Russell Crane

"The killer's behavior doesn't make sense. Now if I had done this..."

- Russell Crane

Dr. Russell Crane is the profiler of the Pacific Bay Police Department.

Profile
As a criminal psychologist of 28 years of age, Russell has wavy medium blond hair and has green eyes. He is a man of medium size and build, and wears a black tie underneath a striped dark green shirt with black suspenders which go around his shoulders and connect to his brown leather belt. His shirt contains two pockets: the one on the left consists of a notepad as well as a blue pen, while the one on the right consists of a pair of dark brown glasses. Besides that, Russell wears a golden watch on his right hand and a pair of black pants, and can be often seen carrying his orange "Typical Profiles" book on his hand.

It is known that Russell's favourite animal is spider and that his favourite food is scones with Earl Grey tea. He is also known to be charming, obsessive and manipulative. Furthermore, Russell often carries the scent of blackberries, and loves riddles.

Dead Girl Rolling
Russell made his debut in the case, introducing a new gameplay mechanic in which in the event objects and/or clues can't be identified by neither bio-forensics nor digital analysis, Russell can find new leads through the lab talent of profiling.

Eastern Promises
As a criminal psychologist and holding a degree in criminal psychology, Russell has the responsibility of analyzing the health of the suspects if necessary, and if a suspect is found guilty of grand homicide, to submit a report of the killer's health before Judge Dante, as showcased in this case. Judge Dante will use Russell's report of the criminal's health to determine whether or not the killer will require treatment in a mental institution for the criminally insane.

Of Rats and Men
Russell had to tend for Amy Young when he found her wounded in the middle of the riot crisis (in which the the Pacific Bay police station was attacked by looters). Amy was severely beaten and Russell had to assist the team in catching Scott Lee Allan's killer since the station attack was linked to the murder. Russell did some lab work to help Frank Knight and the player incriminate the killer in this case, in which Amy had to participate in the lab task.

Hanging by a Thread
Russell played his first major role following the horrendous murder of cabaret dancer Dinah Cooper. After a threat from "The Puppeteer"--a notorious serial killer responsible for numerous murders over the past three decades, including the murders of Dinah and Yann Toussaint's parents--Chief Marquez was forced to pull Frank out of the case and replace him with Russell as the player's partner due to the case's nature. Russell played his part very well as he and the player used a combination of psychological and real-world clue gathering to incriminate the Puppeteer one by one, and thanks to Russell's psychological expertise, the Puppeteer was unearthed to be a certain Freddie Alonzo.

The End of the Night
Following the murder of urban legend hunter Roberto Vasquez, the team of Amy and the player found a fake eye on a melted snowman inside the ice cave where the Night Walker--a notorious "masked creature" and Roberto's slayer--resided in. The fake eye contained a message addressed to Roberto, from Dr. Crane, saying that the victim was wrong about something. Amy and the player thus went to Russell's office in order to talk to him about the fake eye on the double.

Russell thought Amy was compulsing, but the junior cop questioned Russell about his message to Roberto as if she was serious in demonstrating how the law is above everybody. Russell thus stated that he only followed Roberto's trend about the Night Walker and that he now felt guilty after Amy and the player caught him red-handed playing a grave prank on the urban legend hunter. Russell purchased the fake eye at the flea market, and using his hypnosis expertise, made Roberto believe that the eye belonged to a fallen war veteran, which Roberto fell for. Amy promised Russell that she would come back to him if he made any funny moves throughout the investigation.

In the midst of Amy's meltdown, Russell found himself in deeper trouble after the player found a prosthetic leg in which a message that the Night Walker could outlast Roberto was unraveled with forensic dusting. Since Russell was a suspect in this murder investigation, Amy had to inquire about this the hard way in the interrogation room.

Russell told Amy and the player he had nothing to do with the prosthetic leg and also made it clear that he did his own research on the Night Walker. Russell claimed that the killer who donned the Night Walker identity was intelligent and abstained to concede to the murder at all costs. The Night Walker would also do everything to negotiate in order to drop all homicide charges against them. While what Russell might've told Amy and the player weren't hard attributes of the Night Walker, they were psychological attributes which the Night Walker had--high intellect, persuasive, and hard to convince.

Russell was safe after the team sustained a pyrrhic victory in the case, exposing Amy's brother, Duncan Young, as the face behind the Night Walker's guise.

The Young and the Lifeless
Russell made a formal request to aid the player in investigating a disturbance in the Imperial Theater to right the wrongs from the previous case, but made a false arrest after the player analyzed Abbi Absinthe's behavior when Russell incarcerated her. The player went to the theater once again with Frank and, with the help of Yann's clinical expertise, Abbi was proven innocent after Reggie Perez was found guilty of a break-in at the theater.

The player was upset about Russell's mistake and informed Chief Marquez about the trouble they had to put up with after the Chief told the player about Abbi's lawyers filing a complaint with the police. Moreso, Chief Marquez informed the psychologist that the next false arrest would be grounds for suspension from the force.

Once Upon a Crime
In the aftermath of the case's closure, movie producer Horace Foster reported the theft of a script he needed for his next project. Russell, in hopes of finally redeeming himself for the false arrest he previously committed, accompanied the player as the duo eventually found a script for Horace's The Ornery Die Last. Russell, however, suspiciously wondered why a thief would steal the script only to rip it to pieces. So the player forensically dusted the script, and found fingerprints evident on them--thus shipping it to Hannah Choi in order to determine who the thief was.

Hannah went for the kill by telling the team that novelist Gaston Dumas was the one who stole the script and ripped it to pieces--grounds for Russell and the player to have a conversation with Gaston.

After Russell and the player chastised a brainwashed Gaston for stealing and destroying the script, the player gave the script back to Horace. In addition, Russell informed Horace that Gaston was the thief but was apparently brainwashed to commit the transgression--a feat Horace thought was very unusual.

Wild Wild Death
Following the closure of Horace's murder investigation, Russell deduced that an infamous cult known as the Utopians were liable for Gaston's brainwashing in the previous case and wanted to conduct an inquiry about their activities, but Chief Marquez wanted Frank and the player to check Horace's mansion for a possible break-in before all.

Thanks to Russell's expertise, the person responsible for the break-in was incriminated to be Brett Nolan--a Utopian and the star of Horace's The Ornery Die Last--grounds for Frank and the player to quiz the actor about his transgression. During the conversation, Brett dropped a bomb when he revealed that Russell was raised as a fellow Utopian but had "betrayed" the cult--driving the Pacific Bay Police to a state of darkness.

Back in the police station, Russell was infuriated after being informed by Frank about what Brett bubbled out to him and the player during the conversation earlier on. Things would only get worse for the profiler when his father, Jupiter Crane, made an unexpected appearance, requiring the player to search for a contract he made with Abitbol & Sons Studios to rewrite the script for Horace's The Ornery Die Last. Despite of not being very fond of his father, Russell agreed to accompany the player in returning the restored contract to Leo Brooks--the accountant responsible for writing a contract for Jupiter. During a short conversation, Leo informed Russell about the Utopians practically controlling the district of Ivywood Hills--making the profiler mentally unstable by the minute because of his despise for their hostility, which was the main reason as to why he left the cult.

Russell went back to the police station to lambaste his father for manipulating the player, to which Jupiter responded that the Utopians only wanted to erase their trace of involvement in Horace's film project in order to avert being hit with a murder scandal, but Russell went off-topic by bubbling out that Jupiter let the Utopians ruin his childhood--suggesting that the profiler was now consumed with vengeance. Russell firmly believed his father was hiding something from him, thus making a promise that he would expose the Utopians' true identity no matter the cost.

Murdertown
In the aftermath of socialite Lindsay Bannister's murder investigation, Russell was asked by Chief Marquez to follow the player in investigating film star Dick Shakespeare's strange behavior. The investigation led Russell and the player to come across a brainwashed Dick and then his journal, which would confirm the profiler's suspicions of the Utopians brainwashing other people, although he felt that this wasn't enough evidence to bring the cult to justice. Russell then had to question Hubert Bannister about the Utopians brainwashing people, but Hubert, as a loyal Utopian, refused to answer honestly.

Furthermore, Frank helped retrieve a stolen rare diamond with the help of private detective Eduardo Ramirez. This led to the arrest of fellow Utopians Rico Damascus and Velma Bannister for plotting the theft; the latter, however, was later released on bail thanks to Hubert, her husband. All Russell now needed was more evidence to prove the Utopians guilty of a brainwashing scheme in order to shut them down for good.

Star Crime
Hours following the case's closure, an anonymous threat letter addressed to actress Susan Blair was found. After tedious hours of analysis, Russell deduced that the letter was sent to Susan by none other than the Utopians, in spite of the actress being a recent member of the cult. This prompted him and the player to rush to Susan only to find her brainwashed; this marked the third time someone was found brainwashed in the exact manner. The actress was evidently brainwashed by the Utopians to ensure she wouldn't leave the cult under any circumstances.

Furthermore, Russell was forced to quiz his own father about the cult's supposed plans for the upcoming Ivywood Movie Awards. Thanks to Jupiter's "involuntary help", the profiler managed to find a flyer of the awards ceremony at the nearby drive-in theater; the player unraveled the scribbled part of the flyer to be a brainwash order intended to take place at 8PM at the Ivywood Awards, also bearing a note to have gossip columnist and Utopian member Holly Hopper replace Rex as the ceremony's host. The duo didn't hesitate to quiz Holly as a result, but could not get the vital piece of information they yearned for.

The findings prompted the profiler to make a promise that he would get to the bottom of the cult's brainwashing fiasco and stop it at all costs.

Personal Life
Russell was raised in Ivywood Hills. His father, as mentioned above, is Jupiter Crane, a member of the infamous Utopian Cult much to his disgust.

Analyses
Russell's job is to analyze physical objects and/or clues that can't be analyzed flawlessly through neither bio-forensics nor digital analysis, and return the results after a certain amount of time or a speed-up process using Criminal Case Cash. Russell's task wait rates will vary depending on the difficulty of the task, and all his tasks cost 1 Criminal Case Cash per 30 minutes.

Case #4: Dead Girl Rolling
 * Charm (03:00:00)
 * Cryptic Words on Ad (06:00:00)

Case #5: The Ice Queen
 * Receipt (15:00:00)

Case #6: Bayou Blood
 * Handwriting (06:00:00)
 * Voodoo Doll (09:00:00)

Case #13: Eastern Promises
 * Massage Positions (09:00:00)

Case #14: Spineless
 * Notebook (09:00:00)
 * Anarchist Manifesto (09:00:00)

Case #16: Killing Time
 * Recipient Number (09:00:00)

Case #19: Cloudy with a Chance of Murder
 * Poncho (03:00:00)
 * Puppeteer Article (06:00:00)

Case #20: Open Wounds
 * Routine Map (12:00:00)

Case #21: Under the Thunderdome
 * Photo Album (06:00:00)

Case #22: Of Rats and Men
 * Mask (12:00:00)

Case #27: Into the Woods
 * Drawing (09:00:00)
 * Night Walker Notes (06:00:00)

Case #28: The Hunger Planes
 * Flight Manifest (12:00:00)
 * Alice's Journal (06:00:00)
 * Picture (06:00:00)

Case #32: Once Upon a Crime
 * Inkblot Test (09:00:00)

Case #33: Wild Wild Death
 * Playing Cards (03:00:00)
 * Bottle Label (12:00:00)
 * Cryptic Card (09:00:00)

Case #34: Murdertown
 * Riddle (03:00:00)

Case #35: Star Crime
 * Utopian Statuette (12:00:00)
 * Anonymous Letter (09:00:00)

Case #36: Deadly Legacy
 * Message (03:00:00)
 * Doll (09:00:00)
 * Plan (06:00:00)

Trivia

 * Russell's beta name was Jake Crane, but was changed to Russell Crane before the official release due to unknown reasons.
 * Russell's character strongly suggests that he was modeled after Spencer Reid, a fictional character from the CBS crime drama series Criminal Minds.
 * Russell, Howard Johnson, Carl Ackerman, Heather Valentine, Duncan Young, and Yann Toussaint are the only characters who appeared in at least one case before appearing as a suspect in a further one.
 * Russell, Samuel King, and Yann Toussaint are the only main characters-to-date who were flagged as a suspect in a case.

Case Appearances
Russell makes his first appearance in Dead Girl Rolling, and as one of the main characters and the profiler of the Pacific Bay PD, he appears in any Pacific Bay case in which a clue requires psychological analysis. There will be certain cases in which Russell won't have any lab jobs due to lack of psychological evidence to analyze, but at times, he will help out Yann or Roxie in some analyses whenever certain studies go beyond their experience. It should be noted that Russell replaces Frank as the player's partner during the third chapter of Hanging by a Thread, and that he is forced to be treated as a suspect in The End of the Night and, as a result, becomes ineligible to perform any psychological analysis.