Hunt-a-killer: Moon Summit Mystery

Summary links: Box 1 & Box 2 & Box 3

So in box 1, we have determined that poor Toby was indeed murdered with a 5′ knife. Because we are working what we know can call a cold case and because the original investigation stopped at the words “Animal Attack”: we are getting bits and pieces from Ami at the university and what she sends is a bit disorganized and some are even irrelevant. Box 2 had us figure out the route the killer took back to the camp. Apparently, the team planted cameras around their camp so they could catch the mystery Lynx that they were searching for. While the killer knew about the cameras he did get caught on one of them (well his thermal body did). Now we can figure out which person might be the killer. This helps us eliminate suspects. Box 3: eliminated Nigel Ricci.

 

Box 4:

We have been given access to Michelle’s shared desktop for this assignment, however due to the nature of the case, Michelle will be changing the password every so often:

www.moonsummitcase.net

Password: AKSL59

We also have access to two school Portal. The website is through the shared desktop:

Ami’s

UN: atakahashi

PW: orcinus92

Ricci’s

UN: NRicci

PW: teatime2492

 

So we have found out there has been a murder, now we have to examine the new evidence we have so far….

 

Thanks to the last 3 boxes(Box 1 & Box 2 & Box 3) we did figure out that there was in fact a murder. We figure out that the murderer used a 5” tactical knife and hide the murder by placing the body infront of a bear cave. The body was scavenged by a grizzly bear.  (Due to the bear tracks around the body and claw marks on the body). We also found out that the killer possibly used the Tall Pines Trail. The killer would have made it back to camp by 11pm without setting off any red flags. We also eliminated our first suspect: Nigel Ricci

 

Evidence: 

• Bloody Gauze: Thanks to Ami’s investigation and snooping, she has found an evidence bag with a piece of bloody gauze that was found in the camp. She sent it to Michelle for DNA testing and Michelle uploaded the results to the DeviantTracker. 
• Paperwork: She has also included some random paperwork that doesn’t seem to connect to a suspect yet…
  • Weekly Report
  • Field Journal page
  • Character Notes
  • Trap Sensor Log
  • Luggage Tag
  • Documentary Reviews

 

Bloody Gauze: Found at the camp and sent to Michelle Gray

Thanks to Ami’s investigation and snooping, she has found an evidence bag with a piece of bloody gauze that was found in the camp. She sent it to Michelle for DNA testing and Michelle uploaded the results to the DeviantTracker. 

The results show two sets of DNA:

1. A partial DNA sample from human male
2. A partial DNA sample: Unknown
   1. TO figure out this unknown DNA sample, Michelle also uploaded multiple DNA samples of the wildlife in the area they were exploring. 
   2. If we compare the samples then we see that the DNA sample matches that of the Canada Lynx.

 

So we can confirm that someone at the camp, had an altercation with a Canada Lynx and used a piece of gauze to stop some part of his body bleeding. In fact, in his statement, Rusty said that the night Toby died, he was resetting a trap when a lynx attacked him. He then went back to camp and wrapped his arm. This piece of gauze can confirm this story. Or atleast that he did get attacked by a lynx sometime close to the night in question.

 

Weekly Report: Completed by Ricci, 8/22/2018

Findings: Talks about an incident that happened a week before. Mentions how everyone is being more of a team despite the incident. Rusty volunteered to take Toby to get more shots, Lillain is recording more and Emma is working more with Conrad. However there are still no results about the Ghost Lynx. Written every wednesday.

 

Field Journal page: Written by Emma, found at camp

Front side: Contained drawing of the ghost lynx as described by Conrad. She writes a small paragraph describing her feelings about the ghost lynx being discovered. She continues her feelings on the back side…

Back side: Containing drawing of tigers. Continues her feelings and mentions how tigers and elephants now live in glided cages in sauctuaries. Her last sentence states: “ If we are to protect this magnificent creature, no one can ever know it exists.”

 

Character Notes: written by Lillian Walker, 8/15/18

Written and drawn by Lillian Walker, explains more information about how she wants the story to go. Adds Notes about movie:

• C (conrad): Pefectionist/Micromanages. Checks jacket pocket, never takes anything out. “Make more impatient”
• N (Ricci): Always in lab or in camp. Picky about meals, hygiene, and sleep. 
• E (Emma): stays in camp more often, lashing out more. Won’t talk about Whitlock. Comes back from field w/o samples “Isolate E, R, T”
• R (Rusty): not w/ E as often, goes alone to check traps
• T (Toby): stopped giving opinions in group decisions, seems preoccupied, on laptop at night, doesn’t share photos anymore during mealtime. “Set up something in lab”

 

Documentary Reviews: about Lillian’s previous documentary.

Called Hatched, about families choosing In vitro fertilization. THe movie info makes the movie seem like a normal documentary. However the reviews tell a different story: All of them talk about Lillian taking a more dramatic take on the family dynamic, even going so far as inserting herself into the film and causing chaos. It seems like the same thing she is doing with this documentary.

Trap Sensor Log: 

Printed off the laptop labeled M14533 which was assigned to Emma, as mentioned in the Wifi log provided in the previous box. Small list of 5 traps: their locations, last triggered, and last reset. One of the traps that is located to the east of the camp (Located @ L33) was triggered at 20:33 (8:33pm) the night of the 29th. It was later reset at 22:11 (10:11pm) the same night. This lines up with Rusty’s statement. 

 

Luggage Tag: Tag belongs to Emma, from her flight from Denver, CO to Alaska.

On the back of the tag, is more snowshoe track code like the one on the safety protocols in the previous box. This time around it seems like two different people wrote the code. First I examined the other papers we have received so far and on the field journal page there were some small drawing of snowshoe hare tracks on the side of the page next to the tiger drawings. This leads me to think that Emma was one of the people writing the code. The second person is exactly the same as the safety protocols and we already determined that it was written by Rusty. 

So taking this information, we can determine that Emma and Rusty were writing in code to each other. Now to decode the snowshoe hare code: Remember its in Morse code–

 

E: – .- -.- .   – — -… -.–   — -.   …. .. -.- .   ..   -. .. -..   .-   -… .-. . .- -.-

(-)(.-)(-.-)(.)   (-)(—)(-…)(-.–)   (—)(-.)   (….)(..)(-.-)(.)   (..)   (-.)(.)(.)(-..)   (.-)   (-…)(.-.)(.)(.-)(-.-)

Take Toby on Hike I need a break

R: ..-. .. -. .   -.– — ..-   — .– .   — .

(..-.)(.. -.)(.)   (-.–)(—)(..-)   (—)(.–)(.)   (–)(.)

Fine you owe me

 

Conclusion: Emma and Rusty were communicating in code. If this was sent before the weekly report on the 22th, then it explains why Rusty would all of a sudden volunteer to take Toby on a hike to get more shots. 

 

Physical Evidence:

 

• Wallet: Belongs to Toby. Empty except Toby’s ID and a small piece of paper: “Toby- Echo Cavern, Twilight. Shot of lifetime. It cover worthy?” Could be the reason why Toby was away from camp by himself.

 

 

Conclusions: 

The goal of this box was to eliminate a suspect…That suspect is:

• Russel “Rusty” Tudlik: 
  • In his witness statement, he said he was reseting a trap east of camp after dinner where he was attacked by a lynx, came to camp to wrap up his arm and then realized Toby was missing.
    • The trap senor log confirms that someone reset the trap closest to the camp @ 10:11pm.
    • The DNA from the bloody guaze confirmed that two sets of DNA were on it: a human male and a Canada lynx.

 

Don’t forget to update your assignment from Michelle. It is located on the desktop. Hopefully Ami will be able to send us more info so we can solve this once for all.