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A car is speeding down a winding road through the Rocky Mountains. It strikes the guardrail, throwing the driver out of the vehicle. The car tumbles hundreds of feet down the cliff side.

The police arrive minutes later at the base of the cliff. They find the driver, bloodied from the crash, and pronounce him dead. A hundred feet away, they find the crashed vehicle.

Crashed car

Upon inspection, they find that the windows were open, and there is blood covering the front seat.

The detective announces that someone has tampered with the scene of the accident. Why?

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    $\begingroup$ PaulParker rot13(Qbrf gur snpg gung gur cvpgher jnf sebz Verynaq unir nalguvat gb qb jvgu gur fbyhgvba?) $\endgroup$
    – AAM111
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:17
  • $\begingroup$ @OldBunny2800 no. The picture is just for effect. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:34
  • $\begingroup$ -1 The story makes no sense (drivers don't get thrown out of cars easily, especially before the car even starts down the cliff). The accepted answer similarly doesn't stack up in real life. $\endgroup$
    – AndyT
    Apr 13, 2018 at 14:23

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If he was tossed when the car struck the guardrail, where did the blood come from? There's no time for blood to be on the seat during an ejection.

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    $\begingroup$ This answer requires that the detective know the circumstances of the crash a priori. Without this knowledge, the detective would simply come to a slightly different conclusion concerning the details of the crash rather than think someone had tampered with the scene. $\endgroup$
    – MooseBoys
    Apr 13, 2018 at 5:40
  • $\begingroup$ Or maybe the driver cut himself at home, was on his way to the hospital, bled on the seat, and crashed when he passed out due to blood loss. Maybe he had a dog in the car. It injured itself, bled on the seat and caused the crash as it fought its way out of the car. Hmm. I guess if you interpret "bloodied from the crash" to mean that there was no blood on him that did not come from the crash it works. $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Apr 13, 2018 at 8:35
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I can think of two reasons:

1. Blood on the front seat - unlikely when a driver is thrown out, especially since automotive glass doesn't shatter into shards.
2. The seat belt was unbuckled, but it wasn't tautly placed on the B-pillar (this indicates that the belt was worn by a person, since if it wasn't worn, it would have no slack. The pre-tensioner will lock the recoiler so it will not retract the seatbelt when it is removed after the pre-tensioner fired).

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    $\begingroup$ All an unbuckled seat belt would suggest is that he wasn't wearing it. $\endgroup$
    – JohnP
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:38
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah, that's a slightly tenuous reason - he was either not wearing it, or it was released by someone who murdered him there and staged the body to appear like he was thrown out. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:47
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    $\begingroup$ Just speaking from having been 1st responder on a lot of crashes, unlikely there would be blood on the seat in the majority of cases like this, esp if the car is upside down. Minor nitpick. :p $\endgroup$
    – JohnP
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:49
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    $\begingroup$ Hey, thank you for your service, you people (EMS, first responders, fire services) are heroes. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Apr 13, 2018 at 3:53
  • $\begingroup$ Something just occurred to me - the state of the seatbelt pre-tensioner would indicate whether it was buckled at the time of impact or not, wouldn't it? If the seatbelt was worn, there'd be slack if it was removed, and no slack if it wasn't worn. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Apr 13, 2018 at 4:11
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Maybe,

The blood that was found in the car is actually on the passenger seat, since there was nobody besides the driver in the car, someone must've tampered with the scene of the accident.

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I would classify this case into 2 premises, the first one is the event of the car slipping down through the rocky mountain is caused by the unprecedented actor who drove the car out off road track. Who on earth would drive a car in the mountain? I believe there must be someone else in the car or outside the car who played that role.

Second premise, the driver is managed to get out or accidentally dropped off, the driver is still alive with wounds but murdered.

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I'm inclined to believe the solution lies in the fact that the car "tumbled" down the cliff. This would suggest that the cliff has an incline that is gradual. The car is said to have tumbled "hundreds of feet". It would be difficult for a man under his own inertia to tumble down the cliff at a speed commiserate with the automobile and come to rest only a hundred feet away.

But that's an answer that's more speculative and a whim to the circumstances than I would like. So I'm quite stumped.

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