Victim: Frogman
Crime:
On June 13, 2010, there was a soda convention at Hawaii. A formal dinner was
held for the representatives of the four soda companies. The guests were Penny
Change from Pepsi, La Fonda from Fanta, Arnold Westing from A & W Root Beer,
Monty Drew from Mountain Dew, and Frogman from Coca-Cola. During the formal
dinner, Frogman was hungry for a burger and went into the kitchen. An hour later
the police were called in by Monty Drew who found Frogman lying on the kitchen
floor. All of the guests listed before had gone into the kitchen sometime throughout
the evening. However, each one gave an alibi when questioned by the police.
Penny Change from Pepsi stated that she had gone into the kitchen to get more
ice for the punch. Her hair got stuck in the freezer door and while trying to get it out,
she cut herself. Nevertheless, she had the motive of wanting to steal the Coke
formula since they are Pepsi's biggest competitor.
Fanta's La Fonda said that she was sneaking out from the dinner to meet an island
boy she had made plans with earlier. Her hair was found near the door to the
entrance of the kitchen from the outside. While trying to get his number from her
pocket she got a paper-cut and started to bleed.
Arnold Westing from A & W Root Beer had forgotten something in his room. He
didn't feel like going the long way, so he took a shortcut through the kitchen. He had
recently had a severe nosebleed which had dripped down towards his lungs. He had
been diagnosed by his doctor and was told that he would cough it up eventually.
Frogman had told Monty Drew that he was going to sell the Coke formula and
would meet him in the kitchen to discuss prices. When Monty Drew walked into the
kitchen he found Frogman lying on the floor. Frogman was delirious and began to
pull on Monty Drew's hair and tried to fight back who he thought was his attacker.
Monty Drew had some severe scratches that had bled.
At the crime scene, a bloody pot was found and was believed to be the attacker's
weapon. On the pot handle, a fingerprint was found. It had a whorl with two deltas.
In addition, skid marks were found outside the kitchen. The formula to find the
speed of the vehicle is SPEED(s) x DISTANCE OF SKID(d) x DRAG FACTOR(f). The
speed is a constant, it is 30. Since the vehicle skidded on cement, its drag factor is
1.2. The distance of the skid was 15'. Once all the factors are multiplied, the square
root of the product must be found. This is the speed at which the vehicle was going.
*Golf Cart: 30 x 1.2 x 15 = 540; Square root (540)= 23.23790008
Suspects:
Penny Change: representative of PEPSI
alibi: ran out of ice, and went to the kitchen
*La Fonda: representative of FANTA
Alibi: meeting with her boyfriend
Arnold Westing: representative of A & W ROOT BEER
Alibi: forgot something in room, and the shortcut though kitchen.
Monty Drew: representative of MOUNTAIN DEW
alibi: found Frogman and called the police
DNA:
Penny Change
hair: got stuck in freezer
Blood: cut herself trying to free her hair
Fingerprint: loop with one delta
*La Fonda
hair: sheds hair near door
blood: paper-cut from boyfriend's number
fingerprint: whorl with 2 deltas
Arnold Westing
hair: hat fell off
blood: coughed up blood due to medical problems
Fingerprint: arch
Monty Drew
hair: found/near victim
blood: Frogman delirious and tried to attack him
Fingerprint: whorl with one delta
Research links:
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/
Materials/Procedure and Preparing DNA:
www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/red/intro.html
www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/biotech/gels/agardna.html
www.biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/labs/genetics/DNA_Electrophoresis/DNA_Electro
phoresis.htm