Choosing murderer?
How did mr Preston know who was the murderer? He must have known, to pick the right man in the audition.
shareAlso, how did the murderer know the flashlight was in the drawer? After killing the woman and throwing her body out the window, I don't think he is going to start going through the furniture. If he was looking for money, there was $1000 in the drawer. Why didn't he take it? And on another point. When the woman fell on the furniture, her head hit the corner. This would have made a hole in her head. The hole in her head would not be consistent with a fall. The medical examiner should have noticed this.
Help stamp out and do away with superfluous redundancy
He saw the flashlight when he was in the apartment a year earlier. This was mentioned at the end in Preston's summation of what happened.
I think if she fell three stories out the window, there was a fair chance that her head was smushed in (along with every other bone in her body) that the hole would not be noticed.
Also, you have to remember this is for all practical purposes, a old-fashioned murder mystery that took place in 1982. That's 30 years ago -- you really can't apply modern forensics to a movie from 30 years ago. People who were convicted 30 years ago are STILL getting cleared on DNA and other new forensic evidence.
About the money? Personally, I think he just panicked. She was dead, he would be held responsible for at least second degree murder... not to mention blackmail. And his mind was much more on doing something with the body, not the money.
How sad, that you were not born in my time, nor I, in yours.