WINNIPEG, MB – A murder mystery party among friends and acquaintances took a turn for the worse when one guest actually killed another guest as part of the game.
Rupert Carpathia, a 28-year old foreign student from Romania, took the game too literally and his lawyers are claiming it was a cultural misunderstanding.
“It was not easy to understand rules of game,” Carpathia told reporters. “I was just trying to fit-in. I thought I make new friends by being very good at murder mystery party.”
“In hide and seek, you hide. In truth or dare, you tell the truth. How was I supposed to know that in murder mystery, you do not murder?”
According to party sources, no one had explicitly explained to Carpathia that the murder is meant to be acted out, prior to beginning the game. Party hosts, Dave and Elena McPherson, said that, in hindsight, Carpathia was acting strange leading up to the party, but they did not consider they needed to explain that everything is supposed to be make-believe.
“We told him ahead of time that he’d have to bring a murder weapon, which was supposed to be a poisoned soufflé,” said Dave McPherson. “After that he wouldn’t stop sending me emails to ask what the ingredients should be and what it should look like. I told him it didn’t really matter and he could just bring a muffin or any pastry he could find, but he said ‘no, I must follow murder mystery rules.’”
Party guests also noted that when Carpathia arrived at the party, he was barely recognizable, having gained forty pounds in the previous week, dyed his hair white, and affixed a monocle to his face in order to look more like Colonel Mustard – the inspiration for his character.
“For me, game or not, I must take seriously,” Carpathia said. “This game very challenging, but fun. Hardest part for me is to find ricin to put inside soufflé. I must break into chemical lab for this. Very dangerous job. But making soufflé also very difficult. I am not good cook.”
This is not the first time Carpathia has taken things too seriously. Last year, when visiting the U.K., Rupert attended a theatre production with a group of friends. While waiting in line, one friend yelled, “Break a leg!” to a passing actor. Carpathia then followed the actor backstage to break his right leg, once again claiming ignorance to these “cultural clichés.”
But not all of Carpathia’s friends are so quick to assume his innocence.
“You know, I don’t buy the whole culture gap excuse,” said Daniel Fitz, a longtime friend of Carpathia’s. “Rupert is just a violent, disturbed person who really needs therapy, and some anger management.”
“No way we’re inviting him to go to the shooting range with us next week,” he added.
From his jail cell, Carpathia continued to praise the party game for the way it mirrors real life.
“Even jail so real looking. The guards and everything. This is very fun country.”
with files by Nav Sidhu, Leah Edwards and Keith Cochrane
