AppleInsider Murder Solvers

murk · July 15, 2002 11:07PM

My cousin's has a friend who is investigating a murder. He been trying to find out the meaning of a clue left by the murderer. The victim had a penny on each shoulder. One penny was face up, and the other was face down. I know it's not much to go on, but any ideas? Can anyone think of any movie, literary or other references? It's not a joke. Didn't that Nielsen report say that Mac users were more likely to solve crimes online?

nebagakid · July 15, 2002 11:24PM

are you serious?

carpet · July 15, 2002 11:35PM

He is serious. What the pennys mean I do not know...

murk · July 15, 2002 11:42PM

Yep, I'm serious. She asked if I had any idea about what it could mean. I was hoping someone here could make me look smarter than I actually am. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

rick1138 · July 15, 2002 11:47PM

Here is a card game that uses face up and face down pennies:

<a href="http://www.invisible-city.com/games/tow.htm"; target="_blank">http://www.invisible-city.com/games/tow.htm</a>;

ibrowse · July 16, 2002 12:10AM

Sounds like either some sort of sick thespian. Only media refrence I can think of is Two-Face from the Batman cartoon series. But that's not too logical.

jeffyboy · July 16, 2002 12:12AM

Gang, it looks like we have another mystery on our hands!

Jeff

colanderofdeath · July 16, 2002 12:13AM

The murder victim constantly blabbered on and on. So the assailant killed the victim. The pennies symbolize that this was the only was for him to get his two cents in.

jeffyboy · July 16, 2002 12:23AM

What were the years on the pennies?

(Don't know where I'm going with this, but what the heck?)

Jeff

colanderofdeath · July 16, 2002 12:28AM

Were they shiny or dull?

[ 07-16-2002: Message edited by: ColanderOfDeath ]

alcimedes · July 16, 2002 12:51AM

the two pennies were to pay Thantos for a ride across the river Hades in European culture.

go watch "The Boondock Saints" to find out more.

although they had pennies over the eyes in that one.

nebagakid · July 16, 2002 12:53AM

Can someone mock up a AppleInsider Myster Machine Van?

coolhandpete · July 16, 2002 1:05AM

First of all, trying to proscribe logical thought to a murderer is like trying to deposit cat food into a bank account. But, that said, he's probably just being clever -- as far as it goes, I'd guess that he was trying to say, "This is what he was worth to me!" -- but really I think he just wanted to kill somebody, and he's crazy.

Respectfully,

Peter

powerdoc · July 16, 2002 6:06AM

for what it's worth here is my theory : the penny face up and face down is an hyperbole of Chance : i am sure that you played at face up and face down. For the guy Chance was a really important thing.

macfenian · July 16, 2002 6:30AM

Don't want to be a party pooper but is this public knowledge? Seems like something that I would not put in the papers.

Maybe it's some sort of gang ritual? The ethnicity of the victim is important here as well. It could be something that you can find back in his own culture.

g4dude · July 16, 2002 11:37AM

[quote]Originally posted by Nebagakid:

Can someone mock up a AppleInsider Myster Machine Van?<hr></blockquote>

Here you go. It took about 2 minutes.

artman @_@ · July 16, 2002 3:21PM

[quote]Originally posted by iBrowse:

Sounds like either some sort of sick thespian. Only media refrence I can think of is Two-Face from the Batman cartoon series. But that's not too logical.<hr></blockquote>

No, the coins represented Two-Face's good and bad side. He'd flip the coin (face side scratched = bad, tails side = good) to decide what to do. Then after an evil deed he would leave the coin as a marker.

Still, this is intriguing... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

curiousuburb · July 16, 2002 7:47PM

coins on the eyes is common in many cultures...

discovery channel had a show about mummies recently and noted an excavation in central or south america with coins over the eyes

when british pennies were huge (back in the days of farthings, IIRC) there was some tradition about covering the eyes of the deceased with them

as mentioned above, two coins for the boatman across river charon to the underworld.

but i've also heard the specific eye-covering pennies were so the gods would take the money and leave you your eyes for the afterlife...

(kind of a reverse tooth fairy)

shoulder mounted pennies (front, not top, we presume if the body was found horizontally) wouldn't seem to fit that pattern, but as has also been noted, psychopathic murderers aren't known for their einsteinian brains.

might be pure misdirection.

there's a thought, though... was the victim a shell game dealer or might he have otherwise used coins to scam "magic" three card monte?

now if it'd been a US $20 gold coin on each shoulder, i'd send you to New Orleans.

--- of course, you realize that if you DO ever solve this (like ask the killer if found), you'll have to post the answer to this thread so we can all sleep --- <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

[ 07-16-2002: Message edited for spelling by: curiousuburb ]

[ 07-16-2002: Message edited by: curiousuburb ]

pscates · July 16, 2002 8:37PM

Need to call the "CSI" gang! Grissom would probably crack it. In 60 minutes, no less.

eugene · July 16, 2002 8:55PM

My two cents. He dropped some change by accident.

murk · July 16, 2002 11:37PM

I would have thought we had at least one Hannibal Lecter type in this group. Ah, well, it was worth a shot. At least I feel certain I can clear all of you of any involvement. No one slipped up and said something like: ?You mean you only found two pennies? There were actually three.?

I have heard that there might be gang involvement. Don?t know how accurate that report is, however. I?ll let you know if Scoob and I find out anything else.

AppleInsider Murder Solvers

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