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Two men who were convicted of abandoning the bodies of a 76-year-old woman and her 53-year-old son at the woman’s house in Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, in 2018, have also been charged with their murders.
According to police, Yoshiaki Sakuma, 56, and Ryuji Otani, 44, were initially arrested on suspicion of abandoning the bodies of Fumiko Irie and her youngest son, Yoshitaka Osaki, at her Nishi-Tokorozawa home, Sankei Shimbun reported. Their bodies were found on Feb 8, 2018. Osaki had multiple stab wounds on his body, while his mother was drowned in the bathtub.
The bodies were found by Irie’s 55-year-old son at around 2 p.m. Osaki, who lived elsewhere, used to frequently visit his mother to see if she was OK. He went there on Feb 7, but did not return home or show up for work the next day. His wife, worried by his disappearance, contacted her brother-in-law and they went to the woman’s house where the found the bodies.
Prior to the murders, Sakuma had been living with Irie as a caregiver; however, he went missing after Feb 8. He was also suspected of stealing money from Irie’s bank account.
Sakuma and Otani had already completed jail terms for abandoning the two bodies. However, on Thursday, police rearrested them on suspicion of murder.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
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Monozuki
@Stewart Gale
I feel the same way.
Stewart Gale
That’s a strange system where you can serve prison time for abandoning a body but not be charged with murder.
Seesaw7
Greedy for easy money. Life sentence!!
Stewart Gale
I guess the police couldn’t get their standard confession first time around.
Ricky Sanchez
Today 04:57 pm JST
No. They originally charged them with the smaller charge and then when the time was up for holding them on that charge, they charged them with another.
Sal Affist
There must have been a jailhouse snitch that these two men confessed to, and now that person is providing the evidence that allows the prosecutors to file charges.