Eri's Misfortune Case (709 - 711?): Vote for the culprit!

[Mizzicco]

I don't know about you, but I don't normally drink stuff out of those fridges.  Expensive.  Also, didn't she just come from dinner?

The trick would have to be something that can be done extremely quickly. The murderer had enough warning to do the trick, but not enough warning in order to escape without being seen by Eri.

No kidding on the minifridges. Worse are those $5.00 bottles of water the hotels like to leave on your tables that aren't complementary... Once a room I stayed in got charged for drinking one of our own water bottles we brought. Irritating to sort that out.

The person committing the crime had plenty of time to plan even if it was spur of the moment. Eri left for dinner at 9:00 (I think...) and only came back at 11:00. The person most likely had a plan by the time Eri came back to the room at 11:00 to ensure they could escape. I also assume the criminal knew Eri was coming back at 11:00 by either being the one called (the husband) or eavesdropping (stalker and his mom).

As dumb as the idea sounds, if the husband put cars under the legs of the bed, the bedspread would hang down low enough to cover the cars so they wouldn't be noticed by Eri. I suppose pushing the bed and taking away the cars would only take a couple minutes. A long bathroom break on Eri's part might suffice for the completion of the trick. (Ex lax in Eri's food?)
While the idea of picking up the alternate sides of the bed and slowly "rocking it" over the body is more sensible than cars under the legs, rocking the bed wouldn't make those evenly spaced dashed line marks...

if you use wheels or model cars you will make skid marks... and it wouldn't make broken lines of blood stains - and besides will he actually be willing to commit a crime with his precious cars (one of them being his favourite)?

I am not sure those are his cars. Remember the wife was part of a pit crew. Those might be HER cars and the husband just parroted back something she said about which one is her favorite and why.

You could get a dashed line mark with the tires. All you have to do is get blood on only part of the circumference of the tire and as you rolled it, part of the clean part of the tire would contact, then the bloody part would contact, alternating and creating a dashed line effect. If you have any toy cars lying around, paint a little paint or white-out on just part of the tire and see for yourself.

I also assume he hid the cars he used for the crime. None of the cars Conan saw were missing their side mirrors. Also he seemed to grab for a different car. (He gets a little ding when reaching for the car like he changed his mind in mid grab.)

Nice theory, but wouldn't the bed's weight break the cars since it was too heavy to carry by oneself? If that's the case, then the bike would've been easier and stronger right? (Although I don't know how the son or mother could set up the bike to roll the bed)

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Nice theory, but wouldn't the bed's weight break the cars since it was too heavy to carry by oneself? If that's the case, then the bike would've been easier and stronger right? (Although I don't know how the son or mother could set up the bike to roll the bed)

The car theory is kind of ridiculous and it seems like it is full of holes - bed legs sliding off the rooves anyone? The problem is I can't come up with a better idea. The bike might work, but I think it would be too tall even in it's folded state as the bed couldn't lean back much as it against the wall; the top of the bedboard would hit the wall. Also it would be hard to carefully prop and balance the bike under the bed while holding up the heavy bed at the same time...

[Abs.]

I don't know about you, but I don't normally drink stuff out of those fridges.  Expensive.  Also, didn't she just come from dinner?

The trick would have to be something that can be done extremely quickly. The murderer had enough warning to do the trick, but not enough warning in order to escape without being seen by Eri.

No kidding on the minifridges. Worse are those $5.00 bottles of water the hotels like to leave on your tables that aren't complementary... Once a room I stayed in got charged for drinking one of our own water bottles we brought. Irritating to sort that out.

What is really clever is that in some hotels I've stayed at, they actually have two sets of bottled water.  One set is complimentary, and the other is $5000 USD per bottle.  (Of course I'm exaggerating.  But only a little.)

The person committing the crime had plenty of time to plan even if it was spur of the moment. Eri left for dinner at 9:00 (I think...) and only came back at 11:00. The person most likely had a plan by the time Eri came back to the room at 11:00 to ensure they could escape. I also assume the criminal knew Eri was coming back at 11:00 by either being the one called (the husband) or eavesdropping (stalker and his mom).

The murderer would have wanted to just leave the room as soon as possible after the murder, eh?  Not think, "Oh well since I have all this time before Kisaki-sensei comes back, I'll set up this trick and possibly get caught while I'm setting it up if she decides to come back early."  So in this scenario, it's possible that the murderer killed the lady, then thought, "Oh crap I killed her.  Oh crap it's almost 11.  Kisaki-sensei's gonna come back any moment now, and it'll be bad if she sees me leaving her room and then finds a dead body there.  Oh, I got an idea!"

Now if the murder was premeditated (a few hours premeditation is still premeditation), and the murderer wanted to set it up to look like Kisaki-sensei did it, that's a different story.  Why Kisaki-sensei?  Just to shift the blame from oneself?  Or because of a deeper reason...?

[eworm]

Come on guys, I think it was the stalker - he used a bike pump to lift one side of the bed up. That's what "raise and lower" is about. You do those moves when pumping. Tjough I didn't think about those strange little bloodstains yet... And the necklace is probably for Ran (she won those Karate something about 10 years ago)

[Mizzicco]

And the necklace is probably for Ran (she won those Karate something about 10 years ago)

lol Kogoro can be so unpredictable sometimes xD

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Come on guys, I think it was the stalker - he used a bike pump to lift one side of the bed up. That's what "raise and lower" is about. You do those moves when pumping. Tjough I didn't think about those strange little bloodstains yet... And the necklace is probably for Ran (she won those Karate something about 10 years ago)

Using a bicycle pump to raise the bed might work except there are two problems. What is the bicycle pump inflating to raise the bed with and how does that move the bed to the side to cover the body? Second, how could the bicycle pump cause those dashed line bloodstains?

[mizumi]

The car theory is kind of ridiculous and it seems like it is full of holes - bed legs sliding off the rooves anyone? The problem is I can't come up with a better idea. The bike might work, but I think it would be too tall even in it's folded state as the bed couldn't lean back much as it against the wall; the top of the bedboard would hit the wall. Also it would be hard to carefully prop and balance the bike under the bed while holding up the heavy bed at the same time...

The car roofs are probably removable.

[Abs.]

I also assume he hid the cars he used for the crime. None of the cars Conan saw were missing their side mirrors. Also he seemed to grab for a different car. (He gets a little ding when reaching for the car like he changed his mind in mid grab.)

If I were him and used the minicars for the crime, I'd hide all of them, and not leave clues like that 

[ssjup81]

I think the stalker's mother did it.  I don't have much of a theory as to "how"...but I just really feel it was her and that her golfing equipment is the key to it.

[PopcornMaker]

is it possible that it wasn't the bed that moved, but the mattress and bedsheet moved? one-quarter of the mattress was moved to the left to cover the victim. then the murderer put something in place of it there so that it looks normal.

[Abs.]

Hey.

I just noticed something.

Eri opened up a can of CIDER

Spoiler:

What was left on top of the fridge when she came out was a can of COLA

Spoiler:

Edited the image links because it seems someone (*cough* Knightus *cough*) messed with them.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Hey. I just noticed something. Eri opened up a can of CIDER

Spoiler:

What was left on top of the fridge when she came out was a can of COLA

Spoiler:

Nice catch! I wonder if that was intentionally different or it was an art mistake. Conan did say the drops on the ground were cola. Also, cider isn't typically carbonated and shouldn't explode. Maybe the beverage is "Cider Cola"? If the culprit did switch the beverage, it might be to hide his fingerprints. I don't really see why the murderer would need to though though; wiping down the drink should be sufficient. I'll have to think about this more and its implications...
Edit: The switched drink has soda around the rim which means it must have been shaken up and exploded like the "cider." The culprit couldn't have put anything in the soda to drug Eri because it wouldn't have exploded. Also, it would be hard to put a sleeping drug/laxative on the rim of the soda in a high enough concentration that would be unnoticeable yet make Eri fall asleep/use the bathroom. Also, did Eri even drink any of the soda after it exploded? There wouldn't be soda around the rim of the drink if she did, but we don't know the state of the original can.

is it possible that it wasn't the bed that moved, but the mattress and bedsheet moved? one-quarter of the mattress was moved to the left to cover the victim. then the murderer put something in place of it there so that it looks normal.

The only problem I would see with this is that the sheets wouldn't reach the ground as they were designed for a thinner bed. The body would be visible. In the top spoiler box above, you can see the backside of the bed when Eri returns to the room after dinner, and the sheets reach the ground. When the bed is normal the sheets don't drag on the ground either.

[snuzzle]

I am not sure those are his cars. Remember the wife was part of a pit crew. Those might be HER cars and the husband just parroted back something she said about which one is her favorite and why.

That's a very good point! Also, if the image linked earlier is really James Dean's car, it doesn't look at all like what he picked up. So either Gosho doesn't know cars (in which case, why mention it was James Dean's car at all?), or the husband got confused in the story... why? Because the husband doesn't know cars. They're his wife's or a friend's.

Even if you want to say that Gosho just didn't draw the car well, all the images I see online show Dean's car as being topless. Yet the car the husband picked up is pretty clearly hard-topped (there isn't even a line marking where a detachable hard roof comes off.)

The fact that Conan caught the mother in a lie and she admitted to it makes her less likely to be guilty in my eyes. I think she knowingly brought her son, but not to make trouble, just for the bike trip. After all, she hid the fact that he was there very poorly, and admitted the lie very quickly. If she was really trying to cover up a murder, she'd be a lot less likely to admit any lie.

I don't think it was the son, simply for the fact that it's too predictable. I think he's a red herring. After all, in the first chapter they show him lurking around all ominous-like. He's clearly supposed to be a suspicious character. Therefore I believe he's a red herring.

I still don't know how the murder was done, although what I got out of the "raising and lowering" was perhaps the body was raised toward the ceiling and then something triggered it being lowered? Perhaps the door being opened when Kogoro came over? Perhaps it was tied to the refrigerator, or weighted with a few 6-packs of soda? After all, people very rarely look up, that's a proven fact. Why, there could be a body taped to your ceiling right now, when's the last time you looked at your ceilings...?:P

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I am not sure those are his cars. Remember the wife was part of a pit crew. Those might be HER cars and the husband just parroted back something she said about which one is her favorite and why.

I still don't know how the murder was done, although what I got out of the "raising and lowering" was perhaps the body was raised toward the ceiling and then something triggered it being lowered? Perhaps the door being opened when Kogoro came over? Perhaps it was tied to the refrigerator, or weighted with a few 6-packs of soda? After all, people very rarely look up, that's a proven fact. Why, there could be a body taped to your ceiling right now, when's the last time you looked at your ceilings...?:P

Funny you should ask when I last looked up. It's actually rather recently since a bulb just burnt out. The bloodstains would probably be strange if the body was raised up towards the ceiling. I would imagine there would be blood splashes from dripping blood. None appear near the body and Conan would have noticed if that was the case. Also, it isn't likely there would anything on the ceiling to affix wires. Wires would likely leave markings which Conan would find. I am sure the raising and lowering refers to the bed, not the body.

[Mizzicco]

I am convinced that the dashing blood lines have to do with wheels or something...like u said, the mini-cars might have been used to move the bed since one of the cars mirrors was broken and probably that those cars belonged to the victim...