I have just started posting here for the first time since the change over, but I had a little bit to add to this thread, some bits of trivia that I've collected over time. Some of it may have been mentioned before but a few things haven't and I have references or at least explanations for my reasoning on stuff if I can't give a direct reference to the show that can be checked. So here goes:
Recap of what we know about Trudy's murder:
It happened at 9 AM and no one else was hurt or killed. This is written in the headlines of the papers he is going over in The Candidate, but the smaller print in the articles below this don't say anything about her murder, they look like articles from the financial section, probably just put in to have something below the headlines to look real by Monk prop people.
The parking spot was number B5, or close to B5, the post in the background of the photos of the scene show this.
She was somewhere near a drug store picking up medicine for Ambrose, and the trigger was a cellphone. I assume that the guy set the bomb off by dialing the number. Considering this, I think it's likely that the person wanted to be certain that Trudy was the victim, probably be sure she was the only victim, he/she wanted complete control over when the bomb went off. He/She possibly even followed her to know exactly when was the best time to plant the bomb and to detonate it. We don't know if the parking garage where WT met Frank to deliver the bomb is the same garage where Trudy was murdered. The detonation method was given to us by Warrick Tennyson in Manhatten. Also we learned from him that a six fingered man named Frank hired him, paid him $2000, and met him in a parking garage. The amount of plastique used has been mentioned but is inconsistant.
There was another car bombing in the bay area at close to the same time that Monk couldn't link to Trudy's bombing, which to me seems very odd. Car bombing shouldn't be that common, should they? Two in a short period of time in the same area would usually indicate a link unless the second one was copy catted or done to make the police think it was related to the first bombing.
The level she was on was underground, I believe, because Sharona's car (jeep, whatever) in The Candidate was pointed downward when she was going to pick him up and Benjy asked what Monk was doing. You could assume that all or most parking garages in San Francisco are underground, but I don't think that's likely.
Trudy was an only child (that we know of) of Dwight and Marsha Ellison who live in Los Angelas. Dwight is a producer for television, in the third season he is producing a game show called Treasure Chest and sspects that the current champion is cheating and brings Adrian in to investigate. (Mr. Monk and The Game Show)
We know from Employee of the Month that Joe Christy, Adrian's partner, was with him when the call came through about Trudy's murder, that Adrian was laughing when the phone rang, but that no one has seen him laugh since. So we know that someone was with him and can confirm his whereabouts when it happened as well as his reaction to he news.
In Dale The Whale, Dale said that her last words, according to the coroner's inquest, were 'Bread and butter,' and he taunted Adrian about it, wondering what they meant and if they were a message to him. Adrian later told Sharona that this was something Trudy always said when they were holding hands but had to let go for a moment because some someone walked between them or a pole was in their path, so he thought it meant she was trying to tell him she had to let go for a little while but it wouldn't be forever. I don't think most people think of the phrase this way, to mean this. I have more often heard it to mean where the money they live on comes from, like her's and Adrian's jobs were their bread and butter, just as an example.
In Goes To Jail, Dale said that the bomb that killed Trudy was meant for her, not Adrian, even though Adrian always believed it was meant for him. Dale also told Adrian to go to New York to find Warrick Tennyson because WT had information about Trudy's death, that he was 'involved', and we find out in the next episode (Manhatten) that he built the bomb, and was hired by a man with six fingers named Frank.
From Billionaire Mugger, we find out that a scrap of paper from her appointment book for the day before she died read '530 Kelly Street, Mr. Simon', and Adrian normally assumed it meant an address, but every year (presumably about the same date) he realises that it might have meant 5:30 as a time and Kelly Street as a person and goes to the home of a woman named Kelly Street, but then blocks it out of him memory. In this episode, the door is answered by Ms. Street's sister, who I assumed hadn't met him before because she didn't seem to remember him, maybe she was visiting that year? She tells Adrian that Mr. Simon was her sister's dog, and Kelly hadn't been able to bury him so she had him stuffed, and maybe Trudy was doing a story about that because it is something people might consider strange. Then Kelly comes in and tells him that he's been back every year to ask about his wife's murder, which he doesn't remember. But her last entry into her apointment book that anyone is aware of is this one about Kelly Street. They don't give us any information aboiut what he might have found out previously, if anything, that he might be blocking out, just that he has been there before and this was what her last entry said. Also on the scrap of paper is a note in red ink 'P/U Drycleaning', in sort of lighter black ink 'Quincey's B-day' (assuminng this is how they know it was for the day before her murder, different inks indicate it was written at different times with different pens, and finally, in darker black ink, '530 Kelly Street' just below that in the same ink, and parallel to this is what looks like 're. ' with most of what follows missing, then below that, same ink, but on the line rather slanted across the page like the words above it, is 'Mr. Simon'. I wonder if this indicates that it was written at a different time from the stuff above it about Kelly Street and re. Though it could be rd. like the abbreviation for road. If she wrote the abbreviation for road, it wouldn't make sense for her to have written out the word Street unless it was the woman's last name. Could be nothing though.
Among the things that Adrian has at his home as evidence besides the scrap from the apointment book:
A watch
newspaper clippings from the days or weeks after the murder
photos of the crime scene
copies of the police reports
One Forensics lab report says that they also recovered hair, her watch, contents of her purse and clothing framents and has the date on the report as 11/11/97. That was on a Monday and one of the headlines said it was a Monday Morning when she was killed.
Headlines read:
Blast Kills Award Winning Columnist- Trudy Anne Monk was killed instantly when her car exploded this morning, nobody else was hurt, she was 35
Monk Murder Still Unsolved-Three months after Trudy Monk was killed in a car explosion, police are no closer to solving the crime says spokeman.
Explosion Rips Through Parkade Killing One- Unexplained blast at 9A.M. this morning killed journalist Trudy Anne Monk, police have no explanation. (this article has no date on it, neither did any of the others)
Detective's Wife Slain- Decorated detective in shock after hearing report.
No Links To Other Car Bombing Suspected - Detective Adrian Monk of the San Francisco Police has failed to produce evidence linking Monk car bombing with... (I can't read further than this, another paper is obscuring it)
We know that her birthday was on the tenth of a month, and that the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Monk, the clock in Kroger's office said 11 Tue. He said the day before was her birthday. The only times the 10th came on a Monday in 2005 were Jan and Oct. I am inclined to Think that Trudy's birthday was in Oct. Although Adrian has said more than once she was 34 years old, one of the papers said she was 35. This could be a writing glitch or possibly explained later on.
She played tennis and apparently graduated at the top of her class at the age of 15 ion 1977. She had a golden retriever named Ginger as a child and at one time also might have had a small white dog, a picture of her being licked by a little white dog can be seen on Adrian's bedside table at the end of Asylum
She went to Madrid with Janice Ellinghouse and wrote one story with her.
She buttoned the sheets to the comforter (or someone did in Adrian's memory of her in The Candidate).
I may think of more later
For more information on the Timelione in general, this link goes to my timeline page.
Monk Timeline