Episode 3 - Crime Scene

And at that point, what happened?

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Previously on Tunnel Vision.

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Later, her cell phone went right to voicemail, like it was turned off.

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And when you're under pressure and you have officers asking you questions, and you're trying to be as honest as you can, stories may be different.

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And after she got there and said, what do you want me to do with this key? She said, throw it on the counter, toss it up on the counter, and that was the end of the key.

And that was Saturday.

That was Saturday.

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My name is Avery Tatro, and you're listening to Tunnel Vision Episode 3 - Crime Scene.

 

If you haven't listened to episode 2, please go back.

 

As we know by now, in 2011, 20-year-old Andrea Eilber was found dead while house-sitting for her aunt and uncle in Michigan. Andrea's boyfriend KC was convicted and jailed for this crime. We are investigating what really happened.

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Today, we are focusing on the two crime scenes where Andrea's body and her car were found. What was discovered, what wasn't found, and what forensic analysis later revealed.

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If you had to speculate, you might imagine a fight between a young couple that spirals out of control, fueled by drugs or alcohol, and then something goes horribly wrong. The actual details here in Andrea's case are shocking. They read like a violent Hollywood thriller.

A young female held hostage in a basement pleads for mercy with a psychopathic villain.

This is a small working class town.

 

The accused was the victim's boyfriend.

A 19 year old college student and part-time grocery store worker.

What is going on here?

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To pick up where we left off, police officers had gone to the home in Mayfield, Michigan, where Andrea was housed sitting, but left soon after finding it locked, dark, and presumably empty. When Andrea's car was found abandoned later that night, about a mile away, the police focused their investigation into that remote parking area.

 

KC's trial was not recorded, so the courtroom voices you hear in this episode are synthesized from trial transcripts - here is Trooper Kramer:

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After talking to him, he took us over to where the vehicle was located. We saw the vehicle in the state game area where it was, just observed where it was parked. It was facing north, I believe. It was parked kind of off over to the side, near, closest to some tree shrubs, ran the vehicle's registration plate.

 

Was there anything unusual at that time that you noticed at the back of the vehicle?

 

Originally, a smudge mark to the right.

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And at the time, did you know exactly where that came from or what it was from?

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No, we made a point to photograph it, and I believe I noted it in my report. I didn't know if that was significant or not at that time.

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I want to show the jury People's Exhibit Number 4. Put that on the screen. Can you describe what that is, sir?

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It's a door handle of the vehicle. Around here, this is what it looked like when we pulled up. To me, it appeared as if possibly maybe somebody was trying to wipe something clean.

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Do you recall whether or not, at the time, you found anything else around the car that was unusual?

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A couple of things about the car. The dome light was on in the vehicle. The door would wiggle just enough to, you know, sometimes you close the door and shut it. And you have to give it a really good push to really shut it? That's what it was like. It was slightly ajar. The parking brake on the vehicle was pulled up. There was a smudge mark by the handle here. And then to the left, I don't know, 15, 20 feet, there was like a small burn pile.

 

Okay.

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Investigators later went back and processed the burn pile on Friday. Lab analysis indicated that there were cotton threads with green dots on them. An orange thread was also identified.

According to the lab scientist, the analysis could not determine if the green dots and orange color were there prior to the fire, or may have been deposited during the fire. He determined that the metal found in the burn pile was aluminum. However, there was no plastic residue present to indicate that it might be a cell phone

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I was called by a regional dispatch. I'm also a K-9 handler for the state police, and I was called to go and search an area for, at that time, it was believed to be a missing person.

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That is Trooper Szukhent.

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And when you get out there, it's my understanding that around the vehicle, you did in fact take your dog out there, correct?

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I did a search around the vehicle that night for individuals that might have been in the woods for any reason. You know, that maybe the vehicle is there, and there's a reason for them to be out there. They may have passed out, a medical, or any other multiple situations.

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And your K-9's name is...

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Palin.

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And Palin, at that point in time, picked up two different tracks, correct?

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Yes.

Can you explain the first track, if you recall?

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Yes. The first track, we were checking through the woods to the north of the vehicle. We were probably 25 yards northwest of the vehicle. As we came across a small trail, Palin picked up a track and continued following that track. And the track actually went back to the northwest corner of the parking lot. As we got out in the parking lot, then he lost it.

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The search for Andrea came up empty at the game area, so officers returned to the Hummer House. The home is a single story ranch covered in multicolored brick with white doors and trim. There is an attached two-car garage with its own entrance to the left of the front door. The garage doors are solid panels with no windows, and the front door and garage entrance each have a single small window in the center, about six inches wide and 18 inches high.

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The lot is heavily wooded, and the residence is set far back from Kingsmill Road, about a hundred yards down a gravel path, and away from all the other houses that sit close to the road. The home is quite remote and cannot be seen from the road. It's interesting that it's an unlikely location to discover if you're driving in that area, but at the same time, it's a very convenient place to commit a crime.

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There is a large detached barn about 20 yards to the southeast. And a little further away to the west lies a small pond. The area to the south is dense forest and includes 120 acres of bare lake camp and sections of the Lapeer State game area. Investigators noted what appeared to be ATV quad runner trails leading from the residence into the wooded area toward the game area. This is an interesting detail that we will revisit later.

 

Around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the police got permission from Andrea's aunt Stephanie to break into her home.

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After Trooper Szukhent entered the house, what happened then?

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He made a statement, something to the effect of, I got her, I found her. Something to that effect, and that he was gonna let us in.

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Andrea was found seated on a wooden cane chair right in the middle of the room. She was slumped forward at the waist, with her head tilted down and slightly to the side. Her long straight hair hung down around her face, covering it completely.

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…after shining the flashlight, it was your belief that she was deceased?

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Due to the condition the body was in, the stature it was in, it was obvious to me, with the head down and this arm was bent at a very odd angle, where if somebody was just passed out, it would drop. It was stuck at that angle, and the other was behind as well. And at that point I was sure that she was deceased.

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Andrea's left hand was tucked along her left side, wedged between her body and the chair. Her right arm was described as strangely bent upwards at her right hip, presumably an effect of rigor mortis. Both of her feet were flat on the floor, and underneath her right foot was a paper receipt from Heidi's Market, dated November 5th.

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Andrea was fully clothed. She was wearing dark running pants with white stripes on the sides, gray and pink socks, a yellow t-shirt and a gray sweatshirt. There was no evidence of sexual assault.

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In the room, there was another chair facing Andrea's chair from the side a few feet away. Both chairs had been moved there as they were normally kept in a different room. There were two laundry baskets on either side of her, and one of the baskets had collected a large amount of blood. More blood pooled under Andrea's chair and ran into a nearby floor drain. To make things even more unsettling, marks were found on Andrea's wrists.

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Doctor, can you tell, through your own expertise, what may have caused that or what did cause that?

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Well, since I know that there was both on both wrists in that aspect, and most of the time in my experience, that happens when somebody's hands or wrists were tied to something, and the person is trying to move the arms and hands to get out of that. And friction causes the creeping of the skin and exposing the underlying deep of skin, which then air dries and gives you that appearance.

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That was Doctor Kanu Virani, the medical examiner who performed Andrea's autopsy. The abrasions he described suggest that she had been tightly bound to the chair before her death. Later, those bindings were removed, which points to someone having controlled the scene after her death.

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Now, at the point and the way that she is sitting, at the point they were released, would you say that rigor mortis had set in, that it was past the two hour period where her body began to stiffen up, at the time the ties were taken off, or whatever was around her wrists were taken off?

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I would say quite consistent with the... if the body was still loose and warm, and the hand ties were they removed, which were supporting the body, the gravity, the way she is sitting, the gravity would make her fall on the floor because of the weight distribution. The gravity would move her body and she would fall on the floor.

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So in your expert opinion, you're saying that the ties, or whatever they are, were taken off even probably after the four or five hours as well?

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I would say maybe six or seven hours or longer than that, yes.

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You indicated that the date of death, November 14th, 2011, unknown p.m.?

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Yes.

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You said afternoon. Could that be evening as well?

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It could be between 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. That's where the broad window is.

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And would it be fair to say that when we determine a time of death, it's medical guesswork?

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Based on the post-mortem changes visible on the body, yes.

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And you can get pretty close, but, I mean, you're not going to get to the exact second. Would that be fair to say?

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Exactly. Unlike you see on CSI, I cannot tell you. Nobody can tell you that. It only happens on TV.

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The officers on the scene knew that Andrea had died, but they didn't know how. Based on the position of her head and the pooling blood, they suspected a head injury. Medical examiners transported Andrea's body to Lapeer Regional Hospital and called Dr. Virani to perform the autopsy.

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He determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound just above the forehead and obscured by her hairline. The weapon was a .38 caliber handgun. The bullet was discovered in the cervical region of her spine, and the measured path indicated that the barrel of the firearm was in line with the top of her head, but not in direct contact with her. There were no stippling patterns or powder burns, which would have been present if the gun had been pressed up against her skin.

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And is there a distance, a specific distance, that you can tell that somebody would have to be if there's... Is there a distance regarding how far back the shooter would have to be if there is no stippling?

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Just with the handgun, most of the time you have a stippling, the end of the barrel has to be about two, two and a half feet away from the stick. If you are in that range, you could have the smaller pattern of stippling. The closer to the gun, the smaller the pattern of stippling is.

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As you move the gun away, the stippling pattern around the bullet hole gets bigger and bigger, and this is about two to two and a half feet. If the gun moves further away from that, I cannot tell you from that point to that point.

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What about blood splatter?

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Blood splatter usually does not happen unless the gun is in contact with the skin. If you are applying the pressure, then producing the inside pressure behind the skin and breaking the blood vessels so that the blood spurs out. If we have this contact, sometimes it happens, but most of the time, it happens mostly in a contact wound.

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And because the shooter was at least two, two and a half feet away, it's your opinion there would be no blood splatter?

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Should not be.

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All of this information tells us that Andrea was sitting in the chair and leaning slightly forward when she was shot at close range, but no closer than two feet. The absence of close contact with the gun proves it wasn't a suicide either. Dr. Virani was clear about that.

Suicide would be impossible given the evidence.

 

Here is a detail that the autopsy didn't report. Small cuts and abrasions were found inside Andrea's mouth. They were discovered by Dustin Mumford of the Mumford Funeral Home during her funeral preparations. This is important because it could indicate that she was gagged before she was killed, possibly with something covering her head. Also missed in the investigation was a collection of DNA under Andrea's fingernails. By the time police had realized the error, Andrea's body was being prepped at the funeral home, and they had painted her nails.

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Another interesting detail is that Andrea was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.02. There were beer bottles found in the garage of the Hummer House, but for some reason, they were never collected as evidence. Blood alcohol tests can be less accurate after death, due to fermentation of blood sugar into alcohol, which depends on body temperature, time since death and other factors. It's intriguing to consider if Andrea was drinking on that Monday night, and if she was with anyone else. Who's DNA might have been on those bottles?

 

Now let's move on to the rest of the house. The lower level was described by investigators as a nicely decorated game room with white tile flooring, a bar, kitchen area and laundry room. Several taxidermy mounts were observed along the north wall. There was a large TV located in the northwest corner of the room and a couch across from it. According to lab technicians, the TV was still on when she was discovered. The room also featured a large lit fish tank and a gun safe, which was closed and locked. On the couch, there was a pillow, a blanket, a newspaper and a remote.

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There was even a makeup bag on the floor near the couch, like Andrea might have been getting ready for Casey's arrival or had just settled in. Investigators also noted that she was not wearing her shoes when her body was discovered. Andrea appeared to be at the house for a period of time before she was approached by her killer. She brought at least some of her laundry inside, removed her shoes, took off her glasses and left them in the bedroom, sat down on the couch, was watching TV and perhaps applying makeup. This seems to suggest that she had arrived at the house with no problem and did not perceive any potential threat.

 

Moving upstairs, there were several items of importance. A plastic travel mug was on the floor in the kitchen, pushed up against the island cabinet. It was an odd discovery in a kitchen that was otherwise free from clutter. On the island counter, there was a house key, a coupon for coals and a piece of paper with several phone numbers.

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Andrea's uncle Kip reported that the house key found in the kitchen counter was in fact his spare key that had been hidden on the front porch. He was able to determine this by distinct markings and discoloration. The coupon found on the counter was believed to be dropped off by Andrea's aunt Carla on Saturday afternoon.

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Andrea's aunt Stephanie reported days later that she had found a strange search made on her home computer. We don't know the timestamp, but the search term was legal responsibilities of a 19-year-old. Honestly, when learning of this detail, my mind immediately went to Casey, the 19-year-old accused of this crime, and interpreted this in context as, what can a 19-year-old legally be charged with? Did this implicate him or his alleged actions? I couldn't quite tease out what was being asked and what was the motivation behind it, so I tried the search myself. Granted, running this search in 2025 could be very different than in 2011 for a lot of reasons, but it was worth trying.

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Related topics popped up like “What legal authority do my parents have over me” and “What do I do about my 19-year old living at home” and also “Can parents tell a 19-year old what to do.” Changing the search to “18-year old” brought up the more common sense content about voting rights, joining the military, and opening financial accounts.

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I don’t really know what to make of this internet search - it’s an odd phrasing for sure. In normal life, it wouldn't be given a second thought if you saw it on a list. And maybe that’s the logical conclusion we should take away. But in this situation, under these circumstances, it certainly raises an eyebrow and no one has come forward to explain it.

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Working with Kip and Stephanie, investigators tabulated the list of items stolen from the house. It included a 22 caliber rifle, one box of 22 ammunition, one bottle of Drakkar cologne, three knives, a cable knit sweater, an owl claw, a Royal Crown bag containing various coins, $80 in cash, a hunter green trail camera, and a fitted blue bed sheet for a king-sized bed. Sounds like a burglary, right? Except… there was a valuable necklace and a gold nugget left in plain view on a dresser that were worth thousands of dollars, more than all of the missing items combined. That rifle that was taken? It was on this same dresser. Also left behind were TVs and a home computer.

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What about the cologne and owl foot? In all, it’s a baffling collection that defies logic and motive. Perhaps that was intentional.

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Police searched the local pawn shops and an online database they use for stolen items called LEADS, but the items never resurfaced. All of Andrea’s personal belongings were also taken - her purse, bank cards, cell phone, and ID - they were never seen again.

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Gary Ginther, a forensic scientist with the Michigan State Police and a specialist in fingerprints, investigated the crime scene that Wednesday morning.

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Now were you able to receive any latent prints from that crime scene? 

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Yes. From the house processing, I developed four latent prints. One was on the inside of the glass sliding door, basement, twelve inches up from the handle. I also developed a latent print that was on the top of the bar counter in the corner area that was in the basement. Upstairs I developed – there were some – there were two deep blue colored drinking glasses where I processed those, where I obtained latent fingerprints off of.

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Latent prints are invisible fingerprints left behind by the sweat and oils in our skin. Touching a surface does not guarantee a complete, identifiable fingerprint. You can touch any number of things with a portion of your fingertip or the side of your finger or even your palm. Prints easily become smeared with repeated contact from skin, clothing, and cleaning products. Smooth surfaces, like glass, are excellent locations to search, while textured surfaces, like clothing, wood, or carpet rarely hold latent prints.

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I’m just going to refer to the first one that you mentioned inside the glass sliding door. Were you able to find, compare prints and find out whose prints those were? 

 

No. This particular print has still not been identified. 

 

With regards to the upstairs drinking glasses that you referred to and testified about, were you able to identify those prints as being from somebody? 

 

The one – yes, I did, to Andrea. However, the other one, it’s identifiable, was placed into the AFIS system; however, it’s not been identified to anyone. 

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The police collected fingerprint samples from 64 individuals connected to this case, mostly friends and family of Andrea and KC, to compare to the latent prints found at the scene.  The two unidentified prints at the house are significant because everyone that was known to be at the house, including KC, Cody, Andrea, and her family, were specifically excluded as a match.

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“There's a lot of DNA out there that they won't test because they don't want to spend the money, and they don't want to find out somebody else. We know it ain't KC. Because of all this DNA that they did test, every one of them came back not KC Grondin.”

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The drinking glass is an odd detail. The sink was empty, except for two glasses - one had Andrea’s print on it and the other is unknown. Who shared a drink with Andrea in the days leading up to her death? How long would she have left glasses in the sink before cleaning up? Especially since the rest of the kitchen was neat and organized. Were these from Sunday night or sometime on Monday?

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…and you were also able to take prints from the car, is that correct? 

 

Yes, that is correct. We processed the – I believe it was a ‘94 Mazda. And in the processing of that particular vehicle, I obtained the two latent prints. One was off of the rear view mirror of the car, and the other was on the inside car passenger door window, near the top edge of the Mazda. 

 

Were you able to identify either of those prints as coming from anybody? 

 

The rear view mirror of the Mazda, there was a latent print on it and it was identified at the right middle finger, digit number 3, of Andrea Eilber. 

 

Any other identifiable prints? 

 

The other fingerprint is the inside passenger side door window top edge. That is yet to be identified, and that latent fingerprint is also into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

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Also interesting is the print found on the passenger side window of Andrea’s car. Her driver side door lock was broken because a key had snapped off and jammed inside long ago. When Andrea needed to unlock and use her car, either she or her passenger would unlock the opposite side, get in and reach across to unlock the driver side. Was this unknown fingerprint a result of this step in moving her car? 

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Investigators continued their search in the garage where they found a blue golf cart parked diagonally against the back wall.

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This is a close-up of that golf cart. You can see the skid mark a little bit better. You also can tell in this photo that the golf cart positioning, how it’s parked, is not ordinary. It’s cocked to the side. The back is pushed further, and the front of the vehicle is pushed odd to the side. 

 

I’m going to show you People’s Exhibit Number 48. Can you describe what that is? 

 

This is a up-close picture of the back of Andrea’s vehicle. This is dirt on the vehicle, and this right here appeared to be some type of tread. 

 

Were you able to look at that and analyze whether or not you believe the golf cart tread is similar to the tread found on the back of the vehicle? 

 

Yeah. I believe that the tread came from the back of the golf cart. 

 

The track marks on the golf cart match what – 

 

The type of tread, the same type of tread, the square of the treads.

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Investigators determined that Andrea’s car was backed into the garage, colliding with and pushing the golf cart toward the back wall, and leaving tire skid marks on the garage floor. The person who did this was trying to hide Andrea’s car quickly, perhaps unexpectedly. When did this all happen? Did the killer know, from text messages seen on Andrea’s phone, that KC was on his way over? If you believe the prosecution that KC was responsible, why would he move her car into the garage recklessly, damaging the golf cart in the process, only to then move her car to Five Lakes Road? No one was aware that Andrea was missing until later in the day on Tuesday, so what motive would he have to hide her car quickly on Monday night?

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Searching outside, officers found another clue. They collected two cigarette butts, one in the lawn off the corner of the house to the right of the front door and another one in the driveway near a flower planter. Both were white with thin green stripes - likely from a pack of Marlboro Menthols. Stephanie reported that finding cigarettes on the property would be unusual and warrant attention. When asked, Cody couldn’t remember if he and KC had ever smoked at the house, but even if they had, it wouldn’t be at the front door nor in the driveway. Regardless, DNA collected from the cigarettes didn’t match KC, Cody, or Andrea. Nicole Graham explains at trial:

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Can you describe specifically what major and minor donors are?

 

Well, in a DNA profile, sometimes I will get a single source profile, meaning only one person’s DNA is in there. Other times, often, we’ll get a mixture, meaning there is more than one person’s DNA in there. If we’re lucky, those two people didn’t contribute DNA to the mixture in an equal proportion. So, we get one person that we term the major donor, and maybe 70, 80, 90 percent of the DNA I’m seeing is theirs.

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Did you receive a cigarette to test?

 

I received two cigarette butts. One was a female profile, and I was later able to match that to Colleen Covey. And the other was a male profile, and that is still unidentified. Those were both nice single source samples, not mixtures.

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Colleen is Kip’s sister and isn’t a suspect in this case. 

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The unidentified male, however, that’s an entirely different story.

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So it’s possible that at some point in time this unidentified male on the cigarette butt found at the residence of the Hummers could be identified?

 

Correct

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Coming up, on Tunnel Vision.

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By that time, Casey was flying into my bedroom, and he was screaming "mom, she's dead", collapsing towards me. And there were two troopers that followed him into my bedroom.

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All I know is that you killed her, okay?

I don't know what to say to you.

You need to tell me what happened.

I didn't do it.

I will tell you if I did it.

I'm not like that.

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Just before the end of the tape where KC said, there, I wrote down what you guys told me to, even though all of it's a lie.

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You've been listening to Tunnel Vision, Episode 3, Crime Scene. 

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If you have any information that could help with the investigation of this case, contact us directly at tunnelvisionseries@gmail.com. 

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Tunnel Vision is written, produced, and hosted by Avery Tatro. Editing by Michael Tatro.

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To keep up with new episodes, subscribe to Tunnel Vision on Apple Podcasts. 

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Original music is by Michael Tatro and Suno AI.