General Hospital’s Nelle Is Dead — But Who *Really* Killed Her?

Let the guessing game begin! 

When General Hospital’s Nelle took that supposedly fatal plunge following her confrontation with Carly, we didn’t buy that the baddie was actually dead. Not for a single second. (We even had ideas about where — and with whom — she might be hiding.)

Like you, we don’t mourn a soap character unless there’s a body… and even then, we’re often skeptical (especially if, like Holly’s, it’s burnt beyond recognition!). We did, however, theorize that Nelle would die in good course, and from causes far more interesting than an accidental cliff dive.

Not to toot our own horn, but it appears that we were right! Because while Wednesday’s episode revealed that Nelle’s body had been found (at least according to Jason’s source at the PCPD), it seems safe to assume that this is only the beginning of the story! After all, there’s no real drama to Nelle having fallen to her death the day of her clash with Carly.

Of course, Carly is going to look as guilty as sin, but any Law & Order viewer could probably get the case against her dismissed by arguing that it’s comprised entirely of circumstantial evidence. Plus, the list of people who wanted Nelle dead — as well as those who’ve been behaving suspiciously since she went missing — is longer than Santa’s list of naughty Port Charles locals! (And that thing comes in volumes!)

Need a few examples? How about Julian, the ex-mobster she blackmailed into marriage during her bid for custody of Wiley? He wanted to sever their ties and was urged (more than once!) by sister Ava to skip a traditional divorce in favor of something a bit more… permanent. Heck, maybe Ava was struggling to find her brother the perfect birthday gift and got creative! She may even have had her own reason to off Shiloh’s widow if Nelle was the one trying to blackmail her with those pics of her smooch with Franco. (A more likely suspect, however, would be Nikolas. He, too, was being blackmailed, and though we didn’t actually see the person with whom he met on the docks, it could well have been Nelle, hoping to boost her on-the-run fund with a cash influx from the wealthy prince!)

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Michael and Willow also spring to mind as potential suspects. Although they defeated Nelle during the custody battle, Wiley’s mom made it clear she wasn’t going to take that loss lying down. (Generally speaking, when someone’s first instinct is to kidnap a child and hit the road, it’s a pretty strong indication that shared custody will never be a viable option.)

One of our prime suspects would have to be Peter, if only because we are more than ready to see his many misdeeds exposed. As soap fans know, there’s no better time to bring down a character’s carefully constructed house of cards than when they are at their happiest. Now that Peter’s developed a good relationship with mom Anna and is expecting a baby with Maxie, we’d say the time could hardly be better for a little karmic justice!

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Meanwhile, an individual viewers should definitely keep their eye on in the coming days is Southern-fried attorney Martin… or more specifically, his briefcase. You’ll recall that within that leather carry-all is a letter from one Nelle Benson, which was only to be opened in the event of her demise. Something tells us that that envelope does not contain her recipe for chocolate-chip cookies!

Assuming you think we’re right, and Nelle is really, truly dead, who do you think did the deed? Give us your theory in the comments section, then visit the gallery below to solve another mystery: Who is holding General Hospital’s Holly hostage?