Round 3 - Case 4

This case took place over the weekend of July 17, 2015. The motive for this murder was the introduction of "Kumasin" into the gummy bears left in various locations around the hotel; the substance would make characters sick if they consumed it, and Monobear refused to restock any other food. Four of the remaining thirteen characters fell ill, and the rest were starving.

The victim was found in the spa room on Floor 4.

The investigation can be found here, and the trial here.

[CW: The culprit's confession mentions both hallucinations and past child abuse.]

Monobear File
Victim: Lavernius Tucker

Location of body: Spa Room

Estimated time of death: 1 am

Cause of death: Excessive head trauma

Spa Room

 * Wash was also found at the scene of the crime, knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of the head
 * Wash gave testimony claiming that he'd met Tucker in the spa room that night and was going to escort him back to the dorms, when an unseen assailant hit him in the head. He also noted that he'd been having memory blackouts earlier in the week
 * Tucker was killed by a bludgeoning blow
 * Wash's clothes were soaked in blood
 * Two towels stained with blood as if they'd been used to wipe something up
 * A massage chair and the little table beside it had been knocked over; blood was found on the table leg
 * The edge of a salmon-pink garment caught in the chair
 * The grout between the tiles that lay between the bodies and the massage chair was stained lightish red pink, though the tiles themselves were clean, as if that area of the floor were wiped up
 * Tucker's ESH was found near the massage chair, not his body
 * A plain gold tie pin
 * Tucker's photo of Junior in his pocket

Men's Changing Room

 * Half a footprint; the shoe had distinctive treads
 * A short smear of blood to the left of the footprint, as if something were dragged
 * The soap was missing

Tea Room

 * Multiple smashed teapots and cups and chairs knocked around the room, as if they were aimed at
 * No blood in the room
 * One untouched chair in the middle of the room
 * A bottle of pain reliever/fever reducer

Fourth Floor Hallway

 * A small, damp patch of carpet that seemed scuffed

Tucker's Room

 * Tucker's notes; he was trying to figure out the timeline of RvB (and good luck to him)
 * His Father's Day holo-card from Junior
 * Harvey Finevoice's Father's Day card from Charlie
 * A school photo of a child strongly resembling a young Harvey Finevoice
 * TWENTY-SOMETHING FRICKING SMUPPETS ON THE BED made it obvious Tucker did not sleep there that night

Trial
Perhaps the relief brought on by the return of food to the hotel and the sick students' recovery led to more loopiness than usual at the beginning of this trial, but there were plenty of goofy tangents (Musty carpets? Tie pins?) before most of the evidence was even brought out. However, rather few pieces of evidence came to light before, one by one, students started to connect the dots: Particularly damning were the scrap of salmon-pink fabric caught in the massage chair and the smear of blood where a second footprint should have been.

Tsukiyama realized it first and tried to direct attention away to less obvious clues, but when Silver suggested that the smear could have been someone dragging their foot, all attention turned to Duster. For the first time, no one wanted to make the accusation--except Ryuunosuke. Silver, ever dutiful to his survival, checked Duster's shoe to see if it matched the half-footprint he found. Bingo.

Trapped, Duster confessed [CW: references to hallucinations and past child abuse] to what may just have been the saddest murder ever. Of all time. He'd been deliriously ill from the Kumasin, lured upstairs by his own desperate delusion of his father, and then thought that Wash was attacking Tucker. He "killed" Wash to save Tucker, but Tucker retaliated to protect Wash, and in the end, Duster bludgeoned Tucker to death with his heavy shoe. He cleaned up the mess because, having killed Tucker, this was his only chance to save his village, but he'd been plagued with uncertainty all that day, wondering if he should just confess to save his classmates.

Most of the class reacted with horror and sympathy to some aspect of his story; Ryuunosuke was an outlier and should not be counted. Haruka, Tsukiyama, Isabelle, and Allie were particularly badly affected. Still, despite all the tears, the vote was still unanimous.

Execution - Performance Anxiety
"The chains clamp down around Duster's neck, dragging him away from his podium, from Isabelle and Futo and anyone else who had gathered to make him feel loved in his last moments.

"The setting for this execution is a stage, where Duster stands with his hands chained to his double bass. Four other Monobears stand on the stage with him, and when they begin to play Duster's fingers act without his permission and pluck along with them.

"The tables in front of the stage are filled with Monobears, one in particular wearing a pink wig and a blue dress who seems to catch Duster's attention. One by one as the band plays on, the monobears in the audience begin to pull out rocks, banana peels, tomatoes, and the like. The band doesn't stop, although Duster does, when the first one hits the stage. The crowd begins booing, led by MonoKumatora, until they rush the stage. Duster's hands claw at the wood paneling as they grab him by his ankles and drag him down into the crowd. His wig sits forlornly on the stage as his double bass is dragged into the fracas with him. Soon he disappears into a pile of disappointed Monofans, his screams muffled by the plush stuffing.

"The crowd parts as MonoKumatora swings the double bass up over her head. Duster looks up at her in horror at the gleam in the monobear's red eye. The bass comes down and splinters over Duster's head with a dissonant rattle of strings, and she raises what's left back up for a second swing as blood runs across the floor.

"The rest of the band stops, looks at each other, and then continues playing as if nothing happened."

Aftermath
ARE TSUKIYAMA AND RYUUNOSUKE BROKEN UP FOR GOOD? TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON BEARS OF OUR LIVES...

Nobody was okay after this trial. Nobody.

Memorable Moments

 * "Fuck this tangerine...asshole in particular"...?
 * "My mind is going somewhere it probably shouldn't, and if that is where it's supposed to be going, then Murderer-san, what is wrong with you."
 * Duster's confession and its effects on the entire class
 * Dave and Haruka's hug and conversation at the afterparty/Swap Eat

Trivia

 * The elevator music was replaced with polka as a Red vs. Blue joke
 * The possibility of hallucinations as part of the week's motive was likened to Tanetane Island in Mother 3, Duster's canon