Police Hachioji, Tokyo, said Tuesday they have arrested a 51-year-old man on suspicion of abandoning the body of his wife in a mountain forest.
According to police, the suspect, Katsuto Aoki, an insurance examiner who lives in Kunitachi, Tokyo, has admitted to killing his wife Mariko, 43, and then dumping her body in the mountains, Fuji TV reported. Police said they plan to change the charge to murder.
Aoki’s wife was last seen alive after she left work at a school for special needs children on Friday June 16. The school said it received several email messages from Aoki over the next few weeks, saying his wife was ill and that she needed to take some time off. The school vice principal visited Aoki’s apartment on July 25, but when Mariko was not there, he became suspicious and notified Tachikawa police.
Police said that at first, Aoki told them he and his wife had discussed divorce and that she had returned to her parents’ home. However, street surveillance camera footage outside Aoki’s apartment building showed him dragging a large bag to his car at around 2 a.m. on June 17.
On Monday, police questioned Aoki again and he confessed to having killed his wife. He was quoted as saying they got into a heated argument and he hit her with a hammer. He then told police where he had taken the body which was found on Monday night.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
Login to comment
gogogo
How do you get from argument to killing? Some people have way to short a fuse
nakanoguy01
i love the persistence of bosses in japan to visit the homes of workers who haven't shown up to work. there's been countless stories where they uncover wrongdoing as a result of these visits. i can't imagine this happening in too many countries.
Jtsnose
Japanese government, church, community organizations and media need to provide and publicize services, programs for troubled people to keep them from resorting to violence - which seems to be a recurring problem in Japanese society.
Kobe White Bar Owner
We read this kind of thing far too often and its very sad.
Lots of people who know me and the mrs are a tad shocked how we can verbally jab each other sometimes. But I love it as its just to and throw banter and stops this build up of hostility and pressure that as we can see and all know can make people pop, especially in a marriage.
Got something to say.. say it or.... let it go, otherwise its adding to a ticking time bomb.
RIP to Mrs Aoki.
nakanoguy01
maybe they are just shocked that you are doing it publicly!? I'm sure even Japanese couples argue, but like the rest of it we do it behind closed doors.
Kobe White Bar Owner
@nakanoguy01
Good point, were doing it in our shop but nothing too serious.