In a reply to a previous post someone said that they thought Toby could be A, and I think right now he’s my first suspect as well!
Toby is particularly sketch because he seems to most involved with the girls’ lives and investigation when there’s something that they’re close to finding out about A. He’s missing for long periods of time, we don’t know much about his life outside of his interactions with Spencer, and he could clearly have motive.
At the end of this theory, Toby has lost every family member who cared about his well being. His mom and sister are both dead, and he’s stuck living with a father and a step family that allow his step sister to assault him. Uber A stole the game from Mona right around the time that it was realized that the Body was not Ali’s, and that it was the body of Bethany Young. We’re going to feel sorry for A when we learn their motive, and what sadder motive could there be than having everyone you love taken away from you.
Here is my Toby is A theory:
No one calls mental institutions “Sanitariums” now - not only is that not PC but it’s also just uncommon enough that I’m pretty sure the choice to call it Radley Sanitarium was a conscious one and is a clue. Radley Sanitarium is an anagram for Mary A. DiLaurentis. Based on this and their physical similarities I believe that Mrs. DiLaurentis and Toby’s mother, Mrs. Cavanaugh, are sisters, and I also think that there is some evidence that Bethany is her daughter. I could go more into details that support this relationship but I want to keep this short.
That means Mrs. DiLaurentis is having an affair with her sister’s husband - which I assume wouldn’t go over well with Mrs. Cavanaugh. They get into an argument at Radley over it, and in a fit of jealousy and spite Mrs. DiLaurentis pushes her sister off the edge, with no one to witness it but Bethany.
Mrs. D tries to bribe her, tries to get close to her by asking her to call her Auntie, but nothing will work. As we heard from the recording Spencer and Mona found, Bethany thought that Mrs. D was nothing but a terrible liar. Mrs. D knows that Bethany is the only person who was witness to the murder of her sister, so she decides to get rid of Bethany.
Ali got the yellow top from her mother the day that she went missing. She had asked her mom for it before, but but it wasn’t untilthat day her mom gave it to her. If Ali didn’t know she had the top, how could she have sent a matching one to Bethany? She couldn’t have.
Mrs. D sent Bethany the yellow top, signed from Alison so that it would be less suspicious, so that it would be harder for the people from Radley to identify her once she “escaped”. She was going to have someone kill Bethany for her, but they attacked Alison by accident instead.
Other clues that point to Toby being A
It’s insanely untrustworthy for him to join the A team, even if it was to “protect Spencer”. I don’t think I’m alone when I say there’s a lot more to it than that.
In the early seasons, we often saw A wearing a leather jacket, as opposed to the current black hoodie. Toby was the only character that routinely wore a leather jacket wherever he went.
The “Pretty Eyes” nickname given to him by the waitress at the diner points to the fact that he’s been on the A team far longer than he’s letting on.
When Toby makes Emily her mix tape, the image on the back looks eerily like Radley, which seems out of place and like an early clue.
In season 1 Spencer is tutoring Toby in French, and at the end of the episode A is listening to a french tape
Toby is working a lot in the show, almost constantly, and so it would make sense that he would be able to bankroll some of As pricier habits.
We also know at this point there’s only one active “A” on the show, and Toby seems like one of the few characters who would be able to do this without help
So that’s an idea of the motive that Toby could have, as well as the clues that we have that point towards him being A!
thanks miss-epic-love for the suggestion to talk about Toby!