Is This A Clue About Charlotte's Killer On 'PLL'?

You may have thought that had a handle on Pretty Little Liars Big A mystery, but sorry, fans — we're now untangling a brand-new mystery where a tons of twists and turns are inevitable. We're only a few episodes in to Season 6B, and already we're all asking ourselves major questions — like who killed Charlotte DiLaurentis and who the new person stalking the girls via emoji-laden text is. So far, our suspect list for both Charlotte's killer and the so-called Uber A (or "B") is entirely too long to make a real call, but that doesn't stop us from questioning the motives of just about every person on this show. Right now, one very unlikely person is climbing up to the top of my radar — and he hasn't even made an appearance on Season 6B yet. Could Aria's brother Mike be responsible for Charlotte's murder? There's reason to suspect him.

A running joke on Pretty Little Liars is that Mike is chronically missing from the action, despite being Aria's little brother. That was true until Season 5, when Mike began dating Aria's frenemy Mona and getting adjacently involved on all of the A action. In fact, Mike was even suspected of killing Mona for a brief period of time, only for the Liars to realize that he was the one who tried to talk Mona out of the whole "faking her death" thing. When Mike realized that Mona could actually be dead, he broke down, thinking that A had killed the girl he loved.

Mike and Mona don't seem to be together five years after the Big A reveal, and, once again, Mike is missing. However, he's not totally out of sight and out of mind — Mike was mentioned by Ella and Byron in Tuesday's episode "Do Not Disturb." What his parents said about Mike should raise a few red flags for any loyal PLL viewer: They said that he "never seemed to be in his dorm room anymore." Is that because Mike is having too much fun playing beer pong with his frat bros, or is it for a far more sinister reason? Since this is Pretty Little Liars, I'm going to suggest that there's a chance it could be the latter.

If Mike isn't in his dorm room at a (still unnamed) college, there's a real chance that he might have been hanging around Rosewood — and it could be for a very specific reason. Mike was devastated when Mona was "murdered" by Charlotte, and there's a chance that he never quite let go of that anger. After all, Charlotte faking Mona's death and locking her in the dollhouse did inadvertently lead to the couple's breakup — not only did Mike have to go through the stress of thinking his girlfriend was killed, but he also got broken up with by that same girlfriend after she was found alive. That's a pretty good reason to want to seek revenge on the person responsible — and possibly even kill them.

Five years is a long time to hold onto serious anger, but let's not forget that Mike may have had more than one reason to want to harm Charlotte: Though Mike and Aria have had their differences over the years, he has always gone to bat for her (and one time he literally did take a bat to that idiot freshman Connor's car). Mike could have realized that Aria was still very much afraid of Charlotte after hearing what she said at Charlotte's court date, and decided to confront the former Big A to make sure that she would never hurt Aria, Mona, or the other girls again. Maybe he didn't intend for her to die, but it would make sense he'd confront her.

Another thing that makes Mike look potentially guilty? Access to the murder weapon. If Charlotte really was killed with Byron's missing golf club, Mike is one of the few people who would have easy access to it. Right now, Mike seems like persona non grata — he's not even picking up his parents' calls — but maybe that's exactly what he needs to be in order to stay under the radar.

Only time will tell if Mike is truly the person behind Charlotte's murder, but this PLL guy has certainly raised more than a few red flags.

For more Charlotte and PLL theories, follow Bustle's podcast Taking This One To The Grave .

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