Chronicle Mysteries: Helped to Death

The film begins at the Harrington Chronicle, where Alex McPherson and Drew Godfrey meet Zach, a new intern who is attending a self-help retreat led by the controversial Billy Garrett. Knowing Billy served time for a previous death at a retreat, Alex decides to attend the event to record a podcast, with Drew joining her for backup. Upon arrival, they are forced to surrender their electronics, though Alex is allowed to keep her recorder. They meet Billy’s wife Ivy and CFO Kurt Hardy, as well as participants Jack and Marianne Carpenter and their business partner Daniel Brandt. The tension escalates when Daniel Brandt falls off a cliff during a group hike. While Billy claims it was an accident, Alex and Drew find a mysterious symbol carved into a tree and evidence of a struggle. They discover Daniel was wearing a zip drive disguised as a necklace, which has gone missing. Zach, who left the retreat early, becomes their secret courier, using a satellite phone to relay information from the Chronicle staff. The investigation shifts toward 'Earth Force,' a supplement line featuring 'blue moth fungus.' Drew becomes violently ill after taking the supplements, leading Alex to realize the formula has been dangerously altered to increase potency and sales. Alex sneaks into the camp office and finds the missing zip drive, which contains a report proving the supplement has a one percent fatality rate. Though the sheriff initially arrests Jack Carpenter because of boot prints found at the scene, Alex realizes the killer used detachable boot soles to frame him. In a final confrontation at the camp’s biomass area, Ivy Garrett admits she killed Daniel to prevent him from exposing the supplement's dangers, as she wanted to protect Billy’s 'vision' at any cost. Ivy is arrested, and the film ends with Alex and Drew finally agreeing to a real date, moving past their professional boundaries.