谋杀案：奥基·"阿尔"·凯特

嗨，犯罪迷们。布里特和我这周休息，但我不会让你们空等。我想分享一个让我夜不能寐的案子，它绝对能排进我心中的前五名。我是说，自从我们讨论过以色列·基斯后，还没有哪个罪犯能如此让我不安，而且这家伙至今仍未落网，至少目前如此。我在《牌局》节目里做过两期关于此案的报道，当时就注意到有些DNA证据在推进，这可能意味着破案指日可待。

Hi, Crime Junkies. Britt and I are off this week, but I am not gonna leave you hanging. I wanted to bring you a case that is easily in my top five for keeping me up at night. I mean, not since we talked about Israel Keyes has a predator unnerve me so much, and this guy still isn't caught, at least not yet. I did two episodes on this case for the deck, And when I covered it, I know there was some DNA stuff happening, and that might mean that a solve is to come in the near future.

如果真到了那一天，所有人都会谈论这个案子。所以我想确保你们第一时间知情。更重要的是，我希望这个故事能广泛传播，因为某个犯罪迷可能掌握着执法部门正在等待的关键线索。快去听听《牌局》这期节目吧。提醒一下，我每周三都会在各播客平台更新《牌局》新内容。

If and when that happens, all anyone's gonna be talking about is this case. So I wanna make sure you're in the know ASAP. And more importantly, I want this story to get as far and wide as possible because a crime junkie out there might have the one tiny piece of information that law enforcement is waiting for. So check out this episode of the deck. And reminder, I put out new episodes of the deck every Wednesday wherever you listen to podcasts.

现在《牌局》已加入犯罪迷会员专属APP，所有剧集都能无广告收听。顺便说，我们新增的节目可不止这一个。如果你很久没登录，现在还能收听我们网络的其他节目，比如《暗黑东方》《倒计时》等。今天的案子信息量太大，我不得不分成上下两集——现在我会在这里放出上半部分，你可以立即在任何播客平台搜索《牌局》收听下半集，或在犯罪迷会员APP无广告畅听。

And the deck is now included in the Crime Junkie fan club app, where you can listen to all of our episodes ad free. And by the way, the deck isn't even the only show we've added. If you haven't been there in a while, you can now find multiple shows from our network, like Darkdown East, Counterclock, and more. Now there is so much to today's case that I actually had to separate it into two parts, like I was saying. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you the first part right here, and then you can listen to part two right now by searching the deck in any podcast player, or you can listen ad free to part two in the Crime Junkie fan club.

我会在节目备注里放上链接。今天要讲的是奥基·阿尔·凯特的故事。本周的扑克牌是红桃9——来自科罗拉多州的奥基·阿尔·凯特。有些案子会让我魂牵梦萦，它们像扎进皮肤的刺让我彻夜难眠，或是突然在白天闯入脑海，敲打着我的意识索求答案。

I'm gonna have a link to that in our show notes. But this is the story of Oki al Kite. Our card this week is Oki al Kite, the nine of hearts from Colorado. There are certain cases that I obsess over. The ones that dig their way under my skin and keep me up at night or just pop into my head in the middle of the day unannounced banging on my conscious demanding answers.

2004年的阿尔·凯特案就是其中之一。这个案子堪称悬疑典范。十八年来，调查人员从各个角度追查这个神出鬼没的凶手，却屡屡受挫。但科技在进步，调查人员希望这意味着转机将至。我是艾希莉·弗劳尔斯，这里是《牌局》。

And the 2,004 case of Al Kite is one of those. This case is the definition of a mystery. And for over eighteen years, investigators have looked at this case from every angle trying to track down an elusive killer, but they have been stumped at every turn. However, technology is changing, and investigators hope that that means their luck is changing too. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck.

2004年5月24日周一近午时分，一位名叫菲利普的男子发现员工阿尔没来上班。他们在科罗拉多州奥罗拉市同一家建筑公司共事，而阿尔从不迟到。这个会计岗他做了多年，向来以工作为傲，所以他的缺席格外扎眼。几小时后，其他同事也开始担忧。那天早上他们决定拨打阿尔的座机确认他是否安好，但无人接听。

It was mid morning on Monday, 05/24/2004, when a man named Philip was just realizing that one of his employees, Al, hadn't come into work. They both worked in the office of a construction company in Aurora, Colorado, and Al was never late. He'd been in accounting for years and took a lot of pride in his job, so his absence stuck out like a sore thumb. Even to his other coworkers who after a few hours started to worry too. At some point that morning, they decided to go ahead and call his landline just to check on him and make sure that he was okay, but no one picked up.

接着他们尝试拨打手机，这次有人接了——但不是阿尔。电话那头的男子自称乔，说他前一晚在丹佛市某投币电话亭顶上捡到了这部手机。此刻菲利普确信阿尔出事了。那位乔表示愿意见面归还手机，于是菲利普和另一位同事前往丹佛的西夫韦超市碰头。

They tried his cell phone next, and this time someone did answer, but it wasn't Al. The man on the other end said that his name was Joe, and he had the phone because he found it on top of a payphone in the neighboring city of Denver the night before. It was at that point that Philip was convinced that something was wrong with Al. The guy on the other end of the phone, Joe, offered to meet up with Philip and give him the phone if he wanted. So Philip and another one of his employees went to meet this guy at a Safeway grocery store in Denver.

见面后他们得知乔是无家可归者，想以10美元把手机卖还给他们。交易完成后，菲利普和同事立即翻查手机——我不确定他们具体想找什么，甚至不确定他们自己是否清楚。最终他们翻到阿尔姐姐芭芭拉的联系方式。

When they got there, they learned Joe was experiencing homelessness and wanted to sell the phone back to them. $10 got the deal done, and once they went their separate ways, Philip and the other employee immediately started going through the phone. I'm not sure exactly what they were looking for. I'm not sure if they even knew what they were looking for. But eventually, they found Al's contacts and came across his sister, Barbara.

他们致电芭芭拉询问阿尔下落，但她也不知情。她近期没联系过阿尔，而且远在弗吉尼亚州无法协助。但她认同大家的担忧，建议报警做福利检查。下午4点，两名奥罗拉警员抵达阿尔所在的钱伯斯岭联排别墅展开调查。

So they called her to try and get some answers about where Al was, but she didn't know what was going on either. She hadn't seen or spoken to Al recently, and she actually lived in Virginia, so it's not like she could just meet up with them and help figure things out. But she did think that they were right to be concerned, so she suggested that they call the police to do a welfare check. Both Philip and Barbara called the Aurora Police Department, and by 4PM, two officers arrived at Al's townhome to poke around. Al lived in this area called Chambers Ridge.

这个中产阶级社区是当时奥罗拉的住宅中心，犯罪率极低。从外部看一切正常：前门紧锁，窗户密闭，后车库门也完好。他们再次敲门仍无人应答。

It's middle class and kind of the residential center of Aurora at the time. It was also a really low crime neighborhood. So at least outside, they weren't surprised to see that everything was normal. Al's front door was locked and the windows were secure, same with the garage door out back. They went back to the front door and knocked, but there was no answer.

他们再次敲门，依然无人应答。那时，我不确定他们在想什么。也许阿尔突发医疗状况需要帮助，或者屋内可能有线索指向他的下落。总之，他们回电给芭芭拉请求进入他的房子，她同意了。他们不得不撬锁，但门一开，便踏入了屋内。

They knocked again, still nothing. By then, I'm not sure what they were thinking. Maybe that Al had a medical emergency and needed help or maybe there would be something inside that could clue them in as to his whereabouts. But basically, they called Barbara back and asked for her permission to enter his house, to which she said yes. They had to pick the lock, but once they got the door open, they stepped inside.

一切看起来依然完全正常。阿尔是个相当有条理的人，小客厅、卧室和浴室里的物品都整齐归置，毫无翻动痕迹。但当警员们进入厨房时，注意到一丝异样——砧板上的所有刀具和一套钥匙都浸泡在水槽里，液体散发着浓烈的漂白剂气味。由于尚不确定情况，警员未触碰刀具，继续搜查至地下室。

And again, everything looked totally normal. Al was a rather organized person, so all of his stuff in the small living room space, bedroom, and bathroom was neatly put away and looked untouched. But when the officers got to the kitchen, they noticed something a little strange. All of the knives from a butcher block on the counter and a set of keys were soaking in the sink, and the liquid that they were soaking in smelled a lot like bleach. Unsure yet what they were dealing with, officers didn't touch the knives, and they continued through the house making their way towards the basement.

地下室有个装修过的空间，类似小客厅。那里有浴室、储物间和另一个房间。但本该是卧室的地方已面目全非，宛如恐怖电影场景——血迹遍布。

Down there, they found a finished space like this little living room. There was a bathroom, a storage closet, and then another room. But what was once probably a bedroom didn't look like a bedroom anymore. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. There was blood everywhere.

血迹溅满墙壁，在地毯上积成血泊，甚至天花板上也斑驳可见。而这一切中央，便是阿尔。他衣着完整，面朝下趴在地上，双脚略微伸入房间角落的床架下方。头部和上半身被蓝色小浴垫遮盖，但置身血海中的他一眼就让警员确认他已死亡。

It was splattered on the walls. It was pooled on the carpet floor, and it was even spotted across the ceiling. And there, in the middle of all of it, was Al. He was fully clothed, lying face down on the floor with his feet slightly under a bed frame in the corner of the room. His head and upper torso were covered by a small blue bath mat, but one look at him among the carnage told the officers that he was already deceased.

掀开浴垫后，阿尔头部和上半身的严重创伤立刻显现。可见的面部淤青遍布，血痕延伸至颈部与肩膀。后脑有一道巨大裂伤，散落四周的干墙碎块表明，凶手曾持刀猛砍阿尔以致刀锋划过墙壁。其颈部伤口深及近乎斩首。进一步检查发现四肢有疑似捆绑痕迹。

They removed the mat, and it was immediately clear that the majority of the damage on Al's body had been done to his head and upper torso. What they could see of his face was bruised and covered in bloody injuries that continued down to his neck and shoulders. He had one huge laceration on the back of his head, and based on pieces of drywall scattered around his body, they believed that at some point, the killer had swung a knife so hard at Al that they had hit the wall on the follow through, which caused it to chip off. His throat had also been cut so deep that it looked like he was almost decapitated. Upon closer inspection of his body, they found what looked like ligature marks on his arms and legs.

房间内未见束缚工具，但警员注意到有张床垫倚墙而立，遮住了唯一的窗户，两枚枕头塞在缝隙间确保无人能窥视。确认阿尔死亡且屋内无他人后，警员退出联排屋上报长官。此时，奥罗拉警局的汤姆·索别斯基探员与两名侦探被指派调查此案。三人抵达现场后，立即意识到谁都未曾处理过此类案件。

And as they scanned the room, there wasn't any sign of whatever had restrained him, but they did notice a mattress leaned up against the wall covering the only window in the room with two pillows tucked between it and the window to make sure that nobody could see in. Once they confirmed Al was deceased and that there was no one else in the house, officers exited the townhome and called their supervisor. And it was around this time that agent Tom Sobieski with the Aurora Police Department was assigned to the case with two other detectives. Once all three of them arrived to the scene, though, they quickly realized that none of them had ever handled a case like this before.

我们实际请来了拉博县验尸官，因为这种场面前所未见。他和我一同下楼直接查看受害者，带着犯罪现场调查员拍摄录像和照片后，我们未处理其他证据就将遗体移送至验尸官办公室。

We actually called the, Rabob County coroner to the scene because this was something that we had never seen before. So he walked in there and I walked in there. We walked down the stairs directly to the victim, and we had a CSI person with us, we took video and photographed, and then we we removed the victim from the scene without processing everything else, and he went to the Coroner's Office.

阿尔遗体移走后，警方得以彻底搜查房屋，从地下室卧室开始。索别斯基探员在尸体附近地毯上发现约四分之一英寸长的绳子。结合位置，他推测凶手曾用绳索束缚阿尔，可能清理时遗漏了这段。除了大量血迹外，地下室卧室几乎没有其他物证。搜查完下层其余空无一物的房间后，警方决定返回楼上。

Once Al had been removed, they were able to do a more thorough search of his home, starting with the basement bedroom. And that was when agent Sobieski found about a quarter inch of rope on the carpet near where Al's body had been. Considering where it was found, agent Sobieski believed that the killer had likely used rope to restrain Al, and maybe he just missed that little bit when they were cleaning up. Other than all the blood, and there was a lot of blood, there wasn't much more in the way of physical evidence there in the basement bedroom. They searched what remained of the lower level and didn't find a scrap of evidence in any of the other rooms, so they decided to go back upstairs.

就在他们走向一楼的楼梯时，阶梯最底部一处疑似血迹转移的痕迹引起了注意——这是卧室外唯一可见的血迹。采样后，他们上楼检查水槽中的刀具，确认其浸泡在漂白剂溶液中，取证希望彻底破灭。但厨房并非全无线索。

But just as they were heading up the stairs to the first level of the townhome, something caught their eye. It was what looked like a blood transfer spot on the very bottom step, And it stuck out to them because it was the only visible trace of blood outside of the bedroom. So they collected a sample of that too before they headed upstairs. Next, they took a close look at all those knives in the sink and confirmed that they were in fact soaking in a mixture of water and bleach, which immediately dashed any hope of getting evidence off of them. But they weren't left without any clues kitchen.

检查水槽钥匙时，发现它们能打开阿尔的房门。虽不确定是主钥匙还是备用钥匙，至少明确了用途。随后警方翻查垃圾桶，找到一份签署于一周前（5月18日）的地下室租赁协议——阿尔本欲出租该空间，签约租客名叫罗伯特·库珀。

When they checked the keys in the sink, they discovered that they unlocked Al's front door. Now they weren't sure yet if those were Al's main set of keys or maybe a spare or what, but at least they knew what they went to. So then they moved on to the trash, and in there, they found a signed rental agreement for that basement living space where Al was just found. It seems like Al was gonna be renting it out, and a man named Robert Cooper had signed a lease for it. The document was dated almost a week before, May 18.

尽管地下室里没有任何私人物品显示有人已经搬入，但警员们开始怀疑是否应该寻找一位室友。在垃圾桶里，他们还发现了阿尔的一张银行对账单。虽然有些破损，但这没关系，因为对账单本身并不重要。他们感兴趣的是阿尔在纸张顶部潦草写下的一张便条——上面有一个电话号码和名字罗伯特。

And even though there weren't any personal items in the basement to suggest that someone had already moved in, officers started to wonder if they should be looking for a roommate. In the trash, they also found one of Al's bank statements. It was kinda torn up, but that's okay because the statement itself wasn't what was important. They were interested in a note that Al had scribbled near the top of the paper. It was a phone number along with the name Robert.

他们认为这肯定与租赁合同上的罗伯特是同一个人，于是派人去追踪这个家伙。虽然这些都是确凿的证据，但真正引起他们注意的是那些没找到的东西。例如，阿尔的钱包和车辆都不见了，他们也找不到水槽里漂白剂的容器。浴室里有些毛巾缺失，这让他们认为凶手可能洗过澡或清理过现场才离开。警方也没有发现阿尔拥有绳子或其他可用于束缚他或造成其伤口的物品（除了刀具）。

They figured it had to be the same Robert from the rental agreement, so they assigned someone to go track this guy down. While all of this was solid evidence to have, it was really the things that they didn't find that stood out to them the most. For instance, Al's wallet and vehicle were both missing, and they couldn't find a container where the bleach in the sink came from. Some of the towels in the bathroom were missing, which made them think that the killer had taken a shower or maybe cleaned up before they left. Police also didn't find evidence that Al owned rope or any other items that could have been used to restrain him or caused his injuries besides the knives.

因此他们开始怀疑凶手可能随身带了某种杀人工具包。更令人不寒而栗的是，他们还发现一些衣物也不见了。

So they began to suspect that the killer might have brought a sort of murder kit with him. And chillingly, they noticed some clothes missing as well.

奥基非常...我是说，从他办公室到衣柜，所有东西都井井有条。但衣柜里少了一条裤子、一件衬衫，我们怎么都找不到——只剩空衣架挂着。

Okie was very I mean, everything was in his place, from his office to his closet. And there was one pair of pants missing, one shirt missing from his closet, and we couldn't find it. They're just empty hangers.

这表明凶手很可能换下了自己穿的衣服，穿着刚杀害的受害者的衣物离开了阿尔家。需要说明的是，网上很多关于此案的传言称凶手在阿尔家过夜，但探员索别斯基表示这不属实。显然凶手在作案期间及之后长时间待在屋内，但没有任何证据表明凶手曾在那里睡觉。初步搜查结束后，索别斯基探员表示下一步是走访社区。正当他们准备出发时，一位邻居主动提供了线索。

This indicated that the killer had likely changed out of whatever they were wearing and left Al's house wearing the clothes of the man that they had just murdered. Now I also wanna point out that a lot of the online buzz about this case says that the killer slept at Al's, but agent Sobieski said that wasn't true. Obviously, he spent a lot of time in the home during and after the murder, but they didn't find a trace of evidence that indicates the killer slept there at any point. With their initial search completed, agent Sobieski told us that their next step was to canvas the neighborhood. But just as they were getting ready to head out, a neighbor actually came right to them with a tip.

他们知道阿尔的车在哪里。邻居告诉现场探员索别斯基和其他警员，自己当天开车回家时，注意到阿尔的GMC皮卡停在他家一个半街区外的路边。起初没多想，但拐过街角看到阿尔家全是警察后，决定停车报告。索别斯基立即派警员去找，果然在邻居所说的位置发现了那辆卡车。

They knew where Al's car was. The neighbor told agent Sobieski and the other officers at the scene that they were just driving home for the day when they noticed Al's GMC pickup truck parked about a block and a half down the road from his place. They said that they didn't think much of it initially, but then when they pulled around the corner and saw all of the cops at his home, they decided to pull up and say something. So agent Sobieski sent a team of officers to find the truck, and sure enough, it was right there where the neighbor said it was.

随后对卡车停放位置进行了排查——那里正对着一排联排别墅和公寓，但没人目击到实质性的情况。大家认为车已经停在那儿好几天了。

And then that canvas was done of where Elle's truck was found because it's parked right in front of a whole row of townhomes and apartments and nobody saw anything there that was substantial. They thought it'd been there a couple days.

警员进入车辆后，起初没发现重要线索。阿尔是个有条理的人，他的卡车也收拾得很整齐。但仔细检查时，他们注意到一个异常：有几根中等色调的棕色头发。53岁的阿尔本人发色较深且已夹杂许多灰发，呈现灰白相间的状态。

When the officers got into the vehicle, they didn't find anything significant right off the bat. Again, Al was an organized guy, and that extended to his truck. But as they looked closer, they noticed one thing that stood out. There were a few strands of medium toned brown hair. Now Al did have darker hair, but the 53 year old had developed a lot of grays too, kind of a salt and pepper look.

因此这些头发很可能不属于阿尔。鉴于不清楚还有谁能接触他的卡车，索别斯基探员怀疑这可能是凶手的头发，于是取样留待检测。当晚剩余时间，调查人员尽可能多地走访群众以了解阿尔及其社交圈。邻居们表示整个周末都没发现异常，亲友则提供了阿尔挚友和一个月前刚搬走的前室友的名字。

So whoever's hair this was, it likely wasn't Al's. And since they weren't aware of anyone else having access to his truck, agent Sobieski suspected that this could be the killer's hair. So they took samples to test later. The rest of the evening, investigators talked to as many people as they could to learn more about Al and the people he associated with. Neighbors told officers that they hadn't heard or seen anything suspicious the entire weekend, and friends and family were able to give them names of his best friend as well as a former roommate who had just moved out a month prior.

不过没人知道阿尔是否与这两人有过矛盾。而关于阿尔本人，所有人的评价都出奇地一致。

Although no one was aware if Al had ever had issues with either of them. And when it came to Al himself, everyone had the same things to say.

阿尔是个非常受欢迎的人。我们找不到任何人会说他的坏话。他离过婚，加入了一些单身俱乐部，最近刚交了个新女友。

Al was a very well liked man. We couldn't find anybody that would say a bad thing about him. He was divorced. He joined some singles clubs. He recently had a new girlfriend.

他喜欢纳斯卡赛车，喜欢在周日闲逛看比赛。除此之外，他是个勤奋的人，作为会计几乎跑遍了全世界。

He liked NASCAR. He liked hanging out and watching NASCAR on Sundays. But other than that, he was a hard worker. He traveled the world pretty much as an accountant.

阿尔的亲友告诉调查人员，他热爱烹饪，始终保持着绅士风度。他与所有邻居关系融洽，正如索别斯基探员所说，他刚与女友琳达开始新恋情。由于阿尔如此受人爱戴，他的谋杀案震惊了整个社区。这个地区连轻微犯罪都很少见，更不用说如此残暴的暴力行为了。

Al's loved ones told investigators that he loved to cook. He was always a gentleman. He had great relationships with all of his neighbors, and just like agent Sobieski said, he had just started a new relationship with his girlfriend Linda. Because Al was so well liked and so well known, his murder was a total shock to his community. Again, this area was not used to even petty crimes, much less such an intense act of violence.

人们在悲痛之余还感到不安——凶手仍逍遥法外。侦探们也有同感，正抓紧每条线索追查。目前最有价值的线索仍是神秘室友罗伯特·库珀。幸运的是，受访者提供了关于此人的信息。

And while people were devastated about Al, they were also unsettled by something else. Whoever did this to him, they were still out there. Detectives were thinking the same thing, so they were pulling on whatever loose thread they could find to try and unravel some answers. And their strongest lead so far was still this mystery roommate, Robert Cooper. And luckily, the people that they interviewed were able to shed some light on this guy.

调查发现阿尔经常向亲友提起罗伯特。据称罗伯特看到地下室出租广告后成为租客。阿尔说罗伯特来自东海岸，随富国银行调职到奥罗拉。有人甚至记得阿尔提到的具体分行——距离阿尔家仅六分钟路程。

It turned out that Al had talked about him quite a bit to his friends and family. Investigators were told that Robert had responded to Al's rental ad for the basement space and agreed to be the new tenant. Al told people that Robert was from the East Coast and transferred to Aurora with Wells Fargo. One person was even able to remember exactly which Wells Fargo Al had mentioned. It was the one that was only about six minutes from Al's townhome.

另有邻居声称见过疑似罗伯特的人——案发前几天，他们注意到一个拄拐杖、黑发、衣着体面的五十出头男子进入阿尔家。即便此人与谋杀无关，索别斯基探员仍在追查他的下落。

Yet another neighbor even claimed to have seen who they believed to be Robert. They said that several days before the murder, they noticed a man with a cane walking into Al's home. He had dark hair. He was well dressed, and he looked to be maybe in his early fifties. Now even if this Robert guy had nothing to do with Al's murder, agent Sobieski still had men on his team trying to track this guy down.

无论是目击者还是嫌疑人，他都可能掌握重要信息。在搜寻期间，尸检结果揭示了阿尔遭遇的恐怖真相。在详述前我必须声明，阿尔的经历会令人不适。但为展现调查对象之凶残，我们需在不渲染的前提下提供细节——我认为这种特定作案手法或许就是破案关键。

Because witness or suspect, either way, he could hold valuable information. But as their search for him continued, Al's autopsy results came back and uncovered the true horror of what he had gone through. Now before I even go into the autopsy, I just wanna say that what Al endured is gonna be hard to hear. But I think it is important to include as much detail as we can without getting too graphic in order to show you what kind of monster the investigators are looking for. And I personally think that this MO seems so specific that maybe the key to catching this guy is in the details.

法医首先注意到阿尔身上大量的捆绑痕迹。脱衣检查后确认他被猪蹄式捆绑，所用绳索很可能与尸体旁发现的残段属同种。

So that being said, the first thing that stood out to the coroner was the sheer amount of ligature marks on Al's body. Once he removed his clothing and analyzed the full extent of the marks, he determined Al had been hog tied with rope, likely the same kind of rope as that small piece found near his body.

我们通过淤痕还原了捆绑方式：双手反剪背后，双腿并拢，脚踝与手腕相连，绳索缠绕多圈并呈现交叉纹路。完成这种精密捆绑需要40英尺绳索，每个绳结间距完美，交叉点工整——这显然是凶手仪式感或快感的一部分。

We all actually had we simulated how the the markings were on from the bruising of the ropes, arms behind his back, legs tied together, his ankles tied to his wrists, and they were wrapped several times and there was different cross patterns. It would take over 40 foot of rope to do to do that. It was quite an elaborate pattern. It was all, perfectly spaced out, and the crosses where the ropes crossed were all perfect. So I'm sure that was part of the the ritual or the thrill the suspect got.

这种姿势使阿尔的双脚暴露在外，法医发现其脚部遭重击严重淤伤。身体其他部位不同尺寸的淤痕表明凶手使用了多种钝器。但最骇人的是阿尔身上11处刀伤——分布在耳朵、眼睛、肩头和上半身。

The position would have left Al's feet exposed, and the coroner found that they were severely bruised from having been beaten. Severe bruising of different sizes on the rest of his body also indicated that he was beaten with several different blunt objects. But that wasn't even the worst of it, not by far. Al had a total of 11 stab wounds on his body, in his ears, in his eyes, on the tops of his shoulders, and his upper torso.

当时的验尸官认为折磨持续了数小时，因为死者眼部有足够时间形成淤青并完全肿胀闭合。根据房间内的血迹证据，人死后心脏停止跳动，血液不会喷溅得到处都是。因此折磨确实持续了数小时。

The coroner at the time thought that the the torture went on for several hours because it had time for his eyes to bruise and actually close shut. And with the blood evidence in the room, if you're dead, your heart's not beating. You're not throwing blood all over. So it went on for went on for several hours.

刀伤深得惊人，验尸官判定需要极大力量才能造成这种伤害。尽管案情令人不安，探员索别斯基认为这起特殊暴力行为可能会成为凶手的败笔。

The knife wounds were so deep, the coroner determined it would have taken an immense amount of force to do that kind of damage. But despite how disturbing it was, agent Sobieski was hopeful that this particular act of violence might be the killer's undoing.

如果用厨刀连续捅刺流血的对象，任何调查员都会告诉你——行凶者的手会顺着刀刃打滑，必然划伤自己。考虑到大量切割伤和刺伤，我们确信凶手自己肯定也受了伤。

If you're cutting somebody and stabbing them with kitchen knives and they get bloody, any investigator will tell you that your hand slips up the up to the blade of the knife and you'll cut yourself. And with a number of cuts and the the stab wounds, we felt that he had to have done it, had to cut himself.

首批到场警员还发现阿尔后脑有一道裂开的伤口。但值得注意的是，这些创伤都不是致命伤。验尸官认为最终结束他生命与痛苦的，是喉咙那处割伤。

There was also the gaping laceration on the back of Al's head that the officers who first found him had seen. But, you see, none of those wounds ended up being fatal. It was the cut to his throat that the coroner believed finally ended his suffering and his life.

我的推论是：有目击者看到拄拐杖的罗伯特·库珀在案发前几天进入奥基·凯特的联排别墅——很可能就是他租下房子的当天。结合后脑的撕裂伤，我认为奥基当时可能正走在他前方的楼梯上，凶手用拐杖猛击导致那些巨大撕裂伤。后脑大概有两三处这样的伤，不确定是否导致昏迷，但足以让他屈服被绑。

So my theory is we had a witness who saw Robert Cooper walking with a cane go into Okie Kite's townhome a few days prior, probably when the day he rented the place. With the injuries, the lacerations to the back of his head, I think Okie may have been walking down the stairs in front of him, and he starts striking him with this cane causing those large lacerations. I think there's two or three of them to the back of his head. I don't know if it knocked him unconscious, but it might get him to submit, you know, to to being tied up.

验尸官判定为他杀，但死亡时间较难确定。虽无法精确到具体时刻，但可确认死亡至少已有一天。结合已知周五他还在上班，时间范围就缩小到周五下午至周一早晨。这个时间段需要排查的内容太多，既然无法缩小时间窗口，他们决定从验尸报告寻找凶手特征。

The coroner declared the manner of death as homicide, but it was the time of death that was a little trickier to figure out. They couldn't determine an exact time, but they knew that he had been dead for at least a day. So combine that with the fact that they knew he had been at work on Friday, well, that narrowed it down to some point between Friday afternoon and Monday morning. That is a lot of time to try and cover. So if they couldn't narrow in on a small window, they would narrow in on what the autopsy told them about their killer.

我们需要排查所有与他关系密切的人——同事、朋友、家人。鉴于阿尔遭受的酷刑程度，凶手手上很可能有殴打或刀具造成的伤口。因此我们检查了每个人的手部伤势并收集不在场证明。

We wanted to get as many people that were in his inner circle, coworkers, friends, family, because the amount of torture that Al had, we knew the suspect would probably have cuts to his hands from punching or from the knife. So we checked everybody's hands, looked for injuries, got alibis for everybody.

索别斯基探员询问了死者前室友，但未获有效线索，对方也无明显伤痕。汤姆还询问了阿尔的前妻，同样没有收获，她也很快被排除嫌疑。

Agent Sobieski talked to his former roommate, but they didn't have anything useful to add, and that person didn't have any noticeable injuries. Tom also talked with Al's ex wife, but the same thing, and she was quickly cleared too.

他们关系良好，且前妻早已不住在科罗拉多州。我们没发现她曾返回或双方存在任何矛盾的证据。

They were on good terms and she no longer lived in Colorado. We had no information that she had been back or that there was any bad blood between them at all.

索别斯基探员继续按名单调查，接下来是阿尔的挚友。此人声称周六曾与阿尔在一起，说他们在丹佛合作建筑项目，当晚打算外出。大约三点收工后各自回家洗漱。分开前阿尔提到会先与新室友碰面。

Agent Sobieski just kept going down his list, and next was Al's best friend. And this guy actually said that he had been with Al on Saturday. He said that he was working with Al on a construction project in Denver, but they wanted to go out that night. So they decided to wrap things up at around three and go home and get cleaned up. Just before they went their separate ways, he said that Al told him he was also meeting with his new roommate before they went out.

当然，索别斯基探员一听到这个就竖起了耳朵。但他对这位罗伯特仍知之甚少。当阿尔的朋友说那是他最后一次见到阿尔，因为阿尔当晚始终没赴约时，探员更感兴趣了。接下来索别斯基想找的是琳达——阿尔的新女友。而他万万没想到，她将成为提供关于罗伯特·库珀最多信息的人。

And, of course, agent Sobieski's ears perk up at hearing this. But he still just doesn't know enough about this Robert guy. And he's even more interested when Al's friend says that was the last time he saw Al because Al never showed up for their plans that night. The next person that agent Sobieski wants to go talk to was Linda, Al's new girlfriend. And little did he know that she would actually be the one that could give him the most information yet on Robert Cooper.

琳达告诉索别斯基探员，她最后一次联系阿尔是在周六凌晨3:30到4点之间。那天早上她要乘飞机出城，阿尔送她去了机场。路上他们决定正式确立恋爱关系，毕竟已交往了几个月。所以琳达抵达酒店后就打电话想和他报平安。虽然阿尔接了电话，但她感觉有些不对劲。

Linda told agent Sobieski that she had also last heard from Al on Saturday, sometime between 03:30 and four. She had had a flight out of town that morning, and he had taken her to the airport. On their way, they had decided to officially become boyfriend and girlfriend since they'd been seeing each other for a couple of months. So when Linda finished her travel and got to her hotel, she called just to check-in with him. Now he picked up the phone, but she said that something felt off.

当时她说不上来具体原因，但得知阿尔的遭遇后，她确信凶手在他们通话时就在房子里。

She couldn't really tell why at the time, but when she learned what had happened to Al, she believed that Al's killer was in the house as they were speaking.

她说他显得很反常。记不清原话了，但通话时她就觉得他不对劲。不过我认为——纯属个人看法——一个费尽心机制造这种局面的凶手，绝不可能让他有机会接电话。万一他对她说'报警'或'救命'之类的话，凶手就前功尽弃了。

She said he seemed different. They didn't seem like himself. I don't remember exact her exact wording, but she thought there was something different about him when she talked to him. But in my opinion, and it's just my opinion, there is no way that a killer who went to this elaborate of a scenario to set this all up would ever let him talk on the phone for any reason to anyone because he says two words to her and, you know, call 911 or help me or whatever and suddenly he's gotta leave. The police are coming or whatever.

所以我觉得这种假设根本不成立。

So I don't see that as a scenario at all.

无论凶手当时是否在场，这通电话和阿尔挚友的证词都很重要，因为法医由此确认阿尔周六下午4点还活着。索别斯基也询问琳达是否认识罗伯特。和之前许多人一样，她立刻反应道：'哦，他新来的室友啊。'她不仅知道这人，还声称见过面。琳达说5月8日她去阿尔家时，正撞见阿尔带罗伯特参观地下室。

Regardless of whether the killer was in the house by then or not, the call and Al's best friend's interview were important because it let the coroner know that Al was at least alive at 4PM on Saturday. Agent Sobieski also asked Linda if she knew anything about a guy named Robert. And just like so many other people he'd spoken to, she was like, oh, yeah, his new roommate. Not only did she know about this guy, but she also said she saw him too. Linda said that on May 8, she went over to Al's.

她出声提醒阿尔自己到了，阿尔回应说罗伯特在场想介绍他们认识。当时她先去洗手间，出来时只瞥见罗伯特从前门离开的背影。

And when she arrived, Al was giving Robert a tour of the basement. She called out to Al to let him know that she was there, and he called back that Robert was there, he wanted them to meet. Now she needed to use the restroom first, and by the time she got out, all she caught was just a little glimpse of Robert going out the front door.

一听到有目击者，他立刻溜了。不知他怎么说服阿尔让自己匆忙离开，但从琳达上楼到出洗手间这段时间，他已经夺门而逃。

As soon as he hears another witness, he's getting out of there. I don't know what he what he told Al to leave that quick, but from the time she went up the stairs till she came out of the bathroom, he's up and out going out the door.

尽管只是匆匆一瞥，琳达仍给出了模糊描述：白人男子，深棕色头发，西装革履系着领带，且 notably 没有拄拐杖。她还证实罗伯特18日回来签了租房协议，支付了半个月租金和押金共1000美元，并拿走了房屋钥匙。她描述的钥匙特征让调查人员确信，就是他们在水槽发现的那串钥匙中的一把。

From the quick look that she got, Linda was able to give a vague description of the man she saw. She said he was white, had dark brown hair, he was well dressed in a suit and tie, and notably, he didn't have a cane. Now she was also able to confirm that Robert had gone back to Al's to sign that rental agreement on the eighteenth. And when he was there, he paid a thousand dollars for half a month's rent and a deposit, and he took a key to the house. When she describes the key that he took, investigators are certain that it is part of the same ones that they found in the sink.

但让她起疑的是，罗伯特交完钱拿了钥匙后就再没出现过，至少没来入住。阿尔向琳达解释时，曾提过罗伯特的家具尺寸不合适楼梯，说要等解决这个问题。

But what struck her as odd was that after he left, he didn't come back. Like, he had had a key, he had paid, he just never showed up again, at least not to move in. Now this is definitely weird. And when Al talked to Linda about it, he said something about some furniture that Robert had that wouldn't fit down the stairs. So he's was, like, waiting to figure it out.

我知道这听起来非常模糊，但琳达告诉索别斯基探员，她不记得那次谈话的具体细节了。所以我们永远无法真正知道罗伯特推迟搬入的借口是什么。无论如何，此时调查人员确信罗伯特与阿尔的谋杀案有关。因此，他们调查的第一周就是疯狂地追踪这个家伙。他们显然从那份租赁协议开始查起，除了全名外，协议上还包含了罗伯特的地址。

And I know that's super vague, but Linda told agent Sobieski that she couldn't remember the exact details of that conversation. So we'll never really know what Robert's excuse was for the delay in moving in. Either way, at this point, investigators were convinced that Robert had something to do with Al's murder. So the first week of their investigation was a mad dash to just track this guy down. They obviously started with that rental agreement, which, besides his full name, included Robert's address.

他还有两个推荐人。上面有社会安全号码和驾照号码。但上面的每一条信息后来都被证实是伪造的。地址是距离阿尔家约24分钟车程的一所小学。推荐人的名字也是编造的。

He also had two references. There was a Social Security number, a driver's license number. But every single thing on there turned out to be bogus. The address was an elementary school about twenty four minutes from Al's. The references were made up names.

社会安全号码指向一位81岁、居住在中西部的名叫维罗妮卡的女性，而驾照号码甚至没有指向一个真实的人，只是一串杂乱无章的数字。罗伯特·库珀这个名字几乎可以肯定是假的，但为了表述清晰，我在提到嫌疑人时将继续使用这个名字。这份文件上唯一看起来真实的是顶部写的日期。

The Social Security number led them to an 81 year old woman named Veronica who was living in the Midwest, and the driver's license number didn't even lead them to a real person. It was just a jumble of numbers. The name Robert Cooper was almost definitely fake too, but for the sake of clarity, I am going to continue using it when referring to the suspect. So the only thing about this document that seemed to be legit was the date written at the top.

受害者手写的日期是2004年5月。申请表右上角写的是他填表的日期。我们对其进行了笔迹分析，根据我们提供的阿尔当时的笔迹样本，他们可以确认申请表上的哪些部分是受害者填写的。当时所有内容都是手写的。

The victim's handwriting wrote the date 05/2004. Up up in the right top corner of that application is, I guess, when he completed it. We did handwriting analysis on it, and they could tell us based on we gave them samples of Al's handwriting back then. Everything was handwritten. And they can tell us what on that application form that the victim had filled out.

其余部分是由罗伯特·库珀填写的。他们无法告诉我他是右撇子、左撇子还是其他什么。

And then the rest of it was filled out by Robert Cooper. They can't tell me if he was right handed, left handed, or anything.

如果你现在正对我大喊‘快打银行对账单上的电话’，请放心，我们已经查过了。和罗伯特·库珀的其他信息一样，这又是障眼法。那个号码已经停用了。调取记录后，他们发现这是AT&T的手机号，注册地址和罗伯特在租赁协议上填的假地址一样。

Now if you are screaming at me right now yelling, call the number on the bank statement, please. Already done and looked into. And like everything else about Robert Cooper, it's smoke and mirrors. The phone wasn't in service anymore. And when they got the records, they learned that it was attached to an AT and T cell phone and was registered at the same fake address that Robert put on the rental agreement.

这部手机预付了90天的费用，但这并非完全无用。因为在获取罗伯特的通话记录时，他们还调取了阿尔的手机和座机记录，显示两部手机在阿尔遇害后都被使用过。侦探们非常感激这些数据，因为尽管他们持有阿尔的手机，但从物证角度来看，手机本身价值不大。

Now the phone was prepaid for ninety days of use, but this isn't a total bust. Because along with getting the records on Robert's phone, they had also requested Al's cell phone records and his landline records, and those showed that both cell phones were used after Al's murder. Detectives were so grateful for this data because even though they had Al's cell in their possession, as far as physical evidence went, it was kind of a bust.

屏幕碎了，已经损坏。一个叫乔的人碰过它，还有两个同事为了找电话号码也摸遍了手机。所以从法证角度来说，它已经没什么价值了。

The screen was cracked. It had been damaged, and the guy named Joe had handled it, and two coworkers had touched everything, trying to find phone numbers. So, forensically, it was not worth doing anything to.

先看罗伯特的数据，谋杀后这部手机主要用于打电话，其中很多是打给同一个号码，他们发现这个号码属于一位住在丹佛西部的女性。

So looking at Robert's data first, a lot of the usage on the phone after the murder were calls. A lot of them to the same number, which they learned belonged to a woman living in West Denver.

我们拦截了她的车，当面问她：‘这个给你打电话的人是谁？他可能是一起谋杀案的嫌疑人。’她告诉我们，这是她认识的一个无家可归者，住在丹佛市中心的善心流浪者收容所。于是我们拿到了他的外貌描述。

We do a traffic stop on her. We confront her with, you know, who's this guy who's calling you. He could be a suspect in a murder. And she tells us that it's a homeless man that she knows that lives at the Good Samaritan homeless shelter in Downtown Denver. So we get a description of him.

他与我们要找的罗伯特并不相符。

He doesn't match the the Robert that we were looking for.

不过为了确认，他们还是追查到了这名男子，得知他名叫阿西德·里奥·里奥斯。他是拉丁裔，年龄甚至比关于罗伯特的最年长描述还要大。他从当地一个以低价向无家可归者出售商品而闻名的人那里得到了一部手机。但当索别斯基探员向他索要手机时，阿西德表示无法交出来。

They did track down the man just to be sure though, and they learned that his name was Acid Rio Rios. He was Latino and much older than even the oldest description of Robert. He had gotten a cell phone from a local guy who was known in the area for selling goods at low cost to people experiencing homelessness. But when agent Sobieski asked him for the phone, Asid said that he couldn't give it to them.

他说手机一坏掉就扔进了普拉特河，所以我们始终没能找回它。

He said once the phone quit working, threw it in the Platte River, so we never did recover it.

他们试图追查阿西德所说的卖给他手机的人。但随后确认此人同样与案件无关。而阿尔在谋杀案后的手机使用记录也成了死胡同，因为调查人员早已知道手机记录上的活动来自那个名叫乔的男子——他在捡到手机后又将其卖给了阿尔的老板。

They tried to track down the guy, Asid said, sold him the phone. But after doing so, they determined that he wasn't involved at all either. And Al's phone usage after the murder was a dead end as well because investigators already knew that the activity that they were seeing on the phone records was from that man named Joe, who had sold the phone back to Al's boss after he'd found it.

但奥基·凯茨和罗伯特·库珀的两部手机都流落到无家可归者手中这个事实，让调查工作偏离正轨长达一周。我们让警探们为两部手机申请法庭令调取通话记录，试图查明受害者联系过谁、嫌疑人联系过谁。结果发现是无家可归者持有这些手机并借给他人使用，这确实让我们白忙活了一周。要是早知道这点，我们本可以把精力放在其他更重要的事情上。

But the fact that both cell phones, Okie Kites and Robert Cooper's cell phones, got into the hands of homeless people threw us off for a week during the investigation. Because we had detectives writing court orders for phone numbers for both phones trying to figure out who our victim was calling and who our suspect was calling. Well, it was because the homeless people had these phones, and they were letting other people use them, and it really messed us up for a week. If we'd have known that, we woulda we could have been doing a lot of other things.

但这绝不意味着手机线索毫无价值。谋杀案前的通话记录显示，罗伯特在几周内给阿尔打过10次电话。不过阿尔并非唯一联系人，罗伯特还打了数十通电话，全都是打给有房屋出租的人。索别斯基探员不厌其烦地联系了每一个号码——最终联系了超过100个房东。

But this doesn't mean that the phone was a dead end by any means. Phone records from before the murder show Robert had called Al 10 times over several weeks. But Al hadn't been the only one. Robert had made dozens of calls, all to people who had spaces available to rent. Agent Sobieski took on the tedious task of contacting every single number, which ended up being over 100 calls to people renting out their homes.

他从中发现了一些有趣的关联。不过这部分内容我得留到第二集讲述，您现在就可以收听。《罪案谜底》是由Audio Chuck制作的播客，主题音乐由瑞安·刘易斯创作。了解更多节目信息及我们的倡议工作，请访问thedeckpodcast.com。我想查克会赞同这个安排。

And he found some interesting connections between them. But I'm gonna have to tell you about that in part two, which you can listen to right now. The deck is an audio chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com. I think Chuck would approve.