An Exercise in Fatality story
Renowned exercise guru Milo Janus runs a chain of successful gyms. His charm is not enough to calm the anger of franchise owner Gene Stafford, who has found out how Janus overcharges his franchises for equipment and supplies, depositing the profits in offshore bank accounts. When Stafford threatens to organize other victims of Janus and to go public with a class action suit, Janus kills him. He makes it look like Stafford was working out, trying to lift weights too heavy for him, with the result being that the barbell fell and crushed his windpipe. Final clue/twist: From the way the shoelaces on the corpse were tied, Columbo deduces that Stafford did not tie his own sport shoes. Columbo concludes that the murderer must have put the shoes on Stafford’s feet, when he dressed the corpse in exercise clothing, and only Janus knew before the discovery of the body that Stafford was wearing exercise gear. Throughout the episode multiple hints to the solution are given (including a sustained close-up of the victim's shoes, Columbo tying his own shoes several times, Columbo discussing his shoes with other characters, and by a character named "Lacy"). Directed by: Bernard Kowalski. Story by: Larry Cohen, Peter S. Fischer.
21 total · 3 choice · 4 major · 14 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| breaking the law to cover up another crime | choice | The fitness guru Milo Janus murdered Gene Stafford, a franchisee of Janus' successful gym chain, to stop Gene from outing him as a tax fraud and a shyster. |
| greed for riches | choice | The fitness guru Milo Janus plotted to embezzle enough money from his chain of gyms to live comfortably in his villa on Adriatic coast. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | The fitness guru Milo Janus murdered Gene Stafford, a franchisee of Janus' successful gym chain, to stop Gene from outing him as a tax fraud and a shyster. He went to elaborate lengths to make it look like Gene died in a barbell related accident. One gathers that he would have undoubtedly gotten away with it not been for the meddlesome Lt. Columbo. |
| criminal fraud | major | The villain of the story Milo Janus was embezzling funds from the gyms he was franchising to unsuspecting owners. His plan was to skip off his villa overlooking the Adriatic with two million in embezzled Swiss francs. |
| health and fitness | major | The fitness guru Milo Janus lived for exercise and healthy eating. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with the following murder mystery: Did an out of shape gym franchisee die from dropping a heavy barbell on his neck during a late night workout session, or was foul play afoot? |
| tax evasion | major | Gene was about to expose Milo to the IRS for evading tax by channeling money to his off-shore holdings and Swiss bank account. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Ruth was something of a boozer. She at one point ended up in a hospital bed after drinking herself stupid. |
| coping with bad cooking | minor | Columbo politely avoided consuming the breakfast of carrot juice and supplement pills that Milo foisted on him. |
| coping with the death of a spouse | minor | Ruth was strangely at ease with her husband, Gene, having died suddenly in what appeared to be a gym accident, citing that she felt she'd lost Gene long ago. |