They also cut a small but important bit early on where Ruth turns the light off on her brother. It was only about ten seconds worth, but it foreshadowed the "why were the lights off" clue that Columbo clamped onto.
Have to admit though, the lights off clue didn't hold together very well. Too dark for the victims to see each other but not too dark for Janie to see the briefcase the next morning?
Yeah, noticed that missing too. Good point on Janie seeing the brief case. Hadn't thought of that. What I never could figure out is that neither supposed shooters would have had gun shot residue on them, so that would be an immediate give away that it was staged. Seemed to be a huge flaw in the story to me. Ruth could have at least tried to shoot another bullet or something with their hands to get GSR on them.