Ruby Davers (Murder at the Mansion)

Ruby Davers (portrayed by Melissa Bolona) is the main villainess in the made for TV mystery Murder at the Mansion. The movie screened in the UK on Channel 5 and has also aired under various alternate titles in other countries. For its showing on the Lifetime Network (US) the movie has been given the title Engaged to a Psycho.
Ruby is the adopted sister of the lead male character Karl (Jason-Shane Scott). From a very young age Ruby developed a crazed obsession for Karl and became determined he love nobody except for her. When Karl announces his engagement to the beautiful Nicole, the young Ruby murders the bride shortly before the wedding. Ten years later Ruby (now an adult) plots the same fate for Karl's newfound love Deanna (Anna Hutchison).
Ruby is utterly deranged and shows no qualm murdering anyone who threatens to expose her dark past or latest scheme. Her surname is not explicitly stated in the credits, but is likely to be Davers assuming she adopted the family name. Sophie Miller plays Ruby as a teenager in flashbacks.
== Events ==
=== Childhood ===
(As the movie is a mystery the full circumstances and Ruby's villainy are not revealed until the movie's final act, but flashbacks show the sequence of events).
The movie prologue shows Karl engaged to his beautiful fiancee Nicole. At this point Ruby is already acquainted with the family and possibly has already been adopted (though some details are later explained, the timeline is not entirely clear).
Ruby has become obssessed with Karl and is determined to be the sole object of his affection.When Karl and Nicole share an intimate moment in the carriage house of the family mansion, Ruby watches from concealment behind a crate. Angry at Karl's actions - which Ruby sees as a betrayal - she knocks over a candle to start a fire, waits for Karl to exit and then bars the door with a piece of timber. As the fire spreads and Nicole desperately screams for help the callous young murderess walks away, leaving the doomed bride to be burned alive.
It is also later revealed Ruby murdered her adopted father, though his character never appears in the movie and exposition is limited to dialogue.
=== The New Bride ===
Ten years later Karl proposes to Deanna and arranges a short notice wedding at his family's mansion estate. Deanna arrives at the mansion to be greeted by Karl, the now grown-up Ruby and their mother Ivy (Audrey Landers).
Shortly after arrival Deanna explains her coconut allergy to the head chef Sebastian, who reassures her all potentially harmful products have been safely locked away. While Ruby pretends to be friendly and caring, she secretly sees this as an opportunity to eliminate the bride.
While Deanna converses with Karl in the sitting room the murderess – wearing black gloves – sneaks into Deanna's room, removes her allergy medication from a handbag, takes it outside and throws it in the trash. Ruby then creeps into the kitchen, removes a coconut aerosol from the cupboard, and sprays cake slices Sebastian has left out. At this moment Sebastian returns to disover Ruby and angrily berates her. The killer's point of view shows a scared looking chef as the faceless killer approaches with harmful intent.
Ruby – having removed the incriminating gloves – returns to the dining area and enjoys a meal with the family and bride-to-be. She smiles in anticipation as a waitress delivers the cakes to their table - an early clue to her guilt.
Soon after Deanna eats her contiminated cake she develops potentially fatal allegic symptoms and has difficulty breathing. She screams for her medication and Karl rushes upstairs to her room. In the meantime Ruby – feigning concern - comforts the gasping Deanna in her lap. The killer's plot is foiled when the groundskeeper Jimmy discovers the medicine in the trash and runs inside to hand it to Karl. Injecting her in the nick of time, Karl saves Deanna's life.
The family blame the chef who has mysteriously disappeared, believing him to have gone home. Moments later Sebastian's fate is revealed when a staff member discovers his body upstairs near the attic – staged to look like an accident.
(It's possible some of the scenes around Sebastian's death and subsequent body discovery were edited for UK afternoon TV showings as details seem sketchy – notably no footage of the actual murder or corpse - though most murders in the movie are relatively bloodless.)
=== River Cruise ===
The night following her near-fatal ordeal Ruby sneaks into Deanna's room – while she's asleep – and steals a ring-on-a-necklace from the bedside table. The actual theft is not shown, but Deanna is awoken by a noise and discovers the ring missing the following morning. It's revealed the stolen object is a keepsake given to Deanna by her mother.
To put Deanna at ease Karl lets her in on a surprise trip he's planned: a river cruise with the Davers family. They are joined by the wedding planner Sienna – revealed to be a former love interest of Karl's. Karl also informs Deanna of his ill-fated relationship to Nicole many years earlier and his new fiancee grows increasingly uneasy.
After sunbathing on the deck, Seanna and Ruby take pictures of the shirtless Karl posing by a guardrail. After he's finished Sienna invites Deanna to take his place – at Ruby's direction – and photographs her several times. As Deanna leans back the rail snaps and she falls into the water. Karl dives to the rescue and is able to save his fiancee once again. Deanna – despite previous events – believes her plunge was an accident, but Sienna privately warns her to be cautious around the family.
=== Killing Spree ===
The suspicious Sienna later returns alone to inspect the broken yacht rail, and discovers it was deliberately cut and tampered with. As she steps off the vessel she is confronted by the black-gloved Ruby (seen from the killer's POV). Sienna unwisely tells the murderess she knows what happened on board and that Ruby won't get away with it. The gloved killer grabs Sienna by the neck and slams her head against the yacht hull, knocking her unconscious (and possibly killing her outright).
Ruby uses Sienna's phone to text a message to Karl, implying Sienna is jealous of his relationship to Deanna and has left town. The shceming murderess then dumps Sienna's body in the river – the corpse is shown floating face down later in the movie. Presumably Sienna's cause of death is drowning, though this is never explicitly stated.
Jimmy – who has presumably followed Ruby from the mansion – watches events unfold. The panicked groundskepper plans to leave town, until he realises he's forgotten his heart pills. Jimmy returns to the mansion and his private room, only to discover the pills missing and Ruby waiting. The gloved psychopath holds the pills up in her hand to taunt Jimmy and then walks off as he develops complications and convulses in pain on the floor.
=== The Murderess Reveals Herself ===
Still unaware of the futher deaths, Deanna receives moral support when her sister Jenny arrives at the estate to help with the wedding. Becoming increasingly deranged, the psychotic Ruby locks the two sisters in a hot sauna. This is only revealed when the women attempt to leave and find the door locked. Fortunately Ivy arrives to free them before the situation worsens.
Deanna discovers Jimmy's body and is joined by Ruby who reacts in feigned anger (though her tone suggests she was reluctant to kill Jimmy and was at least partly fond of him). Deanna – now very suspicious of the Davers family – pushes Ruby away. Deanna later has a nightmare that shows Karl marrying Ruby (with her dressed in a traditional white veiled wedding gown).
Determined to find the stolen necklace – and incriminating proof of someone's guilt – Deanna and Jenny search the upstairs rooms. Unknown to them Karl watches events on surveillance footage. Deanna finds nothing, but the killer's black gloves are amongst Ivy's things (either a similar pair or planted by Ruby). Their significance is lost on Deanna who tosses them aside.
Upon leaving empty handed, Deanna and Jenny are confronted by Karl. Deanna dodges his questions and has a private discussion with Karl. Ruby listens in unnoticed – clearly angry at the lovers' show of affection. Ruby returns to the carriage house to reminisce about the murder of Nicole ten years prior while holding a can of gasoline. It's at this point flashbacks to the prologue occur with events shown from Ruby's perspective, revealing the murderess' identity to viewers.
On the eve of the wedding Ruby is invited to speak to the assembled guests at the reception. Holding a glass of wine, she rants about her affection for Karl and even professes her love for him, clearly leaving Deanna unsettled.
=== Wedding Day Finale ===
Planning to re-enact the fate of Karl's previous fiancee Nicole, Ruby assists the groom in putting on his jacket and uses the opportunity to steal his phone. Ruby then excuses herself from the celebrations, exits to a corridor, and sends a text message to Deanna. Pretending to be Karl, the murderess lures Deanna to the same carriage house where she murdered Nicole as a child. After Deanna takes the bair the murderess knocks her unconscious and ties her to a wooden post.
Back at the wedding party Karl searches for the missing Deanna. At that moment a staff member informs him and Ivy that Sienna's body has been found in the river, and Ruby's murderous ruse is revealed when someone tells Karl that Deanna received a text message from him and went to the carriage house.
Once more the groom races to Deanna's assitance. He arrives at the carriage house, only to be confronted by Nicole wielding a pitchfork. After a bitter conversation - when the deluded murderess rants about her love for Karl - Ruby stabs him in the leg. Deanna - having taken advantage of the distraction to free herself - wrestles with Ruby. After a brief struggle, Deanna slams Ruby's head against the post, knocking her unconscious. Deanna then returns the favor by tying Ruby to the same post she was bound to moments ago.
Realizing she has lost when she comes to, and after hearing Karl and Deanna denounce her for her evil actions, with Karl even stating that he never wanted to be married to someone like Ruby, Ruby sets fire to the hay in the barn with a lighter in a bid to commit suicide. Karl and Deanna flee the burning building. Determined to prove she is a good person to Karl, Deanna runs back into the raging fire to save Ruby's life.
=== Climax ===
After the happy couple have finally married, the final scene shows Ruby in a psychiatric institute. Her face is heavily scarred with burn marks from the fire and she wears Deanna's stolen ring around her neck. After hearing that Karl and Deanna will not come to visit her (likely as another comeuppance for her evil actions), the deluded villainess shouts that nothing is more important than family, and voices her belief that they will come to visit her, completely blind to the cold, hard fact that Karl and Deanna are happily moving on without an evil monster like Ruby in their lives.
== Trivia ==
* Unusually the movie aired in various European countries prior to showing on the US Lifetime Network - over a year earlier in some cases.
* The Lifetime title Engaged to a Psycho makes no sense given Karl is ruled out as a suspect early on (he is with Deanna when the gloved killer steals the allergy medication). Also, he exhibits no psychotic tendencies and even saves Deanna's life on three occasions.
== Gallery ==
MATM-G01.png|Ruby and Ivy welcome Deanna to the estate
MATM-G02.png|The gloved killer steals Deanna's medication
MATM-G03.png|Ruby with Deanna and the chef
MATM-G04.png|The black-clad villainess prepares a deadly snack
MATM-G05.png|Ruby smiles as the tainted food is served
MATM-G06.png|Ruby in the mansion sitting room
MATM-G07-0.png|The murderess with Sienna on the yacht
MATM-G08.png|Ruby with her adopted mother
MATM-G10.png|The inquisitive wedding planner falls victim to the gloved psycho
MATM-G10-0.png|Ruby withholds Jimmy's medication
MATM-G11-0.png|Deanna's blurry nightmare of Ruby in a bridal gown
MATM-G12.png|Ruby with Jenny and the wedding guests
MATM-G13.png|The murderess acts shocked when Deanna discovers Jimmy's body
MATM-G14.png|Ruby with the groom and bride
MATM-G15.png|The deranged killer listens in on Deanna and Karl
MATM-G17.png|The young psychopath traps Nicole in the carriage house
MATM-G18.png|Ruby plots the same fate for Deanna
MATM-G19.png|The killer steals Karl's phone...
MATM-G20.png|...and uses it to lure away Deanna
MATM-G21.png|Ruby with Deanna as her captive
MATM-G22.png|Karl confronts his deranged adopted sister
MATM-G23.png|Ruby starts another fire
MATM-G24.png|The villainess resigned to her fate
MATM-G25.png|The scarred Ruby in the psychiatric institute
Category:2010s
Category:Arson
Category:Brunette
Category:Callous
Category:Deceiver
Category:Hand of Death
Category:Kidnapper
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Burning Alive
Category:Murder: Bludgeoning
Category:Murder: Indirect
Category:Psychotic
Category:Sibling
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Fate: Arrested
Category:Begged by Hero for Mercy