Tamara Dilger (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries)

The villainous Tamara Dilger

Tamara Dilger (Jodelle Ferland) is the hidden main villainess from the 2022 Hallmark film, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, the eighteenth film in the Aurora Teagarden series (airdate February 20, 2022).

Introduction

Tamara Dilger is the only daughter of Mona Dilger, who lived next door to an old house that was once inhabited by Ezra Enshaw over a century ago--the same house that was purchased by Aida Teagarden. The pair's introduction came when Mona suddenly entered the house, doing so claiming that her husband, Lyndon Dilger (who died several years prior), drew her to the house, with Tamara appearing and tending to her mother, who suffered from anxiety and dementia. The film's overall introduction revealed that Aurora Teagarden and Sally Allison, along with Arthur Smith, entered the house as teenagers on a bet, and it was on that day that the trio found a dead body, later revealed as ghost hunter Frank Brunelli.

The case remained open entering the film's events, with the investigation uncovering a second set of remains, which belonged to a man named Jeffrey Wear. Among the suspects in both murders was Reggie Harris, who was working on the house and had worked construction with Jeffrey, but just as he was about to be released, Aurora arrived and revealed that Jeffrey was connected to a bank robbery committed decades prior, with Reggie as a suspected co-conspirator.

Reveal

Tamara's reveal after attacking Nick Miller

Reggie revealed during his interrogation that the mastermind of the robbery was Lyndon Dilger, which led to Mona being a suspect, as she was believed to be entering the house looking for the money from the robbery. Both Mona and Tamara were called to the station, with the former confirming that Lyndon was involved in the robbery and that the money was in the area of the house. As for Tamara, she voiced her assurance that her mother was innocent, and denied any claims that her father committed the decades-old murders. Meanwhile, after the house was cleared of any evidence that it was haunted, Aurora picked up a doodle that she had found earlier, and (upon seeing a windmill on a portrait of Ezra Enshaw) concluded that it was a map to the money from the robbery.

Aurora and Nick Miller spotted the windmill in the climax, and later approached a nearby tree based on the map, but after Aurora saw that someone had been digging, Nick was suddenly knocked out with a shovel by the person behind the digging, revealed as Tamara. As Tamara revealed, she had learned about her father's robbery and the missing money from Mona's journal, and decided to search the Enshaw house to find the money for herself. Aida purchasing the house served as an obstacle, leading to the villainess concocting the "haunted house" hoax to scare her (and anyone else) away, and also shoving Nick down the stairs to avoid being caught.

Regarding a motive, Tamara stated that she and Mona were in massive debt (which she blamed on Mona for allowing it to "pile up") and needed the money as a way out. While she claimed that she didn't want any harm to come to Aurora, the evil Tamara attempted to attack Aurora with her shovel, only for Nick to arrive and fight against the villainess before Lynn and Arthur arrived at the scene. Tamara was handcuffed and arrested by the couple shortly afterwards.

Trivia

• Jodelle Ferland also played villainess Audrey in 2016's Revenge Porn.

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