Who Killed Chase In Where The Crawdads Sing?

Sometimes, the wicked get their just reward. In the 2022 mystery thriller "Where the Crawdads Sing," that's what happens with quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). After trying to assault wallflower and swamp-dwelling artist Kya Clark (played by British actor Daisy Edgar-Jones), he seems to turn over a new leaf, fostering a relationship with her and promising to marry her. But Kya comes across an engagement announcement and realizes that Chase has used her sexually while planning to share a life with his college sweetheart.

Kya and Chase have a public confrontation that turns into a physical assault and she swears to kill him if he ever comes near her again. While Kya's off meeting a book publisher looking to print a volume of her nature drawings, Chase is found at the bottom of a fire tower only he and Kya knew about, missing the mussel shell necklace Kya made for him. He's dead, apparently from a major fall. The perpetrator might seem clear to the naked eye, but is Kya really the killer? Chase's death remains the biggest unanswered question from "Where the Crawdads Sing," but we're going to explain what really happened.

The movie is centered around Catherine Danielle Clark (better known as Kya), whose childhood grounded in a North Carolina swamp is filled with poverty and abuse. Eventually abandoned by her older siblings and her mother to live with her alcoholic father, Kya learns how to fish to survive the harsh elements. When her father also leaves her, she makes it through by selling fish and clams to James "Jumpin'" Madison (Sterling Macer Jr.) and his wife Mabel (Michael Hyatt), who become Kya's surrogate parents. 

Kya develops a teenage romance with Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith), a childhood friend who opens her mind up to the wider world. They break up when Tate goes away to college. While Tate's gone, she's approached by Chase Andrews, and they develop what seems to be a warm romantic connection. But he soon shows himself to be a louse, and Kya ends up becoming the prime suspect in his murder.

Kya is fortunate in that policing wasn't as advanced back in 1969, which is when Chase was found dead near the fire tower. There are also no tracks, since the bog flooded at high tide. The case against her is built on circumstantial evidence, and her trip to meet the publisher provides her with an alibi. A jury finds Kya innocent, and she goes off to live out her happily-ever-after, drawing her heart out.

In both the book and movie versions of "Where the Crawdads Sing," it's made abundantly clear that Kya really did kill Chase. While she's exonerated by a jury of her peers and gets to live out a full life beside Tate, he eventually discovers material evidence that connects Kya to Chase's death. Tate doesn't come across the truth until Kya's own death, and even then he chooses to protect her.

What's the tipping point? Tate finds a drawing of Chase among Kya's belongings while putting them away after her passing. It's stuffed in her journal, where she has also remarked that to protect the prey, predators must be killed. He also, eerily, finds a physical reminder of the murders — Chase's necklace, which Kaya ripped from his body during his second attempted assault on her and was never discovered during the investigation into Chase's death.

Knowing what kind of person Chase was, Tate is happy to rid the world of this last bit of material evidence. He throws the shell necklace into the marsh, where it will be absorbed by nature. While it might be a little murky to the naked eye, these final moments in the story of Kya, Chase, and Tate tell us that Kya did indeed kill Chase and that she did so to protect other young women who might have become victims of his predatory behavior.

The movie version of "Where the Crawdads Sing" is generally in harmony with Delia Owens' novel when it comes to Chase's murder, though there are a couple of differences. In the book, Kya confesses her deed in a poem. Tate burns the poem and the leather part of the necklace, then throws the shell onto a beach before burying Kya on their property, leaving no trace of her crime. Otherwise, everything — from the manner of Chase's death to the way the trial goes down — is identical.

There are some other small details in "Where the Crawdads Sing" that make a difference between the two narratives. For example, the movie focuses more on Kya's struggles relating to her mother's choice to abandon her family due to her father's physical abuse, and her mother is portrayed as wanting to get her children back. In the book, Kya's mother's abandonment of her children is chalked up to her mental state. However, whether in book or film form, it's still a gripping story of survival.