Who Killed Ben Glenroy in Only Murders in the Building Season 3?
Spoilers ahead through episode nine!
At the very end of season two of Only Murders in the Building, Paul Rudd's character Ben drops dead. In the first episode of season three, we watch these events unfold again—Ben does collapse, seemingly poisoned, but then comes back to life at the hospital before he is killed again at the Arconia. So who killed Ben Glenory? We're going to rule out the three main characters—Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver (Martin Short)—because if the show wants to keep coming back for more seasons, they have to keep their core trio intact (and out of jail).
Below, the list of suspects for who killed Ben Glenroy in Only Murders in the Building season three. We've presented this list in order of most to least likely (and will be updating throughout the season), but there's also a chance there were multiple killers at play this season. One could've poisoned Ben, and another could've pushed him. Here's our theories on each suspect:
Donna
Would Donna kill to protect her son's first production from being a flop? As one redditor noted, "The reviewer lady mentioned knowing and meeting the producers at Ben’s funeral. This suggests she knows them and i suspect we’ll find out later she let one or both of them know about her review before ben’s murder and this specifically is related to his first murder attempt on stage - to preserve the producer son’s image for his first production but effectively just ending it before it could be bad."
This theory proved to be kind of correct: In episode nine, Oliver realizes that she probably saw the bad review in advance. In addition, Donna probably sent Ben cookies, and she probably poisoned them, too.
Cliff
Was Cliff frustrated with Ben, his play's star, who always forget his name and called him "boy"? Perhaps there's something darker lurking underneath his exterior.
Maybe after his mom tried (and failed) to kill Ben, he finished the job by pushing him down the elevator shaft. As one redditor guesses, "The hankie was Cliff's. Since there appeared to be lipstick on it in addition to the blood, it was his mom's, wiping off her kiss. Ben likely went into a bit of a rage when he realized that Donna poisoned him with the cookie (Dr. C was likely calling to tell him he was poisoned) and Cliff pushed him to save her from him."
Loretta
Here's our main question: How else did Only Murders in the Building cast Meryl freakin' Streep? Is it for a juicy role of a murderer?
Streep plays Loretta, a struggling actress cast in Oliver's play. After Ben's poisoning, he makes amends with everyone, but he tells Loretta: "CoBro knows a fellow snake when he sees one." She quickly leaves the party, saying, "Ben may be back, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a fucking asshole," and is clearly annoyed at him. Is she mad he didn't die? Why is Loretta a snake? Does she have it out for Ben?
We later learn that Loretta is Dickie's mom, and kept tabs on him throughout his career, and that it's likely she wrote "Fucking Pig" on Ben's mirror. She also confesses to the murder in episode eight, to protect Dickie, so she's probably not the murderer—but maybe she did have a part in his death.
Tobert
Documentarian Tobert, played by Jesse Williams, became more suspicious in episode five. One redditor hypothesizes, "He brought Mabel on a date under false pretenses, and is trying to get everything she knows. He is trying to put suspicion on Jonathan, who met up with the suspicious Dr C at a table in the back of the restaurant. Tobert crashes into a waiter and it's on purpose. He sees he is a suspect on the board, and we get a sample of his writing."
But since he follows Ben around, he had access to kill him, and possibly know his secrets.
In episode three, he tells Mabel a story about witnessing a baby elephant struggle. One redditor wrote, "I'm definitely still keeping a close eye on him. When he was talking about his elephant dilemma, it definitely made me think he witnessed something happen to Ben and didn't intervene." Another guessed, "I find Tobert too obvious to really suspect him, but I imagine his elephant story will come into play again. Maybe he saw Ben mistreat someone, & unlike in Botswana, he decided to act this time & killed him to protect them.."
Dickie
Dickie is Ben's manager-brother who seems perpetually stressed, and has the most access to Ben. We are definitely suspicious. He's now Loretta's manager, and doesn't seem to be all shaken up about his brother's untimely death.
He does seem to have a solid alibi for his death, however, though he admits to covering up Ben's drug use.
Kimber
Something went down between Ben and Kimber, but it's unclear what. Was it a relationship that ended badly? Could she be seeking revenge?
Kimber rose on our suspicious list after episode three, when viewers learn she doesn't have her handkerchief—could hers be the one Ben was holding when he died? She narrates in episode three, "When a spark finally catches fire and everyone can see it, then the only place you wanna be is at the center of that fire. But if one person is shining a little brighter than the others, sometimes you can’t help it … it’s a competitive business; you may need to snuff them out."
Howard
Though Howard didn't get a role in the play, perhaps he wanted his understudy boyfriend Jonathan to have a shining moment? "Howard was deliberately shown in a previous season to be speaking with the therapist who gave him advice to act more," one redditor writes, "cause if he never acts he’ll never get the things he wants. This framing matches exactly how the season is framed with Charles’s words in epi 1 s3, talking about chasing success and what we might do to snatch it."
That said, Michael Cyril Creighton (who plays Howard) has been in all three seasons of Only Murders in the Building, and we're unsure if the writers would turn one of their regulars into a killer. But, perhaps that is exactly why the writers would! One redditor writes, "For me personally I feel like I need to keep suspecting Howard. We’re 3 seasons in and he actually has a motive: his partner is the understudy. He didn’t get cast in the play himself. If I take a season off from suspecting Howard and it’s him, I’ll feel foolish."
Joy
A new addition to our suspect list after episode four is Joy, Charles's makeup artist girlfriend. When Charles and Oliver find the words "Fucking Pig" on Ben's vanity in his dressing room, we later learn that the lipstick belongs to Joy. Could she have written that? But in episode five, she denies this, saying she just left her makeup in the room—moving her back down our list.
Jonathan
Did the understudy kill the main character? Maybe... But he was also a very popular suspect last season, in Bunny's murder. As one redditor wrote, "I'm glad to see him again this season but I will scream if I see another theory about him being the killer." (Sorry!)
But one redditor does give us a convincing theory: "I can't get over the fact that Death Rattle takes place in the same theater as Splash where a dozen chorus boys were injured. Either Jonathan or his then boyfriend was one of chorus boys and he's been plotting his revenge since season 1. Jonathan is the one who left the threatening note and poisoned Oliver's dog... The same poison used on Ben on opening night (both recovered)."
KT
Stage manager KT hasn't had much to do this season thus far, but we know she received a handkerchief from Ben—adding her to the list of possible suspects. In episode six, viewers learn KT's office was locked on opening night—and that she has a shredder, and a box of rat poison.
Gregg
Gregg, who first says he's Ben's security guard but is later revealed to be a super-fan/stalker of Ben, is an early suspect—so much so he's arrested by the police for Ben's murder. Mabel's not convinced though, and since we're only a few episodes in, we don't think he's our guy. But maybe that's a fake out!
Ty
We don't know much about Ty yet, but Gregg wonders if he is an "over-ambitious hothead." Nothing has given us any evidence to think so, but since he's in the cast and had access to Ben, we can't rule him out.
Bobo
The same goes for Bobo, another cast member. All the cast and crew members of Death Rattle had access to both murder scenes (the attempted poisoning, and the elevator death), so we can't rule Bobo out, either.
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