Detectives focused on Noel Scott, a struggling actor and musician who just couldn't seem to make it in Hollywood. Credits listed on his resume included stints on the television shows Eight is Enough and King's Crossing. But he had a cocaine problem and fell on hard times in 1983. William let him move in for a while and lent him money, witnesses told police.
His home was searched but detectives didn't find a matching shoeprint. Scott was then interviewed and made less than a spectacular impression.
He denied going into the pawnshop, but when pressed, admitted trying to sell a diamond that belonged to Lombardi. As for the night of the murder, he had no alibi.
"Oh, I'm home watching TV," Scott told detectives. As the interview wore on, the locale changed to a nightclub.
He denied ever going into William's closet, even though the flashlight with his fingerprints was found there. Detectives knew Scott had a close bond with Dante and asked about that.
"I don't understand how anyone could have gone around, the dog must have been drugged," Scott replied.
What a strange thing to say, detectives thought. The dog gave no indication of being drugged after the murder. Who would think of doing such a thing?
During the interview, detectives noticed Scott's fingertips. It looked like they had been sliced in a criss cross manner with either a knife or razor blade.
"I was working on my car," was his explanation.
Ramsdell knew there was nothing under the hood of a car that could extensively cut one's hands.
"It implied to us, as investigators, that he was trying to hide his fingerprints and that he had knowledge that his fingerprint was on that flashlight," Ramsdell said.
The interview frustrated detectives because Scott either refused to answer questions or gave answers that made no sense. Then he refused to take a polygraph.
They didn't have enough to hold him and let him go.
"The suspect's lack of alibi is hard to work because you can't prove or disprove his statement," Ramsdell said. "He puts himself nowhere and with no witnesses."
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