Murder+Mystery

Calling all budding forensics experts, the Iowa State Patrol need your help:

__The Crime Scene__
Lynn Moyer, 34 years old, was found dead by her mother, Gretchen Olsen. The victim’s mother found her daughter lying face down on the patio of Lynn’s home at 700 hours when she came to pick her up for work. There was a stab wound in her chest, which appeared to be the reason for the pool of blood in which she was lying. The victim also had blood all over her hands and arms but there were no wounds apparent there. The blood could have been from holding her stab wound. The victim’s rabbit, which does not have a history of escaping its cage, was found sitting beneath the shed in the backyard, kept in by the high fence that surrounds the property. The rabbit’s cage hung open. There are two sets of fibers on the wiring of the cage, one blue and one red, as well as a small amount of blood on one of the blue set of fibers. Leading from the cage are two sets of blood splatter. One goes directly to the body, however, the other leads towards the gate, which has been left open.


 * Background on our victim** – //Female, Age 34, 5’1”, 109 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes - Lynn lives by herself in a small row home in the same town as her family. Lynn and her husband Keith are in the process of a nasty divorce, which is what sent her back to her hometown. The two are furious with each other and still working out who gets what out of the marriage. She dotes on her pet rabbit, Thumper. Thumper lives in a rabbit hutch (ill-tended) in the backyard of her home. The cage is equipped with a bell because Lynn is fearful that it will escape. Lynn wants to bring the rabbit in the house, but her landlord does not allow pets inside. Lynn recently was appointed the Vice-President of her parents’ shirt manufacturing business which has landed her comfortably in the upper middle class without her ex-husband’s help. Her brother however, is very angry at the fact that he has yet to become part of the family business while his sister has shot right up to the top.//

__The Suspects__

 * __**Keith Moyer (Lynn's Husband)**__ - //Male, Age 36, 5’11”, 181 lbs, dark brown hair, brown eyes// - Keith is Lynn’s estranged husband. Now that their marriage has fizzled, the two appear to be incapable of being civil with each other. They are still fighting over the possessions of their marriage and the divorce has yet to be finalized. They do not see each other often now that Lynn has moved out of his house and into her own place but when they do meet, all they do is fight.
 * __**Gretchen Olsen (Lynn's Mother)**__ - //Female, Age 60, 5’2”, 102 lbs, grey hair, brown eyes// - Gretchen is Lynn’s mother. She and her husband have been married for 40 years. They started a shirt manufacturing business together shortly after they married. The business took off right away and has been extremely successful. Gretchen was ecstatic when her daughter moved back into the neighborhood and she made her the vice-president of the ever-growing business. Lynn sees her parents often and goes over to their house for dinner at least once a week. They even carpool to work.
 * __**Logan Olsen (Lynn's Brother)**__ - //Male, Age 37, 6’2”, 174 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes// - Logan Olsen, Lynn’s older brother, has never really gotten along with his sister. When she moved away with her husband their relationship became even more strained. He has never left the town he grew up in, and has his own wife and home there. Now that Lynn is back in the neighborhood, neither sibling has made a great effort at reconciling. When Logan found out that his sister was given the VP position of their parents' business he was furious. He fought with his parents to try and change their mind to no avail. Logan sometimes feels that his parents are so excited about Lynn being back that they have forgotten him in the process, which only adds to his anger.
 * __**Marilyn White (Customer)**__ - //Female, Age 29, 5’8”, 140 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes// - Marilyn White is a customer of the Olsen family shirt business. However, all did not go as planned. Marilyn ordered a very large number of shirts from the business for a charity event. However, when she received the close to 2,000 shirts, she noticed that they were printed wrong. With only 2 days until the event, there was no way she could get all 2,000 reprinted. When she called the business she spoke to Lynn who apologized and said that with the time crunch, there was not much they could do. Lynn agreed to refund Marilyn a portion of her money but not all of it since she did keep the 2,000 misprinted shirts. Marilyn is very angry with Lynn and the business for messing up her large order.
 * __**Rick Olsen (Lynn's Father)**__ - //Male, Age 61, 6’0”, 188 lbs, grey hair, blue eyes// - Rick Olsen is Gretchen’s loving husband. The two are still inseparable after 40 years of marriage. Rick helps his wife run their shirt manufacturing business and loved the idea of making their daughter, Lynn, the vice-president. He too, is very happy to have their daughter back in town and makes every effort to spend a lot of time with her.
 * __**Ken Petrezulli**__ - //Male, Age 38, 180 lbs, brown hair, hazel eyes// - Ken Petrezulli is Logan’s long-time best friend. They met in high school and have been close ever since. In high school, Ken fell in love with Logan’s sister, Lynn, but she was too wrapped up in Keith to even notice. When she rejected Ken he pretend to be over it but has secretly loathed her and Keith ever since. Logan and Ken are attached at the hip and see each other a couple of times a week. Ken even got a small job at the shirt manufacturing company with Logan. They would do anything for each other.

__Possible Motives__
Steps of the Scientific Method Fiber Evidence 1 Fiber Evidence 2 Fiber Evidence 3 Fingerprint Evidence Footprint Evidence Hair Evidence 1 Hair Evidence 2 Hair Evidence 3 Crime Scene Sketch Discussion Questions
 * Keith Moyer clearly does not get along with Lynn anymore. What started out a committed, loving relationship has completely changed. He and Lynn cannot be in the same room with each other for five minutes without fighting. With them still fighting over possessions, their arguments are even more heated. When they were together, they had a lot of nice things that other people only dreamed of having. Keith is fighting to the death to make sure he gets as much out of the marriage as possible.
 * Gretchen Olsen loves her daughter very much. She could not be happier about her being close to home again. Making her VP of the company that was a move that she initiated. In reality, Gretchen does not seem to have any motive for harming her daughter.
 * Logan Olsen has nothing but hate for his sister. They never were close and lately things have only been worse. She got the position he wanted within the family business. She has always been more successful. And on top of all that, their parents are so wrapped up in her that they have forgotten about him. He still hopes to take the VP position from his sister, no matter what it takes.
 * Marilyn White is a disgruntled customer of the Olsen family business. When she ordered 2,000 shirts from the company she was extremely annoyed to find them all printed wrong. She was even angrier when Lynn refused to refund all of her money since she kept the misprinted shirts. Marilyn just wanted nice shirts to have for the charity event she was running but thanks to Lynn and the business, that won’t happen.
 * Rick Olsen seems to have no motive for killing his daughter. He cares about her very deeply and she has always been “daddy’s little girl”. The two often go out to lunch and spend a lot of time together. He was very excited when his wife suggested making Lynn the VP of the company.
 * Ken Petrezulli has always been around the Olsen home, since he is such good friends with Logan. In High School he was very much in love with Lynn who wanted nothing to do with him. Ever since High School, tension has been high between the two. He has never quite gotten over Lynn; however she still has no interest in him. Ken is also very loyal and faithful to his best friend Logan who hates his sister.