Brain Teasers
Post Office Burglary
After a local Post Office burglary, five suspects were being interviewed. Below is a summary of their statements. Police know that each of them told the truth in one of the statements and lied in the other. From this information can you tell who committed the crime?
Brian said:
It wasn't Charles
It was Alan
Derek said:
It was Charles
It wasn't Alan
Charles said:
It was Brian
It wasn't Eric
Alan said:
It was Eric
It wasn't Brian
Eric said:
It was Derek
It was Alan
Brian said:
It wasn't Charles
It was Alan
Derek said:
It was Charles
It wasn't Alan
Charles said:
It was Brian
It wasn't Eric
Alan said:
It was Eric
It wasn't Brian
Eric said:
It was Derek
It was Alan
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Comments
From the info given it could have been Alan too
I got Alan
It can't be Alan because in Brians statements he said "it was Alan"..if that was true it would also mean that the statement "it wasn't Charles was also true and one statement has to be a lie...therefore the statement "it wasn't Charles" is the true one meaning the statement "it was Alan" has to be false so Alan could not have done it.
Only 2 statements are required. If Brian says "It is Alan" and that is true then "It isn't Charles" is false and they both did it which is impossible. Therefore we know it isn't Charles or Alan. Likewise from what Charles says, it can't be Brian or Eric. That only leaves Derek!
Thanks for explaining Jimbo because I also thought it was Alan 
You can also solve it this way:
One of Eric's statements is true so it has to be Derek or Alan.
One of Dereks's statements is true. The first, "it was Charles" makes the other true too (it wasn't Alan), but both statements can't be right. So the true statement is that it wasn't Alan.
Thus it is Derek.
One of Eric's statements is true so it has to be Derek or Alan.
One of Dereks's statements is true. The first, "it was Charles" makes the other true too (it wasn't Alan), but both statements can't be right. So the true statement is that it wasn't Alan.
Thus it is Derek.
Nov 19, 2009
It isn't true because what Brain and Derek said contradict. If Brain's first statement is true, than both of Derek's are false. If his his second statement was true, then both of Derek's statements are false.
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