Doctor Dacus was staying with Cousin Jaxon in Jaxon’s lakeside cabin. They were setting up Jaxon's will. As Dacus was Jaxon's closest living relative, much of Jaxon's estate was being left to him.

One day, Jaxon went to Dr Dacus very disturbed. "Doctor," he began, "I have just found out that a man named Giovanni wants to get me. He will be here very soon. Where will I go? Where can I hide? If he finds me in here, he will surely kill me. I do not have time to leave this clearing and go farther into the woods."

Dr Dacus thought for a moment, and then grabbed a 5 feet long bamboo pole, with a diameter the size of a quarter. "Jaxon, follow me out to the lake. This lake is 4 feet deep. If you lie on the bottom of the lake and breathe through this pole, Giovanni will never find you. I will be in the bulrushes with a shotgun, and I will shoot him when he comes. I will swim down to find you when he is gone."

Jaxon consented, and lay down on the bottom of the lake with the bamboo pole in his mouth. A few hours later, a ranger passed by. He found Jaxon's body, dead. Dr Dacus told the police of the circumstance, and that Jaxon had probably panicked, and died.

Police arrested Dr Dacus, on the charges of murdering Jaxon. Why?

*** The bamboo pole did not have any cracks or holes. Its opening was above water the whole time.

My answer is that Dr. Dacus, with a motive to kill for the land, knew the inherent property of bamboo that it swells after being immersed in water, which may close or constrict the hole, giving Jaxon no way of breathing safely underwater.  The police also must have known this property about bamboo too.

Posted by Cyriis on 2015-02-23 12:10:17