Crime Scene Case Descriptions

Steak-OutLovely Officer Lily Lang was called by Arnold Bean who said his wife had tried to

stab him and he wanted her arrested. He had a tear in his shirt that he said had been made by her knife.

“We had a slight argument,” he said, “after which she lost control and threw a plate at me and then attacked me with the carving knife. Luckily I was able to defend myself, and she ran off, but I’m afraid of what she’ll do when she gets back.”

Lily examined the knife and the scene, and waited. What should she do when Mrs. Bean returns?

The Burning IssueLittle Tommy Outhouse was cute. At the age of two he went dashing into the ocean, got twirled around a couple of times, and came up laughing. At the age of three he climbed into a parked car, released the brakes, and let it roll. The car was wrecked, but Tommy came away unscratched, and he loved every second of it.

At the age of four he saw smoke one morning and delighted in the sight, but fortunately a neighbor also saw it and called the fire department, which responded at once and doused the fire.

Tommy came to watch the fire, and was questioned about it. He said he had seen a big man doing something in the kitchen, but the big man yelled at him and scared him away.

The picture shows the soot-stained kitchen and a portion of the backyard as they looked immediately after the firemen had done their job. Do you think that this was a case of arson?

BoudoirAmy LaTour’s body was found in her bedroom last night, as shown, with her pet

canary strangled in its cage. Hery Willy and Joe Wonty, her boyfriends; Louis Spanker, a burglar, known to have been in the vincinity; and Celeste, her maid, were questioned by the police.

Based on the evidence found at the scene, who killed Amy?

End of a VillainRomano Rubitch was undoubtedly the most hated man in Edicott County, and his

life was often threatened, even by children. Consequently, when his boat was found drifting in Dead Man’s Cove without him, there was the equivalent of dancing in the streets. The widows and orphans whose life savings he’d invested and lost, the friends he’d double crossed, the tradesmen he’d cheated were of one mind: good riddance to bad Romano. And whether he’d drowned accidentally or been knocked off by a public benefactor, or had finally repaid his debt to the community by committing suicide was

immaterial to most people. But the sheriff of Endicott County had a sworn duty to investigate.

All he knew was that Romano had left his house on the morning of May 17th and had not returned for dinner, and that the next day his boat had been found exactly as you see it.

What conclusions can you draw?

Slip or Trip? At five-feet-six and a hundred and ten pounds, Queenie Volupides was a sight to behold and to clasp. When she tore out of the house after a tiff with her husband, Arthur, she went to the country club where there was a party going on. She left the club shortly before one in the morning and invited a few friends to follow her home and have one more drink. They got to the Volupides’s house about ten minutes after Queenie, who met them at the door and said, “Something terrible happened. Arthur slipped and fell on the stairs. He was coming down for another drink—he still had the glass in his hand—and I think he’s dead. Oh, my God—what shall I do? The autopsy conducted later concluded that Arthur had died from a wound on the head and confirmed that he’d been drunk.

A Matter of Diamonds Mrs. Diana Dogge, Dr. C. D. Spaniel and Owen Weimaraner were having tea on the Dogge patio and examining some diamonds that Mr. Weimaraner was showing in the hope of selling. The diamonds were on the small, dark platter near the center of the table when someone inside the house yelled “Fire!” and the three fled the patio. The fire, which had been set, damaged a curtain but was easily extinguished, and it was not determined who had given the alarm. When the trio returned, the diamonds were gone. Wilbur Unisex, who had been chasing butterflies, came upon the scene as shown. He questioned the trio and all of them gave similar answers to the effect that at the alarm they had jumped up and run into the house and that no one had noticed what the others did. From a study of the scene, Wilbur guessed who had stolen the diamonds. And he was right, of course. He always is.