OMGosh… Guy, did we just solve the case?

By Girl & Guy

So, Guy and I were sort of riffing on some things I was noticing while rewatching the first episode…  and we may have stumbled onto something…  Here is how it went down…

So, I kept thinking about what everyone keeps saying… that Nic Pizzolatto said in an interview that all the relevant clues to figure out who the killer is are in the first episode…  so naturally, my brain goes to that scene in Silence of the Lambs (because come on people…  isn’t it obvious that there are a lot of little nods to that trilogy in this show?) where Hannibal tells Agent Starling that all the clues she needs to find the killer are in the folder. So, naturally I decide to rematch the scene where Starling and her academy buddy talk through the the file…  And when I was looking for that scene, I saw this:

See that?  It looks sort of True Detective-esque doesn’t it. So, I thought just MAYBE I’m onto something.  So, what did Starling do?  She went back where the first girl who was murdered lived and looked around. She was looking for people who might see her everyday.  I decided to really pay close attention to this idea.  Dora Lange was the first victim of this killer who was drugging, binding, stabbing and then posing the bodies publicly.  But when Rust and Marty went out to investigate Dora’s murder, they visited her neighborhood, they found that another girl who had lived there was missing; Marie Fontenot… though she was never found. And then on the road sign we see that  Stacy Berhart was murdered two years before Marie went missing.  So we’ve got a situation where the second to go missing was not found at all but the the second found was the third killed…  Oi… this confused me.  This will come back up later when Guy reason’s it out…

So, my brain skips back to Rust talking about how the murder was perpetrated…

The images of the crime scene and the way that Rust was talking about them didn’t jive for me.  He was using all the right words to describe the scene but the intent was wrong.The assumption of who the killer was, was just wrong.  This is where Marty was right about Rust bending the narrative.  To me, this girl looked lovingly draped across an alter. She had signs all over and around her.  She was a giant clue wrapped up with a ribbon (okay, rope) for the police.  At this point, I said to Guy,

“Hey Guy, The more I think about it… the more and more I think the killer is an anti hero trying to expose the cult..  because of what happened to him.

Then Guy responded: Another point in favor of the killer being a cast off from the cult, or striking back at the cult, is that the painting of the kneeling woman in the church was after it was burned down, and that was one of the churches where Light of the Way was housed.  Did he burn it down, and then paint the image?  So it’s not the cult using the burned down church, it’s someone burning down the church and then painting his message in warning or whatever to the cult…

We kicked the idea of the painting around a bit and I moved on with my rewatching of the show and found this: During a conversation with Sheriff Tate regarding Marie Fontenot he said:

Baby Daddy?  That is what someone calls the man who is biologically a child’s father…  And since we know that our Deer Princess cult likes to keep things in the family, we had to go on the assumption that most likely Marie Fontenot was taken by he who is surrounded by his children of all types, Sam Tuttle…  So, that places Marieat one of the Tuttle compounds… safe and sound and perhaps not murdered at all…

And then Guy said, all suspenseful like…

“What if…

The Killer…

Is Marie Fontenot!”

I had been actually thinking Maggie at that point but it’s just so implausible…  but I could really sink my teeth into Marie…  Yeah… that was a bad Hannibal Lecter pun… my bad.

Guy continued:  It sort of fits with these killings being aimed at the cult.

Oh… you don’t know this but Guy and I at some point, also talked about the idea that whomever was setting up  these very public displays of exactly what the cult was doing to girls and young women, was probably trying to get the attention of the cops or the very least just trying to expose the cult to anyone who would pay close enough attention to the maps that this killer was drawing for someone to read.

We started wondering how if it was Marie, she might have gotten that body up onto that bridge all by herself?  We talked about our assumption that one of those pregnant photos was here and that perhaps she had had a son…

I kept seeing a son in the photo in the church… can you see it?  The goggly eyes? {Cthulhu:  You mean the boobies?  Oh wait, if I look in just the right way, those boobies do sort of look like eyes…}

At this point I brought up the fact that during my rewatch, I noticed that the detectives were CONSTANTLY calling the killer “HE.”  It wasn’t just an old…  he.  It felt more like “!! HE !!!” Lots of exclamation.  After I pointed that out Guy said, “That’s actually what made me first think about it. They say that so so so so often, more than ‘the killer’. Right under their nose indeed.”

After discussing the plausibility of perhaps a son helping Marie with the killings…  we decided that her son would have been too young (if she even HAD a child of any sort.)  Then, after I had tried to look a few things up to help me with this theory (Like the article from the NY Times about a real louisiana church shut down for child abuse).  Guy and I had a spontaneous moment of brilliance:

Girl: “Here is my idea for who lucy is!!!”

Guy: “?!?!? Lucy?”

Then for a moment we didn’t know what each other was talking about…  but when the conclusion cleared, we had both come to the conclusion that Marie Fontenot was not only alive, but she was hiding in plain sight as the lovely prostitute Lucy:  Please note her beautiful tattoo work… that is 5 black stars on either arm with an infinity symbol at the crook of her elbow.  Lovely.

What we concluded about Lucy was that…  She was blonde, had star tattoos and was the only one who had the infinity sign tattooed on her… which all together has to mean something, right?

After this we found out via this conversation: The cops were talking about which of their prostitute contacts they had talked to that day regarding the Dora Lange case…  

At first it seems confusing… who is this Ray guy?  But then you see in the third frame that Danny Fontenot is HER uncle!  But then the conversation was interrupted by Tuttle and the guys from the Task Force.

After a little more chatting… which I think Guy can fill you in on…  I said to him…

Girl: “Hey… what if a lot of the girls are in on it? The black star tattoo girls…”

Guy: “a gang of the lost. The castoffs. I love it!  boy, that sure would turn the ‘girls are powerless victims’ trope on it’s fucking ear!  And think of all the black stars we’ve seen.”

And then a cascade of thoughts spewed out of my head…

Girl: “And that the murdered girls sacrificed themselves? There were no signs of struggle on the girls… except ligature marks…But that would be to make it look like a murder. And the girls were way drugged. And Dora could have been hanging with the giant to get drugs. And Dora could have been hanging with the giant to get drugs.”

Guy: “oh man I’m absolutely loving this theory.”

So…  There you have it.  We think that all the black star tattooed girls were abused by the costume wearing cult and have formed their own vigilante group in order to get revenge on the cult for all of their dastardly and sickening deeds…  And this is our little angel at the helm…

Can you see her halo?

Feel free to mock our theory….  We don’t care.  We have gone swimming in the DT Kool aid!  We took the assignment… to solve the crime (which is, who has killed two women and posed them in public places) based on the clues in the first episode.  I just hope we get at least a B+

Ok, my turn.  Guy here.

I’m thrilled with this theory, even if it doesn’t pan out.  It works for me in a number of ways.  First off, there have been so many little lines of dialog about the answer being right under one’s nose, and then Hart’s comment about bending the narrative to fit a theory based on assumptions (the speech he gives Rust when Rust first speculates that the girl was a prostitute, at the crime scene).  As with much of the dialog in this show, I think some of this was aimed at us.

And also, in the first episode, we see some very conspicious black stars, even though we haven’t been introduced to the symbol formally yet.  We see them on Lucy, and on another girl interviewed by Rust and Hart.  Black stars everywhere, on the bodies of women.

It really got me thinking about what assumptions I’d made, what fundamental assumptions that could be completely off base.  As girl laid out, those boiled down to:  The killer is a He, Marie is Dead, and someone involved in the Cult set up Dora and the other girls bodies to be found by the police.

If one backs up and questions those fundamental assumptions, all sorts of new vista’s open up.  Perhaps the biggest question, which I’ve seen asked a few times out there on the intertubes, but not all that seriously, is WHY in the hell would a cult which clearly seems to want to remain hidden draw so much attention to itself by displaying the murder of Dora Lange so prominently?  And then later with the girl trussed up on the bridge.  Why would they bring so much attention to themselves?  And then it snapped:  They didn’t.  This is someone’s way of bringing attention to the cult, to ‘out’ them.  They can’t go to the police directly and make a report or anything.  We know the police are involved in covering up the cult’s activities.  But by putting it out in such a public fashion, perhaps someone outside the reach of the Cult might take note and track it down (and this is just what happened).  And what happens in the CID when the case goes public?  Good old Rev. Tuttle descends with all speed to take over the investigation, and make sure it gets spun just the way he wants it to be.

Also, it just occurs to me that this could be the very reason the second murder, the one on the bridge, has been suppressed by the department.  They don’t want the cult exposed!!  We now know the cult has police ties, so if they really wanted to publicly display their handiwork, why use your power to cover it up!?

This shocking idea led us to consider the idea of the killer being a woman, maybe even Marie!  Both we the audience and the detectives have assumed that Marie is dead, but we have NO evidence of that.  None!  In fact we know she didn’t die in the filmed ceremony, because we have pictures of her pregnant, which clearly is post VHS tape.

So, where is Marie?!?!  Is she Lucy?  I strongly suspect that the children fathered by this insane cult, at least the girl children, end up as prostitutes in that ‘Camp’ by the lake-the trailer park, or elsewhere.  And they probably bear the mark, black stars.  Could Lucy be Marie?  That I really don’t know, but it would make sense.

But how freaking great would it be if when Marty and Rust finally corner ‘the killer’ it is none other than Marie Fotenot.  They are looking down the barrell at one of the very victims they are seeking to avenge!  Plus, this would turn the entire “women as poorly drawn victims’ complain completely on its ear!!!!

It’s possible that whoever displayed the bodies didn’t even kill the girls, but merely took their bodies and displayed them.  We’re told that Audrey hadn’t eaten for a few days, and had been on her back.  Maybe she died, and Marie, or whatever avenging angel, took her body, displayed it, complete with Five Devil Catchers (to offer up yet another clue), in order to enact her revenge, and bring down justice on the Cult.

I have to say, the more I think about this the more I like it.  It works in all sorts of ways.  Nic has said that we meet the killer in the first episode.  We did NOT meet Erroll in the first episode.  We did meet Lucy, and other wayward souls.

He also said he wasn’t out to trick us.  I don’t think this would constitute a trick.  I think it fits in perfectly with the themes of the show, while also giving us a nice surprise, and demolishing the criticism of the show giving a one dimensional victim mentality to its female characters.

It is very possible that every single thing we’ve laid out in this post is utter crap.  But for now, this is my favorite theory, and answers more of the nagging questions than any of the other over arching theories I’ve heard.  I can’t wait to see if we’re even a little close.  And if we are, I’m afraid I won’t be able to give a big ol’ I TOLD YOU SO!!!!

 

EDIT:  One more astounding correlation brought up by girl.  Remember when Dora’s ex-husband said Dora told him she was going to become a Nun?  What do Nun’s do?  They live only with other women!  Who would this group of other women be?!?!?!?!?   Girl notes that Nun’s who get pregnant have often committed suicide…