Jan Kaminski

**Jan Kaminski** was a suspect in the murder investigation of runner Vinnie Royce in Off To The Races! (Case #17 of Zorro Island), before he was murdered in Dead Smart (Case #19 of Zorro Island).

## Jan Kaminski

### Affiliation

Oak Tree Academy  (Student; Until Death)
 The Wise Oak Newspaper  (Journalist; Formerly)
 Oak Tree Academy Decathlon Team  (Member; Formerly)

## Info

Jan is a 15-year-old student journalist at the Oak Tree Academy. He has tan skin and brown eyes, with black glasses and short brown hair. He wears a blue button up shirt and a black jacket over it, with grey jeans on the bottom and blue sneakers.

It is known that he owns a Clonebook.

At the time of his death, he wore a grey blazer and black dress shoes in place of his black jacket and blue sneakers.

## Events Of Zorro Island

### Off To The Races!

Jan became a suspect when his dictaphone was found at the scene of Vinnie's murder, as Ellis - being well connected in the school - recognised Jan's voice immediately. Upon speaking to Jan, he seemed shocked to find that Vinnie had been murdered, saying that he had just interviewed him a third time earlier that day. He then informed the detectives that Vinnie had seemed fine in all of his interviews, and he didn't know why Vinnie would kill himself, which led to Rhea informing him that Vinnie's death was being treated as suspicious, which Jan wrote down in his notebook, annoying Rhea as he left to call the editor-in-chief of the paper.

Jan was spoken to again when Ellis, Rhea and the player found burnt newspaper clippings in the boys' locker room, as Juan managed to identify the title as **"PREPARING FOR LAST PLACE"**. Upon speaking to Jan about this, Jan informed the detectives that he had done the math, and both Isobel Pine and Rhys Coleman had higher chances of beating Vinnie in the race. However, Vinnie had reported him for bias, leading to his suspension from the newspaper. Rhea seemed to doubt this, as Jan defended himself by saying that the piece he was now writing would change the narrative at The Oak Academy, which meant reentry into the newspaper for good.

Jan was found to be innocent when Beau Jacobs was arrested for the murder.

## Murder Details

Jan was found dead outside the Decathlon Centre, as Axelle and the player were quick to identify the cause of death as a stab wound to the neck. Per Rosa, the killer had somehow managed to stab Jan right in the carotid artery, slicing straight through it vertically and killing him. She later deduced that Jan wasn't killed in the alley, and suggested they investigate somewhere with a connection to the alley, but perhaps with a bit of shrubbery.

Axelle, Ellis and the player later found a bloodied fountain pen in the trash can in the decathlon centre, which they sent to Pedro for analysis. Following his analysis, Pedro informed the detectives that the blade was, undoubtedly, the one used to kill Jan. He also said that he had found blue threads caught on the blade, and since they weren't the colour of Jan's shirt, it meant the killer had to be wearing a deep blue.

## Relationship With Suspects

Jan was good friends with Dylan Summers, a fellow member of the Decathlon team. However, Jan caught Dylan cheating before the Decathlon and threatened to call him out for it, which would lower Dylan's chances of getting into Princeton. Jan was also on good terms with Yves Moreau, the team leader, as the pair had known one another for a long time, but had drifted apart after Yves made some insensitive comments about Polish people. Jan heavily disliked Adriana Sanchez due to his history with her, as the pair had quite a loud argument in the middle of the centre before Jan was murdered. Sutton Foster had recently joined the team, and Jan had been heavily welcoming towards him, only for Sutton to find out Jan had been documenting all of their conversations with his dictaphone. Jan also had a thing for Aurora Keyes, who had a boyfriend and rejected Jan's advances, and the pair stayed friends despite this.

## Killer And Motives

The killer turned out to be Yves.

Despite an extreme amount of denial, Yves eventually snapped and confessed to the crime. Before the decathlon, Yves had stumbled upon what Jan had been writing about the Secret Society, which he happened to be a member of, as Jan had correctly guessed almost all of the main members. Desperate not to let the truth be revealed, Yves tricked Jan into coming to the decathlon, as he stabbed him with a fountain pen outside and left him for dead. Absolutely disgusted by the act of self-preservation, Judge Vargas sentenced Yves to 32 years in prison for the murder of Jan Kaminski.