Take a look at the hints below for guidance.

    Hint 1

    DO NOT PROCEED unless you have read ALL of the other clues and found alibis for as many of the suspects as possible. The following hints will gradually reveal who the killer was!

    Whoever killed Boone was able to do so unseen because Mauga had been bribed to leave the catwalks clear, meaning there were no witnesses in the backstage area. Unfortunately for the killer, almost immediately after they stabbed Boone to death, Sharpe and Mauga burst onto the scene to determine why Boone hadn’t reappeared on stage. The killer was stuck standing over Boone’s body on the lower catwalk, with Sharpe and Mauga entering as witnesses. How could the killer have escaped?

    Is there anything on the backstage sketch that could be used as an ad hoc escape method?

    One of the counterweighted ropes has been cut, sending the rope flying upward to the 2nd story catwalk as the on-stage banner dropped, as shown in the social media posts. If the killer grabbed the rope, they could be pulled up to the 2nd story catwalk before Sharpe and Mauga could see them. Check for any clues around the time of Boone’s murder that would indicate the killer escaped using this counterweight-elevator. The social media posts from Boone’s magic show include a post from an audience member that witnessed the banner on-stage suddenly drop. Davis had mentioned the banners were held up by counterweighted ropes, so if a rope was cut, the banner would drop. Additionally, in Sharpe’s statement to the police, she reports hearing footsteps on the catwalk above her but didn’t mention seeing anyone. If the killer was up on the 2nd story catwalk, where would they exit? Check the blueprint.

    Mauga’s police statement says he was watching the ladder near Boone’s body, so the killer would have had to circle around the entire backstage area and exit the 2nd story catwalk near the dressing rooms. Does this fit the location of any of the suspects?

    According to Sharpe’s police testimony Abigail and Whitney both arrive on the scene at around the same time, but from where? It can only have been one of these two who did the murder!

    Let’s go look at where everyone was at the time of the murder, and examine each person’s alibi to see who remains.

    Dillard Davis was at Teddy’s Bar and Grill when the murder happened. It was confirmed the lottery ticket belongs to him, as it and his $100 winnings were on his person as listed on the police report. Davis was at the bar at 2:30pm, far from the crime scene, when Boone’s fatal vanishing act began. His keycard was also missing, meaning he couldn’t enter the stadium. He only realised this at 3 pm, when he returned to the stadium after the murder had already taken place.

    Noah Langley was able to steal Dillard’s keycard when he bumped into him at the Bar and Grill, allowing him to return to the stadium at 2:25 pm and film inside Boone’s dressing room. He was doing this when the murder happened, even catching the sound of it on his video, meaning he couldn’t have done it himself.

    Pacifica Sharpe was mentioned as a lady with ‘magic accessories’ in her hair in the social media posts, and we can see from her mugshot that this must have been Sharpe. A second post includes a photo where Sharpe can be spotted in the audience thanks to her standout purple hair with magic wands in it. These posts prove Sharpe was in the crowd when Boone’s fatal vanishing act began and didn’t make it backstage until after he was already dead.

    Jake Mauga was mentioned in social media posts timestamped at 2:33 pm. From approximately 2:20 pm to 2:32 pm, Mauga was away from the backstage area in plain view of several witnesses. He wouldn’t have been able to kill Boone during the fatal vanishing act.

    Whitney Rose wanted to kill Boone, blaming him for her mother’s death. However, over the course of her conversation with him, we see her drive to kill him out of revenge for her mother’s death become shakier and shakier. Boone’s offer to transfer the intellectual rights to his magic tricks to Whitney after the show is the last straw, and her motive to kill Boone goes up in smoke, as Whitney’s letter to Sharpe had indicated she would choose a successful career over revenge. With no reason to want Boone dead, it seems unlikely that Whitney would be the murderer. But can we account for where she is during the time of the death?

    Whitney is waiting in the green room when the murder occurs, trying to cancel a getaway flight she no longer needs. According to the timestamps for this conversation, it couldn’t have been her who killed Boone.

    Whitney mentioned that on the day her mother died, Abigail had instructed Whitney to give Holly coffee. As the diazepam ad warned: mixing diazepam with caffeinated beverages can trigger side effects like extreme drowsiness. The toxicology report also notes Holly had caffeine in her bloodstream, despite specifying decaf coffee in the Liberty Theater hospitality rider. Because of the negative combination of her medication with the coffee from Abigail, Holly became drowsy and drowned during the trick. Abigail was Holly’s killer as revenge for her affair with Boone.

    Abigail Boone is the killer! She had the motive, the means, and the ability to get backstage to commit the murder. She used Elvis’ keycard to get back into the stadium at 14:22, which Dillard had mentioned she kept control of in his opening letter to The Magicians’ Lodge. We can hear the murder play out in the background of Langley’s botched video. The rope burns on her hands are from holding onto the rope which she used to escape and ascend to the upper catwalk, not from pulling up the banners earlier that morning as she claimed in her police statement. Since the five other suspects had alibis, Abigail must be the culprit. Head over to www.cryptickillers.com/magician-killer and enter “Abigail Boone” to read the full summary of how she did it.

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