OK... I have completed the first section of the quest Blood on the ice (the killer in Windhelm) and put the court mage in prison (that felt wrong and it was). When part 2 of this quest started you go down to jail and have to talk to this mage, BUT he is standing to far back in the cell and I can't get to him and start a conversation. It's really annoying! This must be a bug, right?

Has this happened to anyone else? And what can I do to get him closer to the bars so I can talk to him?

Make sure the quest is active and wait for him at the door. He should come within distance for you to start a dialogue within 30 seconds.

or pick the lock on his cell and walk up to him

Ok. is that some default thing that's always suppose to happen, that people will start walking up to you if you're standing close enough for enough time?
I'll Try that. Thanks!

I don't think I can pick the lock, it's an expert lock and it's not really in my character to do so, and I probably have to kill the guard on duty. And I am not a murderer (at least not this character)

OK a quick note here. You don't have to place the court wizard under arrest. Sure, your journal tells you to talk to Jorleif, but I just did the quest for the 3rd time, on my 3rd character and this time, I just went straight to the Court Wizard and there was an option that said "I heard you dabble in necromancy?" He gets all blustery and says no way. And then you tell him about the journal and the necklace you found and then the quest progresses that he tells you to patrol the Stone Quarter at night. I went there, shot Calixto in the back, as he was about to stab someone and then went to Jorleif for my reward.

I was always able to talk to Wuuferth when he was in prison. Did the new murder already happen? Did you wait at least a day, before talking to Wuuferth about the new murder? I just left Windhelm after he was put in jail and then came back a day later and then I heard that another murder was committed. Then I went to the dungeon and talked to Wuuferth.

thanks for the hint about not needing to ever even put him in jail. WOOT... I always have and end up feeling really bad about it sometimes. poor dude.

I have waited more than a day and a new murder has occurred... but he won't get up to the bars and talk to me. He just stands there so I am thinking of shooting him with an arrow just to get his attention...

thats why i never put the wizard in jail.. same thing happened to me
so i went back to an earlier save and talked to the wizard
instead of the stewart jorleif
so i got the next step in the quest
but i already knew who really murdered the girls before than

I have a different problem with the quest, which I haven't seen described anywhere: I spoke directly with the court wizard, and so he wasn't arrested. Next step is to prevent the murder in the stone quarter: When I approach the market stalls, the would-be victim starts yelling for help, but when I get to her she is just standing there - no sign of the murderer (there's even a guard nearby!). Despite this, she suddenly collapses (the murderer is still nowhere to be seen), and my quest updates - now I have to find the murderer instead. But where is he?? He wasn't at the murder scene, and on the map, the quest arrows points to a spot somewhere East of the city itself...

I have more or less given up on the quest.

I'm relieved to hear that we don't have to put the court mage in jail. I've had all kinds of problems with this quest myself. On my first playthrough, it never even triggered. Susanna the Wicked was alive and well after 300 hours and people had stopped talking about the murders.

On my second playthrough, the quest triggered, and I saw the murder scene, but when I talked to the guard, all I got was random, non-quest guard dialogue (i.e. "I used to be an sdventurer like you..."). The witnesses were no more helpful. The quest didn't get entered into my journal until I followed the blood trail, picked the lock, and entered the house.

After that, then the guard had some quest-related dialogue. He told me to take the amulet to Calixto. After talking to Calixto, i decided he was my prime suspect, but I thought I'd go talk to the court mage next. But the court mage had no quest-related dialogue, only training in Destruction. So i went to jorleif, and the only available dialogue for me was to accuse the court mage. Frustrated, I stopped doing the quest at that point.

Why did you put him in jail...? All you have to do is wait in the stalls area at night to find the killer (after talking to the Mage that you wrongly inprisoned!).

That's nice. Once I picked the lock and walked in. The guard walked right past, saw the open door and walked on.

Wow, reading all these issues here, I just have to say... this is ONE glitch-ridden quest LOL In 3 instances of playing through this quest, I never had an issue. The only issue I had was when I bought Hjerim, the bloody mess was still there and I had to use the console to clean it up.

Now, I'm playing on my 4th toon right now and I visited Windhelm for the 2nd time and people are already talking about the murders. I have just avoided that option, because I'm a Thief and concentrating on the Thieves Guild missions and pretty much just being a free spirit and not a problem solver for the whole flippin' world hahaha

So yea, OP = just pick the lock and talk to the wizard.

@ Julienne: I hear ya, I also felt bad for throwing the wizard into jail LOL

@ Hopsie: Concerning your invisible murderer, that just sounds like a major graphic glitch. Did you re-load and try again? Or re-load, save and re-start the game?