Greetings readers, my name is Inspector Jonathan Green. Today I am writing about a particularly cunning case I like to call “The Cereal Killer”. It all started last July when I was contacted by my town’s police force about a report of vandalism and robbery. I arrived at the scene of the crime within half an hour and was greeted by the police chief. He ushered me into a tall, blue house with many large windows. As we entered, I briefly caught a glimpse of a man with short, dark hair peering at us through a window of the house next door.
Inside the house, I was lead to a room with pitch-black painted walls and minimal furniture. In the center of the room was an elderly man sitting on a cushioned chair. I introduced myself, and he acknowledged my presence with only a solemn nod. The Chief explained that the man was Mr. Larry Victima, the owner and resident of the house. Mr. Victima then finally looked up and explained his problem. At 7:00 am that morning, Mr. Victima was taking a shower when he heard a loud noise. He dried himself off and promptly ran downstairs to investigate. He discovered one of his windows broken, the words It Was Kataway written on a wall in milk, and a box of Kataway Krunch cereal he had bought a week ago missing.
After promising to get to the bottom of Mr. Victima’s curious conundrum, I began my investigation. I looked around the house, and thus far Mr. Victima’s story proved truthful. There was a cereal box-sized gap between the items in his pantry, his biggest window had been broken by what seemed like a crowbar (judging from the size and shape of the glass shards on the floor), and the writing on the wall was indeed in milk. I then left the house and walked next door to speak with the dark-haired man I glimpsed earlier. Something about him had seemed suspicious. I knocked on his door, and he opened it. He said his name was Alan Miller and he claimed to have seen an orange-haired, freckled man break into Mr. Victima’s house at 7:00 am that morning. I asked for his I.D., and sure enough, it said Alan Miller. The man seemed to be telling the truth.
There was still one aspect of the case that I had not yet explored; the writing on the wall. So, the next day I headed downtown in hopes of finding John Kataway. According to my research, he was the creator of Kataway Krunch. He was most likely who the writing on the wall was referring to. Once I reached his office, I booked an appointment with his secretary and was promptly sent inside to meet him. Upon entering, I noticed instantly that Mr. Kataway matched Mr. Miller’s exact description. It would have made no sense for Mr. Kataway to steal a box of his own cereal, let alone write his own name on the wall. I now knew for a fact that Mr. Miller had been lying to me. I explained that a box of his cereal had been stolen, and Mr. Kataway told me that it had been his first-ever box of cereal sold. I was about to mention the writing on the wall when I stopped dead in my tracks. On Mr. Kataway’s wall was a picture of him standing next to Alan Miller! Both men were smiling, and Mr. Kataway looked no older than 17. When I inquired about the photo, Mr. Kataway explained that the other man was Robert Kendi. Kendi was a Cereal entrepreneur who had taken Mr. Kataway under his wing when he was a teenager. He taught him everything he knew about cereal. I thanked Mr. Kataway for his cooperation and left his office.
I then conducted extensive research and unearthed many startling details. According to records from the nearest changing-of-name office, a Robert Kendi had indeed recently changed his name to Alan Miller. Additionally, I figured out Kendi’s motive behind framing Kataway. A couple of years ago, Robert Kendi had tried to launch his very own cereal brand, Kendi Krisps. His idea was to use microchips to track every box of cereal sold. However, John Kataway stole his idea and used it to create Kataway Krunch. Kendi must have used the microchip technology he developed to track the box of cereal to Mr. Victima’s home, then he changed his name and moved in next door. Kendi probably spied on Mr. Victima for several days, studying his daily routine. Lastly, he broke in while Mr. Victima was in the shower and tried to frame Kataway.
The next day, I returned to the home of “Alan Miller” with an arrest warrant. After transporting him to the police station, I searched his home. I found a pair of binoculars near a window facing Mr. Victima’s house, and I found a notebook with a detailed log of Mr. Victima’s daily routine. What Mr. Kataway did to Mr. Kendi was not right. However, Mr. Kendi’s retaliation was much worst. My theories had all been proven right, and I had cracked the case.