The Class Photos

An old grammar school · the 25-year reunion · four classes, four blocks · Difficulty: Chief 10 · 16×16

Twenty-five years after graduation, the class of 2001 returned to the old grammar school for the reunion. Four classes graduated that year – Classics, Science, Music and Sports – and the photographer hung the four old class photos in the Corridor. When the bell rang for the first photo, Vita, the runner of the Sports class, was found dead in the Corridor. Everyone was where the bell caught them.

Rules

The members of each class were in consecutive rows and in consecutive columns.
Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the bookcases, the desks, the globes, the lockers, the camera, the trophy, the sinks, the microscope, the cabinet, the piano, the drum kit, the double bass, the music stand, the statue, the tables, the painting, the coat racks, the curtains, the lectern, the flagpole, the plants, the clocks, the blackboard, the kettle, the trees, the fountain, the flower bed, the scoreboard, the ball basket, the climbing wall, the counter, the vending machine and the shower) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the armchairs, the stools, the benches, the sofa and the crash mat can. An armchair is not a chair. A corner of an area is a square of it that faces outwards (another area or the edge of the board) on a horizontal and on a vertical side.
Directions refer to rows, not to the same column: “exactly one row north of him was a man” = the person in the row directly above is a man, in any column.
“A bench was somewhere in her column” = a bench is on one of the squares of her column, in any area; “the climbing wall was somewhere in his area” = on a square of the area he was in. “He and Claudia were beside the same kind of thing” = beside objects of the same type; they need not be the same piece. “There was a woman in his area” = at least one woman besides himself; “there was no man in her area” = no man at all.
The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

Amanda (a solicitor): She was sitting.
Brandon (a bookseller): He was alone in his area.
Claudia (a museum curator): She was sitting.
Dave (a journalist): He and Claudia were beside the same kind of thing.
Ella (a translator): There was no man in her area. She was in a corner of her area.
Franklin (a pharmacist): He was beside a desk.
Gwenda (a vet): A bench was somewhere in her column.
Harry (a chemistry teacher at the old school): There was a woman in his area.
Ishani (a surgeon): She was in a corner of her area.
Josie (a cellist): There was a man in her area.
Kyle (a sound engineer): The climbing wall was somewhere in his area. Exactly one row north of him was a man.
Luna (a singing teacher): Exactly one row north of her was a woman.
Marcel (a music producer): He and Josie were beside the same kind of thing.
Nate (a football coach): He was not in the Corridor.
Oona (a physiotherapist): She was in a corner of her area.
Vita (a PE teacher): The victim. She was found in the Corridor – alone with the murderer.

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