Midnight to Two A.M., October 29 to 30, 1969

Midnight to Two A.M., October 29 to 30, 1969, is the estimated window for Chase Andrews’s death. Read aloud by Ed Jackson from the report, the interval gives investigators a temporal boundary, but the physical evidence discussed alongside it does not establish how Chase reached the tower or where he died.

The Reported Time

At the sheriff’s desk, Ed and Joe Purdue scan the report together. Ed reads that the time of death fell between midnight and two A.M. on October 29–30, 1969, describing the estimate as consistent with what they had expected. The passage supplies no more precise moment within that two-hour span; its importance lies in fixing the period around which the investigation must organize its account of Chase’s final movements.

An Interval Without a Clear Route

The report’s time estimate sits beside a striking lack of trace evidence. Apart from fingerprints attributed to two boys who went up to the third switchback, investigators find no fresh prints on the railings or grates—not even Chase’s. They also have no footprints showing that Chase crossed the mud to the steps, climbed them, or opened either of the grates at the top. The evidence does not establish that anyone else performed those actions either.

What the Missing Evidence Leaves Open

Ed treats the absences as meaningful rather than conclusive: someone may have cleaned the surfaces thoroughly, or Chase may have been killed somewhere else and his body moved to the tower. Joe points out that moving the body there by vehicle should have left tire tracks. The proposed next step is to return to the site and look for tread marks beyond those left by the investigators and the ambulance, in case they overlooked something. The death interval thus frames an unresolved question: not only when Chase died, but whether the tower was the place where he died at all.