Cynthia Pike

Cynthia Pike is the villainess from "Murder Blues," the fourth season premiere of Diagnosis Murder.

She was played by Angie Dickinson.

Cynthia Pike is the captain of the LAPD, but as revealed later on, she was having an affair with Councilman Watson, who later killed his wife. The two planned to frame Detective Stang for the murder, setting him up as a corrupt cop. When that plan began to fall through, the evil Cynthia killed Stang and made the murder look like a suicide, even leaving a suicide note.

While giving a press conference regarding Stang's role in the death of Watson's wife, Cynthia suddenly collapsed and was revealed to have a tetanus infection in her left arm. Oddly, it was the infection that proved that Cynthia killed Stang, as he was inside his cell, and she cut herself on the rusty iron bars. At episode's end, a wheelchair-ridden Cynthia fingered Watson in his wife's murder. Regarding a motive, the plan was to result in Watson becoming mayor and Cynthia replacing Masters as the new chief of police. Cynthia was arrested for her role in the conspiracy.