Who killed Tom? The Bold and the Beautiful's murder mystery begins

Tom has been poisoned on The Bold and the Beautiful, but who had the motive to take him out?

Deacon and Sheila's new friend Tom was having the time of his life, performing for a crowd once again. However, before his musical night ended, the new The Bold and the Beautiful character was down for the count.

Tom arrived on the scene in April when Deacon and Finn were searching for a presumed-dead Sheila. They knew she was alive somewhere and came across a homeless man named Tom who led them right to an abandoned warehouse where they found an unconscious and chained Sheila.

Deacon was so grateful for Tom's help that he had Tom officiate his and Sheila's wedding and then gave Tom a job at Il Giardino. When Deacon learned Tom was a musician, he offered Tom a chance to perform, and that's when all hell broke loose. Tom's Ice Blue energy drink went missing, and we saw someone with black gloves lace it with an unknown substance.

Before his big debut night was through, Tom was passed out on the ground. Now, poor Tom is dead, but who killed him? That's the million-dollar question as we evaluate a list of suspects below.

Poppy Nozawa

Poppy seems like the most obvious choice, which means it is probably not her, but you never knew. She certainly had motive. Just before Tom was set to perform, he confronted Poppy over the belief that he, not Bill Spencer, was Luna's father. Poppy and Tom knew one another years ago from the music festival scene, but Poppy insisted to Tom that he was not the baby daddy. Tom didn't believe her and threatened to tell everyone his truth. Could Poppy have poisoned him to keep him quiet? After all, she wouldn't want to give up her new cushy life in Dollar Bill's mansion.

Li Finnegan

Li was conveniently at Il Giardano, and she administered the paternity test that allegedly proved that Bill was Luna's father. If Bill is not Luna's dad, did Li purposely administer the test wrong to get the result that she and Poppy wanted? Could she and Poppy have conspired, considering Poppy dropped this bomb on Bill out of nowhere and Li showed up just as they were ready to take a home DNA test? Perhaps Li was the one who wanted to keep Tom quiet, and she poisoned his drink.

Jack Finnegan

Any time the subject of Luna's father came up, Li would get highly defensive and once hinted to Finn that it was an explosive secret. Since Jack was married to Li when Luna was conceived, does he know the secret about how it happened and who Poppy was with at the time? Clearly, it was multiple men. Could one of those men be Jack? Did he know Tom at the time? Maybe Tom knew a secret about Jack that the good doctor was trying to keep hidden. Plus, Jack showing up at Il Giardino after he hadn't been seen on-screen in ages had to be for a reason.

Sheila Carter

Although Tom was instrumental in saving Sheila's life and officiated her wedding, he and Sheila shared words last week, making it clear that Tom was not Sheila's favorite person. They seemed to come to an understanding, and it looked as if they were getting along; however, looks can be deceiving when it comes to Sheila. Since Sheila is a known killer who has murdered multiple people and tried murdering even more, killing Tom would come easy to her.

Bill Spencer

Is it possible that Bill isn't as oblivious as he looks at the moment? Maybe he knows he is not Luna's dad, but he wants to keep his new happy little family as much as Poppy does. While poisoning someone is not in Bill's nature, characters have been known to have lapses in sanity. Bill seemed to have a lapse last year when he made his loved ones believe he had fallen for Sheila, but it was all an act. That doesn't mean he can't be going through an out-of-character moment now.

Justin Barber

There is seemingly no reason for Justin to want Tom dead. We haven't even seen Justin on-screen in a couple of years. So, why was he back all of a sudden... without so much as a line? He's more than likely a red herring. But what if Justin overheard the truth about Tom being Luna's dad and decided to do whatever he could to prevent his former boss-and-BFF Bill from losing the young woman he was ready to formally adopt?

A surprise suspect?

Obviously whoever ends up being the murderer will have a motive for doing the dirty deed. There is one potential suspect who might have... a very unusual reason for wanting Tom Starr gone. Soap Central's Dan J Kroll points the finger directly as Thomas Forrester, a man who seemingly has no connection to Tom. "THEORY: Tom was killed by... Thomas. Why? Because Thomas wanted to be the only Tom/Thomas/Tommy in all of Los Angeles." It's not the most solid motive, but it is a motive!

Who do you think really killed Tom? Is it someone mentioned above or another character? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.