In December 2016, 54-year-old single father Don Fluitt was found dead in the garage of his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home. According to Albuquerque Police Department (A.P.D.) Detective Matthew Caplan, the devoted dad had just dropped his 11-year-old daughter, Siena, off with her mother, returning to his suburban residence soon after, apparently unaware of the dangers that awaited.
“My first instinct going in was how put-together the house was,” Caplan told Dateline: The Smoking Gun, airing Thursdays at 8/7c on Oxygen. “There was cookies on the counter that looked somewhat fresh. Nothing was out of place until you go into the garage.”
There, Fluitt was found on his back, lying between the wall and the front of his vehicle after being bludgeoned and stabbed. The victim’s gruesome fate was sealed by the slashing of his throat…