I fast traveled to Windhelm to drop some things off at my house. When I arrived I found people looking over a dead elf making the usual remarks like "how could this happen?". I searched her to find the key to the farm outside of Windhelm that I'm guessing she worked at. Keep in mind that I already finished the Blood on Ice quest and this isn't the same girl involved in the quest. There wasn't anybody to talk to, so I doubt this was the start of a quest. I also did not attack, kill, or even remember seeing this girl. I also have not attacked anybody in Windhelm so she couldn't have been killed in any fight that I was involved in. Is there any significance to this, or do some people just die randomly?

you were supposed to talk to the guard next to the body, you framed the wrong person in the quest

Along these same lines, when my Argonian got to Riverwood the first time (Right after Helgen) Faendal (The elf archer follower from Riverwood) was lying dead in the middle of the street. No clue what killed him, but there were some suspicious looking chickens pecking around near the body.

You failed to catch the killer, The Butcher is still on the loose.

I thought that might be the case, but when I talked to the guards nearby, they didn't give me any options. They just said the usual things guards say. Also, the girl wasn't cut up like the one when you start the quest.

Yes, the killer is still on the loose, dismembering their victims and using magic to magically reconstruct his dead wife.

I've noticed that too, lately... chickens have been near all the murdered victims I've seen. Theirs something else going on here... something big.

Well, I didn't know he was using them to reconstruct his dead wife. Spoiler! Haha anyway how do I start up this quest again? Or do I just start looking for more clues?

Don't you mean something...Fowl?

Go talk to the guy you sent to jail, or to the chaimberlain guy.

^{...You really need to play LA Noire, if you didn't realised you got the wrong person...}

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I will move this now.

Ok thank you. Sorry, I didn't know.

In Oblivion, NPCs could die from various causes. In a City, sometimes an NPC would get caught stealing and a gaurd would put them down. Outside of a walled City, NPCs are subject to the same hazards as the PC. You don't have to be anywyere around for this to happen, at least not in Oblivion, where I encountered many random NPC deaths in my 1,000 plus hours with that game and many of them occurred outside my presence. I only have a couple hundred in Skyrim, but the game seems to function the same way. I don't know if this particular NPC was quest related or not, but random NPC killings most likely occur in Skyrim, as they did in Oblivion, without the PC havign to be anywhere around.

I still wonder what could possibly have killed Faendal in the time it took me to follow the NPC down from Helgen. Did he spot the dragon flying over and take a potshot at it or something?

Hilde probably hired some thugs to "take care of him" she is like that, he was looking at Svens girl.

Yeppers. That's what you did. You was the cops. There were no short cuts on this one.

Well there is, but you have to think of it yourself, Inspector Cleuseau!

Yay! I talked to the dude I arrested and it turns out the killer was actually on the loose still. It let me start the quest again. Thanks for the help!

Beware the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnBlst3T7bY..
Oh well played...