Colorado Man Allegedly Kills 4-Year-Old Nephew with Axe: Affidavit
A 25-year-old man allegedly used an ax to kill his four-year-old nephew in the basement of his Colorado home, according to a recently released arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
Emanuel Joseph Doll was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the April 27 death of the boy. He is being held without bond in Broomfield Detention Center.
He has not entered a plea. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
Doll was arrested last month after police were called to the home he shared with his parents in the 4000 block of West 136th Avenue in Broomfield at around 9:30 a.m. The caller, who was later identified as Doll’s father Joseph, told 911 operators that his son had used an ax to kill his grandson. Officers arrived and found Doll, who had blood on his clothing, in the backyard.
Officers then checked the house and discovered the four-year-old boy lying on his back next to an iPad in the basement. “Officers located an axe with what appeared to be blood on it near the body,” according to the affidavit.
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In a press release, the Broomfield Police Department said the child had “suffered a massive amount of trauma.”
Doll’s mother Charlotte told detectives that she had picked up the boy around 8 a.m. that morning from his mother’s house with plans to babysit him for the day.
She brought him home with her and was in the upstairs living room when she heard loud noises around 9 a.m. The noise, she told detectives, sounded like “a pillowcase loaded with items hitting the floor,” the affidavit states.
“Charlotte yelled to Emanuel asking what the noises were,” the affidavit alleges. “Emanuel replied, ‘nothing’. A few minutes after hearing the noises, Emanuel came upstairs.”
According to the affidavit, Doll went outside and Charlotte went to the basement and allegedly saw the boy on the floor with a head injury and “blood everywhere.”
Joseph told detectives that his son and the victim would play games and use the internet on the computer.
Doll worked for his father’s computer coding business and “spent the majority of his time on his computer,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit was released after Denver media outlets petitioned the court for it to be unsealed. A judge sided with the media.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 14.
