The Ties That Bind

The Ties that Bind is a case featured in Criminal Case, appearing as the one-hundredth case of the game and the forty-fourth case of Pacific Bay. It takes place in Rhine Canyon, a district based in Pacific Bay.

Plot
Previously on Criminal Case, Colonel Spangler pleaded with the Pacific Bay Police Department to meet up with him at the hippie festival in Rhine Canyon. The player asks Frank Knight to accompany them, and upon arrival in the festival, Spangler was burnt to death, forcing a murder investigation to ensue, shipping Spangler's corpse to Roxie Sparks.

The investigation challenged Frank's persona since Hannah Choi found out that Chief Marquez wrote a memo to Spangler to meet up with her at the oasis regarding the truth about aliens in Rhine Canyon. This caused the player to treat Pacific Bay's top police official as a suspect, in which Chief Marquez only wanted to talk to Spangler as she has strong beliefs that she has nothing to do with bloodshed. Frank and the player found a Molotov cocktail (in which Yann Toussaint felt was the sloppiest murder weapon a killer could use) in the last minute, securing their warrant of arrest. Chief Marquez was seriously innocent as Frank and the player collected enough evidence to arrest adventurer Pearl Montana for homicidal immolation.

Pearl had many reasons to be thankful for Colonel Spangler for teaching her the many aspects of archaeology, allowing her to embark on a quest to discover alien life in Pacific Bay. She believed that she was the one who crossed the finish line when it came to the discovery of an alien cave, but to Spangler, orders were orders as he had to quarantine the cave out of civilian reach. Spangler told Pearl to keep her discoveries secret, but Pearl had enough because she believed the Colonel wanted to take credit for the discovery, in which she discovered the cave moments before Spangler barricaded the cave. Pearl thought that Frank and the player made a false arrest, but after Frank gave out the Killer's attributes to Pearl, she bowed to the player's investigative abilities, admitting that she killed Spangler. Pearl caught Spangler by surprise, tied him up with spelunking harnesses, and threw a homemade Molotov cocktail (with a flammable liquid made to treat earring wounds) to off Spangler with an explosion. Pearl used the hippie festival that promoted using flames, so that she could have the team believe Ezra Hope landed the wallop. Frank heard enough, so the player shipped Pearl to court for a hearing.

Judge Dante thought Pearl killed Spangler for crimes against fashion, but Pearl told the judge that Spangler's appearance had nothing to do with the murder. She told the judge that if Spangler wasn't involved, then she would be the one to be credited for her discovery of alien life on Earth. Pearl even told Judge Dante that she should be written in the history books for her discoveries, but given the motives not to mention being liable for the death of a military official were grounds for Pearl to receive a lifetime jail sentence, the first lifetime jail sentence in 14 cases. Frank was relieved to know the verdict of the case, and felt that Spangler was more of anti-hero than an antagonist as even though Spangler obstructed justice at times, he died wanting to redeem himself to the team.

All Amy Young wanted to do was to ensure Spangler did more good than bad to help Chief Marquez get out of her "liar" persona once and for all. Moreso, Chief Marquez wanted Randolph to know that she was the 6-year old girl he saw 36 years before events of this case. Chief Marquez was getting close to settling her past, but felt that she needs to protect Randolph from violence if she wants to lower the crime rates in Rhine Canyon.

Victim

 * Colonel Spangler (Found burnt to death in the middle of a festival)

Murder Weapon

 * Molotov Cocktail

Killer

 * Pearl Montana

Killer's Profile

 * The killer wears army boots.
 * The killer knows spelunking.
 * The killer has a burn.
 * The killer wears sunglasses.
 * The killer wears earrings.

Trivia

 * This is one of the cases in which a Main Character gets flagged as a suspect for a plausible reason.
 * The Additional Investigation chapter is named differently in this case, as with all other cases of Rhine Canyon. In this case, the chapter is dubbed "Map to the Stars: Part 6".