The Death Thriller

"*The young woman found bloodless at the haunted house coffin! Vampire attack or another murder? You have until sunrise to find out!*"
– Case Teaser

**The Death Thriller** is a case featured in Criminal Case Next Chapter: Agenda of Angst, appearing as the 9th case of the game and as the Halloween Special case. It is the third case set in Twinville.

## Plot

The Azure Peaks Police team went to Richard Gilchrist's horror musical film "The Charlton Jackson's Thriller" at Haunted House Party to ensure safety at Bluehouse Production's third horror film. In a vampire coffin, Jason and the player found the body of Briana Stocker, believing that a vampire "Count Draco" had sucked a woman's blood out.

The five people were labelled as suspects: Richard Gilchrist (director), Rosaline Ventura (dancer), Charlton Jackson (pop singer), Count Draco (horror host), and Zelda Bettis (society girl).

While searching for evidences, Jason and the player were locked in the dark room and they confronts by the horde of the zombie dancers. One of them is the Lake Monster, who attempt to prevent them from arresting, but the player managed to confuse them by showing the mannequin, pretended to be Lake Monster's bride. The monster takes the figure and run off, allowing Jason and the player to exit the room.

Mid-investigation, Bryon discovered that Briana was actually an author of Gothic horror novel "Dracula" who had committed theft and then disappeared to mysteriously blend in the high society. Later on, pop singer Charlton Jackson drank too much and tampered with one of Richard's machines, causing a slime explosion. The team found enough evidence to arrest the society girl and former actress Zelda Bettis for the murder.

After denying involvement, Zelda admitted to the crime. Zelda could not stand when Briana started dating Charlton, whom he loved. Feeling betrayed for quitting being lesbian, Zelda tied Briana with fake spider webs and used a blood pump to drain the blood out of her while she was intoxicated and passed out on the coffin. Judge Westley sentenced her to lifetime in jail without parole for the brutally murder.

During Under the Black Lagoon (3/6), Mandy and the player talked to Richard about the Lake Monster. Although he did not know it, Richard allowed the team to investigate the haunted house, where they found Bluehouse Production's guest list for the horror musical film. Per Bryon, the list showed that the Lake Monster had been calculating the odds of the likeliest female victim and the likeliest killer in the most iconic horror movie festival, which led the team to believe that Count Draco was organizing the most iconic horror movie festival with the intention of having murders. Upon interrogation, Zelda said that she did not know Lake Monster despite him predicting that she would kill Briana. Furthermore, she remembered overhearing someone talking about Onyx Swamp Massacre and Julie's kidnapping in the theater entrance, where the team found Shawn McConnell's party services bike. While he did not personally see him, Shawn remembered providing services for Count Draco as he was his first customer, and that Bluehouse Production's fourth horror film would take place at Ghost Town.

After the team returned Richard his vampire chocolate set, the team headed to Ghost Town to watch the zombie film "Z-Terminator".

## Suspects

**Richard Gilchrist**
Director
 **Blood** | O+

**Suspect's Profile**

* The suspect reads Dracula.
* The suspect drinks Blood Sucker.
* The suspect has a black cat.
* The suspect has blond hair.

**Rosaline Ventura**
Dancer
 **Blood** | A-

**Suspect's Profile**

* The suspect has a black cat.
* The suspect wears silver necklace.
* The suspect has blond hair.

**Count Draco**
Horror Host
 **Blood** | O

**Suspect's Profile**

* The suspect reads Dracula.
* The suspect drinks Blood Sucker.
* The suspect has a black cat.
* The suspect wears silver necklace.

**Charlton Jackson**
Pop Singer
 **Blood** | AB+

**Suspect's Profile**

* The suspect reads Dracula.
* The suspect has a black cat.

**Zelda Bettis**
Society Girl
 **Blood** | B-

**Suspect's Profile**

* The suspect reads Dracula.
* The suspect drinks Blood Sucker.
* The suspect has a black cat.
* The suspect wears silver necklace.
* The suspect has blond hair.

## Quasi-suspect(s)

**Shawn McConnell**
Photographer
 **Blood** | A

## Killer's Profile

* The killer reads *Dracula*.
* The killer drinks Blood Sucker.
* The killer has a black cat.
* The killer wears silver necklace.
* The killer has blond hair.

## Trivia

* The Charlton Jackson's Thriller is a parody of horror music video Michael Jackson's Thriller.
	+ Charlton Jackson is most likely based on late pop singer Michael Jackson, who played as himself in Thriller music video, while Zelda Bettis, former actress who played as Charlton's girlfriend is a more likely to be the white version of Ola Ray, who played Michael Jackson's girlfriend.