CTI: Crime Team Investigation

[Laura Hunt]

However, why should the killer be fair ? :-)

This!

Because these killers BELIEVE themselves to be fair and just, and that their motivations are noble; otherwise their sense of self-righteousness would fall apart. In his warped brain he really thinks he's giving us a fair chance because he sees this as a battle of wits, and to suggest that the only way he can win is by cheating should hurt his pride and hopefully cause him to level the playing field out of a twisted sense of honor.

So yeah, I would suggest writing back to him and calling him a cheater, and seeing how he reacts

[Cassiebsg]

Victims:

Who - Where - Why - How:
lawyer - Bushwick apartment - accused of bribing witnesses into providing false testimony - stabbed multiple times, with his own Oath Of Attorney pinned to his chest, with the knife, by the final thrust through his heart.
judge - Richmond Hill house - accused of sexual assault against a court security guard - found tied to a chair and beaten to death with his own gavel

Possible next victim?: Policeman accused of corruption?

[Mandle]

CASE #64

Justice Killer

Week Three

The final crossword puzzle solution provided by Officer Jack Putter is published the next morning in the newspaper's "Yesterday's Solutions" of the crossword section (to the continued complaint letters from crossword fans demanding that there must have been some kind of editorial mistake for the last few days):



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

Hello,

BINGO!!!

I have seen my crossword puzzle solved in the newspaper, and we came to understand a lot more about each other as well, I'm sure, during the process.

My next victim is not dead yet, but will be soon.

Here is your next hint in the form of a poem:

"Online, she bullied,
Those that are buried.
She was a troll,
Which is why her toll,
Will be paid,
Beneath where she stayed,
Where the birds fly over,
Betwixt their nest and the guv'nor."

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]

[Mandle]

So yeah, I would suggest writing back to him and calling him a cheater, and seeing how he reacts

Are you suggesting to go to the police chief and ask that the newspapers call Justice Killer out as a cheater on his crossword puzzle?

That's really the only way to "write back to him" but you can approach the police chief with that request if you wish.

[Mandle]

As usual, the rules are that open discussion is freely allowed.

Only one attempt to solve the riddle is allowed per player per update.

Please precede your attempt with "POTENTIAL SOLUTION:" in bold as shown here.

Also don't forget to include your reasoning along with your attempted solution.

The police chief will ignore random guesses or attempts without enough back-up evidence.

[Laura Hunt]

So yeah, I would suggest writing back to him and calling him a cheater, and seeing how he reacts

Are you suggesting to go to the police chief and ask that the newspapers call Justice Killer out as a cheater on his crossword puzzle?

That's really the only way to "write back to him" but you can approach the police chief with that request if you wish.

Yeah, that was exactly my suggestion But seeing as he's already replied, I'll just hold on to that thought for now...

Online, she bullied,
Those that are buried.

Just throwing some quick thoughts out there to my colleagues... Maybe she drove people with depression or other issues to suicide by bullying them online?

She was a troll,
Which is why her toll,
Will be paid,
Beneath where she stayed,

Trolls live under bridges... Maybe she's keeping the victim, alive for now, under a bridge.

Where the birds fly over,
Betwixt their nest and the guv'nor.

"The guv'nor" might be Governors Island. "Birds" might be poetic license for planes (in which case the "nest" would be one of NYC's airports), or literal birds. Statue of Liberty?

[JackPutter]

I came to a lot of the same conclusions as Detective Hunt!

Spoiler

It seems like our next victim is an internet troll who bullied people into suicide. In fairy tales, trolls often make their homes under bridges. This, plus the mention of the victim paying a "toll" makes me think that our victim may be found underneath a bridge. She may be restrained or imprisoned somehow, as we are led to believe that she is still alive but will soon die. Are any of the bridges on that map toll bridges?

Including "where the birds fly over" might point us towards a bridge in particular. Taking it literally, isn't there a bird sanctuary somewhere in this area? I thought I heard that there was where the birds that took down Sully's plane were likely from. A quick bit of googling tells me that there is a Riverside Park Bird Sanctuary not far from the George Washington Bridge. Could George Washington be "the guv'nor" that the killer makes reference to? It couldn't hurt to ask the chief to send a search party to check out underneath that bridge.

(Also, this is my "first day on the force" so I'm not sure to what extent Google is allowed, or whether places that aren't shown on that particular map are part of the game.)

[close]

[Ian Aloser]

Wow Laura and JackPutter !
Laura, the idea with the airport makes sense.

@JackPutter:Googleing is allowed, but i doubt that information
apart from what the map shows will lead to the solution.

Edited:

A quick bit of googling tells me that there is a Riverside Park Bird Sanctuary not far from the George Washington Bridge

I am sure that the solution is found only from information shown on the map.
Otherwise, it would be too hard to figure out and i find it ok like this

[Mandle]

(Also, this is my "first day on the force" so I'm not sure to what extent Google is allowed, or whether places that aren't shown on that particular map are part of the game.)

Google is totally allowed. During the last crossword there was a special rule to not use crossword-solver sites but if any special rules as such are in place I will mention them.

As for places that aren't shown on the map: Only Justice Killer knows what they are doing.

[Mandle]

A quick bit of googling tells me that there is a Riverside Park Bird Sanctuary not far from the George Washington Bridge. Could George Washington be "the guv'nor" that the killer makes reference to? It couldn't hurt to ask the chief to send a search party to check out underneath that bridge.

After speaking with the police chief, officers are sent out to the scene. The only things the investigating officers found under the George Washington Bridge were a rather sticky-looking dildo and a rat that ran away.

(JackPutter is now cleared for another police chief request for investigation.)

[JackPutter]

Bouncing off Detective Hunt's idea that the "nest" of the "birds" might be an airport, I whipped up this map connecting Governor's Island to the two airports in the area.

Spoiler

The two named bridges that these lines intersect are the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge.

The more I think about it though, I can't help thinking that we're skipping over the line "Beneath where she stayed" in the poem... A bridge isn't a place where someone traditionally "stays" so I'm starting to become less confident about that. That said, I could be overthinking.

[close]

[Ian Aloser]

Good idea !
I somehow wonder if „betwixt“
contains a hint......
Why not between ?
Just for a prosaic reason ?

[Laura Hunt]

Bouncing off Detective Hunt's idea that the "nest" of the "birds" might be an airport, I whipped up this map connecting Governor's Island to the two airports in the area.
The two named bridges that these lines intersect are the Brooklyn Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge.

Yeah, that was my thought too. Chief Mandle, can we send a dispatch to Brooklyn Bridge? If there's nothing/nobody there, at least we can discard this line of thinking.

Can someone else ask for a patrol to Williamsburg Bridge?

The more I think about it though, I can't help thinking that we're skipping over the line "Beneath where she stayed" in the poem... A bridge isn't a place where someone traditionally "stays" so I'm starting to become less confident about that. That said, I could be overthinking.

Agree, I feel like there's one little detail we're missing here too but I'm still holding on to the bridge idea for now. The troll reference seems too on the nose to ignore it.

[Cassiebsg]

Chief Mandle, can we send a dispatch to Williamsburg Bridge?

I agree with the Bridge theory, plus Williamsburg bridge is one that still has trail tracks and "once held four trolley tracks"... maybe troll=trolley is a kind of "poetic justice"? Also the word "betwixt" might be a clue to this bridge that starts with Wi. Maybe make sure all the trolley/rail tracks are clear (both above and under?)

Oh, and can we ask that they keep a keen eye for disturbances in the ground while checking under the bridges (in case the killer has buried the victim, like the victim buried those she trolled?)

PS:

Spoiler

I just noticed that if you go down/right the avenue/road from Williamsburg you come to Bushwick... maybe this is the clue included in "betwixt"?

[close]

[Stupot]

Just a couple of thoughts to throw into the mix.

What if “toll” has something to do with bells?

A Hospital is a place where people presumably “stay”..

Potential Solution

Spoiler

Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan

[close]

[heltenjon]

Here's another theory: What if the airport is LaGuardia and the guv'nor in question is Grant's Tomb? They would have to fly over Ryker's Island, which is connected to the mainland by a bridge. The prison system on Ryker's may be the target, perhaps a corrupt correctional officer or warden.

[Mandle]

All the suggested places are checked by units but nothing and nobody out-of-the-ordinary crops up.

(OFFICIAL UPDATE)

[Ian Aloser]

Ok, let us summarize:

Nothing found at:
Brooklyn bridge
Williamsburg Bridge
Bellevue Hospital

@heltenjon:
Ryker's island is not marked on the map
I am 99,99% sure that only places marked on
the map are potential crime sites

Just a few thoughts from my side:
From what i read in the first 6 lines in the poem is that the next victim will be a woman who forced people
maybe even to commit suicide (via social platforms) and that the killer will make her pay for it.
I have the feeling that the actual location is hidden in the last 2 lines only.

Where the birds fly over,
Betwixt their nest and the guv'nor

"The guv'nor" might be Governors Island. "Birds" might be poetic license for planes (in which case the "nest" would be one of NYC's airports), or literal birds. Statue of Liberty?

As Laura pointed out, the birds from the poem could as well be airplanes
If the Killer is writing about real birds , Betwixt contains  twigs (twix),
a material most bird's nests are made of (maybe I am totally off the track with this,
but better than nothing)
Guv'nor could also refer to an authority (either a person or an organisation)
And the location we are looking for lies between (betwixt) the nest and the Guv'nor

[JackPutter]

I'm taking a bit of a punt with this one... POTENTIAL SOLUTION:

Spoiler

There's a place on the map called "Throggs Neck" which jumped out at me. I looked up "Throgg" and it turns out that's the name of the "King of the Trolls" in Warhammer. There's a chance that this could be where our victim lived, or "stayed" as mentioned in the poem, or maybe the killer has just "buried" her there as he considers HER to be the "king of the trolls" because of the awful things she's done.

That said, it's not really "betwixt" either airport and any location I would consider relevant to a "guv'nor" unfortunately... Though drawing a straight line from the JFK airport symbol through Throggs Neck and continuing it on, it connects to Albert Einstein College Hospital. Do we think our killer would consider Einstein to be the "guv'nor" of anything? If we continue the line even further and look just to the west, we see the name "Van Cortland" which refers to "Van Cortland Park" but it's curious that only the name alone appears on the map. It's one of the only person-names I can see on the map that isn't followed by "Park or "Hospital" or whatever. Apparently the Van Cortland family was an influential political dynasty from the seventeenth-century Dutch origins of New York through its period as an English colony. Could Van Cortland be our "guv'nor" in some way?

Throggs Neck isn't really near any of the named bridges either... perhaps the bridge conclusion was too hasty? A red herring? I'd like to send a search party to look at the Throggs Neck area, just in case our killer turns out to be a Warhammer fan.

[close]

[Laura Hunt]

perhaps the bridge conclusion was too hasty? A red herring?

Yeah could be, I'm totally stumped right now. The one thing I'm still pretty confident about is that our victim is probably buried alive somewhere and she'll die if we don't get there in time, but otherwise I have no idea where to take it from here