prime suspect
Chief person investigated
A prime suspect is the person investigators consider most likely to have committed a crime—the leading candidate among possible perpetrators.
The phrase appears constantly in crime reporting and detective fiction: Police have identified a prime suspect in the killing.
Someone can become the prime suspect through evidence, motive, or simply being the last person to see the victim alive.
Assign responsibility for wrongdoing
- responsibilityState of being answerable
- incriminationSuggesting someone's guilt
- implicationIndirect suggestion or consequence
- guiltMoral self-reproach
accusation · allegation · motive · opportunity · means · circumstantial · damning · planted evidence
Professional crime investigator
- forensicsScientific crime-scene analysis
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
- cluesHints toward answers
- interrogationFormal, probing examination
alibi · witness · testimony · crime scene · fingerprint · DNA · profiling · surveillance
Crime fiction identifying perpetrator
- red herringIntentional misleading distraction
- detectiveProfessional crime investigator
- sleuthPrivate investigator
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
thriller · twist · suspense · culprit · perpetrator · reveal · Agatha Christie · noir
Formal charge from jury
- arraignmentCharge-reading court session
- chargeCost or accusation
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- defendantParty facing charges
plea · defense · verdict · conviction · acquittal · cross-examination · trial · counsel
blame
Assign responsibility for wrongdoing
- responsibilityState of being answerable
- incriminationSuggesting someone's guilt
- implicationIndirect suggestion or consequence
guilt · accusation · allegation · motive · opportunity · means · circumstantial · damning · planted evidence · framed
detective
Professional crime investigator
interrogation · alibi · witness · testimony · crime scene · fingerprint · DNA · profiling · surveillance · autopsy
whodunit
Crime fiction identifying perpetrator
- red herringIntentional misleading distraction
- detectiveProfessional crime investigator
- sleuthPrivate investigator
mystery · thriller · twist · suspense · culprit · perpetrator · reveal · Agatha Christie · noir · cold case
indictment
Formal charge from jury
- arraignmentCharge-reading court session
- chargeCost or accusation
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
defendant · plea · defense · verdict · conviction · acquittal · cross-examination · trial · counsel · bail
- crime investigationdetective, whodunit, investigation, detectives, investigator
- mysteryclue, detective, clues, sleuth, whodunit
- true crimetrue crime, cold case, crime docs, unsolved mystery, murder mystery
- thriller tropesplot twist, red herring, cliffhanger, whodunit, femme fatale
- suspectsaccused, person of interest, alleged, perpetrator, culprit
prime suspectinnocent bystander
Uninvolved person harmed incidentally
ruled out · long shot · witness · red herring
prime suspectconvicted felon
prime suspectvictim
One harmed by another
injured party · complainant · accuser · witness · informant
prime, suspect, primal, primer, primary, primarily, primacy, primitive, primeval