MOUNT MORTIMER HINTS: Martin Phelps

Before starting the hints for each character, we would strongly recommend building a timeline of events as to when Dr. Achenbach was killed. If you get stuck trying to build the timeline of events, please follow the hints trail – “Timeline of Death”.

Who is Martin Phelps and what motive would he have for killing Dr Achenbach? Firstly, familiarize yourself with Martin’s role at the Scientific Research Station. Read the Active Staff List.

Martin is an astronomer at the S.R.S. on Mount Mortimer. What other information can we find out about Phelps? Read the Medical Report for Gary Dyer. 

Medical Report – Gary Dyer states that Gary was knocked out by Martin Phelps. Is there any more information we can find out about this altercation? See the Station Report.

Achenbach tells us on December 3rd – “Dyer has been put under Dr. Fitz’s care. For the safety of the rest of the facility staff, I have placed Phelps in the storage closet – in the absence of a proper brig, it’s the only place in the facility with a door you can lock using a padlock. We’ve never had any need for a jail before.” Could this be a motive for killing Achenbach? If Phelps was locked away in the Storage Closet, then surely he was there when the detectives arrived to take a statement?! Check the statements.

Phelps hasn’t yet given a statement!? So where was he? Where else have you seen information about the storage closet and where Phelps was being held? See the Detective’s notebook – in particular point 3.

It seems the hinges on the storage closet door have been removed, suggesting that Phelps may have escaped! We need to locate his whereabouts. Have you accessed the evidence online yet? If not, please do so now. If you need help, follow the hints trail—start by checking the online evidence in P.L. Ayers’ inbox.

Read the email from Chief Winterburn – Fwd: HJ Police Station.

Phelps has been found, he took the Snowcat from the SRS Station! He was found at Haines Junction…But where is Haines Junction? See the map on page 4 in the handbook.

We can see that Haines Junction is East of Mount Mortimer. We know that Phelps was found at 01:10. according to the email from Chief Winterburn. 

Could Phelps have killed Achenbach, escaped, and then got to Haines Junction? We need to calculate the length of time it will take to get to Haines Junction from the SRS. Read the Handbook – page 9.

(if you do not want to proceed with the answer to this just yet, then we advise you to work on finding an alibi for the other suspects before revealing your answer below)

The handbook states that the snowcat is limited to 30km/h (this is the maximum speed it can travel) and that Haines Junction is approximately 80km away by road. Do some math to work out the latest time Phelps could have left the station in order to have reached Haines Junction at the time he did. We need to do a simple time, distance, speed calculation to work our way back from the time Phelps was found.

Haines Junction is approximately 80km from Mount Mortimer. The maximum speed the snowcat can travel is 30km/h.

Time = distance/speed

80km / 30km/h = 2.67hrs (2 hours, 40 minutes)

Subtract 2 hours 40 minutes (the quickest time in which Phelps could travel this distance) from the time he was found at 01:10 = Phelps could have left the SRS at 22.30…. after the murder! 

Unfortunately, we do not know what the journey conditions are like from the SRS down to Haines Junction, so we cannot guarantee that this time/distance/speed method is completely concrete. There is one more critical piece of evidence we can use to know if Phelps was still at the SRS at the time of the murder. See the weather cam images found in the online webmail – pay close attention to image 1 and image 2.

In the 1st weather cam image, we see the helicopter leaving the station at 20:20. There are no visible snowcat tracks on the ground. However, in the 2nd weather cam image at 22:06, we can see what appear to be snowcat tracks leaving the SRS. This corroborates the theory that Phelps had left the SRS station before Achenbach was murdered. Phelps managed to escape from the storage room by unhinging the door and stealing the snowcat before Achenbach was killed but later crashed the snowcat at around 01:10 at Haines Junction.