Charles Pilsnerfeld (1963–2020) was a suspect in the murder investigations of model Elise Marx in Corpse Chic (Case #1 of City of Romance) and apprentice seamstress Béatrice Sanchez in Making the Cut (Case #3 of City of Romance) before being murdered in Death by Design (Case #5 of City of Romance).
Profile
Charles was a 57-year-old Chior fashion designer. He had green eyes and long white hair tied back in a ponytail with a black ribbon. He wore a white and cobalt blue horizontally-striped shirt under a black blazer with four gold cufflinks. He was seen holding a gray cat named Chouquette in his arms.
In his first appearance, it is known that Charles read Voltaire.
In his second appearance, it is discovered that he had manicures, read Flamme Magazine and used cat litter.
| Height | 5'10" |
|---|---|
| Age | 57 |
| Weight | 147 lbs |
| Eyes | green |
| Blood | B+ |
Events of Criminal Case
Corpse Chic
Charles became a suspect after Carrie, Hugo and the player found Chouquette at the crime scene. After he thanked the team for returning Chouquette to him, Hugo asked him about Elise. Charles claimed that he made it a point to know all of his models and revealed that Elise had had the potential to become his muse. He told the team that he had not witnessed Elise die as he had gone to search for Chouquette.
Charles was spoken to again about him accusing Elise of attempted murder. He told the team that she had tried to kill Chouquette. He asked Elise to look after Chouquette while he attended a party. When he returned from the party, he discovered that Elise had fed Chouquette supermarket chicken, despite Chouquette being a vegan. Charles feared for her life as she was vomiting for days after being fed the chicken.
Charles was found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Alexis Cardinot for Elise's murder.
Making the Cut
Charles became a suspect again after Hugo and the player ran into him at the crime scene. He complained that the real crime had been destroying the dress Béatrice was wearing, which was the bridal gown that was supposed to be the final look for the Chior fashion show. He claimed that he knew nothing about Béatrice's life, other than the fact that they sometimes crossed paths on the rooftop terrace, prompting Hugo and the player to search the Chior rooftop.
Charles was spoken to again about his sketch of Béatrice, suggesting that she needed to undergo cosmetic surgery. He told the team that he liked his employees to be attractive enough to grace a magazine cover and that Béatrice fell short of his standards. When he made the suggestions to her, she got hysterical and claimed that he had called her unattractive. After he explained that he had tried to help her, she called him ugly inside and out. Furious, he planned to wait for Béatrice to make a mistake so that he could fire her.
Charles was found to be innocent again after the team incarcerated Candy Wu for Béatrice's murder. Later, he asked Carrie and the player to save the Chior fashion show by finding offcuts in Béatrice's apartment for him to make a dress out of. After finding a skirt made from the fabric, they gave it to Nadia for her to unpick the seams.
After returning the fabric to him, Charles asked Carrie and the player to talk model Noémie Leprince into modeling in the show. He revealed that he had bought her some of her favorite éclairs in order to persuade her. Carrie and the player found the éclairs at the workshop and persuaded Noémie to model Charles' dress.
Murder details
Charles' body was found drowned at the swimming pool at the Chior after-party. Carrie immediately registered drowning as the murder weapon. Nadia noted that she had found sauce from cooked escargots on the tear in Charles' jacket where the killer would have held him down. As such, Nadia confirmed that the killer ate escargots.
Relationship with suspects
Chior CEO Simone Lemaitre had assumed Charles' role as the sole designer for Chior for the past few years. As such, she decided to take ownership of Chior by planning a rebranding. Charles had trapped supermodel Noémie Leprince into signing a contract to model exclusively for Chior, prompting her to threaten him into breaking her contract. Charles had stolen fashion designer Gianni Domani's after-party venue for his own after-party, disrupting Gianni's plans to unveil his new line of rose-colored swimwear. Before the after-party, Charles groped stylist Jérémy Belhomme, who slapped Charles and threatened to report him. Charles had also refused CEO Howard Stacy's offer to have Chior and Stacy's collaborate.
Killer and motives
The killer turned out to be Simone.
Simone admitted that after collaborating with her on the company for so long, Charles promised to give her total control over Chior in the event of his death. However, when Charles saw Simone change the logo to include her initials, he changed his mind, saying he would revise his will to leave the company to his cat, Chouquette. She then drowned him before he could do so. During the trial, Judge Lebrun informed her that the will had already been revised before the murder before sentencing Simone to 35 years in prison.
Trivia
- Charles is one of the characters to appear as a suspect twice.
- Charles bears many similarities with Karl Lagerfeld, a late German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist:
- He resembles Karl Lagerfeld physically.
- His name is a parody of Karl's name.
- His cat's name, Chouquette, is also a parody of Karl's cat, Choupette.
- His fashion house, Chior, is a parody of Karl's fashion house, Chanel, and Dior, another famous fashion house.
- The "Lager" in Karl's surname has been replaced with "Pilsner" for Charles' surname—a replacement of one beer type for another.
- Charles' cat Chouquette resembles a Persian chinchilla named Wilfred Warrior, whose Instagram account can be found here.
Case appearances
- Corpse Chic (Case #1 of City of Romance)
- Making the Cut (Case #3 of City of Romance)
- Death by Design (Case #5 of City of Romance)
Gallery
