Page 3 - Darrell North News Today

It was obvious a life and death struggle had taken place. >> there was also a hole punch that was discovered in close proximity to mr. norths body that was bent. that would lead me or any other investigator to believe that either mr. north may have been struck with that hole punch or mr. north may have struck his assailant with that hole punch. >> there was a trail of blood from the filing cabinet to darrells body. then, to a desk. on top, police found a machete, the type used to clear brush fro...

Pope snapped and attacked darrell with a knife. darrell was caught off guard, and struck pope in the face with a paper punch, causing the nosebleed. pope stabbed darrell over 40 times. as he lay dying on the floor, a drop of blood from popes nose fell on to darrells pants. >> theres no way he could have explained away how his blood was dripped on to darrell norths pants. >> we knew we had eliminated any possible innocent explanation for his blood being at the scene, and we felt like we had him. ...

Noticed something they hadnt seen before. some bruising under his eye. >> there was no cut, but it was a slight bruising. >> a background check revealed popes business was faltering. >> he had a reputation of just not being very good at what he did, as far as the construction of the swimming pools. >> popes business records indicated he was deeply in debt, wasnt able to pay his suppliers, and the only big client he had left was darrell north. if darrell fired pope during their meeting, it would ...

>> the extra wounds on the back of the head, which almost decapitated him, indicated a tremendous desire to make sure that the person was deceased. >> darrells wallet was still in his pocket. nothing had been stolen. there was no sign of forced entry. this and the level of violence indicated a very personal crime. >> out of the 40 cases that ive worked, this was the only one that had that type of rage exhibited. >> darrell hired many contractors, so his decisions could either make or break some ...

Time looking for the person that did. >> pope was distraught over darrells murder. >> he came through the receiving line crying, and i thought he was so touched by darrells death. and he said, i loved darrell. he was better to me than my own father. >> pope was 40 years old, married, with a young daughter. he did, however, have a police record consisting of arrests for petty theft. since he was the last known person to see darrell alive, he was automatically considered a suspect. pope agreed to ...

>> darrells secretary told police that everyone left the construction site early on the day of the murder because of the severe rainstorm. she said darrell stayed behind to meet with a contractor named curtis pope. >> curtis pope was a pool contractor. darrell was basically mentoring curtis into the construction business. and he stayed approximately 20, 25 minutes. he left darrell. darrell said he was going to wait out the rain and let the traffic die down before he headed home. >> darrells wife...

Visited a website on how to beat a polygraph and had, in fact, paid money to download a book on how to beat it. >> as testing continued on the blood stains on the floor of the crime scene, investigators noticed one blood drop on darrell norths pants that they had previously overlooked. >> there was a vertical drop on the back left pant leg of darrell north, while hes laying on the floor. >> the shape of the drop was perfectly round, meaning that the origin of the blood was stationary, and hit th...

>> there was blood in two of the three rooms. it was obvious a life and death struggle had taken place. >> there was also a hole punch that was discovered in close proximity to mr. norths body that was bent. that would lead me or any other investigator to believe that either mr. north may have been struck with that hole punch or mr. north may have struck his assailant with that hole punch. >> there was a trail of blood from the filing cabinet to darrells body. then, to a desk. on top, police fou...

>> he was upset that he wasnt going to continue to work there because, according to him, darrell had promised him continued work. >> darrells family never met johnson, but theyd heard of him. >> darrell had mentioned that he had had some problems with him. he usually didnt bring his problems home, and so since it was something that he had shared with me, i thought it was probably serious. >> incredibly, just two days after darrells murder, johnson called asking to get his job back. >> the superi...

But prosecutors believe curtis pope snapped and attacked darrell with a knife. darrell was caught off guard, and struck pope in the face with a paper punch, causing the nosebleed. pope stabbed darrell over 40 times. as he lay dying on the floor, a drop of blood from popes nose fell on to darrells pants. >> theres no way he could have explained away how his blood was dripped on to darrell norths pants. >> we knew we had eliminated any possible innocent explanation for his blood being at the scene...