Character mistake: Piloting a helicopter, Leslie ends a radio conversation by saying "Over and out." "Over" means "I'm done talking; please respond." "Out" means "I'm done talking and I'm ending this communication." An experienced pilot would never say "Over and out." They are two different terms.
Character mistake: The policeman gets the bag for the ransom from the wife of the kidnapped person, grabs it with bare fingers and puts the money into it - without gloves, too. (00:23:30)
Character mistake: When Lee Grant cuts the reel-to-reel tape at the point after her husband says, "They've got me," she actually cuts the tape on the wrong side of the recorder. Her cut would probably have destroyed the section she's trying to capture. (00:01:17)
Answer: "Apparent" drowning answers your question - things are not always as they seem. Drowning could be accidental, but it could also be a murder in disguise. Moreover, the actual cause of death has not yet been determined - accident, suicide, murder, or natural cause (e.g, heart attack while swimming). Columbo would be there to investigate if anything looks unusual for it to be a mere drowning or if there is evidence or suspicion of something else.
KeyZOid
This was just on TMZ.com's "Aaron Carter Dead at 34" (11/05/2022): "Law enforcement sources tell TMZ... homicide detectives have been dispatched to the scene but we have no information or evidence of foul play. It's standard operating procedure for homicide detectives to investigate such [drowning] death scenes."
KeyZOid