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Deduction

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Try this Expert Deduction puzzle on ThePuzzleLabs.

EasyMediumHardExpertEinstein ⚡
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The Case

A diamond was stolen from a jewelry store's first-floor vault during a fire alarm evacuation (2:15–2:40 PM). Five employees were in the building: Rhea (third-floor office), Vince (second-floor stock), Petra (first-floor sales), Hans (first-floor security), and Sylvie (basement inventory). Case file EXPERT-001.

Who stole the diamond?

Evidence (9)

#1The fire alarm was pulled from the third-floor pull station at 2:15 PM.
#2Elevator log shows Rhea arrived on the third floor at 2:14 PM.
#3During evacuation, all employees were supposed to gather in the parking lot.
#4The parking lot headcount photo at 2:20 PM shows Petra, Hans, Sylvie, and Rhea. Vince is missing.
#5Vince claims he stopped at the second-floor bathroom before evacuating.
#6A neighbor's doorbell camera recorded someone matching Vince's description entering the building's west entrance at 2:18 PM. The west entrance is closest to the vault.
#7The vault was unlocked during business hours — it relies on security staff presence, not a lock, during the day.
#8Hans (security) was the first to reach the parking lot at 2:17 PM. He left his post at the vault when the alarm sounded.
#9Rhea and Vince were seen having lunch together earlier that day.

Suspects

Clues

Reveal the Solution?

This will show the answer and full deduction chain. The puzzle will be marked as "solved with reveal."

About expert deduction cases

Five suspects. Multi-step reasoning chains. Evidence that serves double duty — one clue might clear suspect A while simultaneously implicating suspect B through a non-obvious connection. Expert cases reward careful, methodical work and punish snap judgments.

The scenarios get more complex too. Instead of simple "who stole the thing" setups, you get situations with diversions, tampered evidence, and suspects who had both motive and opportunity but still didn't do it. The guilty party often isn't the most obvious suspect.

A good approach: map out what each suspect would need for their guilt to be possible, then check which theory holds up against all the evidence. Only one works. The rest hit a contradiction somewhere.

For the ultimate test, try Einstein — same complexity, fewer clues.