Dance Moms Murder Mystery

Part 1: The Victim and the Crime Scene

As you open your case file for the first time, you observe the following personal information regarding the murder victim:

Name: Madison "Maddie" Nicole Ziegler

Birth Date: September 30th, 2002

Hair Colour: Brown

Height: 5'5"

Occupation: Dancer/Actress

Death: Approx: 6:30pm-7:25pm. October 31st, 2017

Saddened by the tragic loss of such a young star, you continue to make your way through the file, where you find the reports resulting from the autopsy.

Cause of Death: Severe brain puncture from a severe cranial fracture after falling from a second-floor balcony.

Additional Injuries: A broken nose, a bruised left forearm, bruised ribs on the victim's left side, and a bruised left shin. Elevated amounts of tetrahydrozoline were found in the victim's blood.

Requiring more information, you make the trip to the residence of Kalani Hilliker, where the ill-fated party had taken place the night prior. Upon arriving, you notice that towards the left side of the house, a section of the concrete walkway roughly fifteen feet below a balcony was marked off, indicating the area where the victim had landed after the fall. As you entered the house, you note that it was messy, likely having remained untouched from the party. Climbing the stairs in the middle of the foyer, you make your way towards the room connected to the balcony, which from the sign on the door, you assume to be the bedroom of the victim. In the room, you note several items that may be indicative of events that occurred during the night:

#1: A Target receipt. (Left on the floor by the bed)

#2: A handbag. (Left on the floor by the receipt)

#3: A spilled glass of Shirley Temple. (On the floor by the bedside table)

#4: Blood trail leading to the balcony.

#5: Vomit in the toilet. (En-suite bathroom)

#6: Eye drop bottle. (Beside the end of the bed)

#7: Jacket (Left on the floor by the bed)

Having finished scanning the room, you decide to walk around the house to get a good idea of the positioning of each room. From the front foyer, in front of you is a grand staircase leading up to the second floor. To the left of the stairway is a hallway leading to two spare bedrooms on the left side, a bathroom on the right side, and a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway. To the right is another hallway, a practical mirror image of the left hallway. Past the stairway is a living room with several couches, a coffee table, and a 50" flat-screen TV hooked to the wall. Past the living room to your left is a kitchen and a dining room, and past that is a backyard with an in-ground pool.

Upon climbing the main stairs, you find hallways to your left and right. In the left hallway are two bedrooms, one of which being the victim's bedroom, and a main bathroom. In the right hallway are the rooms of Kalani, her mother and step-father, and her two younger brothers. Aside from the victim's bedroom, the only other rooms who appeared to have been entered were Kalani's bedroom, a bedroom on the right hallway on the first floor, and a bedroom on the left hallway of the first floor.

After which, you leave the crime scene, leaving yourself to ponder your thoughts on the crime. You question why someone would want to murder such a young star, but at the forefront of your thinking was the realization that it is up to you to bring whoever had done this to justice. You process the information given to you in your mind, and come to two conclusions. Firstly, you would benefit from testing some of the evidence in the victim's bedroom for potentially crucial information. And secondly, if you're going to get anywhere, you'll need a list of people who were at the party, and identify a suspect list from it.

--------

If I do get any readers, feel free to comment your thoughts. The suspect list will be posted next. If you would like more information on any specific piece of evidence, feel free to request it in the comments, and I will provide you with more information.