Elizabeth Ripley

Elizabeth Smith Ripley, appearing as a main character in Season 3 of Criminal Case, served as the Bureau's Chief of Police until she opted to step down and officially retire from the agency in Down to the Wire (Case #55 of World Edition).

Profile
Hailing from the United States, Chief Ripley sports a black blouse and an open coat. She dons pearl jewelry and has tousled blond hair that nearly touches her green eyes. It is known that she takes painkillers, uses disinfectant, and eats W&W's candies.

The Impossible Dream
Shortly after the Bureau accomplished the tasks of postponing the unification referendum and stopping the bomb attacks on Europe in The Impossible Dream, Chief Ripley was shot in the neck with a poisoned blow dart by an unknown assassin referred to as Al-Saif, translated to "The Sword". The dart was found and was sent to Lars, who also confirmed that the dart's feather was dyed with an extract from a kind of flower only found in Morocco. Ingrid told the team that Ripley did not make it, and ordered them to travel to Morocco in order to find her killer.

Die by the Sword
After The Sword was revealed to be a professor called Omar Bahir (who ended up being killed by Jonah before he could kill Carmen and the player with a poison grenade), Angela requested help from the team to find her photos she took of Andrew Stern, a kid The Sword kidnapped in Dubai, and her husband Lars. Angela thought she had lost the photos in an abandoned museum, so the team went there to look for them.

Carmen and the player found the photos in the museum and they took them back to their owner. Among the photos, the player found one of a suspicious woman, prompting them to search the database. Shockingly, the player found out that the woman’s identity was none other than Chief Ripley. Carmen did not believe it, remembering what had happened to the chief back in Spain, until Chief Ripley showed up in the flesh. She explained that The Bureau had believed she was dead because she had ordered the doctors to say it.

Chief Ripley explained that telling the player that she was dead was a hard decision; she had gotten a tip that SOMBRA had plotted an attempt on her life, and she did not have a lot of time to come up with the plan. Ripley had decided to convince The Sword that they did kill her in order to buy The Bureau more time. When asked how she had survived the poison in the dart, Ripley answered by stating that she had taken the antidote with the champagne when the team was celebrating their victory over the Promethian Cult. She had known that the player would not give in to the danger and would come through alive, and she rewarded the player with a badge as a prize for their bravery.

In Plain Sight
Ripley became a suspect in the murder investigation of Lavinia De Brills after the player and Michelle found her bank statement on her offshore account. She explained the last name Smith was her mother's maiden name, so it was legal to use under Mazundan law. She also explained she opened that account when she faked her death back in Europe, reminding them how crucial it was towards dismantling SOMBRA's Middle Eastern cell. Michelle then questioned why she decided to keep the double identity, but Ripley replied saying it was just a precaution. While she was proud that they were following every possible lead, she did say she was always loyal to The Bureau, but Michelle decided to put Ripley into custody as a precaution regardless.

Ripley was interrogated again regarding her lipstick being found on a whiskey glass at the victim's hotel room. She said she was investigating if Lavinia was SOMBRA, but she had no proof. Although she offered the victim a deal, she was too frightened to talk. Unfortunately, Michelle had trouble believing her and believed the chief was the spy, but Ripley said she did not have the luxury of simply putting this to an end, meaning she insisted she was not the mole.

Ripley was found innocent after the team incarcerated Angela Douglas for Lavinia's murder and betraying the Bureau. However, she requested to speak with the player after the trial, specifically to find a new coroner to replace Angela. After going through her bag alongside Carmen and Sanjay, they managed to find a photo of a likely candidate. After going through the database, it was revealed the person was Grace Delaney, who the player used to work with back in Grimsborough. It was also found that she was currently in Antarctica, so Ripley decided she would be a suitable candidate and decided to take the team to Antarctica to find Grace.

Down to the Wire
Upon El Rey's arrest, he mentioned that Ripley was a part of SOMBRA from the very beginning. Though Carmen had trouble believing it, Ripley could not say what he meant, and told them to find the answers themselves. She also announced she would step down as chief of the Bureau, and leave it to Ingrid. By finding a photo of her talking to Arsenio Castillo and interrogating Arsenio themselves, they found that Ripley financed SOMBRA when she was a CIA agent, giving them the money in exchange of them threatening the country of Grenadia, which had just struck oil. While the CIA tried to eliminate SOMBRA, the plan failed and SOMBRA rose stronger than before due to the funds. Later, they found a video of a conversation between Director Nahum Meir of Mossad and Ripley. In it, she stated that she had created a team of investigators (the Bureau) specifically made to combat SOMBRA. However, Nahum told her not to inform anyone in the team about SOMBRA to keep the issue under wraps.

Once the whole truth was revealed, Carmen wanted to speak with Ripley, but Ingrid said she was gone, and all that was left was a video on her computer. In it, she said when she made that deal with Arsenio, she thought it was for the greater good and that SOMBRA could be easily disposed of afterwards. Yet, she had underestimated them, and the whole world was paying for it. When she made the Bureau, she hoped the team would end the monster she created, and she thanked the player for doing just that. Ripley continued saying she intended to step down once Hector was caught, and felt she was in no position to celebrate this victory as if it was her own. And with all that said, she made her final farewell, saying it had been an honor to serve with the team.

Trivia

 * Chief Ripley strongly resembles Judi Dench, who is known for portraying the role of M in the James Bond spy series.
 * Chief Ripley is the first main character in Criminal Case to voluntarily retire from the police force in-game.
 * Chief Ripley is one of the characters who animate (or move) during at least one cutscene in the game.
 * Chief Ripley is one of the main characters who were flagged as a suspect for plausible reasons.