La Conner’s First Annual Mystery

Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 25, 2023, for the first annual La Conner murder mystery event, “The Case of the Slain Slough Swindler.” Join the fun as a sleuth as you search for clues around town and interview suspects on the street to solve the case.

Fictional Historical Storyline

In the mid-1870, covered wagons left Central City, Colorado, drawn by oxen and cows heading to the fertile lands of the Swinomish Chanel and the Skagit River. The trip averaged five months and 2,000 miles for a group of pioneers from their Roman Catholic Church. Each member had a common goal; purchasing land along the Swinomish Channel, considered the most fertile land in the United States. During their travels, they were challenged by cholera, snake bites, and drownings as they crossed rising rivers. Persevering, they shared their limited dry goods and meat from the abundant buffalo with whoever joined the caravan. When the eleven pioneers finally arrived at the Swinomish Channel and took a ship down to La Conner, they were filled with the reality that a new life awaited them. None of them expected that one of them would be murdered.

Friendships within the covered wagons were cautious at first, as their focus was the survival of their families. Nevertheless, new wagons joined the caravan, frequently taking their place after the last wagon. Eventually, they would leave the caravan and travel in different directions. One evening a woman ran outside the circle of wagons screaming, “My child is sick. Help me.” Pill Phil, a pharmacist, rubbed a thick ointment over the child’s neck and chest. Women came running with knit blankets, only to discover the child’s body was stiff and cold. The child was dead. Leif Lumbar, a future sawmill owner dug a grave for the child next to the family’s wagon. A slim man walked up dressed in a poncho made of buffalo fur and introduced himself as Sam. Standing next to the grave he tapped his pointer finger on a bible, whispered muffled words, touched the mother’s forehead with his finger, and walked away. Leif had only seen Sam once at the beginning of the trip two weeks ago.

Tickets to Participate and Solve this Case

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Thank you to our Sponsors

Beaver Tales Coffee
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Jennings Yarn
La Conner Seafood and Prime Rib House
Nasty Jacks Antiques
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Red Door Gifts
Sacred Cedar Co.
Santo Coyote Mexican Kitchen
Seaport Books
Skagit Cellars
Tillinghast Postal & Business Center
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