A Murder Mystery Game
Logic
Level
4
There are people. One of them has been shot and killed one of the other five.
- Dan ran in the NY City marathon yesterday with one of the innocent men.
- Mike considered being a farmer before he moved to the city.
- Jeff is a top notch computer consultant and wants to install Ben's new computer next week.
- The murderer had his leg amputated last month.
- Ben met Jack for the first time six months ago.
- Jack has been in seclusion since the crime.
- Dan used to drink heavily.
- Ben and Jeff built their last computers together.
- The murderer is Jack's brother. They grew up together in Seattle.
Who is the victim?
This problem is not original. It is quite popular on the internet.
Jack
Ambiguous
Mike
Ben
Dan
Jeff
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1 solution
Let's just find out who's the killer first. 1. Dan cannot be a killer because he cannot run the marathon with an amputated leg. 2. Ben is not Jack's brother as he met him for the first time six months ago and the brother's grew up together in Seattle, and thus is not the murderer. 3. Jack cannot be the murderer because his brother is the murderer. 4. Mike cannot be the murderer because he moved to the city and was not always a city native whereas Seattle is a city. Thus he cannot be Jack's brother.
That leaves Jeff to be the murderer.
Now, 1. Jeff did not kill himself. 2. Jack is now in isolation after the crime so he is not dead. 3. Ben is not dead because Jeff wants to install Ben's new computer next week which he would've done if Ben was alive.
That leaves Dan and Mike. There is no separating point left. Further, anyone except Jeff could've run the marathon with Dan. So that doesn't help either.
Hence, the answer is ambiguous.