appointment with curtis pope. ere going to discuss quality problems with the swimming pool pope was installing at the hotel. pope was having financial problems. his company was headed towards bankruptcy, and darrell north was his only large client, although it's unclear whether darrell knew this. no one knows what the two men said to each other. but prosecutors believe curtis pope snapped and attacked darrell with a knife. darrell was caught off guard, and struck pope in the face with a paper punch, causing the nosebleed. pope stabbed darrell over 40 times. as he lay dying on the floor, a drop of blood from pope's nose fell on to darrell's pants. >> there's no way he could have explained away how his blood was dripped on to darrell north's pants. >> we knew we had eliminated any possible innocent explanation for his blood being at the scene, and we felt like we had him. >> curtis pope was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. he posted bail, but on the first day of his trial, pope didn't show up. >> we lea