Recap / Criminal Case: Grimsborough - Case 28: The Haunting of Elm Manor

Ramirez: The haunted house of Grimsborough, Elm Manor, has just killed its owner! I tell you, that house is evil!

The body of Hector Fernandez is found crushed by a chandelier inside his own mansion, which appears to be haunted.

Tropes:

• Bedsheet Ghost: Ramirez dresses as one to scare Jones. It works.
• Booby Trap: Hector was killed when he stepped on a pressure plate that dropped a chandelier onto him.
• Call-Back: Charles Parker and Margaret Littlewood reappear as suspects, with the former's greenhouse also returning as a crime scene.
• Chemically-Induced Insanity: Gloria drugged Hector with a powerful plant-based hallucinogenic drug that made him believe his house was truly haunted, wishing to make him pay for accidentally killing their own child then pretending it was the house who took him.
• Continuity Nod: Jones mentions the events of Case 25 to Ramirez as proof that ghosts don't exist.
• Death of a Child: Aurelio, the Fernandez' son, was found dead on a staircase at his home. It's eventually revealed that he died due to his father's negligence, but he tried to pass it as the Haunted House killing him.
• Distinction Without a Difference: Father Von Pratt keeps insisting that Elm Manor isn't haunted, it's possessed!
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: How the victim was killed.
• In Vino Veritas: While drunk, Hector confessed to his wife that their child died because he forgot to keep an eye on him, then told everyone that the Haunted House was the one who murdered the boy. Due to this, Gloria starts tormenting Hector with a Chemically-Induced Insanity that makes him believe the house really haunted as a form of Laser-Guided Karma, finally killing her husband by dropping a chandelier onto him.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Jones refers to Case 25 by its in-game name instead of calling it The Legend of the Mad Pilgrim like it's supposed to be.
• Mistaken for Undead: Camilla Brown is believed to be a ghost by Ramirez due to a photo of her that was taken back in 1841. However, it just turns out to be a picture of her great-grandmother.
• Old, Dark House: Subverted. Elm Manor is in perfect condition except for the wing where Hector was killed and you investigate, since it's supposed to be off limits and therefore no one takes care of it.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: According to Camilla, the Fernandez' housekeeper, Elm Manor killed both their son and Hector because of their "foreign blood."
  Jones: Uh, so it's a racist haunted house?
• Red Herring: During the case, you meet a racist bitter housekeeper who just happened to be around her foreign employer before he was killed, a man obsessed with the victim's wife who believed he didn't deserve her, and a priest who had a financial dispute with the victim over his supposed fraudulent exorcism. Any of them could be perfect for the murderer role, right? Wrong. In the end, Hector was killed by his wife due to she wanting to avenge her dead child.
• Running Gag: For the fourth time in a row, a murder of apparent supernatural origins turns out to be nothing more than a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: In the end, Elm Manor isn't a haunted house that killed its inhabitants due to malice, but a regular old mansion where both deaths happened thanks to the work of other people that made it appear of supernatural origin.
• Shout-Out:
  • The case's title and the name of the manor reference A Nightmare on Elm Street.
  • Camilla Brown resembles Mrs. Danvers.
  • Father Von Pratt resembles Tim Curry.
  • Ramirez dresses himself with a ghost hunting uniform that resembles the ones used in Ghostbusters (1984).
  • In the Greenhouse scene, there's a warp pipe.
• Tempting Fate: Poor Jones can't seem to learn his lesson.
  Jones: Okay, I admit it: this place is kind of spooky but I'm not going to act scared like Ramirez and start whimpering about ghosts.
  Ramirez: [In a Bedsheet Ghost costume] Booooooooooo!
  Jones: A gho... gho... ghost!
• Too Much Information: Jones' reaction after Nathan informs you he did some digging through the victim's brain.
• Stalker with a Crush: Charles is this towards Gloria, roaming around her house and even planning to send her a bouquet hours before Hector died. Understandably, this makes him a very strong suspect.