Early questions

Evidence of the moments following Robert Wone's death might suggest to some that the men were already involved in a cover-up; or, as Judge Lynn Leibovitz has said, the men's "suspicious" activities may have been the legitimately confused, panicked responses of people shocked and frightened after discovering their friend had been murdered in their guest bedroom.

Paramedics say Wone had been dead awhile when they arrived. They encountered Victor Zaborsky on the stairs. He didn't respond to them, but they heard him still telling the 911 dispatcher about the victim on the second floor. Zaborsky had asked the 911 operator for only an ambulance, not the police. On their way up, the paramedics also saw Dylan Ward, who went into his room without speaking to them. In the next room, the paramedics found Wone's body, and Joseph Price, who was not applying pressure to his wounds, as the 911 operator had instructed, or even facing his friend. Price's only initial comment: That he heard a scream.

One of the paramedics would later say that the three men's behavior "made the hair on the back of my neck stand up." He found himself nervously checking Price's hands for a weapon when he began work on Wone, who'd been stabbed multiple times. The paramedic later reported that he felt he needed to keep an eye on Price as he worked. Wone showed no pulse at any of the standard pulse points, no respiration, a flat EKGand almost no bleeding. The second paramedic, surprised by the lack of blood, later wondered whether someone had showered Wone. But a forensic witness who took the stand for the defendants during the trial declared that Wone's injuries were such that while he had heavy internal bleeding, he may have quite possibly had very little external bleeding.

When the police arrived, they saw that in this well-appointed and electronics-filled house, nothing seemed to be stolen. Strangely too, they noted that the room in which Wone lay was farthest from the stairs: Dylan Ward's room was the first an intruder would have passed. Wone's two wallets (he kept an extra as a decoy for muggers), Movado watch and BlackBerry were right next to him (as was a bloody knife from the kitchen), and his mouth guard was in. There was no sign of struggle, including defensive wounds. Wone was atop a bed that had been neatly turned down. It was as if he hadn't moved throughout this ordeal, much less fought. Prosecutors and reporters would later speculate about the possibility that Wone may have been drugged, which might account for the unexplained needle marks on his neck, chest, feet and hands; but experts testified that even the first of his serious stab wounds may simply have immediately incapacitated him.

Deputy Medical Examiner Lois Goslinoski described these as perfect, methodical cuts. She further noted that the wounds hit major organs and vascular areas and should have resulted in a great deal of bleeding. She said that the knife found in the guest room didn't match the wounds, although at trial she was unable to rule it out definitively. None of the wounds would have immediately killed him; there typically would have been defensive wounds too, or at least blood on his hands. Blood in his intestine showed he had been alive for some time after the stabbing. This was consistent with a neighbor's report that he'd heard screaming sometime before the nightly news ended at 11:30; Zaborsky didn't call 911 until 11:49, which, if the men had been trying to hide something, would have given them time to clean up and to get their story straight.

Goslinoski's autopsy also suggested that Wone had been sexually assaulted, something prosecutors would decide was too hard to prove in their case. In any event, defense attorneys found experts to contest most of her findings. The trial and its not-guilty verdict wouldn't provide closure for Wone's stricken family.