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Murder mystery Inferencing Activity #2

Last updated about 2 years ago
10 questions

Murder Mystery Inferencing Activity

Directions: Read one section at a time. After finishing a section, underline or highlight any potential clues
and explain what they could suggest. Gather clues from EACH section before movving on. At the end, you should have all the evidence you need to sovle the crime.
The eighth-floor NYC apartment was a mess. Streamers, noisemakers, and empty confetti canisters
crunched under the detective’s feet as she made her way through the space. It was a new day, a new
year, and she was already working a murder investigation. The victim, Cullen Hastings, was found
shortly after midnight, dead on the ground outside of his building. No one heard or saw him fall.
Initially, they thought it was a suicide. There was an open window in his bedroom letting in the cold
New York City air and a scribbled goodbye note on his bed. There was also something strange, however.
When they dusted the window frame for fingerprints, his prints showed he was facing inside his room,
holding onto the frame with both hands, right before he exited the window and met his untimely end.
1

Based on what you read what can you infer?

2. When the police arrived on the scene earlier that morning, the party was over. Cullen’s roommate,
Trevor, was sleeping when they knocked on the door. Once he heard the banging, he let them in. Trevor,
tan-skinned and dark-haired, covered his mouth in shock when he heard that Cullen had died. “No one
even noticed,” he told them. “He was there for the countdown to midnight and then I guess we just
figured he went to bed.” The detective wrote his statement on a small notebook she kept in her coat.
“How was your relationship with Mr. Hastings?” she asked him, looking intently at his face.
“It was fine,” he said, his eyes scanning the floor. “All three of us had normal roommate arguments
about cleaning and paying the bills, but he was a cool guy.”
“Three of us?” “Yeah, me, Cullen, and Kevin, who lives in the third bedroom. He went to Times Square last night.”
1

Based on what you read what can you infer?

3. Next, the detective checked social media, as she did every time she had a murder of this nature. She
found photos of the party fairly easily. In one, posted before midnight, Cullen was frowning at a short,
thin girl who stood facing him, her arms crossed. “Who is this girl?” She asked Trevor.
“That’s Karen Bradbury, Cullen’s girlfriend. Has anyone told her yet? She’s going to be so upset.”
The detective got Karen’s number from Trevor and called to set up a meeting with her. Karen was very
calm on the phone, pausing only slightly when she learned of her boyfriend’s death.
“Okay,” she said quietly, “I’ll meet you there.” Then, she hung up.
1

Based on what you read what can you infer?

4. The detective met Karen in a deli near Cullen’s apartment building. Her make-up was smudged and her
red hair fell in limp curls from the night before.
“I know this is difficult, but is there anything you can tell me about what you saw last night before
Cullen was pushed from the window?”
She twisted her lips, frowning. “We argued. I want to take this internship in London and he said he
didn’t want me to go. It’s a really good opportunity, it would pretty much set me up with a career. But
he said he would miss me too much and that I needed to stay.”
“What did you say back to him?” The detective said, sipping her coffee.
Karen paused and then looked up at the detective. “I said I was going.”
“And...?” The detective prompted her. “And he threatened to do anything necessary to stop me.” Karen saw the detective writing something in her notebook. “It looks bad, I know, but I really have no idea how he ended up dead.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her coat, leaving her coffee untouched in front of her. The detective nodded, convinced by her tears, but also convinced that she had a motive to kill him.
1

Based on what you read what can you infer?

5. The detective sat at her desk, reviewing the evidence. There were the photos from the party, the
fingerprints, the argument. The fact that Cullen threatened Karen showed a lot about his personality.
The detective just didn’t think that Karen was the killer. She had been wrong before, but she couldn’t
imagine her killing him in that method. She looked at a picture of the window. The killer would have to be big, strong. With that observation alone, she narrowed down her suspect list.
1

Based on what you read, what can you infer?

6. The detective made a list of every male at the party that night. Then, she called them in one by one, to
the station. There were twelve in total, including Trevor, who came straight from the gym. Baggy clothes hung on his thin frame. She asked each of them to push a police officer about the same size as Cullen through a
doorframe. This exercise was about more than seeing who had the strength to do it. It was about watching their
faces as they did it. Only one face showed a hint of the emotion the detective was looking for.
1

Based on what you read, What can you infer?

7. “I think you know something more,” the detective told Trevor as she sat across from him in an
interrogation room. “I swear I don’t,” he pleaded with her. “When you pushed that officer through the door, I saw the guilt in your eyes.” She leaned forward.“Lying is only going to make things more difficult, Trevor.” She told him. He paused and then looked up at her. “Okay, fine, there is something I haven’t told you yet.” He took a
deep breath. “After Cullen and Karen argued, Cullen went in his room. Then, a few minutes later, I heard
someone yelling at him, they called Cullen a selfish jerk. Cullen yelled back. Then, it was quiet.”
1

Based on what you read, what can you infer?

8. She had one more person to talk to, but it was more of a formality. She knocked on the third
roommate’s office door, labeled Kevin Bradbury. He let her in and showed her where to sit, across from
him at his desk. It was a nice office for a loan adjustor. There was a diploma from New York University,
a framed photo of him holding a heavyweight championship belt, and even a potted plant in one corner.
“I’m so upset about what happened. I wish I could have been there. I just keep telling myself that I could
have done something to stop it from happening.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” She consoled him. “So you were at Times Square?”
He nodded, “It was wild, super crowded.”
“And then what time did you get home?”
“It wasn’t until the next day. I stayed at my sister’s place, which was closer than going all the way back
home.”
“Do you have any other information that could help us?”
He ran his hand through his red beard. “No. Well, I don’t know if it helps, but Cullen and Trevor were
arguing about money before the party started. Cullen borrowed some to cover bills, but he didn’t pay
him back by the end of the month like he promised. Trevor was pretty upset about it.”
1

Based on what you read, what can you infer?

9. The detective arrived back at her desk, pulling up the photos to sort through another time, hoping
something would stand out to her.
Something did. In the corner of a picture, almost hidden by a giant balloon, was a person she
recognized, someone she had not initially suspected. A person who lied to her.
The detective immediately knew who did it.
1

Killer

Method of killing


Reason for killing

1

Type:
Killer
Method of killing
Reason for killing