Stephen Loud

Stephen works for Near as part of his investigation team, along with Lidner and Rester, and later plays an important role in stopping Kira. When suspicions arise towards Mikami, Near assigns Gevanni the task of following him, studying his methodic lifestyle, and finding his connections to the Death Note. Before the final showdown with Light at the warehouse, Near has Gevanni steal both the fake and real Death Notes from Mikami, and tampers one of the fake's pages. He also creates another fake, replacing the real one, that is later used as Light's ultimate downfall, and ends up being Near's key to proving Light's identity as Kira. While looking for the SPK members's real names, Mikami views his real name as Stephen Loud through his Shinigami Eyes. In the one-shot chapter set three years after Light's death, while he didn't have any speaking lines and much any involvement in the short story, he did appear in one panel alongside Rester and Lidner. This suggests that he may still be working with them under the new L, Near