NARA (TR) – Nara Prefectural Police have arrested the wife and daughter of a man who had gone missing for allegedly dumping his body in the mountains of the village of Kawamura last year, reports NHK (Jan. 17).
In November, a member of a work crew found the skeletal remains of Hiromu Kawakatsu, 74, entangled in vegetation on an embankment near National Route 169 and the Yoshino River. The upper part of the body was covered in a plastic bag.
According to police, Kawamatsu’s wife, 63-year-old Masae, and daughter, 41-year-old Yoko, both of whom lived with the 74-year-old in the town of Ando, are believed to have carried his body by car to the embankment sometime between August 22 and November 5, according to Jiji Press (Jan. 16).
Neither suspect has commented on the allegations.
Given that the corpse of Kawamatsu had decayed considerably at the time of discovery, the cause of death was not determined.
Kawamatsu went missing after he was seen at a hospital in another prefecture on August 22.
Police are now investigating whether to apply murder charges to the suspects.
