Missing Wedding Ring Finger

[euler]

The following lateral problem has tortured my sanity for many years now. It has a classic answer, and I have personally been through numerous other plausible answers, but I've been assured by a puzzle-meister that there is another answer. Even though I've still not discovered this "other answer" it is still a great example of a lateral problem and has many wonderfully creative solutions. Have fun with it...

A woman with her wedding ring finger missing and a man get off of a train, and are met by a man that they haven't seen for thirty years. He pulls out a gun and kills her. The police take no action. Why

[wwtucker]

I think I have it (you may not want to read this, Euler).

The woman is the shooter's wife. She wanted to run away with the man on the train, so she faked her own death by fire, using the wedding ring & attached finger. In doing so, she framed her husband for murder. It takes 30 years for the husband to get out of prison and track her down. The police take no action because he has already been convicted of the crime of murdering her and (supposedly) can't be tried again.

[euler]

Unfortunately the double jeopardy answer is the classic one I have already tried, and it's certainly one of my favourites. So I'm afraid my torment continues.

[wwtucker]

Now I get it - you already had the classic answer. That makes a lot more sense. Possible alternative answer:

The Police did not act because they (effectively) broke up sometime in the mid-80's.

[hk]

I'm sorry Winthrop, but you guessed wrong that this was about weddings.
However your mistake is quite comical.
I'll invalidate your links.
(In addition you have been banned by username and IP).

[drwhat]

Have you tried:
The police weren't there? And/or he killed the man as well for no witnesses.

In regards to lateral thinking puzzles. If you enjoy party games you might try to track down this one:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/ ... k-the-case

Its a neat party game where players take turn being the reader. The reader gets to read the answer to the puzzle ,usually involving 2-3 paragraphs of information. Then tells everyone else a one line like "A man is found dead in front of a fireplace with his neck broken. What happened?" Everyone else gets to ask only yes/no questions to try to figure out the whole story. It seems impossible at first, but given the 5-12 minute time limits you usually find the answer, once you finally hit upon the right track of questions.

In a way the game really reminds me of Project Euler. I often spend hours/days/weeks figuring something out till I finally hit upon the one idea/answer that leads me to the solution quickly.

[euler]

Grr! I'd managed to put this torturous teaser out of my mind! Sorry, jimm1909, I'm still no closer.

@drwhat: You're right. PE problems and lateral puzzles have a lot in common and I don't think it's a coincidence that both types of puzzle appeal to many of us.

[stimmer]

My best guess: (admittedly I saw 30 years and ring ringer and tried to make everything else fit around...)

The 'woman' is a mare. Horses don't have ring fingers - a horses' hoof is the middle digit. The fourth (and second) digit of the forelegs have mostly evolved away.

I don't know who the man is (a gelding? the owner?) Let's say he is the owner. The other man is a farmer or horse breeder or veterinary surgeon. Let's say the vet.

The horse was born 30 years ago. The to-be-owner went to the farm, the vet checked her over and she was ok, so the owner bought her and took her away, and she spent the next thirty years happily in green meadows and pastures, eating for 22 hours a day and doing whatever else horses do.

However, 30 years is the average lifespan for a horse, so let's assume she is now terminally ill, and the right thing to do is to have her put to sleep. The owner travels back to the original farm, and it just so happens that they see the original vet who is still in the same job after 30 years, and they haven't met in the meantime. He puts her down. The 'gun' could be a tranquillizer gun but could well be a pistol (even in this day and age it's often more humane to put a horse to sleep by shooting it.)

The police would obviously not take any action since it is a normal everyday thing.

Why on earth they were travelling by train i have absolutely no idea - maybe she had a morbid fear of horse boxes? And quite how this farm came to have its own railway station... I am scraping the barrel by this point... Although last year someone really did attempt to take a pony on a train, it was on the news!

[sivakd]

I think the answer is probably related to this movie (don't click the link if you don't want a clue) Double Jeopardy.

Nevermind, after posting it I saw above that it's not that .

[peedyoJ]

Maybe the killer is Hannibal & the policemen are Cannibals.....and mutually they agree on a feast later.....

OR

The woman is Paris Hilton.....and the Policemen concur that the world is a much better place without her......

[I-ku-u]

The following lateral problem has tortured my sanity for many years now. …

A woman with her wedding ring finger missing and a man get off of a train, and are met by a man that they haven't seen for thirty years. He pulls out a gun and kills her. The police take no action. Why

Well, given the "obvious" solution, I just thought of a different turn of events from the woman's efforts to come up with this:
As before, the woman sacrificed her wedding finger to frame her husband for her murder. However, he got the death penalty and was executed 30 years ago. When she was recently found alive, she was tried and convicted of murdering her husband and then sentenced to death. It was a prison train and her killer was also her husband's executioner. The man she was with could be her accomplice/lover (also sentenced to die) or (more appropriate, I think) a police escort and the officer worked the husband's case.

[Cameron.N]

Here's my take:
The woman was the police officer.

[thedoctar]

Maybe this works:

Expand

The man who gets of the train with the woman is her husband, but he has multiple personality disorder. He has two personalities, one a normal caring husband, the other a viscious violent mysogynist. His mysoginistic personality has flared up in the past (hence the missing ring finger of the wife) but with intesive therapy, he's managed to keep the violent persona at bay for over 30 years. The second man whom the couple meet when they get off the train is the mysogyinistic persona who has suddenly resurged because of a fight the couple got into last night. The man was carrying a gun because the couple thought the second persona was gone forever and they were travelling on the New York subway late at night where many criminals lurk; the gun was protection. After the woman's death and after the police arrive, the man reverts back to his normal personality, since his violent one has accomplished what it had set out to do. He is horror stricken by what has happened. The police know his circumstances after dealing with the case of assault and battery against his own wife more than thirty years ago when he bit off her wedding finger (symbolising the mysogynistic persona's rejection of the marriage), and thus take no action, as they know it was the other persona who committed the crime.

Inspired by Psycho.

[ultimatro]

Notice how it says that her wedding ring FINGER is missing. The man used her finger to pull the trigger and the police didn't look into it because it looked like a suicide. At least, that's what I think.

[euler]

The use of the missing finger is a nice angle as that is often ignored in solutions, so there may be some mileage in that. However, keeping a finger on ice for 30 years, being able to use it to place a solid print on the trigger, and explaining how her finger ended up separated from her body might be a challenge.

[extremeblueness]

I think I might have an answer in the working.

The woman is someone who was suspected for murder, but whose execution was suspended 30 years ago due to some evidence. However, the evidence has recently been cleared up and the man is her executioner.

[kenbrooker]

Along that sinister line, consider this (easier?) riddle --

"A girl attended the funeral of her own mother. There she met a guy whom she did not know.
He was her dream guy. She fell in love with him at first sight.
However, she never asked for his name or his number, and
afterwards could not find anyone who knew who he was.
A few days later the girl killed her own sister."

Why did she do it?

[pjt33]

The use of the missing finger is a nice angle as that is often ignored in solutions, so there may be some mileage in that. However, keeping a finger on ice for 30 years

is surely not implied at all by ultimatro's answer?