History Main / MakeItLookLikeAnAccident

* ''WesternAnimation/BlueEyeSamurai''. In "Peculiarities", Mizu is contracted to MercyKill a SexSlave, so she snaps her neck and leaves a dead mook on top of her, making it look like they were both killed during an attempted rape. Unfortunately, she's seen on the way out of the building.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', The Red Guy plays a collection agent who threatens the titular duo with an accident. When they ask what kind, a train spontaneously runs The Red Guy over. "This kind."

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Film/TheHowling''. Karen White ''is'' a famous anchorwoman, and would ''definitely'' be missed.

* In ''The Commissar'' by Creator/SvenHassel, 2 Section and the titular [[RenegadeRussian Commissar]] are disguised in Soviet uniform when they realize that they're being tracked through the mountains by an NKVD ski unit. Porta suggests they simply drive up innocuously in their tanks and open up at close range, but the Commissar points out that the NKVD will send off a radio message the moment they catch sight of them. The Commissar suggests they [[HairTriggerAvalanche arrange a natural disaster instead]].

* The VillainProtagonist of the Keller series by Creator/LawrenceBlock does this along with more conventional methods, through Keller notes that it's risky as a [[RevealingCoverup failed attempt would draw more attention to the client]] than a straightforward murder, which could have been done by a random criminal. There's a couple of occasions where the intended target really does die from an accident or heart attack before Keller can get to him; the client naturally assumes this trope was in play and pays him regardless, while Keller ponders just how difficult it would have been to arrange this particular accident in real life.

* In the Creator/SidneySheldon novel ''Master of the Game'', matriarch Kate notes that her granddaughter Alexandra is very accident-prone. When she discovers what an evil bitch her granddaughter Eve (Alexandra's twin) is, she suddenly realizes what the reader has known for pages -- that all of Alexandra's "accidents" were Eve's attempts at ''killing her'', starting when the girls were only '''''5'''''.

* In ''Murderer's Row'', Matt Helm, undercover as a Mafia hitman, pretends to take a contract to kill a man's wife. The husband nervously asks, "It will look like an accident, won't it?" Helm says, "One day I'm going to have somebody ask me to do a murder that looks like a murder--"

* A professional driver/hitman tries to kill Bob Lee Swagger's daughter by ramming her car off a mountain road in ''Night of Thunder''.

* In the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Shadows of Steel'', this is done with ''airplanes'' and military equipment. ItMakesSenseInContext, but is justified in that the guy ordering it had to dance around the political sensitivities of traditional, highly visible overt action while still wanting to hurt the other side. It works.

* In one of the ''Track'' novels by Jerry Ahern, Track finds a NewOldFlame has been murdered by her husband, who [[AgonizingStomachWound shot her in the guts so she'd die slowly]] and it would look like a robbery gone bad. When Track shoots the husband he says, "I don't care what this looks like at all."

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/InspectorMorse'' in which Morse believes the the trope is in play, but it turns out it really was an accident. However, the investigation uncovers an art fraud ring and at least one actual murder takes place during the episode.

** In "Flight Risk" Sherlock deduces that one of the the plane crash victims was dead before the plane crashed. [[spoiler: It turns out that he stumbled upon the plane being sabotaged, was killed, and was stowed away in the plane's cargo hold. The added weight, which the pilot didn't know about, threw the plane off balance and caused the crash earlier than the saboteur intended - all of the evidence was ''supposed'' to end up at the bottom of the ocean]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Dead Woman's Shoes", Kyle Montgomery murdered his wife Susan by pushing her off a balcony. He later told the police that it was an accident and she fell to her death because she was drunk.

** In "Flight Risk" Sherlock deduces that one of the the plane crash victims was dead before the plane crashed. [[spoiler: It turns out that he stumbled upon the plane being sabotaged, was killed, and stowed away in the plane's cargo hold. The added weight, which the pilot didn't know about, threw the plane off balance and caused the crash]].

* In ''WebOriginal/AGoldenIslandToTheWest'', the time-displaced California government, aware of the downtime US attempt at blockading the Pacific, dispatch a sub to to destroy the incoming fleet and invoke this trope. Ambushing them at the Strait of Magellan, all the sub has to do to destroy six of the seven incoming warships is to fire a single torpedo, and DisasterDominoes does the rest.

--->'''[[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Doctor Kaufman]]:''' I am a professor of forensic medicine. Believe me, Mr. Bond, I could shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effect. My art is in great demand, Mr. Bond. I go all over the world. I am especially good at the celebrity overdose.

* Also spoofed in ''Film/{{Outpost}}: Black Sun''. Wallace is talking to the protagonist, a woman from a family of {{Nazi Hunter}}s.

* The VillainProtagonist of ''Hit Man'' by Creator/LawrenceBlock does this along with more conventional methods. On one occasion the intended target really does die in a road accident; the client naturally assumes this trope was in play and pays him regardless, while the hitman ponders just how difficult it would have been to arrange this accident in real life.

--->'''[[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Doctor Kaufman]]:''' I am a professor of forensic medicine. Believe me, Mr. Bond, I could shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effect.
* ''Film/KillerElite'' has the sheik request this specifically, so [[spoiler: the SAS]] won't retaliate after the assassinations are carried out. The problem is he wants confessions from the victims as well, complicating the assignment.

* The VillainProtagonist of ''Hit Man'' by Lawrence Block does this along with more conventional methods. On one occasion the intended target really does die in a road accident; the client naturally assumes this trope was in play and pays him regardless, while the hitman ponders just how difficult it would have been to arrange this accident in real life.

This trope is probably thought of by many soon-to-be murderers, and so, a TruthInTelevision. Some people who kill themselves do this due to the stigma associated with suicide, or because suicide would make their loved ones ineligible for life insurance claims. It also happens to political dissidents in some countries; this is so prevalent in Russia that [[{{Website/Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_deaths_of_Russian_businesspeople_(2022%E2%80%932023) whole article]] dedicated to the subject. Remember, just because it was ruled as an accident doesn't necessarily mean it truly was. [[EvilLaugh Heh... heh... heh...]]

This trope is probably thought of by many soon-to-be murderers, and so, a TruthInTelevision. Some people who kill themselves do this due to the stigma associated with suicide, or because suicide would make their loved ones ineligible for life insurance claims. It also happens to political dissidents in some countries; this is so prevalent in Russia that TheOtherWiki has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_deaths_of_Russian_businesspeople_(2022%E2%80%932023) whole article]] dedicated to the subject. Remember, just because it was ruled as an accident doesn't necessarily mean it truly was. [[EvilLaugh Heh... heh... heh...]]

This trope is probably thought of by many soon-to-be murderers, and so, a TruthInTelevision. Remember, just because it was ruled as an accident doesn't necessarily mean it truly was. [[EvilLaugh Heh... heh... heh...]]

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* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' Season 3 Part 2, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Marco's death was not an accident but a murder as he was stripped of his ODM gear and left to be eaten by a Titan after [[HeKnowsTooMuch overhearing Reiner's and Bertolt's conversation revealing they were the Armored and Colossal Titans respectively.]] Annie also participated in the crime, although unwillingly.]]

* Cruelly subverted in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. [[spoiler:This is what [[MadBomber Kimblee]] was ''supposed'' to do to [[WideEyedIdealist Urey and Sara Rockbell]], so the military would not be forced to waste resources ensuring their protection as humanitarians of their nation. He didn't get the chance, though: their last patient was [[BreakTheCutie a mentally and physically broken]] [[BadassPreacher Scar]], who had absolutely [[PowerIncontinence no control over his newfound powers]], and ended up killing the Rockbells himself]].

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', Yazan Gable pulls this when he gets Emma Sheen to fire at him, than dodges so that the blast will hit [[spoiler: Jamaican]], whom he hated.

** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2013/09/08 Garfield hires a dog to get rid of Nermal and use the trope.]] However, the dog finds Nermal too cute to be harmed.

* The side stories for ''Fanfic/ABriefHistoryOfEquestria'' showed that this was [[MagnificentBastard Princess Platinum's]] preferred way of dealing with those she felt endangered her plans for Equestria's future. [[spoiler: Ultimately, she even did this [[ThanatosGambit to herself]]]].

* In ''Fanfic/DirtySympathy'' [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Klavier and Apollo]] always faced this threat early in the story. [[BadBoss Kristoph]] would "hypothesize" what would happen if Apollo goes missing and Klavier ''knows'' that with [[DomesticAbuse Daryan's]] [[DirtyCop connections]] he '''can''' make it look like an accident. It nearly comes true when Klavier is nearly strangled to death by a "set malfunction".

* In ''FanFic/WorldwarWarOfEquals'' this is implied to be the fate of [[spoiler:Hugo Chavez]].
* ''Fanfic/LostBoy'':
** Snotlout tries to kill Hiccup by pointing a catapult at the forge while he was still in it. When questioned, he insisted that he was aiming for dragons attacking the village and that it would have been a bonus if he got rid of Hiccup.
** During the Battle of Helheim's Gate, Spitelout tries to kill Stoick as a means of making Snotlout chief, hoping to make it look like Stock died from a dragon attack.
* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': Steelhooves is a quiet, taciturn pony in [[PoweredArmor Steel Ranger armor]] who rarely makes his opinion on matters known. Which is why no one notices that racists and traitors have a surprising propensity for suffering terrible accidents around him. Littlepip sees in one of his [[PensieveFlashback memory orbs]] that he has been doing this for ''centuries''.
-->'''Steelhooves:''' ''[rehearsing to himself]'' There's been a terrible accident. No, I have no idea where he was flying in from. I could tell he was coming in too low, but I expected him to pull up before he hit the building. It was horrible. I feel it was my fault; I shouldn't have asked Wingright to fly in this weather. I should have known that the wind shear would be too much for him.

---> '''Paul''': They seem to… Have fallen down some stairs.\\

* In ''Film/Revolver1973'', the kidnappers murder Vito's friend who was tailing them by [[CarFu hitting him with a car]], and staging he body to make it look like he was the victim of a hit-and-run.

SuperTrope to HuntingAccident. Sister trope of NeverSuicide, where the murder is made to look like a suicide. Overlaps with UnfriendlyFire, depending on how careful the killer was to get caught. Compare with TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch and MistakenForSuicidal. Contrast with SuicideNotMurder. When the killer actually ''did'' do it by accident, it's AccidentalMurder.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': A-Train shoots Popclaw up with heroin to make it look like an accidental overdose. [[spoiler: He's ''terrible'' at it, since his poor control over his super-speed means he ends up pushing at least one needle into a ''bone'', as referenced later by Starlight; it's not confirmed but is implied that he only got away with it because Vought did not want anyone looking too closely at her death.]]

* ''ComicBook/EnemyAce'': In War in Heaven- Book 2", shortly after being shot down, and parachuting into [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the Dachau concentration camp,]] [[NaziProtagonist Von Hammer]] gives a speech to the men in the airfield telling them to stop fighting and to stop supporting the Nazi regime. When Engels, an ardent Nazi, points a gun at him and is about to shoot after Von Hammer calls Hitler a "piece of excrement," Von Hammer's wingman [[LudicrousGibs kills Engels]] with [[MoreDakka a burst of the quadruple 30mm cannons ]] of an Me-262 fighter jet, while "testing" the firing mechanism that he thought wasn't loaded.

* In ''Literature/IHeardThatSongBefore'', it's speculated -– and [[BigBrotherInstinct Phillip Meredith]] firmly believes –- that Grace Meredith didn't accidentally drown, but that her husband Peter deliberately drowned her because she was drinking while pregnant (and possibly because he found out she was having an affair). It would've been easy enough; Grace was extremely drunk, so Peter could've theoretically picked her up and just dropped her into the pool while everyone else was sleeping, or that he could've seen her fall into the pool and simply [[MurderByInaction didn't bother to save her]]. Grace was known for having a [[TheAlcoholic drinking problem]], so no one would question it; [[PrivateDetective Greco]] even speculates that someone could've deliberately spiked her drink on Peter's orders. It's revealed [[spoiler:this was indeed what happened, but Peter wasn't the culprit; Richard set up Grace's drowning because he realized she could expose him as an art thief]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': "Black Mask", TheHeavy for the villains, uses this method to kill people: By destroying their minds in the MentalWorld of the Palace, he leaves them as {{Soulless Shell}}s that will "accidentally" walk into traffic, fall off buildings, crash their vehicles, and so on. And in the NonstandardGameOver where you fail to complete a Palace before the time limit, you yourself meet this fate.

** In ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', [[TheDragon Chang]] first tries to murder Bond by sabotaging the Zero-G astronaut training he was taking part in (the Bond girl believes something had went wrong with the controls), and later [[BigBad Drax]] himself tries to have him shot and make it look like a hunting accident. Both attempts take place when Bond was on Drax's property as a guest and, when Bond leaves, later attempts are even more over-the-top but not set-up as accidents.