Understanding the Ending of ‘The Residence’: Mystery Behind A.B. Wynter’s Murder Revealed

It only took eight whole episodes but we finally know who killed The White House chief usher, A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito), in ShondaLand‘s latest Netflix series, The Residence.

**Warning: spoilers for the Season 1 finale of The Residence ahead… obviously**

After questioning just about every staff member and guest in attendance at the Australian State Dinner on the night of A.B.’s death, Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) realized that she may have been looking at the situation the wrong way the entire time. In doing so, she cracked the case wide open and arrested the single responsible party — sorry to all you Murder on the Orient Express fans out there, it wasn’t a group initiative.

But honestly, with a finale that lasts 75 minutes and includes a lot of back and forth, we cannot blame you if you did not make sense of what went down. Or maybe you just watched the first few episodes and can no longer wait to find out who did it. Whatever the reason, we have got you covered. Keep reading for a breakdown of The Residence‘s murderous reveal…

In the end, it was Lilly Schumacher (Molly Griggs), The White House social secretary, who murdered A.B. as she feared he would expose her for stealing money and violating numerous ethical standards and codes. In the second half of the finale, Detective Cupp explains to the other White House employees that while everyone had a motive and means to kill A.B., only one person gave themself away numerous times throughout the investigation.

Thrown off by what she thought was incredible acting on Lilly’s behalf — remember, the first time she met her, Lilly was looking everywhere for A.B. — Detective Cupp had all but ruled out Lilly as a suspect. It was only during the questioning that Lilly said she saw A.B. and Elsyie (Julieth Restrepo) arguing in the Yellow Oval Room before A.B.’s death. This was her giveaway.

Every other person Detective Cupp interviewed told her that while A.B. could be harsh, he was fair and would not argue or lambast someone in public, i.e., he would always close the door before yelling. Therefore, Lilly could not have watched the fight between Elsyie and A.B. unfold unless she was watching in secret. From there, the case began to fall into place as Lilly had also given herself away more discreetly during her first round of interviews.

When Detective Cupp first asked Lilly who she had issues with in The White House, she did an impression of Elliot Morgan (Barrett Foa), the first gentleman, who she said could be annoyingly indecisive. The impersonation was spot-on, so much so that when Jasmine Haney (Susan Kelechi Watson) told Cupp that Elliot called her and ordered her to seal off the secret door in the Yellow Oval Room, she wondered if it could have been Lilly on the other end of the line. It wasn’t until Elsyie and Bruce (Mel Rodriguez) were squarely framed as the two people responsible for killing A.B. — a scenario Lilly had engineered by saying she helped to cover up their crime knowing they are good people — that Cupp saw just how good of an actress Lilly is.

In reality, after years of butting heads with A.B. over his insistence on keeping The White House institutions in place (he did not like how Lilly was consistent about degrading the cherished traditions), A.B. finally found evidence that she was more than just tacky in her taste, she was actively misappropriating funds. While confronting her about it, Lilly ripped out a page in A.B.’s journal, the same one found in his pocket later that evening. That too gave her away as she knew it was in his pocket, something only a few people knew about; most of the group at The White House knew of the note, but only those who saw Cupp pull it from his pocket knew where she had pulled it from. So how did Lilly kill him? Buckle up, it’s a bumpy ride.

After calling A.B. and saying she wanted to apologize, Lilly met him in the Yellow Oval Room and attempted to poison him with a toxic gardening product she found in the shed. Lilly led the charge on going all organic with The White House’s plants but knew there were still some products in the shed that could get the job done. She mixed his drink with paraquat, however, A.B. only took a sip of the drink, which was not enough to kill him. She then threw a vase at his head, leaving scratches on his face from the shards as he fell over in distress. Still not dead, Lilly finished off the job by grabbing the clock on the mantle and hitting him over the head with it.

From there, Lilly hid the clock in the secret passageway and escaped as Elsyie and Bruce — thinking the other person had killed A.B. — moved the body and tried to cover up the situation to protect one another, essentially throwing Detective Cupp and the others completely off her scent. It was only as Lilly returned to the Yellow Oval Room and found A.B.’s body gone that she realized something was wrong and started searching every room, hence why she appeared genuinely concerned while looking for him throughout the evening. That also helped her to sell her story, which Detective Cupp even explains.

“It was a brilliant plan, and you deserve a lot of credit, but you really only made it as long as you did because of the bizarre miscommunications and regrettable behavior from so many other people in the house. Team effort here, you really owe them a lot,” Cupp says to Lilly as she is carted away in handcuffs.

Phew, what a way to almost get away with it!

The Residence is currently streaming on Netflix.