BRYCE CANYON
THE SOLUTION
WARNING -- This page contains the solution to BRYCE CANYON,
followed by the CONCLUSION to the mystery.
To solve the BRYCE CANYON mystery experience, you must first identify your goals by reviewing the Assignment Letter from the Forrest City Police Department. The letter states: “Your ultimate goal is to determine which suspect had the opportunity and the motive to cause the death of Haley Davenport."
The letter further states that: "[c]reating a timeline and suspect profiles will allow you to determine if each suspect has an alibi that rules them out as the murderer."
Your goal is to use deductive reasoning to eliminate the suspects based on the evidence until only one suspect remains who must be the killer. You should also try to uncover the motive for the killing of Haley Davenport.
ESTABLISH A TIMELINE AND CREATE SUSPECT PROFILES
You should begin by building a TIMELINE from the documents and evidence provided to you. Add the important events to your timeline in chronological order. You will use your timeline to rule out suspects as you uncover facts that provide alibis for some of the suspects. For example, the FCPD Incident Report states: "At 12:11 am on Jan. 1, 2018, a 911 call was received from a male who identified himself as Henry Davenport and stated that his daughter Haley had fallen down the stairs at the Davenport residence." Place this date and time on your timeline and then add other information as you discover it.
Anyone who was present at the Davenport residence at or near the time of Haley Davenport's death could be considered a suspect. You must create SUSPECT PROFILES as you investigate the case. A sample Suspect Profile Form was provided as a template for you to use as you build profiles for each of the suspects. As you discover information about each suspect during your investigation, add it to their Suspect Profile.
EXAMINE THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HALEY DAVENPORT'S DEATH
You can piece together the likely scenario that lead to Haley's death by examining the evidence:
First, the Autopsy Report reveals that Haley suffered a severe fracture of her cervical spine at level C2 which caused her death. The Autopsy Report further states that this finding is consistent with a fall down the stairs.
Second, the Evidence Report relating to the motion detector in the foyer reveals that the exact time that Haley fell down the stairs was 11:33 pm.
Third, the Interview Report for Butch Feiler reveals that Butch overheard two people, a man and a woman, arguing near the top of the stairs just before Haley Davenport fell. Butch was fairly sure that the female voice belonged to Haley.
Fourth, the FCPD Incident Report indicates that trace evidence was recovered from beneath Haley Davenport's fingernails. The FBI DNA Report states that this trace evidence contained DNA and was sent by Det. Casteel to the FBI crime lab for analysis. We can conclude that Haley scratched her attacker before she was pushed or fell down the stairs.
ELIMINATE SUSPECTS
The FCPD Incident Report indicates that trace evidence was recovered from beneath Haley Davenport's fingernails. The FBI DNA Report states that this trace evidence was sent by Det. Casteel to the FBI crime lab for analysis. The DNA analysis reveals that the DNA beneath Haley's fingernails is familial match to Haley, indicating that it belonged to a family member of the victim. Since we know that Haley Davenport fell or was pushed down the stairs, we can assume Haley struggled with her attacker and that the DNA trace evidence under Haley's fingernails came from her killer.
Since the killer's DNA is a familial match to Haley Davenport, we can rule out as suspects anyone who was not genetically related to the victim. This eliminates the following persons from our suspect list:
Chloe Davenport
Butch Feiler
Joshua Evans
Samantha Evans
Other persons can be eliminated as suspects based on the evidence:
HENRY DAVENPORT (Haley's father) can be eliminated as a suspect based primarily on three pieces of evidence. First, the Witness Report for Charles Hopkins indicates that Henry Davenport was seen at the Grantham Hotel in the early evening on Dec. 15 with a young woman. He checked in at the front desk and received a room key. This is an important fact that will link two additional pieces of evidence. Second, the Forrest City Bank Visa statement shows charges for the Grantham Hotel on Dec. 15 as well as for Solomon's Food and Wine on Dec. 31. Therefore, it appears likely that Henry Davenport is the owner/cardholder for the Visa account. Third, the Evidence Report for the receipt from Solomon's Food and Wine shows a Visa account number used by the purchaser that matches the one on the Forrest City Bank Visa statement. The purchases at Solomon's on the Visa card were made on 12/31 at 11:40 pm. Therefore, it appears that Henry Davenport was at Solomon's Food and Wine 11:40 pm on 12/31. Furthermore, the Interview Reports for Samantha Evans and Butch Feiler also confirm that Henry Davenport ran out to the store to buy champagne and other party supplies around the time of Haley's death. We can therefore reasonably conclude that Henry Davenport was at Solomon's Food and Wine at 11:40 pm on 12/31 and was not at the Davenport residence when his daughter died. Since it appears that Henry was out restocking party supplies for the New Year's Eve party when Haley was killed, it is unlikely that he was the culprit (although Henry may certainly be guilty of other transgressions, as we will soon see).
GARRET DAVENPORT (Haley's brother) can be ruled out as a suspect based on two pieces of evidence. First, the Interview Report for Chloe Davenport indicates that Chloe was in an upstairs guest bedroom with a romantic partner when Haley was killed. She identifies this other person with whom she was having an affair by his nickname: Skip. Second, the photo Christmas Card from Garret Davenport and his fiancé Geneva Savage references Garret's nickname -- Skip. Therefore, we can conclude that Garret Davenport was having an affair with his stepmother and was in the guest room with Chloe Davenport when Haley died. Therefore, it is unlikely that he is the killer.
TAYLOR DAVENPORT (Haley's sister) and LAUREN FEILER (Haley's aunt) can be eliminated as suspects based on the Interview Report for Butch Feiler in which Butch states that he overheard two people, a man and a woman, arguing near the top of the stairs just before Haley Davenport fell. Butch was fairly sure that the female voice belonged to Haley. Since the person arguing heatedly with Haley just prior to her fall down the stairs was a man, we can be reasonably certain that the killer is male. Therefore, it is unlikely that either Taylor Davenport or Lauren Feiler is the killer.
EMILY FEILER (Haley's first cousin) can be eliminated as a suspect based on the Interview Report of Samantha Evans in which Samantha states that she and Emily were at the Evans residence during the time period that Haley was killed. Since it does not appear that Emily was at the Davenport residence when Haley fell down the stairs, it is unlikely that she is the killer.
NEAL FEILER (Haley's first cousin) can be ruled out because he was physically incapable of going up the stairs at the Davenport home to the second floor landing where the confrontation between Haley and her killer occurred. The floor plan of the Davenport residence reveals that the home does not have an elevator and we know from the evidence that Neal is confined to a wheelchair. Since we know that Haley Davenport fell down the stairs from the upstairs landing, it is not possible that Neal was the person who caused her to fall.
This leaves only one suspect who is a blood relative of Haley Davenport and who does not have an alibi for the time of Haley's death. Since you have ruled out all other suspects based on the evidence, you must conclude that TREVOR DAVENPORT is the killer.
The conclusion of the mystery (which also uncovers the motive for the murder) follows below ...
FROM THE FORREST CITY TRIBUNE --
HALEY DAVENPORT'S
DEATH WAS A HOMICIDE
BY SANDRA GOODMAN
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
FORREST CITY -- Assisted by a consulting investigator working on the case, the Forrest City Police Department determined that Haley Davenport's death was not an accident. Instead, she died at the hands of her brother, Trevor Davenport, following a heated argument that turned physical. Davenport was arrested yesterday at his home just after dawn and confessed his role in Haley's death.
The argument arose from a tragic incident that had occurred in 2003 at the Davenport home. Following the death of his parents in 2002, Keith Moore, who was a close friend of the younger Davenport children, was taken in by the Davenport family and Henry Davenport was appointed as Keith's legal guardian. On Jan. 3, 2003, Keith Moore's body was found in the woods not far from the Davenport home. He had died from a severe cervical fracture at the C2 level. The death was ruled accidental.
However, Miranda Davenport, in a deathbed confession written in a letter to her daughter Haley, recently revealed that Keith's death was not an accident after all. Keith had been playing in the Davenport residence near Henry Davenport's study when he overheard Henry talking to his brother-in-law, Butch Feiler. The two were discussing the collapse of the Usher Building in 2002. As reported in a recent article in The Forrest City Observer, the Davenport Company purchased the Usher Building in 2001 and was conducting extensive renovations. The renovations caused the collapse of the Usher building, injuring sixteen and killing four including Keith Moore's parents.
Distraught by what he had heard, Keith slipped away after overhearing the conversation. Rather than confront Henry Davenport, Keith chose to tell Trevor Davenport what he had learned. The discussion began at the top of the front stairs at the Davenport house after Trevor came home from school. Trevor became defensive, denying that his father could ever have been involved in such an incident. Keith became angry, insisting that he was absolutely certain of what he had heard. Trevor lashed out, accusing Keith of being ungrateful for everything that his father and their family had done for Keith.
Keith shoved Trevor in anger. Trevor responded in kind, pushing the younger, smaller Keith backward. Keith lost his balance and fell, crashing down the stairway to the foyer below. He died before reaching the bottom when his cervical spine was fractured in an impact with a stair tread and severed his spinal cord.
Trevor panicked and ran to find his father in the study. Henry made the decision to cover up the incident. Whether this decision arose from concern over the potential consequences to his son or out of fear that the facts overheard by Keith would come out in any police investigation, Henry decided to take Keith's body out into the woods, arrange it as though an accident had occurred, and then report Keith missing to the authorities.
Late that night, Henry and Trevor took Keith's body, concealed in an old duffle bag, into the woods and left it there. On Keith's body they placed a backpack containing items that would suggest to the police that Keith had decided to go exploring in the woods where he suffered a fatal accident.
Haley Davenport learned these terrible facts in a deathbed confession letter from her mother, Miranda Davenport, who died on Dec. 30. Haley first confronted her father, Henry, in the afternoon of Dec. 31. Henry flatly denied the accusations and refused to discuss the matter further. Then shortly after 11:00 pm on New Year's Eve, Haley confronted her brother Trevor.
Haley and Trevor argued. He denied the allegations, but Haley was convinced that he was lying. She threatened to report what she knew to the police. Trevor became enraged.
Then, in a dark echo of that fateful night in 2002, Trevor shoved Haley in a fit of anger. Haley lost her footing and fell backward, grabbing at and scratching Trevor's forearms as she fell down the stairs to her death.
. . .
Ultimately, we may never know whether the renovations that caused the collapse of the Usher Building were due to negligence or intentional malice. Some have speculated that the Davenport Company wanted to raze the historic Usher building (which was protected as a historic landmark) to make the site available for the Millennium Tower project.
Regardless, these tragic events ultimately led to the deaths of Keith and Haley, as well as the arrests of Trevor and Henry Davenport. Father and son are now being held at the Savage Bay Penitentiary without bail awaiting trial.
Joshua and Samantha Evans put their home up for sale and moved to California the day after Haley Davenport's funeral. The Feiler family has not been seen in public since the arrests of Henry and Trevor Davenport. The remaining members of the Davenport family have asked that the media honor their requests for privacy.
Miranda Davenport was put to rest following a small graveside service at the Forrest City Cemetery conducted by Father Dominic Lorenzi. She was interred in a modest grave near the the burial plots of Keith Moore and her daughter Haley. A nearby statue of Michael the Archangel watches over their eternal slumber. In the distance, the Millennium Tower rises above the Forrest City skyline.