CTI: Crime Team Investigation

[Ian Aloser]

Me too, Laura
But I think that it was you who got the solution right away
(Airport and Governors Island)

[heltenjon]

I went back and looked at the map Jack Putter put up. The lines from the airfields to Governor's Island crosses a few more bridges than we have searched. This is the Manhattan bridge and the bridges nearby JFK (which may or may not be searched already when we searched the bay area).

The only bridges nearby JFK Airport that have been searched so far are the two that lead on and off the large island in Broad Channel north into Howard Beach and south into Rockaway Park.

Yes, that was the bridges I was thinking of.

If I am a loser's search doesn't pay off, there's always the Manhattan Bridge, which is the one between Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge. (I found it hard not to type "betwixt"!) I think someone else ought to call in the search parties...I think I'm jinxed. 

[Mandle]

CASE #64

Justice Killer

Week Four

Following the lead provided by Officer Iam Aloser, units are sent out to the small bridge that connects East New York with Howard Beach.

Under the bridge is a large patch of recently disturbed soil.

After some frantic digging a largish box-like object in the shape of the top half of a circa 2005 flip-phone, painted bright pink with several prominent and garish sparkles on it, is unearthed.

The box is opened. Inside is the corpse of a woman. At least, her corpse from the waist up.

Further inspection reveals that the corpse's spine, from the base of her skull down to the cut-off point at her waist, has been removed and replaced with a heavy iron chain, which continues sideways into the dirt of the grave.

The chain is excavated and eventually leads into the river under the bridge and then goes underwater.

Police diver teams are called in to follow the chain to its other end.

The news media swarms the site and is filming the entire grisly scene.

The divers have a long swim of roughly 2kms south-east, following the chain, before they find, at its end, the bottom half of the "flip-phone" resting on the bottom of the bay.

After this box, bright pink and sparkly as well, is dredged up and opened, the lower half of the victim is discovered inside.

She is identified as a law consultant.

During her law-school years she was involved in a campus scandal.

She was accused of online-bullying which resulted in the suicide of three of her classmates, but it seems that her rich family's lawyers managed to help her avoid the courts with large cash settlements to her victims' families.

Her residence is searched by forensics but there is no sign of a struggle. It is assumed that she was abducted elsewhere.

The news media is quick to give Justice Killer their own nickname after they realize New York City has a new serial-killer on its hands: "Flip-Phone".

The next day a new letter arrives at the NYPD from the killer:

Hello,

Took you a while to find my latest site.

Or, rather, both of them. LOL!

A bit disappointed by the unimaginative nickname the press has given me but oh well.

Let's speed things up a bit shall we?

I'm doubling up AND going back to basics!

S O W N B Y G R Q X W D E F W M T B C Z L W C B A P B G H D W F L Q W K E R T W P B G F P S R W P

Yours Sincerely,
Justice Killer.

Here is the map of New York City the police received in the first letter for ease of reference:

Spoiler

[close]

[Ian Aloser]

Potential solution:
Chief, we must catch up with the killer.
I suggest sending a unit to ROSEDALE, since
this is the only place on the map containing
the vowels E,E,O,A of the letter matrix except
EAST NEW YORK (at least as far as I could see,
and time is of the essence)

[Laura Hunt]

OH FOR F@~%$! Mandle must have had a heart attack seeing how we nailed the clues from the very start but then spent all of our time hitting all the bridges in NYC except for the One.

I wonder how we could have saved her if she was sawed in two, though. I guess he kept her alive in that box for some time and then finished the job.

The letters I, J, U, V are missing, but it doesn't look like we can do anything with this? It's all I've got right now.

EDIT: Actually, I see a pattern but again, I don't know right now if it's significant. In the middle of the letter matrix there's an A. To its left, B, C. Then down, D, E, F, then G to the left. But if we go up from the central A, we get the same pattern: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I doubt it's just a coincidence, but I have no idea what it might mean.

[Laura Hunt]

OH FOR F@~%$! Mandle must have had a heart attack seeing how we nailed the clues from the very start but then spent all of our time hitting all the bridges in NYC except for the One.

I wonder how we could have saved her if she was sawed in two, though. I guess he kept her alive in that box for some time and then finished the job.

The letters I, J, U, V are missing, but it doesn't look like we can do anything with this? It's all I've got right now.

EDIT: Actually, I see a pattern but again, I don't know right now if it's significant. In the middle of the letter matrix there's an A. To its left, B, C. Then down, D, E, F, then G to the left. But if we go up from the central A, we get the same pattern: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. I doubt it's just a coincidence, but I have no idea what it might mean.

HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE.

Chief Mandle, let's send a unit right now to comb Alphabet City.

[Ian Aloser]

Brilliant, Officer Hunt !!
Basics=Alphabet

[JackPutter]

Great spot Detective Hunt! The letters in the sequence you described go in a bottom-left to top-right diagonal connecting the two corners. The killer did say they were going to be "doubling up" so potentially we may find TWO victims, one in the south-west and one in the north-east corners of some location?

Make sure the officers search every corner of Alphabet City. In case that doesn't turn up anything useful, maybe we should check out Conference House Point (extreme south-west of the map) and maybe Pelham Bay (closest thing to a north-east point) too?

[Stupot]

“Double-up” means “W“. There are 8 of them in the box, more than any other letter. I guess that means we’re looking for an 8-letter place name (or perhaps 16, if it’s double). I haven’t found the trick to working out the answer but it’s got to be to do with the W’s.

I’m drawn to the killer’s emphasis of “AND”. This tells me that “back to basics” is part of the puzzle in and of itself. Is there a connection between the W’s and the strings of ABC that Laura mentioned?

[Mandle]

Surprisingly, nothing is discovered in Alphabet City, despite a thorough sweep.

Rosedale, Pelham Bay, and Conference House Point units also come up empty-handed.

(OFFICIAL UPDATE)

GAME RULES UPDATE: During Week Four each player may send out units to two locations simultaneously per Potential Solution.

[Ian Aloser]

OK, my first thought was that the vowels E,E,A and O ( not more, not less) had to be found in the locations we are looking for
But naturally, as my nickname reads, I was wrong...
Assuming that we are looking for the names of two locations and these names MUST contain the letters found in the matrix,
there are A LOT of places to be excluded a priori due to the fact that they contain the vowels I and U as well as the letters J and V.
Places like Forest Park and Glendale immediately jump into my eyes as well as Throggs Neck, while Woodhaven would be invalid due to
the double O. However, I feel too embarrassed and intimidated from our previous failure and therefore would like to discuss it before
we blow our fuel budget again.....

[Stupot]

You’re probably right that the place name is made up of letters from the grid, but we should be open to that not being the case.

[Ian Aloser]

OK, Based upon my theory I have made a list of eligible locations sorted by boroughs:
(Correct me please in case I missed one out)
BRONX:
Throggs Neck
MANHATTAN:
-
QUEENS:
Rosedale
Maspeth
Glendale
Forest Park
Glen Oaks
STATEN ISLAND:
St.George
BROOKLYN:
Park Slope
East New York
Chief, could we send units to St. George and Throggs Neck? These two locations
seem to be the most suitable, since they are positioned from Southwest to
Northeast and they both contain the letter G like the postition of the Gs in the matrix

[Stupot]

Just an observation, but the middle letter along the top, bottom and left hand edges of the grid happen to match their respective directions North, South and West. The only problem is that there is a G where I would’ve expected an E. Coincidence or clue?

S O W N B Y G R Q X W D E F W M T B C Z L W C B A P B G H D W F L Q W K E R T W P B G F P S R W P

Potential solution
In fact, Glen Oaks is in about that same location in the map, begins with G, has 8 letters and is in Ian Aloser’s list. I think that’s enough to warrant sending a unit out East.

[Ian Aloser]

Very good, Stupot, I didn't notice that.
The way I see it maybe wrong ( and most likely will be),
but I at least want to exclude this theory.

[Laura Hunt]

Just an observation, but the middle letter along the top, bottom and left hand edges of the grid happen to match their respective directions North, South and West. The only problem is that there is a G where I would’ve expected an E. Coincidence or clue?

S O W N B Y G R Q X W D E F W M T B C Z L W C B A P B G H D W F L Q W K E R T W P B G F P S R W P

Potential solution
In fact, Glen Oaks is in about that same location in the map, begins with G, has 8 letters and is in Ian Aloser’s list. I think that’s enough to warrant sending a unit out East.

I was already thinking that the letter matrix could represent a specific area, with our victims at the NE and SW points like JackPutter suggested, but this just about confirms it, good job!

Maybe the G represents not the place where we'll find something (since by now I'm convinced we need to find two locations), but the "anchor" for this reference, and once we find this "G", we'll find the other two to its north and its southwest (since these are the only Gs in the matrix).

So while Glen Oaks gets checked, I'm going to grab a map and pursue this line of reasoning, see where it gets me...

[Ian Aloser]

has 8 letters and is in Ian Aloser’s list

Thanks Laura for the suggestion of modifying my silly nickname :-)
Can I actually change it ?
EDIT: Done :-)

[Laura Hunt]

has 8 letters and is in Ian Aloser’s list

Thanks Laura for the suggestion of modifying my silly nickname :-)
Can I actually change it ?
EDIT: Done :-)

That was Stupot tho

[heltenjon]

Potential solution. So he's doubling up and going back to baysics (sic!)? Given G for Glen Oaks may anchor the scenes to the east, I suggest we send a squad to Bayside and another one to Bay Terrace.

[Stupot]

has 8 letters and is in Ian Aloser’s list

Thanks Laura for the suggestion of modifying my silly nickname :-)
Can I actually change it ?
EDIT: Done :-)

That was Stupot tho

I would swear to god Mandle already did this but I can’t find the post.

Nice idea about the ‘bay’ sics, Helton.

Has anyone else got any thoughts about the W’s.It