Philomena Highmore was the victim in The Talking Dead (Case #8 of Mysteries of the Past).
Profile
Philomena was a socialite from the well-known Highmore family. She had short blonde hair, green eyes, and wore a day sky blue dress and a translucent shawl. Besides that, she also wore gold earrings and two beaded necklaces.
Murder details
Philomena was found in the museum garden with her throat slashed. According to Dick, it was done with an obsidian knife, since he found the tip in her neck. This meant the player and Maddie had to keep their eye out for an obsidian blade with a missing tip. Dick also found traces of the oral sedative known as laudanum on the nape of Philomena's neck. This meant the killer took laudanum.
Later, after investigating the victim's room a second time, they managed to locate an obsidian knife with a missing tip. There was a slick substance on the knife's handle, so a sample was procured and sent to Viola for analysis. She discovered the substance was mustache wax, meaning the killer had a mustache.
Relationship with suspects
Philomena was one of the attendants of Mr Alaster's second party. At the party, she offended medium Ignatius Cottingley with her disbelief in the spirit world, as well as forger Diego del Lobo when she damaged a Caravaggio painting.
Philomena was the niece of Lady Highmore, who disapproved of her attention-hogging nature. Philomena was also formerly romantically involved with Officer George Blanton.
In her spare time, Philomena attended museum curator Abigail Simandl's suffrage meetings. However, she irritated Abigail as she did not take the cause seriously and only saw the meetings as a change to have a party.
Killer and motives
The killer turned out to be Ignatius.
After denying the charges, Ignatius said that he killed Philomena. He said that Philomena found out all the tricks he used as a medium to fake conversations with the dead. Fearing that she would expose his fraud during the museum séance, he paused the event, followed her into the garden, and slashed her throat with an obsidian knife. Judge Takakura sentenced him to 25 years in prison for the murder and for conning the public.
Case appearances
- The Talking Dead (Case #8 of Mysteries of the Past)
- Let Her Eat Cake (Case #10 of Mysteries of the Past; mentioned)
- That Sinking Feeling (Case #11 of Mysteries of the Past; mentioned)
- Behind the Mask (Case #12 of Mysteries of the Past; mentioned)
- Stick to Your Guns (Case #34 of Mysteries of the Past; mentioned)
- Get Off Your High Horse (Case #40 of Mysteries of the Past; mentioned)
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