Mysteries - Elements

There are a number of questions about this case that could use some explaining!

## Locked Room

A core piece of evidence against Johnson and Moebus is the "locked room." Is there another way around this?

* The murder was committed on a small island. The only way off is a bridge guarded by Smiles.
* The only people on the island at the time the police arrived were security guards (who were all cleared) and Nick Johnson.
* According to Smiles, the only person who left the island side after the start of the time of death window was Ross Moebus.
* A wall of untrampled flowers around the island seems to rule out tricks like swimming across.
* Fulbright's thorough search found no evidence of a locked room trick.

## Killer's Motive

The killer had to have some motive for what happened that day. What was it?

* Based on the rummaging of Kranf's things, it is assumed that the murder somehow relates to taking and information she had. Things with monetary value were left behind.
* Alexandra was form the ASI, who had recently been responsible for the shutdown of the Euklein research center. Did the killer fear she was going to find something out?
* There was a reason to believe that the Euklein shutdown was due to a malicious hacker. Does that tie in at all?
* There has recently been suspicion that Johnson's research was unethical. From what he said, he had to fight very hard with the ethics board to permit this. Was he afraid that his project might get shut down?
* Moebus is extremely nervous, has a relative with black market connections, and has been shown to be paranoid about some debts. Could this equate to a murder...?
* It was theorized that the murder was ad hoc, and all that was planned was the theft.

## Kranf's Motive

What was going through Alexanda's head during that inspection...?

* Did she have an ulterior motive for this visit...? Her suprvisor tells her that nothing seemed odd to him about the plan for this visit. The focus was on instrumentation, anyways.
* She was the first one to suspect foul play may have been involved with the leak about Euklein.
* Alexandra did tell both Jackie and Ross that she had been paranoid about data loss, and she began to panic when her tablet was wiped.
* According to Ross, she was not picky about where she inspected, but simply went with the itinerary given her, which was to follow Johnson.
* Paville was overdue for an inspection, and the inspection happened on a day when there were few people around.
* She spent a great deal of time in the Brain Imaging Lab where Johnson worked, examining it both when with Jackie, and when with Johnson.

## Killer's Plan

It's been assumed that this murder was premeditated. If so, the killer's plan needs explaining.

* The biggest problem is the locked room scenario. Why would the killer choose to commit the crime in a scenario that would nearly guarantee being caught by the guard?
* The guard who was there normally, Joseph Gray, is a much more stringent guard than Johnny Smiles, who is well-known (except by staffing) as a slacker. Smiles was switched out for Gray only the day of the murder.
* If the killer was Ross, why did he go make such a large scene when he would have been smuggling several incriminating pieces of evidence off the island? Even smuggling them in the first place was risky, because Smiles could have searched him.
* If the killer was Johnson, why just do nothing that night but stargaze and refuse to answer questions? Surely, he'd either have some kind of story prepared, or be resolved to his capture and confess everyting.
* Was the murder premeditated? It is possible that only the theft was premeditated, and the murder only happened at the time.

## Euklein Hacking

According to the ASI, the tip-off to Euklein's corruption was the result of a computer hacker. Does this relate to this case at all...?

* According to Johnson himself, Moebus wasn't tied to Paville until after this, so Moebus's motive to be the hacker remains unclear.
* By contrast, Johnson would have a straightforward motive: to try and find something corrupt, expose it, and then divert Euklein funds to Paville.
* The hacking was the result of a trojan that infiltrated Euklein. The trojan was so low-tech that it worked by sending data at random, and only wasn't caught due to overconfident IT developers.
* The ASI investigation into the hacking has had little progress. While Alexandra suspected there was something more here for some time, the agency as a whole had no leads, and it's doubtful that she did either.

## Lorazepam

The victim was given lorazepam. How and why?

* The autopsy report says "Lorazepam is a prescription-only medication commonly used to treat anxiety or insomnia, and also used by anaesthesiologists as a "supplement" to the anaesthesia. ... Indications were found that these drugs weakened the victim's respiratory system, aiding in the strangulation."
* There was a struggle between the victim and her attacker right before her death.
* Ross Moebus owns lorazepam, and it has been confirmed that Ms. Kranf does not. Analysis of Moebus's lorazepam showed no fingerprints from somebody else, and whether or not the pill count was off was inconclusive.
* If the killer was not Moebus, how did they acquire lorazepam...?
* The autopsy also says, "Lorazepam was found in low concentrations and appeared to have entered the blood some hours before death, having been ingested."
* Both Ross and Jackie admitted to giving Ms. Kranf a drink over the course of that day.
* There was speculation that, based on the timing, the killer wanted to disrupt her investigation.

## Smiles' Timeline

Johnny Smiles' timeline is undeniably off, but why? How much? There's some dispute over whether this was by 50 or 60 minutes. Evidence for either way is inconclusive.

* Jackie placed the Bridge Conversation at 6:30, give or take several minutes. Compared against Smiles' timeline, this is 50, with some margin of error. However, this is not definitive.
* Jackie, when asked, seemed to defend the view that things were an hour off, and not 50 minutes. From what she said in court, she only estimated the time.
* Smiles was asked about if he reset his watch upon his return. He said he did and gave the correct conversion.

## Missing Items

Several items seemed to have disappeared from the crime scene: the killer's gloves, the chloroform rag, the container for the rag (so the chloroform didn't evaporate), Kranf's notebook, her external hard drive. Where have they gone?

* The crime scene photo shows that Ms. Kranf's things were rifled through. Did somebody take them?
* Johnny Smiles confirmed that the notebook and hard drive came on the island when Kranf last entered. The killer had to have had the chloroform rag and gloves when killing her on the island.
* Fulbright has done a thorough search of the island, and is fairly certain the items are not there, though he cannot confirm this conclusively.
* Could some of these items have been burned in Johnson's office, leaving the ashes? There are smoke alarms on all floors, so this may not be plausible.

## Johnson's Ashes

A small pile of ashes was found in a trashcan in Johnson's office. What are they from? Do they relate to the case?

* There's (part) or a charred piece of paper. One side is black and burned, but the other side is clearly charred, but white. It's hard to make out what it is, if it even means anything. It's certainly no rag, but... The paper has not been examined in closed detail.
* Johnson's room has a lighter, but Johnson isn't a smoker. Why...?
* It was theorized that Moebus may be a smoker, and the ashes are tied to him.
* According to his sister, Agnes, he did not have a habit of burning papers.
* There were few papers in his office. All of them are either blank printer papers, copies of some C.V.'s, and printed/notebook papers about psychology.

## Johnson's Silence

For most of the trial, Johnson has invoked his right against testifying. Why...?

* At several points in the trial, the judge seemed ready to close the trial if something didn't come up, but Johnson never opened up to testifying, though he said he was considering it.
* Johnson spoke up at two moments. One, he felt the need to deny the defense's motive for Moebus being the hacker, which put his defense in severe jeopardy. Why say that?!
* Second, he angrily allowed e-mail searches when Connie Harper said his research was about driving Moebus to despair.

## Moebus's Memory

Ross Moebus testified in-trial that he had a "hazy memory" of something "strange, but not unpleasant" out of the corner of his eye shortly before he left the island. What was it...?

* Ross doesn't recall even what kind of object it was. It's unlikely he will without something to jog his memory.

## Johnson's Backstory

Despite Nick Johnson being the defendant, we still don't know much about him! Just who is this man...?

* The defense has had some additional conversations with him, but the prosecution has not been privy to them.
* From what's been shown in court, he has a strange mixture of nervous about how this trial is going, and annoyance about it all. He seems most interested when the motive is being discussed.
* His two siblings, Shane and Agnes, said that while always eccentric and reclusive, he seemed excited to start at Paville, but that lately, he seemed distracted and didn't want to talk about research.
* Johnson also let slip that his current research project hadn't gotten off the ground until very recently.
* His office is surprisingly sterile and clinical. The only thing (you've noticed) that's out of place is that lighter and those ashes... Oh, and literal stacks of photographs of his siblings. Shane is with his best-selling book, and Agnes is with some science trophy. They must be close.

## Leviathan

I'm your glorious narrator, of course! Isn't it worth asking what Beatrice-sama wants here?

* Who I am? I'm Leviathan! I'm a demoness who serves as Gatekeeper of Hell, Stake of Envy, and furniture to Beatrice-sama!
* You don't know Beatrice-sama? She's the Endless Witch of Umineko no Naku Koro ni, a visual novel that's proven surprisingly popular on Ace Attorney Online. I'm her favorite servant, of course.
* In Umineko, I have six (inferior) sisters - but Beatrice-sama chose me specially for this misison!
* Enthalpy hasn't read Umineko. Nor is he known to care for green hair.
* I'm just here to do my mistress's bidding. I really don't care how this trial ends.
* Beatrice-sama says she has a special surprise for you all~!