Crime Case Full Story

Who knows how disappointed you will be, but this is the story behind Marie Oates´ death (remember, this is the first crime case ever for a group of sixteen-year-old students).

Marie and Daisy Oates grew up together, the beautiful and the intelligent sister. They got on well until Marie realized how fun it was to flutter her long eyelashes at someone else´s boyfriend – and tried this on Daisy´s lover, Robert Browne.

Daisy believed she had found the one and only, and she had just realized she was pregnant. What could she do? She tried to persuade Robert, she considered terminating the pregnancy, she considered killing herself – which is why she stole Robert´s gun. (Robert may have had an idea about this, but as you can imagine, this guy who leaves a pregnant girl at the flutter of an eyelash, does not have enough backbone to report his gun stolen or try to help Daisy).

Unhappy but intelligent Daisy arranges a meeting with her sister “to patch things up”. Empty-headed Marie believes her and buys cream cakes for the reconciliation scene. She opens the door to let in her sister who points the gun at her, knowing that the longer time she stays in the flat, the more traces she will leave behind. She steps forward, trying her best to shoot Marie through the heart while making it look like suicide. But Marie tumbles back and raises her arms in self-defence so the bullet goes through her left arm first.

This does not look good. Daisy tries to keep cool and follow her plan. She places the gun in Marie´s hand and fires a second shot into the wall, leaving Marie´s fingerprints on the weapon.
She locks the door with a handkerchief around her fingers, and she does her best to stay clear of the body on the floor, but nevertheless she steps in a splash of blood in her new Reebok trainers. Daisy is not exactly fashion-conscious so she does not know that these footprints will stick out among Marie´s high heels and stilettos.

In the kitchen she opens the window and jumps down on the grey container in the backyard. Unseen she returns to her hired car, and on her way home she gets rid of the shoes in a container. According to her original plan she was going to return to her flat, but she realizes that the suicide scene will not convince the police for long so she picks up her passport, draws some cash and goes to Gatwick Airport.

Where is Daisy now? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Thank you to my persistent team of detectives for playing along!

Crime Case Round Seven

Wanted: The Bedford police are very eager to get in touch with Ms Daisy Oates of Reading. Ms Oates is in her mid-thirties, 160 cm tall, normal weight, and she has short, dark blonde hair. She was last seen near Gatwick.

DC Tim Kinberg has spoken with Robert Browne who is a tall, well-built soldier. Even in his current state of shock and despondency he seems to be a kind and pleasant young man. After some hesitation he reveals that he had a short fling with Daisy before he met Marie. “Daisy was just ... Well, I am afraid this doesn´t sound so good, but after I had seen Marie I couldn´t ... I couldn´t get her out of my mind again.”

Kinberg asks Robert if Daisy strikes him as a jealous type. He explains that the police have not been able to find Daisy since Marie´s death. “Do you think Daisy thought what you were having together was a serious relationship?”

Robert seems shaken by this information. He admits that Daisy wasn´t very willing to let him go. She has tried to arrange a meeting with him for weeks, and he confesses that he fears she might be pregnant. “I am not sure, but she said something about new responsibilities... Oh, I am so confused. But she can´t have ... She really loved her sister!”

“A final questions, Robert. Did Marie or Daisy own a white pair of Reebok trainers?”

“Trainers? Running shoes? Not Marie, certainly, unless they come with high heels.”

Tomorrow: last round – so what do you want to ask?

Crime Case Round Six

A brand-new report ticks in from ballistics. Margot Duncan confirms that Ms Oates was killed by a bullet fired by Robert Browne´s gun, a Walther P99. Two shots were fired, one which hit Marie Oates´ left arm, went through a rib and penetrated the left ventricle. It was fired at close range (c 50 cm) with a slightly upward angle. This bullet (showing clear traces of tissue) was dug out of the living room wall c 160 cm above the floor. Another bullet hit the wall c 20 cm above the skirting board, and again the angle seems to have been upward.

The flat seems tidy, and Ms Oates´ expensive watch plus several pieces of jewellery lie about in the living room. Ms Oates does not seem to have done anything to defend herself – apart from raising her left arm immediately before the gunshot went off. As Ms Oates owned more than a hundred pairs of shoes, it has taken some time to established which prints were hers, but DC Kelly Adams has found a clear print of a bloodstained Reebok shoe measuring 23 cm on the kitchen floor.

No trace of Daisy Oates yet. One of Marie´s colleagues, Tina Osborne, claims Marie and Daisy got on well “most of the time, but they had some kind of fall-out a few months ago.” Ms Osborne explains that she and Marie were not close. “I doubt she has ever had a close girlfriend. You like her in the beginning, but then you notice that if there are men in the vicinity she just forgets you exist.” DC Patti Witter asks her if Marie was in any kind of trouble, e.g. money or alcohol. “Trouble? Oh no, she was such a skinflint, and she hardly ever touched alcohol. She said it ruined her complexion. To be honest, she was a bit boring. Everything in her life was about Marie Oates.”

Crime Case Round Five

First the flat: DC R.T. Jury reports that semen, hair and skin from the bed come from Robert. This corresponds with Robert´s statement about their weekend activities. He sticks to his explanation about the gun: he has not seen it since he came back from Afghanistan. He may have shown it to a friend or two around that time.

DC Patti Witter reports that the windows are not broken, but one of them has not been fastened. Though Marie´s cakes have not been eaten, she may have had a visitor as there are apparently two sets of footprints on top of Robert´s.

Marie´s mother has not been able to help much. She is shocked and DC Tim Kinberg has tried to get in touch with the sister Daisy because he feels Mrs Oates should not be left alone, but Daisy is nowhere to be found.

Preliminary results from the post-mortem: suicide has not been ruled out yet, but as the bullet passed through Marie´s left arm before it penetrated her chest, it is unlikely.

DC Kelly Adams who is in charge of the door-to-door complains that it has not given much yet as most of the neighbours were still at work during the incident. A woman in her thirties may have passed the house during the relevant period of time, but she could also have entered the block of flats. The description of the short-haired woman is vague, but “she was certainly not a model.”

Crime Case Round Four

Starlite photo of Marie Oates.

[This is more of a question-answer round as there are so many questions and I am still busy assisting my seven groups of students]

Marie Oates dies shortly after having arrived at the local hospital (Monday late afternoon). Her poor mother identifies her.

The boyfriend & soldier Robert Charles Brown has not reported his gun stolen as he had not noticed it wasn´t in the box under his bed where he left it several months ago. Robert´s superiors confirm the gun has been issued to him in 2009.

Marie´s mobile phone (her only phone): Marie Oates called Robert Sunday afternoon around five o´clock, and her sister Daisy Oates called her Sunday evening around half past ten. She has not been in touch with any of the other models since she left work Friday. They saw her take the bus as usual.

There might be several jealous girls as Marie was very beautiful (some ´friends´ hint that she thought it was fun to steal their boyfriends just to prove that she could).

The relationship between Marie and Robert started two-three months ago. He visited her in her flat Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday after lunch. He went back to his room in Sherwood because he had an appointment with three other soldiers. They went out drinking heavily, and Robert did not really surface until Monday afternoon. He claims he and Marie were very happy.

The police have tried to contact Marie´s sister but she is neither in her home nor at work.

The flat: The door was locked from the inside, and the key was left in the key hole. The only other exits are two windows facing the backyard.
It seems as if Marie Oates´ has slept in her bed several times since she changed her bed linen. There are traces of semen though hardly very fresh.
Ms Oates was dressed, and she had been out shopping Monday morning. She went to the local baker to buy two cream cakes and milk. The baker (who seems partial to her beauty) remembers having seen her around twelve o´clock. The cakes are still in her fridge, but someone has opened the carton of milk.

Crime Case Round Three

Detective Constables Tim Kinberg and Patti Witter seek out the caretaker who tries to Marie Oates´ flat. The door is locked from the inside, however, so they have to break it open.

On the living room floor they find a young woman who has been shot, possibly more than once. She is unconscious, her breath is shallow, and they send for an ambulance immediately. They assume they have found twenty-seven-year-old Marie Oates.

They call for technical assistance, and when the scene of crime has been photographed, they bag a handgun Walther P99 lying next to the woman. They continue their examination of the flat.

DC Patti Witter tries to get in touch with Ms Oates´ mother, but in vain. Instead she finds the phone number of Robert Charles Brown, Ms Oates´ boyfriend. She gets in touch with him an hour later in his rented room in Sherwood. He is devastated when he hears that Marie is severely injured. When asked, he admits that he owns a Walther P99, but he has not seen the weapon for months.

Detective Constable Kelly Adams goes to Marie Oates´ place of work. Ms Oates is a popular model, working for the bureau “Starlites” in Bedford. The owner of the bureau, Ms Betty Fordson, explains that she saw Marie Friday afternoon, and that she was expected at work today, Monday. Ms Fordson says Marie was chatting on her phone all day long, gossiping with friends, arranging dates or arguing with that sister of hers. Ms Fordson knows she had a new boyfriend, "but mind you, her relationships never last long. She is so pretty she can have anyone she wants."

You are the detectives; what will you do next?

Crime Case round two.

The police ring the bell and pound on the door of Marie Oates´ flat. They get no reaction and there is no sound from the flat.

They talk to Sally Smith who was taking a nap when she heard what she believed was a gun shot. She says she might have heard a body falling, but she is not at all certain. She did not try to get in touch with Marie Oates as she was scared. “Perhaps it was one of all her male friends. They run in and out of her flat all the time.” She denies having heard anything at all after the shot that woke her up.

Mrs Doreen Clarke who lives in the flat opposite Marie Oates´ confirms that she has heard something from young Marie´s flat. “It could be shots, I don´t really know, but it was definitely from her flat. But the door didn´t ... Wait a second, I think I heard the door of her flat before the shots – or whatever it was.” Mrs Clarke does not know the name of Marie´s boyfriend, “but he is a very nice and polite soldier.”

The police check the backyard. Nothing of interest, but one of Ms Oates´ first floor windows seems not to be closed properly. They discuss what to do next, but as Bedford is a very sleepy little town they are not at all sure it can have been gun shots.

So where do you go from here?

Crime Case

You receive an alarm call.

Sally Smith, Elm Lane in Bedford, has heard “something that sounded like a gun shot” from the flat above her own. The person who lives in the flat is a single girl, Marie Oates.

You are the detective/police officer: what will you do next, and which questions will you ask?

Send me a question (one or two each in the form of a comment), and the better questions, the better answers you will get in tomorrow´s post.