days mike manning charlie JJ
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

This mystery has more suspects than a season’s worth of Murder, She Wrote episodes.

Let’s admit it: The only person surprised by the fact that Days of Our Lives offed Charlie was the victim himself. And even he should have seen it coming, given that in recent days, pretty much everyone in Salem had threatened his life.

For a while there, it looked as if the show might be heading toward a split-personality storyline with Charlie, a theory which became more popular amongst viewers each time his behavior seemed to be dictated by whether he had donned his glasses (good Charlie) or doffed them (bad Charlie). And though we may never know if that was the original plan, it eventually became clear that with or without his eyewear, the guy was bad news.

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Interestingly, the about-to-unfold mystery is — or at least appears to be — different from your typical soap murder in that nearly every single suspect’s motive stems, directly or indirectly, from one initial event: the night Charlie raped Allie in London.

Generally speaking, classic murder mysteries involve a slew of characters having disparate reasons for wanting someone dead. One of TV’s most famous cases — the shooting of Dallas‘ J.R. Ewing — saw people blaming the oilman for everything from the suicide of a spouse to the loss of their family fortunes.(You might recall that in the end, it all came down to mistress-turned-shooter Kristin feeling she’d been used and tossed aside.)

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Now that Days of Our Lives has given Charlie his comeuppance, the real fun can begin for viewers as we start rounding up suspects, sussing out clues and launching accusations. Before hitting the comments to point the finger at the person you believe did Salem a favor to be guilty, take a look through the below rogues’ gallery of suspects.