If you’re looking for my (spoilerless) review of this case, click here!

The following information is organized by clue item/puzzle. Any items not listed were simply props. Some people have complained online about Sullivan giving away too much when you ask him for a hint. I have tried to create multiple hints for how to solve each puzzle. I hope that this can provide a better experience for fellow Sleuth King subscribers.

At the end of each puzzle section will be the complete “solution”. If anyone found any additional information (or think my conclusions are wrong) from these clues, please comment and let me know!

I have ordered it in the way that I think is the most enjoyable order of going through each puzzle. Sullivan suggests going through the clues in order so I will start with Clue 1. At the very end I will summarize the entire story of the case as best as I can.

Important disclaimer: I will NOT be posting any detailed pictures of the items that are in this case. If you want to experience this case, you must subscribe to Sleuth Kings.

Clue 1: Goodbye Note

Clue Background

Before Chelsea mysteriously disappeared, she left her roommate Sam a goodbye note. Sullivan doesn’t see anything wrong with the goodbye note except for the fact that Sam says that everything mentioned in the note didn’t actually happen.

Hint 1

The actual content of this note is pretty interesting if you like drama but since the events Chelsea describes didn’t actually happen, reading the note through isn’t very important. You can also ignore the doodles for now.

Hint 2

If you haven’t noticed already, there are a bunch of strange typos in the note.

Ultimate Hint

Write out all of the words that are misspelled in order.

Solution

Once you locate all the typos it should give the following hidden message

Sam, someone is following me. If I disappear, use the mirror and note to find my website. Figure out the password with these words: phobia, opaque, light, smoothie, mexico, super.

Clue 2: Crumpled Paper

Clue Background

Next to Chelsea’s bed Sullivan found this crumpled note along with a small mirror.

Hint 1

If you haven’t done Clue 1 yet, do that. Just like with Clue 1, you can ignore the doodles for now.

Hint 2

Like the message from Clue 1 says, you’ll need to use the mirror to solve this clue.

Ultimate Hint

If you haven’t flipped the paper over yet, do that and notice that the two sides are halves of the same message.

Solution

My partner and I were actually able to do most of this with just one side of the paper and a mirror. Eventually I used an app on my phone to combine the two halves and get the final html since that was hard to read with our original approach. The message in its entirety should read:

Sam, I’m in danger. I hid information about these people in case they come for me. Go to my website to find it: https://siteninja.wixsite.com/help

Website Puzzle:

After you crack Clue 2, it will lead you to Chelsea’s website. Chelsea says that in order to get the password, you’ll need to use a list of words she’s given you. Place these words properly in the diagram she provides and then the password is the person associated to the answer you get.

Hint 1

If you haven’t done Clue 1 yet, do that.

Hint 2

At the end of her note in Clue 1, Chelsea gave you the following words: phobia, opaque, light, smoothie, mexico, super.

Hint 3

Like it says, you’ll need to place these words in the rectangular diagram given. To get you started, you can place the words Light and Super since these are both five letter words and the five colored boxes in each row need to have a letter in them. Then you can look at the different choices possible for the two columns needed for the code.

Ultimate Hint

The possibilities for the two columns are:
PH      IA
OP      UE
L         T
MO     HI
ME     CO
S         R

Solution

Once you get the code together it should read

Holmes Author

So the password is: Doyle

Clue 3: Research Notes

Clue Background

Sullivan found this paper labeled “Research Notes” near Chelsea’s laptop. The story doesn’t make much sense and there are strange circles throughout.

Hint 1

If you haven’t done Clue 2 yet and the associated website puzzle, do that.

Hint 2

As the website says, you’ll need to place the 6 clear “bookmarks” over the circles. They will block out certain words to make a message.

Hint 3

The inner shapes should not overlap with the inner shapes on the bookmarks when they overlap.

Ultimate Hint

You’ll need to place three horizontally and three vertically. As stated in Hint 3, the inner shapes should not overlap so once you think you have it, check to see that the black shape leaves you with readable words.

Solution

Once you place the bookmarks appropriately it says:

There are three men. Two are in their early thirties and one is in his fifties. I followed them to their new warehouse. It’s in a building on the corner of 2 streets. I won’t go into more detail here. Just know reading art backwards can reveal helpful directions.

Clue 4: Last Diary Entry

Clue Background

Chelsea was keeping an online diary on her computer. This was the entry that was opened so Sullivan printed it out along with the few other entries she made to see if there was anything more to them than meets the eye.

Hint 1

If you haven’t done Clue 3 yet, do that.

Hint 2

These doodles should look familiar to you; they are all over the other clues that you had to solve.

Hint 3

Convert each picture to the words that they are associated to (by looking at the other clues and webpages).

Ultimate Hint

Once you convert them, the message will need to be read starting from the bottom right and moving left and up.

Solution

The pictures decode into:

Read diary entry Not Again. Read every third word after like for where I’ve been taken.

Diary Puzzle

There are two additional diary entries that Sullivan printed out from Chelsea’s computer. They talk about Chelsea’s struggles with anxiety after she was almost killed.

Hint 1

If you haven’t done Clue 4 yet, do that.

Ultimate Hint

You’ll need to follow the instructions from Clue 4. Each time you see th word like, count three words after and note that word down.

Solution

Writing down the third word after every instance of “like” should get you the following message:

Their base is at the intersection of Ludlow and Monument.

The Full Story (MAJOR Spoilers)

Sullivan King has been a detective for a long time. He has solved many cases for other people but there’s one case that he has yet to crack: the disappearance of his father, Isaac.

Long after his dad disappeared, Sullivan received a mysterious message from someone claiming that Isaac is still alive. Apparently an unnamed woman claims that after Isaac went missing, she was saved by someone matching his description. After tracking this woman down, the informant gives us her name: Chelsea Anderson.

Unfortunately Chelsea vanishes before Sullivan has a chance to talk to her. Known to be paranoid and anxious, Sullivan can’t decide if Chelsea ran away or if she was kidnapped.

Chelsea’s roommate Sam is just as shocked to learn that Chelsea is gone. After learning that Sullivan is a private detective, Sam agrees to let him look around their house.

One of the items that Sullivan finds is a goodbye note written from Chelsea to Sam. In the note, Chelsea talks about how Sam has ruined her life by getting her fired–an event Sam claims has never happened. Upon further investigation, it’s discovered that this note has a hidden message: Chelsea is being followed and she’s left more information on her website in case anything happens.

A note next to Chelsea’s bed contains the website url that they need. On the website, Chelsea explains that she was saved by an older man a few months ago who warned her not to speak of the incident. Suffering from severe anxiety over the near death experience, Chelsea had broken her silence in a support group. Not long after, she noticed she was being followed. She says that if Sam has made her way to this website then something has gone wrong and they’ve taken her.

A document and diary on Chelsea’s computer gives both Sam and Sullivan a description of some of the men along with their location. Sullivan travels there and is able to not only save Chelsea from her kidnappers but also confirm that it was indeed his father that saved her months ago.

Now safe, Chelsea explains that the men kidnapped her and tied her to a chair but didn’t harm her in any other way. Sullivan is also able to get more details about the incident that occurred months ago.

Chelsea was a reporter investigating a potential story. Her investigation accidentally led her to a warehouse of a drug trade run by a group called Cinder. She suspected that they did more than drug dealing but stopped looking into it when she was almost killed.

Sullivan is convinced that Cinder has to be involved in something much more dangerous. His father wouldn’t have disappeared without notice simply over a drug ring. He vows to keep looking and will let you know if he finds anything new.