The Legend of the Mysterious Five Storied Pagoda is a case that is an anime original, two part episode. In this case, Conan wins a contest to visit a temple with a beautiful pagoda that has a disturbingly morbid legend attached to it. While there, they learn that the pagoda is being sold and turned into an amusement park by a greedy hotel owner. That owner is found hanging from the pagoda overnight. Was it a suicide? Conan doesn't think so, as there may be more to this case than meets the eye...
Conan, Ran, and Kogoro win a sightseeing trip after Conan solved puzzles for a contest that Ran submitted. While there, Kogoro starts to smoke and is interrupted by Okabe, a laborer of the temple. Ran impresses Okabe with her appreciative comments and is invited, along with Kogoro and Conan, to see the temple. Okabe tells them the legend of the pagoda, where those who have been bad or have evil souls are mysteriously punished by being found hanging from the top of the pagoda. The tour is interrupted by an angry Tan Kai, who Okabe explains is upset because the ODA Company had deceived him into stealing his pagoda to tear it down and build an amusement park in its place. In the evening, Conan, Kogoro, and Ran are invited by Oda to dinner since they are staying at Oda's Hotel and because of Kogoro's famous reputation. Kajimura is there as well, and introduces himself before he is made to leave for Tokyo for business. Shun Kai, Tan Kai's son, visits Oda during their dinner and tells Oda he won't give up getting the pagoda back for his father. The next morning, Okabe wakes everyone up and takes them to the temple again, where Oda is found hanging from the roof as the legend foretold.
Suicide?
Location:A Pagoda
Victim:Hideaki Oda
Cause of death:Hanging
Suspects:Juukichi Okabe, Tan Kai, Yousuke Kajimura, and Shun Kai
Hideaki Oda, the president of ODA Company was found hanging from the roof of the pagoda the morning after meeting Kogoro, Ran, and Conan, as described by the Legend of the Pagoda.
Oda was called to meet outside by a suspect the night he died.
Conan noticed that the balustrade used to tie the end of the rope was damaged.
The rope used to hang Oda had burn marks on all over it even though it looked new.
Oda's feet did not reach the balustrade. This leads Conan to believe that Oda might have been murdered rather than committing suicide, since he couldn’t kill himself if he couldn't reach the balustrade.
Oda's tie clip and wallet were not found on his body. Conan inspected the body further and found dirt that smelled like herbs on Oda’s **sleeve and soil on the heels of his feet. Conan looked around and found the necktie clip in a patch of nearby grass.
Conan mentions that one of the suspects said something strange.
Conan notices a slipknot tied where the end of the rope was tied to the balustrade.
Kajimura suspiciously had a lot of money in his wallet, as Oda did before he died. Kajimura said his wallet was different and had a lot of **money because it was the company's pay-day.
Conan looked inside a nearby, dried-up well and saw something in it. The edges of the well had new marks of friction on it. There was a line imprinted on the grass leading from the well to the pagoda.
Method
Conan used the Shizuoka Police's help to demonstrate the method. Before the murder, one end of the rope was tied in a noose with the rest of the rope hung over the pagoda. The other end was threaded through the balustrade, extended to the ground, and tied to short steel beams over the well. The steel beams were sitting on top of a strong iron bar that could be pulled with another rope tied to the bar. When Oda came to the pagoda at night, the murderer slipped the noose around his neck and pulled the rope tied to the iron bar at the same time, causing the steel beams to fall and Oda to be pulled up to the top of the pagoda. To make sure Oda did not remove the noose from his neck, the criminal tripped Oda which is why Oda had soil on his sleeves and shoes and his necktie clip had fallen. The burn marks seen on the rope and damage to the balustrade were from the rope being pulled against the top of the pagoda and the balustrade.
The criminal had to cut and hide the rope, but Inspector Yokomizo questioned how one person could have done this since Oda had weighed about 100kg (about 220 pounds) and cutting the rope would have made him fall back down. Conan asked a police officer to show that a small rod could be put through the loop of the slipknot to hold the rope in place as the other end is cut. The criminal then tied the cut end of the rope on the outside of the balustrade through the slipknot and taut rope and removed the rod. The murderer hid the slack rope still tied to the steel beams at the bottom of the well with the beams to make it look like Oda killed himself.
Conclusion
Conan deduced Yousuke Kajimura was the murderer which was supported by the fact that Kajimura was a senior employee of ODA Sightseeing and could receive blueprints of the pagoda, thereby knowing how tall the pagoda was and how much rope to use. Conan knew that the decisive evidence against Kajimura was in wallet. During the previous night, Oda's waiter gave him a receipt for a pack of cigarettes which Oda placed in the midst of a stack of bills in his wallet, unbeknownst to Kajimura. This same receipt was found in Kajimura's wallet, which Kajimura should not have had since he said he was in Tokyo that night and could not have met Oda.
Motive
ODA company had been in loss lately and Oda made Kajimura evade taxes to preserve its finances. When Oda wanted to avoid being found out, he wanted to expose Kajimura and shoulder all the blame on him, even though he did so much for the company.
