Curtain Call…..
If you want to purchase Curtain Call follow this link: https://www.huntakiller.com/tf
So here is my review…This link will take you to the full summary while this link will take you to the folder in my Google Drive which has all the documents, pictures and spreadsheets to connect to the summaries…
Missing Starlet
Summary:
On the night of November 6, 1934, a famous starlet from the Broadway stage went missing, Viola Vane. The authorities interviewed her former fiancé Hector Roland and the Starlet’s mother Olga Gina, however they were unable to find any connections or Viola`s body therefore the case went cold.
80 years later, Julia Alder, owner of the Cadence theater in New York, found Miss Viola Vane’s body in the attic of her theater. Unfortunately for Mis Julia, her theater was also that last place Viola was seen before her disappearance. After seeing the cops disregard the cold case and being harassed by her board of directors, she has hired us to solve the cold case.
Location: Cadence theater, New York US
Once again we are working with Michelle Gray, PI, and she has asked our help on her friend’s case. To access the virtual desktop:
- Website: https://www.michellegrayinvestigations.com/
- Username(First initial, last name) :NJARDIN
- Password for box 1: PORTER
Please refer to the previous summaries: box 1 & box 2 & Box 3 & Box 4 as it will give you information of the case so far.
In the previous boxes, we confirmed Julia’s theory about Viola’s murder and the victim was in fact the missing Starlet Viola Vane. Using the evidence provided in the previous boxes we confirmed the murder weapon was a jewel-encrusted cane that once belonged to Viola’s mother and we eliminated three suspects: Joe Sampson, Ruth Erickson & Hector Roland. Now the point of the fifth box is to go through all the provided evidence and see if we can eliminate another suspect…
When accessing the virtual desktop Julia can’t change the main password into the desktop but with Michelle’s help she added all information for Curtain Call into one folder locked with a password that will change via box. This box’s password:
- Website: https://www.michellegrayinvestigations.com/
- Username(First initial, last name) :NJARDIN
- Password for the main folder: PORTER
- Case password: WALDORF
Located her is currently five unlocked folders:
- Staten
- All electronic evidence from box 1
- Delancey
- All electronic evidence from box 2
- Mott
- All electronic evidence from box 3
- Chilies
- All electronic evidence from box 4
- Coney
- All electronic evidence from box 5
We have access to new physical and electronic evidence:
- Item: Memorial Article
- Dated Nov. 7, 1944
- Double-Sided Thin article. Possibly from a newspaper.
- Front-side: Article about an small event held by the Cadence Theatre in honor of Viola Vane
- Second-side: A small article about a flower shop burning down, plus part of a tire ad.
- Item: Notebook Pages
- Two pages, written in cursive. Some entries seem encoded with a similar code as the Ledger from box 2.
- Not Dated.
- Decoded here
- Item: Doctor’s Reports
- Two different dated reports
- Dated May 11th, 1934
- Dated August 12th, 1934
- Both reports were written by a Dr Louis Walters
- Not encoded but very revealing
- Two different dated reports
- Item: Hotel Records
- Item: PI Reports
- Double-sided summary report from Croft-Myers Investigations
- Addressed to unnamed Male and Female.
- Might be connected to the Ledger in Box 2
- Connects to the Doctor Reports
- Item: Theater Sale Contract
- Dated Jan 4th, 1935
- Summary- George sold to Ira & Evelyn Alder, Hector was the payer
- Item: Divorce Papers
- Dated July 9th, 1935
- Official paperwork between Ruth Erickson & George Erickson
- 2 pages, single-sided
- Item: Hector’s Note
- Single letter from Hector addressed to Ira
- Dated August 13th, 1934
- Gives some interesting information
- Physical Item: Accessory
- The accessory is a single lace glove
- Interesting fact: If you relook at some of the other items in the previous boxes you will notice that in one of the articles in Box 4 is a picture of Viola Vane wearing a very similar set of gloves.
- Julia found this glove in a drawer with a false bottom in a desk in the office that use to belong to Ira & George.
- She provide a photo of the false bottom
- Physical Item: Blue Birthday Ribbon
- A simple blue ribbon that says “It’s a Boy”
- Julia found this item in a box marked Summer ‘34 right on top of Hector’s letter
- Could this mean that Viola’s child was a boy?
- Digital item: Transcripts
- A folder with 2 transcripts of physical items and 1 transcript of virtual evidence:
- Coded Notes
- Hotel Records
- Jewelry Appraisal (this is the transcript of the coded part)
- A folder with 2 transcripts of physical items and 1 transcript of virtual evidence:
- Digital item: Jewelry Appraisal (this link leads to the PDF copy of the original document)
- Appraisal belongs to Viola Vane.
- Found on the virtual database, dated February 12th, 1934
- The bottom of the appraisal has code handwritten on it. I decoded it here.
- Digital Item: False bottom photo.
Memorial Article:
Dated November 7, 1944,
Double-Sided Thin article. Possibly from a newspaper.
- Front-side: Article about an small event held by the Cadence Theatre in honor of Viola Vane
- Ten years after Viola’s disappearance, Evelyn Alder organized a memorial to recognize Viola Vane’s disappearance.
- Direct quote from Evelyn: “Taking Viola’s place in ‘You Can Leave It Right Here’ was such a bittersweet opportunity. Losing her was a terrible shock, but without that tragedy to bring us closer, my husband and I might not have started a family together. I often wonder if I am living the life she was meant to lead.”
- Evelyn also said, “We may never know what really became of dear Viola, but whenever I’m onstage, I can feel her looking down on me from above.”
- Second-side: A small article about a flower shop burning down, plus part of a tire ad
- Ten years after Viola’s disappearance, the flower shop that Joe went to get the flowers caught on fire. The fire started in the stock room and its unclear of who set the fire or the extent of the damage.
Conclusions: Evelyn’s comments in the article are a bit suspicious and can lead people to believe she knows more about Viola’s disappearance than she is letting on.
Theater Sale Contract:
Official Sales agreement dated January 4th, 1934.
Seller: George Erikson
Buyer: Ira and Evelyn Adler
Guarantee of Payment: Hector Roland agrees to undertake all legal and financial responsibility.
Amount to be Paid: $250,000
Notes: George forgos all items and property within the theatre to the Buyers once payment has been made.
Virtual Evidence:
Transcripts: The transcripts are clean copies of some of the evidence we were sent. A lot of the evidence is handwritten in cursive and might be hard to read, hence the transcripts.
- Coded Notes
- Hotel Records
- Jewelry Appraisal (this is the transcript of the coded part)
Suspects:
Ira Alder: Play Director/owner of Cadence Theater
Hector Roland: Viola’s Ex-Fiancé Hector was at restaurant, Photograph evidence
Melvin Kahane: actor, Was not at rehearsal
George Erikson: former owner
Ruth Erikson: George’s wife Was in Pennsylvania
Josefina Almonte: Actress Was not at rehearsal
Evelyn Kittridge: Ira’s future wife and understudy for the play
Olga Gaina: Viola’s elderly mother.
Joseph Sampson: Stage Manager, alibi confirmed
So the point of this box was to eliminate another suspect. However before we make that conclusion, we have to consider the Police Report & the Hotel Records…
So first:
- Police Report:
- Written by a Detective Shannon originally dated November 7, 1934.
- Containing 5 pages of witness reports pertaining to the disappearance of Viola Vane as well as the Detective thoughts on the case.
From the police interviews we can determine that Ira was on the phone with the Excelsior Hotel some time before 5pm until 6:15pm. He then left for his dinner reservation.
- The Hotel records
- Concierge Records for the Excelsior Hotel @ 200 Central Park South
After decoding some information, the hotel records confirm what Ira told the detective.
With all of this information, we can determine that Ira was in the office on the phone during the time Viola was killed and we can confirm that he made it to the hotel by 7pm. This eliminates Ira as a suspect.
Conclusions:
- Viola was killed with a jewel-encrusted cane.
- Evidence to confirm: Blunt Force Trauma to the skull, fracture was 8cm in diameter and a single cabochon-cut ruby (3cm in length, 3cm in width, 2cm in height) was found in the wound.
- According to inventory: one cane was found in the attic: Wooden Shaft measuring 3ft. Circular metal head, 3in diameter. Cabochon gem inserts, measuring 3cm in length, 3cm in width, 2cm in height, with a gem missing
- Motive? Personal or Crime of Passion
- Evidence to confirm: According to the Forensic Report all of her cash and cards were still in her purse which was found on the body.
- Joe Sampson is not the killer:
- Alibi confirmed in a previous box
- Ruth Erickson is not the killer:
- Alibi confirmed in a previous box
- Hector Roland is not the killer:
- Alibi created from evidence in the previous box
- Ira Adler is not the killer:
- Alibi confirmed in this box
I sent our guess on the suspect eliminated and we received this reply…
jadler@cadencetheatre.com
5:51 PM
You’re right! Thank God, you’re right!
The hotel’s records confirm Ira’s story, or, should I say, A.R. Lairde’s story. He actually _was_ on the phone at the time of the murder. He couldn’t have been the one who killed Viola. You have no idea how happy you’ve just made me! My grandfather wasn’t a murderer.
But someone was. And the smaller the suspect pool gets, the more real this all feels.
Viola’s killer is either George, who seems to have been obsessed with her, Olga, who was riding her coattails to fame and making her life a misery in the process, or Evelyn, who was the last person to see her alive.
I don’t even want to consider that my grandmother could have done this, but the truth is, she ended up with Viola’s entire life. Her fame and fortune. Her theater. Her boyfriend. I have to admit that, of the three remaining suspects, she’s the one who most benefited from getting Viola out of the way. It had to be one of them, I just can’t work out who.
Hopefully we’ll figure it out soon. I’m not sure I can take much more suspense.
Julia
New Day New Mom 