The Birthday Party Murder (Notes Included)

By Reagan Miller-Grooms

The date was August 25, 2014. Detective Frederick arrived at the scene of the crime around 7 p.m., after receiving a phone call about a birthday party gone wrong. Newly 13 year-old girl Nelly Wailer and her family were hosting her birthday party at a hotel, because in Nelly’s own words, “Birthday parties at home can’t be parties. People actually wanna be at parties!” Frederick had been called by her father, a polite fellow who was in no way calm. According to her father, one of the girls at Nelly’s party went to the bathroom to throw up the cake she had eaten, and when she arrived, she came across the corpse of another girl attending the party.

Up until then, no one attending the party had expressed any concern for the victim, Bailey Harry, or had even noticed her absence. That is, until every parent and child found themselves staring at the devastating sight of her body. She was sitting on the floor with tears in her eyes and her hands reaching toward her neck. The red streaks encircling her neck brought the investigative parents to the conclusion that she had been strangled to death. This was proven to be true by the hotel’s infirmary staff. After the adults present shooed their children away to go mingle in the hotel lobby, the police arrived at the hotel. As they investigated, the police came to the conclusion that a detective would be necessary. That’s when Detective Frederick was invited to the party, along with his trusty notepad.

Aug 25, 2014 7:06 p.m.

The hotel room is covered in blue and gold birthday decor. The parents put lots of time and money into this. They even hired a birthday clown. What 13 year-old asks for a birthday clown? I know Nelly didn’t. They’re tryingtoo hard to entertain her. No wonder she’s so... y’know what I mean. Snobby. When I walked into the building, she looked at me and asked if I was really a detective because I didn’t have a “nice uniform.” Would Nelly be so entitled that she’d believe she could get away with murder? I need to look at the evidence, not get upset with mean little girls. Nelly’s attitude is worth noting, though.

Bathroom is clean. Only thing out of the ordinary is the murder victim. It’s horrible, as murders usually are. She was only a kid, though. Looking at her now, I can see she had dreams. She’s wearing a NASA t-shirt. I wonder if she would’ve grown up to be a astronaut. Now that I’m seeing her, though, I realize that she stands out against these
other girls. Nelly and her friends wear pink tank tops, bright earrings, and even a good bit of makeup. Bailey doesn’t seem to fit the norm. When I walked past those girls, they didn’t seem disheartened at all. I thought that was a good
thing, but maybe it isn’t...

Detective Frederick walked out of the bathroom and made a beeline toward the dining table, where the adults were discussing the incident. In that group of adults were parents of some of the children at the party and the previously mentioned birthday clown. Bailey’s parents weren’t present, instead, they received the absence of a depressing phone call. Yes, no one even cared to call her parents. None of the parents knew them. This was unbeknownst to Frederick.

Frederick started some awkward small talk with the parents. Unfortunately for him, his detective skills were not doing him any favors in terms of reading the room. Through his investigation, he was able to understand the basic facts of the murder, but he hadn’t spoken to anyone enough to quite understand the actual timeline of events. It was his intention to ask the adults some questions, but as the conversation stood as it was, it seemed that he’d be asking them about the weather for years to come. He figured he might as well speak with the birthday clown, who had isolated himself, leaning against the wall. Even if the kids in question didn’t care for him, the birthday clown must’ve been paying attention to them.

7:49 p.m.

Clown is dedicated. Terrifyingly so. He joked and smiled at me as he described the events leading up to the discovery of the murder. I asked him if Bailey exhibited any strange behavior and his response was, “Nothing was strange at all... Bailey was as normal as the flower on a clown’s chest!” He then proceeded to squirt me in the face
with water (via the aforementioned flower.) His laughter was genuine. So was my embarrassment.

Honestly, it seems like no one here cares. The parents seemed to be more concerned with eating the leftover cake than they were the fact someone here is a child murderer. I bet it’s the clown. Anyway, here’s a timeline of the murder I’ve put together:

It was briefly after creating said timeline that Detective Frederick stumbled upon the most important piece of evidence—the cake. Unsurprisingly, Frederick decided to steal some of the cake when no one was watching. The cake? Absolutely disgusting. At least, Frederick thought so. In fact, the cake was so revolting that Frederick knew right away that it had been tampered with. No one would have poisoned the cake, clearly everyone besides the victim was just fine. (The girl who threw up the cake was known for her picky eating habits.) Glancing around the room, Frederick saw several parents happily eating their slices of cake whilst chatting away. If the whole cake had been tampered with, then why hadn’t they noticed anything off? What could have been added to the cake? It tasted like a window cleaner or dish soap, maybe perfume-y in some respects. Why was he the only one able to taste it?

7:57 p.m.

Why cilantro? What’s the point in adding cilantro to a cake besides ruining my day? Did the girls think it’d be a funny joke? It wasn’t. I should ask Nelly’s mother about this. 

She says cilantro wasn’t in the recipe, (I’d hope not) but she did buy some for their lunch, which they had while preparing for the party. If anyone put cilantro in the cake, it was likely Nelly. Why? I don’t know, she’s 13 years old. I’d wish to die before understanding the thought process of a 13 year-old girl.

My question is, does this have anything to do with the case? Sure, the cake was messed with, but Bailey died due to strangulation. I don’t think cilantro is capable of strangulation. I think I might speak with Nelly.

As it turns out, Nelly did put cilantro in the cake. She wasn’t quick to admit it, but her friends didn’t do a great job at keeping quiet. Not only did they expose Nelly as the culprit, but they exposed her motivations as well. They don’t gossip very quietly. Bailey is (or was, I suppose) allergic to cilantro. She didn’t die due to strangulation,
an allergic reaction killed her. Thanks hotel staf . Maybe I should’ve known better than to trust the judgment of semi-qualified nurses at a sketchy hotel. I also should’ve known better than to assume that a 13 year-old would practice human decency. We live and we learn.

I don’t know what’s going to happen to Nelly and I don’t care to find out. I do know that the hotel (what is it called, The Bridget or something?) may or may not be facing legal action for their not so spectacular medical unprofessionals. Fun times. I’ll end the notes here, I’d prefer to forget this case.

*NOTE TO SELF: During future investigations, do NOT place your trust in hotel staf to correctly perform an autopsy. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING.