Wayne tries to establish an alibi by leaving a message on an answering machine. The time on the machine shows 6:25. When he then commits the murder, there is a clock on the wall. The time is 5:45.
When Jennings commits murder in the early morning hours, his red Jaguar is in the garage and the garage door is partially open. The door appears to be held in place by the shrubbery. The next scene shows the bedroom window from inside the garage and the garage door is now agape. As Jennings runs to escape the property, he has to duck entering the garage because the door is now again only partially open. Jennings touches something inside the garage, and the garage door fully opens. Jennings escapes in his Jaguar, leaving the garage door fully open. However, when Colombo arrives at the Malibu crime scene, the garage door is closed.
In Jess McCurdy's office, as Columbo is reviewing the tape, he has a band aid on his right pinkie. They both leave for the murder scene. When Columbo arrives a few minutes later, the band aid is gone.
When Columbo goes into the evidence locker to look at the victim's clothing, he never signs for it, and then leaves it out in the open, breaking the chain-of-evidence protocol.
Columbo comments at one point "there ain't no law against shooting bullets into a corpse".
This would constitute abuse of a corpse (California penal code 2927.01 today, possibly different when this episode was filmed), which any homicide detective would be aware of.
This would constitute abuse of a corpse (California penal code 2927.01 today, possibly different when this episode was filmed), which any homicide detective would be aware of.
About half way in, Columbo is trying to add up the mileage Wayne drove just before the murder. He said that he just happened to notice the mileage speedometer; a speedometer displays speed, not mileage. Mileage is displayed on the odometer.
Malibu lies outside the city limits of Los Angeles, and thus outside the jurisdiction of the LAPD, in which Lieutenant Columbo serves. Homicides in Malibu would be investigated by detectives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Columbo declares that he was sent to the crime scene by request. Therefore, his presence is legitimate.
Careful attention shows the dead body's chest expanding and exhaling while she is laying next to the chimney (both during the introduction teaser and the actual scene)
In two scenes (at about 57 and 82 minutes), Columbo talks to the doctor at the morgue. These scenes happen on successive days, but in both, the doctor's gown has the exact same blood stains.
In the closing scene, Jess McCurdy exits the clothing shop in the dress she tried on without paying for it. The employees watch her leave without stopping her.
(at around 1h 8 mins) When Columbo and Wayne Jennings are up in the cherry-picker and what looks like a colony of bats flies overhead, the worker who is up there with them says that they are crows. Those are clearly birds and not flying mammals (bats).
When Wayne fires the first shot at Teresa, in the camera angle from above and to his left, two feet are clearly visible in the shot. Most likely, it's a camera man, as the film angle when Wayne fires the second shot is right where the feet were in the prior view.
When Columbo and Wayne are interviewing the neighbours along the beach, the elderly lady is addressed as Mrs. Shannon. Later, on the cherry picker, Mrs. Shannon's house is again cited. However, in the credits, the actress who played Mrs. Shannon (Louise Fitch) is credited as having played "Mrs. Gompertz".