Start your week with a little mystery. Match wits with the Monday Mystery Mob™. What’s your solution?
#1 – Death After Dinner
The Monday Mystery Mob™ had finished their schnitzel, gathered strudel and schnapps. Helga Bittner settled in to lead the after dinner traditional crime puzzle discussion.
“We’ve got a good one tonight. You’ll never guess the answer, Fritz,” Helga said, staring the yappy Fritz quiet over jazzy reading glasses perched on her nose. The buzz died down in happy anticipation. Helga pulled out her notes to avoid missing any important clues. The Mob could get hostile if she left out anything, as she knew too well. She no longer had the power of her gavel to keep the unruly in line.
“Perhaps you recall the case last spring involving the disappearance and murder of a young woman while participating in a class trip to one of the Greek islands?” Helga heard murmurs of assent from the group, none louder than Fritz’s wife, Isolde. “The co-ed was last seen leaving a bar by her classmates.”
Fritz chimed in, disapproval based on his years in Detroit homicide investigation. “Risky behavior. Several hours in that bar dancing and drinking, before she left with two young men she didn’t know. What was she thinking?”
Helga glared at his interruption. For a cop, Fritz was too willing to ignore the game’s rules. “We don’t know that, but we do know the two men were identical twins.”
Fritz tisked. Helga ignored him. “She was seen once after she left the bar, cavorting with one of the men on the beach. A couple of hours later, her body was discovered in the same location, bludgeoned to death.”
Fritz said, “Two beer bottles were found near the body as I recall. One was the murder weapon.”
Helga snapped. “Are you moderating this puzzle or am I?”
Isolde placed a restraining hand on her husband’s forearm before Fritz and his sister could launch into another of their famous battles. “Go ahead, Helga.”
Helga harrumphed, pouted a little, then finished up the puzzle. “Authorities found the young woman’s fingerprints and saliva on one bottle. The other bottle had prints and enough saliva for DNA analysis from one of the males.”
Isolde was hooked now; she interjected this time. “But identical twins have identical DNA. How did police identify which of the twins killed the young woman? And don’t say it’s the kind of thing your friend Willa Carson would know.”
Helga smiled at Fritz. They shared a knowing moment before she asked the group. “Yes, how did they identify the killer?”
What is your solution?
I’m stumped for sure. Can’t wait to hear the answer!
Oh my gosh. These drive me insane. I don’t know that anyone has identical fingerprints so I’m going with that. But that’s sounds to obvious.
Twice as many options, hmmm. Surely there there was at least one witness. Perhaps the brother?
Great mystery! Can’t wait for answer……
I’m looking forward to next week’s puzzle. I knew the answer to this one from law school.