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Man admits killing woman whose dismembered corpse found in Tokyo lake

Yasunobu Ikeda
Yasunobu Ikeda

TOKYO (TR) – A 29-year-old man on trial in the killing of an elderly woman whose dismembered corpse was found in Meguro Ward last year but not robbing her, reports NHK (Sept. 19).

At the opening of his trial at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday, Yasunobu Ikeda, who has been accused of murder-robbery, admitted to abandoning the corpse of 88-year-old Tokiko Abe in a lake in Himonya Park after killing her.

However, he denied robbing her of 350,000 yen in cash as claimed by the prosecution. “After quitting your job, you turned to robbery to cover living expenses,” the prosecution said.

On June 23, 2016, police received a tip in the morning from a visitor to the park about what appeared to be a human body part floating in the lake. Officers arriving at the scene subsequently recovered two feet, two hands, a head and part of a lower back.

“I carved her up with a knife”

According to the indictment, the defendant entered Abe’s residence, located about 500 meters away from the crime scene in the Nozawa area of Setagaya Ward, on June 20. He then strangled her to death before dismembering her corpse with a knife. The body was then dumped in the lake the following day.

Ikeda’s claim regarding robbery contradicts what he said at the time of his arrest. During questioning by police, Ikeda said that his motivation in carrying out the crime was money. “Abe was lying there and I killed her,” he said. “I carved her up with a knife in the bathroom.”