Rupert Winchester


 * "Rupert" redirects here. For the businessman, see Rupert Snow. For the member of British royalty, see Prince Rupert.

Rupert Winchester (1957-2018), appearing as a main character in Season 5 of Criminal Case, served as the Lab Chief of the Grimsborough Police Department prior to his death in Things Fall Apart (Case #32 of The Conspiracy).

Profile
Hailing from England and 61 years of age, Rupert wore glasses over his green eyes and had gray hair that was combed towards the left. He wore a white lab coat over his brown vest with two front pockets, the left one holding a pencil and a pen. The lab coat was over a white collared shirt and black necktie.

Rupert studied at Oxford University, attributing to his lack of assimilation with American customs. He valued proper manners and scientific accuracy and liked a cup of tea and a good book.

Per his appearances as a suspect, it is known that Rupert used a Rolington typewriter and played billiards.

Gone Pear-Shaped
After Amir and the player got a ticket to DreamLife's launch party for their new VR system, they went to Rupert in order to convince him to join them in attending the party. At first, Rupert resisted, saying that he did not understand the appeal to virtual reality but conceded in order to see what VR was all about. He joined Amir and the player in the launch party, where DreamLife launched DreamLife VR, a game where players could discover a world tailored to their very dreams. After the launch, Rupert said that people could do impressive things with computers.

Murder on the Dance Floor
After arresting Kalua Kaboom's killer, Amir told them that Rupert had not shown up for their meeting at the Riverside Market. The two found Rupert's to-do list in the market, which (per Gabriel) proved that Rupert was busy playing DreamLife's virtual reality game. With Ziggy Sparks's help, the two traced Rupert back to the lab. When they talked to him, Rupert apologized, saying that he forgot that they had a meeting. The two also returned some change to him for a record he had to buy for the game. Rupert said that he was rather taken by the virtual reality game and that he was particularly keen to complete the latest challenge that would allow him to have afternoon tea with the Queen. Amir told him that playing the game was fine, as long as he remembered that it was just a fantasy and that people in real life could be worried about him.

Downward-Facing Dead
Rupert did not appear at all during the investigation into Scott Morris's murder, which Amir attributed to his playing the VR game. After Scott's killer was arrested, Amir and the player tracked Rupert down, eventually finding his headset. Per Cathy's analysis of the headset, the game had a feature wherein playing it for 4 hours would unlock a special game mode that freezes the light at a particular level, making the player unaware of the passage of time.

Rupert eventually turned up at the station, furious about losing his headset. After the team told him of the light feature, he denied that the game would have any bugs and angrily insisted that he could quit the game anytime before leaving the station.

Game Over
Jones and the player found Rupert's ticket to the tech convention where Juniper was murdered, prompting them to treat him as a suspect. Rupert told the team that he was distraught over Juniper's death, as he had gotten to know her from playing the VR game. He then said that Juniper was not virtual to him and that he had to leave for a tea date with her in the VR game.

Later, the team found out Rupert sent texts to the real-life Juniper inviting her to a tea date, but Juniper rejected the date. Rupert told the team that given his connection with the virtual Juniper, he thought that he would get along with the real Juniper. However, upon receiving Juniper's message, he realized that she was not a sophisticated woman at all, so he stopped pursuing her.

Rupert was found to be innocent when Juniper's brother, Tim Cooper, was found guilty of the murder. The team talked to Rupert afterward, however, to try to get him to quit the game using the game ending that DreamLife had created and Gabriel's five-step program in quitting the game. After Rupert tried it out, he told Amir that he was going to wean himself out of the game.

Behind These Walls
After arresting Mason Bloom's killer, Gloria and the player spoke with Rupert about Mortimer Pickering, a DreamLife consultant that he had gone to college with. After Gloria suggested if he could get Mortimer to spy on DreamLife for them, Rupert came up with an idea to impersonate Mortimer and take his place under DreamLife's dome. Gloria, Rupert and the player then explained the plan to Chief Parker, who, despite acknowledging the risks of the plan, approved of the plan.

Blood in the Water
After arresting Mayor Martha Price's killer, the DreamLife device belonging to Mortimer Pickering began ringing. After picking it up, the team learned that a DreamLife car was ready to pick Mortimer up from the Glitz Hotel at 6pm. Rupert told the team that he was ready to take Mortimer's place under the dome, but he wanted a way to communicate with the team inside the dome without raising suspicion. Cathy then told him that she made a microchip for communication purposes, but she needed something inconspicuous to hide it in. Rupert then suggested Cathy hide the microchip in his watch, which he wore on special occasions. But he said that the watch had fallen off when he went for a stroll at the park. Later, Rupert and the player looked for his misplaced watch, which he then gave to Cathy. Cathy was able to rig the watch to act as a communication device to the team: pressing the crown once would alert the team of his safety, while pressing it twice would initiate an emergency call.

A few hours later, Rupert (under Mortimer's disguise) went to the Glitz Hotel, with Cathy and the player going to a nearby vantage point to make sure his transfer would go smoothly. There, a DreamLife agent came verified his identity and picked him up, taking him under DreamLife's dome.

Analyses
As the Lab Chief of the Grimsborough Police Department, Rupert has the responsibility of taking care of all the necessary physical, biological, and/or clinical analyses, and to inform the team of such results after a certain amount of time or a speed-up process using Criminal Case Cash. His task-wait rates vary depending on the difficulty of the task, but they all cost 1 Criminal Case Cash per 30 minutes.

Case #1: Snake in the Grass
 * Sleeping Snake (12:00:00)
 * Strange Flakes (09:00:00)

Case #2: Hell is Other People
 * Bloody Sunglasses (12:00:00)
 * Bloody Handkerchief (09:00:00)
 * Beige Fibers (15:00:00)

Case #3: The Saddest of All Keys
 * Bloody Blister Pack (03:00:00)
 * Toothbrush (09:00:00)
 * Blood (09:00:00)

Case #4: Cross My Heart
 * Strange Bracelet (09:00:00)

Case #5: Too Cruel for School
 * Acid Bottle (09:00:00)
 * Grass Sample (03:00:00)
 * Computer Cable (09:00:00)

Case #6: Hear My Cry
 * Saliva (12:00:00)
 * Gritty Liquid (09:00:00)
 * Amlodipine Box (06:00:00)

Case #7: Flatline
 * Blue Liquid (03:00:00)
 * Clear Liquid (12:00:00)
 * Unknown Device (09:00:00)

Case #8: Stonewalled
 * White Substance (03:00:00)
 * Yellow Fibers (15:00:00)
 * Bloody Powder (09:00:00)

Case #9: Shooting Star
 * White Liquid (12:00:00)
 * White Powder (09:00:00)
 * Gunpowder (09:00:00)

Case #10: The Bloom of Doom
 * Hair (03:00:00)
 * Goop (06:00:00)

Case #11: Hot Mess
 * Pink Crystals (03:00:00)
 * Cocktail Glasses (09:00:00)

Case #12: The Art of Murder
 * White Powder (03:00:00)
 * Cage Key (12:00:00)
 * Wrench (09:00:00)

Case #13: Gone Pear-Shaped
 * Fibers (09:00:00)

Case #14: Byte the Dust
 * Bloody Razor (03:00:00)
 * Ticket Strip (12:00:00)
 * Cremation Urn (12:00:00)
 * Gold Object (15:00:00)

Case #15: Murder on the Dance Floor
 * Yellow Goo (09:00:00)

Case #16: Buzz Kill
 * Bloody Brush (06:00:00)
 * Bottle of Kombucha (09:00:00)

Case #19: The Lost City
 * Hand Pump (15:00:00)

Case #20: No Mercy for Old Men
 * Purple Liquid (03:00:00)
 * Translucent Substance (09:00:00)

Case #21: Writer's Blocked
 * Bloody Ribbon (12:00:00)
 * Black Fibers (09:00:00)

Case #22: Color Me Murdered
 * Blood (03:00:00)
 * Blue Substance (12:00:00)
 * Translucent Substance (09:00:00)

Case #23: I Lost My Heart in Xerda
 * Chloroform-Soaked Cloth (06:00:00)
 * Human Heart (09:00:00)
 * Glowing Bug (09:00:00)

Case #24: The Truth Hurts
 * Bloody Bracelet (03:00:00)
 * Grey Dust (12:00:00)
 * Purple Flakes (15:00:00)

Case #25: Muddying the Waters
 * Gray Fibers (03:00:00)
 * Orange Powder (12:00:00)
 * Creamy Substance (15:00:00)

Case #26: Bone of Contention
 * Threat (03:00:00)
 * Dog Leash (09:00:00)
 * Rita's Puppy (06:00:00)

Case #27: Behind These Walls
 * Suit of Armor (03:00:00)
 * Blood (15:00:00)

Case #28: Dead Men Tell No Tales
 * Blood (03:00:00)
 * Clear Substance (12:00:00)
 * Vials (09:00:00)
 * Fish Eggs (09:00:00)

Case #29: Light My Fire
 * Bottle of Absinthe (15:00:00)

Case #30: Blood in the Water
 * Blood (12:00:00)
 * Piñata (09:00:00)
 * Olives on Toothpick (09:00:00)

Trivia

 * Rupert is one of the main characters who are flagged as a suspect for plausible reasons.
 * Rupert is one of the characters to appear as a suspect twice.
 * Rupert is one of the characters to appear as a quasi-suspect four times.
 * Rupert's age is 61, but his age is listed as 56 in his third quasi-suspect appearance. This is most likely a developer oversight.
 * Also, he weighs 160 lbs in his third quasi-suspect appearance, instead of 159 lbs.
 * Furthermore, his height is 6'2" in his third quasi-suspect appearance, instead of 6'1".