| “ | A murderer sleeps in everyone of us, your Honor! That's what my thesis is all about. | „ |
| —Tess Goodwin |
Tess Goodwin (also known as "The Rorschach Reaper"; 1992–2014) was suspected in three murder investigations in the University, before being arrested for the murder of cheerleader Madison Springer in The Rorschach Reaper (Case #41 of Grimsborough) and for hypnotising three university students into murdering Rani Goshwalla, Lisa Edwards and Aaliyah Banks. She later escaped prison during the events of The Poisoned Truth (Case #54 of Grimsborough) shortly before being murdered in Ashes to Ashes (Case #55 of Grimsborough).
Profile
Tess was a 21-year-old woman with long ash brown hair tied up in a bun at the back. She had green eyes. She usually wore a pair of glasses and a yellow shirt underneath a light gray vest. She carried two books along with her during her time in Grimsborough University—in which one was a light blue "Psychology" book with orange at the corner, and the other was a dark blue book with the name, "Treaty of Modern Psychology".
In her first appearance, it is known that Tess took Vitamin C supplements.
In her second appearance, it is discovered that she drank coffee, used Friendnet and watched The Hangman Murders.
In her third appearance, Tess cosplayed in the annual Sci-fi Fantasy Festival, painting her whole body into blue and wore a green wig. She sported a white super-hero costume, and small purple dots placed on her arms. It is revealed that she used prosthetic glue and wore makeup.
In her fourth appearance, Tess ditched her glasses and wore red lipstick. She also wore light blue eye-shadow, earrings, and a dark blue dress. Around her neck, she wore a silver necklace. It was noted that she had knowledge in electronics, was a member of the University and knew hypnotism.
At the time of her death, Tess wore a traditional orange prison jumpsuit with the numbers 42342 above her left breast, and had her yellow shirt underneath.
| Height | 5'7" |
|---|---|
| Age | 21 |
| Weight | 121 lbs |
| Eyes | green |
| Blood | A+ |
Events of Criminal Case
Murder on Campus
Tess was interrogated after one of her leaflets on "how to commit a perfect murder" was found at the murder scene (Grimsborough University's campus) where a student named Rani Goshwalla was murdered. When questioned by Jones and the player about this, Tess replied that she had been handing out leaflets for students of the college to join her True Crime society, but they always used to tear it up and throw it somewhere. Tess was again spoken to by the team after she claimed that she knew who the killer was. When asked about this, Tess told the team that she knew the killer's psychological profile. She further said that the killer must have belonged to the Psi Sigma Gamma sorority since they were very twisted and morally depraved.
At the End of the Rope
Tess appeared again after Lisa Edwards was found hanging from a noose in the Grimsborough University's library. She came to the station to tell the team that she knew Lisa as they attended Luke Harris' Movie History class and then used to go to the Onion Street subway station to reach home. Tess further said that Lisa had been acting strange lately. Later, the team called in Tess after they found her psychology book in the subway platform, which contained a chapter title, "Hanging Suicide", marked with lipstick. She told the team that Lisa had borrowed this book from her two days ago as the victim wanted to dump her Movie History class. When asked if she was the one who used lipstick on that chapter title, Tess angrily said that she would never write in a book using lipstick, nor would the victim since she never wore makeup.
The Reaper and the Geek
Tess returned after the murder of a cosplayer and a science fiction named Joe Turner, who was found impaled at the Grimsborough Sci-fi Fantasy Festival's entrance statue. While searching one of the crime scenes, the team found a meet and greet ticket which belonged to Tess. They then went back to the festival to give Tess' ticket back to her. She thanked the team and told them about her hatred towards Joe. Later, Tess was again spoken to about her Meet and Greet with Bruce Anderson (a B-movies actor), since Alex was a huge fan of Bruce and he was really excited to ask Tess about it. Just like everyone, Tess was extremely happy and could not believe that she had just seen her star, Bruce Anderson.
The Rorschach Reaper
Tess participated in the University Prom Ball. After the competition ended, Donna Walker announced that Madison Springer was the Prom Queen and that Chad Baker was her Prom King. As the celebration was about to commence, Madison's tiara suddenly exploded, instantly killing her and splashing blood everywhere.
The police moved quickly to investigate Madison's death, and soon found an Inkblot Test at the crime scene, signaling that the murderer was the infamous Rorschach Reaper. After a grueling investigation, the Reaper was revealed to be none other than Tess Goodwin, responsible for Madison's death along with three other murders on campus.
When confronted at the station about her murderous actions, the unrepentant woman claimed she did the police a favor by killing Madison, otherwise they would have never exposed her. She also added it revealed her "brilliance" to everyone. She then produced a hypnosis pendulum and proceeded to spellbind Jones, ordering him to kill his own partner. Before he could pull the trigger, Ramirez intervened by clobbering Jones with a frying pan. Tess became infuriated at the policeman for "ruining her masterpiece," though she was incarcerated before she could cause any more trouble.
Later, Tess was brought before Judge Hall to answer for the murders of Rani Goshwalla, Lisa Edwards, and Aaliyah Banks. The sinister woman countered that other than slaying Madison, she did not kill anyone else. She merely gave Misha Goshwalla, Penelope Rivera and Taylor Kirby a "little push" through hypnosis and the Rorschach Inkblot Test, claiming they had weak minds. Tess continued by claiming a murderer slept within everyone, something she sought to prove in her thesis. And had Officer Ramirez not interfered, her senior project would have been complete. Though still incensed at being thwarted, Tess found Jones to be a fascinating case, wondering what he saw on the Rorschach Test she sent him. When asked about the purpose of said tests, Tess replied it was to select her "victims" and thus continue her twisted project. When asked what she herself saw in the tests, her only reply was "you don't want to know." Therefore, for the murder of Madison Springer, the attempted murder of the player, and the second degree murders of Rani, Lisa, and Aaliyah, Tess Goodwin was sentenced to life in jail with no parole, thus ending the killing spree that terrorized the Grimsborough University. Though even after Tess's detainment, it was unlikely that the other three killers (Misha, Penelope and Taylor) would be pardoned for the madwoman's crimes.
The Poisoned Truth
At the end of the case, Ramirez hurriedly came to the station and informed the team that Tess had escaped from prison.
Murder details
Jones and the player found Tess burned at the stake in the Nautical Museum during the manhunt for her. They sent her body to Nathan, who noted the similarity of the death to how witches were burned. He then confirmed that Tess actually died from smoke inhalation rather than burn injuries. He also found abnormally large quantities of damaged skin cells under her fingernails, leading Nathan to conclude that the killer had scratches.
Relationship with suspects
Rebecca Moire was in awe at her crimes so she took witchcraft to be "her sidekick", even sending letters to Tess, but she only laughed at her. Forest witch Luna Hecate was also interested in her motives as "an observer of nature". Meanwhile, her sister, Morgan Goodwin, hated her as she ruined her family's reputation. Later, as the investigation progressed, Morgan felt that Tess was killed by the Crimson Order as she was looking into the story of their ancestor, Mary Goodwin, with the help of librarian Constance Bell, who was safely keeping official city documents. Prison warden Milton Grimmes, meanwhile, was humiliated for letting Tess escape.
Killer and motives
The killer turned out to be Luna.
Mary had been burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1649, but it was just a guise for the Crimson Order to silence her after she found out about many of the Order's illicit activities and that Theodora Hecate (Luna's ancestor) knew of the Order's leader. After Tess learned of this truth, she then threatened the Crimson Order, which displeased its leader. The leader then ordered Luna to kill Tess. She then sent Tess a pendulum, which Tess used to escape prison. Luna then cornered Tess in the nautical museum and then killed her just like how her ancestor was killed after a brief struggle. Judge Hall sentenced her to 25 years in jail.
Trivia
- Tess is one of the seven serial killers featured in the game, the other six being Erikah Mabayo, Freddie Alonzo, Duncan Young, Fiona Flanagan, Rosamund Wilcox, and Abigail Riley.
- In her "arrest" and "mugshot" images, she has her hair down and is missing the eyeshadow she was wearing in that very case, The Rorschach Reaper.
- Tess, Mikhail Levin, and Alden Greene are the only killers who escaped prison in Grimsborough, although she is also the only killer to appear as a victim following her escape.
- Tess is one of the characters to appear as a suspect in four cases.
- Tess is one of the characters to become a suspect, killer, and victim.
- Tess is one of the characters to physically appear in two districts in Grimsborough.
Case appearances
- Murder on Campus (Case #32 of Grimsborough)
- At the End of the Rope (Case #35 of Grimsborough)
- The Reaper and the Geek (Case #37 of Grimsborough)
- The Rorschach Reaper (Case #41 of Grimsborough)
- The Poisoned Truth (Case #54 of Grimsborough; mentioned)
- Ashes to Ashes (Case #55 of Grimsborough)
- There Will Be Blood (Case #56 of Grimsborough; mentioned)
- Up in Flames (Case #36 of The Conspiracy; mentioned)
Gallery
