Jen Marsden

**Jennifer 'Jen' Marsden** is a character in Murder Mystery 28: The Penthouse. She was the murderer in MM28, and was caught with a guess ratio of 3:1, but escaped in-game due to host decision. She is the current owner of Apartment Building 212 following Yoon Na-ra selling the building to her.

#### Personality

Jen is first and foremost a girlboss. While she may have her reservations about the industry she is a leading commander of, she has a job and she does it well and with an unshakeable confidence, one that she brings to all walks of life. She is assertive against those who might doubt her, to the point where she might be described as rather rude, though she is only rude to those who have provoked her ire, and may even care for those who treat her with the respect she deserves. Mostly she’s just pushy and impatient though. While her adoptive parents were careful to raise her so that she would not be out of touch, and she is still capable of carrying this energy in interviews and so on, she is one of the richest people in the world, and this has affected her personality somewhat. Furthermore, she has been living entirely alone with just her money for the past 2 years, and even before then, her mother had hardly provided good company, and this has got to her head somewhat. Her mother’s death has removed any chance of reconciliation or for her to have any sort of healthy family life. She has attempted to contact her bio parents, only to find out that since putting her up for adoption, they had moved to a Christian commune in rural Arkansas. She’s not even that desperate for a family or a relationship or any of those concepts, but she just feels completely isolated. Beyond the formal business environment of Montana, almost all of Jen’s interaction with other humans is with her neighbours, who are… weird. On some level she does understand the hollowness of the life she is leading and she doesn’t exactly like the company she’s in charge of, but she keeps pushing anyway, because the satisfaction she derives from the power she holds and her constant drive for ever more prestige, as exemplified by the Penthouse, are all that give her life meaning, really.

#### Backstory

The girl who would become Jen Marsden was born in Los Angeles in 1999, and promptly put up for adoption by her birth parents, who had apparently been told by God that they were to have a boy, and took her birth to be a sign of the devil. An unpromising beginning, but her fortune turned when she was adopted by Bertrand and Claudia Marsden, the familial owners of Montana Corp, one of the largest oil corporations in the United States. Bertrand and Claudia had been unable to conceive children of their own, and as such in their old age (Bertrand had been born in 1936, and Claudia in 1945), they were desperate for an heir. This child seemed the perfect demographic to bring Montana Corp into a new era, as they would pitch it to the board of directors. Bertrand and Claudia called their adopted child Jennifer, but called her Jen from an early age, believing it to sound more young and fresh, more marketable. It was in this manner that Jen became the heir to one of the largest fortunes in the world. Despite this, Jen received a relatively normal upbringing, as her parents insisted on giving her a public education and forgoing living in the historic family house with its extensive serving staff during her early life. They did this in order to ensure she would be authentic and relatable, as her status as heir to the company would do nothing for its public image if she appeared utterly out-of-touch to the general public. Nonetheless, Bertrand and Claudia made a point to groom her for her future position, and ensured that she would know what to do when the time came for her to take it.

Jen lived this pretense of a normal life until she was 16, when her father Bertrand died of a stroke at the age of 80. Bertrand and Claudia had long-resolved that when Bertrand died, Jen was to immediately take over as CEO of Montana Corp. As such, Claudia immediately withdrew Jen from her high school education and moved back into the family home, where she was forced to hire new staff, the old crew having been made redundant a long time ago. Jen assumed the position of CEO with some reluctance, but her existence as a marketing strategy was quickly shown to have paid off, as the cover shoots and puff pieces about the girl who had taken over Montana at the age of 16 soon rolled in. Nonetheless, Jen was overwhelmed by all the sudden dramatic changes in her life, not helped by her mother drunkenly telling her while grieving Bertrand one night that she was adopted, though she had admittedly figured as much several years prior. Jen quickly grew to resent her parents and how they controlled her life to this point, and her relationship with her mother soured greatly, resulting in her taking so-called "business trips" much more frequently. When her mother died abruptly four years later at the age of 75, Jen was hardly saddened, though she did make a point of tearing up during her eulogy at the funeral. She also grew to hate the oil industry, which her public education had given her a rather negative impression of, an impression that was only confirmed by her interactions with the Montana board of directors and key figures in the industry. Nonetheless, she proved herself to be rather skilled at her job, her parents' training paying off nicely, and grew to find her life as a powerful global figure to be comfortable, to say the least, leaving her highly reluctant to actually turn her back on the industry. One of her more notable actions as CEO has been to relocate Montana's corporate headquarters to Sinang City in early 2021, in large part owing to the city-state's exceptional response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in its economy being more stable than most other states. Jen has been living in Apartment Building 212 since this move.

#### Murder Mystery 28: The Penthouse

Prior to the start of the game, Jen was texted by Yoon Na-eun, the sister of landlord Yoon Na-ra, who had confined her to the Penthouse since their parents' death. Jen and Na-eun agreed to a series of murders based on a common interest to provoke Na-ra into selling the apartment building, allowing Jen to purchase it. Na-eun conceived this plan as a way out of being evicted, as her sister had previously expressed her intention to do, whereas Jen saw it as an opportunity to break out of her dreary business-oriented lifestyle by expanding her portfolio. With the plan set, Jen, over the course of three days, murdered three victims; a masseuse employed in the apartment complex, former Shine Girls vocalist Shin Ye-young, and renowned plastic surgeon Moon Ae-ra. Following the death of the latter, Yoon Na-eun gained access to her sister's Nextdoor account, leading to a series of public confrontations, first between Na-eun and Na-ra in the Penthouse, then between Na-eun and Jen in Ye-young's apartment. During the latter confrontation, Jen (in the presence of Na-eun, Pascal Huntington, Bi Hae-won, and Daniel Sun) expressed her intent to forge evidence that would implicate Na-eun in the murders and resolve the matter. Jen followed through on this action, leading to Sinang City Police attempting to apprehend Na-eun, at which point she committed suicide by jumping from the roof of the building. Due to her death, no trial was held, and the murders were ruled as solved.

In terms of her personal interactions over the course of the game, Jen, as a general rule, did not get along with her fellow tenants, whom she generally viewed with contempt, one which she made abundantly clear in her interactions with them, publicly feuding with celebrity tenants Bi Hae-won and Primarina Venti on multiple occasions. She also developed a relationship of mutual hate with the doorman, Daniel Sun, due to his lax work ethic and blunt, standoffish attitude. On the other hand, she developed an uneasy mutual respect with the fashion designer Pascal Huntington, whom she saw as a dedicated, if somewhat ineffectual, hard worker.

#### Aftermath

Following the unlocking of Apartment Building 212 and the suicide of Yoon Na-eun, Jen set about her arduous task of post-murder negotiations. Due to the social media presence of certain residents of the building, news about the deaths of Shin Ye-young and Moon Ae-ra had already made headlines, making a full cover-up impossible. As such, she and Yoon Na-ra struck a deal that saw the suppression of Na-eun's name to the public. Instead it was to be reported that a homeless lone wolf killer had snuck into the building the day before committing the murders, before committing suicide due to her insanity. Another condition of the deal was that Na-ra would receive credit for finding and apprehending the killer before more damage could be done. In exchange, Jen received a substantial part of Na-ra's real estate portfolio, including Apartment Building 212, at a greatly reduced rate. As payment for their confidentiality, Jen donated a select few of these properties to Pascal and Fallon Huntington, as well as Bi Hae-won.

Shortly after the sale, Jen relocated to the Penthouse, before moving back to Los Angeles in 2033 for personal reasons, choosing to manage her work obligations remotely. In subsequent years Jen maintained personal residences in both Sinang City and Los Angeles, primarily residing in Los Angeles, and retained dual citizenship for the remainder of her life. In addition, following the sale, she also took a step back from Montana in order to focus on her work as a landlord, stepping down as CEO while retaining her role as president of the company. Despite her withdrawal from company affairs, she continued to participate in global summits in her role as a business leader, becoming a leading industry advocate for diversification of energy sources. Under her watch as president, Montana was one of the few oil giants of the early 21st century to successfully and effectively navigate the global transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewable energy one, largely due to sustained early investment at the onset of the nuclear energy resurgence of the 2020s. In addition to her industry work, Jen maintained an active role in both Sinangese and American politics, as one of the most prominent business donors of the Democratic Party (United States) and the Democratic Party (Sinang). Upon coming of age, she was the subject of media speculation as a potential Democratic candidate for the 2036 United States presidential election, but she ultimately declined to run, publicly dismissing the idea as a vanity project. In 2038, Jen stepped down as company president of Montana after 22 years in the role, and was succeeded by CFO Shin Jae-ho, the first such president in the company’s history to not be a member of the Marsden family.

In regards to her personal life, Jen met her long-term partner and later wife, financier Lee Kyung, on the dating app Hinge in 2029, under a pseudonymous profile. After privately dating for several years, they eloped to Los Angeles in 2033, marrying a year later in a civil ceremony with no attendees. Though no media was present at the ceremony itself, word of its occurrence reached the Los Angeles Times despite efforts on Jen’s part, whereupon it received a moderate amount of coverage in global news, particularly in Sinang City, where certain pundits cited the couple’s elopement from the country as indicative of a hostile national zeitgeist in the wake of the country’s still-fresh debate over same-sex marriage rights. Small right-wing protests demanding the exit of Montana Corporation from Sinang City following the revelation occurred, but were ineffective. After just nine years of marriage, Jen and Kyung officially split in 2043. Kyung cited personal discomfort with the relationship, refusing to elaborate further, while Jen abstained from publicly commenting altogether. However, posing as various anonymous insider sources with the assistance of her staff, Jen alleged infidelity between Kyung and veteran Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ringheim, and these allegations came to dominate media coverage of the separation.

Following the divorce, Kyung received a sizable percentage of Jen’s assets, which she used to found her own charitable foundation,  the Planet B Fund, dedicated to providing assistance to people across the world whose lives had been uprooted by man-made climate change-induced disasters. In response to this, Jen intensified her own philanthropic efforts, leading an international campaign for mental health awareness that was accompanied by the establishment of her new charity, Boundless. Both of these efforts were perceived by the general public as cynical and motivated largely by spite, but nonetheless raised millions in large donations in their first weeks. In addition to this, Jen alternatively manufactured and made use of existing sources to uncover financial inconsistencies in the operations of Planet B, and the ensuing scandal led to its liquidation just one month after its founding, and the further tarnishing of Kyung’s reputation. Jen continued this behaviour for months, constantly manufacturing scandal after scandal for the broadsheet media, before stopping after Lee Kyung was found dead in her home, apparently from suicide, on the 19th of March, 2044. Following Kyung’s death, a sizable counter-backlash emerged on social media, as prominent left-wing influencers denounced both Jen and the wider news media as directly facilitating her death due to her supposed anti-establishment views, while fringe-right wing users theorised her death to be a deep state plot stemming from her wife’s involvement in occult homosexual child abuse rituals. No consequences were faced by Jen, and the story largely passed after several weeks. She never remarried.

In the latter part of her life, Jen turned her attention to politics. While she never ran for office, she was nominated as United States Trade Representative in 2049 under the administration of Pete Buttigieg, a role in which she served for four years. She later served as President of the Brookings Institution from 2056 to 2063. In 2067, she was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. Upon receiving the diagnosis, she requested to die by assisted suicide. Her request was initially denied by the State of California as not meeting the medical criteria for assisted dying, but was approved after further consideration. Jen Marsden died by nitrogen pod on the 29th of August, 2069, one day after her 70th birthday. She was not accompanied at the moment of her death. Her obituary in The Washington Post described her as a “brash yet revered champion of progressive business,” while The Observer noted that “her aggressive tactics and aversion to populism drew ire from certain circles, but lent her credibility as an effective negotiator.” Response on social media was more mixed; shortly after the announcement, the social media app Twit (formerly Twitter) banned outspoken left-wing podcaster Mason Parker for offensive comments made regarding her illness. No public suspicion was ever raised against Jen over the Apartment Building 212 murders.

#### Trivia

* Jen is largely agreed to be the hottest murderer in Murder Mystery. Congratulations, Jen!