Long Distance Murder

[CdnWriter]

So....crime novel, my main character wants to murder someone. Preferably at a long distance - I mean from the murder, time-wise not like from a sniper rifle 1,000 miles away. I am thinking three methods:

gifting a bottle of their favourite beverage - this works in terms of you can FedEx the poisoned bottle/can to them so by the time they do drink it, you're far, far away from the scene and if you went through a few steps, your identity is hidden.

gaining access to their residence and placing the poison in a beverage, a food, an ice cube tray, etc, etc. You'd need to be in their physical space and leave some evidence although disguise and distance time wise can hide the fact you were there.

I don't really like this next method but introducing some type of venomous snake or insect....how would you guarantee it would attack the victim? Like I know...boa constrictors like to squeeze their prey to death for example but why would a snake attack the victim? Plus the murderer has to have access to an exotic snake and handle it, get it into the victim's locale.

Does one of these methods sound "better" than the others in terms of puzzling investigators and stumping them, giving the murderer more time to escape?

Things to keep in mind. The murder will be disguised, wear gloves, pay cash, and the only victim will be the target. No family or kids in the house.

Thank you for your help! Just trying to sort of decide which murder scene to write here. I'm not after "flashy," I'm after something mundane that will allow the investigators to say, "It was natural causes." and give them an "out"so they don't look too hard at the situation.

 

[buttercream]

The first one's the most reasonable of the three, but you'll have to make some adjustments if you don't want the police to suspect foul play. Poison would be too easy to detect, by a trained eye and by toxicology, especially if your story's set in modern times.

You could give the victim a major allergy the MC is aware of. Slip some of the allergen in the drink and feign ignorance if questioned. Boring, can be done at any distance, and allows for a clean getaway.

 

[CdnWriter]

The first one's the most reasonable of the three, but you'll have to make some adjustments if you don't want the police to suspect foul play. Poison would be too easy to detect, by a trained eye and by toxicology, especially if your story's set in modern times.

You could give the victim a major allergy the MC is aware of. Slip some of the allergen in the drink and feign ignorance if questioned. Boring, can be done at any distance, and allows for a clean getaway.

I'm not too concerned about the police, mainly because it's a smaller town police force more used to catching speeders on the local highway and the victim isn't going to be notable (at first) to anyone.

TBH, I read a graphic novel years ago by Ed Brisson called "Murder Book" and there was a story in there, where two teenagers carjacked someone who was driving a stolen car with a copse in the trunk. When the teens started joyriding and shooting off their cheap pistols at the local signs, they got pulled over by the traffic cops who searched the car and found the body, then charged the teens who were driving a stolen car, had been firing pistols (gunshot residue on their hands) and had a body in the trunk with bullet wounds. (The guy who they carjacked killed someone and was disposing of the corpse.) The cops took the easy arrest and closed the book. HOWEVER....there was some racial bias in play, the teens were black, the cops were white so that kind of led them to the "case closed." I'm thinking the victim could be discovered because the cops drive out to see why the house alarm is going off.....and interrupt a burglary in progress. So...burglar, dead body, case closed, right? I'm only shying away from it because I think it makes it too complicated.

Murder Book

I'm starting to wonder about the idea of crushing up a bunch of pills, benzodiazepines and injecting them into a bottle of wine via the cork....if the person has a glass of wine every night before bed and uses sleeping pills.....maybe they "accidentally" ingested too much? Plus there's also the time between the death and the discovery of the corpse, so the forensics will be an issue as well. I realize that may not be possible with some drugs but I don't actually want to document a legitimate method of murder in a story or the cops will have some serious questions for me. It just has to be plausible.

What I do like about that idea above is that you can set the booby-trapped bottle of wine way, way ahead of time and just wait a few months, maybe a year and then.....DEAD! As long as there's no rush. Easy-Pleasey.

I'm also going to look at the allergen thing. I'm just at a bit of a loss - until I research...- how one gets an allergen and whether it can be done at a distance from the victim. If MC puts allergen X into a bottle of wine or a can of soda pop via a syringe and is miles away when the death occurs....

THANK YOU!!!

EDIT 1: I just looked up allergens and I'm thinking peanut oil injected into something via a syringe. I just have to figure out how to disguise the allergen....like why would the victim's corn flakes and milk have peanut oil included....?

 

[hirundine]

EDIT 1: I just looked up allergens and I'm thinking peanut oil injected into something via a syringe. I just have to figure out how to disguise the allergen....like why would the victim's corn flakes and milk have peanut oil included....?

There was a case in the UK a while back where a girl was severely allergic to milk. She Had a drink (I think it was hot chocolate) and asked for soy milk and made sure the barista knew she was allergic, but the barista didn't realise that milk powder was an ingredient in the hot chocolate. The girl had an anaphylactic reaction and died. A small amount of milk or milk powder could be mixed with soy milk (or milk powder be mixed into milk-free hot chocolate powder) without the character being able to detect it, so that could possibly work for your story.

 

[Trish]

. I realize that may not be possible with some drugs but I don't actually want to document a legitimate method of murder in a story or the cops will have some serious questions for me.

Unless people start dropping around you by the same method - no they won't.

Considering the amount of people into true crime and the horrors available, imo, you want it to be a legitimate method. Otherwise a lot of people will just roll their eyes and think "that doesn't work how you think it works".

 

[CdnWriter]

There was a case in the UK a while back where a girl was severely allergic to milk. She Had a drink (I think it was hot chocolate) and asked for soy milk and made sure the barista knew she was allergic, but the barista didn't realise that milk powder was an ingredient in the hot chocolate. The girl had an anaphylactic reaction and died. A small amount of milk or milk powder could be mixed with soy milk (or milk powder be mixed into milk-free hot chocolate powder) without the character being able to detect it, so that could possibly work for your story.

That does work, THANK YOU!!!