A Haunted Mansion Murder Case

Episode 20 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}})
Information
Title:	The Haunted Mansion Murder Case
Japanese title:	幽霊屋敷殺人事件 (Yuureiyashiki Satsujin Jiken)
Original airdate:	June 17, 1996
Season:	1
Manga source:	Volume 2: File 8-10 (017-019)
English version
English title:	The Disappearing Act
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Detective Boys Ran Mouri Professor Agasa
Case solved by:	Conan Edogawa
Staff
Director:	Kenji Kodama
Organizer:	Kuchiru Kazehara
Storyboard:	Kuchiru Kazehara
Episode director:	Ikuro Sato
Animation Director:	Masatomo Sudo
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Kenichi Ogata as Professor Agasa Wataru Takagi as Genta Kojima Ikue Otani as Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Yukiko Iwai as Ayumi Yoshida Hiroshi Yanaka as Akio Reiko Yamada as Akio's mother Tomomichi Nishimura as Akio's father
Music
Opening song:	Mune ga Doki Doki
Closing song:	Step by Step
Chronology
Prev episode:	« An Elevator Murder Case
Next episode:	On Location, TV Drama Murder Case »
List of episodes

Gadgets introduced

Elasticity Suspenders
	Functions like a pulley Can be used to lift heavy objects

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima Ran Mouri Professor Agasa

Case

Situation

Murder
	Location: Mansion on 4th Street Victim: Akio's father Conan, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi explore a haunted house. With strange noises and mysterious scream around every corner, what they find is more tangible and bizarre than any ghost.

People

Akio's father
	Victim Mansion owner

Akio
	Missing man

Akio's mother
	Missing woman

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

Evidence

• There is a working secret entrance that allows entry or exit onto the grounds without being seen by anyone else.
• The house still has running water.
• A window had been left open with no signs of wind or rain wear.
• The house shows no overt signs of life, but the kids smell something cooking.

Conclusion

• The house is not abandoned, but rather hides the dead mansion owner's wife and son, Akio.

• Akio killed his father with a single blow to the head. Unlike many other suspects, Akio had actually intended to turn himself in as soon as he could, but his mother decided to protect him. Her "protection", however, meant locking Akio in the basement until the statute of limitations for the murder expired and he couldn't be prosecuted. He tried to convince his mother otherwise but she was so desperate to not lose her only child that she wouldn't listen to his pleas. Eventually, as she attempts to kill the children for snooping in the now abandoned home, Akio manages to stop his mother and insist that he should atone for his crime; this time he is successful, and they turn themselves in together.

Motive

• Akio killed his father in the heat of an argument over how he had flunked an important university exam, having impulsively grabbed a bronze candle holder and hit his father in the head with it.

Manga to anime changes

• The manga version of the story marks the debut of Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, Ayumi Yoshida and Genta Kojima. In the anime, they appear in the first episode.

See also

• Season 1