Who Done It?
By Elise B, Cammie H, Anna N, and Emma S
Ms. Lecceardone was the Murderer!
Before the murder...
Jack Parrish is the victim in this murder mystery. He was a science/english teacher at the Lovett School who has brown hair, blue eyes, weight of 180 pounds, and height of 6'5 feet.
The Crime Scene...
In the crime scene there were...
- Two bloody handprints on the wall
- There was a bloody tissue next to the outline of the body on the floor
- A chair was tipped over to the right of the body outline
- On the white board, written in blood, was the letters HS, which stands for Habits and Skills
- Mr. Parrish was reading and put a magazine in his left hand because after the murder the magazine was on the left side
- There are half eaten gummy bears
- On a chair there was a spoon with powder in it
Crime Scene Desk
Crime Scene Victim Body Outline
Crime Scene Overview
Suspects
Mrs. Dixon
When we interviewed her...
- She had baby powder on her desk, which she uses for her high heels
- She had a bandaid on her face
- She works with Mr. Parrish in the Science department
- She said that Mr. Parrish was difficult to work with
- When she went to lunch with Ms. Lecceardone, they talked about how Mr. Parrish kept eating Ms. Lecceardone's gummy bears.
- She had a meeting at Lovett with Ms. Little at 4:00pm, and Ms. Lecceardone dropped her off
- She was seen running from campus at 4:30pm (time of Mr. Parrish's death).
Mrs. Dixon was suspicious, but she is not the murderer because the poison that she had was not a match to the poison that killed Mr. Parrish.
Mr. Sayles
When we interviewed him...
- He was annoyed with Mr. Parish because he had only been on the Chattanooga trip one year and had rude comments to say about the trip.
- He was at the house of Sara-bee at 3:45 pm.
- On his desk, he had the death cap mushroom.
- He left Sara-bee at 3:45 pm to get back to Lovett.
Ms. Lecceardone
When we interviewed her...
- On her desk, she had bitter almonds which contains cyanide (the poison used to kill Mr. Parrish)
- She works with Mr. Parrish in the English department
- Mr. Parrish always steals her gummy bears which makes her very annoyed
- One time Mr. Parrish broke her glass jar of new gummy bears and did not replace it
- Since she had to buy herself a new jar, it took out of Gino's treat budget which she was not happy about
- On Tuesday 1:30 pm, she went out to lunch with Mrs. Dixon to Soho, and they talked about how Ms. Lecceardone was annoyed with Mr. Parrish stealing her gummy bears
- At 4:00 pm she was at home with Gino, but Gino was her only alibi, a dog
Ms. Lecceardone was suspicious because she had bitter almonds on her desk, which contains cyanide (the poison used to kill Mr. Parrish). Also, many labs lead to Ms. Lecceardone, therefore, she is the murderer.
Mr. Rice
When we interviewed him...
- On his desk he had rat poison, which contains arsenic (wrong poison)
- He was friendly with Mr. Parrish, and they would say "hi" in the hallway
- There was not a lot of tension between the two
- On Tuesday 1:30 pm, he was at the baseball facility with the rat poison to try and get rid of the rat infestation
- At 4:00 pm, he was taking a call from a friend near the mall in Gainsville, GA where he was shopping for Christmas presents
Mr. Rice was not suspicious because he didn't have the poison that killed Mr. Parrish, and they did not have any problems with each other.
Labs
Lab #1 Blood Detection
In the blood detection lab, we tested a handkerchief that was taken from Mrs. Dixon and a torn rag that was taken from Mr. Rice. We took a Q-tip and rubbed it against the cloths, and then we placed one drop of peroxide on the wet Q-tip. If the reaction was a purple-violet color the blood may be present, and if there was no reaction there is no blood present. Both of the cloths had a purple color, so there was blood present in both.
Lab #2 Blood Punnett Sqaures
In the blood punnett square lab, we were given the parents blood types of each suspect. We had to solve each punnett square to find the suspects' blood types. Mr. Sayles has blood type O, Mrs. Dixon has either blood type A or B, Ms. Lecceardone has either blood type B or O, and Mr. Rice has either blood type A or O.
Lab #3 Hair Analysis
In the hair analysis lab, we looked at a piece of hair from each suspect and a hair from the crime scene under the microscope. We then compared the hairs to the hair that was left at the crime scene, and the hair that matched was Ms. Lecceardone's.
Lab #4 Crime Scene Blood Typing
In the crime scene blood typing lab, we were trying to find out the blood type of Mr. Parrish and the blood found at the crime scene. We put the blood found at the crime scene and Mr. Parrish's blood onto a template. In the rest of the template, we placed all the types of blood. The blood type that was found at the crime scene matched with the color reaction of blood type A. Mr. Parrish's blood matched to the color reaction of blood type AB.
Lab #5 Fingerprints
In the fingerprints lab, we figured out our own fingerprint type by drawing with a pencil on paper and rubbing our finger on that paper. We then compared it with all of the fingerprint types and found out our own fingerprint type. Then, we used a magnifying glass to identify the fingerprints lifted at the crime scene. One of the fingerprints left at the crime scene matched to Mr. Parrish's fingerprint, and the other matched to Ms. Lecceardone's fingerprint.
Lab #6 Powder Analysis
In the powder analysis lab, we tested the powder found on the chair at the crime scene. We tested five powders: baby powder, cyanide, arsenic, death cap mushroom, and the evidence powder. The evidence powder matched to cyanide, so that means that cyanide was the poison used to kill Mr. Parrish. During this experiment, we placed the five powders in different templates, and each template contained three wells. Then we took an eye dropper and placed a drop of solution in each powder. The solutions were water, iodine, and vinegar. After we placed the solution, the reaction of the evidence matched to the cyanide reaction. Therefore, the cyanide was the poison that killed Mr. Parrish.
Math Formulas...
During the math portion of this project, we figured out that Mr. Parrish died at 4:30 pm on November 19.
- If Mr. Parrish was given cyanide, he would have been given a dosage at 4:00 pm on November 19, since it takes 30 minutes to kill.
- If Mr. Parrish was given arsenic, he would have been given a dosage at 1:30 pm on November 19, since it takes three hours to kill.
- If Mr. Parrish was given Amanita Phalloides, he would have been given a dosage at 4:30 pm November 14, since it takes five days to kill.