Records confirm ax was found next to body of slain 4-year-old Broomfield boy

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Police documents show that investigators found a bloody ax next to the body of a 4-year-old boy allegedly killed by his uncle in late April.

Authorities on Wednesday released the arrest affidavit and search warrants surrounding the murder of the boy, allegedly at the hands of his uncle, 25-year-old Emanuel Doll. A Broomfield County Court judge ordered the documents to be released last Friday.

The documents show that Emanuel’s parents, whom he lived with, went to pick up the boy—who was Doll’s sister’s son—that morning as the boy’s mother had to go to nursing school.

They brought the boy back to their home around 8:30 a.m. on April 27, and were playing with him before Emanuel asked the boy to come down to the home’s basement.

Shortly afterward, Doll’s mother heard noises she described to police as “a pillowcase loaded with items hitting the floor.” When she called out to her son to ask about the noises, he told her they were “nothing,” according to the documents.

But Doll came upstairs, and his mother went downstairs, where she discovered her grandson with the mortal injury and a bloody ax sitting next to him.

Much of the remainder of the documents are redacted, but investigators seized several computers from the home—two of which were used by Doll often—as well as cell phones and the ax.

The context that provides insight as to why the computers and phones were seized was redacted from the reports, but they note that Doll sometimes worked for his father, who runs a computer coding business.

Doll faces first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree murder by a person in a position of trust charges. Should he be convicted, he faces a sentence of life without parole, or even death.