covering up a crime to save a friend theme
A character struggles with whether to report a crime committed by a friend, or to help said friend evade the law.
Examples
In talesoftheunexpected4x08 "Never Speak Ill of the Dead", Bob and Sim came to believe that their friend, Dr. David Rankin, had murdered his promiscuous young wife and buried her corpse in the basement. They decided to help him cover up the crime, had their help rejected and their hypothesis soundly refuted by the shovel.
6 total · 6 major
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| ahp2x03 | major | Professor Rankin's friends Bud and Wally were prepared to help him cover up his wife's murder. |
| ahp2x16 | major | Harry helped Miss Elliot to move her boyfriend's dead body out of her apartment and in so doing became an accessory to murder, or so he thought. |
| columbo1971e3x08 | major | Mark seemed like a true friend to Hugh when he helped Hugh cover up the accidental killing of his wife. Alas, Mark had the ulterior motive of seeing an opportunity to use Hugh to dispose of Mark's own disfavored wife. |
| columbo1971e5x06 | major | Thinking his wife had bludgeoned the titular Commodore to death in a drunken stupor, Charles Clayton covered up the murder by taking the body out on the Commodore's yacht at night and throwing it overboard. |
| owgm1x19 | major | Bruce Sexton and Theresa Prentice were partners in a law firm. When Bruce came under police suspicion for the murder of a prostitute, Theresa feared he might be guilty and forged evidence in an effort to clear him of suspicion. Although her plan succeeded, it ultimately proved unnecessary, as the police had already identified the real killer. |
| talesoftheunexpected4x08 | major | David's friends Bob and Sim were prepared to help him cover up his wife's murder. |