Night Prowler

*This article is about the serial killer. For the game character of the same name, see Night Prowler (game).*

**Night Prowler** (ナイト・プローラ, *Naito Purōra*) was an infamous serial murderer who killed victims, specifically females aged at least 20 years old, by stabbing them with a knife, consistently from behind. The killer's true identity was Eiji Ōwada, a college student from Kyoto.

## Inspiration

The entire persona of Night Prowler is based on the character known as the Night Prowler in the horror slasher game *Screaming Castle*, a skeleton-like phantom creature that must be defeated in the game by four main characters. These four characters correspond to the four female victims that Night Prowler has targeted, with three females successfully killed over three Tuesdays. According to the game's walkthrough as played by Alice Arisugawa, the fourth character and also seemingly the ending character receives a bad end: after she slays the Night Prowler in the Screaming Castle, she becomes the next Night Prowler. Quite interestingly, the fourth victim in its real-life counterpart committed suicide by stabbing herself, thereby, as Hideo Himura pointed out, made her assume the role of Night Prowler for that specific night.

## Murders

*Main article: Night Prowler Assaults*
Presumably, before taking the persona of Night Prowler, Eiji had played the game *Screaming Castle* and became enthralled with the idea of mixing the virtual world and reality altogether. In other words, he apparently became inspired with and imitated the game's killings by the game's antagonist, the Night Prowler. After this incident, he most likely chose his victims and closely followed them afterwards, probably some time before their respective murders.

Night Prowler's murders of random women always fell on a Tuesday, which began on 29 December 2015, usually in unpopular places around Kyoto with no people around as much as possible. He places a piece of paper in the victims' mouths, which, if uncovered by the third paper, spells out the words "*Night Prowler*". The fourth paper, apparently the final one, was written with "*Game Over*". Collectively, these random assaults caught the eye of the media, the police, and the public, which instilled fear and panic among women of the same age range as Night Prowler's victims.

#### Mai Kawaguchi

*Main article: Mai Kawaguchi*

On 29 December 2015, Night Prowler followed college student Mai Kawaguchi on or before nightfall. Upon reaching a forest in Kyoto, Night Prowler attacked her from behind by stabbing her with a knife, measuring 15 centimetres deep to her body. After this, he placed a piece of paper in her mouth, indicating the first of four messages in his assaults. By 8:00 p.m. of that day, a young woman discovered the victim's corpse and reported it to the police.

#### Shiori Yamano

*Main article: Shiori Yamano*

An entire week after the first incident, on 5 January 2016, Night Prowler monitored his second victim, Shiori Yamano. When Shiori passed by an unnamed and rather unpopular children's park, she was stabbed from behind by Night Prowler in a similar fashion as before: from behind and 15 centimetres deep in the body using the same murder weapon. He then placed the second message in her mouth, assumably after her death.

Shiori's death fueled the news regarding random Tuesday street assaults, especially Akemi Kijima and her two friends. They then consulted their criminology professor Hideo Himura about these murders, who in turn advised them to be vigilant at night.

#### Chisa Mizuo

*Main article: Chisa Mizuo*

With the Tuesday pattern apparent to the investigators, they seemingly prepared for the forthcoming incident that day. However, this was in vain, as Night Prowler was able to succeed in his third crime. He closely followed Chisa Mizuo around the city and, as they reached an unnamed park, stabbed her from behind with his usual killing strategy. The third message was placed in her mouth, this time being the most decodable of the three, reading "*Night Prowler*". This gave a significant lead for the investigators after finding out about the possible connection of Night Prowler and Simbalinx, the game producer of *Screaming Castle*.

#### Yukie Ōwada

*Main article: Yukie Ōwada*

A 25-year-old woman identified to be Yukie Ōwada was believed to have been murdered by Night Prowler given the fourth message in her mouth reading "*Game Over*". However, this case was inconsistent with the other three victims: she was able to call the police and relatively describe her attacker (Night Prowler), the murder weapon was left in her back, and, most unusually, the murder did not occur on a Tuesday but on a Saturday, three days after the third incident. Upon investigation, Himura uncovered the truth about the fourth case: after she had discovered about her brother's identity as Night Prowler, Yukie had committed suicide in order to complete the Night Prowler assaults, putting her brother (who was hospitalised at the time of her death) out of suspicion and hopefully making the investigation be put to an end without being solved and without having her brother captured.

### Resolution

Despite Yukie's foresight of discarding all possible evidence related to her brother's criminal persona, her plan failed, as Himura was able to force Eiji into a confession and admit his crime, before getting arrested by the First Investigation Division.

## Notes

1. ↑ Mistakenly mentioned to be 5 January 2016 on a news clipping

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Screaming Castle Murder Case*