ABSTRACT
A professional football helmet is the focus of this mystery involving eight middle school students. After analyzing all of the evidence, student detectives will discover this case is a red herring—that is, things are not what they seem to be. In order to solve the case, they have to go back to square one and uncover new clues. The Forensics Lab includes lip print analysis that coincides with the investigation, as well as a creativity challenge in the Make reader's Own Lip Print activity. Students next will want to discuss who might have committed the crime. The logical suspects would be the students on the fundraising committee, who knew about the helmet and where it was hidden. After determining the logical suspects, students will want to then look at motive or why the suspects might have done this.
