Death in the Desert

Death in the Desert is a case featured in Criminal Case as the one-hundred twenty-third case of the game. It is the eighth case of the game's World Edition (Season 3) and also the second case to take place in the Sahara Region.

Plot
Carmen Martinez met the player in the desert, where they reviewed their progress on identifying Chief Ripley’s killer, who was operating under the codename “The Sword”. They were interrupted by Anir Aznag, the leader of the Najwa traveling tribe, who informed the team that there was a dead body in his camp.

The team followed Anir to his camp, where they found the victim. The Najwa leader identified him as Donald Barnes, an oil magnate from the United States of America, who was running a refinery in the Sahara. As their murder investigation progressed, Lars Douglas had told The Bureau that his wife, Angela, had gone missing while taking pictures in the desert for her online photography class. Worried that the coroner would possibly be killed, Carmen and the player rushed to the creek. After they found more clues for the murder investigation, Angela suddenly appeared, unscathed, and took a picture of the team. After the coroner went back to headquarters, the team gathered the rest of the evidence to incriminate a nomadic woman named Mama Yasmine as Donald Barnes’s killer.

Mama Yasmine had told the team again and again that she would not speak to foreigners when they came to arrest her. Yasmine told the player that they had underestimated her by saying her mind was just as simple as her life, but Carmen had finished summarizing Yasmine’s details of the murder. Yasmine confessed to the murder as she told the team that she was angry of Anir running to them rather than helping her discard the evidence. Carmen questioned her thoughts as Yasmine had claimed that her tribe and Anir’s had feuded for generations, but Yasmine explained that in the olden days, the tribes had put aside their differences to defeat a common enemy. The nomad requested the player to take her to prison as she had lost her freedom a long time ago.

Yasmine then explained to Judge Adaku that she and her people were against the refinery and the foreigners exploiting their land as well as destroying their traditions. The judge told Yasmine that hatred and murder were the oldest traditions in history and they were not worth saving, so he sentenced the nomad to 20 years in prison.

After the murder investigation of Donald Barnes came to a close, Carmen wanted to focus on the murder investigation of Chief Ripley. While she believed that Jonah Karam, a friend of hers, held valuable information about “The Sword”, Marina Romanova claimed that the bodyguard could not be trusted, calling him a psychopath.

Carmen and the player would eventually find evidence about “The Sword” in the nomadic camp, where they had collected a dirty scroll with the sword symbol on it. Lars had traced the gunpowder covering the scroll to Izzah Farid, who was discovered to have been trading firearms to incite violence. Izzah claimed that people from all over the Sahara were uniting under the sign of freedom. Carmen demanded her to reveal the identity of mysterious insignia, however Izzah claimed to not know who “The Sword” was; some people had claimed that it was a great leader while others would claim that it was a god.

Meanwhile, the team also discovered that Jonah had personally missed a target only one time and went to interrogate him about it. Jonah had only revealed, angrily, that he had missed his target in Russia and slammed the door behind him as he left. As Carmen reported this to Marina, the profiler ran out of the office, much to the player’s disbelief. As they caught up to her, Marina explained that she was the target Jonah had missed.

Marina was a psychology student in Moscow, and she had to find a way to develop interrogation techniques to make people confess for an assignment. She had succeeded in tricking the Russian president at the time into admitting a multi-billion dollar fraud, and the latter was forced to step down. Marina then showed the team a scar that she had received as a result of the president ordering a hit on her. Carmen thought that Jonah had missed Marina on purpose, as his reason was personal; however, the latter shouted that a psychopath decided who would die and who would live, and she continued to claim that Jonah would not be trusted.

After the profiler’s shocking revelation, Ingrid Bjorn walked into headquarters and told the team that civil unrest was reported in a town just outside the desert, prompting the player to try to resolve it.

Victim

 * Donald Barnes (found dead in a nomadic camp)

Murder Weapon

 * Rope

Killer

 * Mama Yasmine

Killer's Profile

 * The killer rides camels.
 * The killer eats dates.
 * The killer drinks goat’s milk.
 * The killer wears bone necklace.
 * The killer has blue eyes.

Chapter 1

 * Investigate Nomadic Camp. (Clues: Victim’s Body, Clay Pot; New Suspect: Anir Aznag)
 * Question Anir Aznag about the victim. (Prerequisite: Play Nomadic Camp as a task; New Crime Scene Unlocked: Oil Refinery)
 * Investigate Oil Refinery. (Prerequisite: Talk to Anir Aznag; Clues: Torn Newspaper, Faded Poster)
 * Examine Torn Newspaper. (Result: Woman’s Face)
 * Examine Woman’s Face. (New Suspect: Izzah Farid)
 * Talk to Izzah Farid about the accident at the oil refinery. (Prerequisite: Woman’s Face identified)
 * Examine Faded Poster. (Result: Safety Poster)
 * Analyze Safety Poster. (03:00:00; Attribute: The killer eats dates)
 * Examine Clay Pot. (Result: Electronic Device)
 * Examine Electronic Device. (Result: Unlocked Device)
 * Analyze Unlocked Device. (09:00:00; New Suspect: Jonah Karam)
 * Ask Jonah Karam why he was tracking the victim. (Prerequisite: Unlocked Device analyzed)
 * Autopsy Victim's Body. (18:00:00; Attribute: The killer rides camels)
 * Go to Chapter 2. (No stars)

Chapter 2

 * Investigate Plane Wreck. (Available after unlocking Chapter 2; Clues: Stained Rope, Sandglass Souvenir, Locked Tablet)
 * Examine Stained Rope. (Result: White Substance)
 * Analyze White Substance. (06:00:00; Murder Weapon registered: Rope; Attribute: The killer drinks goat’s milk)
 * Examine Sandglass Souvenir. (Result: Gift Tag)
 * Analyze Gift Tag. (12:00:00; New Suspect: Mama Yasmine)
 * Ask Mama Yasmine about her hostile message to the victim. (Prerequisite: Gift Tag analyzed; New Crime Scene Unlocked: Refinery Control Panel)
 * Investigate Refinery Control Panel. (Prerequisite: Talk to Mama Yasmine; Clues: Cellphone, Silver Tray)
 * Examine Cellphone. (Result: Phone)
 * Analyze Phone. (12:00:00)
 * Ask Jonah Karam about his threatening text to the victim. (Prerequisite: Phone analyzed)
 * Examine Silver Tray. (Result: Bread Crumbs)
 * Examine Bread Crumbs. (Result: DNA)
 * Talk to Izzah Farid about her hostililty toward the victim. (Prerequisite: DNA identified)
 * Examine Locked Tablet. (Result: Unlocked Tablet; New Suspect: Benjamin Scott)
 * Ask Benjamin Scott what he’s doing in the desert. (Prerequisite: Tablet unlocked)
 * Go to Chapter 3. (No stars)

Chapter 3

 * Investigate Desert Creek. (Available after unlocking Chapter 3; Clues: Broken Pieces, Benjamin’s Backpack, Faded Postcard)
 * Examine Broken Pieces. (Result: Deep Fryer)
 * Analyze Deep Fryer. (09:00:00)
 * Ask Anir Aznag about the victim’s gift. (Prerequisite: Deep Fryer analyzed)
 * Examine Benjamin’s Backpack. (Result: Benjamin’s Lighter)
 * Ask Benjamin Scott how he got hold of the SandOil Lighter. (Prerequisite: Benjamin’s Lighter found)
 * Examine Faded Postcard. (Result: Good Bye Message)
 * Talk to Mama Yasmine about her son’s postcard. (Prerequisite: Good Bye Message unraveled)
 * Investigate Najwa Tent. (All tasks before must be done first; Clues: Cap, Wooden Box)
 * Examine Cap. (Result: Hair)
 * Analyze Hair. (15:00:00; Attribute: The killer has blue eyes)
 * Examine Wooden Box. (Result: Tiny Bone)
 * Analyze Tiny Bone. (09:00:00; Attribute: The killer wears bone necklace)
 * Take care of the killer now!
 * Go to Crossing the Desert 2. (No stars)

Crossing the Desert 2

 * Investigate Plane Wreck. (Available after unlocking Crossing the Desert; Clue: Torn Photo)
 * Examine Torn Photo. (Result: Selfie)
 * Talk to Benjamin Scott about his deceptive selfie. (Prerequisite: Selfie restored; Reward:  20,000 Coins)
 * Investigate Nomadic Camp. (Prerequisite: Talk to Benjamin Scott; Clue: Dirty Scroll)
 * Examine Dirty Scroll. (Result: Gray Powder)
 * Analyze Gray Powder. (06:00:00)
 * Interrogate Izzah Farid about her links to The Sword. (Prerequisite: Gray Powder analyzed; Reward: Nomadic Outfit)
 * Investigate Oil Refinery. (Available after unlocking Crossing the Desert; Clue: Locked Filing Cabinet)
 * Examine Locked Filing Cabinet. (Result: Filing Cabinet)
 * Examine Filing Cabinet. (Result: USB Key)
 * Analyze USB Key. (09:00:00)
 * Talk to Jonah Karam about his background. (Prerequisite: USB Key analyzed; Reward: Burger)
 * Talk to Marina about her mistrust of Jonah. (Prerequisite: Talk to Jonah Karam)
 * Move on to the next case! (1 star)

Trivia

 * While one task in Crossing the Desert required a star to talk to Marina Romanova, she was not accused of any wrongdoing during the murder investigation, and her showing up on the suspect list during Crossing the Desert should be considered incidental.
 * This is the only case thus far in which the killer changes into the prison clothes without having been interrogated in the additional investigation.