Alec Kreider (then age 16) had entered the Haines' home without force, stabbing Thomas and Lisa in their sleep, killing Thomas and severely wounding Lisa. Alec then went to Kevin's room and, after a struggle, stabbed him to death before returning to slit Lisa's throat, killing her, then escaping before the police could arrive. Communication between the Haines' neighbor, the call-taker at 911, and the dispatcher caused extreme unnecessary delay in police response to the "unknown disturbance". The official timeline notes that it took the first responding officer nearly twelve minutes to arrive from a distance of four miles in the middle of the night with no traffic barriers. Police say this delay had no bearing on the survival of the victims. The parents were found dead in their bedroom and Kevin was found at the opposite end of the upstairs hallway on the floor outside his bedroom. According to police reports, bloody shoe prints led away from Kevin's body and into the parents' bedroom, and from there to the common upstairs bathroom, where a shoe print was found on the linoleum in front of the sink. Police presume the murderer attempted to clean up at the sink as blood was also found there. Bloody shoe prints appeared on lower carpeted steps as the perpetrator exited the house. Blood transfer was also found on the rear sliding glass door. Maggie Haines was not killed because Alec did not know that she was home from college at the time of the murders.