Crystal Wendle (Murder, She Wrote)

Crystal Wendle (Linda Purl) was the wife of Todd Wendle, the nephew of playwright Eugene Wendle. She appears in the episode 15 called "Mourning Among The Wisteria" of season 4 of Murder, She Wrote.
It turns out, Eugene was a wealthy man and had provided Todd's finances for his own desires. But when Eugene refused to continue financially supporting Todd, Crystal decided to take matters into her own hands – she began to slowly poison Eugene by tampering with his alcoholic beverage with arsenic from ant poison, so that it would appear that Eugene died of natural causes from a stomach ulcer. All this in order for Todd to inherit the fortune.
However, Eugene's lawyer, Jonathan Keeler, discovered Crystal's evil plan when he caught her in the act. Desperate to have the inheritance, Crystal planned to kill Jonathan at that night. Crystal used the revolver from Eugene's gun cabinet to shoot Jonathan and frame Eugene. She used a quilt to silence the gunshot as she fired shots at Jonathan. Afterwards, Crystal went to the bedroom en suite while Todd was asleep to fire gunshots to mask the gunshots that killed Jonathan in order for the body to be discovered. During the disturbance, Crystal went back to the gun cabinet to return the murder weapon.
But, Jessica Fletcher, who was a guest in Eugene's house, revealed Crystal as the murderer before she gets another opportunity to kill Eugene. Jessica and Eugene set up a trap to allow Crystal to poison Eugene, Crystal eventually took the bait and she was placed under arrest by the police, with the poison as evidence of attempted murder. Crystal coldly confessed to Jonathan's murder and her attempted murder of Eugene.
== Trivia ==
* Linda Purl also appeared as villainess Laci Collins in the Lifetime film, Maid of Honor.
Category:1980s
Category:Brunette
Category:Greedy
Category:Hero's Lover
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Gun
Category:Fate: Arrested