On Aug. 2, 2006, emergency medical personnel responding to a 911 call found Robert Wone lying peacefully on a sofa bed in his friend’s town home on the 1500 block of Swann Street Northwest. But when officers stepped closer, they saw three stab wounds to Wone’s chest and a dribble of blood on the crisply folded, yet-unturned sheets underneath him. On a nearby table sat a 5-inch knife colored with blood.

The three housemates, all dressed in white bathrobes when the paramedics arrived, told police they suspected an intruder had murdered their guest.