A 25-year-old Broomfield man used an ax to kill his 4-year-old nephew and was found covered in blood when police officers responded to the gory scene last month, according to an arrest affidavit released Wednesday.

Family members said they heard loud noises — like “a pillowcase loaded with items hitting the floor” — coming from a basement room where Emanuel Joseph Doll was with the young boy, the affidavit says. When asked about what the sounds were, Doll responded “nothing” and came upstairs.

A few minutes later, according to the court document, the child was found dead in the basement.

Doll is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the slaying. The child’s name has not been released.

The affidavit was released after Denver media outlets petitioned for it to be unsealed and a judge agreed. The order was made over the objections of both Doll’s attorneys and prosecutors.

Chief trial deputy Trevor Moritzky said that prosecutors were worried that release of the documents would have a “chilling effect” on possible witnesses and the emotional distress on the victim’s family.

“They don’t want to see that in the news,” Moritzky said. “They don’t want to be confronted by outside people, which has already happened.”

But attorney Steve Zansberg, representing 9News reporter Kevin Vaughan and the Colorado Broadcasters Association, said that the public had a right to monitor the proceedings in the case.

“The interests that the public has in overseeing these proceedings is not to learn the details of the defendant’s actions, but to understand the actions of public officials,” Zansberg said.

Also released Wednesday were search warrants showing Broomfield police wanted to examine an ax as well as computers and other electronic devices found in the home where the killing happened. The documents show Doll worked for his father’s computer coding business and was constantly using electronic devices.

Doll is accused of killing the child on April 27 at a home on the 42300 block of West 126 Avenue that has been the subject of more than a dozen police calls since March 2016. Police said the boy died of a “massive amount of trauma.”

Doll was arrested in the backyard of the home where the boy was killed soon after Broomfield police were called.

A preliminary hearing for Doll is set for July 14. Doll is being held without bail.

The Daily Camera contributed to this report.