The case
Saturday, November 19, 2011, five in the morning, a small AM station on the Maine coast. The morning host unlocks the front door, makes coffee, and looks through the glass of Studio B. Nadine Cady, host of the overnight call-in show "Night Lines", is slumped at the console with her headphones on. She has been strangled with a thin cable.
The show was on the air until four, and regular callers say they heard her through the last hour. The detectives built a case around a lonely widower who phoned in every night and had twice waited in the parking lot to give her a book. It never held.
Eleven years later the State Police have the file: the original investigation, the statements, the station's own records and a newspaper feature.
Six people: the owner selling the station, the engineer who ran her board, the morning host who wanted her slot, the caller who could not stop calling, the husband on the night shift, and the producer who screened her calls.
What is in the file
- Police Reports — incident report, scene report with floor plan, property and key inventory, the 2012 inactive summary, 2023 review memo
- Forensics — autopsy, trace report on the ligature, digital forensics of the studio computers
- Witness Statements — eight, including the night watchman next door and a Friday caller
- Photographs — six frames, persons-of-interest sheet
- Records — badge log, alarm panel log, automation log, phone system log, the host's handwritten studio sheet, alibi verification
- Personal Documents — a job offer from Boston, a text-message thread
- Press — 2023 feature
Persons of interest
Six people the State Police review looks at again:
- Rod Dunphystation owner
- Neil Fryeengineer and board operator
- Trish Alvaradomorning host
- Russ Ganttregular caller to the show
- Dr. Wendell Cadythe victim's husband, separated
- Lena Pinkhamproducer and intern
For people who like logs
Dead Air is the most technical file on the site, in the best sense. A radio station in 2011 keeps a record of almost everything that happens in the building, and the file hands you those records alongside the statements. The work is building one timeline out of all of them.
That makes it a strong pick for team building. Split the seven folders between players, and the case only opens once they compare notes. It also plays well over a video call for friends in different cities, each with the file open on their own phone. Difficulty is 4 out of 5 and most groups take two to three hours. The themes are darker than in the older cases, so it is recommended for 14 and up.
What you must decide
Name the killer. One accusation. Every conclusion in the solution rests on at least two documents. There are no hints anywhere on this site.
