User blog comment:Starscream7/The Powers that Be/@comment-1324199-20101101185530/@comment-5154589-20110413220051

Well, he was caught at the crime scene, yes, but:

''The thing [Gaardus] shook its head. “I didn’t hunt him … someone else did. But then he left without feasting, so the food became mine.”

“Who left? Who killed him?” asked Kopaka.

“I tried to see,” said the creature. “But he knew I was there. A howling wind knocked me from my watching spot and broke many limbs off the trees. By the time I touched the sky again, he was gone.”

“I scouted around,” said Pohatu. “I saw no tracks coming in or out of this area.”

“If I were one of your kind, you would believe,” said the creature, bitterly. “But I suppose you think truth is as alien to me as my appearance is to you.”''

- Chapter 2

But then again, the fact that Pohatu found no tracks could indicate the murderer teleported there, which Gaardus can do. However, his statement seems strong enough to clear him.