The court transcripts outlined a three-day trial in which the prosecution presented a damning case centered on Petrov’s confession. He took the stand to recant, but that allowed the prosecution to cite his ten previous domestic violence arrests.

Smithson turned the page and saw a pile of news clippings in connection with the case. In each of them, Aleksey’s cousin, Ivan, was pictured and quoted.

A high-powered lawyer and an official in the church, Ivan had fought hard for Aleksey’s acquittal. With blond hair, blue eyes, and a magnetic personality, Ivan never missed a chance to slam the police department and Coletti for their sloppy work in arresting his cousin. In the end, it didn’t matter. On the strength of overwhelming evidence and his own damning confession, Aleksey Petrov was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole, and Ivan was sentenced to a life of bitterness because of what happened to his cousin.

As Smithson prepared to close the file, she noticed that Coletti had penciled “C.M.?” in the margin of one of the articles on Petrov.

She wondered if the letters stood for Confessional Murders, and why, if Coletti had suspected Petrov, he hadn’t pursued it.

Ivan Petrov not only matched the physical description: He had motive. He had means. He was perfect.

By 2:30 AM, officers from the crime scene unit were going over every inch of Sandy Jackson’s bedroom. A photographer took pictures, a fingerprint technician dusted surfaces, and officers with latex gloves and plastic bags gathered samples of everything from lipstick to broken glass.

Mann was forced to hand over the note, and Sandy was forced to do something she’d never imagined. She was forced to speak to Mike Coletti.

“It started with a dream,” she said, standing outside her bedroom with Mann and Coletti, as the other officers swept the room for evidence. “I was jogging on Kelly Drive, and the river turned to ice. Then the grass and trees died. I heard a branch snap and I woke up. That’s when I saw the guy. The crazy thing about it is, I was only out there for a few minutes, and when I came in, I found it like this.”

“Look, Sandy, we already know there’s more than one of them,” Mann said. “You saw them yourself. Even without the one who killed himself at the church tonight, we think there are at least two more, including a ringleader. So the guy out front probably had someone with him.”