The CSI Crime Night mystery evening takes place at Thompson Rivers University tonight, Thursday, Oct. 20 from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m.
Go on your own or put a team together to solve the crime and chances to win some great prizes. Names of all participants will be entered into a draw for an Amazon Kindle e-Reader.
In order to prepare for solving the murder mystery, TRU is providing the scenario ahead of time for participants in the Tribune.
Part 1 appeared in the Tuesday issue of the Tribune. Part two appears below.
Reading the story will help participants as they proceed to the various scenes set up at the university tonight that will provide more clues to solving the murder mystery.
Part 2
Phoebe Boening had lived in Williams Lake since October 1907 when her father had been appointed as the postmaster and the family accompanied him to his new position.
When he resigned his post in July 1914, the rest of the family moved, but Phoebe decided to stay on, living in an upstairs apartment. Since many of the men were enlisting in the army after the outbreak of the First World War there were many jobs that needed filling so she worked part-time at the post office, and also became a hired hand on the Pinchbeck Ranch.
Phoebe was a confirmed gossiper who often unwittingly passed on false information.
Angus Brown had owned the livery and feed barn since 1912.
At this time, the government was in the process of buying the Borland ranch land that would be the location of the new town they were thinking of calling Borland, but soon changed to Williams Lake.
Brown’s livery business had only sustained smoke damage in the fire, and he was still able to live in one of the rooms in the back of the business.
He was good at his trade and had built his business up to a profitable one, having one employee (Silas).
He had also bought the burned-out Fraser and Mackenzie store in March 1922, and had a construction crew working on the new building when he ran out of money.
As a result, the building was abandoned while only half finished, and Angus had to join the hunt for gold in Likely from April to August 1922.
Angus often hadn’t paid Silas or the construction crew on schedule and sometimes purposely shorted their pay.
He had been courting Mavis, so he was upset when she became engaged to Silas.
Wilfred Newton was a recent newcomer to the tent city, arriving in April 1922, also from Edinburgh, Scotland.
He had found accommodation at the Borland Ranch Boarding House. Because of a birth defect, he had a twisted spine and a bad limp, and he wasn’t able to work in construction like many of the other men.
Instead, he floated from job to job, sometimes working as a bartender, while other times playing poker or taking bets to earn a living.
Wilfred was a likable young man in his mid-30s who had charm and poise. He had been keeping company occasionally with Phoebe, who he had met at the post office.
Basil Green was another gold prospector from Scotland who arrived in September 1922, and who had also turned his hand to construction when he couldn’t find gold.
He hadn’t been able to secure accommodation and was forced to join those living in tents, which didn’t help his already sour and nasty disposition.
He had been a friend of Dudley Knolls’ in the old country, and had been lured to Williams Lake by stories of Johnny’s lost gold nuggets.
However, his friendship with Dudley seemed to have soured, and Basil had been overheard saying to others that he was looking for Dudley and would kill him if Dudley ever tried to push him around again.
The Crime:
On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 1, 1922, a body was discovered half buried wrapped in an old bed sheet in the dirt basement of Angus Brown’s partially constructed building.
The body had partially decomposed, obscuring the face, but an old letter in one of the pants pockets indicated it may be Dudley Knolls.
A faint smell of alcohol permeated the air around the body as the sheet was removed, and there was plant material sticking out of the pant cuffs. Near the body lay a crumpled piece of paper and an empty pouch.
Two footprints were also clearly visible in the soft earth just under the head.
No one had seen Dudley since May, believing that he had tired of construction and moved out to the goldfields near Likely.
Some even speculated that he had at last found the lost gold nuggets and left the area a rich man.
The last reported sighting of Dudley was after he had been working a 12-hour shift with the rebuilding crew on Friday, May 29.
Two of his co-workers had seen him leave work at 7 p.m. and heard him say he was going to eat at the Cariboo Bar.
They had seen him carrying his satchel that he used to transport his tools and his lunch to work every day.
Phoebe reported seeing him drinking with Mavis until the wee hours of Saturday morning.