The way authorities would later describe the scene to Stuff: Basing their account at least in part on Hirte's secretly recorded comments on the case, Glenn Kopitske woke that night with a start and lumbered out of bed. For years, ever since he had been diagnosed as bipolar, Glenn Kopitske had been tormented by faceless fears, friends and family members said. But on the last night of his life, Kopitske's fear had a face.

The naked man froze like a deer caught in headlights.

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"Turn around," Hirte allegedly told the man. Kopitske did. And then he begged for his life. "Please," he said. "Don't shoot me."

Forensic tests show that the killer pressed the muzzle of the shotgun up against the back of Kopitske's head and pulled the trigger. Forty grains of powder and wadding exploded with 2,700 foot-pounds of force as the slug ripped through Kopitske's skull, liquefying his brain.

Kopitske was dead before he hit the floor. But for reasons no one can explain, authorities allege that Hirte pulled out his eight-inch hunting knife and plunged it twice into Kopitske's back. With one blow, the knife penetrated so deeply the high-school linebacker had to use both hands to pull it out.

Then he turned the man over and plunged the knife into him again, piercing his heart. He put the knife away. A few drops of the dead man's blood trickled onto the black leather sheath.

It was over.

Home of Kopitske

It would be days before Glenn Kopitske's body was discovered. If, as police surmised, Kopitske had been chosen precisely because he was a sad, lonely little man whose passing would go unnoticed at first, the choice was a savvy one. A couple of days after his death, Kopitske's mother, a woman who was, by all accounts, devoted to her son, would stumble across his body. But immediately after the slaying, the little mixed-breed dog that Kopitske had rescued was the only living creature that missed him. That's a thought that has always troubled veteran detective Verwiel.

"That was pathetic," Verwiel later said to Stuff. "You think about that. Here's this dog, wondering what's wrong with his master who's laying there dead for a period of a couple of days until he's found. That's a tragic thought."

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