July 22, 2012

Murder in the Desert

This is a story about three people (A, B and C) crossing a desert. A hated C and decided to kill him - he poisoned the water in his sack (only C had water). B also wanted to kill C (not knowing that the water of C had been already poisoned) and so B made a hole into the sack of C and the water spilt out. A few days later C died of thirst.
Who was the murderer - A or B?

51 comments:

  1. HariJuly 22, 2012 at 7:26 PM

    A few days later C died of thirst.
    So it must be B

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  2. ÓlafurJuly 22, 2012 at 10:43 PM

    A is the murderer because even if B had not done anything C would have died.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 23, 2012 at 5:06 PM

    B since c died of thirst

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  4. AnonymousJuly 23, 2012 at 6:20 PM

    B

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  5. HemuJuly 24, 2012 at 1:13 PM

    B

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  6. AnonymousJuly 24, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    Exactly

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  7. AnonymousJuly 24, 2012 at 4:57 PM

    Both A & B are murderer hypothetically, but there is no evidence for "A". So main Culprit is "B".

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  8. AnonymousJuly 24, 2012 at 4:57 PM

    Both A & B are murderer hypothetically, but there is no evidence for "A". So main Culprit is "B".

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  9. JaredMJuly 24, 2012 at 6:11 PM

    I'd say A is the murderer! I don't know that B really committed murder he simply evened the playing field. A and B have no water themselves. Only A was actively 'killing' C directly. Even if it failed. I'm not sure I'm really just thinking out loud.

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  10. Secret SquïrrelJuly 26, 2012 at 9:04 PM

    A is only guilty of attempted murder. His actions did not cause C death so he is not the murderer.

    B's action directly caused C's death. It doesn't matter that he would have died anyway, if he had drunk the water. B is the murderer.

    I want to know why A and B didn't die of thirst too.

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  11. AnonymousJuly 29, 2012 at 7:42 PM

    The answer I think is A.
    C died of "thirst a few days later" which means he didn't drink the water at all.
    This could be voluntary - B after leaking the water could've had a drink and gotten poisoned. After seeing B get poisoned, C would've thrown the water away.

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  12. AnonymousJuly 30, 2012 at 8:17 PM

    Schrodinger's cat

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  13. A.RAugust 7, 2012 at 6:06 PM

    B only

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  14. AnonymousAugust 7, 2012 at 10:59 PM

    of the two choices B is the murderer but truly thirst is the murderer

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  15. AnonymousAugust 13, 2012 at 2:57 PM

    :)

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  16. AnonymousAugust 13, 2012 at 10:07 PM

    Hypothetical quest..........

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  17. AnonymousAugust 14, 2012 at 3:33 PM

    Between 3 of them only c had water.B was not aware of poisoning of water by A. So he may have drank the water and dies of poisoning. A is guilty of mudering B and not C as C didnot drink poisoned water and preferred to travel without drinking water and finally dies of thirst.So B was responsible for death of C as he had made a hole.

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  18. AnonymousAugust 16, 2012 at 1:11 AM

    no its not that easy, its no one because he died of THIRST so its not a murder... you get it?

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  19. mac_edenAugust 31, 2012 at 4:35 AM

    Both did for not giving him some of their water when he ran out of his

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  20. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    I would like to thank some of the posters for their analytics. Here's my take, for what it's worth.

    Either A is the murderer of B and B the murderer of C, or A is the murderer of both B and C.

    B surely would have take one last drink before he punched a hole in the sack.

    If the poison acted more quickly than the water drained, C would have thrown the water away.

    This would make A the murderer of both, First he poisoned B, then C was forced by A's actions to throw the water away and die.

    If the water drained before the poison killed B, then B killed C, and A killed B.

    BTW, a day later A was rescued. As he stepped into the open air of freedom, he was promptly killed by a stampede of Camel. Serves him right.

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  21. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2012 at 12:01 PM

    I feel like A would be the murderer just because if C drank the water, he would've died instantly .. If anything, B prolonged C's life by disabling him of drinking the poisoned water!

    And also in any sense, C would have eventually died of thirst after running out of water anyway ..

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  22. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2012 at 7:53 PM

    I think that B is the murderer because regardless of whether or not A poisoned C's water so that C would have died if B didn't drain the water, the cause of death was thirst. B's action caused poison to not be C's cause of death, so B is the murderer.

    Darby McDermott

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  23. InvincibleApurvaSeptember 10, 2012 at 11:28 PM

    B B-)

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  24. AnonymousOctober 14, 2012 at 5:24 AM

    Easily B. Even if C drank the poisned water before B emptied it, it says C died of thirst so it must have benn B because B emptied the water and A did nothing to cause him to be thirsty.

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  25. WalshOctober 25, 2012 at 9:05 PM

    Between 3 of them only c had water.B was not aware of poisoning of water by A. So he may have drank the water and dies of poisoning. A is guilty of mudering B and not C as C didnot drink poisoned water and preferred to travel without drinking water and finally dies of thirst.So B was responsible for death of C as he had made a hole.

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  26. AnonymousNovember 3, 2012 at 1:25 PM

    Can a person be guilty of murder, if the means of death is thirst?

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  27. AnonymousNovember 9, 2012 at 6:29 AM

    C knew the risks when he decided to cross the desert. If he believed he could reach the other side, he is innocent. If he didn't believe, then he walked into it to commit suicide. A and B are not guilty.

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  28. AnonymousNovember 15, 2012 at 7:39 PM

    B was responsible for death of C as he had made a hole.

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  29. AnonymousNovember 21, 2012 at 6:17 AM

    C is responsible for the death of C.

    Anyone with the only sack of water crossing a desert with only two other people that allows one to poison it and the other to put a whole in it was to stupid to live.

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  30. Alex DumpfreeDecember 20, 2012 at 7:22 PM

    Yes right , This would make A the murderer of both, First he poisoned B, then C was forced by A's actions to throw the water away and die.

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  31. sheshuJanuary 25, 2013 at 6:24 AM

    B was the murderer

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  32. allaleJanuary 25, 2013 at 6:26 AM

    A,B,C suicided

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  33. AnonymousMarch 29, 2013 at 3:48 AM

    How is this Shroedinger's Cat?

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  34. AnonymousApril 1, 2013 at 10:34 PM

    neither of them were the murderer.
    C died of natural causes. as well, A and B would both be dead long before C, since neither of them had any water to begin with. technically, none of this is murder.

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  35. UnknownJuly 23, 2013 at 10:06 AM

    B because he emptied the C's sack of water.

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  36. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2014 at 10:06 PM

    no one killed him he died of thirst

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  37. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2014 at 8:50 PM

    What did C do to make A and B hate him?
    Thats my question.

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  38. ditriaenglishFebruary 17, 2014 at 8:35 PM

    none, C died of thirst. it means that his death was accidental.

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  39. AnonymousMarch 7, 2014 at 9:10 AM

    We have decided that no one murdered C, he could not have been killed by A--he did not drink the poisoned water. B did not murder him, he actually in inadvertently saved his life even for a short time. Thirst caused his demise.

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  40. SnowApril 19, 2014 at 4:36 AM


    Suppose that B knew that A poisoned the water, and to save C's life, B, told C "the water is poisoned." C emptied the sack, and crossed the desert, and died of thirst in the end. Is B the murderer? What is the difference between this one and the original question? B's intention?

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  41. SnowApril 19, 2014 at 4:42 AM

    Suppose B knew that A poisoned the water, to save C's life, B made a hole. And C died of thirst. Is B the murderer?

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  42. missymccoskeyMay 18, 2014 at 5:32 PM

    A and B are both murderers in their hearts. This depends on whose perspective we are viewing. Police, no one since he died of thirst. Lawyer...B drained the water, thereby causing C's death. Lawyer..A, since B saved C from poisoning, draining the water saved him...A caused it all. God...A and B since He looks at the heart. C's mom...C's fault...I told him not to hang around with those thugs.

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  43. AAMay 19, 2014 at 12:36 PM

    B because even though A poisoned the water, C didn't drink the water.

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  44. AAMay 19, 2014 at 12:36 PM

    B because even though A poisoned the water, C didn't drink the water.

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  45. AnonymousJune 4, 2014 at 9:11 PM

    all i know is i feel bad for this C guy. And how does A have poison but no water?

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  46. UnknownJune 30, 2014 at 10:57 PM

    The Important thing is Reason..

    C died bcz of Thirst so thirst is the reason of death and who wants to make him thirsty??
    i. e. "B" so he is the murderer..

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  47. Whatsapp puzzles quizJuly 5, 2014 at 4:06 PM

    There was no murder as C died of Thirst !

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  48. 500 piece puzzlesJuly 23, 2014 at 1:07 AM

    I think A and B both are murderer.

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  49. AnonymousOctober 2, 2014 at 7:26 PM

    Trick question. As C died of THIRST, neither A nor B killed him. This question doesn't quite make sense though because how did C die of thirst before A and B did?

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  50. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2015 at 6:25 PM

    It was B. A tried to kill C with poisoned water, but B saved C by removing the water. C also died because of that, so the answer is B.

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  51. AnonymousNovember 24, 2015 at 1:34 AM

    Technically speaking, B was the culprit. C died of thirst, so whether or not A poisoned C's water, C would've died. B was the one to puncture the water, so he's the reason C died of thirst.

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