Ok mind boggling difficult question...help?

Question

Ok, i got this question for days, my answer for now is E(not sure if its correct). Bear in mind that this is a logic question and can be solved through only logic.
Five murder suspects, including the guilty party, are being
interrogated by the police at the scene of a brutal murder. Of the
five statements made, just three are true.
A: D is the murderer.
B: I am innocent
C: It wasn’t E.
D: A is lying.
E: B is telling the truth.
Who committed the murder?

Answer 1

Yes, in a purely abstract universe as defined by the statement of the problem, and ASSUMING THAT THE DECLARATIONS ARE FACTUAL (quite a “faithful” assumption, mind you), it is all but trivial to "logically" deduce that E is the murderer. … Simply translate/map the axiomatic word problem into a symbolic logic form, establish the corresponding Truth Table, and the correct answer will automatically fall out. ... Having said that, let me assure you, a REAL murder mystery case can NEVER be resolved solely based on the mere statements (i.e. circumstantial evidence at best - at least in the absence of a trial) provided by the potential suspects and/or witnesses. You need hard physical evidence, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt, to point you to the potential murderer. In a REAL life case, it is neither reasonable, nor "logical" to take the mere pronouncements of the suspects and/or witnesses as "Statements of Fact/Factual Axioms". Needless to say, the reasons for that are manifold, including [but certainly NOT limited to]: (1) People lie, (2) People have ulterior motives that might even coerce them into giving a false confession, (3) People can make mistakes, (4) People can be manipulated and/or blackmailed, (5) People might conspire against an innocent party, ............. My point being, "Logic" can never be so blind as to illogically deny "Reality".

Answer 2

Ultimately, it seems that there is just not enough evidence in these simple statements, because each statement has a "yes" or "no" aspect and that's it!!!! The reasons behind each of these statements might reveal more, but we don't know why each suspect said what they said. If this is how we determine who of these 5 is guilty, in this case and other cases, I tend to believe that there are a lot of innocent people in the wrong place!!!

But if we look at it using pure logic, as you mention, then
let's see what we can find out from the info given.
We atleast know that one of the five is guilty of the crime.
OK, so we're at a 20% chance of being right
We also somehow know that 3 statements are true.

So, for this question to work and to have an answer there can be only one scenario that has 3 true statements and 2 false statements, right?

Now when you go through each of the five statements and say, " if __ is the the murderer, then statement ___ is true or false," then it appears you might be right!!!

In other words, in the short form:
If E is the murderer, then:
A=F
B=T
C=F
D=T
E=T
There you go!!! 3 statements are true if it's E.

In the long form: If E is the murderer then:
A=F because D is NOT the murderer. It's false.
B=T because B is indeed innocent. That's true.
C=F because it WAS E. Saying it wasn't is false.
D=T because A IS wrong or was lying. It's a true statement.
E=T because E knows that B is telling the truth. It's true.

I looked at the four others, and E being the murderer is the only one with 3 true statements and 2 false.
After figuring out all that, I hope I get 10 points!!!

Answer 3

if A is true then D must be the murderer. So D would be a lie. This means that if C tells the truth then E is innocent, but this means E or B must be lying, which creates a contradiction.

If A, B and E are telling the truth, that means C is lying, which creates a contradiction. So from this we can rule that A is lying, which therefore makes D innocent, and telling the truth also. Do that makes D one of the true statements and A a lie

The only other two that could be true without creating a contradiction would be E and B. This would leave C as a lie, and would also mean that it was E.

So I think E is the murderer.

Answer 4

Well if A is true then D is the murderer.
and
B would be true
C would be True
D would be false
and E would be true
That's Four trues which is false result so A is false and D is true

If B and E are true they must be true together, If one is false the other is equally false.

If they are False then there are three false answers. We are looking for only two false answers, so B and E are true.

And B, E and D are true, A and C are False.
And the murderer is E simply because C is false.

Answer 5

Set up a table: rows labelled A - E for their statements, columns labelled A - E for who's the murderer. Then go down each column evaluating the truth of each statement. You get ...

...| A B C D E
-----------------
A | F F F T F
B | T F T T T
C | T T T T F
D | T T T F T
E | T F T T T

The only column with 3 true statements (of course it's the last one we had to work out) is E, so E is the murderer.

Answer 6

First, we create exhaustive list of possible true statements.
3 out of 5 = 10 combinations.

Second, we test the truthfulness of each combination
1.ABC – False because if B is true then E also has to be true
2.ABD – False because A and D are in negation
3.ABE – No evidence to be False
4.ACD – False because A and D are in negation
5.ACE – False because if E is true then B also has to be true
6.ADE – False because A and D are in negation
7.BCD – False because if B is true then E also has to be true
8.BCE – False because either A or D is true but they both has to be false
9.BDE – No evidence to be False
10.CDE – False because if E is true then B also has to be true

Now, we have narrowed down the task to 2 potential sets of 3 true statements
ABE – if true, the convict should be D because statement A claims it! .. [ADDED] or E because statement C is false
BDE – if true, the convict should be E because statement C is false

Conclusion: not enough evidence

Answer 7

If A is the murderer, then statements A is false, D, C, B, E is true (4 truths). So A is not the murderer If B is the murderer, statements B, A, E is false, D, C is true (2 truths) If C is the murderer, statements A is false B, E, C, D is true (4 truths) if D is the murderer, statements A, B, C, D, E is true (5 truths) If E is the murderer, A, C is false, B, D, E is true (3 truths). Yep E is the murderer :)

Answer 8

I think it's " B ", because B is the only one that answers ONLY about his/her position about themselves. Guilty people usually just try to prove their own innocence. The devil with all the rest.

Answer 9

i think E done it too...

That means "E" is true, "B" is true, and "D" is true,
while "A" is false, and "C" is false...

Answer 10

C....lol