Slaying scene bathed in blood

Blood was everywhere outside Edwin Hawes' Andover home -- on the stucco wall, sidewalk, driveway, his car and on a hammer locked inside his car's trunk. Blood also stained one of two candy wrappers in a pile of leaves.

Andrew Hawes, 37, charged in the 2008 death of Edwin, his older brother, is a diabetic who told authorities hours after the killing that he was having a diabetic attack. During the second day of his trial in Anoka County court Tuesday, Hawes showed little expression as more than 100 photos taken at Edwin's house after the killing were shown to a jury, including a photo of two discarded Snickers wrappers.

While prosecutors did not discuss the wrappers in court on Tuesday, Assistant Anoka County Attorney Paul Young implied to a reporter that the photo was shown for a reason. "What does a diabetic do when his sugar count is low?" Young asked outside the courtroom during a recess.

Andrew's team of public defenders, Bryan Leary and Jennifer Pradt, say that his brother-in-law, Daniel Romig, shot Edwin Hawes, 46, through the lung with a crossbow on Oct. 29, 2008, and bludgeoned him, presumably with the bloodied hammer found in Edwin's trunk. Romig was granted immunity when he testified before a grand jury.

He has not been charged, and he had nothing to do with Edwin's death, his attorney, Bill Mauzy, told the Star Tribune.

Sister convicted in January

Elizabeth Hawes -- Romig's wife and Edwin's and Andrew's sister -- stood trial in the case in January. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

A once-close relationship between brothers who'd formed a lawn-care company soured in 2007 when Andrew discovered that Edwin had kept a second set of books, Pradt said in court this week. Andrew and Elizabeth believed Edwin had embezzled $1 million from company funds. They went to various authorities, trying to reclaim their share, but nobody would take their case, attorneys from both sides said.

So Andrew and Romig went to Edwin's home to retrieve the car they thought they were financing, Pradt said.

When authorities arrived there, the car was gone. They found a pair of discarded trousers, stained with blood, that "did not fit in with what you'd normally expect to find in a wooded area next to a lawn," testified Anoka County Deputy Jon Berggren, who investigated the area hours after the murder.

The tip of an arrowhead was found immersed in blood, along with a zipper pulled from a garment and a piece of blood-soaked cloth. Wood chips in a landscaped area near the home's west entrance were coated with blood and scattered on the driveway, as if something had dragged them, Berggren told prosecutor Deidre Aanstad.

There were coins and a key scattered through a pool of blood in the driveway. There were fresh tire marks on the lawn.

The day after Edwin's disappearance, his remains were found 200 miles away on a Cottownwood County farm owned by Andrew and his fiancée, Kristina Dorniden, 30, also charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities impounded a Hawes lawn service truck, Anoka County Deputy Bruce Hatton testified. Inside, they found a document belonging to Andrew and an empty candy box, he said.