"What Happened to Winston?"

(Materials adapted from: Treat, Lawrence. The Clue Armchair Detectives. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.)

	Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size picture.

Jenny got up at 5 a.m. every day and jumped on her bicycle to deliver the morning newspapers. One of her stops was at Winston Peacock's house. He lived alone, and everyone in the town thought he had a fortune hidden somewhere in his house. His house was built into a hill, so the only way inside was through a front door or a single window. Jenny had never been inside of Winston's house, but each morning he would open the door and wave to her, and as she pedaled away, she would hear him close and bolt the door.

On the last day of the year, Winston greeted her as usual, but the next morning there was no sign of him. Jenny assumed he was sleeping late since it was New Year's Day. On January 2nd, however, his newspaper and two bottles of milk were lying in front of his door. A bit worried, she peeked into the nearest window. Although none of the lights were on, she could see Winston lying on the floor near his desk. She knew something was wrong, so she jumped on her bike and rode as fast as she could to the police station.

A team of detectives went straight to the house. After looking through the window to verify Jenny's report, the detectives decided to enter the house. They broke a window and found the scene as pictured on the following page.

You are a member of the investigative team. You must determine whether this is a case of suicide or murder. Analyze the evidence in Jenny's story and the photograph, and look for clues for how and why the incident occurred. Once you've gathered the evidence, make your claim. Was it suicide or murder?