Da Vinci’s Inquest - Season 2 Episode 7

The Coroner's Office and Homicide investigate the finding of dead body – Robert Magus – buried in the yard of a private home. Beyond the fact that the body was obviously buried, the initial findings do not seem to indicate foul play. When a second body is found on site, the investigation points to the previous owner of the home, Viola McKnight, who ran a bordering house for pensioners there and where Magus was living when it is assumed he dies. An elderly woman, Viola, with her mentally challenged adult son Bert, has run a series of boarding houses catering to pensioners with mental issues. She currently is doing so at another site. In reality, Viola, has been taking charge of her tenants' finances, systematically poisoning and burying them, and then committing fraud by taking on that identity and collecting on their personal incomes such as pension checks. With each move, she has taken on that as an assumed name, her current alias being Elizabeth Grass. When the authorities catch up with Viola/Elizabeth, they know that she is guilty, but she plays her caring but doddering little old lady routine to a T. Homicide admits they don't have enough concrete evidence for a conviction. Viola's son, Bert, may be of some assistance, especially after his dog, Plato, is found dead after a tenant feeds him her poisoned food. The balance the authorities face is placing all the guilt on Viola without implicating an obviously innocent Bert.