Nearly a year later London is shocked by the vicious murder of Sir Danvers Carew. A maidservant who chanced to be gazing at the full moon and the lane below her window witnessed the attack. She saw an aged man inquire directions from another smaller gentleman whom she recognized as a Mr. Hyde who had once visited her master. Suddenly she saw Mr. Hyde blaze out “in a great flame of anger,” raise his cane, and begin to beat the older man. He clubbed him to the ground and continued to beat him as he lay in the street.
The police ask Utterson to identify the body because the victim was carrying a letter addressed to him. Utterson recognizes the stick used in the murder as one he had given to Jekyll years ago. He tells the police he can lead them to the home of the murderer. When they arrive there, the maid tells them Hyde had already left earlier that morning. Utterson and Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard inspect Hyde’s room, which has been ransacked for a hasty departure. The inspector thinks that it will be an easy matter to capture Hyde since he is sure to go to the bank for money. He can also distribute handbills with his description. However, the few persons who have seen him cannot agree on the particulars. The only thing they can agree on is that Hyde left them with a sense of “unexpressed deformity.”