Mistaken for Murderer: Difference between revisions

In addition, a coincidental series of completely innocent accidents and [[Stab the Salad|happenings]] occur that seem to support that fear, often [[Rear Window Investigation|witnessed through a window]] in a direct homage/parody of the Hitchcock classic ''[[Rear Window]]''.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* A variant occurs in an episode of the anime miniseries ''[[Rumic Theater]]'', "Abberant Family F", where a girl is convinced the rest of her family plans to kill her and then commit group suicide during a family vacation.

** {{spoiler|Keiichi himself believes that Rena and Mion are out to kill him in the first arc. They make threatening remarks, reference another student's similar behaviour before "transferring", creepily show up at his house at night, and even try to inject him with a drug implied to be the same one used to murder Tomitake. [[Batter Up|What happens afterwards]]... Of course, this was all in Keiichi's head, exacerbated by an extreme case of [[Hate Plague]]. The things said by Rena and Mion were all either misunderstood or [[Unreliable Narrator|made up entirely by Keiichi's decaying sanity]].}}

* In ''[[Deadman Wonderland]]'', Ganta is framed for murder {{spoiler|slaughtering his entire class}} and is sentenced to death in a [[Kangaroo Court]] {{spoiler|his lawyer is actually head of the prison he goes to}}. Although {{spoiler|Ganta ''can'' kill people the way his classmates were murdered, his powers weren't activated until just after the slaughter}}.

== Comicbooks ==

* Happens to David Warrant from ''[[Quantum and Woody]]'', whom Quantum believes engineered the accident that transformed himself and Woody and granted them super powers. In reality, David was trying to shut down the reactor and ''prevent'' the accident.

 

 

* In ''Eight Days a Week'', Peter's elderly neighbour is often seen pushing his chairbound wife around the neighbourhood. Then he suddenly stops, and at the same time, Peter notices that the neighbour is bringing shovels and other tools into his house and leaving with black garbage bags during the night. Naturally, Peter suspects that the neighbour has killed his wife and is getting rid of the body. As it turns out {{spoiler|the wife has gotten too ill to leave the house, and her husband is secretly building an illegal pool in their living room, [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|so that they will be able to relive their exotic honeymoon before she dies]].}}

* {{spoiler|Double}} subverted in ''The Burbs'', in which nosy neighbors become convinced that the folks who just moved in are [[Ax Crazy]] maniacs because they act creepy.

* ''[[Tucker and Dale vs. Evil]]'' plays this comedically, with the titular protagonists finding themselves mistaken for slasher villains after a series of misunderstandings by a group of college kids.

* In the opening scene of ''[[Urban Legend]]'', a woman mistakes a gas station attendant for this (or a rapist, it's not entirely clear), when he was really trying to warn her about the murderer {{spoiler|hiding in the back seat of her car}}.

 

== Literature ==

* The ''[[Redwall]]'' novel ''Salamandastron'' had one of the protagonists, a squirrel named Samkim, get in trouble earlier in the book for nearly hitting a fellow Redwaller with a wayward arrow. The next morning a different Redwaller is killed by a pair of stoats that the Redwallers had taken in as they were fooling around with bow and arrows that were intended to be used in an archery contest. Samkim comes down the stairs and finds the guy, tripping over a bow as he did so. Another Redwaller then comes down the stairs and sees it, though luckily he isn't punished as the infirmary keeper vouches that Samkim had been in the infirmary the entire night and never left it.

* Lemony Snicket, author of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'', is attempting to clear his name of arson during the writing of the books.

== Live-Action TV ==

* Not murder, but an episode of [[Drake and Josh]] has Josh playing a robber in a TV reenactment, and subsequently and repeatedly being mistaken for the robber.

{{quote| '''Helen:''' Fay's the sweetest, kindest, gentlest person I've ever met.<br />

'''Brian:''' Oh, that's what every homicidal maniac's neighbor says about them. "He was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man I have ever met. Was very quiet. Always said 'Hello.' Helped me build a dog pen." Just once I would like to hear them say: "He was a raving lunatic. I feared for my life. ''I WAS JUST WAITING FOR THE CHAIN-SAW TO COME RIPPING THROUGH THE WALL!!!"'' }}

** Lampshaded magnificently by Fay at the end of the episode:

{{quote| '''Fay''': If I was going to kill you, I'd never poison you. I'd just tamper with the fuel gauge on the plane and let you sink like a stone somewhere over Nantuckett Sound. I'm only kidding... but I do know how.}}

* Another ''[[Rear Window]]'' knock-off was one of the subplots of ''[[That 70s Show]]'' Halloween episode.

* The first episode of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' (1951) was titled "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her".

* On ''[[Newhart]]'', Dick is suspected of murdering Joanna after he writes a murder-mystery novel with characters based on himself and people he knows.

* Done in an episode of the short-lived Olsen twins vehicle ''[[Two of a Kind]]''.

* ''[[Kenan and Kel]]'' mistook Kenan's boss Chris as a mob hitman.

* It happened twice in Seinfeld. When Kramer moves to Los Angeles, there's a whole story arc based on the police there mistaking him for a serial killer. Also, there's one episode where a guy who owns Seinfeld money gets his toes broken by him (acidentally), ends up in the trunk of his car (acidentaly), and assumes from a conversation he hears between Jerry and Elaine that they're planning on killing a woman.

** In yet another episode, Elmyra's brother (who has been watching ''[[Rear Window]]'') believes his neighbor is a murderer when he thinks he spots parallels between the movie and said neighbor.

* In "Spookyfish", a ''[[South Park]]'' Halloween episode, Stan is mistaken for a murderer by his mother, when in fact the murderer is his pet goldfish. Instead of being afraid of him, she attempts to protect him by burying the bodies and locking a police officer in the basement (without any pants, for some reason). Stan's father takes everything surprisingly well.

* Terry has to [[Clear My Name|clear his name]] of killing Mad Stan in the ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' episode "Eyewitness". {{spoiler|He was framed by Spellbinder, the villain who specializes in technologically-induced hallucinations. Mad Stan wasn't even dead}}.

* In an episode of ''[[Goof Troop]]'' ("For Pete's Sake"), Pete reads a letter from Goofy and thinks that Goofy is out to kill him. It turns out that {{spoiler|Goofy was getting him a new hedge clipper in place of the one that Pete had accidentally broken; and that Pete had torn open the envelope, and the letter, improperly.}}

* [[The Cleveland Show]] where he thought Holt had killed his mother. He was actually trying to bury his blowup sex doll.