48,500 NAMES.
FIVE SUSPECTS.
ONE FINAL TRUTH.
You followed 30 clues through thousands of names. Now it is time to discover whether your investigation led you to the right five suspects.
You followed 30 clues through thousands of names. Now it is time to discover whether your investigation led you to the right five suspects.
The city’s largest annual celebration was almost over when the night took a deadly turn.
At 11:47 p.m., an investigative researcher was found dead inside a locked records room on the third floor of a historic civic building. The victim’s phone was missing, important documents had disappeared, and the security camera outside the room had stopped recording for exactly eleven minutes.
For months, the victim had been quietly investigating an accident that happened in the same building nearly twenty years earlier. The case had officially been closed, but the deeper the victim looked, the more the evidence began to unravel. Records had been altered. Information was missing. Someone had gone to great lengths to keep the past buried.
Then investigators discovered a small torn registration slip near the victim’s hand. At first, it seemed insignificant. But five unusual marks along its edge suggested the victim had already uncovered something far bigger than anyone realized.
The evidence did not point to one person.
It pointed to five suspects hidden somewhere among 48,500 names.
Thirty clues lead to their identities. Find and confirm all five suspects to unlock the Final Reveal, which explains their roles and what happened that night.
Can you solve the case?
A registry of 48,500 names hides five suspects connected to the case within.
Thirty clues guide the search, with six clues leading to each final suspect.
Five suspects are hidden in the registry. Your task is to identify them all.
Twenty chapters uncover evidence, patterns, and connections across the case.
Confirm all five suspects to unlock the story of what happened that night.
Study the clues. Search 48,500 names. Eliminate the impossible. Identify and confirm all five suspects to unlock the Final Reveal.
Begin with the case story. Learn what happened, what was missing, and why the evidence points beyond a single person.
Study all 30 clues carefully. Each suspect is identified by six clues that must work together to reveal the correct name.
Search the 48,500-name registry. Compare spelling, position, nearby names, pronunciation, and chapter details to narrow the list.
Record possible suspects as you go. Keep notes on names, clue matches, page numbers, and anything that may connect the evidence.
As you identify each suspect, enter their name and page number to check your answer. Submit suspects in any order.
Once all five suspects are confirmed, open the Final File to discover their roles and learn who actually caused the death.
Think you’ve identified one of the five? Enter the suspect’s name and page number to verify your answer. Solve them in any order. Confirm all five to unlock the Final Reveal.
Stuck on a suspect? Choose the one you’re investigating and reveal hints one at a time. Start small and uncover more only when you need it, or reveal the suspect’s identity if you’re completely stumped.
HINT 1 — START WITH THE SOUND
You’re looking for a name with more than four letters that is spoken in just one syllable. Eliminate longer-sounding names first.
HINT 2 — LOOK AT THE LETTERS
The name has no repeated letters, and its single middle letter is a consonant. There is a vowel somewhere on each side of that middle letter.
HINT 3 — FIND THE LANDMARK
Stop searching names individually. Look for a name that is also the name of a famous city.
Your suspect appears immediately after it.
Revealing the answer will identify Suspect 01.
HINT 1 — NARROW THE LENGTH
Your suspect has 4–6 letters. The name has a single consonant at its center, with a different vowel on each side of that center.
HINT 2 — LOCATION MATTERS MORE THAN SPELLING
Don’t search the entire registry. This suspect appears somewhere between Summer and Ruby.
HINT 3 — LOOK FOR THE WATER
The suspect’s name begins and ends with the same letter.
Revealing the answer will identify Suspect 02.
HINT 1 — COUNT CAREFULLY
The suspect’s name has fewer than seven letters and contains exactly three vowels.
All three vowels are different.
HINT 2 — FIND THE RIGHT PAGE
Don’t search all 48,500 names. Find a registry page containing all three of these:
A month name, A flower name, A season name
HINT 3 — CHECK THE NEIGHBORS
Once you’re on the correct page, look at the names immediately before and after each candidate.
Both neighboring names must contain a double letter.
Revealing the answer will identify Suspect 03.
HINT 1 — LISTEN TO THE NAME
This suspect’s name is normally pronounced with three syllables and contains more than two vowels.
HINT 2 — CHECK THE VOWELS
None of the vowels in the suspect’s name repeat.
Then use the chapter clue to dramatically reduce how much of the registry you need to search.
HINT 3 — LOOK AT BOTH SIDES
Your suspect is positioned between two very recognizable words:
FOOD-RELATED NAME → SUSPECT → WEEKDAY NAME
Revealing the answer will identify Suspect 04.
HINT 1 — THE VOWELS ARE UNUSUAL
The suspect has more than five letters, but every vowel appearing in the name is the same vowel.
HINT 2 — THINK IN CATEGORIES
Several neighboring names aren’t random. Look for a cluster involving:
A tree, A flower/color, A city
HINT 3 — FOLLOW THE SEQUENCE
The tree appears exactly two entries before the suspect. One name immediately beside the suspect is both a flower and a common color. The name on the other side is a city.
Revealing the answer will identify Suspect 05.
Each suspect played a different role in the events surrounding the murder. Their actions helped create a mystery that seemed impossible to solve. Now it’s time to discover how each person was connected to the case.
SUSPECT 01
Role: Sent the Message
James sent the private message that lured the victim into the situation that led to the murder.
SUSPECT 02
Role: Disabled the Camera
Nolan disabled the security camera, leaving a full eleven-minute gap in the footage that night.
SUSPECT 03
Role: Altered the Access Record
Dorian altered electronic entry records to hide crucial details about who had entered the room.
SUSPECT 04
Role: Removed the Documents
Maribel removed documents from the victim’s investigation, keeping evidence concealed.
SUSPECT 05
Role: Gave a statement
Everett said he never entered the records room that night. Yet his statement included the marks on the back of the victim’s registration slip.
Five suspects were involved, but who was responsible for the victim's death?
Make your final choice.
Please choose a suspect first.
Five people were connected to the buried accident. Each played a part in concealing the truth, but Everett was the one who killed to keep it hidden.
THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Everett claimed he never entered the records room that night. Yet he described the five marks on the back of the victim’s registration slip. Investigators had not released that detail. Everett knew about the marks because the researcher showed him the slip during their meeting. Afterward, he denied the meeting had ever happened. His own statement exposed the lie.
THE EVENTS OF THAT NIGHT
At Everett’s request, James sent the private message arranging the meeting. James expected Everett to persuade the researcher to abandon the investigation. The others helped conceal the encounter. Nolan disabled the corridor camera for eleven minutes. Dorian later altered the electronic access record to hide Everett’s entry. Maribel removed documents about the old accident. They were protecting the cover-up; their actions did not mean they knew Everett would kill. Inside the room, the researcher confronted Everett with evidence of the payment he had authorized nearly twenty years earlier. The researcher refused to remain silent. During the confrontation, Everett seized a heavy paperweight from the desk and struck the researcher, causing the fatal injury. Everett took the victim’s phone, which contained the message arranging the meeting, and left. The spring latch locked the door behind him. When the researcher failed to return, a colleague alerted security. At 11:47 p.m., an officer opened the room with a master key and discovered the body.
THE SECRET THAT STARTED IT ALL
The original accident had exposed serious safety failures. Instead of allowing the investigation to reveal who was responsible, five people helped bury the evidence. James changed his witness statement. Nolan removed a photograph showing the unsafe conditions. Dorian rewrote the security log. Maribel replaced a page in the official report. Everett authorized a payment to secure someone’s silence. The researcher had connected each person to a different piece of evidence. Exposing those connections threatened to unravel the entire cover-up.
THE CLUE NOBODY NOTICED
The torn registration slip was the researcher’s shorthand for five discoveries: the altered statement, the missing photograph, the hidden payment, the rewritten log, and the replaced report page. Those marks connected five people to the past. Everett’s knowledge of them exposed his false account of the present. He denied entering the room, but described evidence he had seen during the meeting he claimed never happened.
The clue was small. The contradiction was decisive.
You identified the killer. The case is closed.
Download your achievement card, celebrate solving the case, and share your success with friends on social media.
No. You can solve the five suspects in any order. Start with whichever set of clues you think you can crack first.
Yes. Enter the suspect’s name and the page where you found it in the registry. This helps confirm that you’ve identified the correct person.
Don’t worry — you can keep investigating and try again. An incorrect answer won’t lock you out or reveal the solution.
Yes. Each suspect has multiple levels of help. Start with Hint 1 and reveal additional help only if you need it. The identity reveal should be your last resort.
No. You can still complete the investigation even if you use a hint.
Check all six clues for that suspect. The correct name must satisfy the full set of clues —not just one or two.
The final reveal unlocks after all five suspects have been correctly identified. You can find them in any order.
Yes. Until the correct suspect is confirmed, you can return to the registry, reconsider the clues, and submit another answer.
Not unless you choose it to. Hints are revealed gradually, and the full suspect identity should only appear if you deliberately choose the final level of help.
You’ll unlock the final reveal, where you’ll discover the suspects’ roles and uncover who was responsible for the death.
The mystery may be solved, but the challenge does not have to end. Explore more puzzle books, mystery games, brain teasers, and activity books designed to keep you thinking, searching, and solving.