Briefing
Greetings, Special Agent.
So bit of a different task we got on our hands this time. The local Police Department has their hands full with a murderer. New cases every week, severed limbs and cut eyes and all, very horrible stuff. Due to the nature of the killings, public pressure is mounting and the city is rapidly panicking. Your task is simple, catch the killer. Below you’ll find the summary of the killings up until this point, the victims and timeline of events. Good luck on this one, there’s a lot of pressure on this.
As always, Special Agent, the contract is yours, if you choose to accept.
Materials
Step 01
What do all the victims have in common? Why are they being targeted? (one word answer)
Step 02
Alright not sure how you’re getting on with figuring out why these people are targeted, but we believe the killer just left us another clue. We received the follow message with 3 attached images: “You missed a few, they deserve to rest properly” Below are the images of the three locations, identify where these are so the local police units can look for bodies. We need the names of the locations.
Step 03
Excellent work on finding the locations, the state of the victims matches the killers MO exactly. In a twist of fate, or by the hands of the killer, we’ve received an anonymous tip regarding a video that surfaced. It’s on a completely new YouTube channel, no other content posted, we believe the account to be a sock puppet. We need you to find out the meaning of the video on this channel. Does this get us anywhere?
Step 04
Amazing job on finding the meaning of that message. Local PD wat chasing down a rabbit hole deep enough to come out China, excellent work. So we just got word of a new missing person, her name is Julia Morena, 35 years old from 210-200 W 4th St, Hinsdale, IL 60521. Julia never arrived for her evening shift at the hospital two days ago, her coworkers couldn’t reach her so they contacted her family. After getting nowhere, they contacted us. Please locate Julia and find out if her disappearance is related to the killings. We will need her location, dead or alive unfortunately. I suggest you keep an eye out in case the killer posts something about this.
Step 05
Alright so big hit today! There was a note found at the local university, people got suspicious at the request stated on this note and contacted the local police. The person stated on the note is not familiar at the university, the needed email address had also been cut off. We sent the original note for forensic analysis to the lab, this will however take several days. Attached below you find a typed out copy of the note as found in the university.
Step 06
After looking at CCTV footage, we have identified the killer to be Kaylee Ann Taylor, a 41 year old DevOps engineer at the university. Local police raided her residence, but found nobody there except her pets. Speaking to her neighbors, it turns out she left town and asked them to take care of her home for a while. So far we are investigating the house and surrounding area.
Local police has taken a laptop that was left behind, this device contained a lot of files that are being looked into. However, one file on the desktop immediately stood out. So far our Red Team has not brute-forced it yet, perhaps you can have a crack at it using your knowledge of the subject? In the meantime, we’ll be checking for credit card payments, cellphone calls and local traffic cameras’. BOLO went out already and all Chicago news outlets will plaster her face on every screen possible.
Find out where Kaylee Ann Taylor is hiding.
Answer Instruction
Use the answer to unlock the flagfile, this will reward you with your badge.
Find out where the killer is hiding.
Answer structure: name-of-location-zipcode-city-state-country
Answer sample: green-trees-motor-homes-12345-seattle-washington-usa
Flagfile
Be advised, the flagfile is an encrypted ZIP. Make sure your OS supports the ZIP format. Ensure the password contains no hidden characters or formatting, paste in Notepad first if the password doesn’t seem to work.
Creator(s): Frank Diepmaat