9
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The motive

AṠT ẠTIONS ḄJECT ENTI
ETṚE HAṄK ṄITED ORṬH
OU RİENTED

The weaponry

ANGĖ ẸLATIONS ERVİCE EX̣AS
LḊ LİA NGLIṢH NSTRUṀENTS
NTEṚ ONG ROVỊDER UBLIC

The victim

ANḊS ARBỌN ECOṘD ẸRSONAL
ETHER ḢEODORE IBER ỊNK
LCOḢOLICS NTERṄET MERIC̣AN
OOSEVẸLT XPRESṠ NỌNYMOUS

Name the fictional crime.

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3 Answers 3

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The crime is ...

... armed robbery.

Each word in the list ...

... is missing its first letter. There is an even number of words in each list and the (completed) words can be matched to form pairs. These pairs are common phrases that can be abbreviated by the (missing) initial letters, e.g. United Nations is abbreviated as UN. In some cases, the couple forms a single word, that is still abrreviated by the first two letters of the segments, e.g. centimetre is abbreviated as cm.

CM   CENTI-METṚE         PR   PUBLIC RẸLATIONS      CF   CARBỌN FIBER
OO   OḄJECT ORİENTED     IA   INTEṚ ALİA            AA   ALCOḢOLICS ANỌNYMOUS
UN   UṄITED NẠTIONS      SP   SERVİCE PROVỊDER      PR   PẸRSONAL RECOṘD
NE   NORṬH-EAṠT          TI   TEX̣AS INSTRUṀENTS     TR   TḢEODORE ROOSEVẸLT
TY   THAṄK YOU           OE   OLḊ ENGLIṢH           AE   AMERIC̣AN EXPRESṠ
                         LR   LONG RANGĖ            IL   INTERṄET LỊNK
                                                    NL   NETHER-LANḊS
Each pair has one word with a dot above and one word with a dot below, but two words in each section don't have a dot. I didn't see the significance of the dots, but OP told me in the comments and now it's quite obvious to me: The dots determine the order of the pairs: Each dot below a letter lines up with a dot above a letter in the next line. (The hyphens are just there to enforce the alignment; I guess the alignment is also why the puzzle uses a monospace font.)

Anyway, we can read the abbreviations column-wise and get the motive count money, the weapons pistol and rapier and the victim Captain Farrell.

These facts ...

... point to Whiskey in the Jar, an Irish folk song made popular by The Dubliners and other bands. There are slight variations in the lyrics in each interpretation, but the general plot is the same. Here's the first stanza:

    As I was a goin' over the far famed Kerry mountains
    I met with Captain Farrell and his money he was counting
    I first produced my pistol and I then produced my rapier
    Saying "Stand and deliver" for he were a bold deceiver

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2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Correct! The dots are rot13[thvqrf gb gur pbeerpg beqre, ohg vg bayl jbexf orsber nqqvat gur zvffvat yrggref (RAGV RGER rgp).] I admit it would have made more sense to add them in the format you've used in your answer, though... $\endgroup$
    – Jafe
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 11:17
  • $\begingroup$ Ah! Now I see how it works and it's quite obvious. Too bad I didn't get what the dots mean -- they were the most intriguing part of another fine puzzle from you. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 18:18
2
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Very partial solution, but it looks like...

Words are missing their first letter, and they can be matched in pairs.

The motive:

UṄITED NẠTIONS
CENTI METṚE
THAṄK YOU
OḄJECT ORİENTED
NORṬH EAṠT

The weaponry:

TEX̣AS INSTRUṀENTS
OLḊ ENGLIṢH
SERVİCE PROVỊDER
LONG RANGĖ
PUBLIC RẸLATIONS
INTEṚ ALİA

The motive:

TḢEODORE ROOSEVẸLT
ALCOḢOLICS ANỌNYMOUS
AMERIC̣AN EXPRESṠ
CARBỌN FIBER
NETHER LANḊS
INTERṄET LỊNK
PẸRSONAL RECOṘD

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0
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Partial Answer

The Ideology

The first letter was missing from each word. Not sure what to do with the dots though

The motive

AṠT ẠTIONS ḄJECT ENTI

v/fast rations object senti

ETṚE HAṄK ṄITED ORṬH

metre thank united north

OU RİENTED

you oriented

The weaponry

ANGĖ ẸLATIONS ERVİCE EX̣AS

range relations service texas

LḊ LİA NGLIṢH NSTRUṀENTS

old ilia english instruments

NTEṚ ONG ROVỊDER UBLIC

enter l?**ong **provider public

The Victim

ANḊS ARBỌN ECOṘD ẸRSONAL

h/sands carbon record personal

ETHER ḢEODORE IBER ỊNK

t/nether Theodore **f?**iber **l?**ink

LCOḢOLICS NTERṄET MERIC̣AN

alcoholics internet american --> AIA?

OOSEVẸLT XPRESṠ NỌNYMOUS

Roosevelt express anonymous -->rea?

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