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Murder in Small Town X: Putting It All Together
by Lucian Carter
-- 07/10/2002
It may seem that the clues and evidence so far haven't told us a whole lot. But it's amazing what you can piece together if you really look at it. The solution to Murder in Small Town X may be close at hand.
Murder in Small Town X has certainly been an interesting break in a summer of reruns and an improved, but still not fascinating, Big Brother 2. The biggest problem with the show may be that it worked too hard to cram into the reality TV game show format. Most fans seem FAR more interested in solving the mystery than in who will win the game, and the run of luck Kristen has had (a run no less likely than a couple having four male or four female children, which my own cousin experienced) makes many think the show is rigged. While I won’t say it’s rigged it certainly does hamstring the investigators on many levels.
Remember we only see what Fox lets us. Remember also that the investigators are only permitted to follow tracks assigned by their lead investigator who is controlled by Fox. In an interview, Fredo himself said that, at times, the contestants jumped too far ahead and he had to reign them in because the story wasn't ready for them to progress that far. Is DNA testing available? We have no idea. Is DNA on file for the suspects? Probably not. Can they go to the library and check out past books signed out? Probably not since Fox probably hasn't created those records and therefore they can't search them. Fox also has to prepare sets, brief actors, give actors mandated breaks and provide craft services for its cast and crew. The contestants have to be shepherded to certain areas to prevent them wandering into this "Man Behind the Curtain" set-up. They can't rush off and check on a suspect at home or work, because the actor won't be there and prepped. Yes the contestants have dropped the ball at times and the actors seem to have been instructed to go out of their way to drop key info in their laps. Nonetheless I expect the show gives us a far better chance for us to solve the crime than we ever had to identify The Mole. Still, it's hard to judge who is truly doing well. Also, as players, they can never know if a suspect appears to be hiding something because they are a good actor whose character has something to hide or if they appear to be hiding something because they are a bad actor overplaying sincerity.
Ultimately I’d have preferred if there had been six investigators, no lifeguard and no elimination. The red envelope is a nice idea, though it hasn’t eliminated any really strong suspects and I do like the idea that players can be eliminated if they ever venture out alone – though it hasn’t happened yet.
My current theories of the case, cobbled together from discussion on the Internet and my own warped imagination, runs as follows:
1941: Kingfisher Canneries is in trouble. So Oscar Blodgett, C.R. Flint, and Hayden DeBeck decide to burn it down for insurance purposes. Given how young Oscar and DeBeck were at the time it may be that their fathers were actually responsible, but a 17-year old can set a fire. Unfortunately the fire rages out of control, destroys much of the town, and kills an entire family (the Duchamps family). The conspirators decide to cover the fire death by staging a boating accident. The three go their separate ways as each deals with their own guilt. Unknown to anyone, one Duchamps child has survived and escaped (but he is never reported missing or dead in the fire). Years later he returns to town and takes revenge on Oscar Blodgett. However, racked with guilt, he films a confession for his young child before hanging himself. Flash forward to the present. That child has discovered the truth and now wants revenge on the Blodgetts, Flints, and the entire town.
This explains a few things. The Kingfisher can clue with two fingers, one representing Nate and a baby finger representing his child. The reason no one noticed an eight-year-old child go missing in the so-called “Miracle Fire.” The reason four bodies (the Blodgetts and Nate Flint and his daughter) are missing. All are related by bloodlines to the three people responsible for the fire, yet Carmen Flint (not related by blood but by marriage) was “of no use” to the killer and was returned. The Burned Man was cremated and buried which robbed his child of an opportunity to grieve over the body. Also the killer has referred to the murders as “my life’s work” which would indicate a lifelong dedication to the crime, not merely a crime of passion or greed. Also, fire and water seem to have been recurring themes throughout the series.
Nate Flint, who is being blackmailed by someone who knows of his affair, turns to blackmail himself to get $250,000 from Hayden DeBeck (channeled through Enhance Power, a subsidiary of Mind/Science) so he can pay his blackmailer. C.R.'s failing mind has revealed the plot to Nate and since C.R. is no longer fit to stand trial Nate can blackmail DeBeck with no fear of reprisal. Was the killer blackmailing Nate? Probably not; the blackmailers look to be Prudence Connor and Jimmy Tinker working together to set Nate up. This is what Prudence is covering up (though she may believe Jimmy is the killer) and why G.D. is encouraging her to come forward. It also explains why Nate was so furious with Jimmy the last time he saw him, because if you have just set someone up for blackmail you do have “a lot of nerve” showing your face at his home. I won’t rule out the possibility Abby was in on the blackmail, even Mary Elizabeth may know about it as well and she could have told Crandall. Though this opens up a lot of avenues to find this information overall, the photos, the money, and Prudence's suspicious behavior all begin to look like red herrings. The attack on Thibodeaux must be connected to the killer, since it was part of the killer’s clue, but Thibodeaux was probably left alive to lead the investigators further down the blackmail red herring path.
So, if we accept all this, who is the killer?
Frank Kovick is, by far, the most likely suspect though William Lambert can't be ruled out. Lambert never knew his father and Leita Rose was motivated to drive him and his mother out of town. But for Lambert to be the Burned Man's, son the Burned Man would have had to return to Sunrise and meet Lambert's mother earlier than 1971 (1955 to be exact, making the Burned Man about 22 at the time). Of course it would give the Burned Man even more motive to strike against Oscar Blodgett if Leita had driven his child out of town.
Rusty Crandall supposedly has a father of his own, though that could be a cover. Jimmy and Abby are too young, Bowden too old. However, Bowden would have been around in 1955 and could know more than he has let on about Lambert’s mother or the Burned man’s return.
I can't be sure of it but I think Sam Larabee now has an alibi for Leita's killing. She was with Frank at the diner until 11 and the killing was 11:15. Sure, Frank had time to get to Leita's place but Sam would have had to close the diner before she could get there and I just don't see how that would be a safe move.
DeBeck is looking more and more like a key information source to tie all this together, if he can be compelled to cooperate, but he is not a viable suspect. To me it's looking more and more like Kovick is the killer with Lambert and even Crandall still outside possibilities. Kovick is even more suspicious because he has pointed the investigators towards the blackmail money, which may well be the last major red herring of the case. Unknown to him, it may lead to Hayden DeBeck, who can put a lot of the pieces together if the investigators can get him to cooperate.
It’s certainly possible I’m way off here but I think the pieces are staring to fit together and I hope to learn more as the final 3 hours of the series unfolds. I’d love to see a Murder In Small Town X 2 (though I realize it’s unlikely), but I hope next time they focus on the murder mystery more than the game show.
Lucian Carter is a reality TV fan and long-time Live Action Role-Player (LARPer) who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He loves Murder in Small Town X and dreams of what his LARP groups could do with a million dollar budget.
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