What about Judge Hackman? The Judge knew Trudy and Monk and appears to have been close to them. Judge Hackman had dinner with Judge Lavinio the night she was murdered. And Judge Hackman appears to have had some relationship with Dale Biederbeck. In season 1, episode 4, "Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale", Dale seems to have known everything the police did whenever they would arrive at this home. The Judge seems to be very cautious in regards to the investigation of Mr. Biederbeck. Also, this was the first season, since the producers did not know if there would a second season, they had to have all the players make an appearance. Motivate, Trudy's investigation discovered "The Judge's" connection with Union Chief Ed Lindley and the corruption on the San Francisco docks. Is the "R" for Randy? Maybe, he was put in place right after Trudy's death. Why and my whom? The Judge? To keep tabs on the investigation? Who knows? It has been a wonderful series and I hate to see it go, but we will have 8 seasons on DVD.

This possibility has come up previously in some of the other blogs about who killed Trudy. This judge could be the guy....but we know so little about him otherwise who's to say. And if he is the judge...is there someone above him pulling his strings??? I understand that there are suppose to be some twists and turns...but that it will all be explained in the end...I think everyone has pretty much left it in the hands of the writers because there really are several possibilities of who is at the top of the chain of people who had Trudy killed. ....like...all the main characters and about at least 25 side characters introduced in that first season....and what if the writers changed their mind midway through as to who the killer was going to be...then we have several other interesting characters to look at....