RAPED WHILE DYING
The first of the three billboards describe the event which eventually prompts Mildred Hayes to pay for the rental of the billboards. The billboard describes as succinctly as possible what happened to her teenage daughter.
AND STILL NO ARRESTS?
The second billboard which is nestled midway between the first and third is phrased as a question. In reality, however, it is an accusation. Or, at least, it is intended to be accusatory. The explicit meaning the second billboard is so inoffensive as to make it a rhetorical question. It is the subtext which lends this billboard power. Beneath the seemingly prosaic inquiry lies an angry recrimination against a police force not on the basis of not yet having made an arrest in the case, but of not caring enough to try to find the party responsible. The mere asking of the question implies not just that no arrest has been made, but a longer than expected amount of time has passed since the crime occurred.
HOW COME,
CHIEF WILLOUGHBY
Here is where it gets personal. One could—and likely would—assume the second billboard is directed to the entirety of law enforcement personnel under whose jurisdiction an investigation into the case would lie. The final entry in the billboard triptych turns the spotlight on one single individual who is now implicitly accused of being the centerpiece of the failure of an entire system. The police chief is instantly situated as the prime suspect in overall subtext of the message that drivers will see writ large before them: Chief Willoughby is the cause for their being as yet no arrest.
Dear Mildred, Dead Man Willoughby here. Firstly, I wanted to apologize for dyin' without catchin' your daughter's killer. It's a source of great pain to me and it would break my heart to think you thought I didn't care.
One of the shocking turns the plot takes is the suicide of the Police Chief. There is even a twist within the twist: he does not kill for any reason associated with the Hayes case. In fact, he sincerely makes clear that the billboards’ suggestion that the failure to make an arrest is due to any lack of concern or emotional investment. This is just one of several letters that Willoughby writes before his suicide.
“I guess we can decide along the way.”
Mildred winds up getting the unlikely assistance of a racist, fascistic deputy with low self-esteem issues whose admiration and respect for Willoughby ironically stimulates actions which get him kicked off the force. Dixon has discovered on his own a prime suspect in the case after overhearing him bragging about a crime that sounds suspiciously like the rape and murder of Mildred’s daughter. The DNA and other compelling evidence strongly suggest he isn’t the man they’re looking for, but he convinces Mildred that the man is worthy of punishment anyway. The two set off together to track him down. Both admit they are not exactly sure about the idea of killing him. And with these final words, the film concludes on many notes of ambiguity.
