Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20151213162620/@comment-26872876-20151215165957

Mercen-X wrote: How does Qrow know who is responsible for Autumn's condition? Okay, he's a spy, but where exactly was he when it happened? Did he see it? Was he there? Did he try to help? Why doesn't he know what they look like? Think of it like detective work, and Qrow is hot on the tracks.

1) Volume One he sends Ozpin, "Queen has Pawns."

2) Volume 3 He arrives and Mercury Black recognizes him.

3) Volume 3 He notes those responsible for Autumn's condition are here.

Thus, it means he has followed enough leads and clues to know that whomever the big bad is has henchmen, and those henchmen have made it to Vale. This is also confirmed by Ironwood due to Dance Dance Infiltration with Ruby vs Cinder.

Sadly, we don't know how/why. Maybe he beat up some low level thugs and got the Intel that a group went to Vale. Maybe he found one of their operations and learned from clues left behind (or people) that there are three of them. Or it could even be they were acting like civilians when they saw him go attack a base of theirs.. Thus they know what he looks like, but he doesn't know them.

It's hard to say, but at least we have three solid facts that say he knows they are out there.