We have only three episodes left in this season of Only Murders in the Building, and it feels like there are more suspects than ever before in the case of Bunny Folger. This show loves to throw a new twist at the audience every episode, which makes it hard to become couch-sleuths and solve the mystery before Oliver, Charles, and Mabel do. But that’s exactly what we’re going to do. With such a large cast of characters and the motives of each of them still to be determined, we’re going to throw five suspects out into the open and see if they stick.
Lucy
The end of the seventh episode revealed that Charles’s ex-wife’s daughter, Lucy, is a person of interest according to the “glitter man’s” belongings that Mabel obtained with Theo Dimas. Or maybe she’s just incidentally in the photo that Charles is shown of himself in the diner when Mabel returns from her investigation into the suspect’s whereabouts. Whatever the case may be, the writers of the show want Lucy on our mind going into the closing stretch of the season. This parallels the way Jan worked her way into Brazos’s realm back in season one following the Tim Kono murder, and it compares well with the introduction of Alice in Mabel’s sphere (more on her later). Lucy also knew all about the inner workings of the Arconia, something she used to her advantage and to help the podcasting trio back in the fourth episode. This doesn’t explain her motive, though. Perhaps she murdered Bunny so she could bond with Charles while solving the mystery. If she is the killer, she can manipulate the investigation by staying so close to the heart of the mystery and the people trying to piece it together. It seems unlikely a child would be the culprit, but it also seems exactly like something that would happen in Only Murders in the Building.
Will Putnam
We’ll stick with the kin of our favorite trio by pointing the finger at Oliver’s (maybe) son Will. The last time he played a major role in the show was a couple episodes back. He dropped a shocker on his dear dad by claiming that the results of a DNA test came with revelations about the true nature of his relationship with Oliver. We are still waiting patiently for the reasoning behind this plot point, but Only Murders in the Building doesn’t just drop haymakers and then ignore them going forward. The paternity results will matter, maybe even perhaps to figuring out who killed Bunny. But what motive could Will possibly have for taking out the old woman who runs the Arconia? He seems like a good son, a kind father, and a decent human being all around. It’s in his blood to desire to be involved in show business like Oliver, and maybe that extends to wanting a thrill from engagement in a murder mystery. Could killing Bunny put him in Oliver’s good graces in some twisted, psychotic way because it created another podcasting opportunity and a father-son bonding experience? It seems unlikely, but Jan seemed pretty out of right field last season, too.
Mabel Mora
Selena Gomez’s character is the most emotionally fragile and morally ambiguous character of the Big Three. We are just now learning about her past, and this lack of context towards what drives her and what she is looking for in life leads some clues to suggest she could have actually killed Bunny. And there’s the fact that she keeps appearing right in front of stab victims in the show. She does confidently claim that she knows she’s not the killer, but it certainly feels like too much has happened around Mabel for the crime to not be tied to her in some way. This probably points more to a certain somebody that has entered her life this season.
Alice
Alice (Cara Delevingne) has been the preferred choice of Oliver and Charles at the initial parts of the mystery-solving journey, much to the chagrin and pushback of Mabel. Alice is an artist who has been playing pseudo-therapist to Mabel, wanting to know just as much about her past as the audience does. Mabel is clearly someone who isn’t ready to open up, at least not to Alice. She’s then very hurt when she catched Alice and a group of in Alice’s inner circle making a reenactment of Mabel supposedly stabbing Bunny. This might turn into a moment of misunderstanding between the two, but right now it’s a breaking point in their relationship. It also leads us to wonder whether Alice is trying to shine a spotlight on Mabel’s involvement in the murder to deflect from her own potential guiltiness. And who can forget the Son of Sam card left in her bag after Oliver accused her of the crime? Something’s a little fishy with her, and we’re sure to find out what.
Teddy and Theo Dimas
The Dimas duo is a very likely prediction for the murder of Bunny. They were closely tied to the investigation last season and Theo was unusually interested in finding out about Mabel’s emotional state in the wake of the recent events. Teddy told Oliver in the Arconia elevator earlier that he would “fuck him good”, and in the succeeding episodes evidence keeps being planted in Oliver’s wake. It seems believable that Teddy would want as much control over ruining Oliver as he can, and killing Bunny and then pinning it on his longtime rival is the ultimate revenge. There’s also the complication that Teddy might be Will’s biological father. It could be poetic for Oliver to get a double dose of nightmare revelations induced by Teddy this season, and the audience might not expect it since the Dimas’s involvement has been much more subtle than it was in the mystery of Tim Kono.
