A lot of people open their homes during the Christmas holidays, invite friends and neighbors

over for some nog and a nosh and maybe a glass of wine and a slice of cheese and a cracker.

Everybody's in good spirits on nights like that, smiling and sociable.

But the kind of open house the Russellville police were hosting at the Inglewood apartments

10 days before Christmas 2005, that had a far different vibe.

For one thing, there was a dead woman laying on the living room floor, her once angelic face

beaten and bloody.

For another, no one who had her apartment 12 that night was smiling.

It was a crime scene crawling with cops and firemen, EMTs, ambulance crews, 17 law enforcement

people were logged in to the crime scene that night.

Some wore gloves, some did not, and some touched things.

So the crime scene was contaminated.

At some point things were moved, a lampshade was removed from the floor and placed on

the dead girl's foot.

Now the cell phone that had been lying on the kitchen floor with its battery removed had

been picked up and placed on a table.

The cell phone.

Yeah, the cell phone was found on the floor, it's in on the floor.

Left it overnight.

He came in and the next day it was moved and so they discarded it as evidence.

That wasn't all.

Fingerprints found on the base of a floor lamp, believed to be the murder weapon, did not

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