MovieChat Forums > Columbus Circle (2013) Discussion > About Lonnigan, the old lady that got ki...

About Lonnigan, the old lady that got killed? SPOILERS


Did everyone figure this out?... I am going to give my explanation in case others missed this...

There is a picture of Abigail, by Lonnigan's bedside, that the killer (who we find out is Ray) takes, after murdering Lonnigan.
The detective, after investigating Ray, says that Ray was paying for Lonnigan's apartment through a business corporation having to do with nannys.

Abigail knew Lonnigan's name. We know this because at the beginning she is writing a letter asking to purchase Lonnigan's apartment. If she knew Lonnigan's name, she must have known that it was her nanny across the hall?

I guess we can assume that Abigail knew that her nanny was living across the hall and actually had initially requested that Ray set her up there 18 years ago. Abigail had probably been in contact with her and Lonnigan probably visited with Abigail once in awhile...This would help us to understand how Abigail had remained so sane over the 18 years while she had been a recluse. She had someone that loved her across the hall from her to keep in contact with...

Obviously, somehow Ray was able to block Abigail's request to buy Lonnigan's apartment because he needed it for his plan.

It seems that over the years Ray got greedy and saw an opportunity...Being Lonnigan's doctor, he saw that the old lady was ill and would probably die soon. He made his plans for when this would happen. He found a con artist couple and they made a plan to get the apartment and con Abigail and get her money..He eventually needed Lonnigan's apt so the couple could get close to Abigail...He waited and waited but Lonnigan didn't die, so he killed her to speed the plan up...

After I figured this out, the movie made SO MUCH more sense to me!!

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I did notice the picture but never put the two together. So thank you for that clarification. But Ray, didn't kill her. It was Charles. They had the argument about how he was sloppy, because her death was being looked into as a murder case. Ray probably conned Lillian and Charles into killing the old lady, stealing Abigail's identity and bank info, (probably going to kill her as well) a and share the money with them. But as you can see, it didn't work out for Ray...

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... it didn't work out for Ray...
Everyone ended up with their just desserts.🐭

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I had no idea about her being Abigail's nanny. That is a very interesting detail. I will have to watch it again now. I was playing a game during the whole thing which is not advisable if you want to catch all the info.

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I missed that totally. I wondered why the killer took the photo.

The killer seemed rather sadistic, taunting the old lady by shutting off the lights, etc. So I'm leaning toward it not being Ray. But other than that, you really cleared up a big part of the plot for me.

I understand. Thank you for telling me. -The masked bandit

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It was definitely not Ray that actually killed her. It was Charlie, but within Ray's plan to steal a lot of Abigail's money with the con-artist couple. We know this without doubt, after Ray scolds Charlie for doing a poor job of murdering her, because the detectives suspected it was a homicide.


"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

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Yes, that's my understanding. Except it was the younger con artist guy who killed her.

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Ray was able to block Abigail's plan to rent Lonnigan's apartment because he owned the building. He can rent to whoever he wants to. That's how lowlife Charlie and Lillian were able to move in; they certainly couldn't have afforded the rent. Ray gave them the apartment at no or very low rent.

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Yes, Charles and Lilian would not have been able to afford that Penthouse apt. Lilian "only had $7.20 to her name." Lonnigan, Abigail's former nanny, couldn't afford the rent either; Ray was paying her way too, but Abigail may have been helping too, because he wanted her living there.

Abigail denied knowing her to the police, because she wanted to conceal her identity.

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