Dunne's family disputed Sweeney's claim that she had reconciled with him. They insisted that he went to Dunne's home on October 30 to persuade her to reconcile after she had told him their break up was permanent. The prosecution and police investigators also dismissed Sweeney's version of events as there was no physical evidence that he had consumed pills in an attempt to commit suicide at the time of his arrest. Upon their arrival, police said they found Sweeney to be "calm and collected". Deputy Frank DeMilio, the first officer to arrive at the scene, testified that Sweeney told him, "Man, I blew it. I killed her. I didn't think I choked her that hard, but I don't know, I just kept on choking her. I just lost my temper and blew it again." The medical examiner who performed Dunne's autopsy determined that she had been strangled for at least three minutes. Police and prosecutors dismissed the "heat of passion" defense as they believed that, given the time taken to strangle Dunne, Sweeney had an ample amount of time to regain control of his actions which might have saved Dunne's life.