That same night, 29-year-old Kurt Kyle had raced at Barberton Speedway and afterwards hosted several friends and family members at his home for a cookout and socializing.

At that time, Dennis, whom Eberhart described as wearing a long, three-quarter-length dark coat, asked Kyle for money.

Kyle died instantly of hypovolemic shock (loss of blood) due to a gunshot wound that severed both carotid arteries.

Two detectives went to the address and met the homeowner, who gave them permission to look around the house and to speak with her son, 17-year-old Lavar Anderson.

When the detectives went down to the basement, they noticed a Miami Hurricanes jacket and a long, dark overcoat hanging up in the far corner on a bedrail.

In his taped statement, Dennis said that he and Anderson had smoked marijuana and then drank at a bar before the robberies and murder.

While Dennis admitted he fired the sawed-off shotgun three times that night, he asserted that each shot was accidental and that he "could barely focus" when they came upon Kyle and Eberhart.