Quillsville Cold Case: Lori, Lori, Lori
| "Quillsville Cold Case: Lori, Lori, Lori" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen of the Willis episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 14 | ||
| Directed by | Karly Jameson | ||
| Written by | Ava Zinn | ||
| Produced by | [[]] | ||
| Featured music | see article | ||
| Original air date | February 2025 | ||
| Guest actors | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
<span />
| |||
"Quillsville Cold Case: Lori, Lori, Lori" is an episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series Queen of the Willis. The episode originally aired in broadcast syndication in the United States in 2025.
The 1996 murder of a Indianapolis/Quillsville news anchor is investigated after it is determined she was killed before she won the battle of the sexist work area of the television broadcast news industry (which has since had a two-woman anchor mandate by Mayor Pence) is reopened after her remains are found by Angie in the rubble of a demolished Quillsville department store. Meanwhile, Ava cheats on Angie with WIBC anchor/investigative reporter Karen Hensel (voiced by herself).
The episode was written by Ava Zinn and directed by Karly Jameson.
Contents
Plot
The news crew at WIBC (channel 8) in Quillsville, was the CBS affiliate at the time (the affiliation moved to WTTV/WTTK [channels 40/29] as of "The Girls Are Back in Quillsville") prepares to go on air. They wait for the female anchor, Lori Dubinski, who is late. She arrives and tells the producer to get her a real story. He tells her he’ll see what he can do, then they go live. Lori reads her teleprompter and sees that it has been manipulated. The producers scramble to fix it, but Lori is able to pull it off without going to commercial. Lori is later found dead.
Lilly Rush asks the crew if anyone remembers "a newscaster named Lori Dubinski". Brad Hunter and Nick Jeffries remember her and that she was strangled in the park in the 90s. Ava Willis says a research assistant from WIBC channel 8 (the same channel Lori worked for) is on the way over saying that she discovered something. Karen Hensel, Sr., the now-retired WIBC researcher arrives and meets with Willis. She shows the team an old beta tape she found with footage of Lori Dubinski taping a special report. In the video, Lori gets a phone call and asks if the caller is threatening her. Lori tells the caller that she is doing the right thing by talking to her. Jane says that the video was recorded 6 hours before Lori was found dead.
The team goes over Lori’s files. They see that she grew up in a tough neighborhood. Jeffries says that since she was strangled, it was probably a crime of passion. Ava Willis says that there is no mention of a boyfriend. The see that there was no witness or DNA evidence, but she had abrasions and torn clothes which suggests that she put up a fight. Although the park was a few blocks from her apartment and she jogged there everyday, the detectives think that Jane may have gone to the park to meet with her caller since she died in the same clothes she was wearing in the video.
Jana Miller and Jill Tucker meet with Lori’s mom and learn that Lori didn’t have a social life or a boyfriend. The 96 year old Mrs. Margie Dubinski says that Lori wanted to be a broadcaster ever since she was a little girl. She says that Lori was upset that the news became all fluff. Tucker asks if they got into a fight over the type of news she covered. Mrs. Dubinski flashes back to watching Lori do a news piece in a Halloween costume and the two argued over how she always got stuck covering nonsense. Lori says that the news is about getting ratings. The two argued briefly over what was important to cover, then Lori left. Miller asks about Lori’s boss Karen Hensel, Jr. Mrs. Dubinski says she was her mentor and they met when Lori was in college. Ava Willis and Lilly Rush meet with Karen. She tells them about how they were focused on getting ratings. Rush asks if she had any idea who threatened her. She says she has no idea since she didn’t do any controversial stories. She says everyone loved her, but remembers one person that might have had an issue with her.
Karen flashes back to a broadcast where the lead anchor, Mike Ahern (voiced by himself), started to slip while finishing a story. Lori picked up for him and finished his lines. He got angry and said she was stepping on his story. Karen says that Jane caused the station to go from worst to first, which upset the lead anchor. Karen says that Mike did get a Peabody when he covered Lori’s murder. Ava Willis has drinks with Karen Hensel, Jr. and she asks her about the case. She tells her she’ll let her know if they find anything. The rest of the team shows up at the bar and they tell Willis that Mike is now a new suspect since he had a problem working with Lori. Willis then looks up and sees Karen Jr. at the bar. The two see each other, then Karen Jr. stomps off. Willis follows her and tells her that it’s a cop bar. The two argue briefly, then kiss. Willis starts to pull back, but changes her mind and then sleeps with her, thus having a ninth extramarital affair.
Rush meets with Mike and asks for his autograph. Rush tells him to sign it to her aunt and say she’ll see her in 50 to life. Mike realizes Rush is a cop and he tells her that he had nothing to do with Lori’s death. Rush asks about the complaint he filed against her. Mike says Lori didn’t know her place and flashes back to Lori reviewing video. He remembers she was on to some scandal at channel 8. Rush asks if Jane was investigating something. He says he wasn’t sure, but he was determined that if there was a story, she wasn’t going to get it. He flashes back to when he followed Lori to see what she was up to. She saw him, then reported it the next day. Rush asks where the house was that he followed Lori and he tells her. Rush then asks where he was the night Lori was murdered. Mort says he was with the new intern, Anne Marie Tiernon (who is now at NBC 13 and Quillsville 24 [voiced by herself]).
Brad Hunter tells Jeffries that he was unable to trace the call Lori received on the tape because it was local. He also says that Mike’s alibi checked out. Hunter says that the apartment Mike followed Lori to has been rented out, but they found out who the person was that lived there at the time. He says his name was Evan Valens and they were able to find out where he was working at the time of Lori’s murder. Ava Willis then sees Karen Hensel Jr. and tells her that she has something of hers.
Ava Willis and Brad Hunter meet with Evan’s former employer at the Mississinewa Cola and Brewery. He turns the detectives over to Lou O'Brien (voiced by Fred Dreyer), the public relations director. Lou tells them that Evan was only with the company a few months and was fired for failing a drug test. Ava asks to see Evan’s file. The boss says that the business is a family corporation and they couldn’t employ a drug user. The detectives ask if Lori ever asked them about Evan and he says no. Ava and Brad leave.
Lilly Rush asks Ava Willis to go with her to WIBC. Willis goes to the station and runs into Karen. She teases her for ditching her, then shows her the tapes of Lori she found. Meanwhile, Jeffries and Miller interview Clayton Brown, Lori’s former cameraman. They ask if she ever talked about the Mississinewa Cola and Brewery. He says they covered a charity function they threw. Willis shows him a picture of Evan and the cameraman remembers Lori saw Evan get into an argument with his boss at the function. He says Lori wanted to follow Evan to his home. He flashes back to when he and Lori walked into Evan’s house and found a sick woman in bed. Lori looked at all the prescription bottles. He then told her that the drug test was a lie. Lori told Evan she could help him, but he kicked them out.
Rush and Willis track Evan down. He tells them he has nothing to say, then unleashes a dog on them. Rush and Willis then bring Evan into the station. Evan maintains that he didn’t hurt Lori. Rush says that whatever happened to him at that time caused him to lose his job and his wife. He tells the detectives that they have the story wrong. He says his wife had cancer and Lori told him she knew what was responsible for her getting sick. He flashes back to meeting Lori in a parking garage and telling her that his wife had died. Lori told Evan that she talked to a doctor who believes that his wife’s cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos. Lori told him that she wanted to take on his company, but he was too scared because Karen Hensel Sr was filling in for Mike Ahern. Evan asked why she wanted to help and Lori told him that she was a good reporter. Rush asks if Lori told him who the insider was and Evan says no. Jeffries asks where Evan was when Lori died. Evan tells him, then adds that he has cancer too.
Rush looks over the tape transcript and thinks that Lori and Karen were going to meet with the insider. Rush and Willis return to see Lori’s mom and she gives them all the tapes she has of Lori. They find a tape from the day before Lori died. They watch it and see the interview of the insider talking about how the company knew the unsanitary conditions at the Mississinewa Cola and Brewery formerly spiked their colas and beer in the 1980s, but they covered it up.
Ava Willis and Lilly Rush think Martin Watts may have wanted to kill Lori to protect the company’s image. Jana Miller and Jill Tucker meet with Martin Watts again. He insists that he only talked to Lori about fundraisers. Willis then pulls out his phone records and says he called Lori the night before she died. Rush says that the company flushed out all the people who opened their mouths about the dirty 1980s cover up. Martin says that they don’t know what they are talking about. Miller then plays the tape of the secret informer. Tucker asks again why he called Lori the night before she died. The detectives wonder why he wanted her to silence the story. Martin says he didn’t kill her. He says he thought he could talk her out of doing the story.
He flashes back to meeting with Lori and asking what the corporation was going to do to them when they found out that they were the ones who exposed them. Lori told him to think about all the people he was saving. Martin tells the detectives that he told his boss about the interview he gave with Lori. Martin says that he thought he was going to be fired, but he was promoted instead. Martin says he told his boss, David Andrews, so that he would fix the problem of people getting sick. Jeffries and Hunter meet with David Andrews and tell him that they think he was a conspirator to Lori’s murder. He tells the detectives that he was in London when Lori was murdered. The detectives say they know, but they also know he called someone at WIBC the night she was killed. Jeffries says that if he tells them who he called, they will drop the conspiracy charges.
Rush brings Karen Hensel Sr. back into the station and asks if she is friends with David Andrews. Karen says no. Rush asks why David called her a few hours before Lori was killed. Karen says that she probably just had a story she wanted covered. Rush asks Karen about the stock she owned in Mississinewa Cola and Brewery that she sold just before it changed ownership in 2011. Karen says that she had a good broker. Rush says that Andrews called her to make Lori’s story go away. Karen says that the story should have gone away. Rush asks Karen how she knew about the interview Lori had with Martin Watts. She asks if Andrews told her or if she learned about it from Lori. Rush then gets Karen to admit that she wanted to get the tape of the interview back from Lori.
Karen flashes back to meeting Lori at the park. She told her about the story she had about Mississinewa Cola and Brewery. She told her that she was proud she cracked the story, then asked for the tape. She told her it was in a safe place and she asked for it for legal reasons. Lori refused to hand it over and threatened to go to another station. Lori then asked for $1 million for the tape and Karen agreed. Lori then tried to run, but she fought her. She then shot her to death and ran off. Karen Hensel Sr. is then arrested. Meanwhile, Mrs. Dubinski watches the local news story exposing the unsanitary cover up .
Production and development
Cultural references
Cast
- Ava Zinn as Ava Willis, Albert Willis, Mandy Willis, Shushu Willis, Tabby Willis, Heather Willis, Kendra Kendall, Anna Pamhouser, QMPD Captain Brad Hunter,
- Karly Jameson as herself, Angie Willis, Brynn Willis, Judge Samantha Turner, QMPD Officer Kymberly Millspaugh
- Rachael Passalt as Deanna Willis,
- Alexandra Moffitt as Stephanie Rose, Angela Stroup, QMPD Officer Elaine Reed
- Cathryn Everman as Sarah Donaldson, QMPD Officer Kayla Burnside
- Jacqui Fountaine as QMPD Detective Jill Tucker
- Kendra Ray as Melissa Rose, QMPD Officer Ramona Battishill,
- Luka Runecraft as Miles Kendall,
- Alisan Porter as herself
- Avril Lavigne as herself
- Kassie DePaiva as Brandi Souza
- Eboni Hill as Sharane Hamilton, QMPD Lieutenant Courtney Allen
- Donna Doogan as Maribel Sabo, ADA Kristy Ellis, QMPD Officer Amber Connoway
- Sophia Blanca as QMPD Commissioner Jane Chelsea Wolf
- Melvin Runecraft as QMPD Lieutenant Nick Jeffries
- Hannah Wilson as DA Pia Yoque
- Frank Davidson as QMPD Officer Jarett Dailey,
- Kylie Dwyar as ME Anita Mowery
- Louis Durant as QMPD Officer Jon Chapman
- Bryant Cortos as QMPD Detective Hunter Arnold
- Lanise McClannahan as QMPD Detective Amy Richards
- Breeanna Sorensen as QMPD Detective Larisa Mack
- Kathryn Morris as QMPD Sergant Lilly Rush
- Nicole Pence as Mayor Pence
Uncredited
Addiional Cast TBD
Music
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|
Notes
References
External links
| ||||||||||||||
