Crime Scene Investigators (2025) Season 1 Episode 4
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00:00The following program is rated 18 plus and is not intended for younger audiences.
00:10It contains coarse language, violence, nudity, and mature subject matter.
00:14Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
00:18There's a ball bat next to a man and there's blood all over it.
00:31It was brutal and for a man who's 87, that makes it even sadder.
00:36There's kind of an old adage in crime scenes that you only get one chance and you don't
00:41want to screw it up.
00:43Most likely the killer knew the victim.
00:45We were right next to his room.
00:48We go back and more closely examine the bedding.
00:51You guys are trying to frighten me man.
00:54I want to catch the bad guy.
00:58When homicide investigators collect evidence from a crime scene, they hold the pieces of
01:03a puzzle.
01:04Only by connecting those pieces back together can they catch the killer.
01:17Bremerton is the largest city in Kitsap County.
01:20We're directly west of Seattle and across Puget Sound.
01:24The best thing about Bremerton is the views.
01:27You have the skyline of Seattle, Mount Rainier along with the Cascades.
01:33Also the Olympic Mountains.
01:36There's a nice mix of young families and working class folks.
01:40So a lot of people find this is a good place to retire after they're done working.
01:49On November 7th, 2015, at 444 in the evening, our 911 dispatch center received a call.
01:57Kitsap 911, what are you reporting?
02:00Hey yes, this is Craig Miller.
02:02I need police, ambulance, I take care of an 87 year old man.
02:09The caller identifies himself as Craig Miller, a neighbor of the occupant of the apartment,
02:15an 87 year old man named Floyd Zumwalt.
02:18There's a ball bat next to a man and there's blood all over it and this is a very high
02:24crime area.
02:25He's not moving at all?
02:28I don't know.
02:29Police are dispatched to the scene.
02:35Officer Switzer was a brand new officer for us, had just come from the police academy
02:41and he was riding alone.
02:44Craig steps out of the house itself out onto the front porch while he's waiting for the
02:48police to arrive.
02:52The neighborhood that Floyd lived had kind of fallen on harder times.
03:01When Officer Switzer arrived, Craig Miller told him he had made a roast for his buddy
03:07and he had set a timer and was just coming to take it out of the oven.
03:13He said that when he got to the door, he noticed the door was unlocked and he knew that he
03:19locked the door when he left.
03:22So he found that odd.
03:25Officer Switzer told Craig to wait there.
03:34And then he steps into the apartment.
03:37He enters the bedroom.
03:39He sees Floyd laying on his side with his head in a trash can, obviously deceased.
03:46We have a baseball bat that is within arm's reach of Floyd's body.
03:53It appears that that bat was used to bludgeon Floyd with.
04:00Officer Switzer calls for additional officers and additional help to the scene.
04:05While homicide detectives and CSI techs make their way to the crime scene, Officer Switzer
04:10rejoins Craig Miller outside Floyd Zumwalt's apartment.
04:17It's raining out that night and Craig wants to return to his apartment, which is just
04:22across the parking lot.
04:23But before he does so, Officer Switzer snaps five photographs of Craig.
04:30Overall photo of the front, an overall photo of the back, just documenting what he's wearing
04:35and then close ups of tops and bottoms of both hands.
04:40Craig doesn't appear to have any blood on him.
04:41He doesn't look like his clothes are a mess or he's been in a fight or anything like that.
04:48It was agreed that Craig would wait at his apartment across the parking lot to be contacted
04:52by the police.
04:55I arrive at the apartment complex and as I walk into the bedroom inside the apartment,
05:01it was a shocking scene.
05:04Floyd is in what could be described as a semi-fetal position.
05:08He's got a large laceration on his elbow.
05:12His head is opened up.
05:15There's blood around him, pooled.
05:18His hair is mangled in blood.
05:23It was shocking to see the amount of violence that was taken out on Floyd.
05:28An 87-year-old man, he's lived a long life and this is, you know, how he meets his demise.
05:33It's terrible.
05:37Crime scene technicians now begin to photograph the crime scene and collect evidence.
05:43He's laying on his right side.
05:45So you see his left ribs.
05:48His shirt is kind of pulled up a little.
05:52The baseball bat, it's later identified as belonging to Floyd himself and one that he
05:57kept beside his bed for protection.
06:01It's covered in blood.
06:02There was also a lot of cast off on the walls.
06:09The first time that you hit somebody with something, it doesn't cause that cast off.
06:13It's only once that weapon has been applied to wet blood and then it's lifted up again
06:18and then it comes off as a motion of centrifugal force where it's cast off onto the walls and
06:23ceilings.
06:24And so we knew from that that whoever had done this had hit Floyd many times over and
06:28over.
06:31It is an obvious assault, a vicious assault.
06:37So that bat is a very important item to us.
06:42It's the one thing that we know our killer has touched.
06:46So it becomes our primary focus for DNA.
06:49We don't do any swabbing at scene.
06:50We just try to preserve the bat exactly like it is and have it transported directly to
06:55the crime lab for analysis.
07:00Once that was done, then it was a matter of collecting all the other evidence that we
07:04could use to document the case.
07:07We collected blood off of the walls and off of the comforter as well as the other bedding
07:11at the location.
07:13We collected everything from his pockets at the scene, but you leave the clothes in place.
07:18He had over a thousand dollars in cash in his back pocket.
07:23It was unusual that if it was a robbery, all that cash was left in his pocket.
07:28But then we don't know if some other large amount of cash is missing.
07:33Some of the items that were in the kitchen area were collected as well.
07:39We also collected his cell phone.
07:42Investigators found a bank statement that had a very low balance.
07:48There was a bicycle, a child's bicycle, that was found inside the apartment.
07:54There was also a small baggie with a crystalline substance inside, and that was sent to the
08:00lab.
08:03The door was examined and found not to have any forced entry, so the person was either
08:09let in or had a key or came in some other way.
08:17When Floyd's body was lifted off the floor, there is a broken knife blade that had been
08:23under him.
08:27It's a butcher knife.
08:28I'd say it's approximately eight to 10 inches long by maybe two, two and a half inches blade-wise
08:36tall.
08:37So it's a large blade.
08:40It's really surprising.
08:42We didn't even realize that Floyd had suffered any sharp force injuries.
08:48So at that point, we take a closer look at Floyd's condition.
08:52He had been stabbed at least six times.
08:58We more closely examined the bedding that was on his bed and were able to find that
09:05there's actually a slice through the comforter on his bed, indicating that he was in bed
09:13and covered up with his bedding, presumably asleep, at the time that he is attacked.
09:19So it was what would be considered a surprise attack.
09:24It appears that once he was surprised with that, his natural reaction was to roll away
09:31from it, and that's most likely what broke the handle on the knife.
09:37And when the killer realizes that this knife has now broken, he's got just an empty handle
09:42in his hands, he has to switch to something else and spots that bat that's sitting beside
09:47Floyd's bed and uses it as a weapon of opportunity and use that to beat Floyd to death.
09:55We searched all throughout the apartment and the handle was never found.
10:03After collecting all the evidence at Floyd Zumwalt's apartment, police now have the pieces
10:07of a puzzle.
10:09Their next step is to start putting the pieces together to deduce who killed Floyd Zumwalt.
10:15So far, the fact that there are two murder weapons, a bat and a knife, makes it clear
10:21that whoever killed Floyd was likely motivated by rage.
10:26For someone to stab someone multiple times is heinous enough as it is, but then on top
10:34of that, to bludgeon someone to death is, I would say, overkill.
10:40That says that it's a crime of passion and most likely that the individual, the killer,
10:46knew the victim.
10:49It's particularly telling that the person who finds the body, Craig Miller, is a self-admitted
10:55friend of the victim.
10:57Naturally, investigators' first person of interest is therefore going to be Craig Miller.
11:04That night, when detectives were free, they went to interview Craig Miller about what
11:08he had seen more in depth, but when they arrived at his apartment, shockingly, he was
11:14not at home.
11:16Suddenly, Craig Miller's a suspect.
11:19He clearly had the opportunity, and in spite of telling police he'd wait at his apartment
11:23until they came for him, he's gone.
11:26Investigators wonder if the same man who made the 911 call was, in fact, Floyd's killer.
11:38We couldn't find Craig at his apartment, so we called him on the telephone and he says
11:42that he had left and gone to a friend's house because he's so upset by what he's seen, but
11:48that his friend, John Mills, lived close by and he would return home shortly.
11:56He did return to his apartment shortly thereafter, so we checked to see if he has any fresh injuries
12:02on him.
12:04We also collect his DNA with his consent.
12:08He says that he has actually changed clothes since the time of the murder, so he retrieves
12:14the clothes that he was wearing at the time that he found Floyd's body and gives those
12:19to us.
12:21Mr. Miller is not disheveled.
12:23He's composed.
12:24His clothing is not in disarray.
12:26He does not appear to have been in a struggle.
12:29Investigators just aren't satisfied that the evidence is there pointing to Mr. Miller as
12:33the actual killer.
12:35Investigators subsequently interviewed Mr. Miller in his home in order to obtain further
12:40information about Floyd and who may have wanted to kill him.
12:44Craig's well-spoken and intelligent person.
12:48Craig identifies himself as a retired fire captain.
12:52He had formerly worked in a fire department back east.
12:55He comes from Illinois.
12:58He's been living at the apartment complex for eight to ten months.
13:02Craig had been friends with Floyd for maybe six weeks.
13:07They had just fallen into a friendship because they lived so close together.
13:13Craig would come over.
13:14Floyd would make him coffee, and Floyd would typically have a beer or two while they conversed.
13:23We learned that Floyd is almost exclusively homebound.
13:29Getting up out of chairs, sitting, you know, getting into his bed, out of his bed, things
13:34like that were difficult for him.
13:37So Craig would help Floyd out.
13:40Craig had begun running small errands for Floyd, so he would run up to the grocery store
13:46and purchase items and bring them back to Floyd.
13:51Craig tells us that Tuesday, November 7, 2015, started out as a normal day.
13:58Craig said that Floyd had asked him to bake a pot roast.
14:03Floyd, as was his usual course, went to take a nap in the late morning, early afternoon.
14:11And at that point, Craig said that he left to run some errands and set an alarm on his
14:16watch so that he would be back in time to take the roast out of the oven.
14:22He provided receipts to both Safeway and Walgreens to confirm that he had been there
14:29for Floyd.
14:32Craig says that he returns to the apartment complex and finds Floyd's door unlocked, which
14:38is unusual.
14:39He enters Floyd's apartment at approximately 4.42 p.m.
14:45He said he takes the roast out of the oven first, sets it on top of the stove, and then
14:51goes back and finds Floyd.
14:55He immediately calls 911.
14:57I was here two hours ago, and we had food in the oven.
15:03And I just got back, and this is what I found.
15:09And that call was logged at 4.44 p.m.
15:13Based on their conversation with Craig, investigators believe Floyd was killed sometime between 2.30
15:19and 4.30 p.m. on November 7th.
15:23Given that cash and some kind of drugs were present at the crime scene, detectives consider
15:27whether someone entered Floyd's apartment looking for these items during that two-hour
15:32window.
15:34So the morning after the murder, investigators canvassed the neighborhood looking for leads.
15:39We heard from the neighbors that Floyd primarily was living on Social Security, but as is the
15:45case with a lot of people that are on Social Security as their sole source of income, it
15:51makes things kind of tough.
15:53And he had begun selling his medication on a regular basis for cash on the street.
16:01Another neighbor tells investigators she saw Floyd's grandson, Jordan Slate, arrive in
16:06a Volvo at the apartment complex around 3 o'clock on the afternoon Floyd was killed,
16:12an hour and 45 minutes before Craig discovered Floyd's body and called 911.
16:18The neighbors saw Jordan enter the complex and he stayed for a short time and he left
16:23very quickly.
16:25Police learned more about Floyd's grandson, Jordan, during Craig's formal interview at
16:30the police station on November 8th, the day after the murder.
16:34You're willing to talk to us, is that correct?
16:36Absolutely.
16:37The one we're talking about.
16:38Can you tell me about him?
16:39Odd character.
16:41Craig Miller, he informed us that when he would be at Floyd's, Jordan would come over
16:49frequently.
16:50He'd always ask for money and many times this would cause arguments between the two.
16:56He said that he manipulated him.
16:58He would steal from Floyd.
17:00Well, Floyd was complaining basically that they all use him for money and that's about
17:05it.
17:07When Jordan has money, they're there.
17:08When he has no money, they won't even answer the phone when he calls.
17:16Was this one of those situations where Jordan arrived, wanted some money from his grandpa,
17:22his grandpa said, no, not this time.
17:25And then they get into a physical fight and it goes too far.
17:34We do some background research on Jordan and we find that he has an unrelated warrant
17:38for his arrest.
17:40The warrants for a failure to appear on a drug charge and a look into Jordan's history
17:45finds that he's got an extensive career with drug related offenses.
17:53The day after the murder, investigators go to Jordan's house.
17:59He lives with his mother, Laura Bennett, and he's only about four miles away from
18:05Floyd's residence.
18:07When investigators arrived, they were met by his mother, Laura Bennett.
18:11Jordan was not home.
18:13They delivered the message that Floyd had passed away.
18:17She was very shocked.
18:19We found out that on the day of Floyd's murder, Laura and Jordan were hosting a birthday party
18:26at their house for Floyd's youngest son, who was turning eight that day.
18:33Floyd had another ex-wife, Tessa Caldwell, and they had started dating when he was in
18:38his early seventies and were married for several years.
18:43But Floyd and Tessa were not speaking to one another at that time, so he wasn't invited
18:50to the party.
18:53We learned that Jordan had borrowed his mother Laura's car on the day of Floyd's murder in
18:58order to go to Floyd's house and pick up a bike that Floyd had purchased as a birthday
19:03present for his son.
19:06That was somewhere in the ballpark of 3 to 315 p.m., which was during the time period
19:13of Floyd's death.
19:15Laura explained that Jordan returns after a short time being gone and rushes into the
19:21house acting strangely.
19:24Laura told investigators he immediately went into the bathroom and he was just acting erratic.
19:32He took off all of his clothes, threw them in the tub, then poured Lysol all over him
19:38and then took his shoes and threw them in the dryer.
19:43Laura asked Jordan what was going on and he wouldn't answer.
19:49She asked, well, how was grandpa?
19:52And he said he never made it to grandpa's.
19:54And then he left.
19:56We know that Jordan is lying because we have several witnesses at the apartment complex
20:01that saw him arrive at Floyd's apartment that afternoon.
20:06So you know, he looked good for this murder.
20:10Jordan at this point is absolutely our number one suspect.
20:14The day after Floyd's homicide, Jordan Slate was located and was arrested on drug charge.
20:28He was brought back to the police station where he was questioned.
20:31Jordan's cooperative, when he's initially brought in, he understands he's under arrest
20:36for his warrant.
20:37Do I have your permission to take this interview with you?
20:43Do you know what happened?
20:44No.
20:45I had to turn and pass away.
20:46OK.
20:47So you know none of the details or anything?
20:49No.
20:50OK.
20:51All right.
20:52Well, it was not by natural means that he passed, OK?
20:57And I understand that you may have been over there.
21:01Jordan absolutely denies it, says I was never there.
21:04And I'll be honest with you, that was the one thing.
21:07I want to say it was more than one person said, yeah, he was over here and they saw
21:11you in the parking lot in the car.
21:14No, I didn't.
21:15Never?
21:16I had never been over there.
21:17All right.
21:18I'm locking in on that then.
21:19No, I swear to God, I put down my everything I love.
21:23When he starts getting questioned about his grandfather's demise, his attitude changes.
21:31You guys are trying to frame me, man.
21:33Nope.
21:34You are.
21:35Nope.
21:36I want to catch the bad guy.
21:37You got to trust me.
21:38I don't trust cops.
21:39He begins speaking in odd quasi-religious type analogies.
21:49I'm already dead anyway.
21:52Why is that?
21:53I already died and came back.
21:55I was born again.
21:56We challenged Jordan with the information that he had told his mother he was going to visit
22:02his grandfather that day and borrowed the car to do that.
22:06Yeah, I didn't go though.
22:08Okay.
22:09I didn't plan on going there.
22:11Why not?
22:12What happened?
22:13Someone told me not to go over there today.
22:16My higher power told me that.
22:19He continues to insist that he was never in the parking lot and never went to his grandfather's house.
22:26We secured a warrant and got DNA from him.
22:30We swabbed his hands and took photos of him.
22:34Eventually, Jordan asked for a lawyer and questioning is ceased.
22:39At this point, we 100% thought that he was our guy.
22:46At this point, he's been booked on his drug warrant and he's being held on that warrant.
22:52We got a search warrant for his house and got the clothes that he had been wearing when he visited his grandfather's house.
22:59And all the stuff is tested at the crime lab for Floyd's DNA.
23:07On January 29th, 12 weeks after Floyd's murder, investigators finally get the lab results back of the clothing
23:14that Jordan Slate had dumped in his bathtub, doused in Lysol and hot water,
23:19which was presumed to contain DNA from the crime scene.
23:23Unfortunately, there was no evidence of Floyd's DNA on any of those items.
23:30If those clothes were worn during the course of this savage beating,
23:35even if Jordan poured Lysol all over them, there definitely would have been DNA from Floyd on them.
23:43Not fully satisfied that the lab results necessarily exonerate Jordan,
23:47investigators now begin to wonder if maybe they were looking in the wrong place.
23:51Rather than Jordan having perhaps taken DNA from the murder with him,
23:56perhaps he left something of himself at the actual scene.
24:00All the items collected at Floyd's apartment, the sheets, the bat, the knife blade,
24:09there was no foreign DNA found.
24:13At this point, Jordan's still in jail, but there's nothing that ties him directly to the murder
24:19other than his opportunity, which isn't enough to hold him.
24:24But he's also not been eliminated.
24:26He had the opportunity, and he's lied about his opportunity, so he remains a suspect.
24:32Soon after Jordan's released, crime lab technicians make a new forensic discovery
24:37on an article of clothing police recovered from the man who found Floyd's body, Craig Miller.
24:43Craig Miller's clothing was sent to the Washington State Crime Lab for analysis.
24:49No blood or DNA from the crime scene was found on any of Craig Miller's clothing
24:59except for one single spot of blood on the insole of one shoe.
25:07Detectives bring Craig into the station to ask him about the spot of blood they found on his shoe.
25:13Craig said that he just assumed that one spot of blood on his shoe
25:17was because it was so close to the crime scene.
25:20But he confirmed that he had not gotten closer to Floyd than arm's length.
25:26During his interview, Craig brought up his own girlfriend, Claire Prescott.
25:31He tells us Claire frequented Craig's apartment, and she had met with Floyd at least two times.
25:41Craig tells us that his relationship with Claire is on again, off again.
25:46When she's on drugs, they don't get along.
25:49Craig paints the picture of Claire as a drug abuser.
25:56She frequently hangs out with criminal vagrants.
26:01She is in the life of crime herself.
26:08Based on Craig Miller's new information, investigators begin to wonder whether Claire Prescott,
26:13given her background, access, and opportunity,
26:17may have been drawn to Floyd's apartment in search of cash or drugs.
26:23Craig told us that Claire was a likely suspect
26:28because she knew that Floyd sometimes sold his pills and had a large amount of money on him.
26:35This rang true with investigators because we found a large amount of cash on Floyd
26:40at the time that he was murdered.
26:43So for Craig to connect Claire to Floyd made sense to us.
26:49Craig also tells us that he thinks Claire was involved in a similar attack
26:55on an elderly man in Bainbridge Island, which is about 45 minutes from Bremerton.
27:01He said that Claire told him the reason she hit the man over the head was self-defense.
27:11At this point, Claire seemed like a good suspect to us
27:15because she not only knows Craig, who was the last person to see Floyd alive,
27:20but she's also got a connection to the drug business.
27:24Then on top of that, Claire had assaulted another elderly male with a 2x4, beating him in the head.
27:33We did a background check on Claire Prescott,
27:37and we found that she and Craig Miller had a significant history with the police.
27:43We know that the relationship between Craig and Claire was an acrimonious one.
27:48Claire had called police on Craig several times and accused him of holding her against her will.
27:54But police are unable to locate any reports related to Claire's involvement.
28:00There are no reports related to the attack by Claire on a man on Bainbridge Island.
28:07After some investigation, we are finally able to identify him.
28:12He is 70-year-old Grant Mitchell.
28:15He lives on Bainbridge Island and has several DUI-related offenses, but no other serious crimes.
28:22Once we make contact with Grant, the first thing he does is show us the scar that runs the length of his head
28:30and then split open and he's had it put back together.
28:33Grant Mitchell had four surgeries, spent several months in rehab, and is permanently disabled as a result of the attack.
28:42He was so out of it for so long, you know, he just assumed that somebody was investigating it,
28:48even though it had never been actually reported to the police.
28:51In reference to Claire, Grant says that they were friends and would occasionally meet up,
28:57but then she attacked him out of the blue with a two-by-four.
29:02He just laid out the whole story and when we asked him if he'd be willing to follow up with charges, he said that he would.
29:09Claire Prescott is charged with assault one of Grant Mitchell and an arrest warrant is issued for her.
29:16Claire was arrested in a nearby county a number of weeks later
29:21and I transported her from the jail that she was being held at to our local jail.
29:28She was actually still drug-affected, so she was what we refer to as on the nod, she was actually falling asleep.
29:38At first Claire denies any involvement in Grant's assault,
29:43but eventually admits that she did hit him with a two-by-four,
29:47but adds that he provided her drugs and once she was asleep,
29:53she woke up with his hands in her pants and it was self-defense.
29:58But she is adamant she had nothing to do with the attack on Floyd.
30:03We did ask Claire whether or not she'd been at Floyd's apartment
30:08and although she claimed to know and wave at Floyd as she was in the area visiting Craig,
30:14she claimed that she had never been in his apartment.
30:18After Claire's interview, she was booked into jail for the assault on Grant Mitchell.
30:24But Claire had an alibi for Floyd's murder that she was at a friend's house.
30:30We confirmed with that friend that she was at his house at the time that the murder was going on.
30:36And investigators can't find any evidence that Claire is linked to Floyd's murder.
30:41Claire is eventually convicted for the assault on Grant Mitchell.
30:46But investigators rule her out as a suspect in Floyd Zumwalt's murder.
30:52With Claire Prescott ruled out, detectives review the evidence against Floyd Zumwalt's grandson, Jordan Slate.
30:59Floyd Zumwalt's neighbors told police they saw Jordan at Floyd's house around the time of the murder,
31:06but that's something Jordan adamantly denies.
31:08I had never been over there.
31:10I'm locking you in on that then.
31:12No, I swear to God I put down my everything I love.
31:16So we went back and took another look at the statements of the neighbors from the night of the homicide.
31:25A neighbor that lived next door to Floyd, Avery Sinclair, stated she heard thumps coming from his apartment.
31:32She had said she heard that around 424.
31:35We bring Avery in for questioning and she's a perfect witness.
31:40She describes herself as a nosy gossip.
31:44Okay, so it was you and Joseph and the baby.
31:47And where were you guys at?
31:49We were in the living room on the couch and the couch was actually on the wall.
31:54But that's like right next to his room.
31:57When I thought I heard something either like hit the wall or dropped or something.
32:02I just know I heard a bang from his door.
32:05She said that she quieted the TV to hear anything additional that might be happening,
32:10but she didn't hear any cries for help or any additional noise.
32:14At that point, she gets up to see if she can tell what's going on.
32:18She looked out her window and saw Craig leaving Floyd's apartment.
32:23But like once I saw him disappear, I went back into the living room and sat down.
32:28That puts Craig there in Floyd's apartment,
32:31contradicting his story that he didn't get there until 442.
32:35And we had food in the oven.
32:39And I just got back and this is what I found.
32:45Now almost 12 months into their investigation,
32:49detectives turn their attention back to Craig Miller,
32:52the neighbor who made the initial 911 call.
32:54When we run his criminal history,
32:57we find that he doesn't have any local criminal history,
33:03but he does have criminal history from another state, Illinois,
33:08where he has actually served some time in jail and is a registered sex offender.
33:14He was convicted of placing secret cameras in his house to record his stepdaughter
33:20and also of molesting his stepdaughter.
33:23Craig's the only person in this investigation
33:26that we ever located any physical evidence on.
33:30So at this point, Craig goes from being the most helpful of witnesses
33:35to now our number one suspect.
33:42Now that Craig Miller had risen to the top of the suspect list,
33:46we re-evaluated people he was in contact with
33:48on the day of Floyd's murder.
33:51When investigators went to interview Craig at his apartment
33:55the night of the homicide, he wasn't at home.
33:58He had actually gone to visit his friend John Mills.
34:01Police also spoke to John Mills in their original canvas,
34:04so now they reach out to him again.
34:07When we re-interviewed John Mills,
34:09he told us that Craig had said Floyd had been beaten and stabbed.
34:15And the significance of this is that
34:18it was unknown to investigators at this point
34:21that a knife was even involved in the murder
34:24because of the positioning of the body
34:26and the knife blade hidden under his body.
34:29How would Craig know that Floyd had been stabbed
34:33when train investigators didn't even know?
34:36So at this point, I decide to go back
34:39and take a look at the evidence from the crime scene
34:41One of the first photos taken was of Craig
34:44standing in front of the apartment
34:47by the first officer that arrived on scene.
34:50I examined that photo under magnification.
34:53I noticed in the picture that the stitching on the fly
35:00of Craig's jeans was curved
35:04and the stitching on the fly of the knife
35:07was curved and the stitching on the fly of the pants
35:12that he had given us was straight.
35:15They were not the same pants.
35:18This was the first hard proof that we had
35:21that Craig had actually tried to deceive investigators.
35:25I knew at that point that Craig had been lying to us all along.
35:30Craig led us down the wrong path with Jordan
35:33and he's also led us down the wrong path with his own girlfriend.
35:37Now investigators review everything Craig shared with them
35:41on the night of the murder and they consider more closely
35:44how a drop of Floyd's blood landed on Craig's shoe
35:47if he really did keep his distance from Floyd's body
35:50as Craig himself claimed.
35:52The blood drop is important.
35:54So there's no way physically possible
35:58that blood could have gotten on the inside of his right soul
36:02if he had not been closer to Floyd.
36:04It was also a droplet that was in movement when it hit his shoe.
36:10The teardrop shape, for lack of a better word, of the blood drop
36:14also indicated that it was moving in a centrifugal pattern
36:18away from the body consistent with medium velocity cast off
36:22which strongly suggests that Mr. Miller was not only at the scene
36:25at the time of the murder but got close enough to Floyd
36:29for the blood to be cast off onto him in the fashion that it did.
36:32Investigators speak with Craig again.
36:35There are still some unanswered questions that we think
36:37that you could probably help clear up for us
36:39and we're hoping that you're willing to do that.
36:41And Craig's reason behind the blood on his shoe changed several times.
36:46He kept dancing around his answers.
36:49Maybe he was close to Floyd, maybe he wasn't.
36:52I'm not a freaking lawyer.
36:54Okay.
36:56This is bullshit.
36:58There's also the issue of Floyd's neighbor Avery
36:59hearing and seeing Craig both inside and outside Floyd's apartment
37:0320 minutes before the 911 call was placed.
37:07Craig's story was that he arrived just before he called 911.
37:11Another inconsistency.
37:13And this is enough to arrest him for murder too and book him into jail.
37:18While Craig is in jail, police keep digging for more hard evidence
37:22to secure a conviction.
37:24I recalled that an open bank statement had been found
37:26on the kitchen table at the crime scene.
37:29Investigators proceed to check Floyd's phone records
37:32and determine that he actually telephoned his bank
37:34at approximately 11.30 a.m. on the day of his murder.
37:38I reached out to the bank to see if they had a recording of that call
37:41and they do.
37:43I'm the Wells Fargo, this is Nicole.
37:45May I please have your account number or your credit card number?
37:47Hello, my name is Floyd Jumwall.
37:50Hello.
37:52How can I assist you?
37:53Well, I wonder if you can tell me what's going on.
37:57I have no money in the bank.
37:59One of my checks should have went in last night.
38:03Craig would often take Floyd's debit card to the store
38:07to buy beer and cigarettes for Floyd,
38:10but it turned out he was also making cash withdrawals for himself.
38:14I think that Floyd realized that Craig had been stealing from him.
38:19Craig, I believe, wanted to save face.
38:23We think that was his motive.
38:25But we don't have to prove motive here in Washington.
38:29We don't have to prove the why,
38:31but we have to prove that Craig intended to kill Floyd.
38:38Four months after Craig Miller's arrest,
38:41his cellmate came forward with some information.
38:44He pretty much explained how he did it.
38:46He pretty much explained how he did it and told me that he showed up.
38:50He had took off his shirt and put on a flannel-type button-up
38:55that belonged to the old man.
38:57He stabbed the man several times.
38:59He mentioned to me something about the handle of the knife
39:03being broke off from the blade or something along those lines.
39:08And with a baseball bat, he said he hit him several times
39:11and he acted this out.
39:13Sadistically, he jumped around like a child.
39:17He then told him he got rid of the knife handle
39:21by throwing it in the bushes outside of Floyd's apartment.
39:25And told me that the detectives were still looking for that part of the evidence.
39:31So we get permission from the owner of the apartment complex
39:35to cut down the bushes next to Floyd's apartment
39:38and look for that handle of that knife.
39:39We get search and rescue out there,
39:42followed by detectives with metal detectors who survey the area.
39:47And within an hour, we get a hit on a knife blade handle
39:52that's there in the bushes 22 months after the original murder.
39:57I was actually very shocked that it was still there.
40:01The cellmate also tells police that Craig told him
40:04that he had worn one of Floyd's shirts during the murder.
40:06And after he was done, he took it off and hung it back in Floyd's closet.
40:10Floyd's shirts were found in his granddaughter's basement.
40:13She had taken the shirts because she heard about making a memory pillow
40:18out of a deceased relative's shirts,
40:21but she had never gotten around to doing it
40:23and they were still in her basement.
40:25At this point, detectives believe they know exactly
40:28what happened to Floyd Zumwalt.
40:30On Tuesday, November 7th, 2015,
40:33Floyd Zumwalt got his mail and it was a bank statement.
40:38We think Floyd opened his bank statement,
40:41realized there were ATM withdrawals that he did not make,
40:46and immediately got on the phone with the bank to question it.
40:51Craig Miller can hear Floyd on the telephone.
40:54And he panicked.
40:56Craig puts Floyd to bed and goes on his errands.
40:59He comes back to his apartment,
41:00puts Floyd to bed and goes on his errands.
41:03He comes back and finds Floyd asleep.
41:06Craig finds one of Floyd's shirts,
41:10puts his shirt on.
41:13The fact that Craig put on Floyd's shirt before he committed this murder
41:18tells us that he was thinking about what he was doing
41:23and that he was intending to kill Floyd and did not want to get caught.
41:27Craig was able to grab a knife
41:30During the attack, the knife handle broke off of the knife and Craig panicked.
41:35He grabbed the bat that Floyd kept next to his bed for his own protection
41:40and ironically used it to end Floyd's life.
41:44But he doesn't realize he gets a spot of blood on his shoe.
41:50Later, Craig switches out of the pair of pants he was wearing
41:54and gives investigators a different pair of jeans.
41:58Craig admitted to his cellmate
42:01that he wore the pants that he wore during the murder
42:05to a local charity thrift store
42:08where he switched into the new pants and hung up his murder pants
42:11back on the rack for somebody else to purchase later.
42:14They were never located.
42:16The shirts recovered from Floyd's granddaughter
42:20as well as the knife handle recovered from the bushes outside of his apartment
42:24are never tested for DNA
42:25because Craig admits his involvement and takes a plea deal.
42:31Craig Miller pleads guilty to murder in the second degree
42:35and is sentenced to 20 years for Floyd Zumwalt's murder.
42:42Floyd was murdered over the theft of a couple of hundred dollars.
42:48Probably wouldn't even have resulted in Craig's doing any jail time
42:52if he had been found guilty of stealing from Floyd.
42:56And instead, Craig decided it was easier to end Floyd's life
43:02than take responsibility for his crime.
43:06This was a particularly heinous and violent attack on a vulnerable man.
43:14And anytime we're able to get justice for victims,
43:18especially murder victims,
43:20is one of the best things I think we can do as investigators.
43:50For more information visit www.FEMA.gov