Cornell's Clues, or Crime Scene Clues, is a series of 8 entries used to complement the first season of the American version of "Secrets and Lies". Available only online, one entry was released each week, following each episode's original airdate, starting with the series' second episode, "The Father. The clues help to provide background information relating to the information presented within each episode, and allow the viewer to examine the clues themselves.
Background[]
The 8 entries that created the "Cornell's Clues" special were only available by navigating to the ABC Network's official website, clicking "Secrets and Lies" and then "Crime Scene Clues". They involve the clues Detective Andrea Cornell has recovered by discussing their involvement in the case. The clues started being released to coincide with the series' second episode "The Father", and a new entry was added for each of the next 7 episodes. Only the series' premiere episode "The Trail", and the series' finale episode "The Lie", did not possess clues to accompany the content.
Each entry began with a short video clip from when the item was acquired, followed by a welcome message:
- Welcome to Crime Scene Clues for Secrets and Lies! Here you’ll find possible clues from the latest episode, which can help in figuring out who the killer is. *Warning: There WILL be spoilers.
#01 - "The Father"[]
In "The Father", Ben encounters Jess at Tom’s toy-filled shrine in the woods. When he insists he didn’t kill Tom, she believes him. Jess confides in Ben, telling him she thinks her husband Scott killed Tom. After an explosive fight, she filed a restraining order against him and he went AWOL, but she knows he’s still around. Case in point: Tom mysteriously received a GI Joe and a tank toy that she didn’t buy and no one knows where it came from. Clearly, Scott somehow got access to Tom.
However, access to Tom hasn’t been too hard for Scott - after all, he had an in with Natalie (Indiana Evans). After she sneaks around, Ben follows Natalie and catches her having a secret rendezvous with Scott. When Ben insinuates they are having a relationship, she reveals that Scott gave her his pin to put on Tom’s coffin for the funeral that he can’t attend. She also admits she let Scott see Tom when she was babysitting him.
At Tom’s funeral, everyone from the neighborhood is there, including the Williams, the Richardsons, and the Dalys. During the memorial, there isn’t a dry eye in the house, especially for an inconsolable Vanessa Richardson. Is there something she’s hiding that we don’t know about?
#02 - "The Affair"[]
In "The Affair", Ben and Jess catch Scott in bed with Nicole, which ends with Scott getting taken into custody. With their suspected killer in the hands of Cornell , Ben and Jess have some peace of mind. Unfortunately for Ben, that moment of relief is short-lived when he discovers his missing flashlight has resurfaced in his truck. Aside from mysteriously reappearing, the blood-covered flashlight is clearly the murder weapon. In a panic, Ben wipes the blood off and attempts to temporarily hide the flashlight in his garage while he figures out how to get rid of it.
While Ben suspects Scott as being the killer, Scott is in custody when the flashlight reappears, so it couldn't have been him. When Scott gets off free thanks to an alibi, this eliminates him as a suspect and the killer still at large. Who put the flashlight in Ben's truck? Is he overlooking someone from that fateful night?
#03 - "The Sister"[]
In "The Sister", Cornell uncovers that Natalie wasn't babysitting Tom like she said she was two nights before the murder. Natalie admits she had Vanessa take over and watch Tom so she could attend a concert. Ben goes over to confront Vanessa about it and sees on her coffee table a stuffed toy bunny he had seen at Tom's shrine. When he mentions it, she reveals that she and Joseph had a son named Malcolm, who was taken from them.
When Ben discovers evidence that Malcolm had been abused, he conducts his own investigation on the Richardsons. What he finds out about Joe and Vanessa has him suspecting that they had something to do with Tom's murder. What else could the Richardsons be hiding?
#04 - "The Jacket"[]
In "The Jacket", Ben is chasing after Matt Daly to ensure his safety. Matt trips and falls while running in the woods, dropping a blue jacket with blood stains on it. Ben finds the jacket as he follows Matt and inspects it. It looks a lot like the jacket Cornell questioned Dave about. Could this be the jacket the killer was wearing? If so, why did Matt have it in his possession?
Going outside to embark on a run, Ben spots a flashlight with a pool of red goo around it on the sidewalk. It appears to be mimicking the flashlight with blood on it that suddenly appeared in Ben's truck previously.
Following the trail of red goo, he discovers it leads to the Crawfords' garage. Opening the garage doors, Ben finds dozens of flashlights carefully placed on the floor. The situation gets even more hairy when Cornell shows up at the exact time saying she received a text from him asking her to meet. However, Ben never sent her that text. While Ben brushes it off as a juvenile prank, Cornell takes it very seriously, considering it a threat. She may be onto something: while Cooper confessed to vandalizing Christy's car, he didn't send the text nor did he stage the flashlights. Who is stalking Ben and do they have something to do with Tom's murder?
#05 - "The Confession"[]
In "The Confession", Ben continues to be stalked by a vigilante who seems to be escalating by the minute. When he receives a text of a video of him sleeping along with audio of an incriminating conversation between him and Dave, it sends him over the edge. Ben gets to the bottom of it by enlisting the help of Cornell and her team, and a military-grade covert camera is found in his bedroom. Who could have put it there - and who had such easy access to his home?
After getting held captive and tortured by his stalker, who turns out to be Kevin, in a turn of events, Ben is rescued by Cornell. While Kevin is taken by the authorities, Ben still has another person to worry about: Fenton. Since his incident with the Richardsons, Fenton has been trying to contact Ben, who wants nothing to do with him. When Fenton sends him an email targeting the Crawford girls, Ben rushes over to his former employer's house and greets him with a solid punch to the nose. Upon entering Fenton's house, Ben surveys his office and finds the walls covered in news articles about Cornell. Why is Fenton so obsessed with Cornell? What is his agenda? Could he have something to do with Tom's murder?
#06 - "The Cop"[]
In "The Cop", Ben is enlisted by Fenton to assist him in taking down Cornell. Fenton's first order of business: getting Ben to meet with Jennifer Barrett, Cornell's latest victim. When Ben meets with Jennifer, he discovers she's only a teen - and that she's Cornell's daughter. She tells Ben to "confess now and get it over with." Did Ben just make a huge mistake in delving into Cornell's personal life?
Just as suspected, Cornell is furious that Ben went to visit her daughter in prison, so she summons him to the station. There, Cornell has him meet her in a room filled with the crime scene evidence of Tom's murder and attempts to scare him into a confession. Ben doesn't cave even though he's the only person of interest on Cornell's murder board. Could Cornell actually be onto something? After all, Ben doesn't remember what happened that night - and we later find that he went to Jess' house the night of the murder. Could she have been right all along?
#08 - "The Mother"[]
In "The Mother", Ben spends another passionate night with Jess after their night out with Abby watching the fireworks. During a tender moment in bed, Jess makes a comment that gets him to think twice about her. While Jess is in the shower, Ben finds a picture of Tom and Jess, who is wearing a blue jacket. Realizing it's the same blue jacket the killer was wearing, he panics and looks around for clues. He finds a drawer full of medications and pills, and after some research, discovers Jess suffers from bipolar disorder.
Armed with that information, a suspicious Ben sneaks back into Jess' house to dig up more facts. He uncovers the fact that Jess had a baby girl who passed away as an infant. When Jess catches him snooping, Ben admits he knows about her pills and her two dead kids, questioning her. Furious, she kicks Ben out of the house, throwing a vase and a sharp pair of scissors at him, with the scissors narrowly missing his head. With all her issues against her, could Jess have something to do with her own son's death? Is Jess Tom's killer?