Police in Osaka said Thursday they have arrested an unemployed 28-year-old man on suspicion of killing a woman whose skeletonized body was found on the balcony of his apartment in Abeno Ward on Oct 26.
Police said the suspect, Tomoaki Komoto, has admitted to killing Ayumi Hiraku, then 20, sometime in late December of 2010, by strangling her, Fuji TV reported. The victim was last seen alive on Dec 12, 2010, at a ward office.
The case came to light after Komoto had failed to pay the rent since August. The housing guarantee company sent a notice by mail to him on Oct 16, requesting payment. When he did not reply, the police and a company representative on Oct 23 entered the apartment, which was full of garbage, but they did not check the balcony.
Another employee returned to the apartment at around 12:30 p.m. on Oct 26 and found the woman’s partially clothed remains wrapped in a blanket on the balcony.
Meanwhile, an autopsy showed that the remains were that of a young woman, but the cause of death was not specified.
Komoto, who had been sought for questioning, was arrested at around 7 a.m. Thursday in a restaurant in Abeno Ward. He had only 70 yen on him.
Hiraku, who was identified through DNA, had been in a relationship with Komoto when she was in high school.
Police said Komoto left a note at the scene of the crime, in which he wrote "I strangled Hiraku and thought about killing myself, too, but I couldn't."
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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Marcofantyn Alfonso
speechless :3
WilliB
Wow, first the serial killer with the sawn-off heads in cooler boxes and now this... very ceepy news stories this year
starpunk
The article said he had garbage strewn in the house. Even if that masks the dead odor, you'd think.... RIP to the poor lady whose life never really got started.
Brian Wheway
it leaves me speechless somedays what people do. poor girl at least her parents can get closure now.
Slickdrifter
Imagine if he was employed. They would have never known. What creepy story. Agreed the guy should have off-ed himself. Well closure for the family. The guy will swing for this in Japan.
May Hiraku san rest in peace now. Sad....How many more out there?
Strangerland
How do you know he wasn't? I didn't see that in the article.
chugmagaga
If he was in relationship, why this guy was not treated as a suspect in 2010. RIP to the lady.
Civitas Sine Suffragio
Makes you wonder how many more missing persons' bodies are in boxes in closets and on balconies in this land...
miyakojimadan
"I strangled Hiraku and thought about killing myself, too, but I couldn't."
Why am I not surprised? You had the courage to attack someone weaker than you but then didn't have to courage to kill yourself. What a courageous person you are. Pathetic excuse for a human being.
kawabegawa198
Imagine the stench of putrefecation in summer, and the flies and maggots!
gelendestrasse
Poor girl. It does seem awfully uncaring that nobody found her for all these years.
PhantomAgent
In the seven years that she had been missing, nobody thought to check out her ex-boyfriend's place?
DaDude
I can't imagine being just a regular housing company worker and having to find that. I wish them well too.
papigiulio
What the....I wonder how many body's are locked in boxes in Japan, too many freaks out there. Also was she never reported missing?
sir_bentley28
Wow. I've heard of skeletons in the closet, but on the balcony? Preposterous! No one noticed anything?A smell?
Ricky Kaminski
Grim. 7 years of frozen panic time where by doing nothing I suppose he secretly hoped the problem would disappear and go away. Another man baby in limbo.
Strangerland
So sad. But good that the family can finally know what happened. I'm sure it's horrible to find out, but the years of not knowing what happened would be so draining.
Peace to her and them.
thepersoniamnow
Only good that will come of this is that she gets justice, and her poor family who have had no idea what became of her since 2010.
puregaijin
Wow. This one sure did get weirder and weirder as I read along. RIP to the lady.