Navarro Industries

Possibly the company's logo on the invitations.

**Navarro Industries** is a company owned by the billionaire Ruben Navarro, whose technology can be seen in Chapter 1 of Murder by Choice.

## History

### Founded by Ruben

While still in Stanford University and more than 2 decades before Chapter 1, Ruben Navarro created a start-up company with a vision to minimize human suffering in the world. While studying abroad at London, this attracted the attention of a member of the Overseers, a powerful England bank owner, where he recruited Ruben as an apprentice. Once Ruben left the secret society months later realizing how criminal they were, Ruben's company was nearly ruined and Ruben and his love Marianne Page were harassed to the point where Marianne left London for America. Ruben reluctantly struck a deal with the Overseers to give 10% of Navarro Industries' yearly revenue to them disguised as charitable donations, allowing Ruben to grow his company.

### Becoming Successful

Indeed, Navarro Industries became a massively successful and influential company by the start of Chapter 1, being dominant especially in science and tech industries. With Ruben's vision to make people suffer less, the company has contributed in renewable energy, pharma, natural disaster aid (Margot St. Germain claims it was Ruben that restored power and running water in a hurricane called Hurricane Donatella a year before Chapter 1), and likely more. Because of the company's achievements, Navarro Industries has worked with the U.S. government through many contracts. Ruben especially became close allies with Admiral Samuel Wilkinson through this.

Ruben, fifteen years before Chapter 1, also acquired Isla Esperanza in the Caribbean Sea near Panama, where he built a private mansion for annual social gatherings. He would hire Portia Frost as his secretary, Georgiana Bird as his housekeeper, Joaquin Díaz as his groundskeeper and gardener, and Lukas Matonis as his security chief and guard.

Navarro Industries has many subsidiaries, like one called Navarro Air, which is an entire airline. One of its employees, an unnamed pilot, is seen flying Ruben's guests for his annual soirée on his private island Isla Esperanza using a seaplane. Another subsidiary is Navarro Labs, which appears to be a company focused on developing scientific projects and tech. Carla and Dr. Katharine Bennet use a Unitest device made by Navarro Labs to test Ruben's food samples for poison.

### Navarro Labs' Experimentations

On Isla Esperanza, Ruben also secretly built an underground facility for Navarro Labs' undisclosed scientific projects. One of these projects was a genetically engineered medicinal plant called Miraculus whose samples were planted on the island. Its aim is to cure humans of diseases, although it has not been tested on humans yet. Ruben is forced to have one of the samples' synthesized nectar injected into him while dying from Margot's poison as a last resort. Living up to its name, Miraculus revived Ruben despite his heart rate going down to zero. It doesn't completely remove the poison's side-effects as Ruben gets a rash on his left hand much later where he got in contact with the poison.

Another of these projects was Project Genetica, where through a serum, a person can have their cells rejuvenated such that they reverse and even stop aging, allowing them to live longer, even forever. This was accomplished through many tests like one on Genie the chimpanzee who was initially dying from being very sick being more than 65 years old but now has been healed and looks younger thanks to Project Genetica. The files to recreating the Genetica serum is what motivates the Overseers to send Margot to Ruben's annual soirée on Isla Esperanza. Because of all the deaths and destruction caused by Margot, with Lukas, Portia, and guest Freddie Wolf dead by the time Margot is finally captured, Ruben decides to burn the Genetica files, believing that humanity is not deserving of such a revolutionary change yet. By the end of Chapter 1, the U.S. has appeared to cover Project Genetica up completely, with no mention of it in Margot's trial or Carla's article on the chapter's events.

## Gallery

Q's sketch of Miraculus.Project Genetica's logo.Genie's intelligence is tested through chess.Genie watches over Ruben and a fellow scientist.Project Genetica is no more.Project Genetica is covered up.