The Real Reason Sheila Isn’t Tom’s Murderer On Bold and the Beautiful…Or Is She?

Fan-favorite Clint Howard had a brief but memorable stint on The Bold and the Beautiful until his character, Tom, suddenly died of an apparent drug overdose…which may actually have been murder. Since the subsequent death of Tom’s co-worker, Hollis, a killer is most likely on the loose. Could it be Sheila?

She Doesn’t Have Much of a Motive

While Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) has a long and twisted history of violence and mayhem, the death of Tom (Clint Howard) does not benefit her in any way. They kind of hinted at the two having a bit of a clash a while back, but honestly, does Sheila just kill anyone who disagrees with her or looks at her cross-eyed? Heck no.

But let’s face it, she’s killed several people over the years, including Dr. Jay Garvin (Brett Stimely) — who she tossed off of a tall building — and Lance (Adam Huss) — who she trapped in his apartment with a swarm of killer bees — as well as shooting Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), Finn (Tanner Novlan), and Taylor (Krista Allen), among many others. And with characters like Steffy and Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) shouting from the rooftops that Sheila’s the obvious perpetrator, it makes it even more obvious that she isn’t guilty. 

We’re not expecting Sheila to transform into a happy homemaker and do some giddy baking in between her shifts at Il Giardino. Still, she’s certainly turned her life around with the love of Deacon (Sean Kanan), especially after he saved her from the clutches of the late Sugar (also Brown). He couldn’t have done that without Finn and Tom’s help. Although she’s done many heinous acts over the years, she does respect certain things, and the fact that she literally owed her life to Tom meant a lot, so clearly, she’s not the one.

Who Has More of a Motive?

The next suspect would be Poppy (Romy Park), who’s been concealing the fact that Tom may actually be Luna’s (Lisa Yamada) father, not Bill (Don Diamont), and the two even clashed over it at one point—but clearly, having Poppy as his killer is far too obvious. Especially as she constantly throws guilty looks around the room, setting things up for a total red-herring. Poppy may seem to have more going on beneath the surface, and she would go to great lengths to protect her daughter, but we’re doubtful she’s a killer. There’s just one thing: She’s so new to the show that we don’t know anything about her, so it’s well within the realm of possibility that she could turn out to be a homicidal maniac.

Tom and Hollis (Hollis W. Chambers) were super nice guys and didn’t seem to have enemies. Hollis found Tom’s backpack with some mysterious envelopes in it, which may have been the letters he sent to Luna that had been returned to him. But the bag has disappeared, further linking the two killings. Hollis wanted to tell people about it but never got the chance, having been killed by the same drug that was used on Tom.

Jack (Ted King) has also suddenly returned and hinted at ties to Poppy. He also said he had drinks with Hollis. It’s possible he offed Tom for Poppy and Luna’s sake, but that’s a bit of a stretch, considering it’s not a strong enough motivation for murder. However, having it turn out to be Jack and subsequently having him get sent up the river for it would clear his dance card so he could shuffle over to General Hospital to reprise his role as Alcazar. Just sayin’.

As it stands, everyone throwing Sheila into the ring as the killer only obfuscates who the real murderer is, and that might not be good for anyone else who’s a potential victim.