Alright detectives, we got a good ol' who dunnit here.
Notes given to you by the department before you begin your examination of the place:
- May.
- Unclear Reasoning.
- During Evening.
- Raining. Dreary.
You approach the house, seems relatively new, your buddy motions over towards a group of adults. They appear to be the parents so you walk over to ask a few questions.
After a difficult conversation, many apologies, and tears, you look down at your notepad and look over the notes you made from the parents. You learned that these 7 kids were all recent graduates, they built a device that you could strap to the bottom of a shoe and create a force strong enough to lift you up slightly, almost like anti-grav!
They got a huge grant from a lab in the city to work further on the project so that they may eventually perfect the device, and maybe someday make rocket shoes. So all 7 of them have been staying in this house together since they have quite enough money together now.
Specifically about the kids you found out that, in fact only 5 are a part of the project.
One guy, Macario was just a good friend who they invited to stay, I was told he often cooked them dinners for fun.
A girl named Ranait supposedly left the project but continued to stay with them with new work in mind.
Ellia was supposedly a spunky, pink-haired girl who was the business mind of the team, she made all the financial decisions.
You also learned that Rasmus was a tiny guy with a big personality, he was responsible for the patent in the early stages. He had short hair.
Drake also had short hair and was the writer of the core code.
Daila graduated with a BA unlike most of the others.
Unika was the only one who graduated with a 4.0.
You walk up to the porch, taking a good look around before walking in. You noticed a small blood trail on the ground, but no bodies were marked out front here. You shrug if off for now and continue inside.
The first place you enter to your right is the dining room. You see a body laying on the ground by the table. Plates are scattered everywhere, even some food and silverware. It looks as though a spoon is lodged in the neck of the victim, who has noticeably black hair.
Next up is the kitchen. And what a horrible looking scene it is, with chairs strewn about and water everywhere. The body is still backwards up against the sink. It appears as though their hair was sucked down into the garbage disposal and the water was run until they drowed. They are wearing a shirt with lots of math symbols that appear to make some sort of clever line. Who knows, you're no engineer.
You make your way upstairs as you're told two died up here. First of the two is a bedroom. The body lay still, the head was wrapped up in a pillow case, and you could see hair clearly coming out the bottom. The sheets still laid nicely as if they were just made.
Leaving the room and turning down the hall you notice a big theater room. You leave almost as quickly as you entered. The one who died in here was clearly first and had been in there for a while. Phew. At a quick glance you barely see the back of a body upright in the seat, neck limp and slumped over to the side. No signs of blood anywhere either.
You make your way back downstairs and head out through the garage before checking out back. Immediately greeted by the most gruesome scene thus far. You see a blonde haired individual on the groun in a pool of blood, the neck with a jagged cut across it. Noticing a red tinted saw on the table gives that away. Next to it you also notice some blueprints, but they look nothing like the shoe device.
Finally you make your way out back, they had a small swingset and a trampoline, but you notice the last body by the swings. As you get closer you notice mulch everywhere, one of their shoes came off, and a business card for the grads. They had the chains of the swing twisted up and tied around their neck.
You leave the scene and walk back out front. You know what happened here and you promptly tell the chief. He thanks you and you are on your way, hoping they hunt the last student down and bring them in.
Things I want to know:
- Who is the killer? (If you come up with a reason why, go for it, but not needed)
- Give a description of each person, which can include their role in the group, hair style, and whether or not they put up a fight.
- Where did each one die and how did they die?
- Bonus points if you can tell me how to solve it with only the clues given by the parents. (There are a couple ways you can do this, but in the end I want a full solution)
Hint: Murder references are not all that significant. A logic puzzle grid solves this pretty handily.
Big hint: Here is the grid that makes up the entire scene.
