Reconsidering the weapon
Tanner: Before her body was thrown from the bell tower, she was struck along the cervical spine with some kind of metal rod; rectangular at the end, and hollow.
Note Tanner’s actual words describing the murder weapon.
We’re led to assume the weapon is a handlebar from Melissa’s suitcase. However, this theory hasn’t sat well with me for numerous reasons.
Scenario 1: Assuming Melissa is the killer, would she really have used something so easily traced back to herself, and would she have been so lax in getting rid of the rest of the suitcase? Seems not too likely, especially in the case of premeditated murder, which this would have to be.
Scenario 2: Assuming Melissa is not the killer, then the killer would have to be someone within reasonable proximity to Melissa in order to steal her suitcase handle. In itself this seems silly and impractical; it’s a very impractical weapon, except for the purpose of framing her. But considering that she was never framed, and considering the mistreatment of the handlebar later on with Emily, I think we can dismiss this scenario.
Then we have the situation with the mystery SUV, in which someone successfully tricked Emily into putting her fingerprints all over the handlebar. Again, seemingly for the purpose of framing. The truth is that anyone interested in identifying the true killer would not mess with the real murder weapon in such a way. And considering that like Melissa, Emily was never framed, I tend to think this person was just trying to scare Emily, and this piece of junk suitcase handle was never the real weapon.
It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been mislead regarding a weapon. Remember how the weapon for Alison’s “murder” was thought to be a hockey stick, a golf club, a shovel… and it turned out to be none of the above?
Now, look at Jenna’s cane: a metal rod, squared at the end, and (probably) hollow. And consider that she’s been in town longer than we know.
She has motive: CeCe/Charlotte knocked her out, nearly drowned her, and put her in a coma.
Hidden in plain sight?
I’m here for it!
