Ritual Reaper Case Help!

[Voidmaster05]

I've had this case a few different times in different cities but I've never been able to piece it all together and I could use some direction.

It's always the same; someone has been murdered in their apartment while their spouse is on a trip. They're in a circle of blood on the floor and have been stabbed repeatedly.

There is always a connection to the company that produces painkillers, and a secret document that details how it actually has some pretty bad side effects.

Thing is, I can never seem to find evidence of the killer in the apartment and after visiting both the spouse's and the victims work places I've got no where else to go. I'm really at a loss here.

Normally I wouldn't think there would be much point in asking for help, but I've come across this case repeatedly in different cities so there must be a basic pattern the game is basing it on. Hell, I can't even just ignore the case and move on, my game keeps spitting it back out again in the same city with different people. Is that a bug?

Anyway, I could use some guidance. Anything that might point me in the right direction.

[Drobotmk2]

I haven't done your case, but i recommend checking the chemist and clinics in the city. Check back rooms, see if there is a list of clients in a drawer. Also, check if the doctor for each victim is the same. (Medical records are often in the victim's dresser, in a box of files.) I'll bet there's an incriminating document at the killer's place of employment. Might not name the actual victims, but could suggest motive.

I had a serial killer case, different case name but always a ritual circle of blood. Killings seemed random, no connections to job or family. Like you, I wasn't seeing any evidence at the scene pointing to a killer (no fingerprints, no notes, no descriptions from bystanders). 1st and 2nd victim had nothing connecting them.

When 3rd victim died, I used security footage (waited too long on the first 2 victims, the tapes get wiped) to identify everyone in the hallway near the time of death, and noticed someone that wasn't a resident.

Tracked that person down, and realized that the victims may have been customers at the suspect's place of employment, due to a bar tab list in the backrooms. The suspect's house didn't have any incriminating evidence however, and without physical evidence I didn't want to make a false accusation.

4th victim happened same day as the 3rd, and a note at the scene of the crime said something like "let's play a game" and had a few letters of a name written down. The letters matched the name of my suspect from the 3rd murder.

I placed a bloodhound tracker on the suspect at her job, followed her after work into a basement, she realized I was tailing her and tried to kill me with the murder weapon. I got her handcuffed, but not before taking a bullet to the gut. Luckily the bandages in this game can fix flesh wounds.

The ambient storytelling in this game is amazing. I had actually passed by the killer on the stairs around the time of the 3rd murder, and was surprised when she tried to attack me. I was on the run from some security at the time (always check to see if the spouse is home before you cuff a wanted criminal, they might stab you with a kitchen knife before alerting the enforcers) so I just assumed she was a "good samaritan". When I gradually realized who the killer was, the fact that she tried to murder me on the stairway took on a new meaning.

[Voidmaster05]

Thanks, I'd never have thought to check clinics and pharmacies in the city. This game goes so in depth with its systems I have a hard time anticipating it. Also I'm probably just a really shotty investigator, lol.

[Julie Rotten]

This is a boring answer, but for this case, at least when I had it, there was a crumpled up piece of paper with an anagram on it in the vic's apartment; a note from the killer. I didn't really try to solve the puzzle, I just scanned it for prints and got the unsub's prints.

Make sure you're looking HARD for fingerprints. I got my break in this case by getting the unsub's prints from the scene and going to the vic's place of work during their work rota, where I asked (read: bribed the manager) for a guest pass and started running the prints on all the work terminals until I found the unsub's workstation. There are almost always prints at the scene; make sure you check everything, the garbage, the crumpled papers, the door, I've even had them show up on the vic's body. Make sure you're checking the phone, too; 5410000 is the number for the previously-made call on any phone. It might give you a break.

Could also use the government computer in city hall, if you have a list of suspects to run (which you can get by taking the vic's address book), which will give you photos, last names, and other descriptive info on the suspects that you can connect to phone numbers with the address book. Cross reference the government database entries with the address book entries and you'll have complete profiles on almost everyone the vic knew (address books have first names, addresses, and phone numbers; database entries have first name, last name, and address; so if multiple results come up in the database search for the first name, print a couple reports and keep the one where the address matches).

Over half of all violent crimes in real life are committed by someone the victim knows, so even if the address book were a coin flip, there's a 50% or greater chance that someone in there is connected to the crime. You can always pin documents and books you find to check them later, and the F1/search function allows you some leeway on recalling it if you forgot to pin it. Even if you don't have prints, a solid list of potential killers will give you the tools you need to start breaking the case open, since you then also have a list of potential victims.

The difficulty in solving murders is often getting people to talk to you, so the more empirical evidence you can muster, the closer you'll get, and faster. If that fails, make sure you're saving a little cash to bribe people into getting your way, and don't be afraid to disregard some human rights and cuff a suspect while you ransack their place. This is not a utopia we're trying to survive in, it's a corporate dystopia. Lie, cheat, steal. If the good guys could solve murders, we'd be out of a job. Hope these tips help!

[Nanodeath [Max]]

Sorry to necro this thread a year later but OH MY GOD this thread helped so much. Just like others here, the killer leaves no obvious fingerprints on the scene, and no passerbys had anything useful to say. Cameras were also unhelpful; person's like a ghost.

The first killing was on the street, and indeed if I looked around on the ground, in a doorway I eventually found the crumpled paper with an unfamiliar fingerprint on it (after reading this thread), and the full anagram name puzzle. Not very helpful, but a fingerprint is a good start.

The second killing was on the 2nd floor of some apartment building. Cameras only showed 3 people plus the enforcers. I did know that the person was "average, average build, long hair" from emails and notes, but the 3 people turned out to be residents or something; dead ends. After reading this thread I went back and found the crumpled note -- it was very well hidden, on a counter behind flowers and under cabinets. Literally had to move things out of the way to see it, which I have trouble with in real life too, haha. Anyway, that revealed the first letter of the last name, which after some poking around in the directory, was enough to finally find the culprit.

Possible spoiler: I went back and checked: the killer actually WAS in the video; but they're a faceless SECURITY GUARD! I'd just assumed those were all enforcers and ignored them, but there's one security person who is on the video a bit before the other two show up, and I totally missed it. AHHH.

Other notes: the first victim didn't have the killer in their address book, while the second victim did.

Phew, I've spent like 3 hours start to finish on this case, glad it's finally over.

So yeah, barring seeing the crumpled note to begin with, the newspaper does mention the crumpled note. So I'll be checking that more often I guess.

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by Nanodeath:

Sorry to necro this thread a year later but OH MY GOD this thread helped so much. Just like others here, the killer leaves no obvious fingerprints on the scene, and no passerbys had anything useful to say. Cameras were also unhelpful; person's like a ghost.

The first killing was on the street, and indeed if I looked around on the ground, in a doorway I eventually found the crumpled paper with an unfamiliar fingerprint on it (after reading this thread), and the full anagram name puzzle. Not very helpful, but a fingerprint is a good start.

The second killing was on the 2nd floor of some apartment building. Cameras only showed 3 people plus the enforcers. I did know that the person was "average, average build, long hair" from emails and notes, but the 3 people turned out to be residents or something; dead ends. After reading this thread I went back and found the crumpled note -- it was very well hidden, on a counter behind flowers and under cabinets. Literally had to move things out of the way to see it, which I have trouble with in real life too, haha. Anyway, that revealed the first letter of the last name, which after some poking around in the directory, was enough to finally find the culprit.

Possible spoiler: I went back and checked: the killer actually WAS in the video; but they're a faceless SECURITY GUARD! I'd just assumed those were all enforcers and ignored them, but there's one security person who is on the video a bit before the other two show up, and I totally missed it. AHHH.

Other notes: the first victim didn't have the killer in their address book, while the second victim did.

Phew, I've spent like 3 hours start to finish on this case, glad it's finally over.

So yeah, barring seeing the crumpled note to begin with, the newspaper does mention the crumpled note. So I'll be checking that more often I guess.

That crumpled up paper is one of a few "key evidences" that every killer will drop upon completion of any murder.

Each killer has a corresponding key evidence type. That key evidence will almost always have the prints of the killer on it- the only exception in my experience, is that occasionally corpo killers will leave behind a key evidence with the victim's prints instead of their own. I assume this is a bug?

[JhonyRom]

Excelente, la clave fue buscar la huella digital en el Papel arrugado, y el acertijo del apellido en la Guia Telefónica.