An Idol's Locked Room Murder Case

An Idol's Locked Room Murder Case is the third episode of Case Closed.

Situation
Conan declines to walk home from school with classmates Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko. He arrives at the Mouri Detective Agency to see that without work, Kogoro spent all day drinking beer and watching his favorite popstar, Yoko Okino, on TV. When a client arrives during one of her shows, Kogoro even tries to make them return later — until he realizes that the client is Yoko Okino herself, accompanied by her manager. Kogoro quickly makes himself presentable and hears her concerns about a recent stalker. He agrees to investigate at her apartment, and Ran and Conan tag along. Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko were watching the agency and also follow, so when the front door opens everyone sees the body on the floor inside.

Resolution
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Evidence

 * Conan discovers a hoop earring underneath a couch in Yoko's apartment. Yoko reveals this earring belongs to Yuko Ikezawa, her rival.
 * Yuko, despite claiming never to have been in Yoko's apartment before, seems to know where the bathroom is located and that the Statue of Liberty figurine in the apartment is actually a lighter.
 * Yamagishi explains that Yoko's apartment's spare key has been missing for awhile.
 * Yamagishi removed a strand of hair from Fujie's hand when he pretended to slip on the floor. When Conan retrieves the hair, he realizes Yamagishi must think it belongs to Yoko.
 * Conan discovers an odd indentation mark on the floor as well as traces of water. He also notes that it is strange that only a chair is standing upright on the floor near the body while the rest of the room is in shambles.
 * Megure upon entering Yoko's apartment, notes that the room seems to be at an unusually hot temperature.

Conclusion
Conan knocks Kogoro unconscious by kicking him in the head with an ashtray. Using the voice-changing bowtie, Conan as Kogoro reveals the truth behind the strange things that happened to Yoko, as well as the murder.

Yuko is responsible for the missing apartment key, threatening phone calls, etc. This is why Yuko knew where Yoko's bathroom was and why she knew the Statue of Liberty was actually a lighter.

Conan as Kogoro reveals that the Fujie's murder was not a murder at all; Fujie committed suicide by freezing a knife inside a block of ice, grabbing a hair from Yoko's hairbrush and then falling backwards onto the knife from the chair in the room. The odd indentation in the floor was caused by the knife when Fujie landed on it. The water spots on the floor are from the melted ice. Before killing himself, Fujie turned up the heat in Yoko's apartment in order to melt the ice, and therefore evidence, away.

Motive
Yuko's motive for playing mean pranks and tricks on Yoko was to frighten her and find potential scandal material.

Fujie's motive for committing suicide was Yuko's startled reaction to Fujie grabbing her by the shoulder. Fujie used to be Yoko's boyfriend until Yamagishi asked him to break up with her for the sake of Yoko's career. Mistaking Yuko for Yoko, whom he still loved, Fujie took this reaction to mean that Yoko never wanted to see him again. Unable to bear the thought, Fujie committed suicide, framing Yoko for the murder in despairing revenge.

Manga to anime changes
Main article: List of differences between the manga and anime


 * In the anime, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta introduce themselves to Conan and follows him on the case. The Detective Boys don't appear in the manga until the haunted mansion case in the next volume.
 * In the manga, Ran suspects that Shinichi's absence might have to due with the two men in black that he pursued and planned to call the police. In the anime she merely plans to report his absence to the police without any mention of the men in black.

Trivia

 * Even though the victim landed back-down on the knife and most likely died instantly according to the coroner, the corpse is found in a belly-down position. The only way for this to be possible is if the corpse flopped over after impact or if the coroner was incorrect about the instantaneity of the death.
 * This is Eiichi Yamagishi's first appearance, his second appearance is On Location, TV Drama Murder Case.
 * Also the first episode that the victim is stabbed.