crime

Woman’s body found under house floor in Aomori; neighbor arrested

9 Comments

The body of a woman was found under the floorboards at her house in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, police said Tuesday.

According to police, on Monday at around 8:30 p.m., the husband of Kinuko Yamagata, 77, saw her for the last time at their house after he went out to walk the dog. When he returned home at around 9:10, there was blood on the floor and no trace of his wife. Yamagata said that Sakae Tanaka, 57, a neighbor and relative of the couple, was there, and threatened him with a crossbow before leaving.

Yamagata called police who searched the house and found the woman’s body under the floorboards.

Tanaka was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with trespassing on private property and threatening Yamagata with a weapon. Police are currently investigating why he was at the house as well as his connection to the woman’s death.

© Compiled from news reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

9 Comments
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A cross bow in Japan? Weird.

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I'm assuming ''floor boards'' = tatami, as it would be near impossible for the perpetrator to kill, lift up actual wooden floor boards, hide the body, and then nail them back down. A tatami mat is relatively easy to move.

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If you tried to hide a body under the tatami, I'm sure the bump would be a sure giveaway, unless the poor victim was squashed flat. I agree that lifting up and nailing back down actual floor boards would be difficult: I imagine the killer dumped the body under the floorboards by lifting out, say, the liner of the hori-kotatsu or the liner of the kitchen underfloor storage. Doing so gives direct access to the space underneath the house, and isn't difficult at all.

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So the husband is away for 40 minutes when the neighbours rush in, kill the wife, and put her body under the house.

Sounds like it was pre-planned. I am sure the husband will be questioned as well. We do not know if he was involved in this or not.

Anyway, I am sure we will read more about the details later.

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For what I know about the japanese legal system, If Sakae Tanaka doesn't confess he can only be charged with trespassing on private property and threatening someone with a weapon. I hope his lawyer explain this to him.

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Oh, he'll confess. He'll certainly confess, whether he did it or not.

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This Tanaka sounds like a real crazy bastard! I do hope and pray he burns in he'll!! Rip Aomor Victims.

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Oops! I meant I hopes he'll burn in hell ok??

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The police will probably day - "Under lying" she was a "bored" house wife.

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