But in the end, police did not believe Heikki's story about getting punched Dec. 21.

"I'm not saying he didn't get assaulted, but it didn't happen the way he said it did," said Wells, who took over the investigation from Bracco. "What we've been fighting with is what did happen."

There were no footprints or tire tracks outside the back door and no signs of a scuffle, Wells said.

In the hospital, Heikki had abrasions covering much of his face. His nose was injured and scraped. His face was bruised and his left eye blackened. His lips were fat and bruised.

Police have concluded Heikki did have some injuries from Dec. 21 — although they are no longer investigating that assault — but they surmise that he died from falling down in front of his neighbor on Dec. 22.

"Even if he was involved in a previous assault, it obviously didn't cause his death on that day," Lt. Rex Gilliland said in an interview.

"I don't think they tried very hard to investigate it. I got the sense that they really didn't give a damn." — Barry Makarewicz, Heikki's friend

The medical examiner confirmed Heikki died from three bleeds in his brain. He couldn't tell whether the injury happened Dec. 21 when Heikki said he was assaulted or Dec. 22 when Myers saw him fall.

But Heikki also had a lacerated liver, an acute injury the medical examiner didn't necessarily relate to a fall. This fact forced Wells to agree Heikki might have been assaulted. "He did have several internal injuries," Wells said.

But these varied injuries have only added more confusion for Wells. "It appeared more like if you were to be thrown out of a car, which is one of the things we've explored, but he had no other injuries on hands, arms or legs. It was more like a road rash, not consistent with an assault."

Well said he did all he could. He polygraphed the neighbor, interviewed witnesses. "There were a lot of different rumors that we had to track down," Wells said. "None of them panned out."

Gilliland, who supervised the investigation as head of the criminal division of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said officers couldn't confirm any of the four earlier assaults or the one on Dec. 21.

He said police could find no witnesses or evidence to support anything Heikki said.

The sad fact that Heikki was a heavy drinker when he died seems to have given police an easy cause for any injury, critics of the investigation say.

Interviews with dozens of friends revealed that drinking was a factor — albeit mostly benign — all of his adult life.

He liked beer but was never a "fall-down" drunk. He never fought or got ugly. He remained functional. Never missed a day of work.