Stella Ziarati (1984–2014) was the victim in Stonewalled (Case #8 of The Conspiracy).
Profile
Stella was a 30-year-old lawyer. She had brown hair swept to the left side, brown eyes, and a mole on her face. At the time of her death, she wore a black blouse with a white collar and a red ribbon, along with gold earrings and red lipstick.
Murder details
Stella's body was found decomposing inside a wall in Christian Bateman's penthouse, a wound in her head. According to Martine, the victim was left to slowly decompose for four years in the wall after her skull was bashed in with a heavy metal object. Martine also found traces of juniper and coriander on Stella's clothes, those being present in Bendrick's gin. According to forensic analysis of her hair, she had not ingested any, proving the killer's taste for Bendrick's gin.
Later, Jones and the player found the murder weapon, the victim's law award, in Cooper Park. A green substance was then sent to Amir, who confirmed the blood in the sample was indeed the victim's. The rest of the sample was determined to be cuticle oil, a product used by nailcare professionals to strengthen nails. Since the sample was left on the statue, it proved the killer had manicures.
Relationship with suspects
Despite Stella being entombed for four years, bitter relationships still existed, including Stella convincing venture capitalist Christian Bateman to invest in her unprofitable Früber app. Stella refused to help librarian Constance Bell protect Constance's beloved library as a historical monument. Stella helped her best friend and socialite Guadalupe del Prado with Guadalupe's interview for Pretty Fair, but Guadalupe was angered after she had failed it due to the victim's work. Stella was also in a battle with lawyer Trudy Lively to make a partnership with a law firm, which Stella achieved. Stella was also obsessed with poet Omar Al Hadawi, who explained that he couldn't be tied down to one woman.
Killer and motives
The killer turned out to be Guadalupe.
Upon admitting to the murder, Guadalupe said that Stella tried to prosecute her family, but she did not reveal why her family was getting prosecuted. Wanting to protect her family, Guadalupe bashed Stella's head with her law award repeatedly after getting invited to redecorate the penthouse, which used to be the victim's property at the time. Guadalupe then spent the rest of the afternoon building a wall around her body. Judge Powell sentenced Guadalupe to 17 years in prison for the murder.
Case appearances
- Stonewalled (Case #8 of The Conspiracy)
- Hot Mess (Case #11 of The Conspiracy; mentioned)
- Breaking News (Case #54 of The Conspiracy; mentioned)
