Whodunit, Howdunit, Whydunit? How Detectives Think About and Investigate Complex ‘Hard to Solve’ Murders

This chapter explores the organisation and conduct of the minority of police murder enquiries that are required to engage with the challenges of investigating ‘hard to solve’ criminal homicides. It is suggested that police detectives engaged in such efforts structure their thinking around three core questions. The ‘Whodunit?’ question is focused upon the fundamental task of suspect identification and location, as typically in such cases, the identity of a prime suspect and evidence for their involvement in the fatal violence are difficult to establish. Rather different challenges are posed by the ‘Howdunit?’ question, where the investigative tasks centre providing a ‘high resolution’ account of precisely how the violence was performed. Issues of motive and ‘Whydunit?’ are also important, especially in being able to construct a compelling and persuasive narrative to support prosecution. In the chapter, the significance of each of these questions in shaping and guiding the work of homicide investigators is illustrated by real-life empirical case studies.