Kimie Hayase (Kayoko Fujii) is the villainess of "The Wandering Artist Murder Case", episode 3.26 of Case Closed (airdate November 10, 1997). She was the wife of artist and bank executive Tatsuo Hayase, who was being investigated for suspicion of embezzlement. This act caused Kimie to become extremely vengeful toward her husband, as she was blamed by the society for the crime that she wasn't even a part of. A year prior to the episode, Tatsuo went missing in the mountains after being caught in an avalanche and was eventually declared dead by the authority. Kimie subsequently claimed his estate, as well as all of Tatsuo's embezzled money that were never found by the police, and resolved to forget about her husband and every misdeed that he had done to her.
But in actuality, Tatsuo had survived the avalanche and was left with amnesia, forcing him to live on the streets. Eventually, after being found by Conan Edogawa and his friends and hospitalized, Tatsuo regained his memory and returned home, much to Kimie's dismay. Fearing that her husband's reappearance would result in her losing all his money, the evil Kimie drugged Tatsuo by giving him coffee laced with sleeping pills before strangling him to death. Afterwards, Kimie dumped Tatsuo's body under a bridge and hired a cleaning crew to completely clean her car and house, wanting to destroy any evidence that her husband had been alive.
Conan and his friends discovered Tatsuo's body, and when Conan managed to track down his address and convince investigator Juzo Megure to have Kimie identify the body, Kimie claimed that the man was not her husband. But Conan was able to find enough evidence proving Tatsuo's identity, as well as Kimie's role in his murder, including a gingko leaf in Tatsuo's shoe from one of the trees outside the Hayase house and the fact that Tatsuo's shoes were tied in a similar vertical knot as Kimie's apron. The final piece of evidence indicating Kimie's guilt was the painting in her living room, which Tatsuo had touched while at the house. After initially denying the claims, Kimie ultimately confessed to killing Tatsuo, revealing that she had dumped his body in a public area so that she wouldn't have to wait any longer for his money and claiming that she deserved Tatsuo's money after sacrificing her reputation and being condemned as his accomplice when he was investigated for embezzlement. After her confession, Kimie was placed under arrest.
Trivia[]
- In the English dub, Kimie's name is translated as Kimmy Haysum and is voiced by Rebecca Paige.
- Kayoko Fujii previously voiced villainous blackmailer Kazumi Tatsumi from a Season 2 episode of Case Closed, and later voiced the evil Misaki Kana from Season 7.
- Rebecca Paige (Kimie's English dub actress) also voiced Case Closed villainess Naomi.