Right. That looks like it... Hey, who I talking to?

ghoooooooooooooooooooosts

Me Zombie, me needs brain! U do have brain?

Well, given that the statute of limitations is set to expire - and/or a few of the investigators probably as well - I guess it doesn't matter what really happened to Mr. what's his face and Mrs. what's her face.

The detectives all sat around in the Puzzlemaster's office.
"Do you guys know where the heck he went?" asked Bler.
"He said he was getting the sergeant, but it feels like it's been days now." observed Detective Hendra.
Suddenly, the door opened. The Puzzlemaster walked in with Sergeant Zeagold.
"Alright, folks! Sorry it took me so long, we stopped for bagels on the way. I have the sergeant here to make an arrest. What've you people decided on?"
"Um...nobody. Weren't you paying attention?" asked ZFR.
"Kahretsin! You brought me all this way just to tell me that there is no arrest to be made?!"
"Wait...wha....huh? Are y'all tellin' me that after all that, we're not even going to DO anything? But...why?"
"Well, you're the Puzzlemaster." pointed out Ashwald. "Aren't you supposed to have the answer for us?"
"Oh yeah, huh! That reminds me...I had the solution last night! I wrote it down on the back of the meatball recipe so I wouldn't forget!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MAMA'S MEATBALL RECIPE?!"
"Ah, shuddup...lemme see, now...oh, criminy, that's right. Sergeant, don't bother making any arrests. The mafia had nothing to do with this. Maybe you can arrest the GOGfather on that illegal lynching operation he has going down, but not murder. Not this one, anyway. This was a suicide. I've written down the proof on this here notepad."
"Kahretsin...you are right this time, I suppose!"
"Thanks. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking that reward."
The detectives all cheered and crowded around the desk, staring greedily at the metal suitcase Zeagold put on the table.
He clicked the locks and opened the case to reveal a cellphone.
"You keep a cellphone in a metal case?" asked Trent.
"These wi-fi rays and cellular things are not good for you, you know." observed the sergeant, making a call.
"This is Joe's bagels, yes? ... Yes, effendi. ... Yes, I am afraid so. You must respect the agreement. ... Excellent. Güle güle."
"So. I assume he's bringing us a shipment of gold?" asked ZFR.
"No, effendi. The agreement was for Joe's Bagels to cancel the debts of the Puzzlemaster, which had run into millions, so I am being told."

Sundown comes. The air is still, peaceful, and quiet. A light can be seen in the window of the Puzzlemaster's office. And through this window, shattering the glass, flies the Puzzlemaster.

*****EPILOGUE*****
Markus committed suicide, albeit accidentally, and also murdered Lynette. The motive for the killing lied in the affair she was having (with the bagel delivery guy, if you simply must know). She intended to divorce her husband, and as executive producer of the show, she could really clean up.
Speaking of the show, the entire thing was a fraud. The GOGfather wasn't lying when he said his boys never threatened Markus. Him and his wife arranged fake letters and phone calls to boost ratings. After people started to get bored with this, they decided to try a publicity stunt in the forum of a staged assassination attempt.
Lynette dressed up as an assassin, appearing from the woods and using blanks in the gun. The plan was for the shot to miss Markus completely, so she was quite surprised to see blood coming from his leg. She ran back home and left the gun and costume at the pre-arranged dropoff spot, the shed.
After purposefully sending Mike in the wrong direction, Markus ran to the shed, donned the costume, used the security code to enter the house, killed his wife, waited until Leroy appeared as a witness, then left the costume back in the shed and headed for the woods.
On his little run, he discarded the extra shell. He was then faced with the hard part of shooting himself. The idea was to get a flesh wound, but he misfired and cut an artery. He stuck with the plan and wiped the gun clean, throwing it away. He tried to tie a tourniquet around his leg, but by that time, it was too late. He lost consciousness and set the scene for a fantastic direct-to-video movie produced by Leroy and directed by Mike.

*****RESULTS*****
And now comes the part where we see everyone's theories!

ZFR
"What I'm definitely sure of: Lynette was killed by her husband. He pretended to be shot in the leg, sent Mike purposely in the wrong direction, ran to the house, shot his wife, dumped the clothes, ran back, shot himself in the leg for real this time, threw the gun as far as he could.
Although I'm sure this is what happened, 2 things don't fit.
1) Why did he die. He made the perfect alibi for himself, so why was he dead. It doesn't make sense.
I have two possible solutions
a) By accident. He didn't mean to, but he shot an artery and bled to death without being able to do anything.
b)On purpose. It was a form of suicide.
I choose (b) It was suicide and the motive will be explained later.
The second thing that doesn't fit:
2) Who shot him in the leg. I see three possibilities.
a) Leroy or Mike. I reject both. If either of them did it, there was no need to do all the elaborate set up. None of them would fit with my main theory.
b) An assistant (e.g. the farmer). This one is more like it, but I'll reject it too. Even if that person was convinced to do this act, that person would have to come forward during the investigation.
c) The wife! That's what I'm going with. Several things fit with this hypothesis.
So here is what I think happened:
Lynette was having and affair with Leroy. Markus found out and decided to take revenge by killing her and framing Leroy.
He convinced his wife to do the act with the masked assassin, telling her that it will benefit the show due to the publicity. Leroy wasn't happy with the show concentrating on the mafia as it was, so Lynette agreed to do the act to make things more interesting.
Markus killed her as described, then commited suicide by shooting himself in the artery and bleeding to death.
And that's it. (but not finished yet...)
Metawise: I'm not sure this is the correct solution, since you specifically said that the verdict should be an "arrest" and in my situation there is no one to arrest. Unless you meant it as a red herring. I chose Leroy in my post, because if he was having an affair with the wife, he was the "source" of the problem. But I can't see him arrested by the police for that.
Metawise: what points in the direction that my solution is correct is your choice of words. The fact that you mentioned a masked "figure" as opposed to "man" (so it could be the wife) and having Markus grabbing his leg without specifying anywhere that he was really shot.
I'm hoping the crime scene investigation will clear up some points (2 bullets? false blood?)"
Analysis:
That was...pretty much entirely perfect. How in the world did you get this without even one clue?!

kusumahendra
"Markus killed Lynette and then accidentally killed himself

This is the theory :

It all started when Markus had an idea on how to raise rating for show "The Exposition" mafia edition. He made a secret plan with his wife Lynette. The plan was for him, the host of the show to be shot non-lethally by the mafia, and his wife threaten but safely secured in an alarmed house. This will surely hold public attention and thus raising the rating. So they both started the plan by having Leroy (Producer) and Mike (Cameraman) came to their house.

Markus started the plan. He went out with Mike into forest, while his wife Lynette slip outside house, went to a place where they kept a camouflage suit in a potting, and a gun. The gun of course, empty. Lynette went around, showed up and "shot" Markus. Empty bullet of course. Markus faked being shot. This was being proven by a contradiction of proves. In video, it shown Markus was shot below knee, while in autopsy report the wound is above knee. While acting being in pain, Markus sent Mike away with false direction to buy some time for them to carry on the next plan.

The plan was supposed to be Lynette threaten by a camouflage mob. Lynette came back to the place they agreed on meeting, put off the clothing and give it to Markus along with the gun. Markus putted the cloth on, and loaded the gun. This was of course surprised Lynette.

This was when Markus showed his true intention. For sometime he already suspected his wife was having an affair with someone. When he found out the note, he was sure of it, and plan to kill his wife and put the blame on the mafia and raise the rating. Kill two birds with one stone.

So there, somewhere in the forest between the house and where Markus found dead, Markus was confronting his wife about the affair and the mysterious note. Lynette was afraid and run away. Markus shot her but missed, thus the 3rd empty casing.

Lynette reached the house, and rushed to disarm the alarm. But just when she just opened the door, Markus already caught up. She was shot right at the door from a point blank range, and died immediately.

Leroy went down the stairs to see what happened and see Markus in camouflage. Markus threaten to shoot him but decided to back away. Markus went back to the place where he putted his camouflage suit in a potting, took a cloth piece, wiped clean the gun, and then tied the cloth around the handle to prevent his fingerprint got there later when he shot his own leg and perfected his alibi. After all he was sure he won't be able to wipe it while being in pain of gunshot.

After that he went to the place where he was supposed to get shot. He then proceeded to shot himself at the leg. Too bad he forgot his act and shot in the wrong place.

It was supposed to be a perfect crime, where he had a perfect alibi, and someone else to blame. But one thing was off of Markus calculation. A misfortune. By accident he shot an artery. The bleeding was severe and he died from blood lost."
Analysis:
A very close second. Some small details are off, such as the chase, but it's entirely plausible and works well. Nicely done!

Lucius_Malfoy
"I voted to arrest Mike Armstrong. Here's my theory: Lynette was having an affair. She didn't want to have to go through a divorce with her husband so she just shot him. Mike knew about the affair, and deducted from Lynette's hesitation to kill her husband that it was her. When he got lost, he knew Markus would bleed out so he vowed to avenge him. He stumbled upon the house, saw the disguise thrown aside, put it on and killed Lynette. The rest of the clues are irrelevant imo."
Analysis:
You were right about the affair, but Mike had nothing to do with it. Not a bad solution, but as far as clues being irrelevant, well...everything is important. Except maybe songs and boxes of fish. We're not too sure about those.

*****RESULTS, PART 2*****
ashwald
The Exposition" goes after the mafia and gets great ratings for a while. Constantly talking about the mafia however is going to get old sooner or later so they need either a new subject or something shocking to retain viewer interest. In the meantime, Markus has found out about Lynette's affair. So he decides to kill two birds with one stone by faking an attack from the mob on camera: he'll have his revenge, Lynette's part of the company will be his again and the ratings will skyrocket. He talks Lynette into being an accomplice and (because either she was threatened into it due to him knowing about the affair, or she was promised a good divorce settlement, or Markus never mentioned knowing anything but she thought she could eventually use this to blackmail him into giving her favorable terms on the divorce) she agrees to help.

So while Leroy is on the phone, Lynette puts on the camo, takes the gun (one blank the rest real bullets) that Markus prepared for her and goes to find the filming duo. She shoots at Markus only once as she was instructed, hides the mafia disguise in the potting shed and returns to the house. Markus, who is actually unharmed because he was shot with the blank, sends a terrified Mike running in the wrong direction, goes to the potting shed to wear the camo, grabs the gun and goes to the house. Lynette opens the door for him that something might have gone wrong with the plan and gets shot with a real bullet this time. Leroy comes out of the bedroom and Markus brandishes the gun at him but doesn't shoot because Leroy is to be used as a witness. Markus then re-hides the camo in the potting shed but takes the gun with him and starts towards the place where he had been filming with Mike. Along the way he discards the casing of the blank in a ravine. Once he is in position he shoots himself just above the knee so that when the ambulance eventually arrives there will be a wound to prove that the mafia indeed attacked him. He wipes his prints off with a cloth, ties it around the handle of the gun and throws it as far away as he can muster. Unfortunately for him, the bullet severs an artery and so he dies of blood loss before Mike returns with the medics.

The actual murderer is already dead so no arrest.
PS: the Smith & Wesson .38 is a revolver type and doesn't automatically eject bullet casings. It has to be done manually."
Analysis:
Ah! A clever observation about the gun! You're pretty much on the money with everything. A beautiful solution!

trentolf
"I believe Markus knew about the affair his wife was having so devised a plan to have her murdered and to boost his ratings more. I think the assassin was to shoot Markus but not kill him (was just an unlucky shot that hit a vein) and then shoot Lynette (I believe Markus gave the assassin the door code) to make it look like a mob hit. Markus did not want anyone else hurt and that is why Leroy and Mike were not shot. Further investigation will be needed to determine who the assassin was that Markus hired."
Analysis:
Those were pretty much the basics, except there was no assassin. Interesting idea of hiring a third party, though.

docbear1975
Here's my theory. It's completely nuts.
Lynette and Markus plotted to kill each other. However, things didn’t go entirely as planned. Markus killed Lynette, then accidentally killed himself. Markus suspected that Lynette was having an affair and decided to kill her. Lynette, knowing that a divorce would be messy and complicated (especially the financial settlement) decided to kill Markus.
Markus’s suspicions of Lynette’s affair were confirmed when he found the note. He then suspected that she was plotting to kill him (or at least have him killed). On the fateful day, Lynette (dressed in fatigues) followed Markus and Mike. She shot at Markus, but missed. Markus pretended that the shot hit him. He then sent Mike to get help, deliberately sending him in the wrong direction. Markus then got up, following Lynette to the house. Lynette and Markus exchange some words, Markus shoots and kills her. Markus then goes to the shed. He leaves the fatigues in the shed, but as he is taking them off, he accidentally shoots himself in the leg. Figuring that Mike would be back with help, Markus limps back and succumbs to his self-inflicted wound.
Analysis:
Completely nuts theories are the best kind for completely nuts mysteries like this one. This is exactly right. Seems a lot of people did well with this one, including yourself. Nicely done!

FantasySci5
" "
Analysis:
Don't make me have to arrest Louie, now.

bler144
"No offense. This one's just going to make me annoyed whatever the explanation is.

I'm going with dude setup the fake shot attempt. Wife was in the clothes and fake-shot him. He intentionally sends cameraman in wrong direction. He follows spouse and somehow gets the gun and the clothes, kills wife in doorway, Leroy observes him snugly in clothes that are wife-sized, so they're apparently slightly different but not significantly different in height/build.

For whatever reason he then ditches clothes by the house rather than in the woods. Then he runs back into the woods, shoots self in the artery b/c this criminal mastermind has no instinct for self-preservation. Despite agonizing pain and bleeding, has the presence of mind to wipe/throw gun, but not to bind the wound or tie a tourniquet, and somehow miraculously bleeds to death in 10 min.
Arrest zeo."
Analysis:
Pretty much. Look, in my defense, Markus isn't that great of a shot.

And now...the prizes!
ZFR obviously takes first place for possibly the most amazing win I've seen yet, a Day 1 solve.

kusumahendra takes second place for his efforts at solving. Solid conclusion, to boot.

Third place, as per random pick, is trentolf.

Thanks for playing, folks!

Yay. Big congrats to ZFR. :-)
And also congrats to Kusumahendra and trentolf. :-)

A big "Thank you!" to Zeogold for this nice game. :-)

An interesting case with very subtle hints. I missed the possibility of fake clue done by Markus dropping empty shell. Thank you for holding the game

congratulations to other winners too

btw I take Master of Orion 1+2 as my prize . Thank you gnostic for donating the game:)

Thanks for hosting the game Zeo! My brain couldn't handle this one I'm afraid. :P

*hides face in shame* Why did I think it was Mike?
Thanks for hosting this Zeo, it was fun! And congrats to the winners!

Congrats to the winners! And a big thank you to Zeogold for hosting. These are fun!

Thanks!

The setup vaguely reminded me of a book. I won't mention the title to avoid spoilers. But that's basically how I solved it. The clues confirmed my theory.

Well done, everyone.