Keiji Hayashi, 40, and Toshiyuki Watanabe, 34, both residents of Gifu Prefecture, are accused of abandoning the body of the then 27-year-old Morioka, a resident of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, inside a refrigerator in the Kuzuryuko Lake area of Fukui.
According to police, both suspects, who were regular customers at the victim’s bar, have reportedly denied the abandonment allegations. “I cannot understand why my name came up,” Watanabe said. Police are now investigating the pair on murder charges.
The hostess, who was 27 at the time, was last seen at her home in in the early morning hours of November 24, 2011 after returning from work at her club in Ichinomiya. She left word with the household that she was going to meet a customer and departed by car. Her body was discovered on May 21 of this year.
The following day, the license plate and navigation system of her vehicle were found in the mountains of Toyota, Aichi. Investigators then launched an investigation, with her acquaintances as the focus.
Police discovered an entry in her diary for the evening before she disappeared that read “Kei-kun,” which pointed investigators to Hayashi as being a suspect.
