as we are talking, i am watching the second season of the show. here is a theory i had from season one. ALSO WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON 1:
i haven't made many theories because the entire time i thought that Brandon James was behind everything or Jake and will because they were sketchy at first. theory number 1 is the fact that will was aggressive and sketchy and jumpy and looked like he was hiding things, money? for sure, but i thought he was the one who murdered Nina in the first place. at first i thought maybe they both did, Will and Jake. That scene where Will came out of nowhere outside the coffee shop at night with Emma and the whole "text message" thing really made me feel more suspicious about him. you might be wondering "isn't there only one killer? so how did you think it was Brandon James and Will and Jake at the same time? isn't Brandon James dead?" simple, i didn't. part of me knew that Brandon James wasn't behind this, but at the same time i knew that if it isn't him then it has to be someone related to him and his past and Emma's past. which is something kinda obvious when you remember the scene where Emma gets this phone call aka the killer warning her to not trust her mom. The bottom line is that the more you watch the more your theories get clearer and some get demolished and some get made. this theory got demolished as soon as i saw the scene where Will got into duke and didn't have the money for it so Jake hurt Brookes dad for some money and Will got pissed because he didn't want to get anyone hurt. Could be acting you might think, but why would Will act all pure and innocent around Jake when they're literally partners in crime? not only that, but the main reason i thought they were the ones who killed Nina is because of the whole "Nina's laptop and Jake's files". now i want to go back to Brandon James, but i can't speak much about it because i might've found something that wasn't mentioned in season 1. i will mention it later but you will find out more about why i thought it could've been him later on.