On a beautiful Monday afternoon in the late fall of 2008, two men arrived at the Houston, Texas, home of their friend, a philosophy professor at the nearby university. They looked forward to the weekly discussions that focused on the theoretical traditions known as “Continental philosophy” and planned to continue their engaging dialog on Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time from the week before. A quick glance at their friend’s empty carport told the pair that the popular professor must be running late—most likely lingering to entertain the seemingly endless questions of his eager-minded students—but waiting together in the warm Southern sun was no bother. Plus, it wasn’t unusual for their friend to be a little late for a meeting now and then; he carried a heavier teaching load than most other faculty members in the department and always prioritized his students’ needs above all else.

After more time had passed, the men decided to call their friend’s cellphone to check on him. It wasn’t until that call went unanswered that they started to worry. Despite the professor’s absent vehicle, they thought that he still could be home and mused at how silly they would feel if they had waited outside all that time for no good reason. One of the men tried the front door and found it unlocked. When he tried to push it open, however, something seemed to be in the way. After managing to open the door enough to squeeze by and step inside, the man who had just been chatting and laughing with one friend while waiting for another, who had planned to while away the evening in debate and deliberation, suddenly realized that nothing would ever be the same again. There, at the bottom of the staircase just inside the front door, was the body of his friend—the beloved professor—now with a bluish tint to the skin and blood trickling on the floor behind his head. The man yelled to his waiting companion to dial 911.

The 54-year-old scholar was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy revealed the cause to be trauma to the back of the head—presumably from a tumble down the stairs—and the medical examiner ruled it an accidental death.