Funeral March
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 47 of 100.
Delacroix Mansion, French Quarter, New Orleans, 11:10 pm. Julien Delacroix, 38, heir to the family, died in the upstairs library at 9:40 pm, during his own father's wake.
Downstairs, the brass band was playing for old Augustin. Julien collapsed onto the rug with an erratic heartbeat, next to an empty glass of Sazerac. The doctor doesn't believe in a heart attack at 38.
The gates were closed right after. Three people had a motive and access to the stairs. One of them went up and isn't saying.
The mansion's back kitchen, a pot of gumbo cooling, the wake's jazz muffled by the walls.
Suspects
Clarence BroussardTrumpeter and leader of the brass band, 64
Remy FontenotJulien's half-brother, 41
Odette MarchandThe family's housekeeper for thirty years, 58
The real case
Oleander as poison: 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 2000, in California, a man died after days of nausea and weakness that doctors attributed to an infection. Investigators found oleandrin in his body, the toxin of oleander, a pink-flowered shrub planted in backyards and along highway medians throughout the state, as well as antifreeze. His wife, the beneficiary of a recent insurance policy, was convicted in 2004.
The case became a reference point in toxicology because the plant is common, a tea or infusion of its leaves is easy to mix into a drink and the symptoms mimic a heart attack.
The game borrows the method: oleander picked from the garden and dissolved in a drink, causing a death that passes for a heart problem. Characters, setting, motive and outcome are fiction.
Sources
Case glossary
Words from this case you might not know.
- Sazerac
- A classic New Orleans cocktail of rye whiskey or cognac, sugar and bitters, in a glass rinsed with absinthe.
- gumbo
- A thick, spicy Louisiana stew of meat or seafood, okra or roux, served over rice.
- brass band
- A band of trumpets, trombones, tubas and drums; in New Orleans it plays at parades and funerals.