FILE No.13Unsolved
Toda, who lived on the second floor of a wooden apartment building, was three months behind on his rent. The landlord, concerned, visited his room but got no answer. The front door stayed shut for days. Suspicious, the landlord entered with a spare key.
Toda lay dead in the room with a single stab wound to the belly. He had been dead for more than ten days.
The front door was locked from the inside, and the key was in the pocket of Toda’s trousers. Only the landlord had a spare. The room has a single window, firmly locked from the inside. There was no other way in or out. Yet blood had been wiped away in the room, in front of the door and in the alley.
Toda had been planning a trip, so suicide seemed unlikely. The autopsy showed that it took several hours from the stabbing until his death. There was also a rumor that "he resells fake brand goods."
The suspects are four: Aoi, who has judo experience; Kurokawa, who wore a bloodstained T-shirt; Akamatsu, who was seen near the scene; and Shiraishi, who carried a knife for self-defense.
Who wiped the blood in the room and locked the front door?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
The key was in the victim’s pocket. Who could have used it to lock the door?
Several hours passed between the stabbing and the death. What was the victim doing then?
Did the victim have a reason not to call for help?
Who wiped the blood in the room and locked the front door?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
The victim himself, Toda
The answer is the victim himself, Toda.
Toda was stabbed outside, then fled back to his own room alive for several hours. He locked the door from the inside and wiped the blood himself. Because he had the guilty secret of reselling fake brand goods, he feared that calling the police or an ambulance would expose his business.
The blood in the alley, on the other hand, was wiped up by the person who stabbed him, who tried to erase marks that would lead to himself. The key is in Toda’s pocket because he locked the door from inside and then collapsed. No one ever entered the room, so there was never anyone who "made" a locked room.
Hearing "locked room" and "wiped blood," you assume the culprit rigged an elaborate locked room. The idea that "the victim locked it himself" never comes up if you see him only as a victim.
The cases on this site are fictional puzzles created for entertainment. Any resemblance to real people, organizations or events is coincidental.
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