“Petted to Death” is a Murdoku case from the Zoo category: a board of 8×8, 7 suspects and one victim. Read the clues, work out where everybody was standing, and name the suspect who was left alone with the body.
The Board
The floor plan as the case hands it to you: 8×8, rated Hard, with 5 rooms. Every person — 8 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
R1
F
Ha
R2
F
G
G
R3
Pa
P
Pr
G
R4
Pa
P
P
T
R5
M
P
P
P
Pr
R6
Pa
P
T
H
R7
P
P
P
P
Te
R8
L
P
L
Te
T
Floor plan of “Petted to Death”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below. A thick blue edge marks a window. A dashed edge marks a door.
Each suspect comes with what the witnesses remember. Read them all before placing anyone — a clue about one person is very often what pins down another.
Anna — a woman with red hair and glasses
She was beside a tree. Another suspect was further south than Anna, beside the same tree.
Bella — a woman with blond hair
In her room there was a man
Cyrus — a man with a bald head
He was north of Anna
Dylan — a man with brown hair and a beard
He was on a park bench
Elsa — a woman with red hair
She was in the same column as a flamingo, in the same room
Freya — a woman with black hair
She was north-east of a mud puddle, in the same room
Greta — a woman with brown hair
She was north-east of every path, in a different room
The victim, Veronika, is a woman. Nothing else about them is known, and no clue depends on it.
How Hard It Really Is
Deduction steps from the first clue to the verdict
Before anything else, count where each suspect could be if you only read their own clues:
Anna: 8 possible tiles
Bella: 50 possible tiles
Cyrus: 50 possible tiles
Dylan: 2 possible tiles
Elsa: 2 possible tiles
Freya: 2 possible tiles
Greta: 2 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Cyrus is north of Anna – impossible cells removed.
Anna must stand beside the same object (a tree) as another person – impossible cells removed.
Cyrus is north of Anna – impossible cells removed.
That is as far as this page goes. From here on it is yours — the in-game hint giver explains each next step if you get stuck, without giving the answer away.
This case has exactly one solution, and it can be reached by forward deduction alone — no guessing.