Basic Trope: The first person to find a dead body is immediately suspected to have something to do with that person's death.
- Straight: Alice finds Bob's dead body in a ditch and is the first one questioned about what happened.
- Exaggerated: Alice is actually placed under arrest and brought to trial.
- Downplayed: The detectives first ask Alice some routine questions before searching for likely suspects.
- Justified:
- Alice is someone who had a close connection to Bob, such as a current or former spouse or significant other.
- The body was found in Alice's house or backyard.
- Alice is already a wanted criminal.
- Inverted:
- Alice finds the body and is never questioned or suspected.
- Alternatively, Alice finds his body and is the last person brought into questioning.
- Subverted: The detectives first question Carol, Bob's wife.
- Double Subverted: It's later revealed that he was having an affair with Alice, and Alice is called in for questioning once Carol's story checks out.
- Parodied: Alice finds Bob's body and is assumed to be guilty despite Carol being nearby holding a knife and wearing a t-shirt that says "I killed Bob".
- Zig Zagged: The police question Bob's wife, Carol, but her alibi checks out; she and Bob were legally separated, beginning divorce proceedings, and she had also been on a business trip. They then find out that Bob had been in a relationship with Alice (hence the divorce), and question her, seeing as she was the last to see Bob alive. Her story checks out, so they are back at square one, and something (her possible motive(s), perhaps a MacGuffin) makes them suspect Carol again, and it turns out she was the one who did it.
- Averted: Bob isn't dead, or at least Alice doesn't find the body.
- Enforced:
- Hollywood Law
- We need a Red Herring for our Police Procedural.
- Lampshaded: "Maybe we should question Alice; I mean, she did find the body."
- Invoked: Alice finds Bob's dead, partially-decomposed body and contacts the police.
- Exploited: Carol, wanting revenge on Alice for "stealing" Bob from her, plants the body and all manner of evidence in Alice's home.
- Defied: The police identify Bob from his driver's license, and contact and question Carol.
- Discussed: "Of course Alice did it! She was right there when they found him."
- Conversed: "Now, a less experienced cop might just assume that you did it because you were there, but not me."
- Deconstructed: This habit of the police force proves utterly disastrous to stopping crime as nobody reports dead bodies for fear of being used as an 'easy' way to close cases.
Find the body at The Corpse Stops Here.
