Only Murders in the Building Season 3: Who killed Ben Glenroy?

❘ Updated: 2023-09-26T12:43:58

Disney+

Ben Glenroy, played by Paul Rudd, winds up dead in Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building. But who killed him?

Only Murders in the Building Season 3 is almost done airing Disney+. The series follows three unlikely friends Charles, Oliver, and Mabel – played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez respectively – who live in the prestigious Arconia building, as they attempt to solve the mystery of their neighbors’ deaths, all while making a podcast about it.

The first two seasons of Only Murders have served many twists and turns, and both ended on cliff-hangers with brand new murders. Season 2 for example ended with famous actor Ben Glenroy – played by Paul Rudd – collapsing dead on the stage.

But the core question of Season 3 is as thus: Who killed him? Here we’ll be discussing all major suspects and what motive they could have, so before we get into it: Major spoilers for Season 3 ahead!

Who killed Paul Rudd’s character in Only Murders in the Building?

While not currently confirmed, right now it seems that Donna Demeo is the killer. Though even the details of Ben’s death are sketchy, as he actually dies twice.

While Ben collapses onstage, and he does technically die for around an hour, he ends up popping back up right as rain. He even joins the cast party, and makes an ominous speech, explaining how his near death experience has pushed him to be a better person to those around him.

However, Ben doesn’t get this chance at redemption, as our main trio later comes across his dead body. Or rather, his dead body crashes through the ceiling of the Arconia’s elevator while they’re riding it. It seems that he’s been pushed, and someone in the building really wants him dead.

Now, while we haven’t found out who pushed him, we do (seemingly) know that it was Donna Demeo, the producer of the show, who poisoned him. She did this by putting rat poison on a cookie and left it in Ben’s dressing room, which he later ate in a state of emotional vulnerability.

Now, why did she do this? Well she wasn’t the only producer, as this was her son Clifford’s first stint. After reading a poor review of the play, which placed Ben as the main problem, Donna took action to try and save her son’s career, hence the murder of Ben.

Who were the main suspects this season?

Now, we’re not at the end of the season yet, so there’s still a chance the murderer could be someone else. For example, there’s Tobert, who was fired by Ben hours before his death. There’s the understudy who could have wanted to take his place. There’s even Howard, who at one point believes he accidently killed Ben due to a ghost superstition.

Considering that Ben dies in a similar manner to the murder within the show they’re performing, any cast or crew member appears a likely suspect. So here’s all the major suspects we’ve had so far this season.

Loretta Durkin

Like Ben, Loretta is a new character in Only Murders in the Building, involved in Oliver’s new play, and she becomes very close with Oliver. However, the more we learn about her, the more worrying she appears.

Loretta greatly dislikes Ben, calling him a “f*cking pig.” She actually physically fights with him before he dies, and as previously stated, Ben makes a speech to everyone after his first “death,” in which he calls Loretta a snake. Later, while on a date with Loretta, Oliver finds a book of hers which contains obsessive newspaper clippings of Ben. While this book turns out to not be what it seems, she admits to the murder at the end of Episode 8. She does this to protect someone else, but perhaps there’s still things to find out.

Kimber

Kimber (played by Ashley Park) is another new character, and another stage performer joining the suspect list this season of Only Murders in the Building. Kimber has previously become a sensation on TikTok, and is capable of sneaking into the theatre she works at. Perhaps she is capable of murder too.

It’s hinted that Kimber is a scorned lover; that she and Ben were once very close, before he made things “messy.” Though this may be due to a failed brand deal that the pair were planning. For a while, Kimber seemed the biggest suspect, as Ben’s body was found with a signature handkerchief, and the actress was missing hers, as she said she sold it on eBay.

Joy

Makeup artist Joy (played by Andrea Martin), who becomes Charles’ girlfriend and temporarily his fiancé, quickly becomes a suspect after one of her lipsticks is found in Ben’s dressing room. Said lipstick was used to write a threatening message to Ben on his mirror, implying that whoever wrote it is the one who killed him, though we later find out that Ben wrote the message himself.

Joy is a pretty open person, and claims that she didn’t kill him. Plus, having Charles’ girlfriend be the killer again would feel repetitive, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it’s an impossibility.

Jonathan

While Howard’s boyfriend Jonathan (played by Jason Veasey) hardly seems the type to kill someone, being Ben’s understudy certainly gives him reason to want Ben out of the picture, even if he states that he doesn’t want Ben’s role.

Plus, in Episode 5, Mabel spots him suspiciously trading money with Ben’s prescription drug “Doctor.” He later claims that this is due to him wanting his own medicating for the stress of being a leading man. But considering that Ben collapsed just before he died, perhaps Jonathan paid off said Doctor to poison Ben, before pushing him down the elevator chute himself.

Charles

Yep, you heard us, lead character Charles could be our killer. Considering he needs victims to keep a podcast going, that alone would be motivation enough. Perhaps he did it unknowingly while in the White Room?

However, it’s clear that he and Ben had a rough working relationship, culminating in Charles punching Ben right before he died. The fact that he doesn’t immediately tell anyone this, not even Oliver and Mabel, suggests guilt and suspicion. Having a main character be a murderer would certainly make things interesting!

Dickie Glenroy

Dickie is Ben’s older brother, and his assistant, who becomes a bigger player in the second half of the season, especially when we find out that he is Loretta’s secret son. She is even willing to go to jail to protect him, as everyone seems to think he’s the lead suspect.

There’s certainly a motive to murder with Dickie, namely that he has spent his life in Ben’s shadow, with his brother getting all the credit for Dickie’s hard work. He even admits that he felt freedom after Ben’s death. Plus, he has since bought the hankie that was swiped from Ben’s dead body, putting him closer to his sibling’s death. He currently has an alibi for the moment Ben died, but it isn’t fool-proof, leaving him still open to suspicion.

We will update this article if and when we learn more.

Only Murders in the Building Seasons 1 & 2 are currently available to stream on Disney+. Find out more about Season 3 here.