We received a report of Captain Cornball's murder mystery to find out who committed a crime. The story goes... Captain Cornball, a mysterious person, was released from prison and possessed a new name. He decided to have a celebration party with people he considered acquaintance.
7:00: Captain Cornball escorts his guests to the dinner table
7:30: The host and guests sit down for dinner
7:35: sky darkened, chairs rustled, a glass was dropped, people screamed, Captain Cornball groaned loudly
7:36: The sun returned, Captain Cornball was found slumped forward, his face in his bowl, and a large steak knife in the back of his neck
7:40: The police are called
7:55: The police arrive
8:00: Captain Cornball is pronounced dead, the knife is bagged, the guests are interviewed , Norma Nanny is tended to after she cut her hand on broken glass
9:30: The police lab determined there are two types of blood on the knife, one belonging to Captain Cornball
There were 5 possible people who were accused to be a culprit. Theresa Thyme, Fred Fleckstone, Sam Stub, Glen Glendora, and Norma Nanny. From the police department, we received several pieces of evidence such as a crime report, family history, a fingerprint, blood samples, an ink sample from a threatening note, and DNA sequence/pattern. We believe it was Norma Nanny who committed crime. The crime report had substantial descriptions of the event(listed above). It stated that Norma Nanny cut her hand on a bit of broken glass when the sky darkened. However, it could’ve been a cover up for the crime because there weren’t any signs of her fingerprint on the glass or the knife. From this, we predict it was first degree crime because NO finger prints were left behind and she might have worn gloves to leave NO finger prints behind. We had family histories for each person that was at Captain Cornball’s party. They were all connected. Norma Nanny loves Fred yet has been seeing Sam Stubs. This leads us to believe that Sam may be connected to the murder as well so he should be brought in for further questioning and evaluation. She’s jealous of Theresa because Theresa is engaged to Fred. To find out which blood type was at the crime scene, we used Anti A antiserum and Anti B antiserum to determine the blood type.The blood samples from the crime scene had both blood type O and A. Norma has blood type A and Captain cornball has blood type O. The culprit left behind a threatening note, “U R a dead man” on a napkin with either sharpie, crayola marker, or expo pen. Theresa and Glen had sharpie, Norma and Sam had crayola marker, and Fred had expo pen. We used chromatography paper to find out which pen/marker the culprit used to write this note. We found out that the note was written with crayola marker so we can suspect that either Norma Nanny or Sam Stubs is the culprit. We found out the DNA sequence by using electrophoresis. We mixed TAE and augurous to make gel that is used in gel electrophoresis to find out the DNA sequence. It matched Norma Nancy's DNA. Norma Nancy's parents both died from the Huntington's Disease. She also has 75% chance of having Huntington’s Disease. She might have cut herd hand when she was committing a crime because Huntington's disease cause impulsiveness and lack of awareness of one’s behavior
With the evidence gathered, we can conclude that Norma Nanny is the culprit.
Reflection
The murder mystery investigation was really fun. I really liked my group analyzing all the evidence to find the culprit together. We had a lot of good discussions to conclude that it was Norma Nancy who committed the crime. I learned many things from this project. It was my first time even hearing&learning about the Huntington's disease and chromosomal disorder. I learned how Huntington's disease cause impulsiveness and lack of awareness of one’s behavior and how chromosomal disorder(XXX) cause behavior issues. I also learned how you can investigate the DNA fingerprint by using electrophoresis. I wonder if there could've been a culprit who actually committed the crime. I also wonder if the blood type O was just from Captain Cornball or someone else. Overall, I really liked this project and I strongly believe that it was Norma Nanny who committed the crime. :)