the bushes outside of his apartment
42:08are never tested for DNA because Craig admits his involvement
42:12and takes a plea deal.
42:16Craig Miller pleads guilty to murder in the second degree
42:19and is sentenced to 20 years for Floyd Zumwalt's murder.
42:25Floyd was murdered over the theft of a couple of hundred dollars.
42:31Probably wouldn't even have resulted in Craig's doing any jail time
42:36if he had been found guilty of stealing from Floyd.
42:40And instead, Craig decided it was easier to end Floyd's life
42:46than take responsibility for his crime.
42:50This was a particularly heinous and violent attack on a vulnerable man.
42:58And anytime we're able to get justice for victims,
43:02especially murder victims,
43:04is one of the best things I think we can do as investigators.
43:20For more information visit www.FEMA.gov
43:25For more information visit www.FEMA.gov
43:30For more information visit www.FEMA.gov
43:35For more information visit www.FEMA.gov