We started with Olga’s arrest record which showed that over her life she was arrested a number of times, it appears she was arrested a few times just attacking her daughter, though Viola of course never pressed charges. She has a number of intoxication arrests but nothing on the day of her daughters murder. However the newspaper clipping suggest there was a woman arrested in the theatre district so we opened up the arrest file from the Midtown South Precinct and had a look through. To note that one male arrested who refused to give his names was suspected to be Michael Betucia, wanted fugitive and crime boss, and who George Erikson was heavily in debt to. John Titor, self-proclaimed time traveller, was also arrested on this day at 5.41pm.

Further down we found what we were looking for, an intoxicated woman fitting Olga’s description, walking with a limp, who refused to give their name was arrested at 5.40pm and booked in at 6pm. She was arrested for trying to to force entry to a building in the midtown area. We believe this must have been Olga and if this is the case, she didn’t manage to re-gain access to the building and as such unlikely to have killed her daughter.

A taxi receipt, small and with limited information is still able to confirm Evelyn’s movements and we have to rule her out as well. Yes I have been behind the theory that she was the one who did it, she took Viola’s life, but its seems it wasn’t intentional she was just in the right place at the right time.

This brings us to the coded conversation scribbled on the back of theatre notes. After deciphering these we found the conversation was between Ira and Evelyn evidently arguing about Evelyn taking on Ira and Viola’s baby. Which they decided to do in the end.

A very interesting few pages from Hector’s memoirs were next in line, the note at the top appear to be from Hector asking Ira and Evelyn to read the chapter so they can decide if they are happy with him sending it to his editor and publishing the information in the final book. The account was pretty illuminating, giving a full account of Viola’s pregnancy, Hector’s involvement and the impact of Viola’s disappearance. The scribbled reply from Ira confirmed that they were not prepared to let this information be publicly released and seems that this was the reason this period of Viola’s life was never known.

Finally we have a blood stained coded letter. At this point it already seems that we only have one suspect left, but this letter was pretty damning. The letter, addressed to Hector, was most obviously written by Viola just before the murder. She talks about leaving, taking the jewels that she had hidden and taking Julian away and starting a new life with him. She notes that she is going to tell George that night and thinks he will be supportive as he’s always had a soft sport for her. She also tells Hector that the key she has on her, and presumably the one found one her, was for the the liquor cabinet in the Grace Note which has a false bottom… and where she hid her jewels!

Evidently telling George didn’t go down as well as she had expected. He must have flown into a rage, not only had he pinned all his hopes for the Cadence on her financially but he also loved her from afar and from evidence he thought she felt the same. He must have seen the walking stick and struck her with it, one would assume he had not intended to kill her, but the force behind the cane was too much and the strike killed her instantly. Panicking he stuffed her in her own trunk, already packed for her departure, took the trunk to the service lift and stuffed her in the attic where nobody found her until 80 years later. Hopefully the chapter from Hectors memoirs will be released and her Viola’s story can be told so people know how it ended,  she was going to give it all up, take her jewels and baby and begin a life somewhere else. Julian was all she cared about at the end, but thanks to George Erikson he never got to know his mother. Who knows what might have been if Viola had been able to escape the life she hated and raise her baby but  at least Ira and Evelyn were there for Julian and from Julia’s accounts he lived a good life in the theatre, Viola’s legacy still lives on in her granddaughter Julia. 

A quick additional note – Julia found the hiding place and the lockbox was still there! If one good thing comes from this, George never even knew about it, otherwise he would have taken the contents for himself and kept the Cadence. Now Julia can use the find, which is hers by right as Viola’s granddaughter, and buy the Cadence herself, bringing it back to the family.