Bitter Mezcal
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 16 of 100.
Palenque Mendoza, Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, night of November 1, 11:20 pm. Don Aurelio Mendoza, 68, owner of the mezcal distillery, collapsed in front of the altar de muertos twenty minutes after the toast.
The village doctor, who was at the party, recognized the signs: oleander poison, the shrub that grows in hedges all over the valley. Don Aurelio died before the ambulance arrived.
The musicians and neighbors had already left for the cemetery. Three people stayed behind at the palenque. One of them prepared the boss's last toast.
The palenque's office, a smell of roasted agave and copal, the altar candles flickering in the courtyard.
Suspects
Ximena MendozaDon Aurelio's daughter and heir, 24
Eusebio RamírezMaster mezcal maker of the palenque, 62
Rogelio GarzaBusiness partner from Monterrey, 45
The real case
The oleander poisoning in the Angelina Rodriguez case
California, United States, 2000
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In September 2000, in Montebello, California, Frank Rodriguez died after days of illness that doctors treated as an infection. His wife, Angelina, had taken out a life insurance policy shortly before. Investigators found antifreeze and oleandrin, the toxin in oleander, a shrub common in gardens across the region, in his body.
Angelina Rodriguez was convicted in 2004. The case became known for showing how a hedge plant, with no strong taste when diluted, can pass for heart disease.
The game borrows only the method: oleander from the backyard used as poison. Characters, setting, motive and outcome are fiction.
Sources
Case glossary
Words from this case you might not know.
- palenque
- A traditional, usually small, mezcal distillery in Mexico, where agave is roasted in earth ovens.
- altar de muertos
- A home altar for Mexico's Day of the Dead, decorated with flowers, candles, food and photos to welcome the dead.
- oleander
- An ornamental shrub with pink, white or red flowers; every part of the plant is highly poisonous.
- copal
- An aromatic tree resin burned as incense in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times, especially at altars.