Line #31 MoralEventHorizon/CriminalCase


1	!!''VideoGame/CriminalCase''
2	Just about any murder that wasn't [[AccidentalMurder an accident]] or whose perpetrator [[SympatheticMurderer wasn't sympathetic]] would qualify for this, but several individuals in this game [[MoralEventHorizon deserve special mention.]] Due to the nature of the page, '''Unmarked Spoilers''' are inevitable. You are warned.
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4	* Alden Greene is pegged for most of the Financial Center arc as a CorruptCorporateExecutive who is suspected to be involved in some very questionable transactions, believes [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney money can solve any trouble]], and is a SmugSnake in general. Then he injects recurring character Rachel Priest with a serum that causes her to die a horrific death, in order to keep her from revealing the unethical SuperSoldier program he's about to bankroll. He ends up [[KarmaHoudini being bailed out later on]], but is later re-sentenced when it's discovered that he's one of the Crimson Order's higher-ups.
5	* Margaret Littlewood appears to be a kindly, if a little nosy, old lady who loves dogs. Then comes the dog pageant event, and this seemingly harmless woman becomes a monster when she killed the other competing dogs and one of the dog's owners, then attempted to kill Jones to scare the police from continuing the investigation, all just to win the event.
6	* The Rorschach Reaper a.k.a. Tess Goodwin is already a heartless SerialKiller and [[ManipulativeBastard master manipulator]] who then goes on to hypnotize Jones into attempting to murder ''the player character''. Her reason for this and the murders she orchestrated? It was all for a thesis on latent murderers, and she didn't care that killing the player character will severely weaken the police's efforts in arresting killers.
7	* Milton Grimmes is the head of the Crimson Order, an organization that is behind many of Grimsborough's murders, including the murders of Rachel Priest and Adam Bentley. Then, he tries to kill the player character, which would've let crime go unpunished in Grimsborough.
8	* Erikah Mabayo is the second SerialKiller in the game behind the Rorschach Reaper, and it shows. Even beforehand, she is responsible for several minor crimes in Bayou Bleu, but in Case 10 it is discovered that she killed 4 prostitutes for no real reason, including one of the only sympathetic characters in the bayou, singlehandedly ruined Harvey Fitchner's career, found the only witness and blackmailed him, then started the voodoo craze to give herself power.
9	* As the creator of Hurricanes Yves and Zelda, Veronica Blade didn't care about the deaths and destruction she caused through those hurricanes. At first, she wanted some insurance money to leave Jazz Town because she couldn't sell her long-neglected estate, which was a protected historical site. But Peggy Pascal proved that Hurricane Yves didn't cause much damage to her estate, so her request was denied. This prompted her to destroy all of Jazz Town through Hurricane Zelda simply because she didn't receive the respect associated with her family name.
10	* As the third SerialKiller in the game, the Puppeteer a.k.a. Freddie Alonzo shows no concern for the teenage children of his victims, who were last seen arguing with said children before their murders. He based his motives on his belief that parents like his get their joy from restricting their children and deluded himself to believe that he was giving children freedom.
11	* Duncan Young is the fourth SerialKiller in the game and has absolutely no remorse for his actions as the Night Walker. He froze at least three women in ice and stabbed a man with an icicle all because he felt insignificant after [[CareerEndingInjury getting shot on duty]]. Not to mention that he [[ObfuscatingDisability taught himself how to walk again]] but remained in his wheelchair to likely garner sympathy. It doesn't work when he's finally caught as not even his sister feels sorry for him anymore.
12	* The Sword in ''World Edition'' shoots Chief Ripley, forcing the Bureau to find her attacker in the Sahara. The leader then starts toying with them in every case, all the while manipulating others to do his dirty work and beheading one of them when he wasn't useful anymore. In the very last case of the Sahara, he kidnaps an innocent little boy, nearly kills Armand Dupont, briefly drives a teenager to extremism, and tops it off with an attempt to kill Carmen and the player when they arrest him. Luckily, Jonah Karam shoots him dead before he can.
13	* The COSMORUS mole crosses this when she launches SOMBRA's satellite without a care that the safety of the entire world would be compromised by her actions. Her reason for this? She wanted total control of the Russian government and didn't care if she had to endanger the entire planet by doing so.
14	* Ayush Patil deserves a special mention, especially since he's just a one-shot character who doesn't appear in a district finale. He had a god complex and used sociology as an excuse to release a deadly, man-made plague onto the public of Bangalore, where he hoped to do some population control. The virus kills thousands and sickens several more, including Lars, who was trying to help stop it. When he is arrested, Ayush shows no regret whatsoever, even feeling proud of himself for "unleashing a new era". Even as he's sentenced to life in jail he continues to take pride in his despicable actions. The amount of damage he caused in just one episode is jarring and considered unforgivable.
15	* At the end of South Asia, Warren Goodfellow tricks an unwitting driver into delivering a package for him, then brutally murders him despite the guy not knowing that the package was for SOMBRA. Not only that, but he's also the one behind O.M. Medilab, the company that encouraged Ayush Patil to unleash a plague upon India, sold toxic drugs to people, and had Om Padmasana framed for their actions throughout the district.
16	* At the end of East Asia, Obaasan was revealed to be the mastermind behind the child trafficking all over the district, and has all of them (including Sanjay Korrapati) gathered up so they could kill each other until one child was left.]] And if that weren't bad enough, when one child refuses to participate in the murders, she [[WouldHurtAChild murders him with her own hands]] as he's trying to escape.
17	* Similar to two examples above, one case of ''World Edition'' gives us Anbu Devanesan. He's another one-shot villain outside of a district finale but quickly established himself as one the fandom LoveToHate. He kills an innocent woman just because she stumbled upon his suspicious activities, and does everything to make sure that the Bureau's suspicions will be placed on the other suspects--including [[CrocodileTears crying all the time]], faking a suicide attempt and hiding behind his lawyer. The player manages to break through the facade when they find all the evidence, but unlike most killers, this guy doesn't stop when he's placed under arrest. Elliot exposes him as a SOMBRA agent, and he reacts by taking the boy hostage and hurting him, even shooting Jack when he tries to stop him. When Carmen and Jonah show up, Anbu smugly threatens to kill Elliot in front of them but is thankfully stopped and given a life sentence. While his crimes of murder and money laundering are already heinous, his kidnapping of Elliot is what everyone considers unforgivable.
18	* Subverted with Angela Douglas when she's revealed to be a SOMBRA agent. While InUniverse her actions are considered irredeemable, some fans still consider her a sympathetic character, and it helps that the entirety of her motives has yet to be revealed. By the end, though, given that she was willing to bomb the Bureau and her callous assertion of Dupont's death, she lost the sympathy of most fans.
19	* In the Capitol Peak arc, Mayor Justin Lawson is a KnightTemplar who finally crosses this when he goes against his condemnation of murder by sentencing Florence Samuels to death and forcing Diego Del Lobo (disguised as Eddie Lebold) to kill Charles Dupont.
20	* In the Fairview Arc of ''The Conspiracy'', Rosamund Wilcox is a serial killer who puts poison in Rocket Cow drinks and strikes at the very beginning of the season. She usually presented herself as the benevolent principal of Fairview High but would single out parents she caught yelling at their children and secretly kill them with her deadly concoction. In the span of 6 cases, she killed the parents of 12 students, including returning character [[GoodParents Edward Ramis]]. While she tries to justify it with the abuse she suffered from her own parents growing up, her actions aren't depicted as any less heinous.
21	* At the end of the Money Mile arc, Christian Bateman is revealed to be one of the most depraved killers in the entire series who isn't a SerialKiller. He's a venture capitalist who worked so hard that his ambition drained him of most human feelings, which brought out his fantasies of torturing women for his own pleasure. When he meets Meera Kat, an artist who's just as [[SarcasmMode kind and caring as he is]], he finds himself falling in love with her...but she rejects him, which causes him to completely snap and kill her by dunking her in lava, taking pleasure in hearing her scream as she died. By the time the team arrests him, he is revealed to be so unhinged that he laughs maniacally at the murder he committed while calling himself the most sane person in the room. Judge Powell herself is horrified at this, and even as she gives out a life sentence the killer still laughs in her face.
22	* Haruki Kato, despite being a one case wonder, manages to eclipse all expectations of being a Magnificent Bastard when he kills Marcus Butler, his best friend since high school. The motive? Haruki became a member of the Higher Truth, a cult that relies on donations from members. The higher the donation, the closer to the "Enlightened One" and "the truth" one shall become. When Marcus came into the big bucks selling his artistic license, Haruki begged him for money for his crazy cult. Like any sane man, Marcus refused and the next logical step was to murder him brutally, grab his studio keys, and take the money. The cherry on top is his outlandish and remorseless statement:
23	-->'''Haruki:''' "There is something of far more importance at play than the trivial notion of a 'best friend', and Marcus should have understood this!"
24	* Ernest Emerson appears to be a rather affable person when we first meet him, even if his scientific theories are eccentric. When he appears in Maple Heights after the flood, he blows up a Xerdan cave to release dozens of venomous Demon Fish, who give deadly injuries to anyone who touches them. Several people are affected by this, and Martine nearly dies from the venom as well. Although Ernest helps save her life, later, he runs into his cousin Martha Price, who opposes his idea of releasing dangerous fish into public waters for the sake of research and plans to eliminate them all. Ernest does not take this well, resulting in a struggle that gets Martha killed by the Demon Fish. After he is arrested, Ernest reveals that he released the fish for the sake of science alone, and killed Martha because he thought she would be an obstacle. He also doesn't show any remorse for the fact that his reckless research killed several people and put others at risk, prompting Judge Powell to give him a life sentence.
25	* Dreamlife, a tech firm that prominently starts appearing into the first quarter of ''The Conspiracy'', slowly ends up crossing it halfway through the plot. They establish themselves under a glass dome in the middle of Grimsborough, right where the meteor hit one year before the game's plot. Initially, their main problems are their [[CorruptCorporateExecutive egotistical and slippery CEO]], Rozetta Pierre, and being behind many dubious schemes, such as creating a dangerously addictive [=VR=] game and managing the Higher Truth's money. However, the company is later revealed to be behind numerous events in the plotline. They're responsible kidnapping various people (including Zoe Kusama's kidnapping and amnesia) and then killing them via human experimentation, and experiments with the meteor that caused the earthquake and flood from earlier in the season to happen, but the biggest kick is when they're discovered to be producing a drug named Protozane. It's discovered that Protozane is able to suppress emotions entirely and that there is no cure for it, essentially turning people who consume it into sheep. By the end of Misty Grove, they're about to release Protozane into Grimsborough, just in time for them to be stopped and Rozetta jailed. To make it worse, Rozetta justifies Protozane by claiming the [=VR=] game proved to Dreamlife that the population liked to be told what to do, showing no remorse even when she's defeated.
26	* Dr. Shweta Noorani crosses it when she is revealed to have been behind not only the Protozane trials that resulted in the deaths of several kidnapped people but also masterminding Rosie Summers's murder of Wendy Stokes by drugging the former with Protozane.
27	* Dreamlife lab scientist Emilio Fuller starts off as being one of the few [[OnlySaneMan sane men]] in the organization, but he crosses it at the end of Misty Grove. He discovers that his estranged father, Tony Marconi, is doing all of Rozetta's dirty work to protect Emilio. Unfortunately for Tony, Emilio sees him as nothing more than a criminal and genuinely believes that Dreamlife was making the world better. When Tony finally manages to meet Emilio, Emilio pretends to help him destroy the Protozane shipment with a Molotov cocktail, only to use it to [[{{Patricide}} kill Tony instead]]. Emilio shows a disturbing lack of remorse, even blaming Tony for stepping in the way of science, leading to him getting a life sentence.
28	* Toby Hansen commits one of the most brutal murders for an opening district case, savagely bisecting a freshman for a petty reason: the victim was starring in his student film and was subject to transfer elsewhere. Angered with the possibility of having to reshoot, he dressed up as the film's villain and killed her with a chainsaw which he puts on film, effectively creating a SnuffFilm. Toby boasts that his visionary approach to film will be eternally remembered, showing eerie pride in his "art." Naturally, he acquires a hefty sentence for his "trouble".
29	* The University had a minor character, Gunnar Burns, commit one of the most gruesome murders in the series in Case 40. Even when he first appears, he's not a very nice person and doesn't even try to hide it. He even murdered his ex-wife as revenge for her divorcing him 20 years ago and kept that secret for two decades until he learns his backyard is going to be dug up by the government, forcing him to try and hide her remains in Grimsborough University's tennis court. He is caught by star athlete Stephanie Griff, and his response to that is to knock her out and torture her with a vice, slowly crushing her head with it. Not only is he completely disrespectful to everyone around him (including the police force), he doesn't feel remotely bad about anything he's done, instead blaming it on another person or something else he didn't like. This is enough for Judge Powell to sentence him to life in prison without any possibility of parole.
30	* Polly O'Brien initially appears as an endearing, friendly girl when she first appears. Later, however, she, alongside all four other current Ad Astra members, kidnaps and whips Professor Kevin Charles to death on Rozetta Pierre's order. Polly instantly drops her innocent façade, proudly condoning her acts and the attention they bring her and showing a disturbing LackOfEmpathy to both Charles and her deceased boyfriend (who died in the previous case), all within the span of what is canonically around 12 hours in-game.
31	-->'''Polly:''' I see you fell for my innocent act, (Player). Just be careful not to underestimate me. Look what happened to my boyfriend. He annoyed me...and oops, now he's dead.
32	* Ad Astra, the villainous organization that the Grimsborough PD investigates after shutting Dreamlife down, also manages to do a lot of damage during the latter half of the season. All five of their student members kill Professor Kevin Charles by taking turns whipping him to death, ordered by Rozetta because she thought he would expose the identities of the original members. In Spring Fields, one of the members, Fornax, a.k.a. Julia Brine, puts the region in a crisis by burning down all the cornfields with the intention of replacing it with her own GMO corn, laced with mind-controlling Protozane. Although she is arrested for conspiracy, three more members continue to plot against the Grimsborough PD. One of them is Christian Bateman, one of the most mentally unstable killers in the game, who gets released from prison out of the blue and gleefully talks about how he's going to carry out "Plan Supernova", a city-wide blackout, to throw the city into chaos. Soon afterwards, a hit is ordered on the player character, which ends up killing rookie cop Mia Loukas instead. The hit turns out to be ordered by Mayor Joe Warren, who had been nothing but friendly to the player before. After averting Plan Supernova, Louis Leroux, a journalist who had helped the player and Jones find Zoe Kusama, murders Zoe and is discovered to have been not only another member of Ad Astra but had used his status to conceal the meteorite crash. And to make it worse, Ad Astra are merely decoys for the GreaterScopeVillain of the season, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness who has them executed once their plans fail]].
33	* After being ousted as the leader of Ad Astra and having her previous plans foiled by the police, Denise Daniels sics her neohumans on Grimsborough, with the intention of destroying the city to form her new world order.

Context MoralEventHorizon / CriminalCase