Biddy Tenniman was the manager of the Run Down Inn when Bright Bonds was murdered.
The unknown tenant[]
- Main article: Turnabout with the Wind
One month before the murder of Bright Bonds, Biddy Tenniman received an anonymous call from an individual offering six months' worth of rent upfront and transferred directly into the landlady's bank account. Since this person was using a voice changer during the whole conversation, Tenniman had no idea who they were, or even what gender they were. Despite the unusual circumstances, Tenniman was more than happy about the deal; promptly accepting the offer and sending her new tenant the key to Run Down Inn's Apartment 101 once she confirmed that the money had been transferred.
However, Tenniman became puzzled when her mystery lodger did not move into her new apartment right away. Finally, on August 10th, six large boxes and a letter was addressed to Tenniman arrived, with the letter requesting her to move the boxes to Apartment 101. She did so, and in the middle of the night, the mystery tenant finally arrived in Apartment 101, although Tenniman was only aware of this because she noticed the light in the room was on.
The next morning, Tenniman received an anonymous call that told her that: "The murderer lives in Apartment 101. Inform the police right away." She did not believe the caller at first but, as a precaution, she called the police anyway and went to Apartment 101. When knocking on the door did not receive a reply, she used her master key to get in and was surprised to find the room completely empty.
She was later called as a witness for the murder that the mystery caller had told her about. Before beginning her testimony, Tenniman spotted the case's defense attorney Phoenix Wright, and figured that he looked like a potential tenant. She tried to convince him to move into the Run Down Inn by telling him that the rent was low and that he could visit the nearby Gourd Lake and hunt for Gourdy with her. Wright politely declined. Prosecutor Winston Payne told her to get to the point, and so she testified about her new tenant and the anonymous call. During the course of the trial, Wright revealed that the mystery tenant and the true murderer of Bonds had been Belle Windsor, the girlfriend of the defendant, Larry Butz. Windsor had rented the apartment and furnished it exactly like her own home in order to create an alibi for herself, as Gourd Lake would have been too far away for her to have committed the crime otherwise. Windsor confessed and Butz was cleared of having murdered Bonds.
Name[]
- Japanese - Yone Ootsuka (大塚 ヨネ):
- Her Japanese name literally means "I'm big (person), am I (not)?" This is likely a reference to her less than petite figure.
- English - Biddy Tenniman:
- "Biddy" is a diminutive of the female given name Bridget, but can also mean a woman (usually an older woman) who is fussy, mean, or a gossipy busybody. Her English surname sounds, under certain dialects, like "tenement", referring to her position as a landlady.
- French - Mona Chélaime:
- Her French name sounds like "mon HLM" ("my HLM").