Rachel Priest

Rachel Priest (1986-2013) appeared as one of the suspects in Bomb Alert on Grimsborough (Case #13 of Grimsborough), The Kiss of Death (Case #16 of Grimsborough) and Innocence Lost (Case #19 of Grimsborough). She was later revealed to be the victim in The Secret Experiments (Case #21 of Grimsborough).

Profile
Rachel was a 27-year-old reporter with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Since Rachel was a news reporter, she was usually seen holding a microphone and wearing a black suit with a badge of CCN on it.

In The Kiss of Death, it was discovered that Rachel used lip balm.

In Innocence Lost, Rachel wore a tartan flanner foulard, and it was later discovered that she used to drink energy drinks.

Rachel was accompanied by her cameraman, Carl Ackerman, in almost all of her appearances.

Bomb Alert on Grimsborough
When Jones and the player found a document in a satchel retrieved from the victim's stall, Rachel came in with her cameraman Carl, asking for Henry's document which the team found, but Jones did not give it to her. After Rachel heard about Henry's death, she said that she would try to give each and every details of the murder to the police but in return, she wanted the documents, which she would get later on after further investigation. Later on, the team also asked her to look up information about one of their suspects, Donald Byrd.

Family Blood
Rachel did not appear in this case, but she was somehow mentioned by Paul Greene when he was first interrogated during the investigation of the murder of his wife (and Alden Greene's daughter-in-law), Aileen Greene. Paul stated that he was concerned that reporters like Rachel would twist things and "have a field day" with the story if it was revealed.

The Kiss of Death
Rachel returned to be interrogated once again when one of her informants, Emma Ternon, was murdered in the city center (Walton Square). During her conversation with the police, Rachel stated that she had agreed to an appointment with Emma in Walton Square after Emma claimed she had sensitive information that would make the biggest news story of Rachel's career.

Later the team found Rachel's research file regarding Emma Ternon in Rachel's workplace. The team then meet up with Rachel again, and she revealed that Emma was used to be her informant.

Innocence Lost
Rachel again returned when her personal intern, Gail Harding, was found encased in solid concrete in a construction site. She said that she was not surprised, considering what she was working on, exactly, an article on Greene Holdings.

Murder Details
In The Secret Experiments, Rachel's body was found melting in a vat of acid when the team arrived in the Secret Lab (Experiment Room) under the Derelict Hallway. The victim's skull was smashed and seperated from her body. After the skull's broken parts were joined and later analyzed, Grace confirmed that it was Rachel's skull. The team had also found a shoeprint in the experiment room which turned out to be of office shoes. This meant the killer used to wear office shoes.

Later on, Nathan discovered that Rachel was subjected to gruesome biochemical experiments, which explained why her skeleton was found in a secret lab. Nathan also stated that he had no idea what substance Rachel was injected with, as he had never seen or heard anything like that before. He said that the substance forced Rachel's bones to grow to an impossible size. In fact, the bones grew so fast that it tore the victim's skin apart. Nathan also found dog hairs on the skeleton which were coated in a very thick oil which preserved them from the corrosive acid, unlike the victim. This revealed that the killer owned a guard dog.

Afterwards, when the team was searching the operating table in the experiment room, they found a broken syringe on the floor. They pieced the syringe back together and gave it to Grace for analysis. After the analysis was completed, Grace told the team that it was the same syringe that was used to inject the serum into Rachel's body and therefore, it was the murder weapon. She also found sebum oil on the glass casing of the syringe which revealed the killer was a man.

Killer and Motives
The killer was a businessman named Alden Greene, and Army General James Marsh accompanied Alden in the murder.

Rachel had found out that General Marsh was trying to develop a super soldier serum in the army which made the bones of a man grow excessively and turned them into a kind of "monster" (e.g. Drake Ribbs), but the army ordered James to stop when they heard about his dangerous human test trials. However, James secretly and illegally continued with the funding of Alden's company, Greene PharmaCorp.

Towards the end of this case, James was found guilty of accompanying Alden in the murder of Rachel. When Alden was arrested, he explained the team that Rachel had come to the secret lab where he and James were. Rachel told them that she knew about the illegal super serum, and she swore that she would expose their secret plan. General Marsh told Alden to kill Rachel, and Alden complied by taking a syringe and injected the super serum into Rachel. Since the serum was only made for men, Rachel's skin tore apart due to excessive bone growth, resulting in her death. Afterwards, Alden and James placed Rachel's corpse in a vat of acid in order to conceal the truth from Grimsborough Authorities.

As a result of Alden's words in his arrest, James was also arrested and both men were taken to court, where Judge Hall sentenced both of them to life in jail. Afterwards, Jones felt that Rachel stood for truth and died for a cause, refusing to believe that even those who held positions of high power can mask their crimes as a result of overlooking Rachel's determination.

In the final case in Grimsborough, Alden was revealed to be a member of the notorious society known as The Crimson Order. As Jones and the player were about to arrest Alden for his involvement with the Order, he suddenly spilled out that it was the Crimson Order which made Alden kill Rachel, but that claim was later countered by Judge Hall in court as it was declared a willful murder. Rachel might have discovered some secrets of the Order besides finding out about the horrid serum which led Alden to kill Rachel.

Legacy
After Alden and Marsh were arrested (Marsh was convicted for serving as an accomplice to Rachel's murder), the team discovered that Rachel had won the CCN prize of "CCN Best Reporter of the Year" for her article on Drug Trafficking when Carl informed them about it. Carl also requested the team to find Myriam Priest's (Rachel's grandmother) lost phone number (which he had written on a notepad) so that he could call her and ask her to fetch Rachel's CCN prize.

Trivia

 * Both Rachel and Adam Bentley appeared as suspects in 3 cases before they were murdered in the final case of their respective districts.
 * She is one of the suspects who appeared in three cases.
 * The news company Rachel worked for until her gruesome death was called "CCN", a parody of CNN.
 * Also, "CCN" is clearly an acronym for Criminal Case News.
 * Rachel can be seen on a screen in these crime scenes:
 * The "Mini-market" of Corpse in a Garden.
 * The "Barbershop" of Under the Knife.
 * The "Newsroom" of The Kiss of Death.
 * The "Operation Table" of The Wollcrafts' Creature.
 * The "Students' Desks" of Spring Break Massacre.
 * The "City Hall Steps" of All the King's Horses.
 * The "Destillery" of The White Peaks Project.
 * In Rachel's third mugshot photo, her tartan flannel scarf is missing. This is probably just a developer oversight.

Case Appearances

 * Bomb Alert on Grimsborough (Case #13 of Grimsborough)
 * Family Blood (Case #15 of Grimsborough; mentioned)
 * The Kiss of Death (Case #16 of Grimsborough)
 * Innocence Lost (Case #19 of Grimsborough)
 * The Secret Experiments (Case #21 of Grimsborough)
 * A Shot of Beauty (Case #45 of Grimsborough; mentioned)
 * There Will Be Blood (Case #56 of Grimsborough; mentioned)