Police on Wednesday found the body of a man inside a drum which had been dropped in the sea at Bizen, Okayama Prefecture. The man is believed to be on the missing people related to the case of Miyoko Sumida, in which up to eight people are believed either dead or missing.
Sumida and her household are believed to be responsible for the assault, confinement and deaths of several individuals in Hyogo Prefecture. Police have been questioning acquaintances of Sumida in connection with the case after three bodies were found at a house in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture on Oct 14-15.
Officers last week searched the condominium and a warehouse, on suspicion that several parties connected to Sumida may have been involved in possible murders. Following a tip from one of Sumida's acquaintances, police recovered the body of a man believed to have been between 50-60 years of age at the time of his death.
The naked body of the man was found in a metal drum filled with concrete that had been sunk into the ocean in Okayama Prefecture in the summer of 2011.
Although a formal identification has not yet been made, police believe the body to be that of 54-year-old Jiro Hashimoto, who has been missing since 2011. According to their source, Hashimoto was related to one of Sumida's sisters and briefly lived in her house in 2011, following which he was confined and assaulted.
Sumida, 64, was indicted with others in a separate case in February this year for the assault resulting in death of a 66-year-old woman whose body was also found inside a metal drum filled with concrete at a warehouse in Amagasaki in November 2011.
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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kakifry
I know the town where the body was hauled up from. I have watched many a boat go in and out of that harbour. That pleasant memory is soiled a bit now.
TheDevilsAssistant
I hope the number of people they find dead becuase of this witch stops here.
Seirei Tobimatsu
How did she learn, what drove her, to live off killing people? Was she an abused child whose defense is the best offense?
kominka
My husband and I have a country home a couple miles away from Hinase. We've been here working on the house this week and I can tell you it was unsettling having the helicopters buzzing around. Our neighbors are a bit spooked. Think it will take some time to restore the easy, peaceful feeling here in the inaka. What truly horrific crimes. Be safe all.
Robert Dykes
Hyogo Chainsaw Massacre. This is the stuff movie are made from.
602miko
holy crap this news like in a movie ...
bajhista65
A Yakuza thing???
mitoguitarman
TheDevilsAssistantNOV. 01, 2012 - 03:33PM JST I hope the number of people they find dead becuase of this witch
I doubt that she is a witch. Probably buddhist.
Lowly
kakifry,
yeah, if you see it your feeling might change. But there are bodies and stories all around you, really. All kinds of crime, murder, accidents in this well populated archipelago for thousands of yrs.
ubikwit
@mitoguitarman
why don't you think she is a deluded shintoist that fancy's herself to be a shamaness?
do you have something against buddhism that makes you link it with criminal behavior?
Shannon Clark
How did they find this drum filled with human and concrete if it was sunk to the bottom of the ocean?