Sabich residence

The Sabich residence is Rusty and Barbara’s home and a private space that becomes directly implicated in the investigation of Carolyn Polhemus’s murder. A state search there yields carpet and clothing samples that the prosecution connects to evidence found at the crime scene, while records of calls from the home add another link between Rusty and Carolyn.

The Home and Its Place in the Investigation

A day or two after the meeting in Raymond Horgan’s office that Rusty and Barbara refer to as Black Wednesday, three state troopers arrive at the house. Their visit turns the home from a private setting into a place where the investigation gathers physical evidence. Rusty recalls that he was initially pleased to see the process server who brought the legal papers, a response that contrasts with the seriousness of the subpoenas and warrant delivered moments later.

The papers require Rusty to provide a blood specimen and testify before the grand jury. A narrowly drawn search warrant authorizes the troopers to take carpet samples from throughout the residence and samples from all of Rusty’s outer clothing. Barbara and Rusty remain in the living room as the troopers move through the house with plastic bags and scissors.

The Search and Its Physical Evidence

The search lasts about an hour in Rusty’s closet alone. There, the troopers cut small swatches from the seams of his clothing, gathering material for comparison with fibers found on Carolyn’s clothing and body and scattered through her living area. Those fibers are identified as matching the malt-colored Zorak V carpet in the Sabich home. The residence therefore supplies a material link in the state’s circumstantial case, not merely a backdrop to Rusty’s domestic life.

The troopers do not search for the murder weapon. Rusty interprets this omission as deliberate: a professional would not keep such an object at home, and a search that failed to find it could force prosecutors to acknowledge its absence in court. This is his assessment of the search’s limits, distinct from the physical evidence the warrant actually authorizes the troopers to collect.

Barbara’s response gives the search a domestic counterpoint. While the troopers work upstairs, Rusty quietly asks her whether the carpet is called Zorak V. She says she does not know. Her expression remains composed, with irritation but no visible alarm, even as uniformed officers examine the rooms and take samples from their belongings.

Telephone Records and the Case Against Rusty

The residence also figures in the investigation through its telephone records. When Rusty and Sandy Stern review the records, the pages show one-minute calls from Rusty’s home to Carolyn’s number on March 5, 10, and 20. At 7:32 p.m. on April 1, the records show a two-minute call from the home to Carolyn’s. Rusty identifies the number for Stern, who responds that there must be a commonsense explanation.

The April 1 call is presented alongside the other physical evidence as part of a case built through connections rather than an eyewitness account. The home is both the source of comparison fibers and the origin of a call to Carolyn shortly before her murder. Its significance lies in that double role: a family residence subjected to an official search, and a point on the evidence trail used to place Rusty in relation to the victim.