It was Captain Stottlemeyer. You don't need to believe me, you can debate it all you want, but you'll see. On the season finale, it will be known that Stottlemeyer was in fact, the one who killed Trudy. I won't tell you why, because I don't want to ruin the story, also don't ask how I know this, because I won't be back. I just wanted to spoil this for everyone.

LOL out loud...

Remember your doubt when it happens.

Do you honestly think it's going to be someone brand new introduced in this season? Better yet, do you think it's going to be a character that was already introduced, but wasn't given enough push for anyone to remember? No, it won't be. This is how television shows are. Especially mysteries. I understand your doubt, I was the same way before I actually got involved with television, and knew how everything worked.

Again, watch when it happens. I'm just glad I quoted this message. I'll make sure to come back after the series finale and laugh at you.

Methinks you are already lyin' cuz you said you wouldn't be back but you posted again as soon as someone responded!

Okkay

statistically you may be right.it will definitely not be a new character
but let me play Monk for a moment:

1. there is no motive. You may argue that Monk took all the spotlight as stottlemeyer's partner, and the captain wanted the spotlight. but:
1a. the captain was there in the hospital with monk. he would not do that if he hated monk so much as to kill trudy
1b. the captain would never hire monk
1c. the captain had no way to know monk would have a psychotic breakdown. cops, especially like stottlemeyer, do not take longshots such as this
1d. if the captain wanted the spotlight so badly he would have killed monk
1e. the captain WANTS monk to solve the case. if he didnt, he would never have helped Monk at times such as Mr. Monk Goes to Jail, Mr. Monk takes Manhatten, or Mr. Monk is on the Run (1 and 2)

2. character connections
2a. we know Warrik Tennyson was given $2000 to build a bomb for Frank Nunn, who was hired by "The Judge." The fact Rollins killed Frank means they had some past connection, which connects to Dale the Whale. i am not saying it was Dale (in fact i believe it WASNT him). but there has to be a connection
2b. based on 2a, Stottlemeyer would need to have some friendly connection to Dale. Monk and Stottlemeyer despise Dale. Also, since Dale knew some things, stottlemeyer would have shut him up already

3. statistical logic as to who it MAY have been
3a. Trevor (Sharona's husband).
3ai. we know trevor cheated on sharona. maybe one of those affairs was with trudy (before Monk and trudy were married, maybe). and trevor killed trudy to prevent her from talking when he wanted to see her again
3aii. based on 3ai, we have a new reason to have sharona return (and we all know she will)
3aiii. the old "introduced, then forgotten" character. but since we know about trevor, he is a possible suspect
3b. Harold krenshaw
3bi. maybe they ran into each other at some other point in time, and Harold was jealous of trudy so he killed her
3bii. less likely than 3a
3c. dr. bell
3ci. perhaps the original plan was dr. kroger (RIP, bless his soul), but he passed. so they changed it to dr. bell
3cii. motive = money. monk pays him all the time. he knows he is paying and he is doing so willingly. but "you know that even a lot of money is never enough" (Leland Stottlemeyer, Mr. Monk and the Little Monk (i may have misquoted)

note: i am not saying it is impossible to have been stottlemeyer. i am simply giving logic as to other suspects who sound more likely

Okay, I wasn't going to come back because honestly, I expected to be getting retarded responses. I was pleasantly surprised when I got some answers that made sense. (See the one above me). The first post was just annoyance at someone being completely closed minded, especially when I have it from good Intel that Stottlemeyer is the killer. He doesn't have any motive (THAT WE KNOW OF). You'll see his motive when they reveal that fact.

Can't wait for the season finale.

Edit: Tonyfan, you're from Hungary? Where about? My family is from Hungary. Can you send me a private message? I'd love to learn some stuff about my family's homeland.

I think Monk somehow accidentaly killed Trudy. That's why he can't remember anything after the explosion.

OK, I just saw a commercial with a collage of scenes for Season 8, including one in which Monk is accusing someone of killing Trudy, and I just got this distinct feeling he was talking about Leland. It happens sometimes when I am watching a show - my subconscious calculates and churns up answer and it just bubbles up like an intuition. It is not always right, but it has predicted some odd yet accurate outcomes. There was just something in Monk's look and tone in that footage - anger and shock in the accusation. I agree that logically and based on the evidence from the past seven seasons, this makes absolutely NO sense and there is a lot to be argued against it. A whole lot. So I decided to check what fans are saying and found this forum and look at the top thread - a post claiming it is Captain Stottlemeyer. Weird. I don't believe it is Leland, and it would be really awful if it was. It would ruin the whole series, seeing Trudy's murderer palling around with him in every episode. One could argue he took care of Monk out of guilt, but that is weak, and doesn't comport with the full character displayed by the captain and his loyalty and affection to his friend. But still, the scene did give that "How could you do that to me and to Trudy?" vibe, so I agree it will probably not be a new character or even a one-shot character with a bit part. In a way, Biedenbeck is too obvious, but maybe that's the point. I noticed there is an old "Who killed Trudy?" thread last updated in 2007 and listing some fascinating but outdated ideas. It doesn't seem like there are any really strong front-runners so far.

Since the episode revealing Trudy's killer has not yet been filmed you couldn't have seen anything in the collage about it yet. In fact the "Say her name, Trudy" clip, if that's the one you're referring to, isn't directed at the killer at all.

I can buy the Trevor-killed-her theory, but not Leland, Randy, Sharona or Natalie. The nature of these characters is such that making them the murderer would totally go against the characterizations that we've seen since the beginning of the series. If you want my honest opinion, I think it was Keyser Soze.

Aha, good to know! No, it wasn't the say her name clip. I don't know where the footage was from. But like I said, I don't think every weird idea that pops into my head is right. I was just surprised to see someone making the claim that this particular weird idea was true.

I'm sorry, I don't usually like to be rude, but this has got to be the most ludicrous, stupid thing I have ever read here. At least it's in the top three.

Yeah, you come back after the series finale so we can laugh at you.

I might just suggest that as in the past and like the unfortunate way that some of this forum board has gone,this could be just another attempt by someone to create a war. So since we have an established family and for the most part, know each other. Let's be careful not to feed the "evil wolf", ( the fam knows what I reference here) I if the intent is indeed to start factions. We don't know the intent, though it sounded less friendly than anything else, so let's play it safe and cut this thread out of our minds. What ever the outcome no one should be laughing at anyone in the end.
If you feel I've misspoken, I won't know it because I'll not subscribe to this thread. You can PM me if you like. Thanks.

Oh! You mean the commercial with the clip where he's saying, "I think you killed her," right? Okay, yeah, that clip was from the very first season, Dale the Whale. Dale (the Adam Arkin version of Dale) asked "What do you think, Monk?" about what happened to Judge Katherine Levinio (spelling?).

wow thanks. i also remembered some scene like that. you were right, that IS the scene i talked about

I'm almost certain it isn't Stottlemeyer as well for all the reasons listed; if he hated Monk or Trudy that much, he would have pounded their faces in right in public. Knowing John Turturro can't make it for the finale also means it isn't Ambrose, which I'd had a sneaking suspicion about for a while on the grounds that he might have secretly loved Trudy and decided that if he couldn't have her, no one would. Don't discard Disher or Natalie just yet, though; we only know small fragments of where they were before they came into Monk's life (and consider the reverse psychology Monk used in Lady Next Door; much as no one would want to see it that way, admittedly myself included, the fact is that in many ways so far Natalie has come across from a certain point of view as TOO caring and saintly, almost to the point of arousing suspicion in this circumstance. But I do hope I am wrong there.)

It's weird, but ever since I started watching Monk (only about a year ago, but I've caught up on all the episodes) I thought that Stottlemeyer did it. I never wanted to post that because I didn't want to get anybody mad at me, especially on my first post. He seems the least likely to have done it, but maybe that's why I think he did. Maybe jealousy was his motive? I do think it's someone we already know, even if it's not Stottlemeyer. Oh, and I absoltutely love the show, and wish I had started watching it much earler than I did.

The only people who know who the killer is are those connected with the show and so far, since the script is still being written, that only includes the writers room. No one connected with the show would risk their job and reputation by posting this spoiler on a public message board at this time. If the original poster is connected to the show he deserves to be fired. If he isn't connected to the show he is in no position to know who the killer is. If he means he knows because he's such an expert on all things television that he can accurately predict the outcome of this particular series, I call shenanigans.

i highly disagree with it being natalie. for one thing traylor came to the show mid season 3 after bitty quit. so there was no way to know traylor would be there

on the other hand, even though you are right about it not being ambrose, i neglected to think he may have had something to do with the case (remembering the fact she was to bring him cough drops.
a theory could be this:





welcome to watching monk and the monk forum

Well, I think we can disprove it was a few people..
Sharona - she had nothing to do with Monk until his breakdown, if I'm thinking straight.
Natalie - " "
Randy - didn't he work some place else on the force? Remember in "Mr. Monk goes to a Wedding" Randy was tracking that black widow in some other town. I don't remember how long it was before he joined the SFPD. But what would his motive be anyway to kill her?
Leland - he worked along side Monk, and as stated earlier, he may have been in Monk's shadow. But if he really hated Monk, wouldn't he just kill him, and not go through all this hoop-la of knowing the 6-finger guy, and the sheriff (which, by the way, he doesn't even seem to know in "On the Run" Why would he investigate a dirty cop if it would link back to him eventually?)

Of course, Leland isn't out of the question. As many people have pointed out, he is Monk's friend... But in many episodes the killers try to help out Monk, or befriend him, etc. Such as:
"Mr. Monk Makes a Friend"
"Mr. Monk's Favorite Show"
"Mr. Monk on Wheels"
"Mr. Monk's 100th Case"
"Mr. Monk is Underwater"
"Mr. Monk Buys a House"
"Mr. Monk Paints his Masterpiece"
"Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank"
etc. etc. from the most recent ones.

So, the killer befriending Monk isn't out of the question. But I do think the top three above, are.

What I think about the murder:
So far we have the six-fingered man (I can't remember his name), the sheriff, and Dale the Whale, and "The Judge" they are connected.

But why?

I sometimes think it has to do with Trudy's job. Wasn't she a journalist, or something? Maybe she wrote an article on someone and before she could pass it in for publication, he (or she) killed Trudy. Maybe she investigated on something/someone, and was about to reveal the truth.
But I don't know, I don't want it ruined until the series finale, in December!

This is just a theory and probably stupid lol but i think monk killed her. Now he is worried about touching almost anything like he was leaving evidence. And killing trudy would leave such an emotional shock that he would repress memories.

Cool. I didn't know where the scene came from, but it jolted me to think "his best friend did it!". That definitely explains why the anger/confrontational energy of that scene. As I initially wrote, though, I can think of a ton of reasons why I absolutely don't believe Leland is guilty and why it would ruin the whole show for me. I thought I would pop by and see who the fellow fans thought it was, not expecting anyone to take it seriously.

I enjoyed the older thread with speculations and scenarios like Kelly Street. So here is the start of a new one others can fill in...

I know some people are thinking that because Trudy was a reporter, she might have had some info (or someone suspected she had info) about a crime and was killed over it, but then, that angle was already explored with the fake Trudy. Another big angle in these stories is that someone would be able to tell someone or something fake from the genuine. But I usually only watch each episode once and can't recall every detail, so I don't know who or what Trudy would have known was fake that no one else would have. Other than Monk himself, which makes no sense.

Hi everyone!

It has been quite awhile since I have been here, I was dealing with some major medical problems with me and my mom. I missed everybody here and couldn't let Monk end without coming back to visit with you all.

I am wondering if Dale the whale knew that the Judge killed Trudy and feeling bad for Monk he killed her in revenge. Maybe Trudy uncovered something about the judge and was going to reveal it. Perhaps a connection between her and Dale and that would ruin her career. Since we know that Trudy was investigating Dale and we know that Monk recognized the picture of the Judge in the episode and Dale went out of his way to let Monk know that he had the Judge killed. Why did he do that? He could have had her killed without the fat suit and making sure he was seen. It would be too much of a coincidence that he was involved with judge and then tells monk that they called them the judge.

I don't think that Dale knew that the person behind Trudy's murder was called 'The Judge' before Monk told him at the end of On the Run 2. He seemed surprised when Monk told him. And I don't think Dale would have felt bad for Monk and killed anyone for him, that just doesn't seem to be in his nature. What does seem to be in his nature is trying to find out information about Trudy before Monk does and keeping it from him, holding it over his head and maybe using it as leverage again like in Goes To Jail. Dale values privileged information more than just about anything. It enables him to control people and situations. That's why he was watching everything on the TVs in his room before he was arrested, he loves the internet (great source of information), and remember when he was calling asking the politician's aid (Danny, I think his name was) if he was in or out, and telling some coach or someone to take a baseball player out of the game. He likes to control people and he likes having information they don't have.

I think Sharona did it. And she was told to be around and not letting him improve after his breakdown, to avoid him discovering the truth.
I also think she left Monk without previous warning because Trevor discovered it, and was and still is blackmailing her to get her back home. Trevor is a bad guy, poor Benjy....
She - Sharona - has some connection with someone Trudy knew way before her marriage, on a trip she made to France with a girlfriend. In this trip, Trudy got some evidences of a big scheme, something really big that would've changed USA's political history course.
Trudy didn't share it with Monk, 'cause of his profession, and she kept on searching ways to prove the thing she discovered. This scheme was led by a person, known as Judge, who discovered Trudy's intrusion and decided to finish it as soon as possible. and hired Sharona, who had a big thing on her past with this Judge person, and to avoid exposion, accepted the task to kill Trudy and then 'take care' of her husband, avoiding him to discover all the dirty under the carpet.
Trevor dscovered it somehow, and is now blackmailing Sharona to have her home again, wihout noticing how evil she is!


Mi

I don't want you to be right. I don't. I don't. I don't.

Of course it should be noted that they weren't always so close... remember the first few episodes where Leland was wary of bringing Monk on and of letting him back on the force.

From the third episode on, I have always thought Dale the Whale killed Trudy. He seems to know so much about Adrian and Trudy and just seems so sneaky.

There is no way Stottlemeyer did it. No. Way.

i don't really like captain stottlemeyer, but i don't think he's the Killer, How do you Know?????????????????????

Ironically...me too! I get that weird intuition a lot too with shows/movies before they air or I see them. And while I remember that scene too, it still -beyond reason- made me think "OMG LELAND DID IT!" I screamed it in my head. Crazy huh? So I'm glad I'm not alone in having thought that. I think it would ruin it for me too and there are, like you said, a million reasons why it shouldn't be him, but at this point, anything's fair game. I remember thinking a few times before that maybe it's Leland after all this time. Then again, I've also wondered about Randy, Sharona and Trevor...especially Sharona.

I mean, who knows. Didn't one of the writers say once they've always known who the killer was? What if it was meant to be Sharona, but then she unexpectedly left. Maybe that would explain they're doing all they can to get Bitty back...and right before the finale. After all, are we certain that we'll find out in the finale? We could very well find out prior to the wrap up in the finale. Still, this is what keeps it from being 100 percent Sharona in my mind. Even if it's not Sharona, I don't think we can have any doubt that she has a piece of very much needed evidence to bring back with her...

On another note. Do you think the writers have been leaving us clues all these years, hear and there, and want us to figure it out? Or do you think it's something that we just have to wait to see and if anyone "solves" the case, it will only be by a lucky guess?

While a reasonable theory--certainly there is the matter of her infamous temper to take into account--the only question is, where would she have gotten the money to pay Nunn and Tennyson and/or any other low persons on the totem pole we may not still know about? Unless as laid out in your theory the Judge would have handed her all the necessary funds (in which case I'd have to wonder if it might have been Dexter Gold if true given their uncomfortable connection), she probably wouldn't have had enough of a cash flow at the time to have done it.

In which case, to go back to my earlier point sensitive though it may be, Natalie WOULD have had such a cash flow available if she needed it; she could easily have tricked her family into giving it to her for whatever fake reason (since she clearly has a good rapport with her brother, it's likely in such a scenario he would have coughed it up, under the table if necessary, without asking too many questions). And she also has shown what could be seen as flashes of a dangerous rage if seen a certain way (case in point: although she was entirely right to force Monk to tell the truth about the murder in Garbage Strike, the rather forceful way she made him do it suggests that there just might be something unsettling under the surface. And since it seems many a time she has to have it her way or not at all, one could jump to the conclusion she's not exactly the person we've been led over 5 years to believe her to be. True, one would have to wonder what the rationale would have been to ax Trudy, and it is a hard one to figure out (the best one I can come up with at the moment: Trudy did a piece at Mitch's base for something or other that Monk only knew about in passing, Natalie was in fact sleeping with Albright, knew someone else at the base might have known and might have leaked it to Trudy (poignantly in this case, they wouldn't have), panicked because she didn't want the perfect world she'd crafted to come crashing down, and decided to ice Trudy to make absolutely sure she'd never be exposed. Weak, yes, but unless something positive comes up to clear her, we can't discount her).

Going back to the rest of the list of suspects, we can also discount Karen (her personal stance in life makes it clear she'd never even touch a bomb; plus, if she had been up to something suspicious at the time, Stottlemeyer would have investigated), the Ellisons (unless they pull a real shocker on us, they'd never harm a hair on their daughter's head), and Jack Sr. (clearly he had no idea Trudy existed until his met his son again; even if he did he has no motive). Anyone else, though, is still in fair play until the denoument, so let's stay tuned...

This theory is obviously by someone who has no idea who Sharona is or what a huge part she played in Monk's recovery. She helped him come out of a catatonic state and encouraged his becoming a police consutant. She was his only real support in the beginning. If she wanted to keep him from solving the case, all she would have had to do was nothing at all.


Don't be a Sharona-hater, Mi. It's an ugly thing. Sharona had no more to do with Trudy's death than Natalie did.

The one person who I most feel comfortable ruling out has at times been the most likely suspect. If Biederbeck was "the Judge" he would have enjoyed holding it over Adrian, teasing him and playing with him more than he has. He is already in prison for murder among other things - why deny himself the pleasure of destroying the man who has put him there and made sure he will likely never leave?

You know, here's an interesting thought, reading about different people talking about the writers possibly leaving clues and whatnot. Have the writers told any of the cast who the killer is? I think I read somewhere they haven't shot the final episode (which I assume is when everyone will know who killed Trudy). Will the writers keep it very hush-hush from the actors until the scene where the truth is revealed, to get the actors' genuine reaction? Or am I just being silly? Like for example in MASH the episode when Henry Blake's chopper went down, the actors did not know what was going to happen and their reactions were genuine; not acting. Do you think the Monk writers will do something similar, especially with Tony?

i think it's eather the Captain or someone we don't know about.

If it is him we can become official psychic detectives.

Okay, okay, what about this:

A.)What if it was one of the characters that we know and love, but they didn't do it on purpose? Like, like... "A Sound of Thunder" you know, the guy steps on the butterfly in the past and it affects the whole course of humanity. What if one of our beloved characters did it without even knowing it? Like some weird chain of events that ties it all together, but if it were that case, it would be really hard for Monk to overcome his feelings, at least that's what I think, even if it were the Captian or Natalie or Sharona.

B.) What if it wasn't meant for Trudy at all, like she got in the way but it was meant for someone else... like Monk, can we dissmiss the idea that the bomb was intended for Monk?

C.) [In response to B.] What if Trudy was going to be killed anyway? So in the end it didn't matter that they killed her then or now, they were still going to off her somehow.

If eiter theory is flimsy because of prior episodes, please tell me, as you can see I'm more of a Psych fan, but I do watch both Monk and Psych back to back.

It depends. One of the pieces of information Monk received from Dale "the Whale" Biederbeck is that the bomb was meant for Trudy ("Mr. Monk Goes to Jail", at the end of Season 2). Until then, Monk had always assumed the bomb was meant for him. While Dale is a villain who loathed Adrian and Trudy and still hates Adrian, his other information about the case has been shown to be correct so far.

New to the forum and I specifically joined to hear the theories about who killed Trudy. I've always suspected it's someone close to him. My daughter has always insisted it was Sharona, and just recently I started thinking it could be the Captain. He's always pulling Monk onto cases, so maybe it's to distract Adrian. This past episode with the Foreign Man, he was especially upset that Monk was pulled back to Trudy's case. But then it could just be paranoia on my part. It could be anyone..... I'll either say, "I knew it" but I really don't or it will be a complete surprise. I don't think there are any clues from past episodes because they don't know themselves. The murderer will be pulled from a hat, so to speak, by the writers and conveniently weaved in by hindsight. That's my theory....

i think it'll be a one shot character. Tennison and the six fingered man were all one off characters, and the judge will probably be as well. It'll might be someone Monk knows, and maybe Stotts and perhaps, but even less likely, Randy.

Another reason it won't be Sharona is that they're bringing her back to give her a proper goodbye. If they were gonna bring her back to make her the killer or even involved with the murder/cover up, I doube Bitty would do it.

As for Stottlemeyers involvement in the murder and the theory that he brings him onto cases to keep him dstracted, that's nonsense. The reaction that Stotts gave in this ep was that he was concerned for Monk, because the case was so close to the Trudy case. and some of you who have neglected to watch the first 3.5 seasons, in the earlier episodes, it was people over the Captain's head that was pulling him onto the case. Everyone close to Monk wants him to solve the case: Nat, Sharona, Randy, the Captain, Dr. Bell and Dr. Kroger.

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I have to agree with this post. I also saw the same scene and thought of Leland...I think it was the look on Monks face and the way he said "You killed Trudy". I'm not sure of the motive either so guess I'll just have to wait and see what it was/is.

Except that Leland went with him to New York to talk to Warrick Tennyson, and he fought for him with the New York cops and the DA's office to try to make sure that Adrian got the chance to speak to Tennyson before he died. He even left the room to allow Adrian to speak with Tennyson in private, which would have been risky if he was the one responsible.

I just really don't think it could be him. I mean, shows have made some illogical turns before, like Kutner avoiding the Death Cat on House one week, then committing suicide a couple of weeks later, but that isn't nearly as much of a U-turn or an inprobability as having Leland be there, helping Adrian out for eight seasons only to find out that he was the one who killed Trudy in the last episode.

Besides, there's really no motive or reason behind it. Someone mentioned that Adrian was getting all the limelight, but that doesn't make sense because Leland wasn't in a competition with Adrian, he was of a higher rank, even if he wasn't a captain yet (and he may have been). If he was already a captain at that point, or even if he was still more like second in command, every case Adrian solved made his department look good. Adrian said himself, he isn't an ambitious man, he isn't really a leader, and while he can work on a team, usually he does better on his own, so it's not as if he was going to get promoted over Leland. Leland is more of a leader and commander and a team player. No matter how many cases Adrian solved, I just don't buy that as a plausible motive for Leland to kill Trudy. It makes no sense at all. Adrian is off the force, the solve rate drops, Leland's department doesn't look good and none of the detectives in the department look good.

So I have serious doubts about Leland being the guy. I seriously doubt that it's Randy, Sharona, Natalie, Trevor, Mitch, Dr. Kroger, Dr. Bell, Kevin, Julie, or Benjy either for various reasons.

Boy, I see so much wasted time on this thread. It is so unbelievable. "Monk" is a sweet, humorous comedy. It certainly would be interesting if someone like Sharona or the Captain was the murderer, but it would be an entirely different show. One interesting episode would degrade the earlier 123 episodes. Logic and story line aside, it would hurt the shows popularity and markedly lower the value of the syndication rights of the show if the last episode was so noir. It would be anything but a comedy. How could anyone stand to watch or enjoy prior episodes filled with the love, camaraderie and warmth between the characters if one of them was a secret murderer of Monk's wife? Never will happen.

It could be Randy.

He is just a little too clueless, but when the stuff hits the fan he's got the Captain's back like a pro.

I hope it's not Randy.

Randy was in Philadelphia in at least as late as June 21, 1997, and he most likely didn't come to work for the SFPD till after Trudy was killed, from what they said in Wedding. And in the Other Woman episode, he said he'd been working with the captain for four years, I believe, so it would seem that he transferred to replace Monk when he went on leave after Trudy's murder.

I used to keep a timeline for things like this on the show, but I eventually stopped updating it because of the inconsistencies on the show. The site is still here just hasn't been updated in a couple of years.

I don't hate her, Crystal, I was just trying to prove to myself that a stupid theory as the one I posted could raise up fans' anger. I know it wasn't her, or Leland.

And I like Sharona, not so much cause she left Monk alone and hurted him , but she was very important for him, and she's a great character, raising her kid on her own, living with a thorn in her heart caused by Trevor and helping Monk through all his worst period of 'recovering'.

")
Mi

I'm new to the board and don't know if this has been suggested before, but could it be Marci, Mr. Monk biggest fan?